Decoding Type III: The Mesarthim Enigma Vol. 2
As if we don’t post enough about this mysterious atmospheric space black metal band, we solved yet another Morse Code puzzle on their latest release.
Back in August, we discovered that the morse code at the end of their excellent album Absence told us that “The Great Filter Approaches” which I explained a little bit in the previously linked article. Dubs did again when they released the aptly named EP “The Great Filter” just a few weeks ago. Before I even had a chance to say “I guess they weren’t lying about that filter!”, they dropped yet another excellent EP. This one is another massive song (18 minutes) that illustrates their mastery of their style, and then pushes it a little bit further.
So I listened to the whole thing when it came out and enjoyed it immensely, but when it dropped to silence after about 17:30, I got suspicious. I turned up the speakers and sure enough, the beeps were back. My initial reaction was something like “YOU’VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME! I GOTTA SPEND AN HOUR OF MY DAY LISTENING TO BEEPS OVER AND OVER AGAIN IN SUPER SLO-MO UNTIL I FIGURE THIS OUT?!?!” I considered not doing it, but my curiosity got the better of me. I bought the track, threw it in Audacity, and slowed it down to a speed even I could comprehend.
So enough of my rambling, here’s the code all dotted and dashed out for you.
.-. .. –. …. – .- … -.-. . -. … .. — -.
—– .—- …. ….. …– — …– .—- .-.-.- —.. .—- ….- –… —-. …
-.. . -.-. .-.. .. -. .- – .. — -.
Or, in English: RIGHTASCENSION 01H53M31.81479S DECLINATION
So clearly they were annoyed that I solved the last one so quickly because I had no idea what this meant. I found that right ascension and declination were tools used for celestial coordinate systems, and the numbers were clearly pointing to some star or planet, but I had no idea how to figure out which one. I put the coordinates in a handful of calculators which basically returned no helpful results. I was seconds away from throwing in the towel, or at least letting the Toilet writers with doctorates (nerds) to help, when I stumbled upon the answer through a last-ditch search.
The right ascension marks Gamma Arietis, a binary star in the Aries constellation. Specifically, the star(s) are referred to as the “first star in Aries”, but more importantly, go by the traditional name “Mesarthim”.
What I am a little confused about is that the number in the code is only the right ascension, so I am not sure what the word declination is doing in there. That number would be “+19° 17′ 37.8790”. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy they didn’t include it since it would have added another 20 minutes to my decoding.
So I am getting to the end of this, and I just realized I have no idea what Type III means. It might be referring to its classification as a B-type main-sequence star, but I can’t quite pin that down. I can’t have all the fun, read up on some astronomy and let’s figure out this puzzle together.
