Space Nuts Episode 500: Celebrating 500 Episodes with a Q&A Extravaganza
Join Andrew Dunkley, Professor Jonti Horner, and Professor Fred Watson in this monumental 500th episode of Space Nuts! In a special Q&A format, the team tackles a range of audience questions that span the cosmos, including the mysteries of the Big Bang, the impending collision of Andromeda with the Milky Way, and the fascinating phenomenon of cold welding in space. With humor and insight, they reflect on the journey of the podcast and share their thoughts on exciting upcoming missions that could redefine our understanding of the universe.
Episode Highlights:
- The Big Bang and the Universe: A listener's question about whether the Big Bang occurred in an already existing universe sparks a deep discussion about time, space, and the nature of our cosmos. Andrew, Jonti, and Fred explore the complexities of cosmological theories and the philosophical implications behind them.
- Andromeda's Approach: The team dives into the future collision between the Andromeda galaxy and the Milky Way, discussing how gravitational forces will start to influence each galaxy long before they physically collide. They clarify the likelihood of solar systems colliding and the dramatic cosmic events that will unfold.
- Understanding Cold Welding: A curious listener asks about cold welding in the vacuum of space, leading to an exploration of how metals can fuse together and its implications for planet formation and spacecraft design. The experts share their insights on this unique process and its significance.
- Favorite Upcoming Missions: In a heartfelt segment, Andrew, Jonti, and Fred reveal their favorite upcoming space missions, including the Europa Clipper and Dragonfly missions, discussing their potential to uncover extraterrestrial life and explore alien worlds.
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 Music Music, Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favorite platform.
If you'd like to help support Space Nuts and join our growing family of insiders for commercial-free episodes and more, visit spacenutspodcast.com/about (https://www.spacenutspodcast.com/about)
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 - Introduction and celebration of 500 episodes
02:15 - Discussion on the Big Bang and existing universes
10:30 - Insights into the Andromeda-Milky Way collision
18:00 - Cold welding in space and its implications
26:45 - Exciting upcoming missions in space exploration
30:00 - Closing thoughts and appreciation for listeners
✍️ Episode References
Understanding the Big Bang Theory
https://www.nasa.gov/bigbang (https://www.nasa.gov/bigbang)
Andromeda and Milky Way Collision Studies
https://www.space.com/andromeda-milky-way-collision (https://www.space.com/andromeda-milky-way-collision)
Cold Welding in Space
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013468618301234 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013468618301234)
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-exploring-the-cosmos--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-exploring-the-cosmos--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) .
Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/25862464?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 hello again thanks for joining us and
00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 welcome this is Believe It or Not
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 episode 500 of Space Nuts can you
00:00:08 --> 00:00:10 believe it and what have we got in store
00:00:10 --> 00:00:12 for you today absolutely nothing we
00:00:12 --> 00:00:15 didn't have time to organize energy um
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 but uh we will be answering audience
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 questions it's a Q&A episode uh we have
00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 got a few remarks that have come in
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 always scared of remarks but anyway
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 we'll deal with that uh we've got a
00:00:27 --> 00:00:29 question about Big Bang Theory we've got
00:00:29 --> 00:00:32 a another question about the collision
00:00:32 --> 00:00:34 with Andromeda cold
00:00:34 --> 00:00:38 welding I I I've never tried it but uh
00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 I'm willing to give it a go and a
00:00:41 --> 00:00:44 question from Mike who's asking all of
00:00:44 --> 00:00:48 us about our favorite upcoming missions
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 that'll be fun it's all coming up on
00:00:50 --> 00:00:54 this episode 500 of Space Nuts 15
00:00:54 --> 00:00:58 seconds guidance is internal 10 9
00:00:59 --> 00:01:00 ignition sequence
00:01:00 --> 00:01:06 Space Nuts 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1
00:01:06 --> 00:01:10 Space Nuts as night report it feels good
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 and joining us for this auspicious
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 occasion or it's just another episode
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16 whichever way you want to look at it is
00:01:16 --> 00:01:17 uh jonty Horner professor of
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 astrophysics at the University of
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 Southern Queensland hello JY good
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 evening how you going good thank you and
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 Professor Fred Watson astronomer at
00:01:25 --> 00:01:29 large back in the chair hello hello
00:01:29 --> 00:01:34 Andrew and uh uh nice to be back is the
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37 answer lagged hell
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 obviously it's all right it'll come back
00:01:39 --> 00:01:40 to you you had plenty of time to forget
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 how we do this but it'll come back
00:01:43 --> 00:01:47 wouldn't proper who am I again yeah yes
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 it reminds ah now who was it Graham
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 Garden who was with the goodies remember
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 yes I do he was on another TV Sho show
00:01:55 --> 00:01:59 once and they they were um uh I can't
00:01:59 --> 00:02:00 remember what the circum stances are but
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 they were all doing pickup pickup lines
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 at nursing
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 homes and gra of garden went
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 hello who am
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 I it was um it was the radio show it was
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 I'm sorry I haven't a clue that's what
00:02:15 --> 00:02:19 it was which isul oh brilliant stuff
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 brilliant stuff you could probably dig
00:02:21 --> 00:02:22 that stuff up on YouTube or somewhere
00:02:22 --> 00:02:26 these days oh very funny very funny
00:02:26 --> 00:02:30 radio uh now I want to start off with um
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32 not not so much a question but a comment
00:02:32 --> 00:02:34 uh I've been at an academic conference
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 this is more of a comment than a
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 question yes yes hi guys I'm Michael
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 from Glasgow Scotland thanks for your
00:02:41 --> 00:02:44 great show that was the comment no
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 thanks for your great show which I've
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 been listening to for several years now
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 here's my thoughts on a subject much
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 discussed we know that words are
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 powerful that powerful equals energy and
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 that energy equals matter my theory is
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 that dark matter is the mass equivalent
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 of all the bad one liners dead jokes and
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 awful puns that Andrew has collected and
00:03:06 --> 00:03:10 shared over the years dark energy is
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 simply the rest of the universe trying
00:03:12 --> 00:03:13 to get
00:03:13 --> 00:03:17 away before he delivers the punch lines
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 should I collect a Nobel Prize or a coat
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 on my way out uh wishing you and your
00:03:22 --> 00:03:25 nearest and dearest the best for um well
00:03:25 --> 00:03:26 the festive season see how long it's
