“But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and vulgar things. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Search for Habitability Outside the Solar System

            People have been concerned with the heavens for millennia. Only recently have we been able to satisfy our curiosity through careful observation and exploration. In the past 100 years, gigantic leaps have been made in space technology. Starting with the space race, explorative and satellite machinery has been developed that allow enhanced access to the stars, telescopes have become more powerful and better equipped to study the sky, and our inquisitiveness has only increased.

            With our increasing knowledge of the cosmos, increased interest has been sparked in the search for extraterrestrial life. The 1950’s saw the rise of the science fiction novel. Stories of UFOs have become part of popular culture. It is only natural that we wonder, “Are we alone out there?”

            The search has now been expanded to a whole branch of astronomy. Within the solar system, probes and landers and other spacecraft have been sent to study our nearest neighbors. We now have much information not only about the seven other planets in our solar system, but also about their satellites, comets, asteroids, the sun, and other objects close to us. This has turned up some promising results. We still are not sure if these worlds harbor life but we certainly know much more about their habitability.

            Looking beyond our own solar neighborhood, the cosmos reveals itself in astonishing fashion. We start to wonder, if our star can harbor life, what about the billions of others in our galaxy, in other galaxies? This is where the search for extrasolar planets comes in. This is the search for bodies of mass (namely planets) orbiting the stars around us. The first discovery of these so-called “exoplanets” was in 1995. Since, hundreds more have been found and possibly thousands have been detected (Schneider). When you break it down, if planets are really so common, could not life be as well?

            The thing is, not every star system is like our own. There are many different types of stars. In the main sequence, or long-lived, hydrogen-fusing portion of a star’s life, there are types OBAFGKM. O and B stars are too short-lived to have stable planets form, nevertheless life. Types A and F might live long enough to see very simple life evolve, but nothing more. Our star is a G star, and seems to work perfectly for us! K and M stars live the longest, but they are also much smaller and thus have only small habitable zones (Bennett and Shostak).

            Speaking of habitable zones, what exactly are they? A habitable zone is a region around a star where a planet could exist that would be similar to Earth in atmosphere, temperature, etc. An important (and exciting) part of extrasolar planetary searches is finding our how similar an exoplanet is to our own. Many types of planets have been found. Very few are Earth-like in size and position around a star. Others range from “hot Jupiters,” or gas giants orbiting close to a star, to frozen wastelands to planets orbiting binary star systems (Bennett and Shostak)! It is easy to see how one could quickly become enthralled with the search.

            Now then, how exactly does one find these planets? There are actually a variety of methods used that fall under two categories: direct and indirect detection. Direct detection is discovering planets by directly imaging them. This is preferable because you can discover a wider range of properties about the planet, but it is much harder to do. What are the chances that you will point your telescope at a star and happen to catch a planet in the viewfinder? Not likely, I will tell you. Nearly all discoveries of exoplanets up until now have been via indirect detection.

Indirect detection is finding an exoplanet not by seeing it, but by seeing its effects on the things around it. This is because although one thinks of a star as having an overpowering gravitational force in a start system (which it does, for the most part), planets still exert small gravitational tugs on the star. These effects, if observed carefully, can indicate the presence of a planet.

There are a few ways of detecting these effects: The star and all its planets orbit a center of mass that is usually very close to the substantial star. This means that the star actually “wobbles” a bit. The astrometric technique requires studying the position of stars over long periods of time to look for changes in its movement. Similarly, the Doppler technique utilizes the Doppler Effect to observe redshifts and blueshifts in a star’s spectrum, which indicates the slight pulling a planet exerts on its star. You can also measure a star’s brightness and look for dips in the measurements. This can indicate a planet that it “in transit” or passing in front of its star. Other indirect detection techniques include gravitational lensing, pulsar timing, etc. (Bennett and Shostak).

Figure 1. The Doppler Effect. Redshift and Blueshifts of Celestial Bodies. Palmer.

