Mu Cephei. Never heard of it? Well maybe you should have. It is the largest object that any human can see without a telescope. If you took a picture, you would see the star as it appeared 2,400 years ago, because the light has travelled 2,400 light years to reach us. It's radius is 1,000 times that of the Sun. But in London, most of the time you'd need binoculars to pick this giant out. There are thousands of stars in the sky which are brighter. The Brightest start in the night sky is Sirius, which is only about 2 times more massive than the Sun. It is a mere 7.5 light years away so it appears brighter.
Now the Barnet Eye does not normally concern itself with Astronomy. There are many great things in London, but with all of the light pollution, it is not a great place for stargazing. However the night sky has always held a strong fascination for me. When I was a kid, before I discovered punk rock, I quite fancied becoming an Astronomer. I liked the idea of getting paid to stay up all night looking at stars. My Dad once explained that it was not a well paid job and I'd be better off becoming a plumber, especially as I was far too thick to be an astronomer. Dad knew the stars. He had trained as an RAF pilot and could use them to navigate his Wellington bomber. I was fascinated when Dad explained that you could tell exactly where you were at night if you had a good watch, a compass and could see the stars. He then confessed that pilots preferred it when it was a bit cloudy and there was no moon, as there was less chance of a fighter seeing you.
Dad explained how the RAF in North Africa made fake runways and airfields with with model planes lined up to fool the German bombers. These were smaller than real planes, but it was impossible for the Germans to tell as the perspective fooled them. He explained that the bigger an object was, the further away you had to be to properly appreciate it. For instance, the Earth is massive and has all manner of regions and areas, but we only see the tiny little bit we are stood on. It seems incongruous that someone in Australia, Thailand, the USA or the North pole is on the same planet and breathing the same air, but they are.
Some time in the next couple of months, a crew of Astronauts will fly around the moon. They will be the first humans since before I was a teenager to see the Earth from the other side of the moon. When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon 1969, I assumed that by now, we'd have bases on the Moon and Mars, but when Apollo 17 completed its mission, that was that. Can you imagine what it will be like to see the Earth as a small disc, that you can blot out if you hold a 2p at arms length? I would love to see the view, but it is a very long journey to the far side of the moon and I actually think it would be rather boring for most of the time. When I was about 14, I realised that going to see The Ramones was far more exciting that looking at the moon with my telescope. The moon we see today is the same one that Jesus and the prophets looked up at millenia ago. However, if the likes of Elon Musk and his friends have their way, within our lifetime, it will look different. When we see the crescent moon, we will see faint lights twinkling, as humans build outposts and then cities. Can you imagine that we will be the first human generation to be able to see the artefacts of our fellow human beings on another world?
Mr Musk believes there is serious money to be made by developing the moon and building factories there. The appeal (rather sadly) seems to be that you can engage in mining and other dirty industries with no planning restrictions. My Dad had a mate from his air force days, who was involved in the British Space projects of the 1950's and 1960's. He had a novel view. He said that the British should not bother with exploring other planets. We should concentrate on getting satellites to the asteroid belt, as there was most like huge resources of almost pure precious metals there. Very little mining would be needed. Sadly, the British government cancelled the whole thing. It seems that these days, the British Government could not organise a brewery trip for a bunch of drunks, let alone a ground breaking space project.
Perspective. We have come full circle. I started by explaining how the biggest thing you will ever see is only just visible and unless you are an astronomy nut, you've probably never heard of it. I also explained how you can only see things properly with some distance, which is why we have no real appreciation of the Earth. Likewise, the British government of the 1960's couldn't see that they had world beating technology in the 1960's that could have made us the richest nation on the planet, if exploited properly. Satellite launches are a massively lucrative building and there is a massive shortage of rare metals. We could have been ahead of the game, but we chose to throw it all away.
But with distance and perspective, come perhaps the most dangerous thing of all. Enlightenment. If we all realised just how small and fragile our planet is in the scheme of things that is the Universe, could we really cope. I can recall once travelling by train from Washington to New York. As you approached New York, the first thing you saw was the two buildings that were the World Trade Centre. This was followed by the Empire State building, then the other skyscrapers. It seemed that for almost an hour the picture grew ever bigger, but by the time you arrived you couldn't see any of them. What seemed so calm and impressive on the Horizon became a bustling concrete jungle as you stepped off the train, I found it almost disturbing to contemplate how you could see the same thing from two different places and it could seem so different.
Which brings me to the point. We, the UK are in crisis. For years, most of us saw our government and our leaders as I saw New York on the skyline. Distant and incomprehensible. The modern age of social media and instant news has laid it bare, Nothing is as it seems. A horrible thought occurred to me. Just suppose that our leaders are actually the best of a bad bunch? If you look at the UK, it is not that bad. Find yourself a globe and stick a pin in a country you'd rather live in. Then do a quick google to see the scandals and the tittle tattle there. As I explained, I put down the telescope and stopped staring at the Moon, when I discovered The Ramones. Over the last couple of years, I have done the same thing with the news. I suspect if it wasn't for The Ramones and the other music I love, it really might just be too much. I am by nature an optimist, but it is reaching the point where all I can do is despair and pretend it isn't happening. I have no idea whether Mu Cephei has a habitable planet circling it, with people like you and me living on it. Just for a second imagine they are, they are seeing the light arriving from Earth 2,400 years ago. They are seeing light from a time when Greek and Babylonian civilisation was at its peak. Maybe, they have the problems we have. Maybe they see that little blue planet in their telescope and like me, when I saw New York, think what a lovely place, it looks so serene and peaceful, as it emerged over the horizon.
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