Strange Maps

July 23, 2009

401 – What’s On Earth Tonight?

Filed under: Uncategorized — strangemaps @ 12:29 am

 starmap

The first tv images of World War II are about to hit Aldebaran star system, 65 light years [ly] away. If there’s anybody out there alive and with eyes to see it, the barrage of actual and dramatised footage of WW2 will keep them shocked and/or entertained for decades to come. Which is just as well, for they’ll have to wait quite a few years to catch the first episodes of such seminal series as The Twilight Zone and Bonanza (both 1959), just about now hitting the (putative) extraterrestrial biological entities of the Mu Arae area (appr. 50 ly). The Cosby Show, Miami Vice and Night Court (all 1984) should be all the rage on Fomalhaut (25 ly). Meanwhile, the sentient, tv-watching creatures near Alpha Centauri (4.4 ly), our closest extrasolar star, are just recovering from the infamous “wardrobe malfunction” during Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s halftime show during the 2004 Superbowl.

All this is assuming, of course, that the aforementioned extraterrestrials prefer American tv to, say, German Fernsehen. And – this surely is the greater assumption – that our terran television signals are able to penetrate the universe in a way that makes them receivable in the far-flung corners of our galaxy.

Many thanks to Patrick McComb and Wallace J. McLean for sending in this map, found here on Abstruse Goose.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)


77 Comments »

  1. That comic has a lot of similarities to this xkcd comic, which shows distance to various astronomical objects on a log scale. Which makes sense, as Abstruse Goose pretty much admits to being wholly inspired by xkcd.

    Comment by Randall — July 23, 2009 @ 1:00 am

  2. There were regular TV transmissions from the UK long before this effort would appear to suggest!

    Comment by Cogidubnus — July 23, 2009 @ 1:03 am

  3. I suppose the video version of this would be the beginning of the movie “Contact.” Even if you don’t dig the movie, you have to love the opening.

    Comment by Dr. Schluss — July 23, 2009 @ 1:16 am

  4. [...] Read it. [...]

    Pingback by DYSPEPSIA GENERATION » Blog Archive » What’s On Earth Tonight? — July 23, 2009 @ 1:31 am

  5. Of course the TV signal strength weakens (inverse square law) so that by the time it passes Pluto it is no greater than the background noise of space. Even with a narrow beam delivery, such as a laser, the signal would be too weak to reach the nearest star.

    Comment by Steve L — July 23, 2009 @ 2:12 am

  6. [...] And, on the subject of maps … an odd one. [...]

    Pingback by Stones Cry Out - If they keep silent… » Things Heard: e77v4 — July 23, 2009 @ 3:53 am

  7. The Pat Sajak Show?

    Comment by Rey Fox — July 23, 2009 @ 4:49 am

  8. Well, I guess Mu Arae have been laughing at us for two years now, as they intercept ‘The Sky At Night’ – and they’ve another 50 years of it to come, with the same presenter…

    Comment by Jay — July 23, 2009 @ 9:32 am

  9. [...] Strange Maps: What’s On Earth Tonight? [...]

    Pingback by Stralau-Blog — Schöner sterben am Wasser » Blog Archive » Links von Donnerstag, 23. Juli 2009 — July 23, 2009 @ 11:01 am

  10. I’ve been looking for that Apple Superbowl commercial for years. It never occurred to me to check Fomalhaut.

    Comment by Terry — July 23, 2009 @ 11:10 am

  11. Watched a TV show on National Geographic recently that essentially said the strength of our radio and TV transmissions attenuates quickly to a point that it’s reduced to random noise within just a light-year or two. Kind of depressing, if you ask me.

    Comment by Ryan Hauck — July 23, 2009 @ 12:34 pm

  12. You’re right Steve, and even if the signal wasn’t diminished by the distance I doubt it would survive the heliosheath intact.

    Still, a fun map.

    Comment by Hungry Donner — July 23, 2009 @ 12:37 pm

  13. [...] 401 – What’s On Earth Tonight? [...]

    Pingback by New York OA Trader | Shared Items From Around The Web – July 23, 2009 — July 23, 2009 @ 1:00 pm

  14. So if you missed the series finale of Quantum Leap, just plan your next vacation on Formalhaut.

    Comment by Choinski — July 23, 2009 @ 1:26 pm

  15. so now that it’s all digital broadcast, does that mean we’re keeping all the stuff to ourselves?

