Milky Way

First, a word about our Milky Way galaxy. It has a diameter of 100,000 light years and contains approximately 3 billion stars. For the sake of clarity: 1 billion is 1,000 million. And all those stars likely have planets. But how can you make contact with another intelligence at, say, a distance of 5,000 light years? Light is an electromagnetic wave comparable to, for example, a radio wave, only with a different frequency. They all travel at the same speed of 300,000 km per second.

 

The inventor of the radio was Marconi in 1895. That was only 125 years ago, something that is nothing in astronomical terms. So we are observable to other intelligences at a distance of 125 light years, if they make use of radio waves.

So we need to come up with something else. But what?!

I'll manage that, damn it.

 

When I’m at a loss, I go swim laps in my 25-meter pool here. Even as you get older, it’s very important to stay fit. If I still can’t figure it out, I turn to whiskey. It took me quite a few laps and whiskey before I had the beginnings of a plan.

 

You have no idea in the evening, and the next morning I suddenly knew. The brain keeps working overtime during sleep. A very strange sensation.