Symbolic sky projections. A method of extraterrestrial contact?

Figure 1: Photo of telescope shaped shadow in the sky.

This story raises many questions involving possible attempts by extraterrestrials to make their presence known without being intrusive. Figure 1 above is a photo I took in 2024. It shows a dark, linear shadow in the sky that most people probably ignored or didn’t notice. The shadow’s shape is reminiscent of a segmented antique telescope.

Figure 2: A segmented antique telescope would cast a shadow similar to the one shown in Figure 1

The telescope-like shape of the shadow in Figure 1 was unusual, and it’s the only time I’ve seen something like it. In the second part of this article, I’ve included a short summary of the mathematical contact messages that were encoded by the trajectories of the interstellar objects Oumuamua and Comet Borisov. Could Oumuamua, Borisov, and the sky shadow in Figure 1 be related to an ongoing series of extraterrestrial attempts to make contact with humanity? The premise of this article is that many contact events may have occurred, but human thinking and perception are too inflexible to recognize them.

The conclusion of my earlier work is that Oumuamua and Borisov attempted to contact humanity by using their intelligently navigated and controlled trajectories to create mathematical messages. Oumuamua and Borisov’s method of communication was unconventional when judged by human standards. Their physical messaging method, however, raises the possibility that ETs may use unexpected and unique forms of communication different from our own.

Figure 3: The Arecibo Message Contained A Telescope Image

The visual projection of a telescope-shaped shadow onto the clouds above Earth is symbolically and contextually consistent with the type of message that an ET society might use to contact humanity. Support for that assertion goes beyond the fact that telescopes are used to study other planets and star systems. An image of the Arecibo radio telescope was encoded in the 1974 Message that humans beamed into space to make contact with ETs.

The incorporation of a telescope image in the Arecibo Message makes it plausible that ETs receiving the message might respond by including a telescope image in their reply. In Figure 1, which appears to show a projected telescope shadow in the sky, could be a symbolic message that says “You can see us with your telescopes in the sky.”

Figure 4: The Hubble Space Telescope is a Telescope in the Sky.

A search was conducted for possible natural phenomena that could explain the cloud shadow in Figure 1. The photo was put into Google AI, which performed a reverse image search. The closest matches were jet contrail shadows. Jet contrail shadows, however, are longer and more uniform in width than the Figure 1 image, which does not resemble a jet contrail shadow.

Figure 5: A jet contrail shadow

Part II: Unconventional ET Messaging Methods

There is a factual reason to believe that the first two interstellar objects ever seen in the Solar System by humans were sent as ET messengers. Interstellar objects Oumuamua and Comet Borisov each employed precise navigation to create intelligent mathematical messages. The fact that Oumuamua and Borisov were intelligently controlled and navigated means that they meet the International Academy of Astronautics definition of a technosignature.

In its broadest sense, a technosignature is any measurable property, astronomical manifestation, or effect that provides scientific evidence of past or present extraterrestrial technology. The bias in human thinking is that we define technosignatures as falling into categories designed to fit our way of thinking, rather than the way ET entities might think and communicate. The list below is some of the International Academy of Astronautics’ technosignature categories. ET’s projecting an image from space onto the clouds above Earth is miles outside the box the IAA uses to evaluate possible technosignatures.

Electromagnetic Signals: Traditional radio transmissions, optical laser emissions, or planetary-scale radar usage.

Astroengineering & Megastructures: Large-scale energy installations that leave observable anomalies (e.g., Dyson spheres exhibiting excess infrared heat).

Spacecraft & Artifacts: Active or defunct probes, interstellar objects (ISOs), and other engineered debris.

Figure 6: Oumuamua and Borisov’s tajectory values measured in Astronomical Units (AU)

The Earth’s perihelion, or its closest point to the Sun, is 1.0 astronomical unit (AU). Borisov’s perihelion was 2.0 AU. Oumuamua’s perihelion was .25 AU, or four times closer to the Sun than Earth, and eight times closer than Borisov. The exponential multiplication sequence defined by Borisov, Oumuamua, and Earth’s perihelion ratios is: 2:1, 4:1, and 8:1, or 2 to the first, second, and third powers. In terms of message theory, a base 2 message is a logical starting point since it’s the only even prime number.