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 taken me to get to this one and for 2025
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 Michael thanks Michael great comment I
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 appreciate it and just watch my boot on
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 your way out
00:03:36 --> 00:03:39 think abut good one it allows me to seg
00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 go into a fabulous British author who is
00:03:42 --> 00:03:43 dearly missed in the form of Terry pret
00:03:43 --> 00:03:46 so Terry pratchet who when he was kned
00:03:46 --> 00:03:49 forged his own sword out of star metal
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 which is kind of awesome and pret was an
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 incredible author and incredible
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 Visionary but he came up with this very
00:03:55 --> 00:03:58 similar concept there's a bit in guards
00:03:58 --> 00:03:59 guards which is I think the eighth of
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 the dis World Books where the librarian
00:04:02 --> 00:04:04 of the Unseen University who is an
00:04:04 --> 00:04:07 orangutan for various reasons is trying
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 to go back to figure out who sell a book
00:04:10 --> 00:04:12 and there's this beautiful paragraph
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 about how collections of books and colle
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 collections of knowledge distort space
00:04:17 --> 00:04:20 and time and perhap it says you know the
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 relevant equation is knowledge equals
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 power equals energy equals matter equals
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 mass a good Bookshop is just a gentile
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 black hole that knows how to read
00:04:30 --> 00:04:33 M this start space into poly fractal l
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 space in which everywhere is also
00:04:35 --> 00:04:36 everywhere
00:04:36 --> 00:04:40 else and basically goes on to allow the
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 librarian to travel back through the
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 hidden shelves of Els space to work out
00:04:44 --> 00:04:45 who had committed the heinous act of
00:04:46 --> 00:04:48 stealing a book which is clearly a crime
00:04:48 --> 00:04:49 far more important than murder or
00:04:50 --> 00:04:51 anything else that the watch she's
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 dealing with at the time fabulous books
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 but he often had science inflected humor
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 in there and yeah it's lovely to be able
00:04:58 --> 00:04:59 to reminisce and think back to him than
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 to what's a fabulous comment I think he
00:05:02 --> 00:05:06 also um invented uh my wife Salter
00:05:07 --> 00:05:11 ego granny OG yes because manie OG is
00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 the person to whom I'm married and she's
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 a she's a step
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 granny oh I've actually got sat on my
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 desk here um the first real disc world
00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 bestas book that has been come out other
00:05:24 --> 00:05:25 than for Terry praet which is put
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 together by his daughter Rihanna which
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 is Tiffany Akins guide to being a witch
00:05:29 --> 00:05:31 and yeah granny Weatherwax and Nanny o
00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 feature prominently in the beautiful
00:05:33 --> 00:05:37 cover art there so yeah
00:05:37 --> 00:05:40 good okay getting commission for
00:05:40 --> 00:05:44 that so well you might uh so uh to our
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 first question uh is there any
00:05:47 --> 00:05:48 conclusive evidence that the Big Bang
00:05:48 --> 00:05:52 did not occur in an already existing
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 Universe I love your show and never miss
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 an episode keep up the good work Joe
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 from Washington so is there any
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 conclusive evidence that the Big Bang
00:06:00 --> 00:06:04 did not occur in an already existing
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 Universe challenging I've got you on
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 record as saying when I've asked the
00:06:09 --> 00:06:10 question what was there before the Big
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 Bang and you said nothing well you
00:06:13 --> 00:06:15 answered it but your answer was
00:06:15 --> 00:06:18 nothing well just I'm I'm gonna throw
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 this one direct to to jonty and see what
00:06:21 --> 00:06:25 he says in answer to it um my answer is
00:06:25 --> 00:06:30 we don't know uh the the our best theory
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 for the way the universe works is
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 general relativity and general
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 relativity says that time started with
00:06:37 --> 00:06:40 the big bang uh and so there wasn't a
00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 universe there before but that theory is
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 challenged by people who think they
00:06:45 --> 00:06:48 might be a Multiverse and by quantum
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 mechanics who think that you've got to
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 have time before the Big Bang for
00:06:52 --> 00:06:55 quantum mechanics to work and so it's
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 all a bit messy but there's there's no
00:06:57 --> 00:06:58 evidence in fact really there's no
00:06:59 --> 00:07:03 evidence on either
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 way well we're a bit back to more
00:07:05 --> 00:07:06 proatate aren't we in the beginning
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 there was nothing which exploded that's
00:07:08 --> 00:07:12 right yeah um the hard part for this and
00:07:12 --> 00:07:14 again I'm not a cosmologist I think our
00:07:14 --> 00:07:15 wonderful colleagues down the hill at
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 the University of Queensland would be
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 well placed to also fail to answer this
00:07:19 --> 00:07:20 question but they' fail it from a
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 position of much more knowledge than I
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 have but I take on this is
00:07:25 --> 00:07:29 that space and time are inherently of
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 the universe so when people ask me a
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 question that's related to this which is
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 what's outside the universe or what's
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 before the universe in the framework
00:07:39 --> 00:07:40 that our cosmological friends have come
00:07:40 --> 00:07:42 up with those questions are meaningless
00:07:42 --> 00:07:43 because you can't be outside the
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 universe because to be outside you need
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 to be in some way that is spal so you're
00:07:48 --> 00:07:49 actually still in the
00:07:49 --> 00:07:52 universe the idea is that if everything
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 in the universe when you rewind time
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 back ends up in exactly the same place
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 but that place is everywhere all at once
00:07:59 --> 00:07:59 then
00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 having that been something that is
00:08:01 --> 00:08:03 already an existing Universe outside
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 that falls into that same philosophical
00:08:05 --> 00:08:07 problem it's where I think cosmology and
00:08:07 --> 00:08:11 philosophy blur together because if the
00:08:11 --> 00:08:13 Big Bang creates space and time then the
00:08:13 --> 00:08:15 concept of outside the Big Bang is the
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 same as before the Big Bang and it
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 becomes meaningless it's like a divide
