The Arecibo Message

History:

The Arecibo message is an interstellar radio message which carries basic information about humanity and earth. It was sent to globular star cluster M13 (25,000 light years from earth) in 1974. It will take almost 25,000 years to arrive there.

It is intended for any extraterrestrial life form if present there. It was also a way to demonstrate human technological advancement. The message was broadcast into space by the Arecibo observatory.

The Arecibo message really fascinates me, as it's really interesting to write a message in a way that anyone in the universe can understand it, removing the language barrier. One such attempt was the Arecibo message. I decided to make the Arecibo message even to celebrate humanity's technological advancement.

• Cardboard
• Scissor
• Pencil
• Glue (Adhesive)
• White paper
• Black colour paper
• Red colour paper
• Violet colour paper
• Blue colour paper
• Green colour paper
• Dark sketch pen

• Take the cardboard & the black colour paper.
• Apply glue on the colour paper.
• Stick the colour paper on the cardboard.
• Similarly stick more black colour paper such that the cardboard is vertically filled.
• Don't leave gap while sticking the colour papers, take your time & stick carefully.

Now cut out the remaining piece of cardboard with scissor after successfully pasting the black colour paper on the cardboard.

• The arecibo message consist of 1679 bits, arranged into 73 rows and 23 coloumn.
• The size of your rectangular board doesn't really matter, until it has 79 rows and 23 coloumn.
• Measure the length and breadth of your rectangular board.
• Let's say the length is x cm and it's breadth is y cm.
• Now your length that is x cm divide it by 73.
• Take the breadth that is y cm of the board and divide it by 23.
• Now what you have got is the length of the side of your smallest unit.

• Now once you are set with your measurements, start with measuring and marking the gap between two consecutive lines.
• First, I started with marking the gap between 23 coloumn lines.
• Then use the scale and pencil to make the 23 coloumn, try as best as possible to make straight lines, take your time and do it accurately.
• Now, I marked the gap between 72 row lines.
• Then draw 73 rows, it has to be neat. One thing required is patience, yes it will take time to draw 73 row lines, be patient & draw as accurately as possible.

Now, starts the most important task, that is sticking on the codes. I would suggest you to refer to the Wikipedia image of the Arecibo message in order to get the right spots of the codes. Different colors are used in arecibo message in order to differentiate codes and this colour information is not present in the actual message that was sent.

• The first code represents the basic numbers, that is from 1 to 10 as indicated in the image above.
• First refer to the Wikipedia Image and mark the spots with 'W' which indicates White, you can use your own symbols.
• Now, draw small units as per your measurement on a white colour paper.
• Then cut out your small units from white sheet.
• Apply glue on them.
• Then stick on the spots marked with 'W' (White)
• Now first code of basic numbers are ready.

• Similarly now first use the violet colour paper to cut out small units and stick it accordingly at the right place. This code indicates, the atomic number of elements which are present in DNA that are Hydrogen, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen & Phosphorus respectively.
• The next code gives the chemical formulas for DNA building blocks using atoms defined above, also representing the nitrogen bases (base pairs), Adenine, Guanine, Thymine & Cytosine.
• The last code of the DNA part represents the helical structure of DNA.
• Be patient and cut the small units correctly and stick it slowly on the marked position, yes it is time consuming but later will end up as a masterpiece.

• The third code indicates the figure of a human.
• The element on the left coded to show the human height.
• And the thing coded on the right to show our population.
• Even this similarly as others use the red colour paper.
• Cut out the small units, you can even cut more than one unit at once as per the requirement, to ease the work.
• Apply glue and stick it according to the markings made (by referring to the Wikipedia image)

• The last code is nothing but a figure of the arecibo telescope itself, with which this message was sent.
• Here again as all others, use the violet colour paper.
• Cut out the units.
• Stick the pieces carefully, place your last strip, marking the completion of all the codes.

• Now for the final touch up, use a dark sketch pen (I used brown sketch pen)
• I would recommend you to use a black sketch pen.
• Now highlight all units individually.
• Use a narrow tip sketch pen, make sure it's not much thick.
• If you want, you can even skip this step, if you want it to be plain, even that would look really good.
• It's done, your arecibo message is ready!