Pick your star
Every Cosmic Echo message is aimed at a real astronomical target. You're not naming a star (that's symbolic). You're sending an actual radio signal toward it. The parabolic dish antenna at Station 1 is aimed at precise celestial coordinates, and your message is transmitted at 1420 MHz — the hydrogen line — directly toward your chosen destination.
Here are your options, each with its own story, significance, and travel time:
Here are your options, each with its own story, significance, and travel time:
Alpha Centauri — 4.37 light-years
The closest star system to our Sun. Alpha Centauri is actually a triple star system: Alpha Centauri A (a G-type star similar to our Sun), Alpha Centauri B (a slightly smaller K-type star), and Proxima Centauri (a small red dwarf that is technically the closest individual star at 4.24 light-years).
Why it matters: Proxima Centauri hosts a confirmed Earth-sized exoplanet — Proxima Centauri b — orbiting in the habitable zone where liquid water could exist. Discovered in 2016, it's the nearest known potentially habitable world. If there's life near any of our target stars, this is the most likely candidate.
Your message arrives in 4.37 years. That's close enough to be visceral. You could send a message today and know that within your lifetime, the signal has reached another star system — one that might harbor life.
Why it matters: Proxima Centauri hosts a confirmed Earth-sized exoplanet — Proxima Centauri b — orbiting in the habitable zone where liquid water could exist. Discovered in 2016, it's the nearest known potentially habitable world. If there's life near any of our target stars, this is the most likely candidate.
Your message arrives in 4.37 years. That's close enough to be visceral. You could send a message today and know that within your lifetime, the signal has reached another star system — one that might harbor life.
Vega — 25 light-years
One of the brightest stars visible from Earth, Vega sits in the constellation Lyra and has been a beacon of astronomical firsts. It was the first star ever photographed (1850, by William Bond and John Adams Whipple at Harvard Observatory) and the first to have its spectrum recorded. For most of human history, Vega was the North Star — and will be again in about 12,000 years due to axial precession.
Vega is surrounded by a large debris disk of dust and rocky material, which may indicate active planetary formation. It's also famous as the destination star in Carl Sagan's novel and film "Contact" — a story about humanity's first communication with an alien civilization.
At 25 light-years, your message reaches Vega within a generation. For fans of astronomy, science fiction, or anyone drawn to historically significant stars, Vega is a compelling choice.
Vega is surrounded by a large debris disk of dust and rocky material, which may indicate active planetary formation. It's also famous as the destination star in Carl Sagan's novel and film "Contact" — a story about humanity's first communication with an alien civilization.
At 25 light-years, your message reaches Vega within a generation. For fans of astronomy, science fiction, or anyone drawn to historically significant stars, Vega is a compelling choice.
Polaris — 433 light-years
The North Star. For thousands of years, Polaris has been the fixed point in the night sky around which all other stars appear to rotate. It guided Polynesian navigators across the Pacific, helped escaped slaves follow the Underground Railroad north to freedom, and served as a reference for every civilization in the Northern Hemisphere.
Polaris is actually a triple star system. The primary star (Polaris Aa) is a yellow supergiant — about 1,260 to 2,500 times more luminous than our Sun. Despite appearing as a steady, modest star to the naked eye, it's actually enormous and extremely bright.
Sending a message to Polaris carries deep human symbolism. It's the star we've looked to for guidance since before recorded history. Your words join that tradition — not looking to Polaris for direction, but sending a message toward it. Arrival time: 433 years from now, in approximately the year 2459.
Polaris is actually a triple star system. The primary star (Polaris Aa) is a yellow supergiant — about 1,260 to 2,500 times more luminous than our Sun. Despite appearing as a steady, modest star to the naked eye, it's actually enormous and extremely bright.
Sending a message to Polaris carries deep human symbolism. It's the star we've looked to for guidance since before recorded history. Your words join that tradition — not looking to Polaris for direction, but sending a message toward it. Arrival time: 433 years from now, in approximately the year 2459.
Sagittarius A* — 26,000 light-years
The supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Four million times the mass of our Sun, compressed into a region smaller than our solar system. In 2022, the Event Horizon Telescope captured the first-ever image of Sagittarius A* — confirming decades of theoretical predictions.
