What does the universe sound like? A musical tour | Matt Russo

Translator: Carme Paz Reviewer: Gonzalo Camiña

I'd like you all to close your eyes, please ...

Gustaríame que pechásedes os ollos...

and imagine yourself sitting in the middle of a large, open field

Imaxinádevos sentados no medio dun gran campo aberto

with the sun setting on your right.

co sol poñéndose á vosa dereita.

E mentres se pon,

And as the sun sets,

imaxinade que esta noite non só vedes as estrelas xurdir

imagine that tonight you don't just see the stars appear,

but you're able to hear the stars appear

senón que podedes oílas xurdir:

with the brightest stars being the loudest notes

as estrelas máis relucentes son as notas máis altas

and the hotter, bluer stars producing the higher-pitched notes.

as máis quentes e azuis son as máis agudas.

(Music)

(Música)

And since each constellation is made up of different types of stars,

Como cada constelación está feita de distintos tipos de estrelas,

they'll each produce their own unique melody,

cada unha vai producir unha melodía única,

such as Aries, the ram.

como Aries, o carneiro.

(Música)

(Music)

Or Orion, the hunter.

Ou Orión, o cazador.

(Music)

(Música)

Or even Taurus, the bull.

Ou mesmo Tauro, o touro.

(Music)

(Música)

We live in a musical universe,

Vivimos nun universo musical

and we can use that to experience it from a new perspective,

e podemos usalo para experimentalo cunha nova perspectiva

and to share that perspective with a wider range of people.

e compartir esa perspectiva cun abano máis grande de xente.

Let me show you what I mean.

Vóuvolo explicar.

(Music ends)

(A música remata)

Now, when I tell people I'm an astrophysicist,

Cando digo que son astrofísico

a xente impresiónanse bastante.

they're usually pretty impressed.

And then I say I'm also a musician -- they're like, "Yeah, we know."

E logo digo que tamén son músico e eles: "Ah, claro".

(Laughter)

(Risos)

So everyone seems to know

Así que parece que todos saben

that there's this deep connection between music and astronomy.

que hai unha conexión profunda entre música e astronomía.

De feito, é unha idea moi vella;

And it's actually a very old idea;

it goes back over 2,000 years to Pythagoras.

ten máis de 2000 anos, desde Pitágoras.

You might remember Pythagoras from such theorems

Lembraredes a Pitágoras por teoremas como

o teorema de Pitágoras.

as the Pythagorean theorem --

(Risos)

(Laughter)

El dixo:

And he said:

"There is geometry in the humming of the strings,

"Hai xeometría no soar das cordas,

there is music in the spacing of the spheres."

hai música no espazo das esferas."

And so he literally thought

El pensaba, literalmente,

que o movemento dos planetas pola esfera celeste

that the motions of the planets along the celestial sphere

created harmonious music.

creaba música harmoniosa.

And if you asked him, "Why don't we hear anything?"

E se lle preguntarades por que non oídes nada,

he'd say you can't hear it

diría que non o oídes

because you don't know what it's like to not hear it;

porque non sabedes como é non oílo;

non coñecedes o silencio real.

you don't know what true silence is.

Coma cando tedes que quedar sen electricidade

It's like how you have to wait for your power to go out

para oír o molesto que era o frigorífico.

to hear how annoying your refrigerator was.

Maybe you buy that,

Talvez o credes

but not everybody else was buying it, including such names as Aristotle.

pero non moita xente o cría, como Aristóteles.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

Exact words.

Palabras exactas.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

Parafraseando as palabras exactas.

So I'll paraphrase his exact words.

Dixo que era unha boa idea

He said it's a nice idea,

but if something as large and vast as the heavens themselves

pero que se algo tan amplo e vasto como o ceo

were moving and making sounds,

se movese e fixese ruído,

it wouldn't just be audible,

non sería audible,

it would be earth-shatteringly loud.

sería abouxador.

We exist, therefore there is no music of the spheres.

Nós existimos, polo tanto, non existe a música das esferas.

He also thought that the brain's only purpose was to cool down the blood,

Tamén pensaba que o único fin do cerebro era arrefriar o sangue,

así que...

so there's that ...

(Laughter)

(Risos)

But I'd like to show you that in some way they were actually both right.