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 by zero error what that probably means
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 is I don't understand the theories as
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 well as I should do but it also probably
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 means that our theories are not yet at
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 the final evolution of them because
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 there are questions we still can't
00:08:33 --> 00:08:34 answer and this is something we see with
00:08:35 --> 00:08:36 kind of the iterative nature of science
00:08:36 --> 00:08:38 is that you get a theory that explains
00:08:38 --> 00:08:40 everything you can observe and
00:08:40 --> 00:08:41 everything you can ask that does a
00:08:42 --> 00:08:43 really good job for a really long time
00:08:43 --> 00:08:44 until you get better at studying the
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46 universe and you start to find the
00:08:46 --> 00:08:48 cracks and I think this is one of the
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 questions that's illustrating cracks
00:08:50 --> 00:08:52 that we haven't explained yet so we can
00:08:52 --> 00:08:55 give you our best imagination of what it
00:08:55 --> 00:08:58 could be but the reality is as Fred says
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 we just don't know and that's why people
00:09:00 --> 00:09:01 are doing the research you know if we
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 knew knew the answer already it wouldn't
00:09:03 --> 00:09:04 be researched and it wouldn't be worth
00:09:04 --> 00:09:07 doing yeah we've had questions about
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 this many many times over the years and
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 uh even people with their own theories
00:09:12 --> 00:09:14 uh you know could the Big Bang be the
00:09:14 --> 00:09:18 result of uh a previous Universe
00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 collapsing in on itself so the ganab
00:09:21 --> 00:09:24 Gibb creates a big bang that one's been
00:09:24 --> 00:09:28 tossed at us and a few other thoughts um
00:09:28 --> 00:09:31 look yeah the I don't know answer sits
00:09:31 --> 00:09:32 pretty well with me at the moment
00:09:32 --> 00:09:35 because how could we possibly figure it
00:09:35 --> 00:09:38 out that's that's another question that
00:09:38 --> 00:09:39 that hurts my head as well because I
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42 occasionally come back to this we know
00:09:42 --> 00:09:43 an incredible amount about the universe
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 and we've worked a whole heap out with a
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 couple of kilos of mushy goo mushy
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 carbon it's amazing what you can work
00:09:50 --> 00:09:53 out but there's still more to learn and
00:09:53 --> 00:09:54 that's a good thing because otherwise we
00:09:54 --> 00:09:58 wouldn't be employed yeah that's it a
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 very good point come to think of it I'm
00:10:00 --> 00:10:04 not employed by anyone for
00:10:04 --> 00:10:07 anything yes so the the cracks are
00:10:07 --> 00:10:09 interesting I mean and and perhaps um
00:10:09 --> 00:10:13 it's just worth highlighting what led to
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 the idea of multiverses in the first
00:10:15 --> 00:10:19 place um which uh one is the fact that
00:10:19 --> 00:10:22 um it's the an what's it called I can't
00:10:22 --> 00:10:23 remember the word I'm jet likeed anyway
00:10:23 --> 00:10:26 and the the the fact that we seem to
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 have a universe that's fine-tuned for
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 life to exist the anthropic that's so I
00:10:31 --> 00:10:32 thought it was anthropic but my brain
00:10:32 --> 00:10:34 said no it's something else anyway
00:10:34 --> 00:10:37 that's all right um and you know that
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 that's what led uh people like Martin
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 Ree who I think coined the term
00:10:42 --> 00:10:45 Multiverse uh to um and the astronomer
00:10:45 --> 00:10:48 Royal uh to to postulate that maybe
00:10:48 --> 00:10:50 there are other universes out there that
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 are not fine tune for life to exist and
00:10:52 --> 00:10:55 the one we live in happen to be the the
00:10:55 --> 00:10:58 only one that that has that is um and
00:10:58 --> 00:11:00 the other thing that intrigues people is
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 you know the four fundamental forces of
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 nature the weak and strong nuclear
00:11:05 --> 00:11:07 forces the electromagnetic force and
00:11:07 --> 00:11:11 gravity uh gravity is hundreds of
00:11:11 --> 00:11:14 billions of billions of time weaker
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 times weaker than the others any of the
00:11:16 --> 00:11:20 others um and so some of suggested that
00:11:20 --> 00:11:23 maybe gravity leaks out into whatever
00:11:23 --> 00:11:26 the void is between our universe and
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 next door's Universe which I think
00:11:28 --> 00:11:31 cosmology just called the bulk um I've
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 Got a Feeling Doctor Who called it the
00:11:33 --> 00:11:35 void is that right I can't remember
00:11:35 --> 00:11:37 anyway it's the space between universes
00:11:37 --> 00:11:40 which must exist in a higher Dimension
00:11:40 --> 00:11:41 and we don't know about high Dimensions
00:11:41 --> 00:11:43 yet but if we did find out about higher
00:11:43 --> 00:11:45 dimensions then we might start thinking
00:11:45 --> 00:11:49 of answers to this exact question I you
00:11:49 --> 00:11:51 never know one day maybe somebody will
00:11:51 --> 00:11:53 make a breakthrough and we'll know
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 exactly what happened but I'm not
00:11:55 --> 00:11:56 holding my
00:11:56 --> 00:11:59 bread okay thanks Joe great question as
00:11:59 --> 00:12:03 always um yeah it's it's one of the more
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 regular questions we get on Space Nuts
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 about the Big Bang uh it's right up
00:12:08 --> 00:12:11 there with dark energy and black holes
00:12:11 --> 00:12:14 uh and dark matter uh question two with
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 the Collision of Andromeda and the Milky
00:12:16 --> 00:12:19 Way uh some 4 and a half billion years
00:12:19 --> 00:12:22 from now it's in my diary uh how close
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 to each other will it take the two
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 galaxies to start affecting one one
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 another and to add to that will solar
00:12:29 --> 00:12:33 systems likely Collide or is there so
00:12:33 --> 00:12:35 much space between everything that uh
00:12:35 --> 00:12:37 that part won't happen thanks guys Dan
00:12:37 --> 00:12:39 from the Gold Coast in Australia up in
00:12:39 --> 00:12:44 Queensland not far from you jonty um I
00:12:44 --> 00:12:47 yeah this is a good one uh I think we've
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 talked about the slow motion effect
00:12:49 --> 00:12:54 that's going to be the Collision um but
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 yeah are they are they going to affect
00:12:57 --> 00:12:58 each other before it happens or are they
00:12:58 --> 00:13:01 maybe affecting each other already
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 exactly absolutely yeah and it it's a
00:13:03 --> 00:13:06 matter of how big an effect you want the
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 effect to be before you recognize it if
00:13:09 --> 00:13:10 you think the diameter of the Milky Way
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 is usually scoped has been about 100
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 light years so that means something that
00:13:16 --> 00:13:17 is on the edge of our galaxy that is
00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 nearest to Andromeda is about 50
00:13:20 --> 00:13:21 light years from the middle of the Milky
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 Way and about 200 about 2.5 million
00:13:25 --> 00:13:28 light years from Andromeda roughly so
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 Andromeda is a lot lot further away but
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 Andromeda is a bit more massive what
00:13:32 --> 00:13:34 that means is that Andromeda is exerting
00:13:34 --> 00:13:36 a force on those stars in the Milky Way
