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Space Nuts Episode 505: Black Holes, TRAPPIST Planets, and Cosmic Fluctuations
In this engaging Q&A edition of Space Nuts, host Andrew Dunkley and astronomer Professor Fred Watson tackle a variety of listener questions that delve deep into the mysteries of the universe. From the nature of black holes and their gravitational effects to the intriguing dynamics of the TRAPPIST system, this episode is packed with thought-provoking discussions and cosmic insights that will keep you captivated.
Episode Highlights:
- Black Hole Mysteries: Andrew and Fred explore whether objects entering a black hole, such as electrons or grains of sand, can be accelerated beyond the speed of light. They clarify the laws of physics that remain intact even within the event horizon and the implications of mass changes.
- TRAPPIST System Insights: The duo discusses the absence of gas giants in the TRAPPIST system and the possible reasons behind this phenomenon, including the formation processes and the potential for undiscovered planets.
- Star Collisions: Lloyd from Cairns asks whether everyday stars like our sun ever collide, leading to a discussion about the rarity of such events compared to black hole and neutron star collisions, especially during galaxy mergers.
- Early Universe Fluctuations: Mark from Louisiana poses a thoughtful question about the energy density fluctuations observed in the WMAP image of the early universe, prompting a conversation about quantum fluctuations and their role in cosmic structure formation.
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) This is a Q and A edition where we answer audience questions
(01:02) Doug Stone: I had a question about Earthrise from last year
(05:14) Question comes from somebody who didn't tell us their name
(06:32) Picking the voice is picking it. Yes. It's picking it
(06:46) Could anything entering a black hole be accelerated beyond the speed of light
(09:05) Some solar systems do not contain gas or ice giants, says Dave
(12:40) Is there any limit to how many planets a solar system can form
(15:46) Do everyday stars like our sun ever collide and what do they create
(20:30) Mark Rabelais has a question about fluctuations in the early universe
(27:08) New research suggests distant galaxies have a preferred direction of rotation
(28:47) Andrew Dunkley: Thank you to everybody who sent, uh, in questions
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/26240959?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 hi there thanks for joining us for yet
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 another episode of Space Nuts this is a
00:00:04 --> 00:00:07 Q&A edition uh where we answer audience
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 questions my name is Andrew Dunley your
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 host and the questions today will
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 revolve around black holes in fact not
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 revolve around a black hole go into one
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 again people seem to like to be
00:00:18 --> 00:00:20 spaghetti uh we're also going to talk
00:00:20 --> 00:00:24 about planets around the Trappus system
00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 uh star collisions and the early
00:00:26 --> 00:00:28 universe so hope you can stick around
00:00:28 --> 00:00:31 for this episode of Space Nuts 15
00:00:31 --> 00:00:35 seconds guidance is internal 10 9
00:00:36 --> 00:00:40 Ignition sequence start space Nuts 5 4 3
00:00:40 --> 00:00:44 2 1 2 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1 Space Nuts
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 astronauts report it feels good joining
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 us as always is Professor Fred Watson
00:00:50 --> 00:00:53 astronomer at large hello Fred hello
00:00:53 --> 00:00:57 Andrew welcome to Space Notes Q&A oh no
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 you're supposed to say that no that's
00:00:59 --> 00:01:00 Well no that's good welcome to Space
00:01:00 --> 00:01:03 Nuts Q&A friend thank you um before
00:01:03 --> 00:01:07 before we uh answer questions uh we we
00:01:07 --> 00:01:11 had a message sent in from Doug and uh I
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 thought I'd just play it in full because
00:01:13 --> 00:01:17 um he he brings up a a point that um I
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 think probably went through to the
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 keeper which is an Australian term for
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 we didn't talk about it so um yeah this
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 here's Doug hi guys this is Doug Stone
00:01:26 --> 00:01:29 back from Boise Idaho in the Bruno Dune
00:01:29 --> 00:01:34 State Park Observatory and Planetarium
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37 um I may be wrong but I I was listening
00:01:38 --> 00:01:38 to
00:01:38 --> 00:01:42 your podcast back in 2019
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45 uh number
00:01:45 --> 00:01:48 162 which was the 50th
00:01:48 --> 00:01:54 anniversary episode of the Apollo 11 uh
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 moonwalk and you were mentioning the
