In August 2001 two formations appeared beside the Chilbolton radio telescope in Hampshire. One was a face. The other looked like a reply to the message humanity sent into space in 1974. Together with earlier formations in the same field, they make Chilbolton the most important site in the catalogue.
The Arecibo message
On 16 November 1974 the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico sent a short binary message towards the star cluster M13. It was written by Frank Drake with Carl Sagan and others. Read as a picture, it shows the numbers one to ten, the elements of life, the structure of DNA, a human figure, our population, the solar system and the telescope that sent it.
The reply
In August 2001 a formation in the same layout appeared next to Chilbolton. It follows the original line by line, with key details changed. Silicon is added to the elements of life. The DNA has an extra strand. The figure is shorter with a larger head. Three planets are highlighted in the solar system instead of one. The telescope is drawn as a different device.
Read this way, it describes the sender. The Arecibo response page goes through each change.
The face
A few days earlier a large face appeared in the same field, made of lines of different widths like a halftone print. Many see it as a portrait of the sender.
Earlier formations at Chilbolton
The same field had hosted a Sierpinski triangle fractal in 1999 and a signal device diagram in 2000. The device looks like the transmitter shown in the reply a year later.
The 2002 alien and disc
A year later, in August 2002, a formation near Sparsholt, also in Hampshire and also next to a radio mast, showed an alien figure holding a disc. The disc holds a message in binary. It is often grouped with Chilbolton for that reason.
The sceptics
Sceptics say skilled teams made all of these. That is possible, but a team would have needed to know the Arecibo message closely, design a precise reply and lay it out overnight beside a working radio telescope. Judge the evidence on each signal page and vote for yourself.
But what is literally the message of the disc?
“Beware the bearers of FALSE gifts & their BROKEN PROMISES. Much PAIN but still time. BELIEVE. There is GOOD out there. We OPpose DECEPTION. Conduit CLOSING.”