Space Nuts Episode 469: Ryugu Revelations and Celestial Mysteries
Join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson in this enthralling episode of Space Nuts, where they delve into the latest astronomical discoveries and cosmic stories. From the secrets of asteroid Ryugu to the mysterious demise of the Arecibo Observatory, this episode is packed with fascinating insights and stellar discussions.
Episode Highlights:
- Ryugu's Magnetic Mysteries : Uncover new findings from the Ryugu asteroid samples, revealing insights into the magnetic fields of the outer solar system. Explore how these discoveries might reshape our understanding of planetary formation and the solar nebula.
- Arecibo's Tragic End: Learn about the sad fate of the iconic Arecibo Observatory and the invisible issues that led to its collapse. Discover the plans for transforming this historic site into an education centre for future generations.
- Venusian Impact Crater Discovery : Dive into the intriguing discovery of a massive impact crater on Venus, revealing unexpected similarities with ice moons like Callisto and Europa. Delve into the theories that suggest a past where Venus had a lava-covered surface.
For more Space Nuts, including our continually updating newsfeed and to listen to all our episodes, visit our website (https://www.spacenutspodcast.com) . Follow us on social media at SpaceNutsPod on facebook, X, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, 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 www.bitesz.com (https://www.bitesz.com) .
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts/support. (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.
00:00 - This is Space Nuts. Thank you for joining us
00:35 - Professor Fred Watson discusses Venus on this episode of space nuts
02:45 - Russia put 53 satellites into orbit in one launch the other day
05:17 - Scientists have found no sign of a preserved magnetic field in Ryugu samples
14:36 - Andrew Dunkley with Professor Fred Watson studying Ryugu asteroid sample
15:21 - The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico collapsed in 2020
23:13 - National Science foundation says the building will be turned into an education centre
24:37 - Fred Call says Venus' craters are much younger than similar craters elsewhere
32:53 - Yes. Isn't that amazing? That's really big pickup. Indeed. Um, Fred mentioned it. Yeah.
33:03 - Please leave a review if you listen to us through whatever platform
33:56 - All right, so, yeah, Fred Watson, astronomer at large
Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/24067360?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:01 hello again thank you for joining us
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 this is Space Nuts where we talk about
00:00:04 --> 00:00:06 all sorts of astronomical and space
00:00:06 --> 00:00:10 science things and coming up on today's
00:00:10 --> 00:00:12 show uh we're going to get some more
00:00:12 --> 00:00:16 information from ryugu the asteroid that
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 they took some samples from about four
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 four years ago uh it's back in the news
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 um because uh yeah we talked about it a
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 few weeks ago and now we're looking at
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 maybe the origins of our outer solar
00:00:27 --> 00:00:30 system uh some new information on what
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 really happened to The arbo Observatory
00:00:33 --> 00:00:35 and it's it's a bit of a sad tale and
00:00:35 --> 00:00:37 then we head to Venus now Venus doesn't
00:00:37 --> 00:00:41 have many big um asteroid impact or
00:00:41 --> 00:00:43 impact craters uh and they're not very
00:00:43 --> 00:00:45 old compared to the rest of the solar
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 system however they think theyve found
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 one that breaks the mold certainly broke
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 Venus we'll talk all about that on this
00:00:53 --> 00:00:57 episode of Space Nuts 15 seconds
00:00:57 --> 00:01:01 guidance is internal 10 9 9 ignition
00:01:01 --> 00:01:06 sequence start Space Nuts 5 4 3 2 1 2 3
00:01:06 --> 00:01:10 4 5 5 4 3 2 Space Nuts as the nuts
00:01:10 --> 00:01:13 reported feels good and here he is the
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 man of the hour it is Professor Fred
00:01:16 --> 00:01:19 wats an astronomer at large hello Fred
00:01:19 --> 00:01:20 hi Andrew how are you
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 doing
00:01:22 --> 00:01:26 I'm I I've noticed that in most of the
00:01:26 --> 00:01:29 uh recordings we do I wear dark colors
00:01:29 --> 00:01:30 so today I thought I'd wear a white
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 shirt it's actually one of my golf
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 shirts because believe it or not before
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37 we recorded today I I went out and had
00:01:37 --> 00:01:41 nine holes and I I was running so late
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 because it was slow um we um I had to
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 come straight in here to record so um I
00:01:47 --> 00:01:48 I don't smell too
00:01:48 --> 00:01:52 good and that has caused Judy to leave
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 the building so oh really well lucky
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 this isn't smell a vision yes it is but
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 it sort of harks back to what we were
00:02:00 --> 00:02:01 talking about a couple of weeks ago
00:02:01 --> 00:02:04 about um maybe aliens will communicate
00:02:04 --> 00:02:06 by smell so you might be sending out a
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09 signal to the alien world well I'll
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 never come here if that's the
00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 case I won't want to
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 come looks very smart Andrew and uh
00:02:17 --> 00:02:18 actually you've caught me off guard
00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 because I very nearly wore um a light
00:02:21 --> 00:02:23 colored shirt today and then I thought
00:02:23 --> 00:02:24 oh no Andrew will be dressed in
00:02:24 --> 00:02:25 something dark I'll just got the sign
00:02:25 --> 00:02:27 Old Blue on her well look at that you