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 astronaut Bill Anders who actually took
00:02:00 --> 00:02:04 the photograph uh now called
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 Earthrise and I wasn't sure I don't
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 recall hearing it on your
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 podcast but are you aware of the fact
00:02:13 --> 00:02:18 that Bill Anders uh is no longer with us
00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 uh back in June of this year he was
00:02:21 --> 00:02:24 killed in a plane crash that he was
00:02:24 --> 00:02:28 piloting off of the coast of Washington
00:02:28 --> 00:02:32 State um again I may be wrong maybe I
00:02:32 --> 00:02:36 missed it but I listened to everyone i
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 don't recall you mentioning that and I
00:02:39 --> 00:02:43 wanted you to to to know that so you can
00:02:43 --> 00:02:48 get that out to the rest of the space
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 nutters
00:02:50 --> 00:02:56 um we show a really fabulous 30 minute
00:02:56 --> 00:03:02 video based on a the Apollo 8 mission
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 uh when that photograph was taken it's
00:03:05 --> 00:03:08 called Earthrise and if you haven't seen
00:03:08 --> 00:03:13 it I strongly recommend it it we we show
00:03:13 --> 00:03:17 it to our folks uh prior to our normal
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 indoor presentation which is 30 minutes
00:03:20 --> 00:03:24 prior to viewing there at the park and
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 uh if you haven't seen this it's a real
00:03:27 --> 00:03:31 good backstory on that whole photograph
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 called Earthrise but uh yeah that's all
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 I got uh more of a comment than a
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 question uh I do have some other
00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 questions but I will have to get back to
00:03:42 --> 00:03:46 you thank you thank you Doug doug um
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 that one was sent in late last year and
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 I'd um overlooked it somehow and uh I I
00:03:51 --> 00:03:52 was digging around for questions the
00:03:52 --> 00:03:53 other day and found it and thought "Oh
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 gosh I meant to play that ages ago so I
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 thought I'd uh do a bit of catch up."
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 But appreciate that Doug um yeah William
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 Anders I didn't I didn't know actually
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 um I did because I talked about it on
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 the radio show but we didn't cover it we
00:04:07 --> 00:04:11 didn't cover it in uh in Space Nuts um
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 probably just because there's so much
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 you know space news that we needed to
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 cover it but yes it was um it was sad
00:04:17 --> 00:04:20 the fact that you know Bill lost his
00:04:20 --> 00:04:23 life in a in a plane accident um uh I
00:04:23 --> 00:04:25 can't remember his age but he would have
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 been a good age uh and of course that
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 earthrise image one of the iconic images
00:04:30 --> 00:04:34 of the space age uh one that I I guess
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36 everybody knows about i'm intrigued by
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 the video that Doug mentioned though and
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 I will try and hunt that down uh video
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 called Earthrise which I think is sounds
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 well worth watching absolutely true yeah
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 um of course that was an Apollo 8
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 mission um and when you go to NASA in
00:04:51 --> 00:04:54 Florida uh you can look at the original
00:04:54 --> 00:04:57 layout of mission control for Apollo 8
00:04:57 --> 00:04:59 yes that's right it's fabulous we did
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 that last year absolutely yeah isn't it
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 Isn't it terrific it it is a real sense
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 of you know being there even the
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 ashtrays on the uh on the desks are
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 quite amazing it is incredible yeah
00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 appreciate you sending that in Doug uh
00:05:14 --> 00:05:18 now to uh a question and this one comes
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 from somebody who didn't tell us their
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 name hello again guys thanks for an
