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Description

Rather than a radio signal, an alternative form of communication to let other world beings that there is intelligent life in that star system.

Radio signals has the problem that after 100 light years, their signal is too badly garbled to be heard properly. As well as we are only listening to a small range, between 1GHz and 10GHz, and therefore we could potentially be missing out on many forms of communications that are somehow able to escape their atmosphere and reach us. The WOW! signal still remains a mystery to this day.

So in another star system, a species set up a massive spinning signal mirror over 1000km in diameter. The massive mirror had opened sections to where it spins, it effectively flashes their star's light in a pattern recognizable as 1, 4 and 9. The squares of 1, 2 and 3.

Sound familiar? As in the dimensions to the mysterious monoliths from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The first signal remains for a certain time interval, say 1 minute. It goes dark for 3 minutes. Then it flashes on and off every minute for 4 flashes. Goes dark for 3 minutes, then flashes 9 times and goes dark for 5 minutes. Then the process repeats.

The mirrors are paper thin, but are massive. 1400km long, and almost 900 km across on its widest edge. They're string together with tethers with counterweights to ensure they remained balanced, and inertia keeps it going until it's interrupted by say a wayward meteor or comet. They are effectively conical, and therefore able to signal other star systems thousands if not tens of thousands of light years away in almost any direction, and without accidental reflection from the back of the mirrors. The tethers are so thin in comparison, say less than 1m across that they are effectively invisible, so no point in trying to make them visible. And because it's light which has a much, MUCH shorter wavelength -- 430,000 GHz for red light vs 10 GHz to what we are listening to -- FAR less chance of signal degradation.

And naturally, Starfleet picked up the visual signal and sent a ship to investigate. But since the signal was limited to light speed, there is no telling how advanced they are or if anyone is even living there.

EDIT: I modified the signal wheel so it's more balanced having twice the number of mirrors, but only 1/4 the surface area. I also added tethers so they were visible, but then they would need to be 5km across to be visible. But then they would probably need to be large where if the wheel slowed to once an hour or once a day, and the mass of the reflectors doesn't help.

Description

Rather than a radio signal, an alternative form of communication to let other world beings that there is intelligent life in that star system.

Radio signals has the problem that after 100 light years, their signal is too badly garbled to be heard properly. As well as we are only listening to a small range, between 1GHz and 10GHz, and therefore we could potentially be missing out on many forms of communications that are somehow able to escape their atmosphere and reach us. The WOW! signal still remains a mystery to this day.

So in another star system, a species set up a massive spinning signal mirror over 1000km in diameter. The massive mirror had opened sections to where it spins, it effectively flashes their star's light in a pattern recognizable as 1, 4 and 9. The squares of 1, 2 and 3.

Sound familiar? As in the dimensions to the mysterious monoliths from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The first signal remains for a certain time interval, say 1 minute. It goes dark for 3 minutes. Then it flashes on and off every minute for 4 flashes. Goes dark for 3 minutes, then flashes 9 times and goes dark for 5 minutes. Then the process repeats.

The mirrors are paper thin, but are massive. 1400km long, and almost 900 km across on its widest edge. They're string together with tethers with counterweights to ensure they remained balanced, and inertia keeps it going until it's interrupted by say a wayward meteor or comet. They are effectively conical, and therefore able to signal other star systems thousands if not tens of thousands of light years away in almost any direction, and without accidental reflection from the back of the mirrors. The tethers are so thin in comparison, say less than 1m across that they are effectively invisible, so no point in trying to make them visible. And because it's light which has a much, MUCH shorter wavelength -- 430,000 GHz for red light vs 10 GHz to what we are listening to -- FAR less chance of signal degradation.

And naturally, Starfleet picked up the visual signal and sent a ship to investigate. But since the signal was limited to light speed, there is no telling how advanced they are or if anyone is even living there.

EDIT: I modified the signal wheel so it's more balanced having twice the number of mirrors, but only 1/4 the surface area. I also added tethers so they were visible, but then they would need to be 5km across to be visible. But then they would probably need to be large where if the wheel slowed to once an hour or once a day, and the mass of the reflectors doesn't help.