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 know unfortunately golf shirts that are
00:02:30 --> 00:02:34 white tend to show a lot of dirt and
00:02:34 --> 00:02:35 yeah that's why I've got the collar up
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 because all the dirts yeah it's horrible
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 I can't see it don't worry plus our Golf
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 Course is a very dirty Dusty Golf Course
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 compared to most ones you see on
00:02:43 --> 00:02:47 television so yeah uh before we get onto
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 the stories Fred I um I read something
00:02:49 --> 00:02:51 that I thought would interest you given
00:02:51 --> 00:02:54 that we we talk about this semi
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 regularly but uh the week just
00:02:57 --> 00:03:01 gone uh Russia achieved a record launch
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 of satellites they put 53 satellites
00:03:03 --> 00:03:07 into orbit in one launch the other day
00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 uh which is a record for Russia uh but
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 what interested me about it was the the
00:03:12 --> 00:03:14 payload wasn't just Russian satellites I
00:03:14 --> 00:03:15 mean they've got satellites for their
00:03:15 --> 00:03:18 own purposes I think most of them were
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 including their news agency Tas I think
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 it's called um so there were Russian
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 satellites uh there were Chinese
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28 satellites on there which probably
00:03:28 --> 00:03:29 shouldn't come as any surprise this one
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 might surprise people though Iran couple
00:03:32 --> 00:03:33 of satellites for
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 Iran and they launched a couple of SATs
00:03:36 --> 00:03:39 for Zimbabwe as well oh yeah but that
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 just adds more satellites to the um the
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 growing numbers in orbit around the
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 planet the the Russians still have
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 because they were contracted to one web
00:03:49 --> 00:03:50 which is one of the satellite
00:03:50 --> 00:03:54 consolation companies um it's actually
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 owned uh I think the principal
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 shareholders are British uh but other
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 countries as well uh and one web uh
00:04:02 --> 00:04:04 originally contracted to the Russian
00:04:04 --> 00:04:07 Federation for launches with their soyat
00:04:07 --> 00:04:11 launch vehicles and when the invasion a
00:04:11 --> 00:04:15 2022 invasion of Crimea took sorry of
00:04:15 --> 00:04:16 Ukraine took
00:04:16 --> 00:04:20 place uh the um I can't remember which
00:04:20 --> 00:04:23 way around it was but essentially the oh
00:04:23 --> 00:04:25 yes because of the uh the various
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 boycotts and things of that sort the
00:04:27 --> 00:04:31 Russians commandeered those 20 uh 21 web
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 spacecraft that they had already to go
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36 uh they were going to launch 21 web
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 satellites but they they've still got
00:04:38 --> 00:04:41 them um and one went very quickly
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 changed and went with SpaceX in fact
00:04:44 --> 00:04:46 yeah
00:04:46 --> 00:04:48 gosh yeah I wouldn't like to be a lawyer
00:04:48 --> 00:04:50 writing up contracts for all this kind
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 of work exactly sounds like it's it's a
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 pretty messy business risks in it yes
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 exactly yeah but that um that that
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 satellite of all those multiple
00:05:01 --> 00:05:02 satellite arrays that are starting to
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 build up around the planet just get
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 thicker and thicker which uh it's as we
00:05:07 --> 00:05:08 previously mentioned week or two or
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 three back uh not a good thing uh for
00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 the environment either not just uh
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 people who want to look out into
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 space um speaking of looking out into
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 space well this was actually a mission a
00:05:21 --> 00:05:25 hire buser 2 mission to ryugu about four
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 years ago when it retrieved uh some
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 samples from the asteroid and brought
00:05:29 --> 00:05:30 them back back and they've been studying
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 those and a few weeks ago we did uh talk
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 about one of the things that ryugu has
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 now revealed in terms of planetary
00:05:38 --> 00:05:42 formation and uh maybe how life evolved
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 on this planet uh now it's revealing
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 more data on the origin of our outer
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 solar system and it sounds like it was
00:05:51 --> 00:05:56 all done with magnets or was a blue tack
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 magnets yeah it it's a it is an
00:05:59 --> 00:06:00 interesting story this it's quite
00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 complex um but you you're absolutely
00:06:03 --> 00:06:06 right it it's more data coming back from
00:06:06 --> 00:06:09 the uh samples of the asteroid ryugu
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 brought back as you said by Hayabusa 2
00:06:11 --> 00:06:12 in
00:06:12 --> 00:06:16 2020 uh and so what has happened as well