Pero gustaríame ensinarvos que, en certa maneira, os dous tiñan razón.

And we're going to start by understanding what makes music musical.

E imos comezar por entender por que a música é musical.

It may sound like a silly question,

Pode parecer unha parvada,

but have you ever wondered why it is

pero, pensastes algunha vez por que

that certain notes, when played together, sound relatively pleasing or consonant,

certas notas, cando se tocan xuntas, soan relativamente ben ou consoantes,

such as these two --

como estas dúas...

(Music)

(Música)

mentres que outras soan máis tensas ou disonantes,

while others are a lot more tense or dissonant,

such as these two.

como estas dúas...

(Music)

(Música)

Right?

Non?

Why is that? Why are there notes at all?

Por que pasa isto? Por que hai notas?

Why can you be in or out of tune?

Por que entoamos ou non?

Well, the answer to that question

A resposta a esta pregunta

was actually solved by Pythagoras himself.

atopouna o mesmo Pitágoras.

Take a look at the string on the far left.

Mirade a corda da esquerda de todo.

If you bow that string,

Se a pulsades,

it will produce a note as it oscillates very fast back and forth.

produce unha nota ao abanear rapidamente adiante a atrás.

(Musical note)

(nota musical)

But now if you cut the string in half, you'll get two strings,

Pero agora se cortades a corda en dous, tedes dúas cordas,

each oscillating twice as fast.

cada unha abaneando o dobre de rápido.

And that will produce a related note.

E iso produce unha nota relacionada.

Or three times as fast,

Ou tres veces máis rápida,

or four times --

ou catro veces...

(Musical notes)

(Notas musicais)

And so the secret to musical harmony really is simple ratios:

E así o segredo da harmonía musical é só unha proporción:

the simpler the ratio,

canto máis simple é a proporción,

the more pleasing or consonant those two notes will sound together.

máis agradables ou consoantes son as dúas notas xuntas.

Canto máis complexa é a proporción, máis disonantes soarán.

And the more complex the ratio, the more dissonant they will sound.

And it's this interplay between tension and release,

E esta interacción entre tensión e liberación

or consonance and dissonance,

ou entre consonancia e disonancia,

that makes what we call music.

é o que fai o que chamamos música.

(Music)

(Música)

(Music ends)

(Remata a música)

(Applause)

(Aplausos)

Thank you.

Grazas.

(Aplausos)

(Applause)

But there's more.

Pero hai máis.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

So the two features of music we like to think of as pitch and rhythms,

As dúas características da música, ton e ritmo,

they're actually two versions of the same thing,

son en realidade dúas versións do mesmo,

and I can show you.

e podo mostrárvolo.

(Slow rhythm)

(Ritmo baixo)

That's a rhythm right?

Iso é un ritmo, non?

Watch what happens when we speed it up.

Mirade o que pasa se o aceleramos.

(Rhythm gets gradually faster)

(O ritmo aumenta)

(High pitch)

(Ton alto)

(Lowering pitch)

(Ton descendente)

(Slow Rhythm)

(Ritmo lento)

So once a rhythm starts happening more than about 20 times per second,

Así que cando o ritmo se repite máis de 20 veces por segundo,

your brain flips.

o voso cerebro cambia.

It stops hearing it as a rhythm and starts hearing it as a pitch.

Deixa de oílo como un ritmo e comeza a oílo como un ton.

So what does this have to do with astronomy?

E que ten que ver isto coa astronomía?

Well, that's when we get to the TRAPPIST-1 system.

Aí é cando chegamos ao sistema TRAPPIST-1.

This is an exoplanetary system discovered last February of 2017,

Este sistema exoplanetario descubriuse en febreiro de 2017,

and it got everyone excited

e todo o mundo se emocionou

because it is seven Earth-sized planets all orbiting a very near red dwarf star.

porque son 7 planetas do tamaño da Terra orbitando unha estrela anana vermella.

And we think that three of the planets

E cremos que 3 dos planetas

teñen a temperatura xusta para auga líquida.

have the right temperature for liquid water.

It's also so close that in the next few years,

Tamén está tan cerca que nos próximos anos

we should be able to detect elements in their atmospheres

deberiamos poder detectar elementos nas súas atmosferas

como osíxeno e metano, signos potenciais de vida.

such as oxygen and methane -- potential signs of life.

