As a mage, I just want to pursue the truth

Chapter 86 Astronomical Observation Efforts

Boris Shustov came to the institute after eating sausage and milk as usual, ready to start a day of research.

Since the launch of the Spectrum-RG observatory, their sky observation program is progressing steadily.

The Spectrum-RG observatory was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2019 and carries two X-ray telescopes.

Shustov is very satisfied with the current progress. Having completed the X-ray observation map of the entire sky, he and the entire team will be able to leave their names in the history of astronomy.

When he walked into the office and turned on the light, he was startled to see a burly man wearing a black woolen hat sitting at the desk.

"Hello, Professor! Long time no see!"

It turned out that she was his former student, who later went to a military research institute. "Hello! I'm old and can't stand being scared. Don't be so elusive in the future!"

"Professor, we don't need to observe the entire sky now. We just need to find planets that may have life."

Shustov obviously couldn't accept this bad news:
"It will only take us about five years to complete the mapping of the entire sky, which is of great significance to the entire astronomical community!"

"You have no right to do that."

"Besides, there is a special team searching for planets that may have life. There is no need for an old man like me to step in."

The world's only X-ray sky map dates back to 20 years ago, when it was drawn by the German satellite ROSAT.

"I'm sorry, but this is an order. The sky map can be drawn later, but once the planets that may have life are occupied by others, it will be too late."

"Sulkin's team will be fully merged with yours."

The man continued, "I am here to tell you in advance that you will receive orders from the Academy of Sciences later."

Shustov felt it was unreasonable:

"Occupied by others? Let alone the celestial bodies in deep space, we can't even go to Mars!"

The man explained:
"The word 'occupy' here means discovery. Someone has developed a way to locate planets in the universe using a cosmic coordinate system. As long as you are the first to find the coordinates of a planet with intelligent life, then in a sense, this planet belongs to you."

Shustov was even more puzzled. You have to know that this is the 21st century, not the Middle Ages, and everyone is keen to make public the latest research results and eager to attract attention.

The more people research a direction, the more valuable it becomes.

"How come I haven't seen any relevant results? If there really is such a discovery, there must be a related paper published in the Astrophysical Journal or the Monthly Notice for Royal Astronomical Society!"

The man tried to calm the agitated Shustov:

"I'll send you the contents of the cosmic coordinate system later. Now all you have to do is to re-plan your plan and stop mapping the sky and start looking for planets that may have life."

"In addition, all applications from other countries wishing to participate in the Spectroscopic-Ultraviolet Astronomical Observatory observations will be rejected, including those that have already been approved."

"But."

"No buts!"

Boris Shustov often thought back to that day, and later, as information gradually became public, he learned the whole story.

“No wonder our Chinese counterpart, the China Sky Eye, only announced in March that it would be open to the outside world, and closed applications in May.”

As he gradually got to know the project more deeply, Shustov was extremely shocked by the invention of the cosmic coordinate system. It was a remarkable thing to include all the planets in one coordinate system for measurement.

Because the planet is constantly moving, movement is absolute, and stillness is relative, it is completely possible to determine the three-dimensional coordinates of the planet at a certain time. In other words, it is also feasible to introduce the concept of time, take time as the fourth dimension, and determine the four-dimensional coordinates of the planet.

But determining the universal coordinates of the planets is more of a mathematical problem.

When Shustov was communicating with Driffield, the other party said that it was equivalent to finding a universal property for all smooth manifolds.

That is, every smooth manifold has a uniquely determined "center".

However, he did not comment on the Heber algorithm and the Heber constant.

Theoretically there is no problem, but in reality, whether this theory is true or not, Blue Planet currently has no ability to disprove it.

Just like the Goldbach conjecture, no one can find a counterexample to disprove it, but there is no way to prove it either.

Just based on Merlin's soul observation experiments and the experiments on how will affects reality, everyone assumed that what Merlin said was true.

For example, a certain planet may not have any intelligent life on its own, but intelligent life on other planets in the same planetary system may transform it into a habitable planet and migrate to this planet.

Does this kind of planet satisfy the Heber algorithm?

This feeling was not unique to him. Many scientists on Blue Star had countless questions about the theory proposed by Merlin and wanted to ask him.

After so much research, scientific research teams from various countries have gained a better understanding of the soul, but this understanding is only observational.

For example, some dogs have souls and some do not. Can there be differences in souls between creatures of the same species?
The soul becomes visible under certain wavelengths of light, but why it cannot be observed when a person is alive, and why the soul leaves the body when a person dies.

In what form of particles does the soul dissipate in the air and what impact will it have on the environment?

The scientists on Blue Planet have not achieved any results in their research. They don't even have a clue how to approach the study of the soul, what kind of control experiments to conduct, or what goals they want to achieve.

It’s like giving X-rays to ancient people. They only knew how to use it but didn’t know the principles behind it.

In the Oak Forest Laboratory, 19 Nobel Prize winner Jha has been working here for half a year, but there has been no progress in the research in the past six months.

He felt that he knew no more than he did six months ago.

There has been no breakthrough in the question of the essence of the soul.

Jha said: "We need to conduct a qualitative analysis of the soul. What kind of particles are the souls of intelligent life after death?"

"We have experimentally verified that it is not an elementary particle that we know of."

"Could string theory be correct? The basic unit of nature is a closed string. Different vibrations of a closed string produce different elementary particles. Is the soul an elementary particle that we have not been able to discover?"

Witten was also invited to Oak Forest Laboratory. At only 70 years old, his mind was still sharp:

"It's possible, but these are all our imaginations, there is no evidence to prove it!"

Jha joked: "If string theory can be indirectly proved through the existence of the soul, then this achievement alone will win the Nobel Prize in Physics."

"With M theory, you can get two!"

Witten: "I hope to exchange two Nobel Prizes for a Magic Coin. Simons has been showing off to me!"

(End of this chapter)