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 as the chemical analysis that you've
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 just referred to that was done uh on the
00:06:21 --> 00:06:24 various grains of material from uh this
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 uh this Mission um uh scientists have
00:06:27 --> 00:06:30 now done magnetic analyses
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 and uh there are basically um these have
00:06:33 --> 00:06:37 been done with some tiny grains of dust
00:06:37 --> 00:06:41 from Ryu only about a millimeter across
00:06:41 --> 00:06:42 U but they've been
00:06:42 --> 00:06:45 measured very accurately by a device
00:06:45 --> 00:06:47 called a magnetometer which as you might
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 guess measures magnetic field strength
00:06:50 --> 00:06:55 uh and so they've um essentially uh
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 stuck this thing in a laboratory with a
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 magnetometer uh and these tiny grains
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 have had their magnetic fields
00:07:03 --> 00:07:08 sampled uh and the interesting bit is
00:07:08 --> 00:07:12 there's no sign of a a preserved
00:07:12 --> 00:07:14 magnetic field in these samples which is
00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 a surprise I'll tell you why in a minute
00:07:17 --> 00:07:21 uh this I'm looking at f.org one of our
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 favorite websites for this news and I'm
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 going to read a little paragraph from
00:07:25 --> 00:07:28 their article on this which explains it
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 a lot more accurate than I could um the
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 the scientists determined that the
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 samples held no clear sign of a
00:07:35 --> 00:07:38 preserved magnetic field this suggests
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 that either there was no nebula field
00:07:40 --> 00:07:42 present and by that they mean uh the
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 field of the magnetic field of the
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 nebula from which the solar system
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 formed and that was a cloud of gas and
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 dust um it suggests that either there
00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 was no nebula field present in the outer
00:07:53 --> 00:07:54 solar system where the asteroid first
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 formed or the field was so weak that it
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 was not recorded in the asteroids grains
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03 if the latter is the case the team
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 estimates that such a weak field would
00:08:05 --> 00:08:09 have been no more than 15 micr Tesla in
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 intensity um now I think as I understand
00:08:12 --> 00:08:13 it and I really should check this but I
00:08:13 --> 00:08:15 think that's about a quarter of the
00:08:15 --> 00:08:20 Earth's magnetic field um so uh there's
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 a bit more to say though so the the
00:08:22 --> 00:08:26 ryugo samples didn't really have any
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 magnetic field and that's a surprise
00:08:29 --> 00:08:30 because we're believe that nebula
00:08:30 --> 00:08:33 probably would have had a magnetic field
00:08:33 --> 00:08:37 um so another uh paragraph if I may the
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 researchers also reexamined data from
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42 previously studied meteorites they
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 specifically looked at ungrouped Carbon
00:08:45 --> 00:08:47 carbonous condres which are meteors
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 meteorites that have properties that are
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 characteristic of having formed in the
00:08:52 --> 00:08:54 in the outer solar system scientists had
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 estimated the samples were not old
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 enough to have formed before the solar
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 nebula dis appeared now the solar nebula
00:09:00 --> 00:09:03 is the the cocoon in which the solar
00:09:03 --> 00:09:04 system was born and it was eventually
00:09:04 --> 00:09:06 Blown Away by winds from the sun when it
00:09:06 --> 00:09:10 went through a windy phase so it says uh
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13 any magnetic field recorded uh record
00:09:13 --> 00:09:15 that the samples contained then would
00:09:15 --> 00:09:18 not reflect the nebula field but uh the
00:09:19 --> 00:09:20 the team decided to take a closer look
00:09:20 --> 00:09:23 we analy we reanalyzed the ages of these
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 samples and found they are closer to the
00:09:26 --> 00:09:27 start of the solar system than
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 previously thought we think these
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31 samples formed in this distant outer
00:09:31 --> 00:09:33 region and one of those samples actually
00:09:33 --> 00:09:35 does have a positive field detection of
00:09:35 --> 00:09:37 about five microtesla which is
00:09:37 --> 00:09:39 consistent with that upper limit of 15
00:09:39 --> 00:09:43 microtesla they they spoke about before
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 so what they're suggesting is that the
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 outer solar system Way Beyond the orbit
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 of Jupiter uh probably beyond the orbit
00:09:50 --> 00:09:53 of Neptune uh had a very weak magnetic
00:09:53 --> 00:09:58 field uh but we still strong enough uh
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 that um
00:10:00 --> 00:10:03 material from the very limits of the
00:10:03 --> 00:10:08 solar nebula were pulled in um and
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 perhaps formed things like Uranus
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 Neptune some of the you know the uh the
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 smaller bodies the transneptunian