But one thing about the TRAPPIST system is that it is tiny.

Pero o sistema TRAPPIST é diminuto.

So here we have the orbits of the inner rocky planets

Aquí temos as órbitas dos planetas rochosos interiores

in our solar system:

no noso sistema solar:

Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars,

Mercurio, Venus, a Terra e Marte,

and all seven Earth-sized planets of TRAPPIST-1

e os 7 planetas do tamaño da Terra de TRAPPIST-1

are tucked well inside the orbit of Mercury.

caben dentro da órbita de Mercurio.

I have to expand this by 25 times

Teño que expandir isto 25 veces

for you to see the orbits of the TRAPPIST-1 planets.

para que vexades as órbitas dos planetas de TRAPPIST-1.

It's actually much more similar in size to our planet Jupiter and its moons,

É moito máis parecido en tamaño ao noso planeta Xúpiter e ás súas lúas,

even though it's seven Earth-size planets orbiting a star.

aínda que son 7 planetas como a Terra orbitando unha estrela.

Another reason this got everyone excited was artist renderings like this.

Outra razón que emocionou a todos foron interpretacións artísticas como esta.

You got some liquid water, some ice, maybe some land,

Hai algo de auga líquida, algo de xeo, talvez algunha terra,

maybe you can go for a dive in this amazing orange sunset.

quizais poidamos mergullarnos neste marabilloso solpor.

It got everyone excited,

Todo o mundo se emocionou

and then a few months later, some other papers came out

e uns meses máis tarde, saíron outros artigos

that said, actually, it probably looks more like this.

que dicían que probablemente sería máis coma isto.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

So there were signs

Había sinais

that some of the surfaces might actually be molten lava

de que algunhas das superficies poderían ser lava fundida

and that there were very damaging X-rays coming from the central star --

e que había raios x daniños saíndo da estrela central,

X-rays that will sterilize the surface of life and even strip off atmospheres.

raios x que esterilizarían a superficie da vida e eliminarían atmosferas.

Luckily, just a few months ago in 2018,

Afortunadamente, hai uns meses, en 2018,

some new papers came out with more refined measurements,

saíron á luz algúns artigos con medidas máis axustadas

and they found actually it does look something like that.

e anunciaban que se parece a algo así.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

So we now know that several of them have huge supplies of water --

Agora sabemos que varios deles teñen enormes reservas de auga,

global oceans --

océanos globais,

and several of them have thick atmospheres,

e varios teñen atmosferas densas,

so it's the right place to look for potential life.

así que é o sitio correcto para buscar vida.

But there's something even more exciting about this system,

Pero hai algo aínda máis emocionante neste sistema,

especially for me.

especialmente para min.

And that's that TRAPPIST-1 is a resonant chain.

O TRAPPIST-1 é unha cadea resoante.

And so that means for every two orbits of the outer planet,

Iso significa que por cada 2 órbitas dun planeta exterior,

the next one in orbits three times,

o seguinte orbita 3 veces,

and the next one in four,

e o seguinte 4,

and then six, nine, 15 and 24.

e logo 6, 9, 15 e 24.

So you see a lot of very simple ratios among the orbits of these planets.

Vemos moitas proporcións simples entre a órbita deses planetas.

Clearly, if you speed up their motion, you can get rhythms, right?

Se aceleramos o movemento podemos coller ritmos, non?

Un pulso, por cada vez que un planeta dá a volta.

One beat, say, for every time a planet goes around.

But now we know if you speed that motion up even more,

Pero agora sabemos que se aceleramos o movemento aínda máis,

you'll actually produce musical pitches,

producimos tons musicais,

and in this case alone,

e só neste caso

those pitches will work together,

eses tons funcionan xuntos,

making harmonious, even human-like harmony.

e fan harmonías, case humanas.

So let's hear TRAPPIST-1.

Imos oír TRAPPIST-1.

The first thing you'll hear will be a note for every orbit of each planet,

O que primeiro ides oír é unha nota por cada órbita de planeta

and just keep in mind,

e lembrade

this music is coming from the system itself.

esta música vén do propio sistema.

