Ideas, analysis, gadgets and beyond
for an
trap in
S
An imaginary starshipperspectives on the wonders of space. Brie…
Milky Way offers newtest book to act as your galactic tour guid
Clegg draws on his la
A
stronomy and
cosmology can
feel detached from
everyday reality. But
what if we could
take a 23rd-century
starship tour through the Milky
Way and experience the cosmos
like an Earth-bound tourist visiting
exotic destinations? What would
we see from our window?
Although physicists enjoy
speculating about warp drives, or
using wormholes to jump between
locations, there is no way to travel
faster than light at present. So we’re
assuming a fictional ability to do
this – but beyond that, everything
we will encounter on our voyage is
based on best current theories.
Passing other probes
As we exit the solar system and
enter interstellar space, we will
stop initially alongside Pioneer 11,
one of the first probes to leave our
planetary neighbourhood. There
is no “you are leaving the solar
system” sign – but the border is the
limit of a solar phenomenon. The
sun sprays out energetic particles
that sweep away the gas and dust
found between the stars. This no
longer happens about 90 times the
Earth’s distance from the sun.
Several probes have made it
out of the solar system. To the
ip be yond the solar system to the edge of
tr
sightseer they look similar: a large
radio dish bolted to a collection
of metal boxes. But their most
interesting aspect lies in attempts
to communicate with passing alien
rubbish collectors. We could look
at the gold discs on Voyagers 1 and
2, launched in 1977 to study the
outer planets. Or we could unpack
the interstellar version of a high-
school time capsule on the 2006
New Horizons mission to Pluto
and beyond… But we’ve arrived
alongside Pioneer 11, which along
with its twin, Pioneer 10, carries an
enigmatic gold-plated plaque.
Parts of the image are
straightforward: it shows two
naked humans, with the probe to
the same scale, and a solar system
map. But what do you make of
three small vertical lines over one
horizontal line to the right of the
female figure? Or a starburst effect
filling half the plaque?
The concept behind this is
to convey messages through a
scientific symbolism that it was
hoped could be understood by
aliens. The collection of lines
(representing binary) give the
woman’s height, thanks to
information deduced from the pair
of linked circles (representing
a process undergone by
hydrogen atoms) at the
top of the plaque.
And as for that
interstellar tour
the
an
MAIN IMAGE starburst, it pinpoints Earth’s
An artist’s location. Each line represents
rendering of the distance and direction to
the Milky Way. a series of pulsars – collapsed
Our galaxy is stars that flash out regular blasts
approximately of electromagnetic energy. The
100,000 light timing, shown by binary numbers
years across, on each line, indicates the pulsar’s
and the Earth frequency, based on timing implied
is about 26,000 by the hydrogen diagram. Some
light years have worried that this map opens
from its centre. us up to alien invasion. Luckily,
part of the pulsar data is slightly
off. Even if it were precise, though,
this is a message in a bottle on a
galactic scale, and we are unlikely
to be found.
BELOW
Stellar nursery
The Pioneer Leaving Pioneer behind, we travel
11 probe. on to the Orion nebula. From Earth,
this forms part of the familiar
constellation of Orion, the hunter.
We need to remember, though, that
the apparent connection between a
constellation’s stars is illusory: they
are not actually linked. For example,
Alnilam, the middle star of Orion’s
belt, is about 1,342 light years from
Earth, whereas Bellatrix, the top
right of Orion’s main stars, is just
245 light years distant. A light year
is the distance light travels in
one year – around 5.9tn
miles (9.5tn km).
From Earth, the nebula
looks like a small fuzzy
patch in Orion’s sword, about
1,500 light years away. This is
where new stars are born out of the
dust and gas, and it’s the closest-
known nursery to us. It’s about
20 light years across and contains
approximately 1,000 new stars
forming. It’s a slow process, as the
particles that make up the cloud
– mostly hydrogen atoms – are
slowly pulled together by gravity. As
they squash ever closer, the atoms
warm up, and with enough matter,
the pressure and heat become so
intense that nuclear fusion begins.
The young star begins to convert
hydrogen into helium, releasing
energy as it does. Stars need to
be huge for this to happen. Our
sun, for example, a middling star,
contains 99.8% of the matter in the
solar system and fuses about 600m
tonnes of hydrogen every second.
Other worlds
Our next stop is a protoplanetary
disc: a rotating disc of dense gas
surrounding a young star. On the
whole, matter in the universe spins
around. Because the clouds of gas
and dust giving rise to stars are
not evenly distributed, the material
starts to rotate as gravity pulls it
inward. Just as a skater’s spin speeds
up when they pull in their limbs,
thanks to the conservation of angular
momentum (the oomph with which

RIGHT The
Crab nebula is
composed of
the outer layers
of a star that
collapsed in on
itself and then
went supernova.
something rotates), so the spin of the
star accelerates as matter piles in.