So far, 1010 exoplanets have been confirmed to exist (as of October 2013). All these have been found within the last 20 years, giving credence to the extent of innovation that has occurred in the last century (Schnieder). Of these, our closest neighbor is the planet Alpha Centauri Bb: a rather hellish world rather close to home. Because of its proximity, it will be the focus of the rest of this paper.

Alpha Centauri Bb: Lucifer’s Version of Earth?

To say this world is made up of fire and brimstone would not be an exaggeration. Located only 4.27 light years away, Alpha Centauri Bb is the closest exoplanet to Earth, and quite a hostile one at that. It exists in a multiple star system (3 stars, actually!). It orbits about Alpha Centauri B, a star of K1 spectral type. Alpha Centauri A is a G2 star (like our Sun). The two orbit in a binary system with the third star, Alpha Centauri C or Proxima Centauri (because it is the closest start to Earth), gravitational bound to the system and orbiting around Alpha Centauri AB at a distance of 13,000 AU. Together, Alpha Centauri A and B make up the third brightest star visible in the night sky (Rigel Kent in the constellation Centaurus) (“Alpha Centauri”).  

Firgure 2. Rigel Kent. The 3^rd brightest star in the sky. ESO. Palmer.

Stable orbits have been proved to be possible around binary systems. With Alpha Centauri A and B’s distance from each other changing from about Saturn to Pluto’s orbital distances, Alpha Centauri A is not supposed to affect the planet. This is most likely because of Alpha Cenaturi Bb’s proximity to its host star. It orbits at a distance of only 0.042 AU!!! No wonder this place is so hot! In fact, temperature estimations show its surface to maintain a temperature of a whopping 1500K (Torres)!

The surface temperature of an exoplanet can be found by using the equilibrium temperature equation

           4πσTeq^4 = [(1-A)L] / (4d^2)          [1]

where T_eq is the equilibrium temperature, σ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, A is the albedo of the planet, L_* is the luminosity of the star, and d is the orbital distance of the planet from the star. The luminosity of Alpha Centauri Bb is 44.5% of the luminosity of the Sun (it is, after all, only a K star). 

Figure 3. Alpha Centaury Bb. Torres.

Habitability on a Lava World:

            Being so hot, we can assume the place is hostile to life. No water would be able to exist there. The only liquid would be lava! It would actually quite resemble the planet of Mustafar from Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith. But just to be sure, let us check to see if its orbit falls within the habitable zone for its star. The equations are

      D(inner) = 0.95 (L^(1/2))                [2]

          D(outer) = 1.4 (L^(1/2))               [3]

where D_inner and D_outer are the distances (in AU) of the inner and outer edges of the habitable zone and L is the luminosity of the star. By inserting .445 for the luminosity, we find that the habitable zone falls between 0.634 AU and 0.934 AU. Unfortunately for Alpha Centauri Bb, it definitely does not fall in the habitable zone.

Figure 4. Habitability in the Alpha Centauri System. Torres.

            This is too bad. If only it were a little farther out, it might be considered a potentially habitable Earth-like planet. It is a terrestrial planet (made up of rock) that is only 1.13 Earth masses! The Rigel Kent star system was also only formed 1.5 billion years before our own, which is not too large of an age distance (astronomically speaking) (Overbye).

            If the temperature and position relevant to habitability zone and star (far too hot and close to support organic compounds) weren’t nails in coffin for life on Alpha Centauri Bb, consider the fact that the wavelength most emitted from Alpha Centauri B (which is so close, it would look 300 times brighter than the Sun from the surface of the planet) is in the harmful X-ray spectrum. Due to its position, it also is most likely tidally locked, leading it to have a permanent dark and light side (one side much hotter with all the sunlight). This also implies that it would not have a fast enough rotation to produce a protective magnetic field and, accompanied by frequent solar flaring from Alpha Centauri B, would make it impossible for the planet to retain an atmosphere (Wall).

