# Message to Altair

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{{Short description|1983 interstellar radio message}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2025}}
'''Message to Altair''' ([Japanese](/source/Japanese_language): アルタイルへのメッセージ), officially named '''CALL to the COSMOS'83{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}''', was an [interstellar radio message](/source/interstellar_radio_message) sent from a radio telescope in [Stanford, California](/source/Stanford%2C_California), [USA](/source/USA) to the star [Altair](/source/Altair) in 1983.<ref name="Hirabayashi20142">Hirabayashi Hisashi, "I want to meet aliens! - Astronomers explore the mystery of extraterrestrial life," Gakken Education Publishing (2014)</ref><ref name="Hirabayashi-Miyauchi19872">Hirabayashi Hisashi, Miyauchi Katsusuke, "Message from E.T.: Lectures on the Exploration of Extraterrestrial Civilizations", Asahi Publishing (1987)</ref> The message was part of a collaboration with [Weekly Shonen Jump](/source/Weekly_Shonen_Jump), commemorating the publication's 15th anniversary.
right|thumb|200x200px|A recreation of page 11 of the message. It features a drawing of an adult female and male, along with two children.

== Transmission ==
The message consisted of two parts: audio containing messages from children; and a set of 13 bitmap images produced by astronomers Masaki Morimoto and Hisashi Hirabayashi.<ref name="Hirabayashi-Miyauchi19872" /> The message was transmitted on August 15, 1983 from Stanford, California, USA, with each part being sent over 30 minutes.

The 13 images show numbers, [DNA](/source/DNA), as well as the [evolution](/source/evolution) of living things from simple organisms to humans. The images in the table below are recreations of the original images sent, which were actually 71 x 71 bits in size. This size was chosen because the product of 71, 71, and 13 is close to the number 2<sup>16</sup>.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

Parts of the images are colour-coded for ease of reading:

* Black: numbers, text
* Green: elements
* Blue: lengths

{| class="wikitable"
|+Images sent in the transmission<ref>{{Cite web |last=NAGAUCHI |first=Yosuke |date=2008-05-12 |title=【科学】届け宇宙人への電子メール 25年前に送信、7年後にも返信来る！？ (1/2ページ) |url=http://sankei.jp.msn.com/culture/academic/080512/acd0805120804006-n1.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517080737/http://sankei.jp.msn.com/culture/academic/080512/acd0805120804006-n1.htm |archive-date=2008-05-17 |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=MSN産経ニュース ([MSN Sankei News](/source/MSN_Sankei_News)) |language=ja}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
!Number
!Recreated Image
!Explaination
|-
|1
|link=File:Message_to_Altair_01.png|200x200px
|'''Numbers and elements'''
From top to bottom, left to right:
* Numbers 1-12
* [Prime numbers](/source/Prime_number)
* Powers of 3
* Addition
* Multiplication
* Elements: H, He, C, N, O
* Molecules & their wavelengths
** Hydrogen atom: [21.1 cm](/source/Hydrogen_line)
** OH: 18.6 cm, 18.0 cm, 18.0 cm, 17.4 cm
** H<sub>2</sub>CO: 6.2 cm
** H<sub>2</sub>O: 1.3 cm
** NO: 6.9 mm
** HCN: 3.4 mm
** CH: 2.6 mm
** 3.4 mm × 62 {{=}} 21.1 cm
* Atomic structure
** <sup>8</sup>O
** <sup>11</sup>Na
|-
|2
|link=File:Message_to_Altair_02.png|200x200px
|'''Solar System'''
Middle: diagrams (not to scale) of the celestial bodies that make up the [Solar System](/source/Solar_System).