    Comment by ellew — July 23, 2009 @ 2:12 pm

  16. Sad to say, but the signal weakens with distance and by the time it gets to Pluto it is lost in the cosmic background noise.
    Sorry to be Captain Bringdown.

    Comment by Tom Jones — July 23, 2009 @ 4:48 pm

  17. Not to mention that Babylon 5 and Sopranos were only on cable (until recently), so no one will be seeing those in space either.

    Comment by Scott — July 23, 2009 @ 6:00 pm

  18. [...] This is sooo cool. Via StrangeMaps: [...]

    Pingback by Loganotron » What’s On Earth Tonight? — July 23, 2009 @ 6:14 pm

  19. While it’s true that the strength of the signal will drop below background noise quite fast, that doesn’t mean that you can’t find it if you are actively looking for it.
    You just have to take a large enough sample and look at the frequencies; the random noise will cancel each other out, while the non-random TV signal will remain. So it might be possible for very advanced and determined civilisations that are only a few light years away from earth, to watch earthly television.

    Comment by Sebastian — July 23, 2009 @ 6:14 pm

  20. This would be really cool to get as a poster.

    Comment by Hunter — July 23, 2009 @ 6:38 pm

  21. This idea was the basis for a Futurama episode. Aliens on Omicron Persei 8 watch televesion shows broadcast 1000 years earlier.

    Comment by Raphael — July 23, 2009 @ 6:44 pm

  22. Reminds me of the beginning of “Contact” with Jodie Foster, the radio programs are becoming older and older as the camera view travels away from Earth and into the galaxy, and beyond, until – absolute silence.

    The movie is worth seeing for that scene alone.

    Comment by Valaris — July 23, 2009 @ 9:23 pm

  23. Be pretty cool if the aliens were to have the same life-style as Americans did at the times of those series…

    Comment by Floyd — July 23, 2009 @ 11:46 pm

  24. Absolutely amazing site. Well done.

    Comment by A Free Man — July 24, 2009 @ 12:14 am

  25. Cricket was also broadcast in the late 1930s. There were “sports bars” in London with TVs for the customers to watch cricket.

    Comment by Rich Rostrom — July 24, 2009 @ 1:11 am

  26. Scott, Babylon5 was only on Free to air in Aus, so it’s out there !

    Comment by Alan — July 24, 2009 @ 3:03 am

  27. Weren’t they trying out TV broadcasts in the late 1920? I remember reading that in a book about the shift in Hollywood from Silent Movies to Talkies. The rent on the TV sets was a bit high, and when the depression hit all interest in TV died out.

    Not sure what they were broadcasting in 1928 and 1929, though.

    Comment by Don H. — July 24, 2009 @ 4:18 am

  28. [...] Ce se de la teve sau ce înțeleg extratereștrii din asta [...]

    Pingback by Niuz flaș | zi@rit — July 24, 2009 @ 6:54 am

  29. Well done.

    Comment by domzuccone — July 24, 2009 @ 1:09 pm

  30. Nice good post, yeach, ^_^…V

    Comment by D3pd — July 24, 2009 @ 1:48 pm

  31. I don’t know what’s more depressing; the banality of TV juxtaposed with the immensity of our universe, or the fact that most of this stuff has dissipated to the point of irrelevant white noise…Both here and in the cosmos at large.

    Comment by The Necromancer — July 24, 2009 @ 1:52 pm

  32. Iforgot about “The untouchables”, and “Captain Kangaroo”. Those are all time classics!

    Comment by agent58 — July 24, 2009 @ 1:58 pm

  33. Awesome, great post :)

    Comment by Lazarus — July 24, 2009 @ 2:07 pm

  34. [...] [via] [...]

    Pingback by Was zeigen sie heute Abend auf der Erde? | Spreeblick — July 24, 2009 @ 3:10 pm

  35. [...] 401 – What’s On Earth Tonight? « Strange Maps – If extraterrestrial civilizations are monitoring our TV broadcasts, then this what they are currently watching – sehr geil gemacht, auch die ganze Site [...]

    Pingback by delicious Bookmarks » lte.cc — July 24, 2009 @ 3:19 pm

  36. Cable programs were (and still are) beamed to the hubs of local networks by satellite.

    Comment by stefan — July 24, 2009 @ 3:31 pm

  37. [...] don’t count the dentist office as a household.  And it definitely doesn’t count all of the TVs in outer space.  Our neighbors within 20 light years of Earth are just getting Seinfeld now. [...]

