#456: Safeguarding the Moon, Titan’s Liquid Sounds & Dark Matter Drifts
Space News TodaySeptember 30, 202423:3813.18 MB

#456: Safeguarding the Moon, Titan’s Liquid Sounds & Dark Matter Drifts

Source:

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/456-safeguarding-the-moon-titan-s-liquid-sounds-dark-matter-drifts--62152451

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Join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson in this engaging Q&A episode of Space Nuts, where they tackle a variety of intriguing questions from listeners. From the protection of the moon to the sounds of extraterrestrial liquids, this episode is packed with fascinating insights and cosmic curiosities.

Episode Highlights:

- Protecting the Moon: Mikey from Illinois asks about the measures in place to protect the moon from catastrophic asteroid impacts and what would happen if the moon were significantly altered.

- Sounds of Titan: James from Minnesota wonders if the lakes and rivers on Titan would sound similar to those on Earth, given the differences in atmospheric pressure and liquid composition.

- Dark Matter Movement: Bill from San Francisco Bay Area inquires about whether dark matter can move through Space and be influenced by gravitational events.

- Formation of Atmospheres: Brady from Florida asks how atmospheres are formed on planets, transitioning from a ball of rock and lava to having a gaseous envelope.

00:00 - This is a Q and A episode where we answer your questions

01:25 - Fred and Andrew ask what would happen if an asteroid hit the moon

06:20 - Extra solar might come through. Yes. The thing is, the bigger the object is

06:58 - Next question comes from James Greenfield with Professor Fred Watson

10:53 - Bill asks question about whether dark matter can move through space

14:55 - Why does everyone who lives in Florida call it the great state of Florida

15:58 - Brady from Florida asks how planets form their atmospheres

19:15 - If you have questions for Space Nuts, go to our website

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, YouTube Music, and TikTok. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favourite platform. 

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Stay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.

Kind: captions Language: en
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 hi there thanks for joining us yet again

00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 on Space Nuts this is a Q&A episode

00:00:05 --> 00:00:07 where we uh answer your questions you

00:00:07 --> 00:00:10 ask the questions we as in the Royal Wii

00:00:10 --> 00:00:13 as in Fred answers them we we should do

00:00:13 --> 00:00:15 it the other way around one day we ask

00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 you the questions why don't you get a

00:00:17 --> 00:00:22 job to starter but anyway uh coming up

00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 on coming up on this we're going to

00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 answer questions about protecting the

00:00:27 --> 00:00:30 moon the sound of liquids on other

00:00:30 --> 00:00:32 worlds interesting uh Dark Matter

00:00:32 --> 00:00:35 movement oh shocker Dark Matter question

00:00:35 --> 00:00:37 and how atmospheres are formed that's

00:00:37 --> 00:00:40 all coming up on this episode of Space

00:00:40 --> 00:00:45 Nuts 15 seconds guidance is internal 10

00:00:45 --> 00:00:50 9 ignition sequence start Space Nuts 5 4

00:00:50 --> 00:00:55 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1 Space Nuts as

00:00:55 --> 00:00:58 reported feels good one man who's got a

00:00:58 --> 00:01:00 job is Professor friend what's an

00:01:00 --> 00:01:03 astronomer at large unlike me I don't I

00:01:03 --> 00:01:05 don't work anymore I've chucked it all

00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 in this is not a job this is fun this is

00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 a hobby hi

00:01:09 --> 00:01:12 Fred uh yeah it's fun for me excuse me

00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 it's fun for me too um but you're right

00:01:14 --> 00:01:18 I do have a job and um yes there we go

00:01:18 --> 00:01:22 yes now we have got a lot to get through

00:01:22 --> 00:01:24 so I think we'll just play straight into

00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 it and our first question comes from a a

00:01:27 --> 00:01:31 regular sender inera his name is miky

00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 hey FR and Andrew it's uh Mikey once

00:01:33 --> 00:01:38 again from way too hot Illinois um got a

00:01:38 --> 00:01:41 question for you guys uh I know we have

00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 like a planetary protection for incoming