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 awesome podcast uh I've been listening
00:05:25 --> 00:05:29 for over a year now I think uh lo and
00:05:29 --> 00:05:30 behold I have another question about
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 black holes seems to be a topic that's
00:05:33 --> 00:05:34 recurring
00:05:35 --> 00:05:39 um so uh black holes as we know of
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 course um nothing can escape them
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 because you have to exceed the speed of
00:05:43 --> 00:05:47 light uh which brings me to the question
00:05:47 --> 00:05:50 if something enters the black hole like
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 an electron or a proton or a grain of
00:05:52 --> 00:05:57 sand or whatever does that object get
00:05:57 --> 00:06:00 uh accelerated to speeds above the speed
00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 of light before they hit the singularity
00:06:03 --> 00:06:05 uh so if they enter out near the speed
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 of light will they still will they get
00:06:07 --> 00:06:10 accelerated to speeds faster than the
00:06:10 --> 00:06:11 speed of light that's my question and
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 also I want to end with a joke why did
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 the uh theory about dark energy not
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 catch on at first because people thought
00:06:20 --> 00:06:24 it was repulsive here we go thanks wow
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 that was just so bad
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 it's better yeah it's better than our
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 dad joke yeah it is rather yeah
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 absolutely um I know you pro you you
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 said you've sent in questions before but
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 I sorry I can't remember your name it's
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 picking the Yes picking the voice it's a
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 familiar voice and it's lovely to hear
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 from you again yes indeed thanks for
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 sending the question in so uh anything
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 entering a black hole electron um photon
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 anything like that could it be
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 accelerated beyond the speed of light is
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 the basis of the question and it's a
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 great question but the bottom line is
00:07:00 --> 00:07:03 that even inside the event horizon of a
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 black hole the laws of physics hold and
00:07:06 --> 00:07:09 uh speed of light cannot be exceeded so
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 what happened what will happen is the
00:07:11 --> 00:07:15 gravitational pull of the of the
00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 singularity itself on the electron or
00:07:18 --> 00:07:22 whatever it is will basically
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 um you
00:07:24 --> 00:07:27 know it will mess with its mass if I can
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 put it that way because that's what
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 happens when you try and accelerate
00:07:31 --> 00:07:32 things very close to the speed of light
00:07:32 --> 00:07:35 the mass gets greater now the mass of
00:07:35 --> 00:07:36 the electron is one of the fundamental
00:07:36 --> 00:07:41 quantities of uh of nature but uh it's
00:07:41 --> 00:07:46 it's yeah inside a black hole um all
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 bets are off in that regard but the
00:07:48 --> 00:07:50 speed of light is still sacracent uhhuh
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 yeah nothing can go faster so it doesn't
00:07:53 --> 00:07:55 mess with its mass which makes it a
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 massive mess
00:07:58 --> 00:08:01 a mass mess i like that yes yeah
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 i know it sounds too close to maths test
00:08:04 --> 00:08:07 sorry there's a bit yes i like that no I
00:08:07 --> 00:08:10 don't like that either i found them very
00:08:10 --> 00:08:16 traumatic at school um yeah we I I still
00:08:16 --> 00:08:17 I I still can't believe we get so many
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 questions about black holes and uh more
00:08:20 --> 00:08:24 recently um dark energy and and dark
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 matter and uh anything that's got
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30 blackness around it seems to be flavor
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 of the month when it comes to audience
00:08:32 --> 00:08:35 information they um I suppose because
00:08:35 --> 00:08:37 these things are so mysterious that's
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 right and and they're all great