* Starts at the top with the [Sun](/source/Sun)
* Below the Sun, the [planets](/source/Planet) are shown in order of distance
* Some larger [moons](/source/moons) are shown around their relevant planets

Left: equatorial radii

Right: mean distances from the Sun

Upper-right: R = 10 m
|-
|3
|link=File:Message_to_Altair_03.png|200x200px
|'''Chemical formulae for DNA compounds'''
|-
|4
|link=File:Message_to_Altair_04.png|200x200px
|'''DNA structure and replication'''
|-
|5
|link=File:Message_to_Altair_05.png|200x200px
|'''Early primitive life'''
Upper-right: diagram size = 0.5 mm

* Gives a scale for the physical size of the objects in the diagram
|-
|6
|link=File:Message_to_Altair_06.png|200x200px
|'''Jellyfish'''
Upper-right: diagram size = 10 cm

Bottom: C + O<sub>2</sub> = CO<sub>2</sub>, representing the process of respiration{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}
|-
|7
|link=File:Message_to_Altair_07.png|200x200px
|'''FIsh'''
Upper-right: diagram size = 50 cm

Middle: H<sub>2</sub>O, indicating that the fish is in [water](/source/water)
|-
|8
|link=File:Message_to_Altair_08.png|200x200px
|'''Amphibians'''
Upper-right: diagram size = 1 m

Middle: O<sub>2</sub> × 1 and N<sub>2</sub> × 4, representig the rough composition of the [Earth's atmosphere](/source/Atmosphere_of_Earth)

Bottom: H<sub>2</sub>O
|-
|9
|link=File:Message_to_Altair_09.png|200x200px
|'''Lizards or early mammals'''
Upper-right: diagram size = 1 m
|-
|10
|link=File:Message_to_Altair_10.png|200x200px
|'''Apes'''
Upper-right: diagram size = 2 m
|-
|11
|link=File:Message_to_Altair_11.png|200x200px
|'''Humans'''
Upper-right: diagram size = 2 m

Top:

* No. of DNA base pairs: ~200 million
* World population: ~4.3 billion
|-
|12
|link=File:Message_to_Altair_12.png|200x200px
|'''Close up of the woman's face'''
Upper-right: diagram size = 36.4 cm
|-
|13
|link=File:Message_to_Altair_13.png|200x200px
|'''Transmission parameters and a toast'''
Top: total number of bits

Left:

* Transmission wavelength: 70.8 cm
* Radio telescope radius: 23.0 m

Right:

* Japanese and English words for [toast](/source/Toast_(honor)) (as in to raise a toast to someone)
* C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>5</sub>OH, the chemical formula for [ethanol](/source/ethanol)
|}

== Search for a response ==
Altair is approximately 17 light-years away, so the message would have arrived around the year 2000. Hirabayashi said that while the possibility is not high, if Altair has intelligent life, we could expect a reply from 2017 at the earliest.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2023-08-10 |title=そろそろ七夕のひこ星から返信がある頃だ...40年前に送信、宇宙人からメッセージ受信計画 兵庫県立大とJAXA |url=https://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/society/202308/0016684520.shtml |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=神戸新聞NEXT ([Kobe Shimbun](/source/Kobe_Shimbun) NEXT) |language=Japanese}}</ref>

In 2023, Shinya Narusawa, who had known Morimoto before his death, asked the [Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)](/source/JAXA) for cooperation in looking for any potential reply from Altair. The radio antenna at Usuda Space Observatory observed Altair for an hour at 10 p.m. on August 22, 2023.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Endo |first=Kazuki |date=August 20, 2023 |title='Anybody there?' Astronomers waiting for a reply from Altair |url=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14985246 |access-date=February 18, 2025 |website=[The Asahi Shimbun](/source/The_Asahi_Shimbun)}}</ref> This also fell on [Tanabata](/source/Tanabata) according to old calendar – legend states that it is the only day of the year that deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by [Vega](/source/Vega) and Altair respectively) are allowed to meet each other. Narusawa aims to continue his observations by collaborating with other research institutions.<ref name=":1" />

== References ==
<references />
{{Interstellar messages}}
Category:Interstellar messages
Category:Altair
Category:1983 in science

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Message to Altair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Message_to_Altair) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Message_to_Altair?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.