            Well, stars change over time, do they not? Could Alpha Centauri Bb be potentially habitable in the future? Alas, it cannot. Since its star (both its stars, actually) is in its main sequence, its next stage in stellar evolution is becoming a red giant. This means as the star’s hydrogen fuel is slowly consumed, it will expand and cool to reach hydrogen on the surface, most likely engulfing the planet rather quickly. This is similar to Earth’s future with our star, though we were lucky enough to be placed far enough outside the star that we still have half of a billion years before we need to worry (Bennett and Shostak).

Life on Alpha Centauri Bb?

So, though it is highly unlikely life could arise on this planet, if it did, what would it be like? Sadly, the case is so desperate for Alpha Centauri Bb, trying to imagine life arising on it with our current understanding of biology is impossible. Instead of life arising on it, however, one could imagine life visiting the planet instead. Long have people traveled to exotic locations to exploit natural resources. From colonial America to the movie Avatar, harvesting materials that are potentially useful has always been a part of the human endeavor. Even now, people would like to venture into the outer solar system to harvest compounds from the Jovian planets that would be valuable on Earth.

Figure 5. Mustafar. Star Wars: Episode 3- Revenge of the Sith. Lucas Films.

            Why, then, could an alien race not do the same for Alpha Centauri Bb? When imagining life there, I imagine an advanced civilizations traveling the stars and landing a fleet of ships at the planet. There they would descend to the surface (or at least lower machinery) and mine elements there. Their endeavor would return valuable materials, perhaps silicon, to them above where they would then process it and return to their home planet, colony, etc.

            If one were to imagine human travel there, I would see this mining company, let us call it Galactic Mining, Inc. advertising jobs there. These mining jobs would probably only be taken by the lowest people in modern society and may be forced and penile labor for criminals. It would be extremely dangerous and fatalities would most likely be common. Not to mention, daily life would be cramped in a space ship (unless the alien race somehow managed to make a ship bigger on the inside than it is on the outside). Only the truly desperate would go to work in this star system.

So you are Telling Me, All this Could be Made Up?

            The problem with detecting exoplanets is that it is a fickle business. Alpha Centauri Bb was found using the radial velocity method, or detecting small shifts in the star’s spectrum due to the gravitational pull of the planet. After four years of careful observation, its discovery was announced in October 2012. However, many scientists still debate its existence! It is possible that some of the data was actually caused by extra “noise” from other stars and the telescopic instruments themselves. The planet has never been observed to transit its host star, leading many to argue against its existence (Palmer).

Firgure 6. Alpha Centauri Bb about to transit Alpha Centauri B. L. Calcada/European Southern Observatory, via Associated Press. Overbye.

            However, assuming it does exist, how did astronomers infer all this information from a slight wobble in a star? To find the data, they used a variety of equations to come up with information about the planet. The first is Newton’s Version of Kepler’s 3^rd Law:

 p^2 = [4(π^2)(a^3)] / [G(M1)(M2)]                      [4]

where by taking the period of the planet (p), or how often is completes one orbit around its star (which, in this case is 4.23 Earth days) and plugging in the distance of the planet from the star (0.042 AU) and the mass of the star (0.934 Solar Masses), you can determine the mass of the planet (which, as mention earlier, comes out to be 1.13 Earth masses).

            You can then find the velocity (speed) of the planet around the star by using the orbital velocity equation as follows:

Vp = 2πAp / P                 [5]

where a_p is the orbital distance (0.042 AU) and P is the orbital period (4.23 days). This answer (140680 m/s) and the answer for the mass should equate to each other using the following conservation of momentum equation:

M(star) x V(star) = m(planet) x v(planet)                        [6]

Where V is velocity and M is mass. Using this, you can tell that the star was is only moving at a rate of 0.51 m/s.

Figure 7. Radial Velocity Effects of Alpha Centauri Bb on Alpha Centauri B. Dumusque, Pepe, Lovis.

The Verdict?

What a testament to modern technology that we are able to detect such a small change from so far away when there are so may moving parts to space! But this also adds to the arguments of those who disagree with the discovery. The exoplanet Alpha Centauri Bb, our closest exoplanet neighbor, may in fact just be a figment of the imagination (or of faulty data at least)…

Figure 8. Gravitational Pulling on Alpha Centauri B. Torres.