    Pingback by outside the idiot box « mellowcat — July 24, 2009 @ 3:46 pm

  38. Given the fact that transmissions don’t weaken after afew light years, Why am I not receiving alien programs on my TV now? Does that mean these creatures hasn’t invented TVs yet or are they so done with tv that their transmissions were sent during the dinosaur age? Just a random thought.

    Comment by orleebaldedara — July 24, 2009 @ 3:48 pm

  39. [...] H/T: Abstruse Goose via Strange Maps [...]

    Pingback by They’re Watching Star Trek on Zeta Reticuli « Grand Rants — July 24, 2009 @ 4:50 pm

  40. Spacecasting and its Outcome…

    Did I tell you I love maps? No? Well, I love maps! When I don’t read books, I read maps – not really, but the thing is they fascinate me. And this one is a great find [from Strange Maps and they found it on Abstruse Goose]:
    The TV Programm…

    Trackback by BrainPulp — July 24, 2009 @ 7:04 pm

  41. The good folks at Wolf 359 have already seen Star Trek: The Next Generation. I hope they don’t think its a documentary and are now making plans for the Borg invasion.

    Comment by Mike — July 26, 2009 @ 2:41 am

  42. I would rank this map among the best of Strange Maps.

    Comment by Patrick of Atlantis — July 26, 2009 @ 2:28 pm

  43. So if it would be possible to build a rocket traveling at the speed of light, and they would also install a TV on that rocket, would astronauts have to watch the same thing all the time?

    Sounds like a variation on Einstein’s mirror. And no wonder Frank Poole rather chose to play chess.

    Comment by ArCgon — July 26, 2009 @ 7:32 pm

  44. ArCqon @43: I think the astronauts would just watch the same still image broadcast from earth. Presuming they don’t change channels. And presuming that a signal receiver even works the same way at velocities close to c.

    Comment by Wilson — July 26, 2009 @ 9:53 pm

  45. Assuming our entertainment signals actually arrived anywhere, and that they could be decoded, any sentient extra-terrestrial would immediately conclude from ‘I Love Lucy’ and ‘Michael Jackson’ that the originating planet is devoid of intelligent life.

    Comment by Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) — July 27, 2009 @ 2:42 am

  46. Where is
    Blackadder and Yes Minister?

    Comment by Ole — July 27, 2009 @ 10:30 am

  47. [...] maps that show all sorts of things. They’re all fascinating, but make sure to check out this one in particular, which shows which American television shows have reached which [...]

    Pingback by A Most Interesting Site « A Movable Bridge — July 27, 2009 @ 10:19 pm

  48. [...] 401 – What’s On Earth Tonight? « Strange Maps [...]

    Pingback by igorbrejc.net » Fresh Catch For July 28th — July 28, 2009 @ 6:03 am

  49. So how would the digital switchover affect this? Will they stop receiving western telly and be left with only african and asian broadcasts?

    @scott: We had Sopranos in the UK on terrestrial (no pun intended) since about 99 so anyone/thing on Sirius would have already seen the ‘end’.

    Comment by dansk — July 28, 2009 @ 12:54 pm

  50. [...] 401 – What’s On Earth Tonight? « Strange Maps July 28th, 2009 by malte Discuss this article » via strangemaps.wordpress.com [...]

    Pingback by 401 – What’s On Earth Tonight? « Strange Maps » lte.cc — July 28, 2009 @ 3:14 pm

  51. Nice Article! Cool!

    Comment by Russell — July 29, 2009 @ 1:47 am

  52. [...] daqui. [...]

    Pingback by TV Terra « — July 30, 2009 @ 12:17 pm

  53. Wow, this is awesome! Science geeks are hot.

    Comment by M2M — July 30, 2009 @ 7:22 pm

  54. [...] universe is watching what from Earth tonight is best seen (and described) in its original form on Strange Maps.  One of those images that changes one’s [...]

    Pingback by Hyde Park Blvd » Blog Archive » We’re Known for Wrestling on Aldebaran — July 30, 2009 @ 10:11 pm

  55. [...] weiterlesen… [...]

    Pingback by MD|blog» Blogarchiv » …what they are currently watching — July 31, 2009 @ 6:02 am

  56. [...] Allt detta enligt sajten Strange Maps. [...]

    Pingback by 2:a Världskriget når avlägsen stjärna | John Houdis BLOGG - Dagar i en entertainers liv — August 2, 2009 @ 9:21 am

  57. I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that these electromagnetic waves dissipate across space, and that we’re not creating couch potatoes in a galaxy far far away.