A message aimed at Sagittarius A* travels toward the heart of our galaxy. It will pass through the dense stellar regions of the galactic core, potentially within range of millions of star systems along the way. The signal reaches the black hole's vicinity in approximately 26,000 years.
This is the choice for people who think big. Really big. Your message, aimed at the center of a galaxy containing 100–400 billion stars. It's the most epic destination available — and the one that generates the most awe when people check their Signal Tracker.
A message aimed at Sagittarius A* travels toward the heart of our galaxy. It will pass through the dense stellar regions of the galactic core, potentially within range of millions of star systems along the way. The signal reaches the black hole's vicinity in approximately 26,000 years.
This is the choice for people who think big. Really big. Your message, aimed at the center of a galaxy containing 100–400 billion stars. It's the most epic destination available — and the one that generates the most awe when people check their Signal Tracker.
Deep Space — infinite journey
No specific target. Your message is aimed outward into the cosmic void, traveling forever with no particular destination. Some people find this the most poetic option of all.
A deep space message isn't aimed at a star — it's aimed at everything and nothing. Over millions of years, it will pass through regions of space containing countless unknown star systems. It's the cosmic equivalent of a message in a bottle, thrown into the largest ocean that exists.
Deep Space is the most popular choice among people sending cosmic time capsules and memorials. There's something powerful about releasing your words without expectation — not aimed at a target, just outward. Free.
A deep space message isn't aimed at a star — it's aimed at everything and nothing. Over millions of years, it will pass through regions of space containing countless unknown star systems. It's the cosmic equivalent of a message in a bottle, thrown into the largest ocean that exists.
Deep Space is the most popular choice among people sending cosmic time capsules and memorials. There's something powerful about releasing your words without expectation — not aimed at a target, just outward. Free.
How a star message works
You write your message (up to 500 characters) and choose your destination star. Your message is encoded into binary and transmitted as a radio signal at 1420 MHz — the hydrogen line frequency, considered the universal channel by radio astronomers worldwide.
The signal leaves the parabolic dish at Station 1 in Northern Finland, exits Earth's atmosphere in milliseconds, and enters interstellar space. From that point, nothing can stop it. There's no air resistance in space, no friction, no obstacles. The radio wave propagates through the vacuum at exactly the speed of light — 299,792,458 meters per second.
Your message to space will travel toward your chosen star at this speed indefinitely. The energy weakens with distance (inverse-square law), but the electromagnetic wavefront never stops. It continues expanding outward for millions of years.
The signal leaves the parabolic dish at Station 1 in Northern Finland, exits Earth's atmosphere in milliseconds, and enters interstellar space. From that point, nothing can stop it. There's no air resistance in space, no friction, no obstacles. The radio wave propagates through the vacuum at exactly the speed of light — 299,792,458 meters per second.
Your message to space will travel toward your chosen star at this speed indefinitely. The energy weakens with distance (inverse-square law), but the electromagnetic wavefront never stops. It continues expanding outward for millions of years.
A connection to the cosmos
Stargazing is humanity's oldest shared experience. Every culture, every civilization, every person who has ever lived has looked up at the night sky and wondered. The first astronomers were Babylonian priests tracking the stars 4,000 years ago. The first person to understand that stars were distant suns was Anaxagoras in 450 BCE.
Sending a star message connects that ancient impulse with modern radio technology. For all of human history, looking at the stars has been a one-way experience — we look up, and the light comes down. Cosmic Echo reverses that relationship. Your words go up. Toward a specific star, at a specific frequency, at the speed of light.
You join the tiny handful of human signals that have actually left our planet. Not a passive observation of the cosmos, but an active participation in it. That shift — from observer to sender — is what makes a star message feel so different from anything else.
Sending a star message connects that ancient impulse with modern radio technology. For all of human history, looking at the stars has been a one-way experience — we look up, and the light comes down. Cosmic Echo reverses that relationship. Your words go up. Toward a specific star, at a specific frequency, at the speed of light.
You join the tiny handful of human signals that have actually left our planet. Not a passive observation of the cosmos, but an active participation in it. That shift — from observer to sender — is what makes a star message feel so different from anything else.
Jul 1, 2026
Transmission date
1420 MHz
Hydrogen line frequency
299,792 km/s
Signal speed
$19
Founding price
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know
Your words deserve to travel forever
Join Transmission #001. Founding price $19 — limited to the first 5,000 messages.
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