THE ARCTURUS PROJECT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      [v1.01]


  At 5:31pm on August 1st 1997, a radio message was received at the
ERSO Radio Observatory, coming from Arcturus. The signal received
appears to be of intelligent origin, rather than a natural phenomenon.
The signal is binary in nature, consisting of an amplitude-modulated
(AM) carrier wave containing a tone that oscillates between two 
frequencies. 16129 distinct bits were recorded (tone high = 1, 
tone low = 0), then there was a pause 68 seconds long before the next 
"page" began. During this pause, the carrier wave was still present, 
though the amplitude-modulation ceased (the tone was silent). Several 
distinct pages were received in this manner, and then the whole 
process simply repeated, and continues to repeat to this day.

  Each page has been stored in a simple text file, with each bit
represented as an ASCII character ("0" or "1"), in the order they
were received, 60 characters per line (arbitrary number chosen,
60 fits in most text viewers).

  Your goal is to try to decode these messages. You may use whatever
resources you have at your disposal, including but not limited to
books on cryptography, physics, astronomy, and radio.

  Hint for getting started: A message is much easier to read when
you know how to view it correctly first.

  Think you have the answer? Go to 
http://www.necrobones.com/seti/arcturus/


Data:
~~~~~

Length of pause between pages:  68 seconds
Length of each page in time:    1088 seconds (18.3 minutes)
Length of each page in bits:    16129
Frequency of transmission:      1420 MegaHertz
Signal polarization:            Random
Signal flux:                    96 Janskies
Signal mode:                    AM
Tone frequencies (0,1):         240.94, 481.88 hertz
Message began:                  August 1, 1997 @ 5:31pm ET
Source:                         Arcturus (class K2, 11 parsecs away)
First detected by:              ERSO Station


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Revision History:

1.01   -  Division statements on page 6 had reverse order on the
          operands. This has been corrected.



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Fact or Fiction?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Fiction. This "message from the stars" was created as a "game", the
idea is to see just how easily a message can be decoded when it 
contains symbols and syntax that are unfamiliar, particularly when
the message is intended to be easy to decode.
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  If the aliens start sending new messages, or transmit any revisions,
they will be made available under new version numbers.
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This text file and all of the message files are 
Copyright (C) 1997, Ed T. Toton III, All Rights Reserved.

Permission is hereby granted to distribute these files
freely, as long as appropriate credit is given, and 
they are distributed in the original unmodified form.
