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09/05/2001 12:22:22 AM MDT Albuquerque, Nm By Dustin D. Brand; Owner AMO
Quote from Carl Sagan regarding the Arecibo Transmission The decoded message forms a kind of pictogram that says something like this: "Here is how we count from one to ten. Here are five atoms that we think are interesting or important: hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and phosphorus. Here are some ways to put these atoms together that we think interesting or important - the molecules thymine, adenine, guanine and cytosine, and a chain composed of alternating sugars and phosphates. These molecular building blocks are put together to form a long molecule of DNA comprising about four billion links in the chain. The molecule is a double helix. In some way this molecule is important for the clumsy looking creature at the center of the message. That creature is 14 radio wavelengths or 5 feet 9.5 inches tall. There are about four billion creatures on the third plant from our star. There are nine planets altogether, four big ones toward the outside and one little one at the extremity. This message is brought to you courtesy of a radio telescope 2,430 wavelengths or 1,004 feet in diameter. Yours truly." Quote from Carl Sagan and Frank Drake regarding Jupiter "In our own solar system, for example, there are three miniature "solar systems": the satellite systems of the planets Jupiter (with 13 moons), Saturn (with 10) and Uranus (with five). [EDITORS' NOTE: the number of known satellites has increased greatly since the time that this article was written.] It is plain that however such systems are made, four of them formed in our immediate neighborhood. Original Arecibo 1974 Message - Construction The content of the message was developed by Frank Drake, then professor of astronomy at Cornell and now a professor in the Division of Natural Sciences at the University of California at Santa Cruz and president of the SETI Institute; Richard Isaacman, then a Cornell graduate student and now working at Research and Data Systems Corp. in Greenbelt, Mass.; Linda May, another graduate student now professor of physical sciences at Wheelock College in Massachussetts, and James C.G. Walker, then a member of the Arecibo staff and now professor of physical sciences at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Others, especially the late Carl Sagan, who eventually became the David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences at Cornell, contributed to the project. Related NASA Links: Messier 13 Light Year Distance (NASA.GOV Link) NASA Arecibo 1974 M13 Transmission Link Related JPL Links: The planet Jupiter's four largest moons are called the Galilean satellites, after Galileo Galilei who discovered them in 1610. These moons, named Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, are particularly intriguing since each has its own amazing distinction in our Solar System. JPL on Jupiter's 4 Galilean Satellites JPL Jupiter Facts - Pioneer 10 was accelerated to the velocity of escape from the solar system by the gravitational field of Jupiter on December 3, 1973. Pioneer 11 swung past Jupiter on December 4, 1974, and will travel on to Saturn before it is accelerated on a course to the far side of the galaxy. Related Encounter 2001 Evaptoriya Arecibo Retransmission (1999) Links: Encounter 2001 Transmission 1 Cosmic Call (1999) Report Cosmic Call II Encounter 2001 Evaptoriya Message (not Arecibo message) Encounter 2001 (not Arecibo message) contained 2 mathematical errors. DNA and Molecular References MIT Human Genome Nucleotides Estimate 3,164.7 Billion Watson and Crick describe DNA "Almost all aspects of life are engineered at the molecular level, and without understanding molecules we can only have a very sketchy understanding of life itself." -Francis Crick MIT - The Beauty of Mutations (DNA) 1960 - 30,000 Human Genes Prediction DNA Base Pairing Rules 1972: First successful DNA cloning experiments are carried out in California . In 1974 Antony Hewish received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of pulsars. Definitions microwave, electromagnetic wave having a frequency range from 1,000 megahertz (MHz) to 300,000 MHz, corresponding to a wavelength range from 300 mm (about 12 in.) to 1 mm (about 0.04 in.). Like light waves, microwaves travel essentially in straight lines. They are used in radar, in communications links spanning moderate distances, and in other applications, such as microwave ovens (see kitchen). The equipment used to generate, process, and transmit microwaves is in many respects different from that used with lower frequency radio waves. See waveguide; magnetron. binary star, or binary system, pair of stars that are held together by their mutual gravitational attraction and revolve about their common center of mass. In 1650 Riccioli made the first binary system discovery, that of the middle star in the Big Dipper's handle, Zeta Urase Majoris. True binary stars are distinct from optical doubles-pairs of stars that lie nearly along the same line of sight from the earth but are not physically associated. Binary stars are grouped into three classes. A visual binary is a pair of stars that can be seen by direct telescopic observation to be a distinct pair with shared motion. A spectroscopic binary cannot be seen as two separate stars, even with the most powerful telescopes, but spectral lines from the