2,4,8

Oumuamua’s closest approach to Earth was 16/100 AU, and sixteen is the next number needed to extend the 2, 4, 8 perihelion ratio sequence. The 2,4,8,16 sequence equals 2 to the first, second, third, and fourth power. If you had a bowl with one hundred numbers in it, the probability of selecting 2,4,8, and 16 in four draws is 1 in four million.

2,4,8,16

When the sequence 2, 4, 8, 16 is converted from decimal to binary, it produces the mirror-image base-ten sequence: 2 = 10, 4 = 100, 8 = 1000, and 16 = 10000.

The observation that the perihelion sequences of Oumuamua and Borisov have a binary analog appears to be the creative use of mathematical symbolism in messaging. Just as important is that the 1974 Arecibo message explained Earth’s numbering system by presenting the numbers 1 through 10 in binary code. To do this, the Arecibo message presented the numbers 1, 2, 4, and 8 in the exponential multiplication format shown below.

The Arecibo Message Format

The use of binary format in the Arecibo Message’s first line was intended to teach any extraterrestrial recipient how to interpret humanity’s number system. Numbers were then used to convey mathematical, chemical, and biological messages. Oumuamua and Borisov’s perihelion message and its 2,4,8,16 binary analog closely mirrors the format used in the Arecibo Message.

Substantiating data support the theory that Oumuamua and Borisov’s base-2 and base-10 exponential multiplication sequences were contact messages created by the interstellar objects’ intelligently controlled trajectories. Beyond the exponential multiplication sequences themselves, there appears to be a message-verification feedback loop. The feedback loop and other encoded messages use base-10 numbers as translation keys, as shown below.

Symbolism in Messaging: The observed perihelion multiplication sequence (2 to the 1,2,3,4 power) has four exponents. In terms of extraterrestrial symbolic messaging, it seems likely that the four exponents symbolize the Solar System’s four inner rocky planets. Because exponent 4 was derived from Oumuamua’s closest point to Earth (16/100 AU), it’s different from exponents 1,2, and 3. The first three exponents were extrapolated from Oumuamua, Borisov, and Earth’s perihelia. The structural difference in the way exponent [4] was obtained is important and must be considered as the message sender’s way to say something specific.

The observed perihelion sequence (2 to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th powers) has four exponents. In terms of extraterrestrial messaging, it is likely that those four exponents symbolize the Solar System’s four inner rocky planets. Because exponent [4] was derived from Oumuamua’s closest point to Earth (16/100 AU), it’s different than exponents 1,2, and 3, which were derived from Oumuamua, Borisov, and Earth’s closest points to the Sun (perihelia).

Figure 7: The Arecibo Message is structurally similar what Oumuamua and Borisov encodred

If exponents 1–4 in Oumuamua and Borisov’s perihelion message symbolize the Solar System’s four inner planets, then exponent 4 would represent Mars. Because exponent 4 was derived from Oumuamua’s closest point to Earth, it’s out as being different than exponents 1,2, and 3.

If we incorporate symbolism into our message translation model, then exponent [4] represents Mars. More importantly, exponent [4] being derived differently from exponents 1,2 and 3 means that the message sender wanted Mars to stand out. A message in which Mars was offset from the other 3 rocky inner planets mirrors the Arecibo Message format, where Earth was the planet offset. See Figure 7.

Support for the “Mars was intended to stand out” hypothesis is obtained from additional data. Comet Borisov, the second interstellar object ever seen in the Solar System, arrived exactly one Martin year after Oumuamua’s Earth flyby. Borisov’s discovery 1 Martin year after Oumuamua buzzed Earth likely indicates that the message sender was again pointing at Mars.