I'm not creating the pitches or rhythms,

Non estou creando tons ou ritmos,

I'm just bringing them into the human hearing range.

só os estou traendo á capacidade de audición humana.

And after all seven planets have entered,

E despois de que entren os 7 planetas,

you're going to see --

ides ver,

well, you're going to hear a drum for every time two planets align.

ides oír un tambor cada vez que dous planetas se aliñan.

That's when they kind of get close to each other

Isto é cando se achegan

e se dan, uns a outros, un empurrón gravitacional.

and give each other a gravitational tug.

(Tone)

(Ton)

(Two tones)

(Dous tons)

(Three tones)

(Tres tons)

(Four tones)

(Catro tons)

(Five tones)

(Cinco tons)

(Six tones)

(Seis tons)

(Seven tones)

(Sete tons)

(Drum beats)

(Son de tambor)

(Music ends)

(A música remata)

And that's the sound of the star itself -- its light converted into sound.

E ese é o son da estrela, a súa luz convertida en son.

So you may wonder how this is even possible.

Quizais vos preguntades como é posible.

And it's good to think of the analogy of an orchestra.

É bo pensar na analoxía dunha orquestra,

When everyone gets together to start playing in an orchestra,

cando a xente se xunta para tocar nunha orquestra,

non poden chegar e tocar, non?

they can't just dive into it, right?

Teñen que sintonizarse;

They have to all get in tune;

teñen que asegurarse

they have to make sure

de que os seus instrumentos están aliñados cos do veciño.

their instruments resonate with their neighbors' instruments,

Algo parecido ocorreu co TRAPPIST-1 ao comezo da súa existencia.

and something very similar happened to TRAPPIST-1 early in its existence.

Cando os planetas se formaron,

When the planets were first forming,

they were orbiting within a disc of gas,

orbitaban nun disco de gas.

and while inside that disc,

Dentro dese disco,

they can actually slide around

poden moverse

and adjust their orbits to their neighbors

e axustar as súas órbitas ás dos seus veciños

until they're perfectly in tune.

ata que estean perfectamente sintonizados.

And it's a good thing they did because this system is so compact --

E é bo que o fixeran porque o seu sistema é moi compacto

a lot of mass in a tight space --

un montón de masa nun espazo estreito.

if every aspect of their orbits wasn't very finely tuned,

Se cada aspecto das súas órbitas non estivera ben sintonizado,

they would very quickly disrupt each other's orbits,

enseguida perturbarían as órbitas dos outros,

destroying the whole system.

destruíndo todo o sistema.

So it's really music that is keeping this system alive --

Así que é realmente a música a que mantén vivo o sistema

and any of its potential inhabitants.

e calquera dos potenciais habitantes.

But what does our solar system sound like?

E como soa o noso sistema solar?

I hate to be the one to show you this, but it's not pretty.

Odio ser eu quen volo ensine pero non é bonito.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

So for one thing,

Para comezar,

our solar system is on a much, much larger scale,

o noso sistema solar ten unha escala moito maior

and so to hear all eight planets,

e para oír os 8 planetas

we have to start with Neptune near the bottom of our hearing range,

temos que comezar con Neptuno no fondo do noso rango auditivo

e despois Mercurio está alá arriba

and then Mercury's going to be all the way up

no bordo do noso rango auditivo.

near the very top of our hearing range.

Como os nosos planetas non son moi compactos,

But also, since our planets are not very compact --

they're very spread out --

están esparexidos,

they didn't have to adjust their orbits to each other,

non teñen que axustar as órbitas uns aos outros,

so they're kind of just all playing their own random note at random times.

así que tocan as súas notas aleatorias en tempos aleatorios.

So, I'm sorry, but here it is.

Síntoo pero aquí vai.

(Tone)

(Ton)

Iso é Neptuno.

That's Neptune.

(Two tones)

(Dous tons)

Uranus.

Urano.

(Three tones)

(Tres tons)

Saturn.

Saturno

(Four tones)

(Catro tons)

Xúpiter.

Jupiter.

And then tucked in, that's Mars.

E, aí no medio, Marte.

(Five tones)

(Cinco tons)

(Six tones)

A Terra.

(Seis tons)

Earth.

(Seven tones)

(Sete tons)

Venus.

