The European Space Agency has honoured Stephen Hawking in their own special way. The legendary astrophysicist, who breathed his last in March at the age of 76, has been buried at the Westminster Abbey in London between two other legendary British scientists -- Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.
At the same time when Hawking's ashes were laid to rest at the Westminster Abbey, the ESA beamed the scientist's distinctively synthesized voice towards the closest-known black hole.
Stephen Hawking was famous for his works and theories on black holes. He had theorized that the black holes release one type of thermal radiation and later, it went on to be known as the "Hawking radiation."
The music that has been beamed towards a black hole by the ESA features Stephen Hawking's voice. This six-minute long tribute music was crafted by Vangelis, a great composer, who had previously written music for Blade Runner and Chariots of Fire. He had also given music to a scientific docuseries, named Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.
Now, the ESA has beamed the Vangelis-composed music featuring Stephen Hawking's voice, towards the 1A 0620–00 black hole, which is located 3,5000 light-years away, from the organization's ground station in Spain.
The black hole "lives in a binary system with an orange dwarf star" and when the music reaches there, When it eventually gets there, after thousands of years from now, this music "will be frozen in by the event horizon," stated Professor Günther Hasinger, the director of science at ESA.
"This is a beautiful and symbolic gesture that creates a link between our father's presence on this planet, his wish to go into space, and his explorations of the universe in his mind," Stephen Hawking's daughter Lucy said.
