A color visual interpretation of the digital signal in the
Arecibo message, sent in 1974 from the
Arecibo Observatory.
Broadcast into space via
frequency modulated radio waves at a ceremony to mark the remodeling of the Arecibo radio telescope in
Puerto Rico, the message consisted of 1,679
binary digits, approximately 210
bytes, transmitted at a frequency of 2,380
MHz. It was aimed at the
Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, some 25,000
light-years away, and contains information related to mathematics, chemistry, and astronomy.
Graphic: Arne Nordmann