Citations:

“Alpha Centauri.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Oct. 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

Palmer, Jason. “Exoplanet around Alpha Centauri Is Nearest-ever.” BBC News. BBC, 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.

Bennett, Jeffrey O., G. Seth. Shostak, and Bruce M. Jakosky. Life in the Universe. San Francisco, CA: Addison Wesley, 2003. Print.

Dumusque, Xavier, Francesco Pepe, and Christoph Lovis. “An Earth-mass Planet Orbiting α Centauri B.” Nature 207-211 491 (2012): n. pag. Nature.com. Nature, 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.

Overbye, Dennis. “New Planet in Neighborhood, Astronomically Speaking.” The New York Times, 16 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.

Schneider, Jean. “The Extrasolar Planet Catalog.” Chart. The Extrasolar Planet Encyclopedia. Comp. Ivan Zolotukhin. L’Observitoire De Paris, 22 Oct. 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

Torres, Abel M. “A Planetary System Around Our Nearest Star Is Emerging.” Planetary Habitability Laboratory. University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, 16 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.

Wall, Mike. “Discovery! Earth-Size Alien Planet at Alpha Centauri Is Closest Ever Seen.” Space.com. N.p., 16 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.

The Hertzsprung-Russel (HR) Diagram is a chart that maps star types based on temperature (x-axis; also can be labeled as color/ spectral type) and luminosity (y-axis). It actually accurately charts stars based on stellar evolution and mass. The main descending linear line is called the “main sequence.” These stars are all in the hydrogen-fusing portion of their evolution, which constitutes most of their lifespan. To the top right, you find red giants and supergiants, the next phase in stellar development. To the lower left you also find white dwarfs: essentially “dead” low mass stars. It is a very important astronomical tool used to identify characteristics of stars and their current phase of life.

Photo Credit: Brinkworth and Thomas, University of Leicester

Our professor has challenged us to make our own version of the HR Diagram (let’s call it an MS Diagram for my initials). The only requirement is that it represents some part of the human experience. I must admit, when trying to come up with an idea for my diagram, I was at a loss. I then thought that there might be a correlation between a person’s income and their carbon footprint. This led me to a study conducted by a high school in the Philippines. Using their data, I was able to construct my own plot on their findings. They are as follows:

As you can tell, individuals with higher incomes use a lot more energy and emit more carbon emissions. This is most likely because of their access to private vehicles and technological luxuries those with lower incomes do without. The income a person is born into is their “main sequence.” Throughout one’s life, they may or may not move up or down a financial bracket, though they most likely will stay in the same place. Movement throughout economic classes would be their “evolution” throughout life.

Though not quite as predictable as the HR Diagram, the MS Diagram provides a good basis for estimating a person’s carbon footprint. Of course, many other factors can affect this as well, like upbringing, environmental awareness, etc. There are always exceptions, but in general it is a generally accurate way to think of the correlation based on the data I have found.

150 million light years away, in the constellation Perseus, a new discovery has been made. There, a white dwarf star named GD 61 has been shown to support a planetary system. Just last week, researchers at Cambridge and the University of Warwick published an article with convincing evidence that the system can support Earth-like planets.

This image shows the white dwarf star GD 61. Image credit: Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg / SIMBAD via Sci-News.com.

For a planet to be Earth-like, it must have a similar size and composition. If the planet is then located in the habitable zone of a star similar in size to our sun, it would be hard NOT to imagine life there. The problem is, we aren’t sure just how common other “Earths” are!

To determine this requires years of careful observation, noting how many of these exoplanets we are able to find. This article, published in the journal Science, was the first to find a star system (outside our own) that we could prove contained planets made of water and rocky material.

An artist’s interpretation of what Earth-like planets may look like. Photo: Robert Hurt via solstation.com.