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42 questions as well Andrew the um none of
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 the questions we get about these matters
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 are ridiculous they're all always good
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 questions um and yes they're mysterious
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 they're at the cutting edge of research
00:08:53 --> 00:08:56 we are baffled by Yeah what they are i
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 like what you did there matters that
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 they bring to our attention it's very
00:09:00 --> 00:09:04 good um let's go thanks uh thanks uh for
00:09:04 --> 00:09:07 that question uh our next one comes from
00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 Dave hi Andrew and Fred thank you for
00:09:09 --> 00:09:12 directing me to the article regarding
00:09:12 --> 00:09:15 Jupiter's rapid growth spurt uh I
00:09:15 --> 00:09:17 noticed the article suggests that the
00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 same growth delay might have occurred
00:09:19 --> 00:09:22 with Uranus and Neptune but they do not
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 mention Saturn which is interesting i'm
00:09:25 --> 00:09:29 wondering why solar system uh some solar
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31 systems such as the Trappist system do
00:09:31 --> 00:09:35 not contain gas or ice giants uh were
00:09:35 --> 00:09:37 the gases not there in the first place
00:09:37 --> 00:09:39 or has something occurred early in the
00:09:39 --> 00:09:43 expelled gas or planets from the system
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 um or have we simply not discovered them
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 yet finally is there a maximum limit to
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 the amount of planets a solar system can
00:09:50 --> 00:09:53 produce and sustain that comes from Dave
00:09:53 --> 00:09:56 in in Burell New South Wales Australia
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 um I love this question it Yeah it's a
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 great question uh
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 the sort of uh musing about Saturn
00:10:04 --> 00:10:07 that's a really good point i'm not sure
00:10:07 --> 00:10:08 about the answer to that one i would
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 need to have a look we should um we
00:10:10 --> 00:10:15 should just give it a ring and find out
00:10:15 --> 00:10:21 that's horrible he's on fire this guy
00:10:21 --> 00:10:25 um but yeah the trapez system so so gas
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 giants and ice giants too for that
00:10:28 --> 00:10:32 matter form outside they form beyond the
00:10:32 --> 00:10:37 frost line of a solar system uh and
00:10:37 --> 00:10:41 so that's because uh there is you know
00:10:41 --> 00:10:43 material basically condensed water it's
00:10:43 --> 00:10:48 ice uh that is out there uh and that
00:10:48 --> 00:10:52 when it's secreted by protolanets and
00:10:52 --> 00:10:53 planetismals
00:10:53 --> 00:10:57 uh that stuff makes for a very big
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 object uh it allows it to grow and then
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 the fact that it's growing and grows
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 early in the early enough in the um
00:11:05 --> 00:11:07 history of that particular solar system
00:11:07 --> 00:11:10 that you still got residual gas that can
00:11:10 --> 00:11:13 actually form around it um I think the
00:11:13 --> 00:11:16 Trappist system uh if I remember rightly
00:11:16 --> 00:11:18 has planets that yes they're not gas
00:11:18 --> 00:11:22 giants uh and I think it may be because
00:11:22 --> 00:11:26 uh all those planets exist within well
00:11:26 --> 00:11:29 within the frost line of the Trappist
00:11:29 --> 00:11:31 parent
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 so the uh the basically the any water
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 vapor any water molecules are going to
00:11:36 --> 00:11:41 be gas gas molecules uh rather than um
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 rather than ice certainly won't be water
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 because that can't exist in space it
00:11:46 --> 00:11:50 just boils off okay um sorry go ahead no
00:11:50 --> 00:11:51 I'm just saying does this make the
00:11:51 --> 00:11:55 Trappist system unique or um No um I
00:11:56 --> 00:12:01 don't think so and uh it and you know um
00:12:01 --> 00:12:03 uh do sorry it's Dave isn't it Dave's
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 other other comment about are we just
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 not finding the gas giants i think
00:12:08 --> 00:12:09 that's unlikely because they're the
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 easiest ones to detect i was going to
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 say that yeah
00:12:13 --> 00:12:14 i was going to say that yeah well you
00:12:14 --> 00:12:17 know that cuz you're a bright lad would
00:12:17 --> 00:12:20 have been a lucky guess
