Source:
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/449-20-000-black-holes-polaris-dawn-s-spacewalk-new-horizons-deep-dive--61272825
Join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson in this enthralling episode of Space Nuts, where they delve into groundbreaking discoveries and missions in the cosmos.
Episode Highlights:
- Swarm of Black Holes: Explore the astonishing possibility of a swarm of up to 20,000 black holes in a well-known region of Space. Once thought to contain a single intermediate-mass black hole, new findings suggest a much more complex scenario.
- - Polaris Dawn Mission: Discover the exciting details of the Polaris Dawn mission, potentially the first crewed mission to achieve a polar orbit around Earth. Learn about their ambitious plans, including the first privately conducted spacewalk, and the technical challenges they face.
- - New Horizons Mission: Find out what the New Horizons spacecraft is up to 18 years after its launch. After its historic flyby of Pluto, the mission continues to break new ground by examining the darkness of Space, providing insights into the cosmic optical background.
- - 00:00:00 Andrew Dunkley: Coming up on this episode of Space Nuts
- - 00:01:32 You can't go bluetooth through this panel I've got because of time delay
- - 00:02:35 Geordie says he got hay fever from living in England
- - 00:04:28 Astronomers have been hunting for intermediate black holes for decades
- - 00:15:00 The world will have to come up with a collective noun for black holes
- - 00:16:14 Professor Fred Watson talks to Andrew Dunkley about the Polaris dawn mission
- - 00:23:22 Andrew Dunkley dives into black hole; hopes all goes well
- - 00:24:26 New Horizons spacecraft has been sent off to examine darkness of night sky
- - 00:32:17 Professor Fred Watson: Thanks for your company, Andrew Dunkley
- For more Space Nuts, including our continually updating newsfeed, visit our website at https://www.spacenutspodcast.com. Follow us on social media at SpaceNutsPod on facebook, X, YouTubeMusic, and TikTok. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favourite platform. For more Space and Astronomy News Podcasts, visit our HQ at https://www.bitesz.com. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts/support.Stay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.
Episode References:
Hubble Space Telescope
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html
Polaris Dawn mission
https://polarisprogram.com/
New Horizons spacecraft
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html
Sky & Telescope
https://skyandtelescope.org/
French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)
https://www.cnrs.fr/en
Leiden Observatory
https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/science/astronomy
Royal Observatory Edinburgh
https://www.roe.ac.uk/
SpaceX Crew Dragon
https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/dragon/
Falcon 9
https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/falcon-9/
Astronomy AstroDailyPod
https://astronomydaily.io/
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 hello again thanks for joining us on a
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 new episode of space stats my name is
00:00:04 --> 00:00:07 Andrew Dunley your host and it's good to
00:00:07 --> 00:00:10 have your company and coming up on this
00:00:10 --> 00:00:12 episode we've got some fascinating
00:00:12 --> 00:00:16 stories as always and one is about a
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 possible swarm of black holes that might
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 have been discovered uh in a rather
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 well-known region of space too I might
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 add um they thought there was one now
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 they think there might be
00:00:27 --> 00:00:30 20 I'm not exaggerating uh we're
00:00:30 --> 00:00:32 also going to look at the Polaris Dawn
00:00:32 --> 00:00:34 Mission now by the time this podcast is
00:00:34 --> 00:00:38 released it may well have happened but
00:00:38 --> 00:00:40 it might not just depends on technical
00:00:40 --> 00:00:42 issues they're sitting on the um
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 platform at the moment playing
00:00:44 --> 00:00:48 Scrabble um waiting for things to get
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 fixed and the pofu valves to be unvalved
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 and all that sort of thing uh we're also
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 look at the New Horizon's Mission it's
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 18 years along now and 9 years since it
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 did its fly by of Pluto but it's still
00:01:01 --> 00:01:05 working what's it working on Darkness
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 that's all coming up on this episode of
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 Space Nuts 15 seconds guidance is
00:01:10 --> 00:01:15 internal 10 9 ignition sequence start
00:01:15 --> 00:01:21 Space Nuts 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 Space Nuts as nuts reported feels good
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 and joining us again to unravel all of
00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 that and much much more is Professor
00:01:29 --> 00:01:32 Fred Fred what um hello Fred hello
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 Andrew unraveling is our business we're
00:01:35 --> 00:01:36 pretty good at raveling as well
00:01:36 --> 00:01:38 especially when it comes to things like
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 uh headphone leads and things of that
00:01:40 --> 00:01:44 sort yes I've got one of those um
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 stretchy ones there you go it does it
00:01:47 --> 00:01:48 does a good job except it keeps getting
00:01:48 --> 00:01:50 in the wrong place and it's a bit
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 annoying but I can't go Wireless you
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 can't go Bluetooth through this panel
00:01:54 --> 00:02:00 I've got because of the um um time delay
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 to make things difficult so you'll talk
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 to me and I won't hear it for a second
00:02:05 --> 00:02:09 and a half which is not you know that it
00:02:09 --> 00:02:12 might be going via the moon could be
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 from you from your desktop to your
