MetaFilter posts tagged with et

35 years of shouting into the abyss

filthy light thief — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:54:17 -0800

It's been 35 years this month since the Arecibo message was sent from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, when the 1,679 digit message was sent once, towards Messier 13. More messages have been sent sky-wards since, in attempts for communication with extra terrestrial intelligence (CETI), with the (ill-fated) Team Encounter was instrumental in Cosmic Call 1999 and 2003 (more details: 58 page PDF). The more complex three-section Teen-Age Message was sent out in 2001, including a musical piece entitled 1st Theremin Concert for Aliens. In 2008 NASA sent the Beatles into space, transmitting "Across the Universe" for the 40th anniversary of the song's recording, the 45th anniversary of the Deep Space Network (DSN), and the 50th anniversary of NASA (prev). If you felt left out of the sending of signals, Talk To Aliens offered a "deep space e-mail service" and a certificate of interstellar broadcast (prev), but no more. Now Sent Forever offers a long-lasting alternative to traditional greeting cards, or simply the worst tie-in for Apollo 11. Given that the travel time to M13 was some 25,000 years, the Arecibo message was more a show of terrestrial radio technology, rather than an actual attempt to communicate, according to Carl Sagan and others. Regardless, there was a reply in the fields near Chilbolton Observatory in England (prev). And then there was the mysterious transmissions of Transient Bursting Source GCRT J1745-3009 (prev). Bonus material: Arecibo Message (the album, from Boxcutter)

3 Million Tons of Extraterrestrial Ice Fishing

filthy light thief — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:01:42 -0800

At least three million tons of fishlike creatures could theoretically live and breathe on Europa, according to Professor Richard Greenberg of the University of Arizona in Tucson. Greenberg recently presented his findings to the Division for Planetary Sciences, American Astronomical Society (PDF, Google quick view). Greenberg has written about potential life on Europa before, but his recent calculations suggest that the concentrations of oxygen would be great enough to support not only microorganisms, but also more complex animal-like organisms which have greater oxygen demands. Water under the ice of Europa is the first step towards life on Europa. Life on Europa has been proposed before, even with potential Europa-like situations found on Earth at the Blood Falls of Antarctica (previously). Water could be warmed through the gravitational push and pull of Jupiter, generating huge planetary waves in Europa's submerged ocean. Galileo's expedition, which found several lines of evidence to support the theory that liquid oceans exist under Europa's icy surface, ended when it crashing into Jupiter to prevent lifeforms from Earth possibly infecting Europa. Jupiter Europa Orbiter is planned to launch February 2020, with a goal to explore Europa to investigate its habitability.

Crocodiles don't talk.

NoraReed — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:26:41 -0800

I Went Left Instead Of Right In Pitfall And Kept On Tickin' And Now I Believe In Miracles: An absurdist play.

I for one welcome our new "Controllers"

monospace — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:00:21 -0800

It's official. The aliens are coming. In 2017. Turns out they might like The Beatles after all. The UN is on the case. The Hindus are going to be especially upset.

Cryogenic Venting

brownpau — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:42:32 -0800

Light Reflection: a brilliant fan of cryogenics venting from a relief valve on STS-122 Atlantis' ET (external tank) post-separation. Also see this handheld video of the ET, with money shots at 2:15 and 3:55. Atlantis just landed yesterday, completing the delivery and installation of Columbus. Next up, STS-123 Endeavour delivers Kibo.

the Amazing Roswell UFO Festival

janetplanet — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:22:31 -0800

LOOK UP! (or down, if you happen to be reading from one of these. The annual "Amazing Roswell UFO Festival" happens this weekend, and it looks like ~~people~~ - er, visitors - are coming from all over! Who knew back in 1947 that this little incident would be the start of an entire sub-culture? Well, for me the fascination started with two of the the greatest UFO movies ever. For my grandparents, it started with one of the greatest radio broadcasts ever. But hey, there's no need to rely on fiction when we have one of the most insanely great UFO videos of all time provided by none other than the Mexican Government! Seen anything strange in the sky yourself lately? If so, you'd better report it here.

Michinima 2006!

Lord_Pall — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 19:52:58 -0800

Fans of Flight Simulators and Michinima might be familiar with the adventures of Bill and John. If you're not, download episode 1 along with the subtitles and and familiarize yourself with a very funny piece of machinima, even more impressive because it's not only in Lock On: Modern Air Combat, but in French to boot. Well they're back, winning Best Picture at the Machinima 2006 film festival, The Adventures of Bill Et John II. Browse the rest of the nominees and winners on the Machinima.com festival page.

ET Could Hack SETI.

jasonspaceman — Mon, 24 Nov 2003 09:43:00 -0800

ET Could Hack SETI. SETI, which uses down time on the computers of thousands of volunteers to search for intelligent signals from space, has a potential problem—besides information, a broadcast to us from an alien intelligence could also carry a computer virus. Leonard David writes in the main link's space.com article that physicist Richard Carrigan (who works here) takes it seriously. He thinks SETI should figure out how to decontaminate any signals it receives.

GriffX — Tue, 02 Jul 2002 13:47:24 -0800

The industry-standard effects magazine Cinefex has made some articles from their archives viewable online. One of them is this lengthy and fascinating look at E.T. from a 1983 issues.

da5id — Thu, 05 Apr 2001 10:45:17 -0800

Life Elsewhere? In an attempt to get away from the Chinese-American situation, scientists have recently discovered 11 new planets, with one possibly inhabiting a "Life-Zone."

veruca — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 17:21:21 -0800

New planets! Saturn-sized, even!