The researchers used Hubble, Keck I, Keck II, and NASA’s FUSE to detect a large asteroid orbiting the star. It was large and approximately 26% water by mass. It is very similar in size and composition to Ceres, the largest asteroid detected so far in the Kuiper Belt (of our own solar system). They hypothesize that it was formed from the breakup of a small, terrestrial planet like Earth, that met its demise as its star died. Even if it was not, scientists say it is impossible that the system could contain planetessimals so large without accreting planets.

This is an artist’s impression of a rocky and water-rich asteroid being torn apart by the strong gravity of the white dwarf star GD 61. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick, Space-art.co.uk / University of Warwick / University of Cambridge via Sci-News.com

These hypothetical planets (which they are now trying to detect, but may have been demolished) would have orbited a sun-like star and have been composed of water and heavy elements like oxygen, silicon, and magnesium: key ingredients for life! It had not been found earlier because most research is conducted on living star systems (ones that still actively fuse atoms in their cores; i.e. not white dwarves). Perhaps only a few billion years ago, there could have been a planet with abundant life, just like ours!

The future of our sun: a red giant. Photo credit: Karen aka CharmedQuarkGirl on Flickr.

In fact, this extrasolar system gives researchers an eerie look into our own future. In approximately 12 billion years, this might be what our neighborhood looks like. As the sun progresses through its life, it will turn in to a red giant and then a white dwarf, just like GD 61. Who knows what future civilizations will think if they spot the remnants of our home floating around a dead star?

Sources:

http://astrobiology.com/2013/10/watery-asteroid-discovered-in-dying-star-points-to-habitable-exoplanets.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GD_61

On October 8, the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics were announced. Peter W. Higgs and François Englert, two theoretical physicists, were awarded the prize for their contributions to the Standard Model of physics and the prediction of the Higgs Boson.

Peter W. Higgs, right, and François Englert at a conference in Switzerland on July 4, 2012. Fabrice Coffini/ A.F.P. via the New York Times. 

In 1964, six scientists came up with a theory of how matter is imbued with mass. Their thinking was that we all live in an “energy soup” called the Higgs field (named after the physicist who proposed the idea). When particles move through the field, they gain mass. Without it, everything would move at the speed of light and atoms would never have formed (everything would basically act as a photon, which carries no mass).

Computer simulation of particle traces from an LHC collision in which a Higgs Boson is produced. (c) CERN. Image credit: Lucas Taylor via the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

This idea had one catch: if this were true, the field would produce an elusive particle that would only exist for miniscule fractions of a second. This particle thus named the Higgs Boson. The only problem was that, although Higgs was able to describe it as a spinless particle that popped in and out of existence, he had no idea how massive it would be which made it almost impossible to detect.

Despite this roadblock, the theory was added to the standard model: a series of equations that govern how the universe works. It was effectively able to link the weak nuclear force with electromagnetic force and make other progress in particle physics, yet its existence was never confirmed. It made sense, yet no one was able to prove it was true.

Video about the Higgs Boson: http://nyti.ms/15lfeTZ

This sparked a 40 year long search. For decades, researches smashed particles together in colliders, trying to detect the mysterious speck. At times, data was thought to indicate its presence, but it was never strong enough to be proved. It was infamously named the “God Particle” by the news media after a permutation of physicist Leon Lederman’s calling it the “goddamn particle” (because it was so hard to find).

Calling it the God Particle was actually somewhat accurate. Its discovery would hopefully allow scientists to uncover mysteries such as the nature of dark matter and dark energy and why the universe is expanding. Questions such as why the universe is made up of matter instead of antimatter might be answered. Studying it might also shed light on our future and the end of the universe.

Scientists in Geneva applauded the discovery of a subatomic particle that looks like the Higgs boson. Photo credit: Denis Balibouse via the New York Times.

Finally, after years of searching, on July 2, 2012, the discovery of the Higgs Boson was announced in Geneva, Switzerland. Two teams of researchers, one using the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research and another at Fermilab in Illinois were finally able to confirm its existence after analyzing data from years of collisions. They had previously found “Higgslike” particles, but could never confirm that it was the Higgs itself. Finally they had detected a particle and had been able to measure its mass at about 126 billion electron volts. It was confirmed to be the Higgs!!!