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 headphones via the moon uh that would be
00:02:16 --> 00:02:19 more like two two two and a half seconds
00:02:19 --> 00:02:20 one and a half seconds well when when I
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 bought them it said if you if you choose
00:02:22 --> 00:02:26 to go Bluetooth uh you may um discover
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 that it doesn't work the way you wanted
00:02:28 --> 00:02:29 to and that's exactly what happen
00:02:29 --> 00:02:32 interesting yeah so U it's not all bells
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 and whistles not all perfect tell you
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 what else isn't perfect umide well the
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 weather's been perfect lately but um
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 so's the hay fever it's ripping through
00:02:43 --> 00:02:46 us at the moment my word yeah yep I'm a
00:02:46 --> 00:02:47 terrible
00:02:47 --> 00:02:51 sufferer and um I I thought it was just
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 because of where we lived so when we
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 went to England many years ago um and
00:02:55 --> 00:02:57 got off the plane I wasn't even off the
00:02:57 --> 00:02:59 gang way or the sky Bridge or what
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 whatever you call it and I was sneezing
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 I thought oh no I thought I escaped all
00:03:04 --> 00:03:05 this by coming to the exact opposite
00:03:05 --> 00:03:08 side of the planet but no it just got me
00:03:08 --> 00:03:10 so now I know it doesn't matter where I
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 am I'm going to get hay F if there's
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 pollen in the air quite to I'd like
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 someone to do a study on why it develops
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 later in life cuz I never had it as a
00:03:19 --> 00:03:23 kid no I didn't I didn't either neither
00:03:23 --> 00:03:25 did Jordi as you probably just heard
00:03:25 --> 00:03:28 that he loves to contribute does Jordy
00:03:28 --> 00:03:30 yes he he does um so um yeah same thing
00:03:30 --> 00:03:33 happened to me I but but mine was a bit
00:03:33 --> 00:03:34 more obvious because I grew up in the
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 north of England and studied in Scotland
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 and kind of hung around the north of
00:03:39 --> 00:03:41 England for the first 20 odd years of my
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 life and then moved to the South where
00:03:43 --> 00:03:46 which is verdant and green and grassy
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 and immediately got terrible hay fever
00:03:48 --> 00:03:52 yeah which I now know is an allergy to
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 Ry graphs it well will be for me too
00:03:54 --> 00:03:57 there's a lot of Ry grass out here yeah
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 so I haven't had it I haven't been
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 tested but I'm making that assumption
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 also allergic to cats there you go grew
00:04:04 --> 00:04:07 up with a cat never had a problem now I
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 can't you know I I can no longer rub my
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 face in there F which is so
00:04:12 --> 00:04:15 disappointing so disappointing uh let's
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 tried rubbing your face in muskat fur he
00:04:17 --> 00:04:20 take your eyes out yes that's the other
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 problem that is the other problem that
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 may that may explain the it yes yes
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 that's right now uh let's get down to
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 business uh this story story is
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 interesting because it uh really changes
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34 the way we're looking at one particular
00:04:34 --> 00:04:38 piece of space and it's an area where we
00:04:38 --> 00:04:41 thought there was an intermediate Mass
00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 black hole was it now they think it's
00:04:43 --> 00:04:47 not it's not a black hole it's a
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 multifaceted number of black
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 holes uh in possibly the tens of
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 thousands this is quite
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 extraordinary it it is uh it's a story
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 that um I mean we've been following the
00:05:00 --> 00:05:03 intermediate Mass black hole story for
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 quite some time and just to fill in the
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 details for anybody new to the issue uh
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 we find we commonly find what we call
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 Stellar Mass black holes black holes
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 with a mass of you know up to 20 Stars
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 up to 20 Suns and we commonly find super
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 massive black holes which are sometimes
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 20 billion times the mass of the Sun but
00:05:23 --> 00:05:24 there doesn't seem to be anything in
00:05:24 --> 00:05:26 between the intermediate Mass black
00:05:26 --> 00:05:29 holes have been Elusive and one place we
00:05:29 --> 00:05:33 think we might find them is in the
00:05:33 --> 00:05:37 center of these really spectacular
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 gigantic star clusters that we call
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 globular clusters because they're
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 globular in shape that name was given to
00:05:43 --> 00:05:45 them by William Hershel couple hundred
00:05:45 --> 00:05:51 years ago or more um and uh we have uh
00:05:51 --> 00:05:53 by we I mean the world of astronomy has
