Michael Lee Hill is an Ohio Native and musician, who hopes to make contact with ‘Oumuamua using his music.
‘Oumuamua, a Hawaiian word meaning “scout,” entered the solar system in 2017 and sparked headlines as the first known interstellar object. Some even speculate that it could have had an artificial origin because of its weird behavior and random bursts of acceleration.
Humankind has made numerous attempts to let the universe know we’re here, such as sending signals out to exoplanets orbiting in their star’s habitable zones or launching spacecraft like Voyager 1 with a golden record explaining the existence of Earth. But never before has someone tried to direct a radio signal toward this mysterious object, let alone one containing music.
Hill and a team will utilize a powerful radio transmitter and antenna array located in the Arizona desert to send signals to ‘Oumuamua.
He’s anticipating the transmission, which will begin on Christmas Eve and continue to Dec. 26, will produce a response from the object that will get the attention of the mainstream scientific community.
“You know I think it’s very important to transmit back to this object,” Hill told ABC News 5 Cleveland. “Truly if we’re not alone, and what the team members believe is that when Oumuamua came through our solar system, it might have been waiting for the proper response. The proper transmission had the right key. I think it’s super important because they need to know that we’re ready for contact.”
Hill is also working with Richard C. Hoagland, an American author and best known for his various conspiracy theories about NASA, lost alien civilizations on the Moon and Mars, and other related topics.
“Just like we’re trying to get ‘Oumuamua’s attention, if we can get the scientific establishment’s attention, then we will have succeeded,” Hoagland said.
Also on the team is David Sereda, who helped create the musical and mathematical message to be sent to ‘Oumuamua.
“It’s so important to find out not only that we’re not alone in the universe, but how to communicate with someone else out there in the universe,” Sereda said. “It’s going to have to be mathematical and or musical. That’s where art meets science, music is a form of communication, and what establishes music are mathematical harmonies.”
At this point, you’re probably wondering what the message to ‘Oumuamua will be. The continuous transmission will feature Hill’s original song Morning Star and mathematical code that hasn’t been disclosed.
“So us giving out an olive branch is very important, so they understand, look, I think that they can handle this and they’re not going to freak out,” Hill stated. “The act of us trying to communicate with them is very, very important for all of us.”
Today, the object is closely approaching Neptune’s orbit, where it will continue to zoom away from Earth and leave entirely around 2026. You can track ‘Oumuamua’s current location and speed through a live simulated tracker by @SpaceIn3Dsite found here.
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