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地球の声が聞こえるかい?
国連事務総長時代に傑出した業績を残したクルト・ワルトハイム氏が6月に亡くなった。
しかし、彼の声は、今も、そしてこれからも、ボイジャー2号に乗って宇宙空間を漂い続ける。
未知の生命体からのコンタクトを待ちながら…。
Anybody out there?
On June 14, 2007, Kurt Waldheim, fourth secretary-general of the United Nations and former president of Austria, died. He was 88. Mr. Waldheim had a long and distinguished career, not untouched by controversy. Some will remember him for the cloud surrounding his service in the German Wehrmacht during World War II, and many will remember him for his achievements as secretary-general. And there is a very good chance that when we are all long gone and our planet is but a cold cinder floating in the vastness of space, one of the last humans ever known by name will be Kurt Waldheim.
On Aug. 20, 1977, NASA launched the Voyager II space probe. The Voyager II, like its twin Voyager I, was assigned intragalactic duties including a look at Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune before being sent off into deep space. Both probes have passed out of the heliosphere, the area of influence of our sun. As of March 9, 2007, Voyager II was 12,357,000,000 kilometers from Earth.
In 2020 all systems on Voyager II will shut down. Voyager II will silently carry its precious cargo on and on and on. The cargo? A 30-centimeter gold disc featuring the sounds of Earth, and a message from Kurt Waldheim. The Golden Record, as it is known, contains images of Earth and its life forms, scientific information, music and whale sounds. Music includes Bach, Mozart, and Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode as well as a piece of shakuhachi music entitled "Tsuru No Sugomori." Greetings are sent in 55 Earth languages including Japanese.
So there you have it: a probe heading to the far side of the universe with a message from Earth, a kind of galactic travel brochure: Come on down, the water's fine! And here's the next big question. Is there anybody out there to take us up on our offer? Anybody or anything?
In 1984, director John Carpenter's film "Starman," starring Jeff Bridges, gave a possible answer. Aliens get the Voyager II message and pay us a visit. Although they mean no harm, their shuttle is immediately shot down. The life form in Ridley Scott's 1979 film "Alien" was not so friendly. It was a vicious predator with a bad attitude.
This seems to be our response to the mystery of extraterrestrial life: We either see it as overly benign or overly hostile. But while this makes good entertainment, it doesn't answer the fundamental question of whether we are alone in the universe or not
Of course, Voyager is not the only message we are sending out. CETI (Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence) has been trying to develop communications that could be understood across the galaxy and beyond consisting of mathematical and logical symbols. Messages have been sent out including the Arecibo message, beamed out by radio telescope and containing the numbers one through 10 and the atomic numbers that make up the elements of DNA.
And of course there is SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), organized efforts to listen in by scanning the cosmos for radio signals in hopes that ET will call us. Up till now, the phone is still on the hook gathering dust.
So what do you think? Anybody out there?
- Anybody out there?
- 誰か宇宙にいますか?
- Kurt Waldheim
- クルト・ワルトハイム
- secretary-general of the United Nations
- 国連事務総長
- distinguished career
- 卓越した経歴
- not untouched by 〜
- 〜と無縁ではなかった
- service
- 勤務
- Wehrmacht
- ナチスの軍隊組織
- are all long gone
- 死に絶える
- cinder
- 燃え殻
- vastness
- 広大さ
- launched 〜
- 〜を打ち上げた
- space probe
- 宇宙探査機
- twin
- 対となる
- was assigned
- 割り当てられた
- intragalactic
- 銀河間の
- duties
- 任務
- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
- 木星、土星、天王星そして海王星
- being sent off into 〜
- 〜へ送られる
- heliosphere
- 太陽圏
- shut down
- 活動を停止する
- cargo
- 積み荷
- life forms
- 生命体
- piece
- 曲
- there you have it
- これで分かったでしょう
- brochure
- パンフレット
- Come on down, the water's fine!
- 降りておいでよ(Come on in, the water's fine. は海やプールの中から「いい水だ、君も入って泳がないか」と誘う言葉で、活動などに人を勧誘する決まり文句)
- director
- 映画監督
- Aliens
- 宇宙人
- mean no harm
- 危害を加えるつもりはない
- vicious
- 邪悪な
- predator
- 捕食者
- extraterrestrial life
- 地球外生物
- benign
- 温和な
- hostile
- 敵対的な
- CETI
- 地球外知性との交信
- mathematical and logical symbols
- 数学的・論理的記号
- Arecibo message
- アレシボメッセージ
- beamed out
- 発信された
- radio telescope
- 電波望遠鏡
- atomic numbers
- 原子番号
- SETI
- 地球外知的生命探査
- organized efforts
- 組織的努力
- radio signals
- 電波信号
- on the hook
- (受話器が)置かれたままの