00:05:53 --> 00:05:55 has basically been hunting for
00:05:55 --> 00:05:57 intermediate black holes in the centers
00:05:57 --> 00:06:01 of some globular clusters and and with
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 with sort of varying degrees of success
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 in the sense that some of some of these
00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 findings are more certain than others
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 but one that we covered recently was a
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 finding that uh yeah we we were pretty
00:06:13 --> 00:06:15 sure about for a while uh and that is
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 the globular cluster Omega centu it's
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 the biggest of the our Milky Way
00:06:20 --> 00:06:24 Galaxy's retinue of globular clusters
00:06:24 --> 00:06:29 160 or 200 of them uh um and this one is
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 the biggest of them distance of 177
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 light years as the crow flies in the
00:06:34 --> 00:06:35 constellation of Centaurus which is why
00:06:35 --> 00:06:39 it's called Omega centu uh and visible
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42 just about to the naked eye um um in
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 fact it's this time of the year where we
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 start seeing it quite well from here in
00:06:47 --> 00:06:48 the southern hemisphere it's a deep
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 south object only visible from the
00:06:51 --> 00:06:54 southern hemisphere so uh what's the
00:06:54 --> 00:06:57 story well uh scientists um in fact
00:06:57 --> 00:07:00 European scientists who were using
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 uh I think something like 20 years worth
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 of images uh from the Hubble Space
00:07:05 --> 00:07:08 Telescope um which allowed them to plot
00:07:09 --> 00:07:12 the Motions of stars within uh Omega
00:07:12 --> 00:07:16 centu and in particular uh it let them
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19 map the Motions of stars near its Center
00:07:19 --> 00:07:23 which seem to have quite High velocities
00:07:23 --> 00:07:28 and which uh which are symptomatic of
00:07:28 --> 00:07:30 something massive around which they're
00:07:30 --> 00:07:32 orbiting so we got stars with high
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 velocities um in particular the kind of
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 velocities that were being talked about
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 I think they're in the region of 3 four
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 five six kilometers per second
00:07:41 --> 00:07:44 thereabouts um if I remember rightly
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 those velocities uh if there wasn't
00:07:46 --> 00:07:49 something massive at the middle would be
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 enough to to catapult them out of the
00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 globular cluster and they'd be long gone
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 there'd be Interstellar you know
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 Interstellar um stars if I can put it
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 that way Stars between the Stars uh but
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 but more they will be within the Halo of
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 our galaxy which is where the globular
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 clusters lie the Halo being that that
00:08:09 --> 00:08:13 sort of spherical shell of uh old stars
00:08:13 --> 00:08:18 and and globular clusters so um that was
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 the story as we reported it the evidence
00:08:20 --> 00:08:23 that there's possibly a something like a
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 20 solar mass black hole at the
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 middle of Omega centory and that's yeah
00:08:29 --> 00:08:30 and we were really excited by that
00:08:30 --> 00:08:33 because I think we'd only just sort of
00:08:33 --> 00:08:34 concluded that there aren't any and then
00:08:34 --> 00:08:38 we found one yes that's right and then
00:08:38 --> 00:08:40 now we haven't we've unfound it we've
00:08:40 --> 00:08:43 unfound it because another group of
00:08:43 --> 00:08:45 scientists using similar data I think
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 they've basically analyzed the same data
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 set um have
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 suggested that the Motions of the
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 Stars uh do
00:08:56 --> 00:09:01 not um tie down that Central Mass as
00:09:01 --> 00:09:04 being a single object what they're what
00:09:04 --> 00:09:08 they're saying is that it's like it
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 could equally and that's perhaps the
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 best way to phrase it it could equally
00:09:12 --> 00:09:14 be a large cluster of much smaller
00:09:14 --> 00:09:16 objects it's they're still black holes
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 because you can't see anything of them
00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 there's no is nothing massive visible
00:09:21 --> 00:09:24 there in any of the wavelengths uh but
00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 we can tell by the Motions of the stars
00:09:26 --> 00:09:28 that there is something there and so
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 what they are suggesting is that it's
00:09:30 --> 00:09:34 not a single l a single intermediate
00:09:34 --> 00:09:37 black intermediate Mass black hole it's
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 not that it is more likely or as likely
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 if I can put it that way to be something
00:09:43 --> 00:09:46 between 10 or 20 Stell Mass black
00:09:46 --> 00:09:49 holes in other words the smaller variety
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 right um and you know that's that's the
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 the bottom line and and the and the
00:09:54 --> 00:09:57 group that's uh suggesting
00:09:57 --> 00:10:00 this uh well one of the team members