    Comment by oleolo — August 2, 2009 @ 5:47 pm

  58. So the light from Sol emitted in 1969 is just now reaching Zeta Reticuli? Cue the 1990s nostalgia, as the mid-1990s was when Zeta Reticuli was at the core of the alien abduction mythology. Because those big-eyed, gray-skinned aliens obsessed with everyone’s poopshoots are from Zeta Reticuli. Now that they’re watching Star Trek and the moon landings they must be all nervous about our going to their home and getting some payback.

    The Freemen have resurfaced in Montana, so the rest of the black helicopter crowd may as well join the party.

    Comment by Jerod Poore — August 2, 2009 @ 8:24 pm

  59. [...] 401 – What’s On Earth Tonight? « Strange Maps :: [...]

    Pingback by Present Tensed / rasml.org — August 2, 2009 @ 8:45 pm

  60. [...] Nice… http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/401-whats-on-earth-tonight/ [...]

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  61. [...] From our favourite Map site… [...]

    Pingback by SensoryMetrics » Earth TV: How long before Season 2 of True Blood???? — August 6, 2009 @ 12:59 am

  62. Also need to consider the earth spinning. Since satellites and ground antennae will be spinning with the earth, these systems would only gain reception once every 24 earth hours…

    Comment by Barry John Williams — August 10, 2009 @ 3:22 pm

  63. [...] I went nuts looking for a map that Carl Sagan made, but this one is better. It’s a map of where our radio signals are in the Universe, 65 years after we started broadcasting them (HT Clint). Radiowaves in Space Credit: Abstruse [...]

    Pingback by ideonexus.com » Blog Archive » Science Etcetera, Venusday 20090814 — August 14, 2009 @ 5:02 am

  64. Excellent!

    Comment by Robert — August 14, 2009 @ 7:23 pm

  65. [...] Image credit: Abstruse Goose (h/t Strange Maps) [...]

    Pingback by bark, bugs, leaves, & lizards » Ameri-Centric, But You Get The Idea — August 16, 2009 @ 10:23 pm

  66. [...] Interesting nonsense that gives us some perspective on the history of television from a new angle, but probably nonsense: [...]

    Pingback by Moe Lane » This map is probably nonsense, alas. — August 24, 2009 @ 2:28 pm

  67. Hey, you have a great blog here! I’m definitely going to bookmark you! Thank you for your info.And this is **Televisions** site/blog. It pretty much covers Televisions related stuff.

    Comment by Televisions — September 4, 2009 @ 4:17 am

  68. It would be good to show the scariest logos for the territories, like “This area claims V of Doom as the scariest logo”, “And this area claims VID”

    Comment by dars-dm — October 4, 2009 @ 2:56 pm

  69. British television shut down in 1939 and resumed in 1946, but there was German and American television through the war.

    The major obstacle towards receiving terrestrial television in a remote star system – besides ridiculously low field strengths – would be that many transmitters are on the same frequency thus interfering with each other. On earth we don’t notice as the curvature of the earth shields them from each other, but out there they would be practically inseparable.

    Another question is, would they figure out how to decode it. The sync pattern probably suggest some kind that the signal represents some kind of of rectangular pattern which is regularly updated, but will they figure out it means brightness and is supposed to be looked at? Maybe …

    Figuring out colour is decidedly non-obvious. not only because it assumes human physiology. But black&white is probably good enough for aliens. :)

    Comment by wolfgang — October 10, 2009 @ 7:39 pm

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  71. I was going to point out that the signals are so diffused by a lightyear or so out that they basically don’t exist, but in reading the comments I found that several other people already commented on that, so instead I’m posting to commend your site for having a scientifically literate readership! That’s so cool!

    Comment by Republibot 3.0 — October 23, 2009 @ 10:55 pm

  72. [...] [...]

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  74. [...] This one is very interesting… It is a map of “what aliens are watching”. It shows how far the first television broadcast frequencies have traveled in space… [...]

    Pingback by Strange maps « Brett Spiel Cafe — November 14, 2009 @ 3:28 am

  75. Will they also have to convert to digital? But as they have aready seen and heard, there is no “intellegent life” on that planet.

    Comment by vickie — December 13, 2009 @ 2:27 am

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    Comment by Bryan- Logo Design — December 21, 2009 @ 7:52 am

  77. Carl Sagan claimed that the earliest signal broadcast by humans that would escape into space was Hitler addressing the Nuremburg rallies in around 1933.

    Comment by A guy — December 24, 2009 @ 9:18 am

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