On February 4th, NASA will use the Deep Space Network — a series of large radio antennas used to monitor probes to other planets — to beam the Beatles song "Across the Universe" to the star Polaris.
This is a publicity stunt designed to celebrate two anniversaries: NASA’s 50th this year, and the 40th of the recording of the song by the Liverpudlian quartet. I’m fairly ambivalent about such things; it’s not a big deal, doesn’t cost much, NASA wouldn’t do it if it put any missions at risk. While I won’t stand on my chair and cheer for this, it does raise awareness of NASA. It’s also kinda cute.
They could, however, have picked a better star. Polaris is almost certainly devoid of planets. It is an older star called a supergiant: it has stopped fusing hydrogen in its core, and has expanded outward to be a vast, bloated, incredibly luminous beacon. If it had any planets once they are probably either vaporized — eaten by the star as it expanded — or fried beyond recognition as the star heated up. It also has a companion star that is a bit hotter and more massive than the Sun which orbits the supergiant just a couple of billion kilometers out. This makes it really unlikely that any planets could be in that system; the dance of gravity would make things a mess there. There are lots of nearby stars with planets that would have made a better choice, and one close to 40 light years away would have made even more sense (since it’s been 40 years since the song was recorded).
Still, everyone has heard of Polaris, and since it’s fraught with misconceptions, maybe this will raise awareness not just of NASA and the Beatles, but of an important star, too.
Also, Carolyn Porco is a huge Beatles fan. I imagine this’ll make her pretty happy.
That’s Carolyn on the right, in white. I’m almost positive the redheaded man is my friend Kevin Grazier… and some of you may be familiar with his work as well. Hmmm… I have another thought about using the Deep Space Network for communication…
February 1st, 2008 at 10:18 am
It’s a cute stunt, and as you say, it’s purpose is to raise awareness, but I would have aimed it toward the nearest star with a planetary system. It may be unlikely that anybody there would be listening, but it at least would have the appearance of having a scientific purpose (if having aliens listening to the Beatles is scientific - LOL)
February 1st, 2008 at 10:27 am
Yeah, the sky around Polaris looks kinda empty.
Couldn’t the Cassini team have arranged a clever license plate in the Abbey Road photo? They came so close - the N483 almost looks like NASA.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:27 am
Maybe it’s a good thing they are beaming to a star probably devoid of planets. I’m not sure that the Beatles would be the best choice as humanity’s first contact with an alien race. Now, William Shatner singing, “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” is another matter altogether! I was born several miles from Liverpool. (Leigh, Lancashire.)
The Kevin Grazier link was cool as well! Nice to see the scientific community keeping the sci-fi community honest!
February 1st, 2008 at 10:32 am
Its a publicity stunt, the selection of Polaris could be because the area has the lowest probability of the signal actually getting to something that can hear it. You know, Berserker probes, Alien p2p pirates and the like.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:58 am
How nice, them doing an EPO stunt to celebrate my 58th birthday!
Rich
You other BABlogees know what EPO is, dontcha?
Education & Polaris Outreach!
February 1st, 2008 at 10:58 am
Perhaps they chose a system unlikely to have planets to mollify the surprisingly large number of people who believe we should be cautious about beaming signals essentially saying “We Are Here!” into deep space.
This topic comes up quite regularly over at the Centauri Dreams blog where, given that we have no idea who’s out there, many commenters seem to think that it’s dangerous to start advertising our presence to the galaxy at large.
I believe the blog’s position is that we should at least have a formal debate about the issue before we start broadcasting signals to other stars which, I guess, is a reasonable approach though how it could be done without the participants being depicted as kooks I don’t know.
My own personal opinion is that the odds of any signal reaching an alien civilization that would in some way be hostile to our presence *and* be in a position to do something about it are vanishingly small. Not only that but if there was such a capable alien species around, it’s likely (either from interstellar probes or telescopic surveys) that they already know we’re here anyway.
So, broadcasting the Beatles into space is fine by me, though I suspect we will soon be hearing a chorus of protests from those who might have had a slightly too large a dose of hostile scifi aliens in the past few years.
February 1st, 2008 at 11:10 am
Tacitus, I’m not sure what I think. I think it is probably wise to debate the issue, and come up with some consensus as to who should be sending that message and what it should say. After all, whoever sends that message will be speaking on behalf af all of humanity.
Also, I look at our own history and development as a species, and our propensity for aggression and war. Can we be sure that whoever is out there would not share that same trait? I don’t think we can just assume that they would be peaceful and benevolent. At the same time, I don’t think we can assume that they would be violent and aggressive. I think caution is prudent.
February 1st, 2008 at 11:13 am
Slightly off topic, but could someone tell me what this message I’m getting means every time I make a post, and is anyone else getting it?