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 objects um and a and a comment from one
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 of the authors of this paper and I
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 haven't really credited who they are but
00:10:22 --> 00:10:25 they are a group of scientists in a
00:10:25 --> 00:10:27 number of different universities LED
00:10:27 --> 00:10:32 actually by um uh um a post-doctoral uh
00:10:32 --> 00:10:33 researcher at Cambridge University in
00:10:33 --> 00:10:37 the UK uh so um they they they go on to
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 say um when you when you're further from
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 the Sun a weak magnetic field goes a
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 long way it was predicted that it
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 doesn't need to be that strong out there
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 and that's what we're seeing uh but
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 still it's a real thing the magnetic
00:10:52 --> 00:10:55 field is is real but it was predicted to
00:10:55 --> 00:10:56 be weak and that's what they're seeing
00:10:56 --> 00:10:58 with the evidence that they're getting
00:10:58 --> 00:10:59 from these
00:10:59 --> 00:11:02 ryugu samples and some some earlier
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 meteorites that have uh been delivered
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 to us from space probably via an
00:11:06 --> 00:11:10 asteroid a few million years ago so 15
00:11:10 --> 00:11:15 micro Tesla which is only 30% of our own
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 magnetic field today which is which is
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 50 micro Tesla so um so that's not
00:11:20 --> 00:11:22 that's not a big number from what you
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 say yes that's right it's it's not a big
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 number I mean um I I've always thought
00:11:27 --> 00:11:29 the Earth magnetic field was quite
00:11:29 --> 00:11:33 healthy but um uh it's you know it's uh
00:11:33 --> 00:11:34 when you compare it with some of the
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 magnetism that's used in industry or in
00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 scientific research it's pretty weak
00:11:39 --> 00:11:42 yeah you have to recharge a Tesla
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44 halfway to
00:11:44 --> 00:11:48 Sydney especially if it's a micro Tesla
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 uh so uh one footnote to this story uh
00:11:51 --> 00:11:55 is that this same team are going to look
00:11:55 --> 00:12:00 uh at samples from the asteroid benu um
00:12:00 --> 00:12:04 which was uh which has also had samples
00:12:04 --> 00:12:06 returned to Earth This Time by NASA's
00:12:06 --> 00:12:09 Osiris Rock Rex not Osiris rocks but
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 Osiris Rex spacecraft um came back to
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 Earth in September last year so um it
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 would be really interesting to see what
00:12:17 --> 00:12:19 results they get from that if they do
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 get their hold on get a hold on some of
00:12:21 --> 00:12:25 these samples from benu indeed uh you
00:12:25 --> 00:12:27 did say something that I picked up on
00:12:27 --> 00:12:29 and I thought uh it was worth uh
00:12:29 --> 00:12:32 revisiting uh you said how the nebula
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 that created our solar system was
00:12:34 --> 00:12:38 ultimately Blown Away by um the the Sun
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 or the the sun's solar winds whatever um
00:12:41 --> 00:12:45 so even at the very beginning we were
00:12:45 --> 00:12:48 destroying our creator by the Cent yes
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 that's right blowing it away that's
00:12:50 --> 00:12:55 right um uh so we know that um stars
00:12:55 --> 00:12:58 form in gas clouds clouds of gas and
00:12:58 --> 00:12:59 dust we see it you know when you look at
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 the The Pillars of Creation that's what
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 you're actually seeing pillars of dust
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 with star formation taking place at the
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 middle um and we know that very early on
00:13:08 --> 00:13:10 in the life history of a star it goes
00:13:10 --> 00:13:12 through a phase which is known as the
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 Tori phase Tor is the name of a variable
00:13:14 --> 00:13:18 star uh and it's the sort of um you
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 know basically the the Prototype of of
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 this type of activity and when they're
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 going through the toris phase they're
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 sort of blowing away the rest of the
00:13:27 --> 00:13:31 debris and we see that to um the pades
00:13:31 --> 00:13:34 the pades star cluster uh which we see
00:13:34 --> 00:13:37 as the Seven Sisters in the sky uh in in
00:13:37 --> 00:13:42 our summer sky here in Australia uh they
00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 are um when you look at them with a with
00:13:46 --> 00:13:47 a big telescope or even with a small
00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 telescope these days with the modern
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 detectors that we have you can see
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 they're surrounded by a sort of blue
00:13:53 --> 00:13:54 shell there's a lot of blue material in
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 them and that blue is the reflection of
00:13:57 --> 00:14:00 light from dust uh it's actually why
00:14:00 --> 00:14:01 smoke it's the same thing that makes
00:14:01 --> 00:14:03 smoke look blue uh when you when
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 sunlight falls on it's a process called
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 R scattering which scatters the blue
00:14:07 --> 00:14:09 light preferentially and so we see all
00:14:09 --> 00:14:12 this blue Dusty stuff which is
00:14:12 --> 00:14:14 surrounding the pades now we think the