This announcement validated what scientists had had faith in for 40 years. The two surviving members of the original team, Englert and Higgs, were proved correct! The announcement was so overwhelming, Higgs went off on a week long sabbatical without telling anyone where he was going to take in the news (he never expected its existence to be confirmed during his lifetime)! Because of their astounding prediction, they were awarded the Nobel Prize. They will be honored in Stockholm with a $1.2 million prize (which, when you think about it, isn’t all that much for a whole lifetime of dedication to an idea). Congratulations to all involved!

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/science/englert-and-higgs-win-nobel-physics-prize.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/science/cern-physicists-may-have-discovered-higgs-boson-particle.html?pagewanted=1

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/h/higgs_boson/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier

Photo courtesy of NASA

With the recent government shutdown, one may wonder about many things: Obamacare, government reform, will the postal service still run? All these are valid concerns (and yes, your mail will still get to you!), but one thing is for sure: of the many agencies and operations affected by the shutdown, NASA is definitely being hit the hardest.

NASA, or the National Aeronautics and Space Agency, is the government agency responsible for all of the country’s space-related missions, research, projects, etc. They put men on the moon, the most powerful telescopes in the sky, and now it sits empty.

When the shutdown began October 1st, 97% of NASA employees were locked out of work (the highest of any agency).

The International Space Station. Photo Courtesy of the Free Software Foundation.

Only a few essential personnel remain in Houston, TX to maintain contact with 6 astronauts stranded in the International Space Station (ISS). Luckily, many outside institutions and companies run programs and operations for the agency, and remain unaffected for the time being (i.e. the Hubble Telescope and the Mars Rover: Curiosity). However, if something were to go wrong or funding were to run out, there would be nothing to do until Congress and the White House are able to come to an agreement.

An illustration of the MAVEN probe. Courtesy of the University of Colorado- Boulder Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.

Other programs are not so lucky. The websites, many of which are heavily used by the public and professionals alike for informational and educational purposes, are nonoperational. So too are all programs in development. Work on MAVEN, or the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission, has been completely stopped until government funding can resume. If the shutdown lasts more than a week, the researchers will miss their launch opportunity later this year and will not be able to launch again until 2016, a major setback.

Altogether, this shutdown is not the end of the world, or even the end of space exploration. The title of this piece is a misnomer too: it doesn’t affect space in the slightest. It does affect, however, our ability to explore, understand, and learn about space. A shutdown that lasts longer than a few days would be devastating to progress that has been decades in the making. There is probably a reason why scientists stray from politics.  No matter your political inclination, incessant bureaucratic bickering only makes one frustrated and confused as to why people cannot work together and compromise. Let us hope, for the sake of NASA, federal workers, the EPA, whatever you stand for, this issue can be resolved soon.

Sources:

http://www.npr.org/2013/10/02/228502839/the-government-shutdowns-final-frontier-how-nasa-is-dealing

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/30/absolutely-everything-you-need-to-know-about-how-the-government-shutdown-will-work/

Titan in Natural Color. Cassini spacecraft April 16, 2005. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Since the Voyager mission to Saturn in the 1970s, we have long known that one of its moons, Titan, has been a promising location in the search for life. Not only does it have water oceans (albeit frozen over), it has been shown to have organic molecules known as “thiolins” form in its upper atmosphere. The molecules are forms of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen that, when exposed to sunlight, can transform into the building blocks of life.

In April, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory published an article in Nature Communications with the findings of a recent study. They were able to show that enough sunlight filters through the Titan atmosphere to allow the formation of these molecules at much lower altitudes than previously thought.

This provides promising information! By forming lower in the atmosphere, they are able to condense on chunks of ice and even seep into the oceans where they would be able to form amino acids and nucleotide bases. The ingredients for life can now come together!