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February 1st, 2008 at 11:19 am
Reminds me of the classic SNL skit where Steve Martin was commenting about a message received from outer space after the launch of Voyager with its disc of the sounds of Earth. The disc included a number of pieces of music of various types. When the message was decoded, it read “Send more Chuck Berry”.
February 1st, 2008 at 11:28 am
Although it’s technically a Beatles song, by the time they recorded “Across the Universe” John and Paul were essentially operating independently. So really it’s a John Lennon song — and one of his most inspired lyrics.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the Polarians. Let’s say they do pick up the haunting strains of “Jai guru deva, om” as they tune in on the sky. The word is spread and all scopes are aimed at Earth… by which time the DSN is back to communicating with Spirit and Opportunity. Nothing more is heard, and the whole episode goes down as a footnote in Polarian history.
Except when a new subharmonic-modulation ensemble suddenly appears on the scene, sporting shockingly long follicle fringes, and all the youngsters go chartreuse with excitement…
February 1st, 2008 at 11:47 am
So which member of the Cassini team is dead and replaced with a lookalike/soundalike?
February 1st, 2008 at 11:51 am
Is it possible that the radio beam could spread out wide enough to encounter some red dwarf stars within a few degrees of Polaris’ line of sight? If it’s true that 80% of the stars in the Milky Way are red dwarfs, and that the closest of them are too dim to be seen from Earth without a telescope, it seems a likely possibility.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:17 pm
so, I wanna know. Is NASA getting proper copyright/release to broadcast this song to the Stars? Will it be preceded by a “Dear Whomever receives and decodes this .. this song is copyrighted and before you copy it, you must obtain a release or purchase a license from the copyright holders on the Planet Earth ..”?
February 1st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
This sort of makes up for the Beatles song that didn’t
make it on the Voyager Record in 1977 due to their
short-sighted company that owned the song. All 4
Beatles were all for it - Here Comes the Sun was the
pick.
What dish did the DSN transmit from and at what
frequencies and power?
Won’t this act by NASA rather complicate the debate
over sending signals into the galaxy, regardless of the
fact that they beamed it to a star that likely has no life
or even planets - but what if there is an expedition
present exploring the Polarian system in 431 years time?
Pro METI folks can now say Hey, NASA sent a message
into space without asking anyone’s permission, why
can’t we do the same?
We might get hordes of screaming teenage aliens wanting
to grab Paul’s hair in a few centuries now.
February 1st, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Learn something new every day — I thought for sure that there was a protocol adopted after the Arecibo message that prohibited this kind of thing without broad consultation, but I gather from a quick sanity check with Google that the protocol only applies to responding to a message, not to initiating one. Sure as hell hope Brin’s “Deadly Probes” hypothesis isn’t right…
February 1st, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Well, if humanity can pull itself into the 21st century, abandon bronze age insanity, and focus on reality… we might be there ourselves to pick up this message in 431 years.
February 1st, 2008 at 2:36 pm
I noticed that the original file was an MP3 and it was a digital transmission. MP3 is a format designed using psychoacoustics to throw away all the sound humans can’t hear and thus achieve high levels of compression. i.e. The tricks MP3 uses will sound very different to different species and obviously aliens.
Also, it was a digital transmission which really dramatically reduces the chance of anyone ever being able to decode the transmission, realize it is audio, and properly assemble it into an audio file.
Of course no one is listening out there but still…they could at least make an effort.
February 1st, 2008 at 3:52 pm
That is indeed Kevin Grazier, BA. The two guys in the back are (nearer guy) Andy Ingersoll (of Caltech) and (further guy) Carl Murray (of Queen Mary University, London). Andre Brahic (Centre d”Etudes de Saclay, Paris) is the visible person in the second row. I can’t really tell who the two people behind Kevin and Andre are, but I’ve often wondered.
February 1st, 2008 at 6:56 pm
This post reminds me of something interesting I recently read (though I can’t remember where now). Basically, the author said that all those radio & TV signals we’ve been beaming into the universe become “lost” in the cosmic background noise of the universe after about four light years from Earth. He compared it to dropping a rock into the ocean: You start out with big ripples initially around the point of impact, but as they radiate out, they become smaller and less noticeable until they eventually disappear entirely.
February 2nd, 2008 at 10:27 am
Some friends of mine have a photo of themselves identical to this one.
Moments after it was snapped, a detachment of Abbey Road residents descended upon them and beat them to within an inch of their lives. Apparently it happens practically every time there’s a “WALK” signal. The hard part is distinguishing those who are reproducing the album cover from those who are simply crossing the street. The Abbey Roaders have a method, but mum’s the word, for fear of losing their edge over the tourists.