00:14:14 --> 00:14:15 pades are only about 10 million years
00:14:15 --> 00:14:18 old they're a young star cluster so
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 those stars have just gone through uh
00:14:20 --> 00:14:22 their tetori phase and what we see is
00:14:23 --> 00:14:24 you know the last remnants of that dust
00:14:24 --> 00:14:27 cloud the cloud of dust gas and dust in
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 which they were born so it blown all the
00:14:29 --> 00:14:31 Dey away and the sun must have done the
00:14:31 --> 00:14:33 same thing as well probably not long
00:14:33 --> 00:14:35 after its formation 4.6 billion years
00:14:35 --> 00:14:39 ago yeah it's just going hey I'm here
00:14:39 --> 00:14:43 now get rack off so just sweeping up
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 sweeping up the Dey really yeah yeah
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 cleaning up after itself
00:14:47 --> 00:14:51 maybe uh yes uh and yeah um it's
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 exciting that we're getting so much data
00:14:53 --> 00:14:57 from such a small sample from the ryugu
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 asteroid and there'll be more to come I
00:14:59 --> 00:15:02 do not doubt if you'd like to read up on
00:15:02 --> 00:15:04 that story f.org as Fred said or you can
00:15:04 --> 00:15:06 read the whole thing Lock Stock and
00:15:06 --> 00:15:09 Barrel with the five million people who
00:15:09 --> 00:15:12 signed the report uh in the journal
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 agu advances this is Space Nuts Andrew
00:15:15 --> 00:15:20 Dunley here with Professor Fred
00:15:20 --> 00:15:23 Watson okay we checked all four systems
00:15:23 --> 00:15:28 and space Nets uh now to a story that uh
00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 we have done a couple of times and that
00:15:30 --> 00:15:35 was the demise of the arbo in arbo
00:15:35 --> 00:15:39 observatory in Puerto Rico I know one
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 that's fine yeah I knew it was one of
00:15:41 --> 00:15:44 the Ricos Puerto Rico um this was really
00:15:44 --> 00:15:46 sad one because this is a famous one for
00:15:47 --> 00:15:48 all sorts of reasons it's the one that
00:15:48 --> 00:15:51 sort of nestled into a Mountaintop and
00:15:51 --> 00:15:54 they've used it in movies it was used in
00:15:54 --> 00:15:57 the Jodie Foster film contact and it's
00:15:57 --> 00:16:00 just uh it's it's a very used to be a
00:16:00 --> 00:16:02 very favorite place of cinematographers
00:16:02 --> 00:16:04 but also astronomers and it achieved a
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 lot in its um in its time the rscb
00:16:07 --> 00:16:10 observatory uh but then a few years ago
00:16:10 --> 00:16:12 it collapsed rather
00:16:12 --> 00:16:14 dramatically and they have been looking
00:16:14 --> 00:16:17 into the reasons why and now it appears
00:16:17 --> 00:16:20 they have discovered the um the cause
00:16:20 --> 00:16:22 and effect and it's a it's a bit of a
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 sad Miss by the sound of
00:16:25 --> 00:16:28 it it is that's right uh it's you're
00:16:28 --> 00:16:31 quite right Andrew it's got a very very
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 distinguished history this instrument
00:16:33 --> 00:16:35 built in
00:16:35 --> 00:16:38 1963 uh it was originally for what's
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 called ionospheric research kind of
00:16:40 --> 00:16:41 looking up at the atmosphere and
00:16:41 --> 00:16:44 measuring the radio radiation from it um
00:16:44 --> 00:16:48 but it but it was taken over uh in 1967
00:16:48 --> 00:16:51 by the national s Science Foundation uh
00:16:51 --> 00:16:54 for the U you know for the astronomy
00:16:54 --> 00:16:56 community and did all kinds of really
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 interesting things uh and uh actually
00:16:59 --> 00:17:02 NASA uh shared the costs of of
00:17:02 --> 00:17:04 Maintenance and upgrades and things of
00:17:04 --> 00:17:07 that sort um lots of discoveries don't
00:17:07 --> 00:17:09 really have time to talk about them now
00:17:09 --> 00:17:10 but one of them was a Nobel prize
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 winning Discovery the the the binary
00:17:12 --> 00:17:14 Pulsar discovered in
00:17:14 --> 00:17:18 1974 um so uh
00:17:18 --> 00:17:22 the you know the the issue I guess took
00:17:22 --> 00:17:24 most of us uh in the astronomical
00:17:24 --> 00:17:27 Community by surprise when the when the
00:17:27 --> 00:17:33 uh the the demolition happened uh but um
00:17:33 --> 00:17:36 it it sort of was an accident not quite
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 an accident waiting to happen but there
00:17:38 --> 00:17:41 had been weakening of the structure over
00:17:41 --> 00:17:43 a period before that it was 2020 when
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 when the thing finally collapsed um but
00:17:47 --> 00:17:49 the apparently the failure of the
00:17:49 --> 00:17:53 structure actually began um uh three
00:17:53 --> 00:17:55 years before that in 2017 there was a
00:17:55 --> 00:17:58 hurricane hurricane Maria uh which went
00:17:58 --> 00:18:01 through through Puerto Rico on September
00:18:01 --> 00:18:02 the 20th
00:18:02 --> 00:18:07 2017 and uh you know that U bombarded
00:18:07 --> 00:18:10 the area with winds that were uh in the
00:18:10 --> 00:18:13 region of 160
00:18:13 --> 00:18:16 170 uh maybe a bit more kilometers per
00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 hour rather more than 100 kilometers
00:18:19 --> 00:18:21 rather more than 100 miles per hour um
00:18:21 --> 00:18:25 and that was uh you know that was uh
00:18:25 --> 00:18:27 something that hammered the hammered the
00:18:27 --> 00:18:32 structure but but the review that was
00:18:32 --> 00:18:34 carried out after that there were
00:18:34 --> 00:18:38 inspections um that were done in detail
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 uh and the conclusion of those
00:18:40 --> 00:18:42 inspections were was that no significant
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 damage had jeopardized the rcbo's
00:18:44 --> 00:18:46 telescope's structural
00:18:47 --> 00:18:51 Integrity uh some of the issues uh were
00:18:51 --> 00:18:55 suggested to need repairs uh but uh
00:18:55 --> 00:18:56 there were other things that caused
00:18:56 --> 00:18:59 those repairs to be delayed uh and even
00:18:59 --> 00:19:02 so they they thought that uh this was
00:19:02 --> 00:19:05 you know this was not going to be uh an