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 uh so um I think there yes there are
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 solar systems that consist of just
00:12:25 --> 00:12:27 subears and in fact we talked about one
00:12:27 --> 00:12:30 in the last episode star which has got
00:12:30 --> 00:12:36 small planets so uh it it could be it it
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 may well be just a quirk of the
00:12:38 --> 00:12:40 formation of that particular solar
00:12:40 --> 00:12:43 system and in regard to Dave's last
00:12:43 --> 00:12:45 question
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 um is there any limit to how many
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 planets a solar system can form well
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 when you look at our solar system yes
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 it's got eight things that we define as
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 planets uh but then there's gazillions
00:12:57 --> 00:12:59 of other stuff there's the debris
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 there's the the asteroids there's the
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 dwarf planets there's the asteroids
00:13:03 --> 00:13:06 there's uh the extra
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 sol uh trans neptunian objects all of
00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 that stuff uh so much material there's
00:13:12 --> 00:13:16 the or cloud uh all this material that's
00:13:16 --> 00:13:17 associated with the formation of the
00:13:18 --> 00:13:19 solar system so there's probably no
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 limit but the limit is how many of those
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 bits of stuff actually form into planets
00:13:25 --> 00:13:29 um and maybe the limiting factor on that
00:13:29 --> 00:13:32 is whether once a planet's grown big
00:13:32 --> 00:13:34 enough whether it can remain
00:13:34 --> 00:13:36 gravitationally stable with its with its
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 peers if I can put it that way with its
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 other with the other planets in the
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 solar system or or get kicked out and
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 that may have happened in the case of
00:13:44 --> 00:13:48 our solar system yeah okay uh we do um
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 see solar systems that have gas giants
00:13:51 --> 00:13:54 orbiting very close to their parent star
00:13:54 --> 00:13:55 yes that's right when we first
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 discovered them we thought "Hang on this
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 is all weird." Yeah but turns out we're
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 more weird than they are probably yes
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 they're the hot Jupiters
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07 that's right uh which may well have
00:14:07 --> 00:14:10 migrated from a position further out in
00:14:10 --> 00:14:14 their solar system uh and come in to the
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 innocent system i suppose the more we
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 look and the more we find the more we
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 realize how each of these systems is
00:14:20 --> 00:14:23 probably unique
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 in its own way i think that's right um I
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 what one thing I should should try and
00:14:27 --> 00:14:32 check is um what is the record known of
00:14:32 --> 00:14:35 number of planets known around an extra
00:14:35 --> 00:14:38 solar uh around another star you might
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 be able to check that i uh I'm going to
00:14:40 --> 00:14:43 look now um and I I think Trappist the
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 Trappist system which has four uh
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48 Barnard star has four now confirmed i
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 think these are you know the maximum
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 almost the maximum numbers that we've
00:14:53 --> 00:14:54 discovered i think there's at least one
00:14:54 --> 00:14:57 with five planets known uh I don't think
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 it extends to six but I might be wrong
00:14:59 --> 00:15:02 um yeah let's see if we can find out be
00:15:02 --> 00:15:04 a very good thing to do depends depends
00:15:04 --> 00:15:09 if I could spell um Kepler 90 has eight
00:15:09 --> 00:15:11 planets all right there you go okay and
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 so funnily enough that matches our solar
00:15:14 --> 00:15:19 system yes so we're not unique anymore
00:15:19 --> 00:15:21 we're just one of a pair there's
00:15:21 --> 00:15:24 probably squillions though out there
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 when you think about it yeah certainly
00:15:26 --> 00:15:30 we think all stars have planets so yeah
00:15:30 --> 00:15:33 yeah or the the vast majority majority
