Erik Alinder was lying in the wrong direction in his mother’s stomach, with his head up. Now he must independently investigate a planet in another solar system.
– The best would be if we could be a civilization that is multi-planetary.
The spring birds are singing, the cherry trees are blooming and the bumblebees are buzzing up at the Observatory Garden in Stockholm. A sunny morning in May is hardly optimal conditions for viewing the starry sky. Erik Alinder is 17 years old and a member of Astronomical Youth who has his office up here. In his spare time, Erik is an astrophotographer, and when darkness falls, he takes out his telescope to photograph galaxies and nebulae. Right now, he plans to photograph and measure an exoplanet, i.e. a planet orbiting a star other than our own sun:
– It seems difficult, but completely possible with the equipment I have at home, says Erik Alinder.
”Destined for the stars”
The interest in space has been there since BB. Erik was born by caesarean section because he was lying on the wrong side of his stomach:
– I was upside down and came out feet first. So I was born with my head towards the stars. You could say that I was “destined for the stars”.
But it was when his mother persuaded him to join the Astronomical Youth, and he got to travel with her to the Canary Islands to look at some of the world’s largest telescopes, that he really became engrossed in the interest in space:
– I had to get out there in the pitch black night in La Palma and then be blinded by the stars because it was so bright. Then I thought “shit how cool”, and after that I invested in my own telescope and started an association at the school, says Erik.
Why care about space?
– Yes, why should we spend a lot of money on NASA and things like that when there are a lot of problems here? Exploring space is important for our development on earth. For example, but with the help of weather satellites, we can keep our climate right. But we can also study other planets and in that learn about how our own works.
Colonization of space as a solution to the climate crisis
The impact of climate change on the earth’s ecosystem may in the near future have far-reaching consequences on society, according to the UN’s climate panel IPCC. Among other things, forcing people to flee. A dramatic solution to the climate problem is to abandon Earth for other places in the universe. The famous American astronomer Carl Sagan once said: “Somewhere, there is something amazing waiting to be discovered”. Perhaps it was a new Earth-like planet he was referring to.
Marcus Jansson is a professor of astrophysics at Stockholm University and investigates, among other things, exoplanets. He does not think it is possible to find and colonize an Earth-like planet within the next 100 years:
– Very far in the future in that case. But there are planets that are far enough away from their star that there could be water on the surface.
Then it is more realistic that we get to aim at the closer celestial bodies:
– Colonizing the moon or Mars within that time period would have been theoretically possible as we have the technology to get there. But the big problem that there is no atmosphere with oxygen. In practical terms, I think it would be extremely difficult in such a short time, says Marcus Jansson.
A civilization that is multi-planetary
Erik Alinder thinks it would have been fantastic to join in exploring and colonizing a new planet. But not as a consequence of us not solving the climate crisis:
– It is very sad if we will have to do it as a result of not fixing the climate. I don’t think we should stop the colonization of other planets. But we have to be careful not to focus too much on it.
Erik believes instead that it would be best if we could be a civilization that is multi-planetary:
– That we explore others while staying true to the planet we come from. This is a very fantastic planet. There are no trees or flowers anywhere else as far as we know.
2023-05-17 05:14:11
#born #stars