Sources:

NASA Team Investigates Complex Chemistry at Titan

Photochemical Activity of Titan’s Low-Altitude Condensed Haze

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is the first in a series of books based on Adams’s popular 1970s radio series of the same name. First broadcasted on BBC 4 in 1978, by 1979 the first book was already published and had become an international bestseller. Its Monty Python-esque humor has made it a cult classic and it has since been immortalized in plays, comics, and multiple movie adaptations, the most recent being a 2005 blockbuster starring Martin Freeman and Zooey Deschanel. The question is: was it all for good fun, or is there an underlying message conveyed by Adams?

The story follows Arthur Dent, an anxiety-riddled man living in rural England. One day he wakes up to find bulldozers ready to knock down his house to make room for a bypass. As he lies in front of them, warding off the construction workers, his friend Ford Prefect comes and drags him away. As it turns out, not only is Arthur’s house about to be demolished, so is the Earth! Ford is actually an extraterrestrial traveling the stars doing research for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (a play on The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Europe) who managed to get trapped on the Earth for the past 15 years.

Just before the planet is vaporized, they sneak onto one of the space ships, only to be discovered and thrown out into space a few million light-years later. Luckily, they are picked up by another ship just in time. On the ship they meet Zaphod Beeblebrox, his companion Trillian, and the depressed robot Marvin. Zaphod is actually the President of the Imperial Galactic Government who has just stolen the state of the art ship to search for the lost planet of Magrathea. They eventually find the planet and, after narrowly escaping its millennia-old defense systems, land.

Magrathea used to be a land of infinite wealth and luxury. It catered to the wealthiest of the galaxy by making custom made planets. Now its desert surface is, well, deserted! Arthur eventually encounters a native who tells him of the Earth’s true origin: Millions of years ago, a race of “hyperintelligent pandimensional beings” created a supercomputer to tell them the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. After ten million years, it pronounces the answer to be 42 and proceeds to tell them that it does not make sense because they never knew the question in the first place. It then designs an even greater computer to find out what the question is: the Earth. The beings hired Magratheans to build an “organic computer” where the beings, disguised as mice, experimented on humans. The planet was demolished five minutes before the question was computed, however, and the mice had awoken the Magratheans to build a second Earth. The book ends with them escaping both space cops chasing Zaphod and the mice after Arthur’s brain.

Is it as Simple as it Seems?

Now, as funny of a story as it may be, there are striking similarities between aspects of the book and England in the 1970s. Times were tough. Political tensions were high, energy crises rampant, and a recession was triggered by increased inflation. Trade unions were striking, unemployment was rising, and the people of the United Kingdom were panicking (Sandbrook; “Economic History of the United Kingdom”). If one pays close attention to the details of the book, a clear line can be drawn from Adams’s writing to the time period in which it was written. Uses of the phrase, “Don’t Panic,” the parallel between prime ministers of the time and Beeblebrox, and comparisons of England to Magrathea are all signs that not only is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy an entertaining novel, it is also a political commentary on the economic and political environment of the time in which it was written.

Little Green Pieces of Paper

The first (and perhaps most compelling) example that the novel is a parallel between Adams’s universe and reality is the way in which he describes Earth and its inhabitants. “This planet has – or rather had – a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn’t the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy” (Adams 1). This describes the unhappiness of humans with our monetary system and the economy. During the recession, the United Kingdom had to receive a very embarrassing bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) (“Economic History of the United Kingdom”). This general despondency is reflected in the ways in which he portrays earthlings, comparable to the British.

Anxious Arthur and a Panicking Public

Another argument is Adams’s use of the phrase, “Don’t Panic.” It is “[i]nscribed in large friendly letters on the cover” of the fictional guide (3). Arthur frequently refers to it throughout the tale: “’I like the cover,’ he said, ‘”Don’t Panic.” It’s the first helpful or intelligible thing anybody’s said to me all day’” (53). Now, the repetition of the phrase certainly helps Arthur, but would it not also reassure the people of the UK? Panic was an everyday occurrence in the lives of the British. At one point, the government instituted a three-day week to ration energy during the 1973 oil crisis. The year of 1978, when Adams was broadcasting and writing, was also the Winter of Discontent (Sandbrook). By seeing that if Arthur could control his anxiety everything would work out in the end, Adams was sending a message to the public to stay calm and confident that all would be well.

