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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Whale Songs Beamed into Space...

Didn't we see this already in a Star Trek Movie?

April 21

Beamed Into Space: Whale Songs

From the deep ocean into the depths of space, the first live whale songs are to be broadcast into the cosmos on April 22 - Earth Day.

Providing the service is the Deep Space Communications Network, a private organization located near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Making use of a large dish antenna, the group will blast the whale songs out to some 3.5 light years into deep space covering an estimated distance of 18 trillion miles.

The distance the whale songs signal could go into the universe beyond the 18 trillion miles -- and still be detectable by other non-terrestrial systems -- “is an ongoing matter of speculation,” said Jim Lewis of Deep Space Communications Network.

The Sirius Institute, located in Puna, Hawaii, contracted the Deep Space Communications Network to perform the duty.

Members of the whale chorus whose songs will be sent live into space are from pods of Humpback whales off the coast of Maui. Whalesong.net (http://www.whalesong.net) will provide the live feed of whale music making use of an underwater microphone in the Pacific Ocean near Maui, Hawai'i.

Michael Hyson, research director for the Sirius Institute, said that dolphins and whales are the oldest sentient race on the planet, and it’s about time they shared their songs with the universe.

Humpback whale songs are included in the gold records that are attached to the still-outbound Voyager spacecraft. But this is the first time that live whale songs will be transmitted into space.

Story here: www.space.com/astronotes/astronotes.html

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Plot Outline: To save Earth from an alien probe, Kirk and his crew go back in time to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with it, humpback whales.

"Klatuu Brata Nicto"

[Centaur]

Thanks for the heads-up. It appears as though there are some irresponsible individuals who are attempting to ring the dinner bell for potential predators. Of course, if all that any ET's want is whale meat, then the damage would be less severe to our species. In any event, the group's foolishness may be moot, since I doubt there are really any beings elsewhere in the galaxy capable of intercepting the signal.

[Maddad]

Chicago said:

Didn't we see this already in a Star Trek Movie?

Close. The alien probe came to us, rather than us beaming humpback whale-song into space. Once we recognized the sound from it as being whalesong, the crew in Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home, retrieved two whales from the 1960's and sent their song to the probe. It was the best of the Star Trek movies. Leonard Nimoy directed it. William Shatner directed the next one, but he is a better actor than director.