Japanese Astronomers Plan to Observe for a Response from Intelligent Life
August 18, 2023
In a groundbreaking project, Japanese astronomers are set to observe whether there will be a response from the direction of Altair, a star in the Aquila constellation, after 40 years of sending a message from Earth. The project is a collaboration between “Weekly Shonen Jump” and Japanese astronomers, aiming to explore the possibility of intelligent life outside of our planet.
The original message was sent on August 15, 1983, by Masaki Morimoto, a former professor at the National Astronomical Observatory, and his team. Using radio waves and an antenna at Stanford University in the United States, they transmitted a message that included 13 types of image information, showcasing the history of life on Earth, the solar system, and the DNA structure.
Shinya Narusawa, a lecturer at Hyogo Prefectural University and a researcher for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Initiative (SETI), will be conducting the observations on the 22nd of this month using the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Usuda Space Observatory’s antenna located in Saku City, Nagano Prefecture.
Altair, which is approximately 17 light-years away from our solar system, would have received the message around 2,000 years ago. Despite Altair’s high surface temperature of over 7000 degrees, which is higher than the sun, and the absence of discovered planets around it, the astronomers believe it is important to explore the possibility of intelligent life.
Narusawa stated, “This is a challenge that you don’t know if you don’t do it. If we think about the possibility of intelligent life on other planets, it may become an opportunity to think about the way life on Earth exists.”
While the likelihood of a response from Altair is considered to be extremely low, the observations on the 22nd mark the 40th anniversary of the original message, and Narusawa plans to engage the cooperation of other universities to continue the observation project in the future.
The results of this project could have significant implications for our understanding of the existence of intelligent life beyond Earth and how life on our planet came to be. With these observations, Japanese astronomers are taking a step forward in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Source: Kyodo News