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 but it's exerting a differential Force
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 across the Milky Way so the stars at one
00:13:41 --> 00:13:42 side of the Milky Way feel Andromeda
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 pulling more strongly on us than the
00:13:44 --> 00:13:47 other so that means that there will in a
00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 very realistic sense be a tidal effect
00:13:50 --> 00:13:52 on our galaxy caused by Andromeda at the
00:13:52 --> 00:13:55 distance aw that it is now now whether
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 we've actually detected that yet or not
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 is another matter because we've got a
00:13:59 --> 00:14:00 lot of weird stuff going on with our
00:14:00 --> 00:14:03 galaxy it's got other galaxies
00:14:03 --> 00:14:04 interfering with it as well like the
00:14:05 --> 00:14:08 many satellite galaxies we've got so I
00:14:08 --> 00:14:09 think the answer is that they will
00:14:09 --> 00:14:10 already be interfering with each other
00:14:10 --> 00:14:12 they'll already be affecting each other
00:14:12 --> 00:14:14 but it's likely that the scale of that
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 at the minute is too small for us to
00:14:16 --> 00:14:19 readily detect but it doesn't mean that
00:14:19 --> 00:14:20 it isn't happening I guess much the same
00:14:20 --> 00:14:23 way as instantaneously the gravitational
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 pull of the moon is affecting you but
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 you don't ever notice it because it's
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 such a small effect as they closer
00:14:29 --> 00:14:31 together that becomes a bigger and
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 bigger effect and they will start to
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36 noticeably distort each other before
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 they're physically in contact so if you
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 were on the outside looking at the diss
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 there are stars from our galaxies
00:14:42 --> 00:14:43 further out than the disc there just not
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 many of them so you don't see them but
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 they will start distorting and affecting
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 each other long before they are
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 physically coming into contact but then
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 when they do everything in them is so
00:14:53 --> 00:14:55 spread out and space is so big that it
00:14:55 --> 00:14:57 isn't like planets will collide with
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 planets and stars with stars I think I
00:14:59 --> 00:15:01 saw someone worked out statistics at
00:15:01 --> 00:15:03 some point that said if one star from
00:15:03 --> 00:15:04 Andromeda collides with one star in the
00:15:04 --> 00:15:07 Milky Way that would be unusual and our
00:15:07 --> 00:15:09 Galaxy's got 400 million stars and
00:15:09 --> 00:15:11 ROM's got about a thousand thousand
00:15:11 --> 00:15:14 million stars but space is just so big
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 that they'll pass through each other
00:15:16 --> 00:15:19 without physical collisions the gas and
00:15:19 --> 00:15:21 dust will collide we'll get a starburst
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 event so loads of new stars will form it
00:15:23 --> 00:15:26 will be interesting times but the Earth
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 is unlikely to be hit by an andromedan
00:15:28 --> 00:15:29 earth
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 ah all right yeah it was an interesting
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 thought but uh if the stars are going to
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 miss each other then the solar systems
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 are not going to collide either are they
00:15:39 --> 00:15:42 yeah and that'll just and I think you
00:15:42 --> 00:15:44 did describe it as a sort of a slow
00:15:44 --> 00:15:47 motion ballet type of an event
00:15:47 --> 00:15:50 for that's right because they the two
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 objects kind of spiral around one
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 another be before they merge to become
00:15:55 --> 00:15:59 mil coma Mila Mila yeah um and then
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 everything gets very boring a bit after
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04 that star event gets rid of all the gas
00:16:04 --> 00:16:05 and dust and the Galaxy just grad ends
00:16:05 --> 00:16:08 up as a pretty amorphous blob of Doom
00:16:08 --> 00:16:10 yeah dead C the sky will be very
00:16:10 --> 00:16:13 different though w't it will eventually
00:16:13 --> 00:16:14 um it'll start off being a lot more
00:16:14 --> 00:16:17 dramatic and RDA will get quite big in
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 the sky then the Milky Way will get
00:16:19 --> 00:16:20 noticeably distorted but noticeably
00:16:20 --> 00:16:23 brighter with all the star formation but
00:16:23 --> 00:16:25 then when it all dies down you'll just
00:16:25 --> 00:16:26 end up with instead of the Milky Way
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 kind of a morphous Blobby you know half
00:16:29 --> 00:16:30 of the sky as a big blood because our
00:16:30 --> 00:16:33 galaxy will end up as a big spherical
00:16:33 --> 00:16:35 Galaxy with very little star formation
00:16:35 --> 00:16:38 like Messier 87's the archetypal
00:16:38 --> 00:16:41 elliptical galaxy um and that is
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 essentially Galactic cian so that's when
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 the Milky Way goes off into a nursing
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 home complaining about how things as
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 good as they used to be well yeah and it
00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 also goes with the theory that beauty
00:16:52 --> 00:16:55 Fades with age so no that's probably
00:16:55 --> 00:16:58 where it's coming speak for yourself
00:16:58 --> 00:17:00 Andrew
00:17:00 --> 00:17:04 Freddy is an exception rule uh okay
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 thank you Dan I hope we um adequately
00:17:06 --> 00:17:08 answered your question this is Space
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 Nuts Andrew Dunley here with Professor
00:17:10 --> 00:17:16 Fred Watson and Professor jonty
00:17:16 --> 00:17:20 Horner Space Nuts next question on
00:17:20 --> 00:17:23 episode 500 comes from Sha he's in
00:17:23 --> 00:17:26 Oliver British Columbia Canada uh I just
00:17:26 --> 00:17:28 became aware of the concept of cold
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 welding where the same kinds of metal
00:17:31 --> 00:17:33 Fus together in the vacuum of space I'm
00:17:33 --> 00:17:36 hoping you can talk a bit about that it
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 seems to me that it is a critical
00:17:38 --> 00:17:41 process in Planet formation I'm and I'm
00:17:41 --> 00:17:45 wondering uh if the role this wondering
00:17:45 --> 00:17:47 about the role this may play after a
00:17:47 --> 00:17:49 star explodes and all these newly formed
00:17:50 --> 00:17:52 elements Clump together love the show
00:17:52 --> 00:17:54 Miss Fred and jonty is a great addition
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 to the team well you're lucky Sean
00:17:56 --> 00:18:00 because they're both here
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 um so cold welding have you heard that
00:18:02 --> 00:18:05 term before either of you I have yeah it
00:18:05 --> 00:18:07 it's an interesting one I me it's I've
00:18:08 --> 00:18:09 seen little video clips to do with this
00:18:10 --> 00:18:11 and it is to do with blocks of metal so
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 my understanding and Fred can correct me
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 when I'm wrong and I think it is a when
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17 rather than an if in this case but my
00:18:17 --> 00:18:18 understanding is it's with lumps of
00:18:19 --> 00:18:21 metal in particular so lumps of water
00:18:21 --> 00:18:24 ice w c well to the same degree you'll
00:18:24 --> 00:18:26 get some degree of stickiness between
00:18:26 --> 00:18:28 them but with lumps of metal this thing
00:18:28 --> 00:18:31 can have such a strong effect that you
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 don't even see a joint there is that
00:18:33 --> 00:18:35 degree
00:18:35 --> 00:18:37 of glomeration of sticking together and
00:18:37 --> 00:18:40 it's to do with how Metals behave and
