Word: interstellar
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Dates: during 1960-1960
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Cosmic rays have long been a fascinating and controversial subject among scientists. It is generally agreed that most low-speed cosmic rays are particles shot out of the sun, but that those with higher energy must come from somewhere else. The late Enrico Fermi thought they came from interstellar magnetic fields which gradually speed up protons and other charged particles moving between the stars of the Milky Way galaxy (the earth itself is a smallish satellite to one of the smaller stars in this galaxy). But this theory could not account for rays whose energy is above a critical limit...
...Project Ozma, Green Bank's 85-ft. radio telescope is turned toward Epsilon Eridani and another star, Tau Ceti, both of them about eleven light years (66 trillion miles) away. Tuned to the 21-centimeter waves (1,420 megacycles) that come from cold hydrogen in interstellar space, the telescope is so set up that it points for a short time at the target star, then at an empty region beside it. The system eliminates background "noise," and the balance of the signal should contain any message that might be coming from one of the star's planets...
There is no doubt that radio messages can span interstellar distances. Dr. Purcell estimates that the total power of all the 21-cm. waves that bathe the earth's surface is equal to the power of only one watt, but modern antennas can pick them up easily. And this week's Project Ozma is a first small step in an effort that might take one year or 10,000 to turn a dream into reality...
Addicts of oldfashioned, interstellar escape are appalled to find considerable philosophizing in the newer works about man's fate, first causes and the like, taking the place of chromium-plated maidens riding fintail time machines. A remarkable development charted by Amis is that xenophobia seems to be dwindling; extraterrestrial races were once generally loathsome, but now most of them are a good deal more mannerly than human beings. A wry corollary is the now typical story of Earthlings, as far advanced scientifically as they are retarded morally, who burst BEM-like upon the ancient, saintly and helpless squid-creatures...