How to describe position of our solar system to some ETI in other galaxy?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around how to effectively communicate the position of our solar system to extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) in distant galaxies. It explores the feasibility of using universal coordinates or other methods to convey this information, considering the challenges posed by the movement of celestial bodies over time.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions the possibility of describing the solar system's position to ETI and suggests that coordinates may not be helpful due to the movement of celestial bodies.
  • Another participant proposes describing Earth's initial position relative to the galaxy and implies that ETI would need to deduce the solar system's path over time.
  • A contribution mentions the Pioneer 11 probe's plaque, which used pulsars to indicate position, but notes that this method may be less effective for communication outside our galaxy due to the sun's rotation.
  • One participant estimates that a probe traveling to Andromeda would encounter significant positional error due to the solar system's movement during the journey.
  • There is a correction regarding the sun's orbital period around the Milky Way, with participants acknowledging the actual time frame of 225-250 million years for one revolution.
  • Another participant raises a concern about the implications of advertising our presence to the universe, suggesting caution in how we communicate with potential ETI.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express various viewpoints on the methods of communication and the challenges involved, indicating that multiple competing views remain without a consensus on the best approach.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the assumptions about the stability of pulsar positions over time and the unresolved implications of potential ETI responses to our communications.

samnathan
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Hi, I am wondering how to describe a position of our solar system to some other extraterrestrial intelligence in some distant galaxy to find us? Is it possible or not?

i mean if such guidance exist for any galaxy or they have to track back movement of your probe or spaceship etc. and some coordinates are not helpful at all.

I mean if you want to send a thousand of "near-the-speed-of-light-spaceships" to every direction possible (within 1000x limit) so after a hundred or thousand years they arrive to many galaxies and if the ETI find this probe, how can they track it down to the place of origin?

What should be on the "ETI-invitation-info-message"?

Is there a way of universal coordinates/position no matter of where the receiver will be (up,down,left,right,front,back etc.) or this is imposssible to achieve.

Thanks in advance.
 
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The only way I can think of is to describe the initial position of Earth in relation to the rest of the galaxy and hope they can figure out the path we took in our long orbit of the galaxy. By the way, at 99% the speed of light, it would take over 2 million years to reach the NEAREST galaxy to us.
 
Within our own galaxies, I know that the plaque on the Pioneer 11 probe had our position relative to 14 bright pulsars, with the periods of each pulsar written on the plaque in binary.

Outside of our galaxy, it would be much harder, mostly because as Drakkith said, by the time a probe reached another galaxy, the sun would have rotated so much that any way of triangulating our star would most likely be invalid.
 
Assuming a 4-5 million year round trip for a probe to reach Andromeda and the ships launched to make it back to the Milky Way, the solar system would have made about 1-2% of it's journey around the galaxy. So for Andromeda the error would not be large, but for further away galaxies it would quickly become much larger.
 
Ah, for some reason I was thinking the sun had an 60,000 year orbital cycle around the Milky Way's core, which now that I think about it is obviously incorrect.
 
Vorde said:
Ah, for some reason I was thinking the sun had an 60,000 year orbital cycle around the Milky Way's core, which now that I think about it is obviously incorrect.

Yep, it takes about 225-250 million years for 1 revolution.
 
thanks guys :smile:
 
Using pulsars is a very good idea, but, advertising our presence to the universe is probably not such a good idea. Heaven forbid, they might be just like us.
 

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