M13 (NGC 6205, M13)

Arecibo message illustration, 1974

This is a graphical representation of the message sent in 1974 from the huge Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. The message, composed of binary digits, was the first deliberate attempt to transmit information to extraterrestrials. It carries information on DNA, human beings, the Solar System and the telescope itself. The message was beamed towards the M13 star cluster, but will never reach it – by the time the signal gets to that part of space, in about 25,000 years from now, the cluster will have moved.