Strauss' 'The Blue Danube' to waltz into interstellar space on May 31
The Vienna Philharmonic is to play Johann Strauss' "The Blue Danube" in the Austrian capital on May 31, with the concert transmitted to the Voyager 1 probe in interstellar space.
The Deep Space Antenna of the European Space Agency (ESA) in Spain will transmit the famous tune, Norbert Kettner, head of Vienna Tourism, said on Monday. The orchestra is to play the piece in the city's Museum for Applied Art (MAK).
When it was launched in 1977, the probe carried 27 recordings of music by composers including Bach, Beethoven and Mozart, but not Strauss' waltz, which has become an unofficial theme tune for space following Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi film "2001: A Space Odyssey."
Voyager 1 has on board a gold-plated audio-visual disc that includes photographs and information on the Earth, as well as various recordings, including music. This was done in case the probe is ever found by alien civilizations.
The event is part of a Vienna Tourism campaign marking Strauss' 200th birthday this year. The ESA celebrates the 50th anniversary of its founding on May 31.
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are now around 25 billion kilometres away from Earth and well beyond our solar system. The signal is expected to take around 23 hours to reach Voyager 1.
Whether the signal can be picked up elsewhere depends on the technical abilities of any civilizations receiving it, organizers said.
Anyone wishing to participate symbolically in the trip can sponsor one of the 13,743 notes free of charge.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
James Webb Space Telescope captures ghostly images of clouds on Saturn's largest moon Titan
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The James Webb Space Telescope has peered into the atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon Titan, capturing the first evidence of cloud formation in this moon's northern hemisphere. Titan is the second largest moon in the solar system, right behind Jupiter's Ganymede. A team of scientists pointed the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at Titan in November of 2022 and July of 2023. With some help from the twin telescopes at the W.M. Keck Observatory on the dormant Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii, the JWST found evidence of cloud convection, the process through which warmer air rises and brings moisture upward to form clouds. Clouds have been seen in Titan's southern hemisphere before, but never in the northern hemisphere, where most of the moon's seas and lakes are found. Titan has lakes and seas of liquid methane, and the moon features dynamic weather patterns just like our own planet does. That makes it unique among all of the other celestial bodies in our cosmic neighborhood, scientists say. "Titan is the only other place in our solar system that has weather like Earth, in the sense that it has clouds and rainfall onto a surface," said Conor Nixon of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and lead author of a new study about Titan's weather, in a statement. These new observations of Titan were made during the moon's summer season. NASA's Cassini–Huygens spacecraft studied Titan between 2004 and 2017 and observed cloud convection during late summer months in the southern hemisphere, but this new study is the first to watch this phenomenon during summer in Titan's northern hemisphere. Scientists say the new data could help solve some of the outstanding mysteries about Titan. "Together with ground-based observations, Webb is giving us precious new insights into Titan's atmosphere, that we hope to be able to investigate much closer-up in the future with a possible ESA mission to visit the Saturn system," said the European Space Agency's Thomas Cornet, a co-author of the new study. In addition to watching clouds form in the moon's northern hemisphere, the data gathered by the JWST's observations of Titan also helped identify a "key missing piece" of the moon's chemistry: a new organic molecule known as a methyl radical that has a "free," or unbonded, electron. Because the lakes and seas on Titan are filled with methane, this compound is a key component of many of the moon's chemical processes. Sunlight and electrons from nearby Saturn split methane molecules in Titan's atmosphere, where they then combine with other molecules to make more complex substances. Scientists are thrilled about this discovery of methyl radical in Titan's atmosphere, as it offers a window into these active chemical processes as they occur. "For the first time we can see the chemical cake while it's rising in the oven, instead of just the starting ingredients of flour and sugar, and then the final, iced cake," said astrochemist and study co-author Stefanie Milam of the Goddard Space Flight Center, in a NASA statement. RELATED STORIES: — Surf's up! Liquid methane waves on Saturn moon Titan may erode shores of alien lakes and rivers — There's liquid on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. But something's missing and scientists are confused — NASA's Dragonfly nuclear-powered helicopter clears key hurdle ahead of 2028 launch toward huge Saturn moon Titan But the story won't end here, as scientists still want to know more about Titan and its chemistry. While the Cassini-Huygens mission revealed a great deal about the moon, nothing can surpass actually sending a spacecraft onto the moon itself to perform in-situ, or on-location, science. To accomplish this, NASA is planning the ambitious Dragonfly mission, which will send a nuclear-powered octocopter onto the surface of Titan, where it will spend three years "hopping" from location to location and studying the moon's chemistry. Dragonfly is scheduled to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in 2028, and reach the Titan in 2034, if all goes according to plan. Dragonfly recently passed its Critical Design Review test, meaning it can now move on to being manufactured. The explorer will study Titan's potential habitability, seeking out signs of prebiotic chemistry as well as keeping a robotic eye out for any signs of life. A study of the summer atmosphere of Titan's northern hemisphere has been published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