The central star has so much
gravitational attraction that it
remains spherical, but matter further
out from the centre flattens into a
rotating disc, just as a ball of pizza
dough does as it is spun. In both
cases, there is attraction towards
the centre, but not at 90 degrees to
the direction of rotation, producing
the flattening. Material in the disc
eventually coalesces because of
gravity, producing planets.
On our tour, we can now visit an
extrasolar planet – more than 5,000
of these had been discovered by the
2020s. Trappist-1e is one of the most
likely sites for life from the early
21st century discoveries. It’s rocky
and similar to Earth in size. Though
not certain in the 2020s, it appears
to have liquid water and an Earth-
like atmosphere. Admittedly, its
relationship with its star is nothing
like Earth: it completes its orbit in six
days, being located about 15 times
closer to its star than Mercury is to
the sun. However, this is a very low-
energy star, making Trappist-1e a
viable potential home for life.
Supernova
The neighbourhood of our next
destination will definitely not be
habitable for long: Betelgeuse, the
bright red star at the top left of
The Observer
Space 05.11.23 21
LEFT A
rendering of
Trappist-1e.
While it is 15
LEFT The Orion times closer to
nebula, which the star it orbits
is about 1,500 than the Earth
light years from is to the sun,
Earth and can liquid water is
be seen with the thought to exist
naked eye in the on the planet.
constellation
of Orion. Stars
ALEX-MIT/GETTY/
form in such iSTOCKPHOTO; H DRASS/
AFP/GETTY; NASA/
clouds of gas ESA/J HESTER/A LOLL;
NASA/JPL-CALTECH;
and dust. NASA; NASA/ALAMY
LEFT One of the atoms heavier than iron can be universe, the Milky Way is home
plaques attached produced this way. to about 100bn stars.
to the Pioneer 10 Up to now, the energy of nuclear Though we can’t see something
and 11 probes, reaction has fluffed up the star. as small as the sun from here, we
showing Earth’s Now, its inner parts collapse to can place it roughly near the edge
rough position form a neutron star – so dense of one of the outer spiral arms.
in relation that one teaspoon has a mass of
to certain around 100m tonnes. When that
pulsars, as well core collapses, it bounces back,
Back home
as the solar blasting away the outer layers With a final jump, we return to
system, a man of the star, providing so much Earth. It’s tiny in the perspective of
and a woman, energy that heavier elements the galaxy, let alone the universe.
the hydrogen form. Over centuries, those outer Yet this is a special place. Planets
atom and the layers will form a different type like ours, with so many things right
probe itself. of nebula – a glowing remnant, for life, are rare. A whole host of
such as the Crab nebula. features have come together.
Earth sits in the “Goldilocks
zone” – not too hot nor too cold for
Orion. In the 2020s, it was known
Milky Way liquid water, seemingly essential
that this red supergiant would go Our final stop before heading for life. Our unusually large moon
supernova during the following home enables us to see our stabilises the Earth’s orbit, and the
100,000 years. We’re lucky – our galaxy, the Milky Way. This is Earth’s active surface, a result of the
fictional starship has arrived just partially visible from Earth, but moon’s formation, helps keep our
as Betelgeuse undergoes this is hard to see in built-up areas environment in balance. We have a
catastrophic change. thanks to light pollution. In a stable star, plus a strong magnetic
A supernova is a massive dark sky it appears as an arch of field and ozone layer protecting
stellar explosion. From the Earth, fuzzy light. What we see from Earth from deadly solar radiation.
this means some previously home is the view from within. Some say that Earth isn’t anything
What we see from invisible stars flare into brightness But here, from the outside, we special. But it truly is, and we need
– hence the term “nova”, from see it in all its glory. to keep it that way.
Earth is the Milky the Latin for “new”. Betelgeuse Back in the 2020s we had never
Way from within. has always been visible – but it’s
about to get much brighter. Its
seen the Milky Way from the
outside, but it was known to be a
Brian Clegg is the author of
Interstellar Tours: A Guide to the
But here, from the fusible material is running out.
As heavier elements form, there
vast spiral about 100,000 light years
across, with a central bar of densely
Universe from Your Starship Window,
published by Icon Books (£18.99).
outside, we see it comes a point when fusion takes
more energy than the star can
packed stars. Despite being just one
of approximately 200bn galaxies
To order a copy for £16.71 go to
guardianbookshop.com or call 020-
in all its glory provide and it switches off. No within the limits of the observable 3176 3837. Delivery charges may apply