00:15:33 --> 00:15:35 that's right yes all right thank you
00:15:35 --> 00:15:37 Dave lovely to hear from you this is
00:15:37 --> 00:15:40 Space Nuts Q&A edition with Andrew
00:15:40 --> 00:15:44 Dunley and Professor Fred
00:15:44 --> 00:15:48 Watson and I feel fine space Nuts our
00:15:48 --> 00:15:52 next question comes from Lloyd he is in
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 Canes in Far North Queensland very
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 interesting the episode about the
00:15:56 --> 00:15:59 neutron star collisions you've spoken
00:15:59 --> 00:16:00 many times about black hole collisions
00:16:00 --> 00:16:03 and neutron star neutron star collisions
00:16:03 --> 00:16:06 but do just everyday stars like our sun
00:16:06 --> 00:16:10 ever collide and what do they create uh
00:16:10 --> 00:16:13 thanks for the show uh Lloyd from Cans
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 uh yeah it's a good question and of
00:16:15 --> 00:16:19 course we've got the upcoming um merger
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 uh and acquisition uh between the
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies
00:16:23 --> 00:16:27 Milkometer yeah um and we've I've asked
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 you the question as to you know what
00:16:29 --> 00:16:31 sort of mayhem will occur will there be
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 stars colliding uh and you said
00:16:33 --> 00:16:37 basically not many but yep possibly a
00:16:37 --> 00:16:43 few yeah um so the normal thing would be
00:16:43 --> 00:16:47 um two stars if they were you know
00:16:48 --> 00:16:51 approaching each other they might
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 basically end up orbiting around one
00:16:54 --> 00:16:56 another to become a binary system
00:16:56 --> 00:16:57 although we think the normal process is
00:16:57 --> 00:16:59 the other way around uh but if you've
00:16:59 --> 00:17:02 got galaxies colliding then that sort of
00:17:02 --> 00:17:05 interaction might become quite common um
00:17:05 --> 00:17:07 I think it is fairly rare for normal
00:17:07 --> 00:17:13 stars to collide um because their masses
00:17:13 --> 00:17:16 are quite low that means they've got a
00:17:16 --> 00:17:20 fairly um small if I can put it this way
00:17:20 --> 00:17:22 gravitational sphere of influence i mean
00:17:22 --> 00:17:25 gravitational pull goes out to infinity
00:17:25 --> 00:17:28 but it gets negligible beyond a certain
00:17:28 --> 00:17:32 distance uh and so um I think uh the
00:17:32 --> 00:17:34 bottom line with normal stars is they're
00:17:34 --> 00:17:38 not big enough to to make you know those
00:17:38 --> 00:17:42 attractive uh attractive forces uh
00:17:42 --> 00:17:45 spread over a great enough distance
00:17:45 --> 00:17:48 whereas black holes neutron stars are uh
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 and it depends to some extent on the
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 density of the environment as well the
00:17:53 --> 00:17:56 the environments within our galaxy that
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 have the highest density of stars are
00:17:58 --> 00:18:01 the globular clusters in the middle
00:18:01 --> 00:18:03 stars you know the star density is very
00:18:03 --> 00:18:09 high uh but collisions are very rare
00:18:09 --> 00:18:12 now that it's a that that makes it a
00:18:12 --> 00:18:15 very good question because I I um I
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17 would have assumed it would happen more
00:18:17 --> 00:18:22 often Yeah than the black holes yeah yes
00:18:22 --> 00:18:23 yes that's right so many more of them
00:18:24 --> 00:18:26 out there but um it it's uh it's not the
00:18:26 --> 00:18:29 case by the sound of it um you mentioned
00:18:29 --> 00:18:32 binaries our son uh as you and I have
00:18:32 --> 00:18:37 discussed previously um was a binary um
00:18:37 --> 00:18:38 they haven't yet found the other one
00:18:38 --> 00:18:42 have they no uh the That's right i mean
00:18:42 --> 00:18:43 the it's a statistical thing the
00:18:43 --> 00:18:45 likelihood is that it was part of a
00:18:45 --> 00:18:48 binary because um more than 50% of all
00:18:48 --> 00:18:51 the stars in the in the galaxy are in
00:18:51 --> 00:18:54 are part of binary pairs stars orbiting
00:18:54 --> 00:18:57 around each other uh so we've lost our
00:18:57 --> 00:19:00 uh twin and it might not have been a
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 twin but it wouldn't have been far off
00:19:02 --> 00:19:06 uh it's one of the perhaps one of the
00:19:06 --> 00:19:09 holy grails of what's called galactic
00:19:09 --> 00:19:12 archaeology the the study of stars in
00:19:12 --> 00:19:15 our neighborhood uh and to understand
00:19:15 --> 00:19:17 the archaeology of the galaxy as a whole
00:19:18 --> 00:19:19 u one of the holy grails of that is to
00:19:20 --> 00:19:22 try and find a star whose chemistry
00:19:22 --> 00:19:24 exactly matches the sun and there are
00:19:24 --> 00:19:26 one or two but for various reasons I
00:19:26 --> 00:19:28 think they've been ruled out as being
00:19:28 --> 00:19:31 our twins um maybe they're too far away
00:19:31 --> 00:19:32 or something like that i can't remember
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 the details but yes one day we might
00:19:34 --> 00:19:38 find the twin of our sun yeah ours is a