A Useless President

A comparison is also drawn between the prime ministers of the time and President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox. During the 70s, Edward Heath came to power promising a “quiet revolution” of the economy of the country. When the miners striked and the oil crisis began, all hope of this “revolution” disappeared Furthermore, James Callaghan was forced to continually devalue the pound and failed to get Britain to join the European Union multiple times (Sandbrook). Adams turned this into a satire with the position of Galactic President. “The President in particular is very much a figurehead- he wields no real power whatsoever… The qualities he is required to display are not those of leadership but those of finely judged outrage” (39). He describes the President (or, alternatively, the PM) as one who does not actually help the general public at all. He goes on to draw a direct comparison between Zaphod and Heath: “He has already spent two of his ten presidential years in prison for fraud,” referring to Heath’s fraud in his promise of a revolution. He also compares Zaphod and Callaghan: “If there’s anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now” (97), which tells of Callaghan’s false confidence he could get the country to enter the EU.

Magrathea, Land of the Forgotten 

A final example is the direct link between the UK and Magrathea.  Magrathea once was one of the greatest financial powers in the galaxy, much like Britain. It made planets just as England claimed colonies. When the galaxy went into recession, like Europe, it completely shut down all its manufacturing, similar to how all trade unions went on strike. When the characters first arrive, they do not find the legendary planet of wealth, but rather a desert wasteland, much like the economic environment of the United Kingdom. However, Adams does give hope by saying that the planet’s inhabitants will wake up and be successful when the economy of the galaxy improves (which, according to Magrathean calculations (and the shifting political power in late 70s England to Margaret Thatcher) should occur soon) (Adams 152-153; “Economic History of the United Kingdom”).

There are many more examples one could find, but for the purpose of brevity, these are four main examples of the connections between Adams’s fictional universe and the reality of 1970s Great Britain. During a time of economic depression, when for the first time in decades the UK had more immigrants than emigrants (similar to the dolphins leaving Earth in the novel (156)), people needed a little hope. Adams provided this by entertaining the public with his comedy and optimism. His use of the phrase, “Don’t Panic,” as well as promise of an economy picking up (Magrathean calculations) gave people hope while his comparisons between Beeblebrox and the Prime Ministers of the time and witty observations of humans provide satire to simultaneously comment on and distract from the problems of the era. It would be interesting to reread the book in the context of other decades as well, such as 1940s or late 2000s. The greatest part is that this story, despite its messages, transcends the decade to continuously be a source of entertainment to people of all ages and cultures.

Works Cited:

Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. New York: Harmony, 1989. Print.

“Economic History of the United Kingdom (1960-1979: The Sixties and Seventies).”Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Sept. 2013. Web. 20 Sept. 2013.

Sandbrook, Dominic. “Why Does the 1970s Get Painted as Such a Bad Decade?” The 70s. BBC Two. Apr. 2012. BBC News. BBC, 15 Apr. 2012. Web. 20 Sept. 2013.

Photo Credits as well as an interesting multimedia presentation on my points and a classmates views can be found in a Prezi Presentation by following this link:

http://prezi.com/qzhltqhixr71/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Tonight is the last night when Venus and Saturn will be visible in the same binocular field. Look southwest about an hour and a half after sunset to see the two shining together. Venus will be easiest to spot, because of its intense luminosity. Saturn’s coordinates will be Right Ascension: 2h 42m 21s | Declination:  83° 32.400′. For more information, visit EarthSky.org. It will be an exciting opportunity to see the two together! 

The Five Visible Planets in September:

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury

If you’ve ever wondered why we have a moon, here’s a quick explanation along with some fun facts!

“A not-very-in-depth look into why we even have a moon, and the effect that the moon has had on our planet. From the perspective of a science fan… rather than a proper scientist.”
-Charlie McDonnell