00:10:00 --> 00:10:03 Francesca calori from the French
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05 national Center for scientific research
00:10:05 --> 00:10:08 says the possibility of an intermediate
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 Mass black hole in Omega centu still
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 exists our analysis does not rule out an
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 intermediate Mass black hole but rather
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 sets a limit on its mass predicting an
00:10:19 --> 00:10:22 upper limit of 6 solar masses uh
00:10:22 --> 00:10:25 Which is less than what the earlier team
00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 estimated uh and so they've yes they're
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 trying to work out what that discrepancy
00:10:30 --> 00:10:34 is um but yes the you know that the the
00:10:34 --> 00:10:37 later paper the the new research uh
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 calori etal uh is saying it might not be
00:10:40 --> 00:10:44 a single object it could be um you know
00:10:44 --> 00:10:47 lots of lots of smaller objects yeah and
00:10:47 --> 00:10:50 that's been backed up by another
00:10:50 --> 00:10:53 gentleman uh at Leiden observat Tre I
00:10:53 --> 00:10:57 think who agrees even though he wasn't
00:10:57 --> 00:11:01 part of the study agrees it's probably a
00:11:01 --> 00:11:04 multitude of um Stellar Mass black holes
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 rather than an intermediate Mass black
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 hole Yeah that's correct and actually
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 there's um an old friend of mine who was
00:11:11 --> 00:11:14 also commenting on this uh Jerry Gilmore
00:11:15 --> 00:11:19 um who I've known now for 40 years yeah
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 uh he's a um very big name in the
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 University of Cambridge he is a he's a
00:11:23 --> 00:11:26 kiwi actually um I came to the UK to
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 work at the Royal Observatory in eduru
00:11:28 --> 00:11:29 where I was working we became good
00:11:29 --> 00:11:34 friends and still are um Jerry uh wasn't
00:11:34 --> 00:11:37 involved with the study either uh and he
00:11:37 --> 00:11:41 he he thinks that stellam mass black
00:11:41 --> 00:11:46 holes are likely to be common um uh in
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 comparison with intermediate Mass black
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 call so I think he's a favor he's
00:11:51 --> 00:11:53 favoring uh the the IDE the latest
00:11:54 --> 00:11:55 research the idea that this is perhaps a
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 whole lot of smaller black HS rather
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 than one big one um and as you say
00:11:59 --> 00:12:03 there's um this there comments from uh
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 lien Observatory uh Simon
00:12:06 --> 00:12:10 p v if I'm pronouncing that right um you
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 know you did better than I would
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 have uh finds the potential discovery of
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 an intermediate blast BL black hole
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 super exciting but suggests that the
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 evidence isn't quite there yet so I
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 think the opinion of the astronomical
00:12:25 --> 00:12:28 Community is uh let's wait and see uh
00:12:28 --> 00:12:31 what future measurements bring out it
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 doesn't look as though we've nailed down
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 uh the Omega centor intermediate Black
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 Mass black hole yet um and it may not be
00:12:39 --> 00:12:42 there at all that said though how
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 unusual is it to find between 10 and
00:12:45 --> 00:12:49 20 stellam Mass black holes in in a
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52 you know a globular cluster yeah that in
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 itself I think is interesting if you
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 could you know if you could um
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 independently verify that these are
00:12:58 --> 00:13:01 singular objects rather than one one big
00:13:01 --> 00:13:04 object I think you have another new
00:13:04 --> 00:13:06 discovery on your hands so what you're
00:13:06 --> 00:13:07 talking about here is going to be the
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09 remnants of dead
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 stars and what you're talking about with
00:13:11 --> 00:13:15 an intermediate Mass black hole is the
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 remnant of what might have become a
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 super massive black hole if that
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 globular cluster had not been torn to
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 shreds by uh getting mixed up with our
00:13:25 --> 00:13:28 Milky Way galaxy the gravitational pull
00:13:28 --> 00:13:29 because we think that glob clusters are
00:13:29 --> 00:13:32 the central nucleus of galaxies that
00:13:32 --> 00:13:34 have been basically demolished by
00:13:34 --> 00:13:36 gravitational interaction with our own
00:13:36 --> 00:13:39 um and so that's why that's why people
00:13:39 --> 00:13:41 are looking for intermediate Mass black
00:13:41 --> 00:13:43 holes inside globular clusters because
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 the thinking is um if you've got
00:13:45 --> 00:13:48 something that um you know under normal
00:13:48 --> 00:13:50 circumstances would eventually grow into
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 a super massive black hole uh by the
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 time the universe is 13.8 billion years
00:13:55 --> 00:13:58 old which is its current age uh if you
00:13:58 --> 00:14:01 if you have that structure but then you
00:14:01 --> 00:14:04 stop the evolution process because you
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 tear the Galaxy to Pieces because it