00:18:40 --> 00:18:42 how free the electrons are to
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 move which is part of what allows a
00:18:44 --> 00:18:47 metal to be incredibly conductive it
00:18:47 --> 00:18:49 means that metals can essentially stick
00:18:49 --> 00:18:51 together incredibly strongly because of
00:18:51 --> 00:18:53 the electrons moving freely between them
00:18:53 --> 00:18:54 that's kind of my loose understanding of
00:18:55 --> 00:18:58 it now why that is too critical for
00:18:58 --> 00:19:00 planet for is metals are only a small
00:19:00 --> 00:19:03 part of that so if you got two lumps of
00:19:03 --> 00:19:05 metal come together very very gently
00:19:05 --> 00:19:08 they would kind of cold well together um
00:19:08 --> 00:19:09 but they won kind of be tending to
00:19:09 --> 00:19:11 bounce off each other unless they have
00:19:11 --> 00:19:13 something causing them to stick so if
00:19:13 --> 00:19:14 they hooked together a bit this could
00:19:15 --> 00:19:17 help them agglomerate into a single
00:19:17 --> 00:19:19 piece but I don't think it would help
00:19:19 --> 00:19:22 the much bigger scale solid material
00:19:22 --> 00:19:24 stuff that's going on to do with dust
00:19:24 --> 00:19:27 grains and isers so I don't think cold
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 welding works if if you're in a
00:19:29 --> 00:19:30 situation where you don't have that
00:19:30 --> 00:19:32 mobility of the electrons where you
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 don't have that conductivity essentially
00:19:34 --> 00:19:36 so that's why I don't think it it seems
00:19:36 --> 00:19:38 to be a critical process in Planet
00:19:38 --> 00:19:40 formation but I suspect it will have
00:19:40 --> 00:19:42 happened at times in Planet formation
00:19:42 --> 00:19:45 and since for example if you got and
00:19:45 --> 00:19:48 this is quite an an extended series of
00:19:48 --> 00:19:51 events that will cause this but you get
00:19:51 --> 00:19:53 asteroids that form that become large
00:19:53 --> 00:19:55 enough to differentiate so they get hot
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 in their interior the metal sinks the
00:19:58 --> 00:20:00 rocky to flots like we've got on the
00:20:00 --> 00:20:01 earth so you get a core and a mantle and
00:20:01 --> 00:20:04 a crust then you smash them apart that's
00:20:04 --> 00:20:05 how you get the different types of
00:20:05 --> 00:20:07 meteorites we get that have been
00:20:07 --> 00:20:09 processed so you get the evolved
00:20:09 --> 00:20:11 material you get the Stoney meteorites
00:20:11 --> 00:20:13 the Stoney ions which come from the
00:20:13 --> 00:20:15 manle core interface and then you get
00:20:15 --> 00:20:17 the metal meteorites and the biggest
00:20:17 --> 00:20:19 object like that is possibly psychic
00:20:19 --> 00:20:20 that we know about which is a mission
00:20:20 --> 00:20:23 going to at the minute if you did that
00:20:23 --> 00:20:25 and then you shattered that enormous
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 metaloid psych but you shattered it
00:20:28 --> 00:20:30 fairly gently so the bits still came and
00:20:30 --> 00:20:32 buttered against each other they could
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 then cold weld back together which gives
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 you almost this image of the kind of
00:20:36 --> 00:20:37 Terminator style asteroid that you
00:20:38 --> 00:20:40 cannot destroy and that's the kind of
00:20:40 --> 00:20:41 scenario where I could see this
00:20:41 --> 00:20:44 happening but in general I think it
00:20:44 --> 00:20:46 would be a very Niche area that wouldn't
00:20:46 --> 00:20:48 happen often in Planet formation so
00:20:48 --> 00:20:49 wouldn't be that critical I don't know
00:20:49 --> 00:20:51 Fred if you want to add to that or if
00:20:51 --> 00:20:53 you have additional thoughts to do with
00:20:53 --> 00:20:57 it um no you've absolutely nailed it um
00:20:57 --> 00:21:00 jonty the only thing I was going to add
00:21:00 --> 00:21:00 is
00:21:00 --> 00:21:03 that uh the certainly in the process of
00:21:03 --> 00:21:04 Planet building it's going to be hot
00:21:05 --> 00:21:08 welding it's basically just metal chunks
00:21:08 --> 00:21:10 of metal fusing together um if that you
00:21:11 --> 00:21:14 know if you uh fusing together because
00:21:14 --> 00:21:17 they're mixed up with the dusty and and
00:21:17 --> 00:21:21 silicate stuff and the IES it's it's and
00:21:21 --> 00:21:23 so those collisions actually heat the
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 material uh if they're are metallic
00:21:26 --> 00:21:28 components they will fuse but it'll be
00:21:28 --> 00:21:30 mixed up with all that other stuff until
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32 as exactly as jonty says it it
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34 differentiates and all the metal sinks
00:21:34 --> 00:21:38 to the middle uh and gives you a solid
00:21:38 --> 00:21:41 core if it cools down and maybe I think
00:21:41 --> 00:21:43 your analysis of what happens after that
00:21:43 --> 00:21:45 is right as well that if you get
00:21:45 --> 00:21:48 something smashing into uh into a a
00:21:48 --> 00:21:51 Proto a protoplanet or more likely a
00:21:51 --> 00:21:54 plantis or the smaller stage uh then you
00:21:54 --> 00:21:58 might get lumps of metal literally on on
00:21:58 --> 00:22:00 contaminated metal if I can put it that
00:22:00 --> 00:22:04 way that could that could call fuse um I
00:22:04 --> 00:22:06 think it's not an important process uh
00:22:06 --> 00:22:08 in the whole scenario of Planet
00:22:09 --> 00:22:12 formation bu yeah where it is important
00:22:12 --> 00:22:13 though I think is space flight and it's
00:22:13 --> 00:22:15 important as something you want to avoid
00:22:15 --> 00:22:18 now you know this is why you would paint
00:22:18 --> 00:22:20 your metal surfaces I mean if you think
00:22:20 --> 00:22:22 about the arm that used to come out of
00:22:22 --> 00:22:24 the space rutle to grab onto things when
00:22:24 --> 00:22:26 that folds up you don't want it welding
00:22:26 --> 00:22:28 itself solid so it can't move anymore
00:22:28 --> 00:22:30 and I guess that's probably the reason
00:22:30 --> 00:22:32 you paint all those things so it's
00:22:32 --> 00:22:34 something people have to be very aware
00:22:34 --> 00:22:36 of with spacecraft design in vacuum of
00:22:36 --> 00:22:40 space so his second part of the question
00:22:40 --> 00:22:42 about exploding Stars Supernova what you
00:22:42 --> 00:22:44 going to call it creating all those
00:22:44 --> 00:22:47 elements uh those elements could Clump
00:22:47 --> 00:22:50 together but as you say not a critical
00:22:50 --> 00:22:53 process in formation yeah I I think this
00:22:53 --> 00:22:54 will be a very small and minor thing I
00:22:54 --> 00:22:55 wouldn't rule it out happening
00:22:55 --> 00:22:57 occasionally particularly when you get
00:22:57 --> 00:23:00 to the size scales that you're no longer
00:23:00 --> 00:23:01 thinking of individual molecules but
00:23:01 --> 00:23:04 you're thinking lumps of stuff but when
00:23:04 --> 00:23:06 you're not big enough for the lumps of
00:23:06 --> 00:23:07 stuff to become molten when they hit
00:23:07 --> 00:23:10 each other and when those lumps of stuff
00:23:10 --> 00:23:12 hit each other very gently so they just
00:23:12 --> 00:23:15 Nestle up together and you know if you
00:23:15 --> 00:23:17 can have two bits of metal that Nestle
00:23:17 --> 00:23:18 up against one another then this will
00:23:18 --> 00:23:20 happen but that's going to be a very
00:23:20 --> 00:23:22 minor part of the process if it's
00:23:22 --> 00:23:25 significant at all okay very good thanks
00:23:25 --> 00:23:27 Sean great to hear from you hope all is
00:23:27 --> 00:23:31 well in British
00:23:31 --> 00:23:37 Columbia 3 2 1 Space Nuts we've got time
00:23:37 --> 00:23:40 for one more question it's an audio
00:23:40 --> 00:23:42 question and it's sort of um an
00:23:42 --> 00:23:45 open-ended question which will become
00:23:45 --> 00:23:47 self-explanatory uh comes from Mike Fred
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 and Andrew hi it's Mike cupit here from
00:23:49 --> 00:23:52 the northwest of England in the UK and I
00:23:52 --> 00:23:54 have a little bit of a wishy-washy
00:23:54 --> 00:23:58 question for you if I made now you guys
00:23:58 --> 00:24:01 always confirm that space exploration is
00:24:01 --> 00:24:03 slow you can't start a mission and
00:24:03 --> 00:24:05 expect it to yield results after a week
00:24:05 --> 00:24:07 or two everything you do seems to take
00:24:07 --> 00:24:10 years however there seems to be an awful
00:24:10 --> 00:24:12 lot going on at the moment uh just off
00:24:12 --> 00:24:13 the top of my head without even
00:24:13 --> 00:24:15 scratching the surface and we're trying
00:24:16 --> 00:24:17 to work out what's going on with dark
00:24:17 --> 00:24:19 matter and dark energy and what it
00:24:19 --> 00:24:21 actually is and what's causing it we're
00:24:21 --> 00:24:23 talking about saying on the permanent
