Do aliens exist? 40 years ago this question was asked. Answer will come soon
The message was composed with the intention to show what humans are like and how life works on Earth.
Scientists are hoping to receive a message from aliens soon, after waiting for 40 years. The message was sent by Japanese astronomers Masaki Morimoto and Hisashi Hirabayashi to a star that does not appear to have any planets. But the catch is that there will only be an hour to hear the message. The message was composed with the intention to show what humans are like and how life works on Earth and send it into the cosmos. It was sent using a telescope at Stanford University to Altair- a star 16.7 light years away that could potentially have life around it. The original message was sent on 15 August, 1983.
Now the team led by Shinya Narusawa at the University of Hyogo will use a large Japanese telescope to try and see if anything is sending back a reply to the message. They will listen for messages coming from the star on August 22 as the date is significant because of it being Japan’s Tanabata star festival which symbolically celebrates the meeting of two deities Orihime and Hikoboshi, the latter is represented by Altair.
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Shinya Narusawa said that he was hopeful that aliens are out there somewhere and that the message could have really been sent towards alien life.
“A large number of exoplanets have been detected since the 1990s,” he told Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun. “Altair may have a planet whose environment can sustain life," he added.
In 2008, Hisashi Hirabayashi admitted that the pair had been drunk when they came up with the idea of sending the message, it was reported.
“I believe in aliens, but they are very difficult to find,” he said then, noting that he had received an array of messages from schoolchildren about the message.
