Translation: Jon Alkorta Martiartu, PhD (UPV/EHU)
Extraterrestrial digital heritage
No, this entry is not about UFOs. I am going to adopt a slightly different point of view, a cultural approach to the observation of the sky that is, and present digital cultural approaches to the contemplation of the firmament. Let’s see if you agree with me.
Is It possible to Speak about Extraterrestrial Digital Heritage?
I wanted to begin this post by reflecting on whether it is possible to speak of extraterrestrial digital heritage. If we refer to natural heritage there is no doubt it is, but if we look at it from a cultural perspective, things are not that clear. I have always emphasised that since the dawn of mankind, what we have done is look at the starry sky and see how the astral bodies moved in the celestial vault. After all, it is man who has projected the figures of the constellations of the twelve symbols of the Zodiac into the sky, for example, or has given the schematic figures that form the brightest stars names of earthly elements such as animals, as in the case of the Greater and Lesser Bears, mythological characters such as Andromeda, or objects such as the Plough. These were the static stars, but then there were the wandering ones, which are the planets, the moon and the sun. From them we obtained, for example, the names of the days of the week. So, we could say that in the sky we have established a parallel with what happens on Earth. It is in this context of the Earth-firmament (macrocosm-microcosm) relationship that astrology arose and from which our present-day astronomy is derived. But there is even more: the orientation of the megaliths to the solstices and equinoxes tells us of this profound knowledge not only of the sky, but also of the seasons and the length of day and night.
Thus, from this perspective I do consider the sky to contain, at least, a certain degree of man-made cultural projection.
The choice of this topic was prompted by a recent milestone photograph: a snapshot of our galaxy’s blackhole, known as Sagittarius A*, whose gravitational pull causes our galaxy to revolve around it. As we know, black holes are so massive that they absorb even their own light, making them extremely difficult to observe. This milestone has been made possible by the combination of eight large telescopes spread across the Earth, turning our planet into a giant digital eye. Although we cannot see the black hole itself, we observe a bright ring of light around a central shadow.
Alex Riveiro, a scientific communicator, talks about this in his podcast Astrobitácora, which you can listen to clicking on the following link:
Voyag3r
This milestone would not have been possible if we had not launched spacecrafts into space to explore our Solar System. Here, we can recall that more than forty years ago the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts were launched to investigate the most distant planets in our environment and to observe galaxies from space. Following this thread, journalist and writer Javier Sierra raises a series of questions about man and his curiosity in the podcast Voyag3r accompanied by Laura Lobo. If you want to enjoy the radio and meditate on the great unknowns of space and the smallness of man, you should not miss this audio documentary. Here is the link to the full audio:
Exoplanets
One of mankind’s longings for some decades now has been to try to locate planets in the universe that could harbour life. These are known as exoplanets. Perhaps the realisation that we are destroying our planet has made us start looking for a possible future home. Although reaching them is a chimera because of the unreachable distances, we have begun to catalogue these bodies that orbit stars and have a range of characteristics that could make the existence of life possible on them. As they do not emit light, they can only be observed when their position is superimposed on that of their star and, depending on the amount of light they block, we can know that they are there and that they have a series of characteristics.
In the realm of fantasy, Netflix filmmakers have thought about what life on these exoplanets might be like. If you want to know more about these virtually created extraterrestrial life forms, don’t miss the series Alien Worlds. Applying the laws of Earth to the rest of the galaxy, this series fuses fact and fiction to imagine alien life on other planets. Here is the link:
Xenoarchaeology
Pyramids in Mars?
To finish, I would like to introduce a topic that I have only just discovered: xenoarchaeology. What does this mean, I hear you say? This would be archaeology applied to the study of the remains of extraterrestrial civilisations. It may sound like science fiction (which it does), but the truth is that North American scientists are already developing theoretical approaches so that, in the event that we come across traces of extraterrestrial cultures, we will already have defined the protocols with which to systematically study these hypothetical cultures. In this sense, possible non-natural elements have already been detected on the Moon and Mars, which came to the fore years ago. For example, I recall the controversial face that was reportedly spotted on the surface of Mars and which has been agreed to be a pareidolia. But near this unique formation there could also be a pyramid captured by the Curiosity rover. If we add to that the presence of organic molecules on Mars and the evidence of possible past life on the Red Planet, possibilities are countless.
As a final note, I would like to suggest that you give a go to the La biblioteca escarlata podcast, where you will find more regarding humanity and its perception of the universe. Perhaps the first image that impressed man was the sight of the starry sky at nightfall. With no lights to block the view, man observed the stars move and the seasons change. In this podcast we can take a look at the mark left by the stars in our cultural imagination.
OpenEdition le sugiere que cite este post de la siguiente manera:
Dr. Pedro Ortega (10 de febrero de 2023). Patrimonio digital extraterrestre. El blog de Tartalo. Recuperado 19 de marzo de 2025 de https://doi.org/10.58079/unvf