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Asteroid Updates, DART Mission Insights, and the Chris Case of 3I ATLAS
In this exciting episode of Space Nuts , hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson delve into the fascinating world of comets and asteroids. From the latest updates on asteroid 2024 YR4's potential impact with the Moon to groundbreaking findings from the DART mission, this episode is packed with cosmic discoveries and intriguing discussions.
Episode Highlights:
- Asteroid 2024 YR4 Update: The hosts discuss the recent observations made using the James Webb Space Telescope, which have ruled out the possibility of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting the Moon in 2032. They explore the significance of these findings and the implications for future lunar missions.
- DART Mission Success: Andrew and Fred revisit the DART mission, highlighting how the impact on the asteroid moon Dimorphos not only changed its orbit but also altered the orbit of the entire Didymos system around the Sun. This marks a historic achievement in planetary defense and asteroid science.
- The Mystery of 3I ATLAS: The episode concludes with a discussion on comet 3I ATLAS, which has been found to have an unusual chemical composition, particularly a high ratio of methanol to hydrogen cyanide. The hosts ponder what this could mean for our understanding of other solar systems and the chemistry of celestial bodies.
For more Space Nuts, including our continuously 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, Instagram, and more. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favorite 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.
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:01 Hello again and thank you for joining us
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 on Space Nuts, the astronomy and space
00:00:04 --> 00:00:07 science podcast and radio show on
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 community radio across Australia. My
00:00:10 --> 00:00:11 name's Andrew Dunley. Great to have your
00:00:11 --> 00:00:15 company in this the 607th episode of our
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 program. Can you believe it? And this
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 one is 100% dedicated to comets and
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 asteroids in one way or another. We've
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 got an update on the potential impact of
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 asteroid Y4 with the moon. And they've
00:00:28 --> 00:00:30 been keeping an eye on this and they've
00:00:30 --> 00:00:32 come up with an answer and it's uh it's
00:00:32 --> 00:00:34 really clever the way they've done it.
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36 Uh more news out of the Dart mission.
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38 Something else has happened there. Yes,
00:00:38 --> 00:00:40 it's on a collision course with nothing.
00:00:40 --> 00:00:42 Had you worried there for a moment and
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 three Atlas is chemically unstable. In
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 fact, it's falling down drunk. We'll
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 tell you why on this episode of Space
00:00:50 --> 00:00:51 Nuts.
00:00:51 --> 00:00:55 >> 15 seconds. Guidance is internal. 10 9
00:00:55 --> 00:00:58 Ignition sequence start. Space Nuts.
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 >> 5 4 3 2
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 >> 1 2 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1
00:01:03 --> 00:01:04 >> Space Nuts.
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 >> Astronauts report. It feels good.
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 >> Joining us again for another stint on
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 this little podcast of ours is Professor
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 Fred Watson, astronomer at large. Hello,
00:01:14 --> 00:01:15 Fred.
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 >> Hello, Andrew. And uh it's nice to talk
00:01:17 --> 00:01:18 to you. What a surprise.
00:01:18 --> 00:01:22 >> Good to see you.
00:01:22 --> 00:01:26 And we have got um a um a real rocking
00:01:26 --> 00:01:27 program today.
00:01:27 --> 00:01:28 >> Oh, I love it. Love it.
00:01:28 --> 00:01:31 >> It's all about rocks and ice and
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 asteroids and something else which we'll
00:01:33 --> 00:01:36 get to later that's not rock and ice. Uh
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 but um first an update on the potential
00:01:39 --> 00:01:43 impact of asteroid Y R4 with the moon.
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 were a little bit worried that its
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 chances of hitting the moon were well I
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 think I heard in the early stages of its
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 discovery that people were quoting 20 or
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 30% chance of it hitting the moon that
00:01:55 --> 00:01:56 kind of got wound back to a more
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 reasonable number. Uh but now they've
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 got some definitive
00:02:01 --> 00:02:05 evidence of what's going to happen
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 that that's correct. Um, I mean, uh,
00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 it's not just the moon that worried us
00:02:11 --> 00:02:15 for a while with asteroid 2024 YR4.
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 uh because when it was discovered back
00:02:18 --> 00:02:22 in 2024, as you might guess, uh Y4
00:02:22 --> 00:02:26 um when its trajectory was analyzed and
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 you got to remember that an object is
00:02:29 --> 00:02:32 only 60 mters across um which is flying
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 through space, you make observations of
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 its position. uh and if you've only
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 observed it over a short period of
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 period of time, the uncertainties in its
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 well both its past orbit and its future
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 orbit are very large. So it's what we
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 call the arc uh the arc of observation.
00:02:50 --> 00:02:51 The the wider the arc of observations
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 that you can make, the more accurate is
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 going to be your assessment of where
00:02:57 --> 00:02:59 it's come from and where it's going. Um
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 and so those early assessments uh
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 actually they were in early in 25 2025
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 when these calculations were made. Um
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 but it's it did suggest a small chance
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 that it might hit the earth.
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 >> Uh and that was very quickly I think I'm
00:03:14 --> 00:03:15 sure you and I talked about this on
00:03:15 --> 00:03:16 space.
00:03:16 --> 00:03:16 >> Yeah, we did.
00:03:16 --> 00:03:19 >> It was very quickly ruled out. Uh and
00:03:19 --> 00:03:23 but as it sort of wandered on its way uh
00:03:23 --> 00:03:27 early in 2025, uh there was still a
00:03:27 --> 00:03:31 possibility that it might hit the moon.
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 Uh and the time that it would happen
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 would be uh 2035
00:03:37 --> 00:03:41 uh was the uh basically the the targeted
00:03:41 --> 00:03:44 time for sorry no is that right? 2032
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 >> 2032.
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 Yeah. Yeah, that's correct. Sorry, I'm
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 mixing up my numbers. You deserve when
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 you get to a certain age.
00:03:53 --> 00:03:56 Uh 2032
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 um that there was a non-zero chance that
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 it would hit the moon. And the the story
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 what happened then was of course this
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 object is it's what we call a near-Earth
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 asteroid because it approaches near the
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 Earth, but it's not near the Earth all
00:04:11 --> 00:04:12 the time.
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 >> Most of the time it's a long way away as
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 it goes around in its orbit around the
00:04:16 --> 00:04:19 sun. and it sort of disappeared from
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 view essentially certainly from the uh
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 from the purview of groundbased
00:04:24 --> 00:04:25 telescopes. There was not going to be
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 any way we thought of observing it again
00:04:28 --> 00:04:32 until 2028 when it would make another
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34 close approach, not one that had any
00:04:34 --> 00:04:35 risk attached to it. But we didn't
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 expect uh to be able to see its position
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 in any detail until 2028, which we would
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 need in order to predict where it might
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 be in 2032, whether it's going to hit
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 the moon or not. Um but um there are
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 some scientists at uh who use the James
00:04:53 --> 00:04:57 Web Space Telescope who tend not to let
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 uh faintness stand in their way because
00:05:00 --> 00:05:01 that's why you couldn't observe this
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 object. It was just too faint. And sure
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 enough, uh early this year, last month
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 in fact, they've made two sets of
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 observations where they've actually
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 picked up uh the image, a tiny faint
00:05:13 --> 00:05:18 image of uh 2024 YR4. Uh they've picked
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 it up and uh allowed um them the
00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 calculations in uh to basically take
00:05:24 --> 00:05:28 those new positions, the 2026 positions
00:05:28 --> 00:05:31 into the orbit calculation. Uh, and what
00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 they've done is they've ruled out any
00:05:33 --> 00:05:37 possibility of it hitting the moon. So,
00:05:37 --> 00:05:40 that's an unexpected story for us. I
00:05:40 --> 00:05:41 didn't think we'll be talking about this
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 again until 2028. Uh, but no, we've
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 talked about it in 2026 and the web
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 telescope has come to the rescue. Um,
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 some people are disappointed, Andrew,
00:05:50 --> 00:05:51 because um,
00:05:51 --> 00:05:53 >> an asteroid hitting the moon uh,
00:05:53 --> 00:05:54 especially if you know when it's going
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 to happen and you would know where it
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 was going to happen as well. Uh, could
00:05:58 --> 00:06:01 have produced some um quite interesting
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 pyrochnics. It would allow spectroscopy
00:06:04 --> 00:06:05 uh, which would tell you a little bit
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 about the asteroid's makeup as well as
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 the the makeup of the lunar regalith and
00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 the lunar lunar um, terrain that it
00:06:12 --> 00:06:13 smashed into. But that's not going to
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 happen. Uh and so for anybody like
00:06:16 --> 00:06:17 astronauts who might happen to be
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 hanging about on the moon in 2032 and
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 there may well be both uh Chinese
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 tyonauts and uh western astronauts on
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 the moon by then. We'll um that that
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 will be a great relief I'm sure.
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 >> Yes. Yes. You don't really want a
00:06:32 --> 00:06:34 mission interrupted by a piece of an
00:06:34 --> 00:06:38 ice. Uh what would could you if if it
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 did hit the moon? Let's just play that
00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 card for the moment. uh and you were
00:06:43 --> 00:06:44 looking at it at the time, would would
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 you actually see it with the naked eye
00:06:46 --> 00:06:47 or with a telescope?
00:06:47 --> 00:06:48 >> I don't think you would with the naked
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 eye, but you certainly would with
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 telescopes and even maybe a relatively
00:06:52 --> 00:06:55 small telescope. We've known I mean
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 certainly since the 1950s,
00:06:58 --> 00:07:02 uh that rocks do hit the moon. Um and
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 often these are ones that are much
00:07:04 --> 00:07:10 smaller than the 60 m of Y4. Um it's for
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 a long time I remember you know when I
00:07:12 --> 00:07:14 was first getting into astronomy in the
00:07:14 --> 00:07:18 1950s uh that um people talked and in
00:07:18 --> 00:07:19 particular Patrick Moore talked about
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 these what what were called TLE's uh
00:07:22 --> 00:07:26 transient lunar events uh and there were
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 flashes basically that amateur
00:07:28 --> 00:07:30 astronomers kept reporting said every so
00:07:30 --> 00:07:32 often there'd be something you know
00:07:32 --> 00:07:33 they'd be looking at the moon through a
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 telescope and suddenly there'd be a
00:07:35 --> 00:07:39 flash. uh and for a long time it was not
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 show not known really whether this was
00:07:41 --> 00:07:44 due to some sort of residual volcanic
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 activity on the moon or whether it was
00:07:46 --> 00:07:49 impact of asteroids and and large meteor
00:07:49 --> 00:07:53 meteorites. Uh and um it was really once
00:07:53 --> 00:07:55 we seen the Apollo results and got to
00:07:56 --> 00:07:57 know the moon a lot better because of
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 the Apollo missions that it it was
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 deemed to be impacts that caused these
00:08:02 --> 00:08:05 transient lunar events. uh and so uh it
00:08:05 --> 00:08:08 would certainly be a 60 meter object
00:08:08 --> 00:08:10 hitting the moon is quite significant uh
00:08:10 --> 00:08:12 and that I don't think it would be naked
00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 eye visibility but I you probably
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 wouldn't need that big a telescope to be
00:08:17 --> 00:08:18 able to see it.
00:08:18 --> 00:08:18 >> Wow.
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 >> And so yes so yeah interesting
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 >> and especially you know sorry especially
00:08:23 --> 00:08:24 if you could predict when and where it
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 was going to happen you'd have all the
00:08:26 --> 00:08:28 amateur astronomers in the world of that
00:08:28 --> 00:08:31 side of the earth facing the moon. Yeah
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 with eyes glued to your telescope. Yeah.
00:08:33 --> 00:08:37 Um, now just need you probably to
00:08:37 --> 00:08:41 explain how this works. But, uh, the
00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 scientists using the James Web took
00:08:43 --> 00:08:47 images 8 days apart. Is that that's
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 obviously significant because then they
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 get a straight line uh, observation. Is
00:08:52 --> 00:08:54 that how it works?
00:08:54 --> 00:08:57 >> No. What what happens is um, uh, in fact
00:08:57 --> 00:09:00 what even just one of those observations
00:09:00 --> 00:09:03 would have been invaluable. two is
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 devastatingly invaluable. It makes it,
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 you know, it increases your accuracy
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 even more. Uh because what they do, they
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13 combine those new observations with what
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 we knew from its orbit the last where
00:09:17 --> 00:09:21 when we observed it in 2024 25. So what
00:09:21 --> 00:09:23 you've suddenly got is you've you know
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 the arc of observation might just have
00:09:25 --> 00:09:27 been a few months at the end of 2024
00:09:27 --> 00:09:30 early 2025. Now what you've done is
00:09:30 --> 00:09:33 you've extended that arc by a year
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 effectively. Uh and that gives you a
00:09:36 --> 00:09:41 much much more accurate uh value of of
00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 uh what we call its orbital elements.
00:09:43 --> 00:09:47 The the asteroid um is its orbit is
00:09:47 --> 00:09:51 actually delineated by six numbers. Uh
00:09:51 --> 00:09:53 and those are the orbital elements as
00:09:53 --> 00:09:56 they're called. uh those numbers uh get
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 more accurate the more uh the longer you
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 can observe it for. So and and it's not
00:10:01 --> 00:10:03 just the how long you can observe it
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05 for. It's the interval between you know
00:10:05 --> 00:10:07 what's the interval of time between the
00:10:07 --> 00:10:08 observations which is what we've got
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 here. We've suddenly got observations
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 made a year later. It's it's absolutely
00:10:14 --> 00:10:15 narrowed down the uncertainties in the
00:10:15 --> 00:10:18 in the orbital elements. And so what we
00:10:18 --> 00:10:21 can then do is another great word from
00:10:21 --> 00:10:23 those orbital elements we can generate
00:10:23 --> 00:10:25 what's called an ephemeris and ephemeris
00:10:25 --> 00:10:27 tells you where the asteroid is going to
00:10:27 --> 00:10:29 be. It's a future predictions.
00:10:29 --> 00:10:32 >> That was what my MSE was on uh making
00:10:32 --> 00:10:36 orbital elements and uh fem
00:10:36 --> 00:10:39 of asteroids with a really new invention
00:10:39 --> 00:10:41 called computers.
00:10:41 --> 00:10:43 Yes. Yes. That I think that'll be a big
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 hit.
00:10:45 --> 00:10:48 Well, it might be, hopefully not
00:10:48 --> 00:10:50 depending on where you're standing. It
00:10:50 --> 00:10:51 was certainly I'll tell you it was a big
00:10:51 --> 00:10:53 hit with the um with the external
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 examiner, a gentleman in Glasgow
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 University by the name of Archie Roy. He
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 said, "Oh, this this work should be
00:10:59 --> 00:11:01 published. People should be able to read
00:11:01 --> 00:11:04 about this." Uh it never was, but uh the
00:11:04 --> 00:11:08 one copy is actually behind me.
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 >> Yeah, it's one of the two thick volumes
00:11:10 --> 00:11:13 at the end. The other's my PhD thesis.
00:11:13 --> 00:11:15 I keep thinking of questions while we
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 talk about this. Um, but what I what I
00:11:18 --> 00:11:20 find extraordinary is that the James Web
00:11:20 --> 00:11:22 Space Telescope was trying to find
00:11:22 --> 00:11:26 something 60 m in size from a distance
00:11:26 --> 00:11:29 of 48 million kilometers, 30 million
00:11:29 --> 00:11:29 miles.
00:11:29 --> 00:11:30 >> Yep.
00:11:30 --> 00:11:31 >> And it found it twice.
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 >> It's pretty fantastic, isn't it?
00:11:33 --> 00:11:36 >> It would just pop above the the
00:11:36 --> 00:11:37 background noise. you know, when you
00:11:37 --> 00:11:39 when you're doing these observations,
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 you've got various sources of what we
00:11:42 --> 00:11:43 call noise, which is basically
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 uncertainty. Uh, and um, these are
00:11:46 --> 00:11:47 probably
00:11:47 --> 00:11:50 very close to that noise level, but it's
00:11:50 --> 00:11:52 just shown up enough that gives them
00:11:52 --> 00:11:53 what they call what we call a three
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 sigma certainty. It's, you know, that's
00:11:56 --> 00:11:57 the level of certainty that you need.
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 It's just a technical term for the
00:11:59 --> 00:12:01 statistical analysis that's being used.
00:12:01 --> 00:12:04 >> Um, I maybe they got help from AI as
00:12:04 --> 00:12:05 well. I don't know.
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 >> Maybe. Yeah, it's possible. Um, I have a
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 doomsday question though.
00:12:10 --> 00:12:11 >> Great.
00:12:11 --> 00:12:12 >> When, and we're going to talk about the
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 dart mission next because there's new
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 information about that uh, deflection
00:12:16 --> 00:12:20 test. But when do you intervene? Like if
00:12:20 --> 00:12:24 if we left it a couple of years because
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 James Webb couldn't find it and then we
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28 realized it was going to hit Earth or
00:12:28 --> 00:12:31 something to that effect. When is it too
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 late to intervene? it it's um with an
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 asteroid like that it's almost too late
00:12:37 --> 00:12:40 already uh because you've only got so if
00:12:40 --> 00:12:42 we'd observed this in 2028 and the
00:12:42 --> 00:12:44 probability of an impact with Earth had
00:12:44 --> 00:12:47 gone up I mean it that had disappeared
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 long ago so it's it's not a problem but
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52 if that happened you've only got four
00:12:52 --> 00:12:57 years uh and we're not ready quite yet
00:12:57 --> 00:13:00 to mount an emergency mission I think
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02 down the track we will be Having seen
00:13:02 --> 00:13:04 what come out of the story we're going
00:13:04 --> 00:13:05 to do next and
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 >> um I think down the track we will have
00:13:08 --> 00:13:12 uh probably planetary defense uh rockets
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 and spacecraft almost ready to go uh so
00:13:14 --> 00:13:17 that you could think about deflecting an
00:13:17 --> 00:13:18 object if it looked as though it was
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 going to impact the earth but I suspect
00:13:21 --> 00:13:24 with four years that's not very long for
00:13:24 --> 00:13:26 a modified orbit to evolve into one that
00:13:26 --> 00:13:29 will miss the planet altogether. Um, uh,
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 I think what would happen would be you'd
00:13:32 --> 00:13:36 you'd mobilize a civil defense, uh,
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 resources because you'd probably quite
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 quickly get an idea where the collision
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 was going to be. You'd have a a circle
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 of uncertainty, but you would know
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 roughly where it was, which which side
00:13:46 --> 00:13:49 of the planet was going to be facing it.
00:13:49 --> 00:13:53 uh and a 60 m object. I mean, it's
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 probably twice the size of what exploded
00:13:55 --> 00:13:59 over Chelabinsk uh in 2013. And we know
00:13:59 --> 00:14:03 that that caused structural damage when
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 the shock wave hit the ground from 30
00:14:05 --> 00:14:08 kilometers high and it was the broken
00:14:08 --> 00:14:09 glass that caused all the injuries.
00:14:09 --> 00:14:12 Nobody died. Uh but but people did get
00:14:12 --> 00:14:14 injured. Um, and if you knew something
00:14:14 --> 00:14:17 like that was going to happen, uh, then
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 you'd get the people out or get them in
00:14:19 --> 00:14:21 bunkers or whatever. Um, because it that
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 that would be the most likely scenario,
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 an air burst. It may be what happened at
00:14:25 --> 00:14:26 Tangaska actually.
00:14:26 --> 00:14:29 >> Yes.
00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 >> Yeah. I think the latest theory is it
00:14:32 --> 00:14:35 was actually a atmospheric graze rather
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 than impact and caused
00:14:37 --> 00:14:40 >> explosion downwards. Yeah.
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 >> Rading radiating out. Um the images from
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 that are incredible. You can look them
00:14:44 --> 00:14:44 up on
00:14:44 --> 00:14:45 >> all the trees.
00:14:46 --> 00:14:48 >> Yeah. Just flattened. Unbelievable.
00:14:48 --> 00:14:49 Yeah.
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 >> If you would like to read about the the
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 latest observations uh regarding
00:14:53 --> 00:14:56 asteroid 2024 YR2, you can go to the
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 scienceblog.com website or you can go to
00:14:58 --> 00:15:00 the issa website where they've published
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 the findings. This is space nuts with
00:15:03 --> 00:15:06 Andrew Dunley and Professor Fred Watson.
00:15:06 --> 00:15:08 Let's take a break from the show to tell
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00:16:39 --> 00:16:41 I believe that this nation should commit
00:16:41 --> 00:16:45 itself to achieving the goal before this
00:16:45 --> 00:16:48 decade is out of landing a man on the
00:16:48 --> 00:16:50 moon and returning him safely to the
00:16:50 --> 00:16:50 earth.
00:16:50 --> 00:16:52 >> These nuts.
00:16:52 --> 00:16:53 >> Well, we said we'd talk about it and we
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 got to talk about it. The Dart mission.
00:16:56 --> 00:16:58 I think we should start by kind of just
00:16:58 --> 00:17:00 revisiting what that mission was all
00:17:00 --> 00:17:03 about and why. Well, we know why. to see
00:17:03 --> 00:17:06 if we could move something that may hit
00:17:06 --> 00:17:08 Earth one day off a bit so that it
00:17:08 --> 00:17:11 missed us. Uh I probably just explained
00:17:11 --> 00:17:13 it, but um yeah, this was four years
00:17:13 --> 00:17:14 ago, wasn't it, Fred?
00:17:14 --> 00:17:17 >> Uh indeed it was. That's right. 2022. Um
00:17:17 --> 00:17:20 it was I think it was it September. Uh I
00:17:20 --> 00:17:21 can't remember.
00:17:21 --> 00:17:22 >> Good question.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:25 >> About I think it was about then. Um the
00:17:25 --> 00:17:29 so a really really clever experiment uh
00:17:29 --> 00:17:33 conducted by NASA and a team of project
00:17:33 --> 00:17:35 scientists. Uh what do you do to test
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 whether you can move an asteroid? What
00:17:39 --> 00:17:42 you don't do is slap something into an
00:17:42 --> 00:17:44 asteroid and see whether you can change
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 its orbit around the sun. And that's
00:17:46 --> 00:17:49 because uh the orbits of planets,
00:17:49 --> 00:17:52 asteroids um and comets actually as well
00:17:52 --> 00:17:54 are very very stable. It's quite hard to
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 change them. Uh because you're talking
00:17:56 --> 00:18:00 about, you know, lots of rather large
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 forces, gravitational forces and things
00:18:02 --> 00:18:04 like that. So what they did was they
00:18:04 --> 00:18:06 said, "Okay, we won't do that. What
00:18:06 --> 00:18:07 we'll do is we'll find an asteroid with
00:18:07 --> 00:18:10 a a moon." Uh and we now know there are
00:18:10 --> 00:18:12 a lot of those. And they chose an
00:18:12 --> 00:18:15 asteroid called Ditimos. Uh if I
00:18:15 --> 00:18:16 remember rightly about half a kilometer
00:18:16 --> 00:18:19 across uh which had a little moon called
00:18:19 --> 00:18:24 Dorphos which is about I think 170 m is
00:18:24 --> 00:18:26 the figure that comes to mind. This
00:18:26 --> 00:18:28 little moon that goes around Diddimos
00:18:28 --> 00:18:30 once in I've got a feeling remembering
00:18:30 --> 00:18:32 it was about 11 hours its orbital
00:18:32 --> 00:18:34 period. So you smash something into the
00:18:34 --> 00:18:38 little asteroid moon. Uh, and what you
00:18:38 --> 00:18:41 then look for is how the orbit of the
00:18:41 --> 00:18:43 moon around its parent body, in other
00:18:43 --> 00:18:45 words, the moon, the orbit of Demorphos
00:18:45 --> 00:18:48 around Ditimos, how that changes because
00:18:48 --> 00:18:50 something on that scale is much easier
00:18:50 --> 00:18:53 to change than the orbit of an asteroid
00:18:53 --> 00:18:56 around the sun. Uh, and as we all know,
00:18:56 --> 00:18:59 it was incredibly successful. the orbit
00:18:59 --> 00:19:03 of the orbital period of um Demorphus I
00:19:03 --> 00:19:04 think it was reduced by was it 33
00:19:04 --> 00:19:08 minutes I think was the the figure um if
00:19:08 --> 00:19:11 I remember rightly the Dart spacecraft
00:19:11 --> 00:19:13 I'm remembering these numbers from the
00:19:13 --> 00:19:15 last time we talked about it I think it
00:19:15 --> 00:19:20 was um uh three tons I think thereabouts
00:19:20 --> 00:19:24 hit Demorphos at 6 kilometers/s
00:19:24 --> 00:19:27 caused a huge plume of data sorry a huge
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 plume of debris not data, lots of data
00:19:29 --> 00:19:33 as well, but debris too. Um, and that
00:19:33 --> 00:19:35 was all in fact visible from Earth as
00:19:35 --> 00:19:37 well as from uh things like the Hubble
00:19:37 --> 00:19:40 Space Telescope. Uh, so it was a
00:19:40 --> 00:19:43 experiment that was well uh devised,
00:19:44 --> 00:19:46 well set up and had excellent results.
00:19:46 --> 00:19:49 It did exactly it did better than what
00:19:49 --> 00:19:51 um the mission scientists hoped. And the
00:19:51 --> 00:19:53 reason why it did better was because
00:19:53 --> 00:19:55 they there was a much bigger effect.
00:19:55 --> 00:19:57 It's when you hit something at 6
00:19:57 --> 00:20:00 kilometers/s, everything's vaporized.
00:20:00 --> 00:20:02 The the surface that you hit, which is
00:20:02 --> 00:20:04 actually a rubble pile, but the surface
00:20:04 --> 00:20:06 you hit vaporized, as is the spacecraft
00:20:06 --> 00:20:09 itself, and that vapor acts like a
00:20:09 --> 00:20:11 rocket exhaust. So, it's not just the
00:20:11 --> 00:20:13 nudge that you get from knocking
00:20:13 --> 00:20:15 something weighing three tons into an
00:20:15 --> 00:20:17 asteroid. Uh, it's also the sort of
00:20:17 --> 00:20:20 exhaust effect that comes from that uh
00:20:20 --> 00:20:25 as well. Um, so it uh and that that was
00:20:25 --> 00:20:27 what was very hard to quantify. We
00:20:27 --> 00:20:28 didn't really know what that would be,
00:20:28 --> 00:20:30 but it was enough to make a significant
00:20:30 --> 00:20:32 difference. So that's the backstory,
00:20:32 --> 00:20:33 Andrew.
00:20:33 --> 00:20:34 >> Yes. And you were right. It was the 26th
00:20:34 --> 00:20:37 of September, 2022.
00:20:37 --> 00:20:37 >> Okay.
00:20:37 --> 00:20:38 >> Great. Yeah.
00:20:38 --> 00:20:40 >> Yeah.
00:20:40 --> 00:20:41 Do you want to just check the mass of of
00:20:42 --> 00:20:44 the dart impactor while you're looking
00:20:44 --> 00:20:45 there? So
00:20:45 --> 00:20:47 >> correct if I've said it wrong. I said
00:20:47 --> 00:20:49 three tons, but I might be wrong. I
00:20:49 --> 00:20:51 can't remember. Okay, I'll do that. Um,
00:20:51 --> 00:20:53 but I guess we could uh move on to
00:20:54 --> 00:20:55 what's actually happened now. They've
00:20:55 --> 00:20:57 done more analysis and and something
00:20:58 --> 00:20:59 spectacular has happened as a
00:20:59 --> 00:21:01 consequence of that event three and a
00:21:01 --> 00:21:02 half years ago.
00:21:02 --> 00:21:05 >> And the way it's happened is neat as
00:21:05 --> 00:21:08 well because uh what you're looking for
00:21:08 --> 00:21:11 um if you're looking at the way an
00:21:11 --> 00:21:13 asteroid change an asteroid orbit
00:21:13 --> 00:21:16 changes, you're looking for incredible
00:21:16 --> 00:21:19 precision in space. uh and there are
00:21:19 --> 00:21:22 limits as to how precise we can get uh
00:21:22 --> 00:21:25 those measurements using telescopes.
00:21:25 --> 00:21:26 It's all about the position in space of
00:21:26 --> 00:21:29 the object. Telescopes are great at that
00:21:29 --> 00:21:33 of course but there is a better way uh
00:21:33 --> 00:21:35 for asteroids and that is to use
00:21:35 --> 00:21:38 occultations and an occultation is when
00:21:38 --> 00:21:41 an object like an asteroid passes in
00:21:41 --> 00:21:45 front of a star and you can predict this
00:21:45 --> 00:21:48 is going to happen. So what you do is
00:21:48 --> 00:21:52 for an object that's only 170 m across
00:21:52 --> 00:21:56 uh which is the size of demorphos um you
00:21:56 --> 00:21:59 you you've got what you do is you space
00:21:59 --> 00:22:02 astronomers along a line uh who are
00:22:02 --> 00:22:05 observing and because you you're not
00:22:05 --> 00:22:07 quite sure where the shadow of the
00:22:07 --> 00:22:10 asteroid casting the light of the star
00:22:10 --> 00:22:12 is going to fall. But with telescopes,
00:22:12 --> 00:22:14 what you can do is you can see the dip
00:22:14 --> 00:22:17 in a star's light as the asteroid passes
00:22:17 --> 00:22:18 in front of it. It's what we call
00:22:18 --> 00:22:20 noultation. And if you've got enough
00:22:20 --> 00:22:23 observers on the ground, it gives you a
00:22:23 --> 00:22:25 much higher level of precision as to
00:22:25 --> 00:22:28 where in the sky that asteroid is. And
00:22:28 --> 00:22:31 so that process was carried out um I
00:22:31 --> 00:22:35 think last year. Um and uh so that means
00:22:35 --> 00:22:37 that you've suddenly got very very
00:22:37 --> 00:22:40 accurate measurements of the position
00:22:40 --> 00:22:42 not just of of Dimorphus itself but also
00:22:42 --> 00:22:45 the parent asteroid Ditimos. In fact, I
00:22:45 --> 00:22:48 think it might be Ditimos um that was
00:22:48 --> 00:22:50 used for the occultation. And so the
00:22:50 --> 00:22:56 bottom line is uh that uh lo and behold
00:22:56 --> 00:22:58 it didn't just the impact didn't just
00:22:58 --> 00:23:01 change the orbit of Demorphos around
00:23:01 --> 00:23:03 Dillimos. It changed the orbit of the
00:23:03 --> 00:23:06 whole system, the pair of them around
00:23:06 --> 00:23:10 the sun. And that is the first time, one
00:23:10 --> 00:23:11 of the nice quotes in one of these
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13 articles, it's the first time a
00:23:13 --> 00:23:15 humanmade object has measurably altered
00:23:15 --> 00:23:17 the path of a celestial body around the
00:23:17 --> 00:23:20 sun. That's in a NASA statement.
00:23:20 --> 00:23:23 >> That is incredible. And of course, the
00:23:23 --> 00:23:25 obvious question is now, will we be able
00:23:25 --> 00:23:27 to track where it will go versus where
00:23:27 --> 00:23:29 it would have gone?
00:23:29 --> 00:23:31 >> Yes. And and indeed that's already sort
00:23:31 --> 00:23:34 of already happening because there'll be
00:23:34 --> 00:23:36 further observations and it's the same
00:23:36 --> 00:23:37 as we were just talking about in regard
00:23:37 --> 00:23:40 to Y4. The longer the arc of
00:23:40 --> 00:23:41 observations you've got, the more
00:23:41 --> 00:23:44 accurate uh your knowledge of its orbit.
00:23:44 --> 00:23:47 Now um the change in orbit is not much.
00:23:47 --> 00:23:52 Um I can't remember how many days um
00:23:52 --> 00:23:54 I've got the paper in front of me
00:23:54 --> 00:23:58 actually the the main paper. um it
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 doesn't actually give us the the orbital
00:24:00 --> 00:24:02 period of the pair around the sun but
00:24:02 --> 00:24:05 they've changed that orbital period by
00:24:05 --> 00:24:09 wait for it it's.15 of a second so it's
00:24:09 --> 00:24:11 very I mean it's a matter of um you know
00:24:11 --> 00:24:15 it's it's these two orbit between the
00:24:15 --> 00:24:17 between the um orbits of Mars and
00:24:17 --> 00:24:18 Jupiter they're part of the main
00:24:18 --> 00:24:21 asteroid belt so they're their orbital
00:24:21 --> 00:24:23 periods are probably measured in sort of
00:24:23 --> 00:24:25 thousands of days or at least high
00:24:25 --> 00:24:28 numbers of hundreds of days uh and to
00:24:28 --> 00:24:31 change that by 0.15 of a second is not
00:24:31 --> 00:24:34 very much. It speaks wonders for the
00:24:34 --> 00:24:36 volumes for the uh accuracy with which
00:24:36 --> 00:24:39 the orbit has been determined. But uh
00:24:39 --> 00:24:41 it's look it it's it's it happened. It
00:24:41 --> 00:24:43 has actually happened that we've changed
00:24:44 --> 00:24:47 the orbit of an asteroid by hitting it
00:24:47 --> 00:24:50 or hitting its little moon in fact by uh
00:24:50 --> 00:24:52 with with a with a massive object. Did
00:24:52 --> 00:24:53 you manage to find out how much it
00:24:53 --> 00:24:56 weighed? 610 kg.
00:24:56 --> 00:24:59 >> Okay. That's 840 pounds.
00:24:59 --> 00:25:01 >> Yeah. So, it's less than a ton. Half a
00:25:01 --> 00:25:04 ton. Yeah. I apologize for three tons.
00:25:04 --> 00:25:06 That was the number from something else.
00:25:06 --> 00:25:08 >> I reckon if they if they could have got
00:25:08 --> 00:25:09 three tons up there, they would have
00:25:09 --> 00:25:09 used it.
00:25:09 --> 00:25:11 >> They would have done. Yeah. But but that
00:25:11 --> 00:25:13 makes it even more spectacular. You
00:25:13 --> 00:25:16 know, something weighing less than a car
00:25:16 --> 00:25:19 clouting a the moon of an asteroid can
00:25:19 --> 00:25:21 change the orbit of that asteroid and
00:25:21 --> 00:25:25 its parent body. Um just to very quickly
00:25:25 --> 00:25:27 since we're talking to a educated and
00:25:27 --> 00:25:30 erodendite audience here the mechanism
00:25:30 --> 00:25:33 by which that changed is so you think
00:25:33 --> 00:25:35 well you've hit the you've hit the moon
00:25:35 --> 00:25:37 asteroid how does that change the orbit
00:25:37 --> 00:25:40 of the parent asteroid and what it does
00:25:40 --> 00:25:42 hitting the moon asteroid gives you a
00:25:42 --> 00:25:44 slight change in the position of the
00:25:44 --> 00:25:47 barry center that's the center of mass
00:25:47 --> 00:25:49 of the two objects their center of
00:25:49 --> 00:25:53 gravity combined and it's that that has
00:25:53 --> 00:25:55 changed its orbit. It's the Barry center
00:25:55 --> 00:25:57 which of course includes both of the
00:25:57 --> 00:25:58 objects. The Barry center is
00:25:58 --> 00:26:00 representative of both Ditimos and
00:26:00 --> 00:26:02 Dimorphus because it's the center of
00:26:02 --> 00:26:04 mass between them. So changing the
00:26:04 --> 00:26:06 position of the Barry center or the
00:26:06 --> 00:26:08 orbit of the Barry center essentially
00:26:08 --> 00:26:10 changes the orbit of the asteroid which
00:26:10 --> 00:26:13 means that would something like that
00:26:13 --> 00:26:15 threatening the earth and you had enough
00:26:15 --> 00:26:17 enough years down the track for its
00:26:18 --> 00:26:19 orbit to evolve so that it would miss
00:26:19 --> 00:26:21 the earth. Uh, that might be a way to do
00:26:22 --> 00:26:22 it.
00:26:22 --> 00:26:24 >> Yeah, I know a few people named Barry
00:26:24 --> 00:26:25 and they're always wanting to be the
00:26:25 --> 00:26:29 center of attentive.
00:26:29 --> 00:26:31 >> It had to cut, didn't it? Yeah, it did.
00:26:31 --> 00:26:34 It did. Uh, it's a it's a great story.
00:26:34 --> 00:26:36 It's a great read. Uh, you can pick it
00:26:36 --> 00:26:38 up on the NASA website or you can go to
00:26:38 --> 00:26:40 fizz.org.
00:26:40 --> 00:26:42 Phys.
00:26:42 --> 00:26:43 I got to do that from now on because
00:26:43 --> 00:26:47 somebody came to us one day and said, "I
00:26:47 --> 00:26:49 can't find this fi.org
00:26:49 --> 00:26:50 thing
00:26:50 --> 00:26:55 >> cuz it's not it's fizz phys uh yes but
00:26:55 --> 00:26:56 uh it's great news out of that
00:26:56 --> 00:26:59 experiment three and a half years post
00:26:59 --> 00:27:02 event this is space nuts dunley with
00:27:02 --> 00:27:08 professor Fred Watson
00:27:08 --> 00:27:10 >> base here the angle has landed
00:27:10 --> 00:27:12 >> space nuts
00:27:12 --> 00:27:16 >> now to another piece of rock that has
00:27:16 --> 00:27:18 been getting a lot of attention in
00:27:18 --> 00:27:21 recent times I Atlas, the exo comet or
00:27:21 --> 00:27:23 exoaststeroid. Is it a comet or an
00:27:23 --> 00:27:24 asteroid? Fred,
00:27:24 --> 00:27:25 >> comet. Comet.
00:27:25 --> 00:27:27 >> Comet. Yeah. Uh, yeah. It appears that
00:27:27 --> 00:27:29 it's um it's very different from
00:27:29 --> 00:27:31 anything we've seen before to the point
00:27:31 --> 00:27:33 where it's uh raging through our solar
00:27:33 --> 00:27:38 system, stone drunk off its face.
00:27:38 --> 00:27:40 Not quite, but uh its chemical makeup is
00:27:40 --> 00:27:42 just way out of kilter with what we
00:27:42 --> 00:27:45 would have expected.
00:27:45 --> 00:27:47 >> Uh that's right. So, you know, this is
00:27:47 --> 00:27:49 uh three eyeatlas is definitely the gift
00:27:49 --> 00:27:53 that keeps on giving um because um what
00:27:53 --> 00:27:55 we've got is a free sample from another
00:27:55 --> 00:27:57 solar system that is careering through
00:27:57 --> 00:28:00 our own solar system and near enough for
00:28:00 --> 00:28:02 our telescopes to get details of it.
00:28:02 --> 00:28:05 It's now actually receding from Earth um
00:28:06 --> 00:28:09 and from the sun, but it's still
00:28:09 --> 00:28:13 producing um gases from its icy surface.
00:28:13 --> 00:28:16 It behaves exactly like a comet would
00:28:16 --> 00:28:19 from our own solar system. Gets near the
00:28:19 --> 00:28:22 sun. Uh the ice is basically turn into
00:28:22 --> 00:28:26 gas directly. They sublimate and uh what
00:28:26 --> 00:28:29 then happens is um we can sense what
00:28:29 --> 00:28:31 gases are there, what what chemical
00:28:32 --> 00:28:33 compounds are there by looking at the
00:28:33 --> 00:28:36 spectrum of the what we call the coma of
00:28:36 --> 00:28:38 the comet. That's the fuzzy area around
00:28:38 --> 00:28:40 it that's caused by all this outging
00:28:40 --> 00:28:44 material. And so, um, comet 3i Atlas has
00:28:44 --> 00:28:47 recently been the subject of pro
00:28:47 --> 00:28:49 probably the world's most powerful,
00:28:49 --> 00:28:51 well, certainly the world's most
00:28:51 --> 00:28:52 powerful millimeter wave radio
00:28:52 --> 00:28:55 telescope. Uh, the array in the high
00:28:55 --> 00:28:58 country of the Atakama, uh, the Alma
00:28:58 --> 00:29:00 telescope, the Atakama large millimeter
00:29:00 --> 00:29:04 submill array. Um, at about 5 mters
00:29:04 --> 00:29:06 high, not very far from San Pedro de
00:29:06 --> 00:29:10 Atakama. Uh, and when I went to try and
00:29:10 --> 00:29:11 get in their back door one time, I
00:29:11 --> 00:29:14 nearly um died because the air was so
00:29:14 --> 00:29:16 thin and we didn't get in the back door
00:29:16 --> 00:29:18 either.
00:29:18 --> 00:29:21 So, uh, never mind. Uh, ALMA is fabulous
00:29:22 --> 00:29:24 telescope. So, what's the story? Uh,
00:29:24 --> 00:29:29 ALMA uh, which is run by various
00:29:29 --> 00:29:31 different organizations. uh but the
00:29:31 --> 00:29:33 scientists who have been observing a
00:29:33 --> 00:29:36 three-ey atlas with it have looked at
00:29:36 --> 00:29:39 the fingerprints the spectral
00:29:39 --> 00:29:42 fingerprints of two molecules. One is
00:29:42 --> 00:29:45 methanol which is a type of alcohol and
00:29:45 --> 00:29:49 the other is hydrogen cyanide uh HCN.
00:29:49 --> 00:29:51 It's a an organic molecule very common
00:29:51 --> 00:29:55 in comets. Uh so both of those are found
00:29:55 --> 00:29:58 in comets in the solar system. But what
00:29:58 --> 00:30:00 is the surprise is the amount of
00:30:00 --> 00:30:05 methanol. Uh it's as the um NRO
00:30:06 --> 00:30:08 National Radio Astronomy Observatory
00:30:08 --> 00:30:11 press release says uh ThreeI Atlas is
00:30:11 --> 00:30:14 heavily enriched in methanol compared to
00:30:14 --> 00:30:17 hydrogen cyanide. Far beyond what is
00:30:17 --> 00:30:19 typically seen in comets born in our own
00:30:19 --> 00:30:20 solar system.
00:30:20 --> 00:30:23 >> You know, you know what it is, Fred?
00:30:23 --> 00:30:25 >> Wait for it. You're gonna love this one.
00:30:25 --> 00:30:28 It's inroxinated.
00:30:28 --> 00:30:31 >> Oh
00:30:32 --> 00:30:35 yes, I'll go with that. I um I know I
00:30:35 --> 00:30:37 can just invented a new word. Well, he
00:30:37 --> 00:30:39 did. Yes. And you probably need to be
00:30:39 --> 00:30:41 reasonably in Roxinating in order to
00:30:41 --> 00:30:42 invent it.
00:30:42 --> 00:30:45 >> Yeah, I suppose so. And it's so early
00:30:45 --> 00:30:45 anyway.
00:30:45 --> 00:30:47 >> Yes. So early in the day. That's right.
00:30:47 --> 00:30:50 >> Anyway, um the observing team just
00:30:50 --> 00:30:52 coming back to a state of back perfect
00:30:52 --> 00:30:55 back to reality, perfect sobriety. Um
00:30:55 --> 00:30:59 it's um methanol to hydrogen cyanide
00:30:59 --> 00:31:05 ratios of between 70 and 120 uh which
00:31:05 --> 00:31:09 means it's among the most methanol rich
00:31:09 --> 00:31:11 uh comets ever discovered. There's been
00:31:11 --> 00:31:14 a few in the solar system that have got
00:31:14 --> 00:31:17 high levels of methanol, but this is,
00:31:17 --> 00:31:19 you know, it's up there on the extreme
00:31:20 --> 00:31:23 end of this distribution. Um and and if
00:31:23 --> 00:31:25 I may, I'll just read from there's a
00:31:25 --> 00:31:27 very nice uh National Radio Astronomy
00:31:27 --> 00:31:30 Observatory press release on this uh
00:31:30 --> 00:31:32 which says these measurements imply that
00:31:32 --> 00:31:35 the icy material from three Atlas was
00:31:35 --> 00:31:39 formed by or experienced very different
00:31:39 --> 00:31:42 conditions uh from those that shape most
00:31:42 --> 00:31:45 comets in our own solar system. Previous
00:31:45 --> 00:31:46 work with the James Webb Space Telescope
00:31:46 --> 00:31:49 has shown that ThreeI Atlas had a coma
00:31:49 --> 00:31:52 dominated by carbon dioxide when it was
00:31:52 --> 00:31:54 far from the sun. And these new ALMA
00:31:54 --> 00:31:57 results add methanol as another unusual
00:31:57 --> 00:31:59 detail in its chemical inventory. It's a
00:31:59 --> 00:32:03 very nice paragraph. So, it is unusual.
00:32:03 --> 00:32:06 It's an object that shows all the
00:32:06 --> 00:32:07 characteristics of a comet, but we're
00:32:07 --> 00:32:10 seeing all the extremes. And and maybe
00:32:10 --> 00:32:12 that shouldn't surprise us because it we
00:32:12 --> 00:32:14 do know it has come from somewhere else,
00:32:14 --> 00:32:16 not our own.
00:32:16 --> 00:32:18 >> Prompts the question, does that mean
00:32:18 --> 00:32:19 where it's come from might be quite
00:32:20 --> 00:32:22 different to our system?
00:32:22 --> 00:32:23 >> Yeah, that it's Yes, that's right. It
00:32:23 --> 00:32:26 could, you know, it it would certainly
00:32:26 --> 00:32:30 lead credibility to any idea that um
00:32:30 --> 00:32:32 chemical ratios within other solar
00:32:32 --> 00:32:35 systems are not necessarily what we find
00:32:35 --> 00:32:37 here in our own solar system. In other
00:32:38 --> 00:32:39 words, you know, there could be quite
00:32:39 --> 00:32:41 different chemistry going on
00:32:41 --> 00:32:43 particularly in the early history of
00:32:43 --> 00:32:45 those solar systems. We think a lot of
00:32:45 --> 00:32:47 these compounds like methanol and
00:32:47 --> 00:32:50 hydrogen cyanide. Uh we think a lot of
00:32:50 --> 00:32:52 these are formed very early in the
00:32:52 --> 00:32:55 history of a solar system in the cold of
00:32:55 --> 00:32:58 space. Molecules, atoms combine together
00:32:58 --> 00:33:00 to form molecules. And we know that
00:33:00 --> 00:33:03 there is a very very rich chemistry out
00:33:03 --> 00:33:06 there which was kind of unexpected
00:33:06 --> 00:33:07 really. I mean when I was a young
00:33:07 --> 00:33:10 astronomer we thought always in terms of
00:33:10 --> 00:33:12 just elements. The elements that we can
00:33:12 --> 00:33:14 see in the atmospheres of stars,
00:33:14 --> 00:33:17 hydrogen, carbon, calcium, uh iron, all
00:33:17 --> 00:33:20 of those. But now such a lot of what we
00:33:20 --> 00:33:24 do with the um you know with the arsenal
00:33:24 --> 00:33:26 of wonderful astronomical instruments
00:33:26 --> 00:33:28 that we have today. We can look at the
00:33:28 --> 00:33:30 chemistry of these things, the actual
00:33:30 --> 00:33:33 chemical reactions that uh go on in the
00:33:33 --> 00:33:35 laboratory of deep space.
00:33:35 --> 00:33:36 >> Yeah. Uh, some something you don't know
00:33:36 --> 00:33:38 about Fred is he's been in astronomy so
00:33:38 --> 00:33:40 long that he got in trouble at school
00:33:40 --> 00:33:41 once for throwing an apple at Isaac
00:33:42 --> 00:33:44 Newton. So,
00:33:44 --> 00:33:45 true story.
00:33:45 --> 00:33:47 >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got the
00:33:47 --> 00:33:48 cane for that. But
00:33:48 --> 00:33:50 >> yeah, I got the cane a lot at school,
00:33:50 --> 00:33:52 too, but not for throwing apples. I did
00:33:52 --> 00:33:54 throw a sandwich at a teacher once, but
00:33:54 --> 00:33:56 um yeah, I was egged on to do that and I
00:33:56 --> 00:33:57 fell for it.
00:33:57 --> 00:33:58 >> Was it silly?
00:33:58 --> 00:34:00 >> No, no, I can't remember what was on.
00:34:00 --> 00:34:02 Probably something hideous that I ate
00:34:02 --> 00:34:04 when I was a kid. If you ragged on, it
00:34:04 --> 00:34:05 must have been an
00:34:05 --> 00:34:08 >> Yeah, that was was a very silly move and
00:34:08 --> 00:34:11 I'll always regret it. Um, okay. So, if
00:34:11 --> 00:34:14 you want to read about that uh what u
00:34:14 --> 00:34:17 constitutes a um a rather drunk rock in
00:34:17 --> 00:34:19 space, you can go to the NA National
00:34:19 --> 00:34:21 Radio Observatory website where they've
00:34:21 --> 00:34:24 published their findings. And Fred, that
00:34:24 --> 00:34:26 brings us to the end. Thank you so very
00:34:26 --> 00:34:27 much.
00:34:27 --> 00:34:28 >> It's a great pleasure, Andrew. Always
00:34:28 --> 00:34:30 good to chat. And we'll see you again
00:34:30 --> 00:34:33 next time. We will on a Q&A edition. Uh
00:34:34 --> 00:34:35 Fred Watson, Professor Fred Watson,
00:34:35 --> 00:34:37 astronomer at large, joining us every
00:34:37 --> 00:34:39 week, twice a week in fact, for Space
00:34:40 --> 00:34:42 Nuts. And uh if you would like to visit
00:34:42 --> 00:34:44 our website, please do. Uh one thing we
00:34:44 --> 00:34:47 could use for our Q&A episodes, uh audio
00:34:47 --> 00:34:49 questions, we are desperately short of
00:34:49 --> 00:34:51 them. There's some weird quirk that at
00:34:52 --> 00:34:54 the beginning of every year they dry up,
00:34:54 --> 00:34:55 and we don't know why that is an
00:34:55 --> 00:34:59 anomaly, but it is a thing. Uh but if
00:34:59 --> 00:35:00 you go to our website
00:35:00 --> 00:35:01 spacenutspodcast.com
00:35:02 --> 00:35:04 and click on the ask me anything tab at
00:35:04 --> 00:35:06 the top, it's just labeled AMA. You can
00:35:06 --> 00:35:08 send us your questions or comments. We
00:35:08 --> 00:35:10 uh welcome them. Don't forget to tell us
00:35:10 --> 00:35:11 who you are and where you're from. And
00:35:12 --> 00:35:14 thanks to Hugh in the studio who
00:35:14 --> 00:35:15 couldn't be with us today because he
00:35:15 --> 00:35:17 went out on a bender last night and got
00:35:17 --> 00:35:21 inroxicated. Boom boom. And from me,
00:35:21 --> 00:35:23 from me, Andrew Dunley, thanks for your
00:35:23 --> 00:35:24 company. See you on the next episode of
00:35:24 --> 00:35:27 Space Nuts. Bye-bye. Space Nuts.
00:35:27 --> 00:35:29 >> You'll be listening to the Space Nuts
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