The 21 cm yardstick
The hydrogen 21 cm line at 1420 MHz, through exact science and Bairo's spiritual reading: body, soul, spirit, and all things possible to the believer.
There is a yardstick that holds anywhere in the universe.
It was not invented by any king, any country, any academy. It comes from the simplest atom there is, hydrogen: one proton, one electron and, every now and then, a quiet flip between the two, when the electron's spin reverses. That flip gives rise to a radio wave of 1420.405751768 MHz, about 21 centimeters long.
Astronomers call it the 21 cm line. With it, they mapped the spiral arms of the Milky Way. With it, the scientists who sent the Pioneer probes out of the Solar System measured the height of a human being: eight 21 cm yardsticks, one whole woman. And, to keep hearing that signal, the world agreed to leave the band from 1400 to 1427 MHz in silence. There, all emissions are prohibited. There, one only listens.
Two readings, without mixing one with the other
This series tells the story of the 21 cm yardstick in two ways.
The first is that of science, exact and sourced: what the line is, how it was predicted in 1944 and heard in 1951, why it is protected, how it became a unit of measure on the probes and a meeting point in the search for other civilizations.
The second is that of Bairo's faith, told as his spiritual reading, never as a scientific claim. Where physics sees a proton, an electron and the flip between them, Bairo sees body, soul and spirit. And, for him, this yardstick recalls an ancient sentence: all things are possible to him that believes, the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 9, verse 23.
No one needs to believe what he believes to make use of this series. Science is there for everyone. Faith, for those who have it, and with respect for those who don't.
And one thing holds for both readings: 1420 is a symbol. No one transmits on 1420 MHz, not Bairo, not the project he founded.
The science
- What the hydrogen 21 cm line is: the electron's flip, van de Hulst's prediction and the map of the galaxy.
- Hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe: from the stars to the atoms of your body.
- Why 1420 MHz is a protected frequency: ITU footnote 5.340 and the agreement to listen to the sky.
- The Pioneer plaque and hydrogen: the yardstick of the Pioneer probes and of the Voyager golden record.
- What SETI's Water Hole is: the cosmic watering hole between hydrogen and hydroxyl.
The symbol and the faith
- Body, soul and spirit in the hydrogen yardstick: Bairo's spiritual reading, side by side with physics.
- All things are possible to him that believes: Mark 9:23, the scene in which the sentence was spoken and the father who believed with doubt.
- The frequency of silence and prayer: what the radio telescope teaches about listening.
For you
The 21 cm yardstick is, in the end, an invitation to measure life by a measure larger than everyday life. Science shows that the simplest element, repeated with patience, draws an entire galaxy. Bairo's faith says that body, soul and spirit can turn together, in a small flip, and go far.
You can keep one of the readings, both, or neither. But the question both of them ask is worth it: what in your life is waiting for enough silence to be heard?
Read also
The ruler, step by step
- What the hydrogen 21 cm line isThe 21 cm line is hydrogen's radio signal, at 1420.405751768 MHz. What it is, how it was predicted and heard, and how it mapped the Milky Way.
- Hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universeAbout three quarters of the universe's ordinary matter is hydrogen, formed after the Big Bang. It's in stars, in water and in 62% of your body's atoms.
- Why 1420 MHz is a protected frequencyUnder ITU footnote 5.340, all emissions are prohibited from 1400 to 1427 MHz. Why the world agreed to leave the hydrogen frequency in silence.
- The Pioneer plaque and hydrogenThe plaques on Pioneer 10 and 11 and the Voyager golden record use hydrogen as a yardstick: 21 cm in length and 0.7 billionths of a second.
- What SETI's Water Hole isThe Water Hole is the radio band between hydrogen (1420 MHz) and hydroxyl (1662 MHz), proposed in 1971 by Bernard Oliver as a cosmic meeting point.
- Body, soul and spirit in the hydrogen yardstickWhere physics sees a proton, an electron and the flip between them, Bairo sees body, soul and spirit. His spiritual reading, beside exact science.
- All things are possible to him that believeth (Mark 9:23)"All things are possible to him that believeth" is in Mark 9:23. The text, the scene in which it was said and what the phrase means to Bairo.
- The frequency of silence and prayerA radio telescope doesn't speak: it listens, and the longer it listens, the more it hears. What 1420 MHz astronomy teaches about silence and prayer.