00:19:05 --> 00:19:08 issue uh and actually the
00:19:08 --> 00:19:12 components uh that were going to be
00:19:12 --> 00:19:14 repaired weren't the ones that
00:19:14 --> 00:19:17 failed when the collapse actually
00:19:17 --> 00:19:19 happened yeah that's that's a pretty
00:19:19 --> 00:19:20 significant Point even though they
00:19:20 --> 00:19:24 didn't fix certain things even if they
00:19:24 --> 00:19:27 had it would still have they weren't
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 they weren't the problem yeah yes that's
00:19:29 --> 00:19:34 right um and and then uh in August and
00:19:34 --> 00:19:35 November
00:19:35 --> 00:19:39 2020 uh there were two cables that
00:19:39 --> 00:19:44 failed and that basically was the thing
00:19:44 --> 00:19:47 that said look we've got a problem here
00:19:47 --> 00:19:51 uh we think that the telescope is not
00:19:51 --> 00:19:54 recoverable from these cable failures
00:19:54 --> 00:19:56 and they were going to uh decommission
00:19:56 --> 00:19:59 the telescope and then have what they
00:19:59 --> 00:20:02 called a controlled demolition to avoid
00:20:02 --> 00:20:03 the
00:20:03 --> 00:20:06 catastrophe uh so that was all sort of
00:20:06 --> 00:20:10 in in in train towards the end of uh
00:20:10 --> 00:20:14 well in November 2020 that was August
00:20:14 --> 00:20:17 and November when those two cables
00:20:17 --> 00:20:21 failed but uh then on the 1 of December
00:20:21 --> 00:20:24 um there were was a failure of more of
00:20:24 --> 00:20:26 these cables and that's when the
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 catastrophe happened the instrument plat
00:20:28 --> 00:20:31 form collapsed into the dish uh took off
00:20:31 --> 00:20:33 the tops of the support towers and
00:20:33 --> 00:20:35 damaged some of the observatories other
00:20:35 --> 00:20:39 buildings uh it was um really a
00:20:39 --> 00:20:42 catastrophic end that probably people
00:20:42 --> 00:20:44 had in the back of their mind already uh
00:20:44 --> 00:20:45 but but they were working towards trying
00:20:45 --> 00:20:49 to avoid it um and it it seems that uh
00:20:49 --> 00:20:52 some of the fractures were called caused
00:20:52 --> 00:20:55 by zinc Decay uh in the sockets that
00:20:55 --> 00:20:58 held these cables what what are called
00:20:58 --> 00:21:00 the spell Delta sockets so zinc Decay
00:21:00 --> 00:21:03 and those sockets that really led to the
00:21:03 --> 00:21:05 fracturing uh that wasn't that wasn't
00:21:06 --> 00:21:07 identified as an issue after the
00:21:07 --> 00:21:11 hurricane inspection uh so they would as
00:21:11 --> 00:21:12 you've just said they would never have
00:21:12 --> 00:21:14 picked out what was going to eventually
00:21:14 --> 00:21:17 cause the collapse yeah so yes from what
00:21:17 --> 00:21:20 I read the the capacity to actually
00:21:20 --> 00:21:22 identify the problem
00:21:22 --> 00:21:25 was nearly impossible it was an
00:21:25 --> 00:21:28 invisible issue yes I think that's
00:21:28 --> 00:21:30 correct so you can't that's that's right
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32 you can't really blame the engineers
00:21:32 --> 00:21:36 they there were the failures were in you
00:21:36 --> 00:21:38 know parts of the structure that weren't
00:21:38 --> 00:21:41 available for inspection uh like the
00:21:41 --> 00:21:45 innards of it and things that uh really
00:21:45 --> 00:21:46 you would you would expect to last
00:21:46 --> 00:21:49 forever but they they didn't yeah that's
00:21:49 --> 00:21:53 very sad and and such a such a an iconic
00:21:53 --> 00:21:55 piece of um
00:21:55 --> 00:21:57 infrastructure uh which I'm sure most
00:21:57 --> 00:21:59 people would recognize as soon as I saw
00:21:59 --> 00:22:00 a photo of
00:22:00 --> 00:22:04 aroso it's so it was so popular um just
00:22:04 --> 00:22:07 because of the way it was built and and
00:22:07 --> 00:22:10 the way it was used and and so some of
00:22:10 --> 00:22:12 its great achievements as you mentioned
00:22:12 --> 00:22:15 Fred um but it was a bit of a slow death
00:22:15 --> 00:22:18 I mean it was really probably Beyond
00:22:18 --> 00:22:20 Salvage before they identified that
00:22:20 --> 00:22:24 there was a problem by the sound of it I
00:22:24 --> 00:22:26 think that's correct that's a correct
00:22:26 --> 00:22:28 analysis yeah and of course now we have
00:22:28 --> 00:22:31 the Chinese fast telescope the 500 meter
00:22:31 --> 00:22:34 aperture spherical telescope that's uh
00:22:34 --> 00:22:37 uh sort of dwarfs arbo actually arbo was
00:22:37 --> 00:22:40 305 MERS in diameter it was 1 ft uh
00:22:41 --> 00:22:43 the fast is half a kilometer in diameter
00:22:43 --> 00:22:46 that's a very very big dish indeed yeah
00:22:46 --> 00:22:48 similar sort of structure
00:22:48 --> 00:22:52 though indeed yes and and um if people
00:22:52 --> 00:22:55 uh are interested uh they did actually
00:22:55 --> 00:22:58 film that final collapse it was um the
00:22:58 --> 00:23:00 just happened to have a drone flying
00:23:00 --> 00:23:04 over aroso at the time and they they got
00:23:04 --> 00:23:05 footage of the collapse so you can
00:23:05 --> 00:23:08 actually see it on YouTube if you're if
00:23:08 --> 00:23:10 you're interested it's it's pretty sad
00:23:10 --> 00:23:12 to watch to be honest I have seen it
00:23:12 --> 00:23:15 myself it's um yeah such a such a
00:23:15 --> 00:23:18 wonderful piece of uh of Kit as Fred
00:23:18 --> 00:23:22 would say but um yeah all gone now um
00:23:22 --> 00:23:23 are they going to I suppose they're
00:23:23 --> 00:23:24 going to have to clean it up or they've
00:23:24 --> 00:23:26 already probably done that or are
00:23:26 --> 00:23:29 starting to do that that's a work that's
00:23:29 --> 00:23:31 right that's a work in progress but um
00:23:31 --> 00:23:34 we do believe uh from statements made by
00:23:34 --> 00:23:36 the National Science Foundation that
00:23:36 --> 00:23:38 it'll be turned into an education center
00:23:38 --> 00:23:41 uh specifically to carry on um you know
00:23:41 --> 00:23:45 as as uh a research center for stem how
00:23:45 --> 00:23:48 how can you best teach science
00:23:48 --> 00:23:50 technology uh engineering and
00:23:50 --> 00:23:52 Mathematics how can you teach that to
00:23:52 --> 00:23:55 Young students uh this will be what it
00:23:55 --> 00:23:57 will be doing um so it will have an
00:23:57 --> 00:24:01 enduring Legacy as uh Universe today
00:24:01 --> 00:24:04 describes it yeah it's hardly surprising
00:24:04 --> 00:24:07 when you look at Hurricane Maria because
00:24:07 --> 00:24:09 in our language Winds of up to 200 kilm
00:24:09 --> 00:24:12 an hour uh you know most large
00:24:12 --> 00:24:15 structures would struggle with that and
