The Lone Signal project began transmitting
messages written by the public from the Jamesburg Earth Station in central
California. The first target: Gliese 526.
This red dwarf appears in the Catalog of Nearby Habitable
Systems as a good candidate to support intelligent life. Red dwarfs are
abundant and survive for a relatively long time. A potentially habitable planet
would orbit this type of star closely, making it easier for astronomers to
detect. And it lies only 17.6 light-years away from Earth, which makes it an
even more appealing target!
So, great target, but what are we planning to send? Text
messages from Earth? The idea is not so far-fetched, says Lone Signal
co-founder Pierre Fabre. “We’re targeting the most logical, nearest stars now.”
Scientists and engineers have sent carefully-encoded interstellar radio
messages in the past, but now messages can be sent by anyone with Internet
access.
“It’s never been the case that anyone on the face of the Earth
can commune with the cosmos, and we are opening up that portal to the masses,”
said Lone Signal chief marketing officer Ernesto Qualizza.
The 144-character messages are emitted in one of two adjacent
radio beams, the other containing a looped message written in computer code by
astronomer Michael Busch. His message describes Earth’s position in the
Universe, the elements of the periodic table, and the structure of a hydrogen
atom.
To detect our messages, aliens near Gliese 526 will need a
radio interferometer like the ones at the Allen Telescope Array (ATA). If they
decode our messages, perhaps they will also decide to respond.
Lone Signal wants to harness human curiosity to expand our
knowledge of the Universe around us. Participate here:
