Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-04-09]: The Kepler telescope discovered a small system of two stars that orbit around a giant star. The strange thing is that the big star in the center is silent... [source: BBC Science news]. No sound does not seem to be produced by it, unlike all the other stars where (we believe that) sounds are created because of vibrations and explosions inside their body. Kepler as an astronomer was delighted when he discovered the harmony of celestial bodies and when he managed to match their movements with the sounds in the music scale. Pythagoras before him, paid particular attention to the music and its relationship to mathematics and the motion of celestial bodies. Music is one of the few things we like without being able to find some specific, concrete reason to explain it. And maybe that's why music has long been associated with both astronomy and mathematics - another area where intuition and inspiration play an important role. And it is music which keeps reminding us of the weird and subtle feeling we all share that there is unity that somehow binds everything together... A unity so magical as a set of notes just lingering in the open space...
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