February 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Bo Babbyo, regarding Abbey Road: there is no “WALK” signal — it is a zebra crossing. Zebra crossings have no signals; the cars are required to stop as soon as a person puts one foot on the road…
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:46 am
You know, I THOUGHT there was something fishy about that story. I shall berate my friends for their mendacity at the first opportunity. It’s a sad day when you can’t trust the word of album-cover imitating pedestrians.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:08 am
Earth rotates - so Polaris is the right choice (well, you could use that star near the south celestial pole instead, but nobody who’s right-side up has ever heard of it.) If you point to something that’s not near the poles, then you’re spraying the music around whatever fraction of a 360-degree circle it takes to finish the song, so no hypothetical listener gets very much of it, and all the different broadcasters are pointing different directions. (If you wanted to do something like that, it’d be much simpler; the World Cup gets broadcast from everywhere…)
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:06 am
[…] as soon as I started digging, I found everybody in the blogosphere had beaten me to it - the Bad Astronomer and the Beeb and me ole chum Paul at Skymania News , and Fraser Cain at Universe Today; and its […]
February 3rd, 2008 at 10:47 am
Bill is right. Probably the Wow! signal can be explained this way.
February 4th, 2008 at 8:21 am
There is very little chance (as close to zero as I can imagine) of any intelligent being intercepting and recording this particular message (or any directed single radio message) and ever decoding whichever coding / modulation was used, to reproduce the sound waves (which require of course similar atmospheric pressure and loudspeaker technology). Recorded music is way too complex anyway to be recognized as a message.
SETI should try some real feasibility experiments. Take two groups, independent of each other, the other one devises a radio message that should be able to picked up anywhere on Earth with sensitive enough radio equipment (and it should be as vague as that). The other group is the receiver, who don’t know when (let’s say, within a year) the signal begins or ends, at what bandwidth it will be broadcast, or what kind of encoding is used. Neither group knows where the other is located. Basically a double blind STI (Search for Terrestrial Intelligence).
Of course, a certain long distance short wave band (or in any case a band that can be received almost anywhere on Earth, given right circumstances) should be reserved for this purpose for the transmitting group. Now, a certain amount of transmitter time (less than the whole experiment time) should be given to the transmitting team that they can allocate as they choose during the experiment period, while the receiving group listens the whole time using their chosen methods.
If they can detect the signal (and they should of course concentrate on detecting a terrestrial signal sent by the other group, and shifting out all shortwave radio stations etc.) and decode it within that period, it would indicate that it is atleast possible to detect an intelligent message from the noise.
February 4th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Or let’s just send the song “Shipwrecked Frontier Pioneer” by the avant garde progessive metal band Arcturus toward Arcturus.
February 4th, 2008 at 10:26 am
“If you point to something that’s not near the poles, then you’re spraying the music around whatever fraction of a 360-degree circle it takes to finish the song, so no hypothetical listener gets very much of it, and all the different broadcasters are pointing different directions.”
They *do* have tracking on the DSN. How else to they talk to those spacecraft in the ecliptic (not so far from th equatorial plane)?
February 4th, 2008 at 10:39 am
I’ve done some research on the five(!) anniversaries that this ‘Active SETI’ broadcast is meant to celebrate - the hardest thing was to find out why the Deep Space Network thinks it’s only 45 years old when it was busy tracking spacecraft since 1958. Eventually I mailed the author of the NASA press release - and got an answer back within minutes, and that on a Sunday! Whoever wants to “play along” tonight can make use of the various YouTube incarnations of “Across the Universe” I’m linking to.
February 5th, 2008 at 6:28 am
This NASA Beatles transmission is pseudo-scientific — in my paper
[url=http://www.cplire.ru/html/ra&sr/irm/limitations.html]Limitations on Volume of Interstellar Radio Messages[/url]
was shown that real-time digital transmission of audio is not possible:
>If we assume that They are situated in the neighbourhood at a distance
> of 70 light years from us and have the same, or even a little more
>sensitive, SETI receivers, like to our future ATA (Allen Telescope Array)
>or SKA (Square Kilometer Array), then daily volumes of IRMs, which we
>can transmit from ART, GSSR, and EPR toward given celestial target are
> equal 75, 200, and 20 kilobits for ATA-like receiver, or 7.5, 20, and 2
>megabits for SKA-like receiver, respectively. And this volume is in
>inverse proportional dependence from squared distance. Consequently,
>we should aspire to be laconic now in our IRM compositions.
February 25th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Years ago there was a sketch on Saturday Night Live when “psychic” Steve Martin showed the next cover of Time Magazine, revealing that the Voyager record had been discovered and a message sent proving the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe. It consisted of just four words: “Send more Chuck Berry.”