Venus

(Eight tones)

(Oito tons)

And that's Mercury --

E ese é Mercurio.

Está ben, vou parar.

OK, OK, I'll stop.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

So this was actually Kepler's dream.

Así que isto era o soño de Kepler.

Johannes Kepler is the person

Johannes Kepler foi a persoa

that figured out the laws of planetary motion.

que propuxo as leis do movemento planetario.

He was completely fascinated by this idea

Estaba fascinado pola idea

that there's a connection between music, astronomy and geometry.

dunha conexión entre música, astronomía e xeometría.

And so he actually spent an entire book

E usou un libro enteiro

just searching for any kind of musical harmony amongst the solar system's planets

buscando calquera tipo de harmonía musical entre os planetas do sistema solar

and it was really, really hard.

e era moi moi difícil.

It would have been much easier had he lived on TRAPPIST-1,

Sería moito máis fácil se vivise en TRAPPIST-1,

or for that matter ...

ou no

K2-138.

K2-138.

This is a new system discovered in January of 2018

Este é un sistema novo descuberto en xaneiro de 2018

with five planets,

con 5 planetas,

and just like TRAPPIST,

e como TRAPPIST,

early on in their existence, they were all finely tuned.

desde moi axiña estaban ben sintonizados.

They were actually tuned

Estaban sintonizados

into a tuning structure proposed by Pythagoras himself,

nunha estrutura de tons proposta por Pitágoras,

over 2,000 years before.

hai uns 2000 anos.

But the system's actually named after Kepler,

Pero chamáronlle Kepler ao sistema

discovered by the Kepler space telescope.

que foi descuberto polo telescopio espacial Kepler.

And so, in the last few billion years,

Nos últimos miles de millóns de anos,

they've actually lost their tuning,

perderon a sintonía

quite a bit more than TRAPPIST has,

máis do que o fixo TRAPPIST,

and so what we're going to do is go back in time

así que imos volver atrás no tempo

and imagine what they would've sounded like

e imaxinar como soarían

just as they were forming.

cando se formaron.

(Music)

(Música)

(Music ends)

(A música remata)

(Applause)

(Aplausos)

Thank you.

Grazas.

Now, you may be wondering: How far does this go?

Seguro que vos preguntades ata onde vai isto.

How much music actually is out there?

canta música hai aí fóra?

And that's what I was wondering last fall

Iso é o que me preguntaba o pasado outono

when I was working at U of T's planetarium,

cando traballaba no planetario da Universidade de Toronto

and I was contacted by an artist named Robyn Rennie and her daughter Erin.

e contactou comigo unha artista chamada Robyn Rennie e a súa filla Erin.

Robyn loves the night sky,

Robyn ama o ceo nocturno,

but she hasn't been able to fully see it for 13 years

pero non pode velo desde hai 13 anos

because of vision loss.

pola perda de visión.

And so they wondered if there was anything I could do.

Elas preguntábanse se había algo que eu puidese facer.

So I collected all the sounds I could think of from the universe

Así que collín todos os sons do universo que se me ocorreron

and packaged them into what became "Our Musical Universe."

e xunteinos no que foi o noso universo musical.

This is a sound-based planetarium show

É un espectáculo planetario baseado no sonido

exploring the rhythm and harmony of the cosmos.

explorando o ritmo e a harmonía do cosmos.

And Robyn was so moved by this presentation

Robyn estaba tan emocionada por isto

that when she went home,

que cando chegou á casa

she painted this gorgeous representation of her experience.

pintou esta fermosa representación da súa experiencia

And then I defaced it by putting Jupiter on it for the poster.

que eu estraguei ao poñer a Xúpiter para o cartel.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

So ...

Así que...,

in this show, I take people of all vision levels

neste espectáculo, collo xente de todos os niveis de visión

and bring them on an audio tour of the universe,

e lévoos nunha xira auditiva polo universo,

from the night sky all the way out to the edge of the observable universe.

desde o ceo nocturno ata o límite do universo observable.

But even this is just the start of a musical odyssey

Isto é só o comezo dunha odisea musical

to experience the universe with new eyes and with new ears,

para experimentar o universo con novos ollos e novos oídos

and I hope you'll join me.

e espero que vos unades.

Thank you.

Grazas.

(Applause)

(Aplausos)