Science & Cinema: Contact
The 1997 film Contact is based on a novel by none other than renowned astrophysicist Carl Sagan. In the film, scientists receive first contact in the form of a radio signal from an intelligent source, and begin deciphering the message to unlock the secrets of the universe.
While the story is fictional, the premise is surprisingly not. In fact every day, scientists are scanning the skies quietly listening for a message from another world. A research group called “Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence” (SETI) is devoted to keeping watch with various technologies, you can read more about them here https://www.seti.org/.
The radio telescopes shown in the film are also real. Run by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, the unimaginatively-named Very Large Array (VLA) is one of the most powerful radio telescopes in the world, and it’s quite possible that if a true extraterrestrial signal were to be discovered it would be studied further here. In fact, SETI is currently teaming up with the VLA in their search.
Contact opens with a breathtaking voyage out from the Earth, through the Solar System and on to the edges of the known universe. This famous sequence is one of the most realistic (and stunning) simulations seen in modern cinema, and is worth checking out even if you haven’t seen the film! As the camera moves out through the Solar System, you’ll notice the radio transmissions reflect increasingly earlier eras, what you’re hearing is roughly where the earliest radio transmissions from Earth would be in space presently as they continue to expand outward through the galaxy.
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