00:24:23 --> 00:24:25 Moon Bas we're talking about Manet on
00:24:25 --> 00:24:28 Mars we're talking about research for
00:24:28 --> 00:24:30 sort of extraterrestrial life within our
00:24:30 --> 00:24:32 solar system and further a field it's
00:24:32 --> 00:24:34 just absolutely
00:24:34 --> 00:24:37 mindblowing now my question for both of
00:24:37 --> 00:24:41 you if that's okay um if you had to pick
00:24:41 --> 00:24:44 one field of research or one mission
00:24:44 --> 00:24:46 that gets you more excited than anything
00:24:46 --> 00:24:49 else your the fa your favorite thing
00:24:49 --> 00:24:51 that is going on at the moment what
00:24:51 --> 00:24:54 would it be what do you hope it yields
00:24:54 --> 00:24:58 in the next sort of 10 or 15 years um
00:24:58 --> 00:25:00 what do you think the results are going
00:25:00 --> 00:25:02 to be um a lot of what you guys say
00:25:02 --> 00:25:05 absolutely astonishes me just absolutely
00:25:05 --> 00:25:07 bold my mind and I'm sure I'm not the
00:25:07 --> 00:25:09 only one but I just really want to know
00:25:09 --> 00:25:11 what blows your mind what gets you
00:25:11 --> 00:25:14 excited and thank you very much for the
00:25:14 --> 00:25:15 show I don't think I've ever missed a
00:25:15 --> 00:25:17 single episode I think you've been
00:25:17 --> 00:25:19 absolutely brilliant I hope it never
00:25:19 --> 00:25:21 stops um thank you very much for your
00:25:21 --> 00:25:25 work and uh yeah keep it up thank you
00:25:25 --> 00:25:27 Mike um love that question and I love
00:25:27 --> 00:25:29 these open-ended ones where they throw
00:25:29 --> 00:25:31 it back at us and Mike it's your lucky
00:25:31 --> 00:25:35 day because uh we've got um two people
00:25:35 --> 00:25:38 here that can um shed a bit of light on
00:25:38 --> 00:25:40 what they think is their favorite
00:25:40 --> 00:25:42 upcoming Mission um can I go first just
00:25:42 --> 00:25:44 so we can get the lame stuff out of the
00:25:44 --> 00:25:48 way um I actually wrote down three
00:25:48 --> 00:25:51 things that excite me uh
00:25:51 --> 00:25:55 obviously emus 2 that that to me sort of
00:25:55 --> 00:25:57 takes me back to my childhood watching
00:25:57 --> 00:25:59 the Apollo mission
00:25:59 --> 00:26:01 and so I'm really excited about that uh
00:26:01 --> 00:26:03 I'm very this is not so much a mission
00:26:03 --> 00:26:05 as something that I'm really looking
00:26:05 --> 00:26:07 forward to that you and I have well all
00:26:07 --> 00:26:10 of us have spoken about uh in previous
00:26:10 --> 00:26:13 episodes and that's the um uh the the
00:26:13 --> 00:26:15 commissioning of the Vera rubben
00:26:15 --> 00:26:18 telescope but my favorite which we've
00:26:18 --> 00:26:20 already talked about in the last episode
00:26:20 --> 00:26:22 or two this is the one I'm really
00:26:22 --> 00:26:26 excited about is the Europa Clipper
00:26:26 --> 00:26:28 Mission I think we've already mentioned
00:26:28 --> 00:26:31 it today um I'm excited about that
00:26:31 --> 00:26:34 because of the potential the the the
00:26:34 --> 00:26:38 possibility they may be able to confirm
00:26:38 --> 00:26:40 the existence of Life on an ice moon in
00:26:40 --> 00:26:44 our solar system I hope they can that's
00:26:44 --> 00:26:47 that's my big hope Mike that that this
00:26:47 --> 00:26:50 Mission will uh without doubt be able to
00:26:50 --> 00:26:52 nail down the fact that we are not alone
00:26:52 --> 00:26:54 in the universe we might be sharing it
00:26:54 --> 00:26:57 with a couple of germs on an icy planet
00:26:57 --> 00:26:59 or an icy body
00:26:59 --> 00:27:04 or or maybe Krill I don't know um but it
00:27:04 --> 00:27:06 the fact that we have been discovering
00:27:06 --> 00:27:09 more and more um bodies in our solar
00:27:10 --> 00:27:13 system that have oceans is extraordinary
00:27:13 --> 00:27:15 and we spoke about one in the last
00:27:15 --> 00:27:19 episode Kalisto and now we're going out
00:27:19 --> 00:27:22 there to see what we can find that that
00:27:22 --> 00:27:26 really gets me ramped up I I can't wait
00:27:26 --> 00:27:29 to see how this goes I'm really really
00:27:29 --> 00:27:31 hopeful that um they will be able to go
00:27:31 --> 00:27:35 yep we found a frog and um it'll be
00:27:35 --> 00:27:38 Ribbit yes it's will make a lot of noise
00:27:38 --> 00:27:41 about that so that that's the one for me
00:27:41 --> 00:27:44 Mike that is the one for
00:27:44 --> 00:27:48 R and um oh you said it I can't remember
00:27:48 --> 00:27:51 that the European Space Agency Miss was
00:27:51 --> 00:27:53 we to doy moons Explorer which is one
00:27:53 --> 00:27:55 I'm watching with interest because I was
00:27:55 --> 00:27:58 at one of the first little meetings when
00:27:58 --> 00:28:00 that was being planned back in 2004 just
00:28:00 --> 00:28:03 after I started my first ever post stock
00:28:03 --> 00:28:05 and I ended up needing to borrow €1 from
00:28:05 --> 00:28:08 a really senior scientist to get a taxi
00:28:08 --> 00:28:10 because the cash point wouldn't give me
00:28:10 --> 00:28:11 money or something like that so it was
00:28:11 --> 00:28:13 an interesting experience for me
00:28:13 --> 00:28:18 excellent all right um so that's mine
00:28:18 --> 00:28:21 um Johny what what do you I've got a
00:28:21 --> 00:28:22 couple I mean it's worth mentioning
00:28:22 --> 00:28:23 juice because of that personal
00:28:23 --> 00:28:25 connection to it even though it's a very
00:28:25 --> 00:28:27 brief personal connection the fact that
00:28:27 --> 00:28:29 20 one years after I was at that meeting
00:28:29 --> 00:28:31 the thing is still on its way and hasn't
00:28:31 --> 00:28:33 got there yet tells you how long these
00:28:33 --> 00:28:34 things take and what a big part of
00:28:34 --> 00:28:37 people's lives they are the two that I
00:28:37 --> 00:28:39 wanted to flag up I talk a lot about ver
00:28:39 --> 00:28:40 Rubin we talk a lot about things like
00:28:41 --> 00:28:42 the Rosal in Franklin Lander going to
00:28:42 --> 00:28:45 Mars the iy moons explorers both of them
00:28:45 --> 00:28:47 going out to Jupiter but the two that
00:28:47 --> 00:28:50 catch my eye are um the comet
00:28:50 --> 00:28:52 Interceptor Mission so you know my first
00:28:52 --> 00:28:54 love has always been comets and meteors
00:28:54 --> 00:28:57 and this is a mission that was proposed
00:28:57 --> 00:28:58 in the aftermath of the interstellar
00:28:58 --> 00:29:01 objects we saw came through so Mau and
00:29:01 --> 00:29:04 borisov um team of researchers put
00:29:04 --> 00:29:05 together a very basic thing saying
00:29:05 --> 00:29:07 wouldn't it be awesome if we had a
00:29:07 --> 00:29:11 spacecraft sat in a holding orbit ready
00:29:11 --> 00:29:12 to go when we find a comic that's
00:29:12 --> 00:29:15 interesting to actually go visit it now
00:29:15 --> 00:29:17 in the past we've been to comets and
00:29:17 --> 00:29:18 we've been to the ones that we could
00:29:18 --> 00:29:20 predict coming so we knew in advance we
00:29:20 --> 00:29:22 could trundle off there and catch them
00:29:22 --> 00:29:23 because we had plenty of warning and
00:29:23 --> 00:29:24 that means we've seen comets that are
00:29:24 --> 00:29:27 old comets that are evolved that have
00:29:27 --> 00:29:30 had a lot going on and in reality
00:29:30 --> 00:29:32 probably comets that have their origins
00:29:32 --> 00:29:33 in the edge with coper belt Beyond
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35 Neptune we've never really been able to
00:29:35 --> 00:29:37 visit an all Cloud Comet a comet coming
00:29:37 --> 00:29:40 in for the first time or an Interstellar
00:29:40 --> 00:29:43 object and so this mission was devised
00:29:44 --> 00:29:45 which is hopefully going to launch in
00:29:45 --> 00:29:48 2029 possibly on the same spaceship as
00:29:48 --> 00:29:51 Ariel which is a planet characterization
00:29:51 --> 00:29:52 mission that Europe putting together
00:29:52 --> 00:29:54 that is also going to be awesome and
00:29:54 --> 00:29:56 then it's going to hang out there in
00:29:56 --> 00:29:58 space perap there and until the right
00:29:58 --> 00:30:01 object is discovered now thanks of ver
00:30:01 --> 00:30:02 Rubin we'll get much more notice of the
00:30:02 --> 00:30:04 right object we'll probably find
00:30:04 --> 00:30:06 intersell objects by the Dozen rather
00:30:06 --> 00:30:08 than just two that we've ever had and
00:30:08 --> 00:30:11 this thing will be there ready to go so
00:30:11 --> 00:30:12 even when it's launched we won't know
00:30:12 --> 00:30:15 where it's going and then we'll sit and
00:30:15 --> 00:30:16 we'll wait and the right thing will be
00:30:16 --> 00:30:18 discovered and then it will jet off to
00:30:18 --> 00:30:20 intercept it and I think that's just a
00:30:20 --> 00:30:22 fabulous step forward in technology the
00:30:22 --> 00:30:26 other one is the dragonfly Mission which
00:30:26 --> 00:30:28 is scheduled to launch in a few years
00:30:28 --> 00:30:30 time will'll probably get to Saturn in
00:30:30 --> 00:30:31 the mid
00:30:31 --> 00:30:33 2030s and it's destined to go to Titan
00:30:33 --> 00:30:36 now Titan's the only other object in the
00:30:36 --> 00:30:37 solar system than the earth that