00:01:44 --> 00:01:48 asteroids uh that threaten Earth but do

00:01:48 --> 00:01:53 we have the same thing for the moon like

00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 what if a ginormous asteroid were to hit

00:01:56 --> 00:02:00 the moon and blow it the Smither or

00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 knock it off course or alter it in some

00:02:02 --> 00:02:03 huge way because the Moon is very

00:02:03 --> 00:02:08 important to the life on earth right so

00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 I guess first of all what would happen

00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 if something happened to the Moon uh

00:02:13 --> 00:02:14 would we still have a good chance of

00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 surviving and secondly is there a

00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 protection plan in place like there is

00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 for the Earth for the moon thanks guys

00:02:21 --> 00:02:24 love the podcast thanks Mary uh always

00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 asks interesting questions the answer is

00:02:26 --> 00:02:32 no and yes um well it is yeah yeah uh we

00:02:32 --> 00:02:34 we've we've had questions about the loss

00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 of the Moon before and what might happen

00:02:36 --> 00:02:40 to us and I do believe that we have

00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 discussed maybe once or twice that the

00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 protection of the planet includes the

00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 moon we realize that yeah we we can't

00:02:48 --> 00:02:49 just protect ourselves we' got to

00:02:49 --> 00:02:52 protect the moon otherwise you know if

00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 it gets obliterated we were in big

00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 trouble yeah okay so um but get

00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 obliterated that would have to be a huge

00:03:00 --> 00:03:03 object that's that's the point um

00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 there's nothing there there's no

00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 scenario that we can envisage at the

00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 moment that would involve such a

00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 collision uh so we're talking about

00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 asteroids you know even even something

00:03:15 --> 00:03:19 uh measured in kilometers hitting the

00:03:19 --> 00:03:23 moon would be of concern to us because

00:03:23 --> 00:03:25 uh the moon's very close to the Earth

00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 and uh you know that's one of the things

00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 that we need to know about so U the

00:03:30 --> 00:03:33 bottom line is that our protection of of

00:03:33 --> 00:03:35 Earth in terms of it's it's not actually

00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 planetary protection is something

00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 slightly different that's a biological

00:03:39 --> 00:03:41 thing planetary defense is what we're

00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 talking about and defending the Earth um

00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 effectively means we defend the moon as

00:03:45 --> 00:03:49 well in the sense that if we are looking

00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 for hazardous objects and that's you

00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 know that's a wellestablished technology

00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 which we're doing uh we think we've

00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 discovered most of the objects uh that

00:03:57 --> 00:04:00 might threaten Earth and the Moon

00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 uh which are more than a kilometer in

00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 size it's the objects of a few hundred

00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 meters that we're looking at now uh now

00:04:08 --> 00:04:10 the um detection of those is part and

00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 parcel of modern astronomy and we find

00:04:13 --> 00:04:14 them with

00:04:14 --> 00:04:18 regularity um if one was on a a

00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 collision course with the Earth then

00:04:21 --> 00:04:22 we'd do something about it and we've

00:04:22 --> 00:04:26 discussed that before many times Andrew

00:04:26 --> 00:04:29 if one of the theory of deflection which

00:04:29 --> 00:04:31 indeed a dark Mission that's right but

00:04:31 --> 00:04:35 if one of them was shown to impact the

00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 moon um we wouldn't do anything about it

00:04:38 --> 00:04:41 I think we would let it happen uh

00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 because it's just part of the natural

00:04:43 --> 00:04:46 cycle of events and unless there were

00:04:46 --> 00:04:49 there was a threat to humans on the moon

00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 uh you wouldn't do anything about it and

00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 in fact if you knew enough about such an

00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 object uh going to hit the moon you'd

00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 bring your humans back You' get them off

00:04:58 --> 00:05:00 the mo uh because that's a lot easier

00:05:00 --> 00:05:03 than trying to deflect an asteroid uh so

00:05:03 --> 00:05:08 so um it's the the you know the pl um

00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 lunar defense is basically wrapped up

00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 within planetary defense of the earth uh

00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 with the one exception that we we would

00:05:16 --> 00:05:20 not try and Def deflect an asteroid uh

00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 if one of any particular size was shown