00:24:15 --> 00:24:17 especially something that was built in
00:24:17 --> 00:24:20 the in the 60s when they didn't have the
00:24:20 --> 00:24:23 kind of technology to reinforce big
00:24:23 --> 00:24:25 structures like they do today so yeah
00:24:25 --> 00:24:27 very very sad indeed that's a story also
00:24:28 --> 00:24:31 on is
00:24:31 --> 00:24:36 .org 3 2 1 Space
00:24:36 --> 00:24:39 Nuts uh Fred to our final story today
00:24:40 --> 00:24:42 and we head to Venus one of the more
00:24:42 --> 00:24:44 mysterious planets in our solar system
00:24:44 --> 00:24:47 simply because we can't see it uh Beyond
00:24:47 --> 00:24:49 its uh atmosphere but we can use radar
00:24:49 --> 00:24:52 to map its Sur uh surface which has been
00:24:52 --> 00:24:54 done very effectively one of the things
00:24:54 --> 00:24:57 that's fascinating about uh Venus is
00:24:57 --> 00:25:00 that its craters are much smaller and
00:25:00 --> 00:25:01 much younger than most of the craters
00:25:01 --> 00:25:04 found elsewhere in the solar system but
00:25:04 --> 00:25:06 now they think they've found one that's
00:25:06 --> 00:25:09 probably the oldest and most definitely
00:25:09 --> 00:25:11 the biggest to be discovered at this
00:25:11 --> 00:25:13 point in time but what's really weird
00:25:13 --> 00:25:16 about it is that it resembles impact
00:25:16 --> 00:25:19 craters on Ice moons uh further out in
00:25:19 --> 00:25:22 the solar system which I guess got
00:25:22 --> 00:25:23 people scratching their heads and
00:25:23 --> 00:25:25 they've uh tried to figure out why and
00:25:25 --> 00:25:27 it looks like they might
00:25:27 --> 00:25:30 have uh yeah that's right it's it is a
00:25:30 --> 00:25:34 fascinating story and it's almost um one
00:25:34 --> 00:25:37 of these accidental discoveries that uh
00:25:37 --> 00:25:42 that astrophysics is so full of um so
00:25:42 --> 00:25:44 the uh it's radar data that you're
00:25:44 --> 00:25:45 always looking at when you're talking
00:25:45 --> 00:25:49 about the surface of Venus uh the um I
00:25:49 --> 00:25:51 remember the mellin spacecraft I think
00:25:52 --> 00:25:53 it was I think I'm giving it the right
00:25:53 --> 00:25:56 name uh was the one that gave us the
00:25:56 --> 00:26:00 best radar maps uh of the surface of
00:26:00 --> 00:26:05 Venus uh and um the some of the features
00:26:05 --> 00:26:08 that came from those radar maps are
00:26:08 --> 00:26:12 similar to what we find on Earth um
00:26:12 --> 00:26:14 there's mountains there's things that
00:26:14 --> 00:26:15 look as though they're definitely
00:26:15 --> 00:26:18 volcanic you know volcanic cones uh but
00:26:18 --> 00:26:20 they're also um what we call
00:26:20 --> 00:26:23 longitudinal structures which are called
00:26:23 --> 00:26:27 tessi uh and these I suppose you know we
00:26:27 --> 00:26:29 use the word tesate meaning things that
00:26:29 --> 00:26:32 are rectangular in in shape and these
00:26:32 --> 00:26:36 tessi are basically uh if you imagine a
00:26:36 --> 00:26:38 radar map they're more or less straight
00:26:38 --> 00:26:40 lines on the on the radar map all going
00:26:40 --> 00:26:41 in the same direction and they're
00:26:41 --> 00:26:45 they're caused by uh highly high levels
00:26:45 --> 00:26:48 of disruption geologically in the
00:26:48 --> 00:26:51 surface uh and then they thought to be
00:26:52 --> 00:26:53 at least one and a half billion years
00:26:53 --> 00:26:56 old so they they go for a long way they
00:26:56 --> 00:26:58 cover hundreds to thousands of
00:26:58 --> 00:27:01 kilometers and probably up to 10% of the
00:27:01 --> 00:27:03 planet is actually covered with these
00:27:03 --> 00:27:05 things um however there's a group of
00:27:05 --> 00:27:09 scientists who uh were looking at the
00:27:09 --> 00:27:10 these tessi in
00:27:10 --> 00:27:13 detail and they noticed that some of
00:27:13 --> 00:27:14 them were going the other way they were
00:27:14 --> 00:27:17 sort of at right angles uh to the to the
00:27:18 --> 00:27:20 to the main ones and yeah if when they
00:27:20 --> 00:27:23 looked more closely they found that
00:27:23 --> 00:27:25 actually they weren't straight lines at
00:27:25 --> 00:27:27 right angles to the tessay they were
00:27:27 --> 00:27:30 forming a curved shape uh they had a
00:27:30 --> 00:27:32 curvature to them uh and they were
00:27:32 --> 00:27:34 concentric uh they're described as
00:27:34 --> 00:27:36 beautiful concentric structures that
00:27:36 --> 00:27:38 were very different from the rest of the
00:27:38 --> 00:27:40 tessi that's one of the researchers uh
00:27:40 --> 00:27:42 and then lovely quote here when Nature
00:27:42 --> 00:27:43 Gives You patterns like that which are
00:27:44 --> 00:27:45 so obvious you know they have a story to
00:27:45 --> 00:27:50 tell I like that very much yeah um so uh
00:27:50 --> 00:27:53 that's say suggesting when you've got
00:27:53 --> 00:27:56 something that's circular uh and these
00:27:56 --> 00:27:58 stripes are circular uh it's not a
00:27:59 --> 00:28:00 complete circle but they're and they're
00:28:00 --> 00:28:03 concentric that's to say they have a a
00:28:03 --> 00:28:05 distinctive Center what you're thinking
00:28:05 --> 00:28:10 about is an impact crator and so uh this
00:28:10 --> 00:28:15 is a a quote uh from uh one of the
00:28:15 --> 00:28:17 scientists uh working on this some of
00:28:17 --> 00:28:24 whom are from Spanish University um uh
00:28:24 --> 00:28:27 the yes if the structure actually I'm
00:28:27 --> 00:28:29 not quoting here I think I'm qu quoting
00:28:29 --> 00:28:31 from Sky telescope magazine which is
00:28:32 --> 00:28:34 where this article is uh if the
00:28:34 --> 00:28:36 structure was an impact crater then it
00:28:36 --> 00:28:38 will be more than five times the size of
00:28:38 --> 00:28:41 the next largest one known on Venus a
00:28:41 --> 00:28:43 size that fits well with massive impact
00:28:43 --> 00:28:45 ores flying around the young solar
00:28:45 --> 00:28:49 system uh but uh the it's different
00:28:49 --> 00:28:51 that's the thing it's quite different
00:28:51 --> 00:28:53 from the normal impact structures that
00:28:53 --> 00:28:56 we see it's it's got these concentric
00:28:56 --> 00:28:59 Rings uh and there's nothing like that
00:28:59 --> 00:29:01 on the moon uh there's nothing like that
00:29:01 --> 00:29:03 on Mercury uh there's nothing like that
00:29:03 --> 00:29:07 on Mars but as you said uh they did find
00:29:07 --> 00:29:11 exactly similar structures on two very
00:29:11 --> 00:29:14 different worlds one is Kalisto it's one
00:29:14 --> 00:29:17 of Jupiter's uh moons and uh the other
00:29:17 --> 00:29:19 is Europa one of the other moons of
00:29:20 --> 00:29:22 Jupiter and these are ice worlds exactly
00:29:22 --> 00:29:25 as you've said there worlds with an icy
