Q&A: Astronomer David Aguilar

Map It:  Smithsonian 

THE DIRECTOR of the Office of Public Affairs at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics knows whereof he speaks. He has helped build science centers and planetariums and worked for an aerospace firm. He also paints images that Hubble just can't see. This fall, David Aguilar's book "Planets, Stars, and Galaxies: A Visual Encyclopedia of Our Universe" collects about 120 pieces of his artwork.

On Saturday, his Smithsonian associates talk "What Do You Say to an Alien?" will blend natural history, regular history, art and science to venture an answer to that question and also to address "Seven Wonders of the Universe," "Five Questions Astronomers Cannot Answer" and — ruh-roh — "Six Ways to Wreck a Planet."

» EXPRESS: How did you come up with your list of universal wonders?
» AGUILAR: I've talked to some of the best experts in the world in different fields, and I've said to them, "What is the one most magnificent object out there that if you could see it and you could experience it, what would it be?"

» EXPRESS: How's the interstellar travelogue arranged?
» AGUILAR: I've thrown them into categories [such as] "Biggest Disaster About Ready to Happen."

» EXPRESS: What is that, exactly?
» AGUILAR: A supernova that could go off at any time. That would be so spectacular. It'd be visible in the daytime for weeks.

» EXPRESS: But it wouldn't actually get here.
» AGUILAR: Yeah, some of it might.

» EXPRESS: So we get into planet-wrecking. We're already doing a pretty good job of that on our own.
» AGUILAR: I'm gonna give you some bizarre examples of global warming on other worlds and what has happened to them.

» EXPRESS: Venus is very hot. Did it undergo global warming at some point?
» AGUILAR: It sure did.

» EXPRESS: Is that what we're looking at down the line?
» AGUILAR: I don't think it's going to be that severe. That's called "greenhouse effect out of control." Actually, when Venus was first created, it had oceans very much like the Earth.

» EXPRESS: What about the aliens? Will a Klingon dictionary come in handy?
» AGUILAR: We have this preconceived notion that what we're going to find are aliens like in "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" that walk upright with two arms, two legs, have little bumps on their nose and pointy ears, but they're pretty much like us and we can talk to them.

I'll bet you anything if it's intelligent, it's not gonna look like that at all. How do you communicate with a creature that communicates using odors?

» EXPRESS: What if Old Spice is a cultural offense to them?
» AGUILAR: It could be. What are you gonna do, keep used car salesmen away from them?

Written by Express contributor Glenn Dixon