00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 to be targeting the

00:05:24 --> 00:05:27 Moon it gets hit a lot anyway doesn't it

00:05:27 --> 00:05:28 by it does that's right yeah it's

00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 getting and because there's no

00:05:31 --> 00:05:34 atmosphere uh on the moon uh you know

00:05:34 --> 00:05:36 they get clouted the moon gets clouted

00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 much more forcefully than the earth does

00:05:38 --> 00:05:42 by these incoming objects so yes uh it's

00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 uh it's a a work in progress It's

00:05:44 --> 00:05:48 happening all the time um and um

00:05:48 --> 00:05:49 sometimes there's interesting physics

00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 involved you know if you can see the

00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 flash of a of an impacting meteor or

00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 asteroid then you've got uh you've got

00:05:58 --> 00:06:02 um uh new new data to to look at and to

00:06:02 --> 00:06:03 work

00:06:03 --> 00:06:05 with if something was big enough to

00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 destroy the moon we probably wouldn't

00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 have a prayer of stopping It Anyway

00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 would we uh no we wouldn't and there

00:06:12 --> 00:06:15 isn't anything so it's okay

00:06:15 --> 00:06:18 no yeah well not within our solar system

00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 but maybe you know maybe something yeah

00:06:20 --> 00:06:23 that's right extra solar might come

00:06:23 --> 00:06:24 through we've had a couple of those over

00:06:24 --> 00:06:25 the

00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 years yeah the the thing is the bigger

00:06:27 --> 00:06:30 the object is the easier it is to detect

00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 and yeah uh you know there's just

00:06:33 --> 00:06:34 nothing on the horizon even of that kind

00:06:35 --> 00:06:36 at the

00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 moment although the Moon being made of

00:06:38 --> 00:06:43 cheese would absorb and impact quite

00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 easily uh unless it was a particularly

00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 hard cheddar that might you know yes

00:06:50 --> 00:06:54 Point yeah yes um all right I can think

00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 of a few cheese puns but let's move on

00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 thanks Mikey good to hear from you uh

00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 our next question comes from somebody

00:07:01 --> 00:07:04 else and I've actually managed to lose

00:07:04 --> 00:07:06 it here we go don't know how that

00:07:06 --> 00:07:09 happened thank you Windows uh good day

00:07:09 --> 00:07:14 Fred and Andrew uh as a native minonin

00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 uh motan Minnesota all right Minnesota

00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 uh I quite enjoy taking holiday time

00:07:19 --> 00:07:22 along the north shore of Lake Superior I

00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 love the sound of the Waves washing onto

00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 the shore and that got me to thinking

00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 about lakes and rivers on Titan would

00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 they sound comparable to what we have on

00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 Earth or because it's not water would

00:07:34 --> 00:07:35 there be some kind of distinctive

00:07:35 --> 00:07:38 difference to the sound of the liquid

00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 ethane methane interacting with its

00:07:40 --> 00:07:41 surroundings I realize this is probably

00:07:41 --> 00:07:44 out of Fred's area of expertise but

00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 that's part for the course here on Space

00:07:46 --> 00:07:49 Nuts thanks very much guyses uh from

00:07:49 --> 00:07:52 James Greenfield uh yeah James asks an

00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 interesting question because we've

00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 talked in the past about uh different

00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 types of suns and if life exists on

00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 world surrounding those Suns you know

00:08:01 --> 00:08:03 the trees might have different colored

00:08:03 --> 00:08:06 leaves and things like that but I I

00:08:06 --> 00:08:08 would imagine also that

00:08:08 --> 00:08:12 sounds uh on other planets and other

00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 moons would vary depending on the

00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 conditions would they

00:08:18 --> 00:08:23 not it's um it's yes they would and and

00:08:23 --> 00:08:25 it's there's two things at play here uh

00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 first of all there's the liquid uh which