pair show a periodic Doppler effect that indicates mutual revolution. Some lines indicate motion toward the earth while others indicate motion away; later, as the stars revolve around in their orbit, this pattern reverses. An eclipsing binary has the plane of its orbit lying near the line of sight, and shows a periodic fluctuation in brightness as one star passes in front of the other. The more massive star (A) of a binary is called the primary, and the less massive (B) is called the secondary; e.g., Sirius A and Sirius B are the primary and secondary components of the Sirius system. It seems likely that more than two-thirds of the stars in our galaxy are binary or multiple (a system of more than two stars moving around their mutual center of mass), since many stars within 30 light-years of the sun are binary or multiple. The masses of the components of a spectroscopic binary can be determined from the observed motions and Newton's law of gravitation; binary stars are the only stars outside the solar system for which masses have been directly determined. Binary stars are thus important indicators from which the masses of all similar stars can be deduced. Measurements of the masses of some of the visual binary stars have been used to verify the mass-luminosity relation. Although most binary stars have distance between them, the components of W Ursae Majoris binaries are actually in contact with each other, their mutual gravity distorting their shapes into teardrops. There are binary systems in which one member is a pulsar: PSR 1913+16, for example, has an orbital period of 7 hr 45 min; in this case the other star is also a neutron star. The orbit period decreases as the system loses energy in the form of gravitational waves; used as a clock to measure the effect of the curvature of space-time on the binary's orbit, such a system confirms Einstein's theory of general relativity. purine A double-ringed, crystalline organic base, C5H4N4, not known to occur naturally, from which is derived the nitrogen bases adenine and guanine, as well as uric acid as a metabolic end product. pyrimidine A single-ringed, crystalline organic base, C4H4N2, that forms uracil, cytosine, or thymine and is the parent compound of many drugs, including the barbiturates. Any of several organic compounds derived from or structurally related to pyrimidine, especially the nitrogen bases uracil, cytosine, and thymine. nucleotide Any of various compounds consisting of a nucleoside combined with a phosphate group and forming the basic constituent of DNA and RNA. nucleoside Any of various compounds consisting of a sugar, usually ribose or deoxyribose, and a purine or pyrimidine base, especially a compound obtained by hydrolysis of a nucleic acid, such as adenosine or guanine. nucleic acid Any of a group of complex compounds found in all living cells and viruses, composed of purines, pyrimidines, carbohydrates, and phosphoric acid. Nucleic acids in the form of DNA and RNA control cellular function and heredity. nitrogen base or nitrogenous base A basic compound that contains nitrogen, such as a purine or pyrimidine. adenine A purine base, C5H5N5, that is the constituent involved in base pairing with thymine in DNA and with uracil in RNA. thymine A pyrimidine base, C5H6N2O2, that is an essential constituent of DNA. guanine A purine base, C5H5ON5, that is an essential constituent of both RNA and DNA. cytosine A pyrimidine base, C4H5N3O, that is the constituent of DNA and RNA involved in base pairing with guanine. adenosine A nucleoside, C10H13N5O4, composed of adenine linked to ribose, that is a structural component of nucleic acids and the major molecular component of ADP, AMP, and ATP. thymidine A nucleoside, C10H14N2O5, composed of thymine and deoxyribose guanosine A nucleoside, C10H13N5O5, consisting of guanine and ribose. cytidine A white crystalline nucleoside, C9H13N3O5, composed of one molecule each of cytosine and ribose. hydrogen bond A chemical bond in which a hydrogen atom of one molecule is attracted to an electronegative atom, especially a nitrogen, oxygen, or flourine atom, usually of another molecule. DNA - Deoxyribonucleic Acid - A nucleic acid that carries the genetic information in the cell and is capable of self-replication and synthesis of RNA. DNA consists of two long chains of nucleotides twisted into a double helix and joined by hydrogen bonds between the complementary bases adenine and thymine or cytosine and guanine. The sequence of nucleotides determines individual hereditary characteristics. The building blocks (monomers) of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) are called nucleotides. Each nucleotide is composed of (1.) a deoxyribose (5C) sugar, (2.) a phosphate (PO4-3) group, and (3.) a nitrogenous base of 4 kinds: Cytosine and Guanine that bind together with 3 hydrogen bonds, and Thymine and Adenine that bind together with 2 hydrogen bonds. Adenine and Guanine have two rings of mostly carbon atoms and are called purines, cytosine and thymine have one ring and are called pyrimidines. space-time relativity Quantum Theory - Evolution of Quantum Theory Albert Einstein 1879-1955, American theoretical physicist, known for the formulation of the relativity theory, b. Ulm, Germany. He is recognized as one of the greatest physicists of all time. Silicon "In the deepest sense the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is a search for ourselves." - Carl Sagan |