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 interacts it gets basically sucked into
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 the Milky Way Galaxy what you're going
00:14:10 --> 00:14:14 to be left is is something you know that
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 it's like a Wann to be uh super massive
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 black hole uh which is why it's a good
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 place to look for intermediate Mass
00:14:20 --> 00:14:22 black holes ones that didn't quite make
00:14:22 --> 00:14:24 it so if it turns out it's not an
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 intermediate Mass black hole does that
00:14:26 --> 00:14:29 mean we still haven't found any or or
00:14:29 --> 00:14:31 were there other candidates there are
00:14:31 --> 00:14:33 other candidates as I recall um I
00:14:33 --> 00:14:35 wouldn't like to pin down without
00:14:35 --> 00:14:36 looking them up as to what they are but
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 there are other candidates so it it
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 isn't just this one but this one you
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 know Omega centor is the biggest and
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45 most spec spectacular globular cluster
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 in the sky as I said it's visible to the
00:14:47 --> 00:14:48 naked eye it looks terrific even with a
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50 pair of binoculars it looks good you can
00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 tell it's something different from the
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 Stars around it uh through a larger
00:14:54 --> 00:14:55 telescope it looks Sensational because
00:14:56 --> 00:14:57 you can see all the individual Stars
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 resolved in it this it's a new problem
00:14:59 --> 00:15:03 for it what's that well if it is uh
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 stellam Mass black holes theyve found
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07 and there are 10 to 20 of them which
00:15:07 --> 00:15:08 is what they're
00:15:09 --> 00:15:12 suggesting uh the the uh world will have
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 to come up with a collective noun for
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 black holes because there isn't one it
00:15:16 --> 00:15:19 will ah right there isn't one surprised
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 at that yeah I was too but uh I found a
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 couple of Articles which state no there
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 isn't there's a collective noun for
00:15:26 --> 00:15:29 asteroids it's it's a belt of of
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 asteroids which yeah it's a good one but
00:15:32 --> 00:15:33 there is no collective noun that I'm
00:15:33 --> 00:15:38 aware of for black holes maybe uh space
00:15:38 --> 00:15:40 nut of black holes would be like good
00:15:40 --> 00:15:43 one yeah I was going to say a
00:15:43 --> 00:15:47 nothingness yes there is there isn't
00:15:47 --> 00:15:49 nothingness no no there isn't yeah it's
00:15:49 --> 00:15:51 a it's a little bit of a problem but
00:15:51 --> 00:15:53 it's not the biggest problem with fights
00:15:53 --> 00:15:55 but uh yeah I was surprised there wasn't
00:15:55 --> 00:15:59 one yeah me too yeah I'm surprised also
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 anyway uh the jury is still out could be
00:16:02 --> 00:16:03 one could be the
00:16:03 --> 00:16:06 others we're not sure yet we're not sure
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 yet uh but if you want to read up on
00:16:08 --> 00:16:11 that it's uh great article in sky and
00:16:11 --> 00:16:15 Telescope uh.org uh this is Space Nuts
00:16:15 --> 00:16:19 Andrew Dunley with Professor Fred
00:16:19 --> 00:16:22 Watson okay we checked all four systems
00:16:22 --> 00:16:25 and go Space Nuts now Fred to the
00:16:25 --> 00:16:29 Polaris Dawn Mission and this is a a
00:16:29 --> 00:16:31 very exciting Mission uh it may well
00:16:31 --> 00:16:35 have lifted off uh since the release of
00:16:35 --> 00:16:37 this particular podcast because we're
00:16:37 --> 00:16:38 working a bit ahead at the moment
00:16:39 --> 00:16:40 because I've got to take a trip and we
00:16:40 --> 00:16:42 need to get a whole bunch of episodes in
00:16:42 --> 00:16:46 the can so so they say um so yes this
00:16:46 --> 00:16:47 this particular mission may well have
00:16:47 --> 00:16:50 lifted up at the moment as we speak they
00:16:50 --> 00:16:52 have some technical issues and they're
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 stuck on the ground and they're all
00:16:54 --> 00:16:59 getting pretty tired of Scrabble but um
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 Monopoly could be Monopoly could just be
00:17:01 --> 00:17:05 Uno who knows or drafts yes oh gosh now
00:17:05 --> 00:17:09 now you're getting desperate uh but um
00:17:09 --> 00:17:11 this this is an exciting mission for
00:17:11 --> 00:17:12 several reasons there'll be some major
00:17:12 --> 00:17:17 firsts that will be achieved uh and um
00:17:17 --> 00:17:18 yeah they're doing things a little bit
00:17:18 --> 00:17:21 differently uh and uh they're planning a
00:17:21 --> 00:17:23 space walk which will be the first
00:17:23 --> 00:17:26 private space walk I believe privately
00:17:26 --> 00:17:29 um conducted uh there's so that's
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 exciting about this Mission Fred yeah
00:17:31 --> 00:17:34 there is uh and um you're right it's
00:17:34 --> 00:17:37 it's partly technical issues partly the
00:17:37 --> 00:17:38 weather in fact that's been holding them
00:17:38 --> 00:17:42 up the splash down weather so yes
00:17:42 --> 00:17:44 exactly it's not so much about getting
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 off but getting back on the planet
00:17:46 --> 00:17:51 indeed um what's exciting about it well
00:17:51 --> 00:17:54 uh it is the going to be it may even be
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 the first crude mission that is going
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 into a polar orbit around the Earth
00:17:58 --> 00:18:02 Earth wow um I think that is correct so
00:18:02 --> 00:18:07 it's uh it's an orbital direction that
00:18:07 --> 00:18:10 hasn't been explored before with uh with
00:18:10 --> 00:18:13 crude uh crude space launches um it's