00:08:28 --> 00:08:31 may be quite viscous we we don't really

00:08:31 --> 00:08:36 know uh well it's sort of oily uh it's

00:08:36 --> 00:08:38 hydrocarbon um we know what liquid

00:08:38 --> 00:08:40 hydrocarbons are like here on Earth but

00:08:40 --> 00:08:43 there might be you know compounds within

00:08:43 --> 00:08:45 it that make it a bit more viscous uh we

00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 think uh we we to covered a story not

00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 long ago that suggested that if you look

00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 at the shape of the lakes on Titan you

00:08:53 --> 00:08:56 can tell that there are waves there uh

00:08:56 --> 00:08:59 wind blown waves yeah that's right and

00:08:59 --> 00:09:03 um and uh but the likelihood is they're

00:09:03 --> 00:09:06 not very high uh because radar

00:09:06 --> 00:09:09 Reflections from Titan seas are very

00:09:09 --> 00:09:12 very smooth indeed and so um I mean I've

00:09:12 --> 00:09:13 read some papers that suggest that the

00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 waves are only millimeters High um which

00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 probably wouldn't make much

00:09:19 --> 00:09:21 noise uh the other thing the other thing

00:09:21 --> 00:09:23 though that is the atmosphere which is

00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 at a different pressure uh from our

00:09:25 --> 00:09:30 atmosphere on uh on planet Earth uh 1.5

00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 bars uh is the atmospheric pressure

00:09:33 --> 00:09:38 there uh and uh so it's it basically is

00:09:38 --> 00:09:41 50% higher than our atmospheric pressure

00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 here so that's going to change the speed

00:09:43 --> 00:09:44 of sound it's going to change the way

00:09:44 --> 00:09:48 things sound um it's uh really hard to

00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 imagine what the waves on Titan might

00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 sound like and I think James poses a

00:09:52 --> 00:09:53 really interesting

00:09:53 --> 00:09:56 question there'd probably be a way of

00:09:56 --> 00:09:58 working it out though if you really

00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 needed to know that and somebody will do

00:10:00 --> 00:10:04 a simulation if if if needed but

00:10:04 --> 00:10:07 theories Theory would help as

00:10:07 --> 00:10:10 well uh it would also change the pitch

00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 of your voice wouldn't it yeah yeah

00:10:12 --> 00:10:16 that's right probably yeah hello Andrew

00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 joining you yeah well you'd probably be

00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 going help and that would be the end of

00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 that that' be the end of that that's

00:10:22 --> 00:10:22 right

00:10:22 --> 00:10:25 yeah but uh yeah everything would

00:10:25 --> 00:10:26 probably be

00:10:26 --> 00:10:29 different uh in one way or another so

00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 yeah yeah definitely James you would uh

00:10:31 --> 00:10:33 you would have a different sounding

00:10:33 --> 00:10:36 liquid scenario on somewhere like Titan

00:10:36 --> 00:10:39 and any other place with liquid

00:10:39 --> 00:10:41 surfaces uh good to get your question

00:10:41 --> 00:10:42 thank you James this is Space Nuts

00:10:42 --> 00:10:46 Andrew Dunley with Professor Fred

00:10:46 --> 00:10:49 Watson let's take a quick break from the

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00:13:15 --> 00:13:19 all four systems and It Go space

00:13:19 --> 00:13:22 Nets uh to our next question an audio

00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 question this one Fred comes from

00:13:25 --> 00:13:30 Bill hi this bill San Francisco Bay area

00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 my question

00:13:32 --> 00:13:35 is could Dark Matter travel through

00:13:35 --> 00:13:39 space so dark matter appar apparently

00:13:39 --> 00:13:42 doesn't interact with other things over

00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 other than through gravity so could Dark

00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 Matter get thrown around or out of the

00:13:47 --> 00:13:51 Galaxy due to other gravitational events

00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 kind of like planets and other stuff

00:13:53 --> 00:13:57 does um that's my question love the show

00:13:57 --> 00:14:00 thanks thank you Bill uh Bill's from a

00:14:00 --> 00:14:02 very watery part of the world as well uh

00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 San Francisco Bay it would have some

00:14:05 --> 00:14:09 sloy sounds around it indeed uh dark

00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 matter we we did talk about it recently

00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 in light of the fact that they

00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 discovered that it may well interact

