the silence of the universe

i believe this is the first time i ever blogged about science, astronomy and the universe. whatever... i mean, it's what i do every day, and probably that's why i write about everything but that. i don't dislike it, i don't hate it. guess i just need fresh air, from time to time. but now that strange ideas float in my mind and new projects come out, i need to set my thoughts in order...

in 1977 a new probe was launched by NASA: its name was Voyager, its main goal to explore jupiter and saturn. but eventually the mission proceeded along its way, beyond these two giant planets, towards the borders of our solar system... it is still transmitting a weak signal, the scientific instruments will work for another decade and keep us in touch, so to speak.
a probe sent by mankind and travelling across the immensity of outer space: how cool is that?? it could even thrill little girls and gently push them along a perilous way. but i guess some things are better left unsaid...

the mission had an additional source of charm: the naive attempt to attach some sort of signature, more precisely a record, containing images, sounds and music. a sign of our history, of our planet, to be found by a possible extra-terrestrial civilisation. bach, mozart, along with chuck berry and african tribal music. waves, birds singing and greetings in dozens of human languages.
ok, it's all very romantic, the whole message in a bottle thing, whatever. trust me, the chances of "someone" finding our message are as low as the whole idea is charming, or maybe even more. but still, even being a pessimist and a cynic, even now as an astronomer, not even remotely considering the "contact" option, still i find the idea kind of sweet. the idea of a piece of us, a piece of mankind, travelling out there in the middle of nothing (literally!). no need to be discovered by any form of intelligent et's for me to find it sweet.

a few years ago, i was talking about that with a friend of mine. i guess (if she only read my blog!) she would understand this post is dedicated to her just by a quick look at the title :)
we were talking about the whole Voyager record thing and the music on board. she might have asked something about how the music could be actually played out there in space, and then i said, instinctively (like it was obvious... indeed!) that in outer space you couldn't possibly hear a sound. freezing moment. she was impressed. she never heard of anything like that. that the universe is... silent... she probably didn't care much about my subsequent explanation on sound waves propagation and the fact that the interstellar space is extremely underdense. whatever. science talk is boring, just stuff for geeks. yet she was amazed by the silence of the universe.

this episode, and the silence of the universe, always make me think about the distance between science and the rest of society. science is difficult, it's not for everybody: sadly, that's the way it is taught, and the way lots of people think of it. most of the time we talk about different things, true. but sometimes it really seems like we're speaking a different language. i've always thought i would have ended up as a scientist, and even when doubts arise, it's difficult for me to think and judge with a different approach.
So einfach wie möglich. Aber nicht einfacher. Einstein wrote that some time ago. As simple as possible, but not simpler than that. can't possibly disagree. from my point of view, this is the way, the only one i consider viable. it's not possible to simplify without limit. and not only in science.
yet, if not simpler, there must be a way to make scientific topics more interesting, funnier, but without the creepy feeling you're telling a fairy tale. the link is already weak, let's try and not lose it. guess being a scientist in an ivory tower would be even harder than in the middle of society.













the globular cluster M3: a bunch of some hundred thousand stars, all bound to each other...
image credits: my astronze friends, when it was fun :)