Bug-eyed telescope ready to find Earth-smashing asteroids
It's only a matter of time before a catastrophically sized asteroid barrels towards Earth again. Until very recently in human history, there was no way of knowing if one was hurtling towards us, much less do anything to alter its path. Now, international space agencies and disaster preparedness experts have powerful tools to keep watch over the skies—and the newest aide just opened its bug-inspired compound 'eye.' According to the European Space Agency, the Flyeye-1 telescope recently completed its 'first light' test at the Italian Space Agency's Space Geodesy Center, located about 160 miles east of Naples. Soon, it and as many as three other similar installations around the world will work in tandem to provide comprehensive, automated surveys of space every night to scan for cosmic threats. 'The earlier we spot potentially hazardous asteroids, the more time we have to assess them and, if necessary, prepare a response,' explains Richard Moissl, Head of ESA's Planetary Defence Office. 'ESA's Flyeye telescopes will be an early-warning system, and their discoveries will be shared with the global planetary defence community.' Similar to an insect's vision (hence its name), Flyeye captures incoming light through its 3.3-foot-wide primary mirror. That light is divided into 16 independent channels, all equipped with their own secondary lens and detector cameras designed to flag extremely faint objects. Flyeye's automated observation schedule is designed to factor in variables such as lunar brightness along with other survey telescopes like NASA's ATLAS, the Zwicky Transient Facility, and the forthcoming Vera Rubin Telescope. So what happens if Flyeye spies a suspicious space rock out there in deep space? The plan is for experts at ESA's Near-Earth Object Coordination Center (NEOCC) to review and verify any potential concerns. If the situation warrants further investigation, the NEOCC will then forward their report to the Minor Planet Center, a global hub for asteroid data. Subsequent research will lead to international contingency planning, which could involve any number of solutions, such as smacking the asteroid off course with a targeted spacecraft launch. Before that can happen, Flyeye needed to demonstrate its up to the task. For its first light test, Flyeye focused on multiple known asteroids, including 2025 KQ. Astronomers discovered the space rock only two days earlier, offering direct proof that the telescope is already capable of rapid follow-up observations. 'These images of the sky above the ancient stone hills of Matera, Italy, are more than just a test—they are proof that Flyeye is ready to begin its mission,' ESA said in its announcement. Flyeye-1 is now on its way for installation on Monte Mulfara in Sicily. If all goes according to plan, the telescope's first sibling will be up and running sometime in 2028.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
Enrolment concludes in Halia's Phase IIa trial of HT-6184 for MDS
Halia Therapeutics has completed the enrolment in its Phase IIa trial of HT-6184 (Ofirnoflast) in those with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). The two-stage trial is designed to test the therapy in individuals who are intolerant of, refractory to, or ineligible for erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA). It will assess the safety, biomarker response, and efficacy of this allosteric modulator of NEK7, targeting a key inflammatory pathway associated with bone marrow dysfunction in MDS. The trial has enrolled 18 subjects in stage I and an additional 15 in stage II. It includes a 16-week treatment duration, with a continuation phase based on patient response followed. Those who respond might continue therapy, while those who did not, with > 30% reduction in variant allele frequency clone size, could receive further treatment either as a single agent or in conjunction with previous ESA therapy for 16 extra weeks. The main objectives of the study are to assess efficacy via haematological improvement, VAF reduction, clonal suppression, safety, biomarker changes, quality of life, and patient tolerance. Halia noted that an interim analysis after stage I has been conducted, and topline outcomes are anticipated later in the year. Halia Therapeutics CEO Dr David Bearss said: 'Completing enrolment in our Phase IIa MDS study is a major milestone as we continue to validate our mechanism of action targeting innate immune dysregulation. 'This study provides important proof-of-concept data to support the therapeutic potential of HT-6184 in reducing clonal inflammation and improving haematologic outcomes for patients with symptomatic anaemia.' Halia focuses on developing therapies that help restore immune balance in neurodegenerative and inflammatory conditions. Its pipeline also includes HT-6184 plus semaglutide for a planned Phase IIa trial in obesity and Type 2 diabetes, anticipated to start in the third quarter of this year, and HT-4253 for neuroinflammation, currently in a Phase I trial. The company began the Phase II trial last year to investigate HT-6184 in managing post-procedural inflammatory and pain responses. "Enrolment concludes in Halia's Phase IIa trial of HT-6184 for MDS" was originally created and published by Clinical Trials Arena, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
