Can our TV signals be picked up on other planets?

Question

Nasa's recent broadcast of Beatles music towards Polaris, the North Star, using a 210ft antenna and 20kw of power, would require any potential aliens to have an antenna seven miles across to be aware of it. To actually receive it as music, this would need to be increased to a 500-mile wide antenna. Polaris is 430 light-years away.

But if aliens can watch our television, there might be a problem. Astronomer Carl Sagan, in his book Contact, suggested the first high-powered television broadcast the aliens would have picked up would be Hitler's broadcasts at the Nuremburg rallies.

Answer 1

Hmm, thats interesting, In a way I hope aliens dont have anything to do with us. but aliens arent real. ohh well (:

Answer 2

I'm sure that they can pick up are frequencies on there satellites. They are smarter than most people seem to think. For the person who said that aliens don't exist, if there is life on this planet than there sure is life on other planets, they are most probably not big eyed long skinny fingers and body like people think they are and who knows they have probably been walking among us for years but nobody know the difference. They study us like we study them. If they wanted us to catch there frequencies they would broadcast theres too, but they know from experience that anything that the scientists or government find on our planet that is different they kill, disect and study. So they would not open there frequency and risk being found by our government. Also if they were keeping an eye on our frequency's they can probably read everything we write on this site. Which is kind of funny, have you seen some of the questions that are asked. There's something else to think about. Well I hope I anwered your question?

Answer 3

whack job

Answer 4

No cause it would be really far from Earth.

Answer 5

I dunno. I'm sure they're very unentertained like me if they can...

Answer 6

For years I've heard that - like what's been mentioned already - the very first radio and TV transmissions by humans would be picked up first by aliens (and only a moron would say with certainty that they do not exist), but recently I read somewhere that some scientists now believe that TV and radio signals in fact dissipate through space making it almost impossible to be received and understood light years away.

Answer 7

that is a really good question! But as far as answering it, i would have to say that we really don't know. We don't know if their is life on other planets, let alone whether or not they watch tv lol.

Answer 8

well even if they got it they would not be able to understand it most likely

Answer 9

Dumb Question.  There is no reason to care if tv signals can be picked up on different planets, aliens do not exist.  

Answer 10

assuming that aliens exists, why would anyone believe that they share the same technology as we do?  furthermore, why broadcast beatles music (of all music!) into outer space?  i'm not an astronomer, but none of it makes any sense.

Answer 11

Watch the movie "Contact" with Jodie Foster.

In the move=e, the first alien contact is our own television transmission of Hitler giving a speech.

Television signals travel outward into the cosmos at the speed of light.

The closest star (and possible system of planets ) is 4 light years away. So they are theoretically recieving TV transmissions from the year 2004.

You are correct about the power and size of antennas which would be a major hurdle.

Answer 12

cwool

sry i can't help you.. but that's interesting..

Answer 13

Silly human, how can you possibly comprehend technology that pwns our laws of physics?