00:18:13 --> 00:18:16 also not going anywhere uh it is not
00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 going to the International Space Station
00:18:18 --> 00:18:20 uh as you wouldn't be able to if you
00:18:20 --> 00:18:21 were in a po polar orbit because you
00:18:22 --> 00:18:23 need an orbit very similar to the
00:18:23 --> 00:18:25 International Space Station if that's
00:18:25 --> 00:18:28 where you're going yeah um and uh that
00:18:28 --> 00:18:29 means that
00:18:29 --> 00:18:32 uh the time that the uh crew will be on
00:18:32 --> 00:18:34 board and I'm actually not sure how long
00:18:34 --> 00:18:38 it is planned to be uh but they are
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 they're uh that're they're going to be
00:18:40 --> 00:18:42 in the spacecraft for the whole time
00:18:42 --> 00:18:45 except when they make the first
00:18:45 --> 00:18:51 privately operated um um extra vehicular
00:18:51 --> 00:18:53 activity uh and because what they have
00:18:53 --> 00:18:57 to do then is climb out of the their uh
00:18:57 --> 00:19:00 SpaceX crew Dragon C
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 uh two two of the members of the crew
00:19:02 --> 00:19:03 there will be four people in the crew of
00:19:03 --> 00:19:06 Polaris Polaris Storm uh two of each
00:19:06 --> 00:19:09 gender and they will two of them will
00:19:09 --> 00:19:13 climb out of the capsule uh for the
00:19:13 --> 00:19:15 first private space walk and what that
00:19:16 --> 00:19:18 means is you've got to let this you've
00:19:18 --> 00:19:20 got to let space into your capsule yes
00:19:20 --> 00:19:22 you've got to vent all the air out of it
00:19:22 --> 00:19:24 so everybody has to wear their space
00:19:24 --> 00:19:25 suits super
00:19:26 --> 00:19:28 scary scary opening the front door
00:19:28 --> 00:19:30 because they have they have air loocks
00:19:30 --> 00:19:33 in other spacecraft and the
00:19:33 --> 00:19:35 International Space Station y that's
00:19:35 --> 00:19:37 correct this one you open the lid and
00:19:37 --> 00:19:39 space you're in space before you even
00:19:39 --> 00:19:42 get out yes that's right you you got a
00:19:42 --> 00:19:45 vent haven't you and then you be it
00:19:45 --> 00:19:48 first and and then I mean I'm sure there
00:19:48 --> 00:19:51 will be a very uh uh you know it would
00:19:51 --> 00:19:55 be pretty careful venting just to make
00:19:55 --> 00:19:57 sure everything's holding together uh
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 before you let all the air out yeah it's
00:19:59 --> 00:20:00 not like planing the fish tank that's
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 for sure that's
00:20:03 --> 00:20:06 right although if you find fish floating
00:20:06 --> 00:20:09 around in it you might be anyway it's um
00:20:09 --> 00:20:12 it yes so so it it really is interesting
00:20:12 --> 00:20:14 and um the fact that they're not
00:20:14 --> 00:20:16 visiting the space station or going
00:20:16 --> 00:20:19 anywhere near it means they have to be
00:20:19 --> 00:20:22 pretty secure in their plans for this
00:20:23 --> 00:20:26 Mission because all the supplies for the
00:20:26 --> 00:20:30 crew uh food water oxygen and everything
00:20:30 --> 00:20:32 uh that all has to ride with them in
00:20:32 --> 00:20:37 their crew Dragon capsule and so it's uh
00:20:37 --> 00:20:41 it's a very very demanding um you know
00:20:41 --> 00:20:43 highly demanding
00:20:43 --> 00:20:46 scenario uh it's uh it's five days the
00:20:46 --> 00:20:48 mission just to to add to what I was
00:20:48 --> 00:20:50 saying I just looked it up myself yeah
00:20:50 --> 00:20:53 and um the other thing that they'll do
00:20:53 --> 00:20:56 is they'll go further from Earth than
00:20:56 --> 00:21:00 any human since Apollo 17 back in 1972
00:21:00 --> 00:21:03 because their orbit is very elliptical
00:21:03 --> 00:21:07 it's a you know an ex elongated orbit
00:21:07 --> 00:21:10 which will be close to Earth at its uh
00:21:10 --> 00:21:12 perig G the closest point but a long way
00:21:12 --> 00:21:16 off at apog um I I'm not sure what the
00:21:16 --> 00:21:19 target apog is but it is more than we've
00:21:19 --> 00:21:22 ever done before uh in terms of uh you
00:21:22 --> 00:21:25 know a mission of this kind so um so
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27 what's holding it up well as I mentioned
00:21:27 --> 00:21:29 earlier the the weather uh and as you
00:21:29 --> 00:21:31 said yes it's the weather at the Landing
00:21:31 --> 00:21:34 side um but also the fact that within
00:21:34 --> 00:21:38 the last um 48 Hours certainly if not 24
00:21:38 --> 00:21:41 hours as we are recording uh Falcon 9
00:21:41 --> 00:21:44 has been grounded the Falcon 9 launch
00:21:44 --> 00:21:47 vehicle that will they will use has been
00:21:47 --> 00:21:50 grounded by the Federal Aviation
00:21:50 --> 00:21:53 Authority due to a failed booster
00:21:53 --> 00:21:57 Landing attempt uh uh I think uh on
00:21:57 --> 00:21:59 Wednesday this past week
00:21:59 --> 00:22:02 so uh it's um uh you know this is a
00:22:02 --> 00:22:05 basically a a risk minimization
00:22:05 --> 00:22:08 procedure as soon as anything goes wrong
00:22:08 --> 00:22:12 um that uh booster uh the Falcon 9 the
00:22:12 --> 00:22:15 whole Falcon 9 Fleet is grounded until
00:22:15 --> 00:22:17 you know what the problem was yeah one
00:22:17 --> 00:22:18 of the I think one of the interesting
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 things I think I read um a little while
00:22:21 --> 00:22:23 ago that booster that failed I think it
00:22:23 --> 00:22:24 was its
00:22:25 --> 00:22:28 23rd uh Mission so it had been used 2
00:22:28 --> 00:22:31 three times now uh originally they said
00:22:31 --> 00:22:33 they'd only reuse them 10 times then it
00:22:33 --> 00:22:35 went to 20 times I suspect now it's
00:22:35 --> 00:22:38 aimed at 30 times but maybe 23 is as far
00:22:38 --> 00:22:41 as it goes yeah we'll stop at 15 just to
00:22:41 --> 00:22:43 be safe by the S that's right yeah
00:22:43 --> 00:22:46 certainly if it was a human space uh
00:22:46 --> 00:22:48 flight I think you would want to make
00:22:48 --> 00:22:50 sure that you were using a pretty new
00:22:50 --> 00:22:53 pretty new booster rocket to get you up
00:22:53 --> 00:22:57 there indeed um and I believe they'll be
00:22:57 --> 00:22:59 doing about 40 experiments you might
00:22:59 --> 00:23:01 have already said that um which will
00:23:01 --> 00:23:03 test everything from human space flight
00:23:03 --> 00:23:05 research to micro
00:23:05 --> 00:23:09 gravity uh and I'll be using brand new
00:23:09 --> 00:23:12 um space suits to um to do the space
00:23:12 --> 00:23:13 walk and do and they'll be I guess I'll