00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 with itself but that's not what he's

00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 asking he's asking about Dark Matter

00:14:20 --> 00:14:23 movement Can it can it move around we we

00:14:23 --> 00:14:26 also I think discussed that it um it

00:14:26 --> 00:14:29 seems to concentrate around

00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 galaxies and uh you know in in places of

00:14:32 --> 00:14:35 um saturation I suppose of of other

00:14:35 --> 00:14:38 objects so yeah it's an interesting

00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 question that's right so uh uh Dark

00:14:41 --> 00:14:43 Matter basically is where normal matter

00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 is um and we think that's no accident we

00:14:46 --> 00:14:49 think that the Dark Matter Cosmic web

00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 provided uh basically gravitational

00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 centers for the for normal matter to

00:14:53 --> 00:14:56 collect and turn into stars and galaxies

00:14:56 --> 00:14:59 um but you've highlighted uh one of the

00:14:59 --> 00:15:02 crucial aspects of this that we did talk

00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 uh a couple of weeks ago I think it was

00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 about uh the idea that dark matter might

00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 interact with itself some evidence that

00:15:11 --> 00:15:13 seem to suggest that although I think

00:15:13 --> 00:15:17 the uh common view is still that it

00:15:17 --> 00:15:23 doesn't and oh um and the evidence for

00:15:23 --> 00:15:26 that comes from something that directly

00:15:26 --> 00:15:29 answers Bill's question

00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 dark matter move uh and the answer is

00:15:32 --> 00:15:35 yes um there is um and if I remember

00:15:35 --> 00:15:36 rightly I think it's called the Pandora

00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 cluster it's a cluster of

00:15:39 --> 00:15:42 galaxies which is actually two Galaxy

00:15:42 --> 00:15:43 clusters

00:15:44 --> 00:15:48 colliding um and what you can see there

00:15:48 --> 00:15:53 is the uh the the material of the

00:15:53 --> 00:15:55 the uh galaxies themselves the gas and

00:15:55 --> 00:15:59 dust that we can see sort of piles up in

00:15:59 --> 00:16:00 this

00:16:00 --> 00:16:04 Collision uh and so you've got a Galaxy

00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 cluster that's made up of two Galaxy

00:16:06 --> 00:16:11 clusters in the act of colliding but the

00:16:11 --> 00:16:14 dark matter which is around them and we

00:16:14 --> 00:16:17 can detect that by means of

00:16:17 --> 00:16:18 gravitational

00:16:18 --> 00:16:20 lensing uh the dark matter just carries

00:16:21 --> 00:16:24 on so what you've got is this galaxy

00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 cluster it's two galaxies that have

00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 collided and they've wound up together

00:16:29 --> 00:16:32 but then on either side of them on each

00:16:32 --> 00:16:35 side is a blob of dark matter the dark

00:16:35 --> 00:16:38 matter has passed through itself uh the

00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 two dark matter Halos of each of the two

00:16:40 --> 00:16:44 clusters has gone through itself and uh

00:16:44 --> 00:16:46 not interacted and that's why people

00:16:46 --> 00:16:48 think dark matter has not interact does

00:16:48 --> 00:16:49 not interact with itself but it does

00:16:50 --> 00:16:52 prove uh the answer to Bill's question

00:16:52 --> 00:16:55 that dark matter can move it can move

00:16:55 --> 00:16:58 okay uh we don't know a lot about it

00:16:58 --> 00:16:59 Bill and

00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 we we're trying to find out what we can

00:17:01 --> 00:17:04 there's there's studies into it but it's

00:17:04 --> 00:17:07 elusive because it's dark matter it's um

00:17:07 --> 00:17:10 it doesn't interact it's not of our

00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 realm technically speaking doesn't yeah

00:17:12 --> 00:17:14 that's a nice way to put it it is not of

00:17:14 --> 00:17:18 our realm that's right yeah yeah uh

00:17:18 --> 00:17:21 thank you Bill um great to hear from you

00:17:21 --> 00:17:23 too and our final question today comes

00:17:23 --> 00:17:26 from Brady hello from the great state of

00:17:26 --> 00:17:29 Florida I just I have a question Fred

00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 why does everyone who lives in Florida