00:30:37 --> 00:30:39 experiences rain and weather in that
00:30:39 --> 00:30:42 sense um so it probably feels very much
00:30:42 --> 00:30:44 like um the previous caller from the
00:30:44 --> 00:30:45 northwest of England like their
00:30:45 --> 00:30:47 day-to-day life to be honest it's gray
00:30:47 --> 00:30:48 and overcast and there's a lot of stuff
00:30:48 --> 00:30:51 falling from the sky Titans a really
00:30:51 --> 00:30:54 bizarre players so on Titan you've got
00:30:54 --> 00:30:56 the water ice is harder than granite so
00:30:56 --> 00:30:59 the rocks are made from water ice but
00:30:59 --> 00:31:00 you've got rivers and oceans and
00:31:00 --> 00:31:02 rainfall made of liquid methane and
00:31:02 --> 00:31:04 liquid Ethan and it's a fascinating
00:31:04 --> 00:31:06 world and the only time we've ever
00:31:06 --> 00:31:09 touched its surface was the hyan Lander
00:31:09 --> 00:31:10 which landed with a little penetrometer
00:31:11 --> 00:31:13 Spike on the bottom confused colleagues
00:31:13 --> 00:31:15 of mine who were at the O University who
00:31:15 --> 00:31:16 were the first to handle the data
00:31:16 --> 00:31:18 because they run all these drop tests of
00:31:18 --> 00:31:20 different materials that the surface of
00:31:20 --> 00:31:21 Titan could resemble and none of them
00:31:21 --> 00:31:23 worked and then they thought to try
00:31:23 --> 00:31:25 Creme Brule and that's what it was
00:31:25 --> 00:31:27 because it's got a firm crisp top and
00:31:27 --> 00:31:30 then a soggy bottom essentially that's
00:31:30 --> 00:31:31 the only time we've ever spent there and
00:31:31 --> 00:31:33 that was a very brief fleeing touch on
00:31:33 --> 00:31:34 the surface whereas dragonfly is going
00:31:34 --> 00:31:37 to be something comparable in size to a
00:31:37 --> 00:31:40 golf cart that is a quadcopter but with
00:31:40 --> 00:31:43 eight rots instead so I think that makes
00:31:43 --> 00:31:45 it an Octor copter which sounds like
00:31:45 --> 00:31:47 something out of a bad sci-fi movie you
00:31:47 --> 00:31:49 know helicopter with tentacles and it's
00:31:49 --> 00:31:52 going to fly around it'll have this huge
00:31:52 --> 00:31:54 radioisotope generator and during the
00:31:54 --> 00:31:57 day it will fly around take observations
00:31:57 --> 00:32:00 visit places check out what's happening
00:32:00 --> 00:32:02 search for things like the possible
00:32:02 --> 00:32:04 evidence of life in this totally alien
00:32:04 --> 00:32:06 Place send back weather reports saying
00:32:06 --> 00:32:08 you've got I've gone to another world
00:32:08 --> 00:32:10 and it's reigning here as well you know
00:32:10 --> 00:32:12 welcome to Manchester and then at night
00:32:12 --> 00:32:15 it will land and it will recharge and
00:32:15 --> 00:32:17 the nights on Titan take seven Earth
00:32:17 --> 00:32:19 days to complete recharge from the radio
00:32:19 --> 00:32:21 isop generator and then we're ready to
00:32:21 --> 00:32:24 go the next day so for however long this
00:32:24 --> 00:32:26 Mission lasts we're going to be getting
00:32:26 --> 00:32:28 live weather reports from another planet
00:32:28 --> 00:32:29 and we're getting live images from a
00:32:29 --> 00:32:33 place we've never really visited before
00:32:33 --> 00:32:35 exploring it's going to be absolutely
00:32:35 --> 00:32:37 breathtaking and the technology
00:32:37 --> 00:32:38 challenge of this is Bonkers because
00:32:38 --> 00:32:39 this environment where you're going to
00:32:40 --> 00:32:40 build a
00:32:40 --> 00:32:43 quadcopter that will have so many moving
00:32:43 --> 00:32:46 Parts it can fly is 180 degrees below
00:32:46 --> 00:32:49 freezing so you talk about cold welding
00:32:49 --> 00:32:50 those kind of things are a problem a lot
00:32:50 --> 00:32:53 of the materials we use on Earth won't
00:32:53 --> 00:32:55 work they'll be too brittle so there's
00:32:55 --> 00:32:57 huge technological challenges for this
00:32:57 --> 00:32:59 but it's in devel velopment I think it's
00:32:59 --> 00:33:00 currently scheduled to launch in two or
00:33:00 --> 00:33:03 three years time from now we'll have a
00:33:03 --> 00:33:04 nice toasty seven-year cruise to get
00:33:04 --> 00:33:06 there and then we'll fly fly back and
00:33:06 --> 00:33:08 you'll be able to get a live weather
00:33:08 --> 00:33:10 report from Titan another world on which
00:33:10 --> 00:33:12 it RS so I'm very excited about that
00:33:12 --> 00:33:14 that's amazing yeah that sounds really
00:33:14 --> 00:33:19 exciting uh Fred what's your favorite
00:33:19 --> 00:33:22 or upcoming mission that tickles your
00:33:22 --> 00:33:25 fancy okay two things
00:33:25 --> 00:33:28 uh isn't it interesting we can't on well
00:33:28 --> 00:33:31 no we can't no um well they're both
00:33:31 --> 00:33:33 close to my heart actually uh for
00:33:33 --> 00:33:36 different reasons so one's got its feet
00:33:36 --> 00:33:40 firmly on the ground um costs uh much
00:33:40 --> 00:33:43 less than a space mission one six of the
00:33:43 --> 00:33:45 cost of the James web Space Telescope
00:33:45 --> 00:33:48 but many many times bigger and that's
00:33:48 --> 00:33:51 the elt which is taking shape on Sarah
00:33:51 --> 00:33:54 amazones in Northern Chile and the way
00:33:54 --> 00:33:56 they're progressing with it is just
00:33:56 --> 00:33:58 astonishing it's um looking like a
00:33:58 --> 00:34:01 finished telescope now it hasn't got its
00:34:01 --> 00:34:05 uh 798 mirror segments yet uh but it
00:34:05 --> 00:34:08 will have so the the uh elt the
00:34:08 --> 00:34:10 extremely large telescope the European
00:34:10 --> 00:34:12 Southern observatories Flagship
00:34:12 --> 00:34:15 instrument which we still expect to come
00:34:15 --> 00:34:17 on stream in
00:34:17 --> 00:34:21 2028 uh and that will be you know a date
00:34:21 --> 00:34:23 to look out for and we'll cover it in
00:34:23 --> 00:34:25 space notes jont T you have 10 I was
00:34:25 --> 00:34:27 just going to flag up with that the
00:34:27 --> 00:34:28 numbers with that truly Bon so we're in
00:34:28 --> 00:34:30 Australia where we've got the biggest
00:34:31 --> 00:34:32 telescope in Australia is the Ang
00:34:32 --> 00:34:34 Australian telescope which has a primary
00:34:35 --> 00:34:39 mirror of 3.9 M diameter the E El's
00:34:39 --> 00:34:42 mirror will be 39 M in diameter so the
00:34:42 --> 00:34:44 primary of this telescope is 10 times
00:34:44 --> 00:34:46 the diameter so that's 100 times the
00:34:46 --> 00:34:48 collecting area the secondary mirror of
00:34:48 --> 00:34:50 this telescope is bigger than the mirror
00:34:51 --> 00:34:53 on the angle Australian telescope the
00:34:53 --> 00:34:56 tertiary mirror is still 3.9 M so the
00:34:56 --> 00:34:58 third mirror on this is nearly as big as
00:34:58 --> 00:35:00 the biggest mirror on the biggest
00:35:00 --> 00:35:02 telescope in Australia just to put into
00:35:02 --> 00:35:04 perspective how big it is so yeah
00:35:04 --> 00:35:07 actually the um the thing that blows my
00:35:07 --> 00:35:10 mind because um of course I was the
00:35:10 --> 00:35:12 astronomer in charge of that telescope
00:35:12 --> 00:35:14 so I know I know it's enclosure very
00:35:14 --> 00:35:17 well but the mirror diameter of the elt
00:35:17 --> 00:35:19 is 3 MERS bigger than the diameter of
00:35:19 --> 00:35:21 the Dome of the Anglo Australian
00:35:21 --> 00:35:24 telescope and it is a very generous Dome
00:35:24 --> 00:35:26 oh it is it's one one of the biggest
00:35:26 --> 00:35:28 domes in the world anyway looking at
00:35:28 --> 00:35:30 photos at the moment of the progress of
00:35:30 --> 00:35:32 the
00:35:32 --> 00:35:35 construction stunning it's an amazing to
00:35:35 --> 00:35:36 quote you Fred it's an amazing piece of
00:35:36 --> 00:35:38 kid
00:35:38 --> 00:35:40 yes the fact that having walked around
00:35:40 --> 00:35:42 that catwalk on the edge of the
00:35:42 --> 00:35:44 observatory yeah I'm thinking that that
00:35:44 --> 00:35:46 catwalk is smaller than the mirror is
00:35:46 --> 00:35:48 going to be in
00:35:48 --> 00:35:51 the it's mindblowing isn't it so yes so
00:35:51 --> 00:35:55 that's to come 2028 we'll see first
00:35:55 --> 00:35:57 light it might happen before that with a
00:35:57 --> 00:36:00 fewer number of segments of the mirror
00:36:00 --> 00:36:02 uh but um looking forward to that
00:36:02 --> 00:36:04 because it will pretty well
00:36:04 --> 00:36:07 revolutionize all aspects of astronomy
00:36:07 --> 00:36:09 uh it um it's going to you know it's got
00:36:09 --> 00:36:12 the whole the whole um textbook of
00:36:12 --> 00:36:16 astronomy uh to to basically rewrite and
00:36:16 --> 00:36:18 I'm sure it will something a little bit
00:36:18 --> 00:36:21 more sorry time with ver Ruben because
00:36:21 --> 00:36:23 Vera Rubin will find stuff and then the
00:36:23 --> 00:36:27 El will understand it soip Synergy there
00:36:27 --> 00:36:29 correct and that highlights what I was
00:36:29 --> 00:36:31 about to say that you need what you
00:36:31 --> 00:36:35 really need is a survey telescope to to
00:36:35 --> 00:36:37 find the really exciting objects and
00:36:37 --> 00:36:40 that was the symbiosis between United
00:36:40 --> 00:36:41 Kingdom telescope which is what