00:23:13 --> 00:23:16 be testing those and let's hope they go
00:23:16 --> 00:23:19 oh hang on this thing doesn't
00:23:19 --> 00:23:22 work before they vent the spacecraft
00:23:22 --> 00:23:25 I'll be taking that back to
00:23:25 --> 00:23:27 Lowe's sorry for your overseas listeners
00:23:27 --> 00:23:30 that's a W St so that you know
00:23:30 --> 00:23:32 automatically becomes sexist because
00:23:32 --> 00:23:34 half the crew is
00:23:34 --> 00:23:37 female sorry about that um keep on keep
00:23:37 --> 00:23:39 on digging Andrew you'll be keep on yeah
00:23:39 --> 00:23:41 I can't see I can't see out of the hole
00:23:41 --> 00:23:43 anymore it's a black
00:23:43 --> 00:23:46 hole very deep one it's a stellar Mass
00:23:47 --> 00:23:48 black hole Stellar Mass black hole
00:23:48 --> 00:23:50 that's right at the moment fast
00:23:50 --> 00:23:54 approaching intermediate Mass yes oh so
00:23:54 --> 00:23:55 that's where they there that's where it
00:23:55 --> 00:23:57 is right below me and above me and
00:23:57 --> 00:24:00 around me yeah yeah yeah but uh let's
00:24:00 --> 00:24:02 hope all goes well and by the time
00:24:02 --> 00:24:04 people hear this they're up up and
00:24:04 --> 00:24:08 around um the planet in an elongated
00:24:08 --> 00:24:11 polar orbit and um doing some wonderful
00:24:11 --> 00:24:13 work we'll uh we'll see how it all
00:24:13 --> 00:24:15 transpires fingers crossed this is the
00:24:15 --> 00:24:18 Space Nuts podcast with Andrew Dunley
00:24:18 --> 00:24:23 and Professor Fred
00:24:23 --> 00:24:27 Watson iine Space Nuts uh now Fred to
00:24:27 --> 00:24:30 our fin story and this one takes us a
00:24:30 --> 00:24:34 long long way out of the uh the solar
00:24:34 --> 00:24:36 system uh this is a story we've been
00:24:36 --> 00:24:39 following uh well since its exciting
00:24:39 --> 00:24:43 flyby of Pluto it's the uh New Horizons
00:24:43 --> 00:24:47 spacecraft uh but since uh it Su
00:24:47 --> 00:24:49 successfully executed its uh primary
00:24:49 --> 00:24:53 Mission it's been sent off to do a few
00:24:53 --> 00:24:55 other things and one of those things was
00:24:55 --> 00:24:59 to examine Darkness
00:24:59 --> 00:25:01 this sounds this sounds Sinister this
00:25:01 --> 00:25:03 sounds like the plot of a horror movie
00:25:03 --> 00:25:04 but it's not it's a very interesting
00:25:04 --> 00:25:06 question which they think they might
00:25:06 --> 00:25:10 have answered yes that's right and um I
00:25:10 --> 00:25:12 think you and I have been talking about
00:25:12 --> 00:25:14 New Horizon since its launch 18 years
00:25:14 --> 00:25:18 ago uh because we we used to talk on um
00:25:18 --> 00:25:21 ABC radio didn't we before the Space
00:25:21 --> 00:25:24 Program came into being uh so New
00:25:24 --> 00:25:27 Horizons yes fly by of Pluto in uh was
00:25:27 --> 00:25:33 it July I think 2015 uh flyby of
00:25:33 --> 00:25:36 um it used to be called Ultima Tuli and
00:25:36 --> 00:25:38 it's now called
00:25:38 --> 00:25:42 aroth uh a small Piper belt object which
00:25:42 --> 00:25:44 it flew by U probably about three or
00:25:44 --> 00:25:46 four years ago now it's quite a while
00:25:46 --> 00:25:48 ago in fact it's longer than that
00:25:48 --> 00:25:51 because uh it the flyby was at Christmas
00:25:51 --> 00:25:53 and this object looked like a snowman
00:25:53 --> 00:25:55 yeah until we realized it's actually two
00:25:55 --> 00:25:56 pancakes joined together rather than two
00:25:56 --> 00:26:00 balls joined together anyway it now 7.3
00:26:00 --> 00:26:03 billion kilometers from Earth uh a long
00:26:03 --> 00:26:07 way away not as far as uh our old friend
00:26:07 --> 00:26:10 Voyager one but still uh still a long
00:26:10 --> 00:26:12 way out the difference though between
00:26:12 --> 00:26:14 New Horizons and Voyager one is that New
00:26:14 --> 00:26:17 Horizons has telescopes on board which
00:26:17 --> 00:26:20 of course we used to scan uh Pluto uh
00:26:20 --> 00:26:23 and K on Pluto's Main Moon and some of
00:26:23 --> 00:26:25 the other moons as well uh but uh what
00:26:25 --> 00:26:28 they've been able to do though is to
00:26:28 --> 00:26:31 make measurements of the Blackness of
00:26:31 --> 00:26:35 the night sky and oh God here you saying
00:26:35 --> 00:26:37 wait a minute Black is Black well it's
00:26:37 --> 00:26:40 it's not really um and why should you
00:26:40 --> 00:26:42 want to do that from 7.3 billion
00:26:42 --> 00:26:45 kilometers away from Earth the answer is
00:26:45 --> 00:26:49 that the solar system is very dusty uh
00:26:49 --> 00:26:51 and that dust concentrates towards the
00:26:51 --> 00:26:54 center of the solar system so uh you
00:26:54 --> 00:26:57 know what we see as as meteors shooting
00:26:57 --> 00:26:58 stars are
00:26:58 --> 00:27:01 a measure of the dust that is around us
00:27:01 --> 00:27:03 in the earth's vicinity uh that dust
00:27:03 --> 00:27:07 scatters light uh and we can actually
00:27:07 --> 00:27:09 see that in the form of the What's
00:27:09 --> 00:27:11 called the zedal light uh which is a
00:27:11 --> 00:27:15 glow on the horizon eastern and western
00:27:15 --> 00:27:17 Horizon uh after Sunset and Before
00:27:17 --> 00:27:19 Sunrise what you're seeing there is
00:27:19 --> 00:27:21 light scattered uh from dust in the
00:27:21 --> 00:27:23 inner solar system it's a pillar of
00:27:23 --> 00:27:25 light quite spectacular you need a dark
00:27:25 --> 00:27:28 sky to see it um seen it many times from
00:27:28 --> 00:27:30 our dark sky sites here in Australia but
00:27:30 --> 00:27:32 I only ever saw it once in the UK and
00:27:32 --> 00:27:34 that was in a particularly dark part of
00:27:34 --> 00:27:36 the UK it was quite interesting long
00:27:36 --> 00:27:39 time ago as well anyway so the inner
00:27:39 --> 00:27:41 solar system is very dusty that dust
00:27:41 --> 00:27:43 scatters light and that means that if
00:27:43 --> 00:27:45 you want to make a measurement of just
00:27:45 --> 00:27:47 how bright how intrinsically bright the
00:27:47 --> 00:27:50 night sky is you got to get away from
00:27:50 --> 00:27:52 the inner solar system and that's where
00:27:52 --> 00:27:54 New Horizons is yeah so what they've
00:27:54 --> 00:27:57 done is they've measured what they're
00:27:57 --> 00:27:58 calling
00:27:58 --> 00:28:02 um The Cosmic Optical background um we
00:28:02 --> 00:28:04 talk a lot on Space Nuts about the
00:28:05 --> 00:28:08 cosmic microwave background radiation uh
00:28:08 --> 00:28:12 and this is uh the background to the
00:28:12 --> 00:28:14 night sky in microwaves which we
00:28:14 --> 00:28:16 recognize as having been caused by the
00:28:16 --> 00:28:19 Big Bang still seeing the flash of the
00:28:19 --> 00:28:22 Big Bang the cosmic Optical background