00:29:25 --> 00:29:29 uh covering overlaying a glob ocean
00:29:29 --> 00:29:32 which itself overlays a rocky core and
00:29:32 --> 00:29:35 that's really weird because Venus is not
00:29:35 --> 00:29:39 an ice world no it's not it's quite the
00:29:39 --> 00:29:42 opposite uh but it what it suggests is
00:29:42 --> 00:29:44 that there may have been a time in
00:29:44 --> 00:29:47 Venus's past when it had a similar
00:29:47 --> 00:29:50 structure to the ice world so as I said
00:29:50 --> 00:29:52 ice worlds are a layer of ice with water
00:29:52 --> 00:29:55 underneath if you think of a let me
00:29:55 --> 00:29:57 guess go for go for it the flo the floor
00:29:57 --> 00:29:59 is
00:29:59 --> 00:30:03 lava yeah uh so if uh if the uh if you
00:30:03 --> 00:30:07 imagine a lava crust a thin lava crust
00:30:07 --> 00:30:10 overlaying molten lava uh then you've
00:30:10 --> 00:30:12 got a similar structure a solid layer on
00:30:12 --> 00:30:16 top of a liquid and so this is yeah this
00:30:16 --> 00:30:20 exactly the same effect uh this is um
00:30:20 --> 00:30:23 basically what led this team of
00:30:23 --> 00:30:26 researchers uh to model what would
00:30:26 --> 00:30:29 happen if you had an object hitting a
00:30:29 --> 00:30:33 solid crust uh covering lava lava either
00:30:33 --> 00:30:36 a lava ocean or lava pools and
00:30:36 --> 00:30:39 apparently um what they found and this
00:30:39 --> 00:30:41 is again quoting from sky and Telescope
00:30:41 --> 00:30:43 the team found that a single large
00:30:43 --> 00:30:47 object hitting a hard 6 kmet thin crust
00:30:47 --> 00:30:49 could melt the underlying Lair splashing
00:30:49 --> 00:30:52 chunks of solidified scum to make the
00:30:52 --> 00:30:55 Tessa uh but a single impact couldn't
00:30:55 --> 00:30:57 Sim simultaneously make the ring
00:30:57 --> 00:30:58 structure
00:30:58 --> 00:31:02 and so they they now postulating
00:31:02 --> 00:31:05 basically an initial impact that
00:31:05 --> 00:31:07 produced that that straight line
00:31:07 --> 00:31:10 crinkling that I mentioned the tessai uh
00:31:10 --> 00:31:13 but then another one uh so that so that
00:31:13 --> 00:31:15 what what that leaves is a thin crust
00:31:15 --> 00:31:19 over a a pool or an ocean of hot lava
00:31:19 --> 00:31:22 and then the next one uh a next impact
00:31:22 --> 00:31:24 while that pond is still fluid another
00:31:24 --> 00:31:27 object hits shatters the crust again and
00:31:27 --> 00:31:29 that's when you get get the uh the
00:31:29 --> 00:31:31 curved uh impact structure the stuff
00:31:31 --> 00:31:34 that we see similarly on Europa and
00:31:34 --> 00:31:36 Kalisto uh so really quite an
00:31:36 --> 00:31:38 extraordinary bid of research but it may
00:31:38 --> 00:31:41 well be that that they've pinpointed
00:31:41 --> 00:31:44 exactly what happened to the early Venus
00:31:44 --> 00:31:45 because we know that in the early
00:31:46 --> 00:31:48 history of the solar system uh it was uh
00:31:48 --> 00:31:50 you know it was a hellish place there
00:31:50 --> 00:31:52 was debris charging around all over the
00:31:52 --> 00:31:55 place Bits of unbuilt planets and
00:31:55 --> 00:31:56 asteroids and all the rest of it so
00:31:56 --> 00:31:58 impacts were very high
00:31:58 --> 00:32:00 what we call the late heavy bombardment
00:32:00 --> 00:32:04 indeed and uh I suppose now Fred if it's
00:32:04 --> 00:32:07 um confirmed that this is a major impact
00:32:07 --> 00:32:10 crater they'll have to give it a name
00:32:10 --> 00:32:12 the the one on kalisto's got a great
00:32:12 --> 00:32:16 name it's called Valhalla crater yes but
00:32:16 --> 00:32:18 they they would surely have to name this
00:32:18 --> 00:32:20 wouldn't they I think it will get a name
00:32:20 --> 00:32:22 yes that's right once again the names of
00:32:22 --> 00:32:25 everything have to be ratified by the
00:32:25 --> 00:32:28 international astronomical Union but uh
00:32:28 --> 00:32:31 I think the uh the suggestion would come
00:32:31 --> 00:32:34 from uh the the authors of this paper as
00:32:34 --> 00:32:37 to what it might be uh I think the lead
00:32:37 --> 00:32:39 author uh is Vicki Hansen from the
00:32:39 --> 00:32:42 planetary Science Institute so uh
00:32:42 --> 00:32:44 they're probably thinking now about what
00:32:44 --> 00:32:47 this could be called yes yes it's quite
00:32:47 --> 00:32:50 a quite a discovery um and and great
00:32:50 --> 00:32:52 technology given we can't see the
00:32:52 --> 00:32:54 surface with the naked ey yes isn't that
00:32:54 --> 00:32:56 amazing that's right big pickup indeed
00:32:56 --> 00:32:58 yeah now you can read that story uh Fred
00:32:58 --> 00:33:02 mentioned at Sky and telescope. org uh
00:33:02 --> 00:33:03 we're all done thank you for your
00:33:03 --> 00:33:05 company don't forget to visit our
00:33:05 --> 00:33:07 website and um if you listen to us
00:33:07 --> 00:33:09 through whatever platform please leave a
00:33:09 --> 00:33:12 review we uh we value the reviews
00:33:12 --> 00:33:14 because they help to get the word out
00:33:14 --> 00:33:17 and um and bring more people on board
00:33:17 --> 00:33:19 and it's good to see lots of newbies U
00:33:19 --> 00:33:23 following Space Nuts uh who've mess
00:33:23 --> 00:33:25 messaged us in recent months to say hey
00:33:25 --> 00:33:26 we're new we found you we started at the
00:33:26 --> 00:33:28 beginning we'll catch up soon you've
00:33:28 --> 00:33:31 only got 470 to
00:33:31 --> 00:33:34 go um yeah that's that sounds me that
00:33:34 --> 00:33:36 number of episodes it does I know we
00:33:36 --> 00:33:38 started doubling up not long ago but uh
00:33:38 --> 00:33:41 yeah it's um it's still good numbers uh
00:33:41 --> 00:33:44 thank you Fred as always you uh are um a
00:33:44 --> 00:33:49 delight to speak with s I'm
00:33:49 --> 00:33:53 told thanks Andrew so are you so I'm
00:33:53 --> 00:33:57 told speak to you soon thanks again all
00:33:57 --> 00:33:59 right see you Fred Watson astronomer at
00:33:59 --> 00:34:01 large and someone else who's a delight
00:34:01 --> 00:34:02 to talk to whenever he turns up and it
00:34:02 --> 00:34:05 wasn't today is here in the studio and
00:34:05 --> 00:34:06 from me Andrew Dunley thanks for your
00:34:06 --> 00:34:08 company we'll catch you on the very next
00:34:08 --> 00:34:12 episode of Space Nuts byebye Space Nuts
00:34:12 --> 00:34:16 you'll be listening to the Space Nuts
00:34:16 --> 00:34:19 podcast available at Apple podcasts
00:34:19 --> 00:34:22 Spotify iHeart radio or your favorite
00:34:22 --> 00:34:24 podcast player you can also stream on
00:34:24 --> 00:34:27 demand at bites.com this has been
00:34:27 --> 00:34:29 another quality podcast production from
00:34:29 --> 00:34:32 dots.com