00:36:41 --> 00:36:43 brought me to Australia in the first
00:36:43 --> 00:36:45 place and the Ang Australian telescope
00:36:45 --> 00:36:46 they work perfectly well together one
00:36:46 --> 00:36:49 with a wide angle camera and the other
00:36:49 --> 00:36:52 with the capability of homing in on the
00:36:52 --> 00:36:53 details of the objects that were being
00:36:53 --> 00:36:56 discovered and it's the wide angle
00:36:56 --> 00:37:00 aspect that excites me with my final
00:37:00 --> 00:37:03 mission that's uh that I think is going
00:37:03 --> 00:37:06 to be very important and what is
00:37:06 --> 00:37:10 brilliant is that that launches in three
00:37:10 --> 00:37:11 days
00:37:11 --> 00:37:15 time it's a spacecraft called sphere x
00:37:15 --> 00:37:17 uh and sphere X is an acronym as you
00:37:17 --> 00:37:19 might guess it's short for Spectra
00:37:19 --> 00:37:21 photometer for the history of the
00:37:21 --> 00:37:24 universe Epoch of re reionization an
00:37:24 --> 00:37:27 Isis Explorer it's a bit convoluted
00:37:27 --> 00:37:29 uh but that's what it is it's a
00:37:29 --> 00:37:31 relatively small telescope it will go
00:37:31 --> 00:37:33 into orbit uh but what it will do
00:37:33 --> 00:37:35 because it's a basically a wide angle
00:37:35 --> 00:37:37 telescope in the infrared it's like a
00:37:37 --> 00:37:40 wide-angle James web telescope uh it
00:37:40 --> 00:37:44 will take images of a billion galaxies a
00:37:44 --> 00:37:47 100 million stars and 10 asteroids
00:37:47 --> 00:37:51 and that uh is uh in order to look at
00:37:51 --> 00:37:54 the the three particular aspects that
00:37:54 --> 00:37:57 this spacecraft is being launched for uh
00:37:57 --> 00:38:01 one is um the the the COS the cosmology
00:38:01 --> 00:38:02 questions the the you know the big
00:38:03 --> 00:38:05 questions how did the universe begin in
00:38:05 --> 00:38:09 particular was the epoch of inflation
00:38:09 --> 00:38:10 that's that time of gazillion of a
00:38:10 --> 00:38:13 second after the big bang when it became
00:38:13 --> 00:38:16 10 to the 50th times bigger than it was
00:38:16 --> 00:38:19 the gazillionth of a second ago uh was
00:38:19 --> 00:38:21 that real we we have every reason to
00:38:22 --> 00:38:23 believe it was because it's the only way
00:38:23 --> 00:38:26 we can make the theories work but this e
00:38:26 --> 00:38:28 this spacecraft will
00:38:28 --> 00:38:29 measure the geometry of the universe in
00:38:30 --> 00:38:31 such a way that we will get insights
00:38:31 --> 00:38:34 into that process the inflation process
00:38:34 --> 00:38:35 it will also look in detail at the
00:38:35 --> 00:38:37 evolution of galaxies the way they
00:38:37 --> 00:38:39 string out along the filaments of the
00:38:39 --> 00:38:42 cosmic web uh but coming closer to home
00:38:42 --> 00:38:47 it will be looking for IES for um
00:38:47 --> 00:38:50 um carbon containing organic molecules
00:38:50 --> 00:38:54 all of that stuff uh which is really
00:38:54 --> 00:38:56 designed to look again at the question
00:38:56 --> 00:38:58 that we all have on our lips at this at
00:38:58 --> 00:39:00 the mo at the moment and I have done
00:39:00 --> 00:39:03 probably for the last 400 years are we
00:39:03 --> 00:39:05 alone are there other living organisms
00:39:05 --> 00:39:07 because we'll see the building blocks of
00:39:07 --> 00:39:09 life in detail and see where they are
00:39:09 --> 00:39:11 not only in our own Galaxy but probably
00:39:11 --> 00:39:14 in galaxies Beyond so this Friday
00:39:14 --> 00:39:16 spherex launches and we might have some
00:39:16 --> 00:39:20 answers before well before 2026 how's
00:39:20 --> 00:39:22 that yeah very exciting very exciting
00:39:22 --> 00:39:24 and best of all spherex gets off the
00:39:24 --> 00:39:28 ground a day before SpaceX so that's
00:39:28 --> 00:39:30 andk goodness for
00:39:30 --> 00:39:35 that yes um that brings us to the end of
00:39:35 --> 00:39:38 episode 500 look we had big plans for a
00:39:38 --> 00:39:42 very exciting special guest uh but here
00:39:42 --> 00:39:45 in the studio said no so what can you do
00:39:45 --> 00:39:49 but um uh I I all jokes aside though uh
00:39:49 --> 00:39:51 I want to say special thanks to our
00:39:52 --> 00:39:54 sponsors uh who have been on board with
00:39:54 --> 00:39:57 us some of them for years uh I
00:39:57 --> 00:39:58 especially want to thank the audience
00:39:58 --> 00:40:02 for for backing us up for for so long uh
00:40:02 --> 00:40:04 Fred you know as well as I do when we
00:40:04 --> 00:40:06 started we didn't think we' last a few
00:40:06 --> 00:40:08 weeks we really didn't believe that it
00:40:08 --> 00:40:11 would um take off and and we've been
00:40:11 --> 00:40:14 enjoying a very long ride at the crest
00:40:14 --> 00:40:18 of a a couple of waves on the um various
00:40:18 --> 00:40:20 platforms out there that that are um are
00:40:20 --> 00:40:25 well known uh sometimes um number one or
00:40:25 --> 00:40:27 number two on the iTunes science list so
00:40:27 --> 00:40:29 you we we we couldn't be more thrilled
00:40:29 --> 00:40:31 with that kind of success and that's
00:40:31 --> 00:40:33 because of uh of you the people who
00:40:33 --> 00:40:36 download us week in week out despite
00:40:36 --> 00:40:40 Apple updates uh and um I give him a
00:40:40 --> 00:40:45 hard time but um Hugh uh jury who is the
00:40:45 --> 00:40:48 brains and and the brawn behind uh not
00:40:48 --> 00:40:50 only the this podcast but several others
00:40:50 --> 00:40:53 in the stable that um you'll find on
00:40:53 --> 00:40:57 bites.com uh Hugh's a tius worker and uh
00:40:57 --> 00:40:59 I often get emails from him from you
00:40:59 --> 00:41:02 know 1:00 in the morning because he's
00:41:02 --> 00:41:04 he's he's sitting in on a conference or
00:41:04 --> 00:41:06 he's or he's learning something or he's
00:41:06 --> 00:41:08 he's putting the final touches on a show
00:41:08 --> 00:41:11 uh he does a fabulous job and um I did
00:41:11 --> 00:41:12 say once before I'd never say anything
00:41:13 --> 00:41:15 nice about him again but he deserves it
00:41:15 --> 00:41:19 he works so hard but it could not be
00:41:19 --> 00:41:21 done without the likes of of jonty
00:41:22 --> 00:41:24 Horner and Professor Fred Watson thank
00:41:24 --> 00:41:26 you both I'm glad we could all be
00:41:26 --> 00:41:30 together for episode 500 me too um I I
00:41:30 --> 00:41:33 you know I am in awe of what you do and
00:41:33 --> 00:41:36 I I it's such a thrill for me to be able
00:41:36 --> 00:41:40 to team up with you guys um every week
00:41:40 --> 00:41:42 and and talk about this stuff that has
00:41:42 --> 00:41:44 just got people around the world
00:41:45 --> 00:41:47 thinking wondering and and coming up
00:41:47 --> 00:41:50 with ideas that they throw at us about
00:41:50 --> 00:41:53 you know could this be the answer to
00:41:53 --> 00:41:56 Black to dark matter or dark energy or
00:41:56 --> 00:41:59 black holes or or whatever um and
00:41:59 --> 00:42:01 getting emails from people saying we've
00:42:01 --> 00:42:03 published this paper because we listen
00:42:03 --> 00:42:06 to your podcast but that happened while
00:42:06 --> 00:42:07 you're away Fred but I sent you the
00:42:08 --> 00:42:11 email I mean that just you know that is
00:42:11 --> 00:42:13 probably one of the greatest
00:42:13 --> 00:42:16 Thrills that I could experience that we
00:42:16 --> 00:42:19 have inspired people like that so I'm so
00:42:19 --> 00:42:21 so happy to be a part of it and um you
00:42:21 --> 00:42:25 know um 500 down how many many more to
00:42:25 --> 00:42:27 come I hope thank you thank you thank
00:42:27 --> 00:42:29 you so much gentlemen appreciate very
00:42:29 --> 00:42:31 much and thanks to you Andrew the the
00:42:31 --> 00:42:33 man with the silken voice that keeps
00:42:33 --> 00:42:36 this whole thing running and um uh has
00:42:36 --> 00:42:38 the world's probably the universe's
00:42:38 --> 00:42:40 worst dad jokes thrown in for
00:42:41 --> 00:42:44 nothing yes without them they they'd be
00:42:44 --> 00:42:47 nothing Well Done Andrew and thank you
00:42:47 --> 00:42:49 again gry it's been a pleasure and
00:42:49 --> 00:42:51 congratulations both it's a great
00:42:51 --> 00:42:53 achievement thank you JY and thank you
00:42:53 --> 00:42:55 for uh filling in for these last several
00:42:55 --> 00:42:57 weeks and we look forward to getting
00:42:57 --> 00:42:59 back on again real soon appreciate it
00:42:59 --> 00:43:01 sounds good thank you Professor Fred
00:43:01 --> 00:43:03 Watson as Storer at large and professor
00:43:03 --> 00:43:06 johy hoer professor of astrophysics at
00:43:06 --> 00:43:07 the University of Southern Queensland
00:43:07 --> 00:43:10 and from me Andrew Dunley thank you
00:43:10 --> 00:43:12 again and we'll look forward to your
00:43:12 --> 00:43:14 company on the very next episode of
00:43:14 --> 00:43:18 Space Nuts byebye Space Nuts you'll been
00:43:18 --> 00:43:21 listening to the Space Nuts
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00:43:24 --> 00:43:27 Spotify iHeart radio or your favorite
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00:43:32 --> 00:43:34 another quality podcast production from
00:43:34 --> 00:43:37 b.com