00:17:32 --> 00:17:34 call it the great state of Florida most

00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 of the questions we get say hey I'm from

00:17:37 --> 00:17:39 the great state of Florida are they just

00:17:39 --> 00:17:41 saying Florida abbreviated is it

00:17:41 --> 00:17:44 actually called the great state of

00:17:44 --> 00:17:47 Florida I'm being a bit Co here I think

00:17:47 --> 00:17:49 it's local Pride um I think it is too I

00:17:49 --> 00:17:52 think we get it from other states as

00:17:52 --> 00:17:53 well um

00:17:53 --> 00:17:56 everybody's you know happy about where

00:17:56 --> 00:17:59 they live which is great

00:17:59 --> 00:18:02 well I I I can I can get it I mean um

00:18:02 --> 00:18:05 they've got 50 states to to to sort of

00:18:06 --> 00:18:07 talk about we've only got you know half

00:18:07 --> 00:18:11 a dozen but um when it we we all we

00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 we're one country uh split into States

00:18:13 --> 00:18:16 but during the football season uh New

00:18:16 --> 00:18:17 South Wales and Queensland hate each

00:18:17 --> 00:18:20 other it's just a temporary thing yes

00:18:20 --> 00:18:22 other than that we're really good

00:18:22 --> 00:18:24 [Music]

00:18:24 --> 00:18:27 friends um so from the great state of

00:18:27 --> 00:18:30 Florida Brady asks I was wondering how

00:18:30 --> 00:18:32 atmospheres are formed how do they go

00:18:32 --> 00:18:34 from a ball of rock and lava to having

00:18:34 --> 00:18:38 an atmosphere good good question yet I

00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 have never pondered that and I'm glad

00:18:40 --> 00:18:44 you asked uh it is a good question so um

00:18:44 --> 00:18:46 you know if you've got a world at the

00:18:46 --> 00:18:49 temperature at which the volatile

00:18:49 --> 00:18:50 material the stuff that easily turns

00:18:50 --> 00:18:55 into gas uh is a gas uh then you're

00:18:55 --> 00:18:57 going to have a gas envelope around a

00:18:57 --> 00:19:00 planet uh it's a good it's it's a great

00:19:00 --> 00:19:04 question um uh and you know when you

00:19:04 --> 00:19:06 when you think of the way planets are

00:19:06 --> 00:19:11 form they start off as dust and gas uh

00:19:11 --> 00:19:13 and so you've got this kind of bedding

00:19:13 --> 00:19:15 down process where the dust turns into

00:19:15 --> 00:19:17 planetesimals and they all bash into

00:19:17 --> 00:19:19 each other and that probably heats up

00:19:19 --> 00:19:23 everything so that the temperature gets

00:19:23 --> 00:19:25 uh exceeds where things like nitrogen

00:19:25 --> 00:19:28 and oxygen and carbon dioxide or gas uh

00:19:28 --> 00:19:32 then what you end up with is uh is a

00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 solid world because the the other things

00:19:34 --> 00:19:36 the silicat and things like that are

00:19:36 --> 00:19:38 temperatures that are solid um you know

00:19:39 --> 00:19:42 within the places like the goldilux zone

00:19:42 --> 00:19:44 and and so you've uh you end up with

00:19:44 --> 00:19:47 this natural uh

00:19:47 --> 00:19:51 natural uh scenario of a solid Rocky

00:19:51 --> 00:19:54 body with a gas envelope um and it it

00:19:54 --> 00:19:56 that's turned on its head when we get

00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 out to the to the giant planets because

00:19:58 --> 00:20:02 the rocky body there is very small uh

00:20:02 --> 00:20:04 and probably has quite a lot of water

00:20:04 --> 00:20:06 ice in it because you beyond the frost

00:20:06 --> 00:20:10 line um and the gas is the the main part

00:20:10 --> 00:20:15 of the uh of the the body so so the

00:20:15 --> 00:20:18 atmosphere of a gas giant is formed in a

00:20:18 --> 00:20:19 rather different way from the atmosphere

00:20:19 --> 00:20:22 of a rocky

00:20:22 --> 00:20:26 planet yeah I in fact yeah gas giants

00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 are are very different because you B