00:28:22 --> 00:28:27 though is basically um a a a a
00:28:27 --> 00:28:31 background Haze of light that comes from
00:28:32 --> 00:28:34 all the galaxies that have ever existed
00:28:34 --> 00:28:37 over the lifetime of the universe wow um
00:28:37 --> 00:28:42 and so uh the um the this light it's the
00:28:42 --> 00:28:46 the light of galaxies turns out to be
00:28:46 --> 00:28:48 just the right brightness I mean it's
00:28:48 --> 00:28:49 been measured the Blackness of the night
00:28:49 --> 00:28:53 sky has been measured by you Horizons
00:28:53 --> 00:28:54 and the answer they get is exactly what
00:28:55 --> 00:28:57 you predict from what we assume is the
00:28:57 --> 00:29:00 known number of galaxies in the universe
00:29:00 --> 00:29:02 which is in the region of two trillion
00:29:02 --> 00:29:06 if I remember rightly so uh really quite
00:29:06 --> 00:29:11 a nice piece of work uh complemented on
00:29:11 --> 00:29:13 by uh New Horizon's principal
00:29:13 --> 00:29:15 investigator Alan Stern and old friend
00:29:15 --> 00:29:21 of this program uh uh he says this newly
00:29:21 --> 00:29:23 published work is an important
00:29:23 --> 00:29:25 contribution to fundamental cosmology
00:29:25 --> 00:29:27 and really something that could only be
00:29:27 --> 00:29:30 done with a far away spacecraft like New
00:29:30 --> 00:29:32 Horizons uh and it shows that our
00:29:32 --> 00:29:34 current extended mission is making
00:29:34 --> 00:29:35 important scientific contributions far
00:29:35 --> 00:29:37 beyond the original intent of this
00:29:37 --> 00:29:39 planetary Mission designed to make the
00:29:39 --> 00:29:41 first close spacecraft explorations of
00:29:41 --> 00:29:44 Pluto and Kyer Bel objects so there you
00:29:44 --> 00:29:47 go it's uh it's got the uh the imprator
00:29:47 --> 00:29:49 of the the boss of New Horizons alen
00:29:50 --> 00:29:53 Stern uh and it's a really interesting
00:29:53 --> 00:29:55 result that we you know the the amount
00:29:55 --> 00:29:58 of light in the universe adds up with
00:29:58 --> 00:29:59 the number of galaxies that we think
00:29:59 --> 00:30:01 exist and
00:30:01 --> 00:30:04 yet and yet we shouldn't be surprised
00:30:04 --> 00:30:06 because where else could the light have
00:30:06 --> 00:30:09 come from well that's right uh except
00:30:10 --> 00:30:14 that um the uh one of the scientists uh
00:30:14 --> 00:30:18 Who's involved with this work has
00:30:18 --> 00:30:21 basically raised that question um could
00:30:21 --> 00:30:22 it come from something we haven't
00:30:22 --> 00:30:27 thought of yet ah uh and so um the fact
00:30:27 --> 00:30:30 that it you know everything adds up
00:30:30 --> 00:30:32 suggests that there isn't anything that
00:30:32 --> 00:30:35 we haven't thought of yet uh although
00:30:35 --> 00:30:36 you can bet your life that one day we'll
00:30:37 --> 00:30:38 be surprised that there's something else
00:30:38 --> 00:30:41 going on yeah but yeah you know it's um
00:30:41 --> 00:30:43 at the moment we think these that these
00:30:43 --> 00:30:45 all add up uh the the amount of light
00:30:45 --> 00:30:48 that's there is this exactly what you'd
00:30:48 --> 00:30:50 expect from the number of galaxies we
00:30:50 --> 00:30:52 assume the universe contains from Galaxy
00:30:52 --> 00:30:54 counts in fact I know One Source they
00:30:55 --> 00:30:58 haven't considered the laser shooting
00:30:58 --> 00:31:00 from my wife's eyes when she's angry
00:31:00 --> 00:31:03 with me that's that's that's one light
00:31:03 --> 00:31:06 source that hasn't been facted in you're
00:31:06 --> 00:31:10 dead keen on getting into holes
00:31:10 --> 00:31:13 today oh go oh dear I'm not going to go
00:31:13 --> 00:31:16 there at all I think no I wish I hadn't
00:31:16 --> 00:31:18 e
00:31:18 --> 00:31:21 that yeah but yeah pretty exciting stuff
00:31:21 --> 00:31:24 and you Horizons will continue on its
00:31:24 --> 00:31:27 Journey doing more scientific studies um
00:31:27 --> 00:31:30 Imaging the the Kyper belt and the outer
00:31:30 --> 00:31:34 heliosphere and uh making um
00:31:34 --> 00:31:37 observations uh from a vantage point
00:31:37 --> 00:31:40 that no we we is unique it's the only
00:31:40 --> 00:31:42 spacecraft in the position to be able to
00:31:42 --> 00:31:45 do anything like this even James Webb
00:31:45 --> 00:31:47 and Hubble can't do the kinds of things
00:31:47 --> 00:31:51 that uh New Horizons is achieving so um
00:31:51 --> 00:31:53 let's uh yeah we'll be talking about
00:31:53 --> 00:31:55 again I think Fred yeah sure we will
00:31:55 --> 00:31:57 might take a while cuz it's still got a
00:31:57 --> 00:32:00 long way It Go yes that's right it's uh
00:32:00 --> 00:32:02 it's one of the five spacecraft leaving
00:32:02 --> 00:32:04 the solar system but I think it's the
00:32:04 --> 00:32:06 best equipped to do uh to make
00:32:06 --> 00:32:10 observations like this indeed all right
00:32:10 --> 00:32:14 uh that story available at fizz. org
00:32:14 --> 00:32:17 phs.org if you want to check it all out
00:32:17 --> 00:32:18 and that brings us to the end of the
00:32:18 --> 00:32:20 show just a reminder too if you would
00:32:20 --> 00:32:22 like to visit our website you can do
00:32:22 --> 00:32:24 that at SPAC nuts podcast.com or
00:32:24 --> 00:32:26 spacepac
00:32:26 --> 00:32:29 nuts.i you can visit the shop or you can
00:32:29 --> 00:32:32 um send us questions uh you can get the
00:32:32 --> 00:32:35 daily news feed through astronomy daily
00:32:35 --> 00:32:38 uh you can even U support us through the
00:32:38 --> 00:32:41 support Space Nuts button there you are
00:32:41 --> 00:32:43 uh and yeah um there's all sorts of
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00:33:00 --> 00:33:01 thank you as always Fred it's been a
00:33:01 --> 00:33:02 great
00:33:02 --> 00:33:05 pleasure yes um it's been a pleasure for
00:33:05 --> 00:33:08 me too and long long may it continue not
00:33:08 --> 00:33:10 many people say that to me thank you
00:33:10 --> 00:33:13 especially today thank you
00:33:13 --> 00:33:17 Fred no worries see you soon see you
00:33:17 --> 00:33:18 Professor Fred Watson a Stormer at large
00:33:18 --> 00:33:20 and thanks to Hugh in the studio and
00:33:20 --> 00:33:21 from me Andrew Dunley thanks for your
00:33:21 --> 00:33:24 company we'll catch you soon on another
00:33:24 --> 00:33:27 episode of Space Nuts bye-bye Space Nuts
00:33:27 --> 00:33:31 been listening to the Space Nuts
00:33:31 --> 00:33:34 podcast available at Apple podcasts
00:33:34 --> 00:33:37 Spotify ihart radio or your favorite
00:33:37 --> 00:33:39 podcast player you can also stream on
00:33:39 --> 00:33:42 demand at bites.com this has been
00:33:42 --> 00:33:44 another quality podcast production from
00:33:44 --> 00:33:47 b.com