00:20:28 --> 00:20:31 basically looking at um well depending

00:20:31 --> 00:20:32 on the size but you're getting on

00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 towards star formation some some of

00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 those gas giants are actually failed

00:20:36 --> 00:20:38 Stars aren't they effectively yeah

00:20:38 --> 00:20:40 Jupiter's often described as a failed

00:20:40 --> 00:20:42 star it would have to be about 90 times

00:20:42 --> 00:20:44 bigger I think if I remember rightly to

00:20:44 --> 00:20:46 be a star uh if it was only 13 times

00:20:47 --> 00:20:48 bigger though it would be a brown dwarf

00:20:48 --> 00:20:50 star which is which is a different kind

00:20:51 --> 00:20:54 of category of star but yeah yep yeah so

00:20:54 --> 00:20:57 it's got a lot to do with proximity to

00:20:57 --> 00:21:00 the star goldilock

00:21:00 --> 00:21:04 Zone um all those things come into play

00:21:04 --> 00:21:06 although you get you get gas giants that

00:21:06 --> 00:21:08 are close to their parent star too which

00:21:08 --> 00:21:11 is seemingly you know so far fairly

00:21:11 --> 00:21:13 normal in the discovery of exoplanets

00:21:13 --> 00:21:15 yeah and you get them a long way from

00:21:15 --> 00:21:17 planets as well sorry a long way from

00:21:17 --> 00:21:19 their stars like like the planets gas

00:21:19 --> 00:21:22 giants in the solar

00:21:22 --> 00:21:27 system okay so um it's just part of a

00:21:27 --> 00:21:29 process yes that's I think that's the

00:21:29 --> 00:21:32 way to put it that's um thank you Brady

00:21:32 --> 00:21:35 um you've kind of highlighted my

00:21:35 --> 00:21:37 thinking about uh these planets and

00:21:37 --> 00:21:40 their atmospheres and uh it is a process

00:21:40 --> 00:21:43 that's the way to put it all right good

00:21:43 --> 00:21:45 question Brady um look I don't think

00:21:45 --> 00:21:47 it'll happen but one day someone might

00:21:47 --> 00:21:49 send a question in where I go that's

00:21:49 --> 00:21:52 just not interesting and it's a bad

00:21:52 --> 00:21:54 question no it hasn't happened yet

00:21:54 --> 00:21:55 hasn't happened yet it's not going to

00:21:55 --> 00:21:57 happen Andre it's all right definitely

00:21:57 --> 00:22:00 not if you do have questions for us go

00:22:00 --> 00:22:01 to our website because that's where you

00:22:01 --> 00:22:04 send them through AMA is the little tab

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00:22:07 --> 00:22:09 it tells us you to go away but uh if you

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00:22:35 --> 00:22:38 the platform that you uh prefer we're

00:22:38 --> 00:22:41 all done Fred thank you very much again

00:22:41 --> 00:22:43 uh it's a pleasure um I'm always happy

00:22:43 --> 00:22:46 to be on Space Nots thank you Andrew oh

00:22:46 --> 00:22:48 I'm glad you are otherwise you probably

00:22:48 --> 00:22:51 would have left eight years ago

00:22:51 --> 00:22:54 yeah Professor Fred Watson astronomer at

00:22:54 --> 00:22:56 large and thanks to here in the studio

00:22:56 --> 00:23:00 who's uh busily making lunch I think

00:23:00 --> 00:23:01 yeah I can't see I can't see him he's

00:23:01 --> 00:23:04 not on the camera no no it's a brush

00:23:04 --> 00:23:06 turkey sandwich by the look of it good

00:23:06 --> 00:23:08 on you and from me Andrew Dunley thanks

00:23:08 --> 00:23:10 for your company as always catch you on

00:23:10 --> 00:23:13 the very next episode of Space Nuts

00:23:13 --> 00:23:16 bye-bye Space Nuts you'll be listening

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