00:19:38 --> 00:19:41 G type it is um star um which is not the
00:19:41 --> 00:19:44 most which is not the most common is it
00:19:44 --> 00:19:46 no the the M stars are which are the the
00:19:46 --> 00:19:49 red dwarfs yeah um and you don't want to
00:19:49 --> 00:19:53 live there no no no we we just got lucky
00:19:53 --> 00:19:57 enough to turn up next to a a decent one
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 that's right long lived and and
00:19:59 --> 00:20:05 generally you know calm benign yes
00:20:05 --> 00:20:06 might be the other way around because of
00:20:06 --> 00:20:08 that that's why we're here yeah I think
00:20:08 --> 00:20:11 you're probably right yes all right uh
00:20:11 --> 00:20:14 Lloyd uh thank you so much for your
00:20:14 --> 00:20:16 question uh I hope we adequately covered
00:20:16 --> 00:20:21 uh all your points
00:20:21 --> 00:20:24 and I feel space nuts uh our final
00:20:24 --> 00:20:27 question today um takes the form of a
00:20:27 --> 00:20:30 theory I think uh we'll we'll let Mark
00:20:30 --> 00:20:33 explain hello guys I'm Mark Rabble from
00:20:33 --> 00:20:36 Baton Rouge Louisiana and I have a
00:20:36 --> 00:20:39 question dealing with the early universe
00:20:39 --> 00:20:42 by the way I love your show puts me to
00:20:42 --> 00:20:45 sleep every night in a good
00:20:45 --> 00:20:48 way uh but I have a question about the
00:20:48 --> 00:20:51 early universe i've been pondering this
00:20:51 --> 00:20:53 for a long time and uh here's my chance
00:20:53 --> 00:20:54 to ask
00:20:54 --> 00:21:00 someone uh I've seen the W map image of
00:21:00 --> 00:21:02 the early universe if I remember right
00:21:02 --> 00:21:06 that was uh of a time period
00:21:06 --> 00:21:09 approximately 300 years maybe after
00:21:09 --> 00:21:13 the big bang and uh of course that image
00:21:13 --> 00:21:16 shows variations in the energy density
00:21:16 --> 00:21:20 of the of the early universe
00:21:20 --> 00:21:25 and my question has to do with the image
00:21:25 --> 00:21:28 I have in my mind of uh the big bang
00:21:28 --> 00:21:32 occurring and since the big bang was all
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34 that existed at the
00:21:34 --> 00:21:37 time there there could have been no
00:21:37 --> 00:21:41 outside influences so the universe all
00:21:41 --> 00:21:45 things being equal at that time should
00:21:45 --> 00:21:47 have been
00:21:47 --> 00:21:50 perfectly evenly distributed the mass
00:21:50 --> 00:21:52 should have been totally evenly
00:21:52 --> 00:21:56 distributed am I right and uh which begs
00:21:56 --> 00:22:00 the question as to what caused the
00:22:00 --> 00:22:03 energy density fluctuations that the W
00:22:03 --> 00:22:06 map image shows
00:22:06 --> 00:22:11 and my gut tells me and this is probably
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13 well known and I
00:22:13 --> 00:22:15 just in my
00:22:15 --> 00:22:19 limited view am not that aware of it but
00:22:19 --> 00:22:22 is that due to quantum
00:22:22 --> 00:22:26 fluctuations is that the reigning theory
00:22:26 --> 00:22:30 anyhow that's my question what caused
00:22:30 --> 00:22:33 the fluctuations in the energy density
00:22:33 --> 00:22:35 in the early universe
00:22:35 --> 00:22:38 i know it should be an easy question
00:22:38 --> 00:22:41 right okay guys thank you have a good
00:22:41 --> 00:22:45 evening thank you Mark uh you too um
00:22:45 --> 00:22:47 yeah I I just looked up that um that
00:22:47 --> 00:22:50 image the W map and I I know what he's
00:22:50 --> 00:22:52 talking about now i've seen it before
00:22:52 --> 00:22:56 it's um it looks like a um an an opal
00:22:56 --> 00:22:58 actually it takes It's got the shape and
00:22:58 --> 00:23:01 color and look of a a beautiful opal
00:23:02 --> 00:23:03 which they mine just up the road from
00:23:03 --> 00:23:06 here the uh the lightning ridge black
00:23:06 --> 00:23:09 opals but um yeah quite uh quite a
00:23:09 --> 00:23:11 striking image uh the Wilkinson
00:23:11 --> 00:23:14 microwave anos anos I can't say the word
00:23:14 --> 00:23:18 anosotropy that's the word uh probe yeah
00:23:18 --> 00:23:21 yeah um
00:23:21 --> 00:23:24 yeah go ahead yeah so so yeah let's do
00:23:24 --> 00:23:26 do the context you're absolutely right
00:23:26 --> 00:23:30 the W map image is a map of the whole
00:23:30 --> 00:23:34 sky uh showing the tiny temperature
00:23:34 --> 00:23:37 fluctuations uh that we record in
00:23:37 --> 00:23:41 microwaves in the microwave spectrum uh
00:23:41 --> 00:23:45 it was superseded about 15 years ago by
00:23:46 --> 00:23:48 the plank image so there have been three
00:23:48 --> 00:23:51 versions of this image one uh produced
00:23:51 --> 00:23:53 in the 1990s by a spacecraft called Kobe
00:23:53 --> 00:23:56 cosmic background explorer the W map
00:23:56 --> 00:23:58 image the Wilkinson microwave anisotropy
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 probe and then plank which was the
00:24:00 --> 00:24:03 European Space Ay's version of the same
00:24:03 --> 00:24:07 thing each of them showed more detail
00:24:07 --> 00:24:09 finer detail in this background with
00:24:10 --> 00:24:14 these extraordinary fluctuations um uh
00:24:14 --> 00:24:21 and um uh Mark uh is right in that what
00:24:21 --> 00:24:24 those fluctuations represent
00:24:24 --> 00:24:27 uh or or sorry what what we're seeing is
00:24:27 --> 00:24:30 basically the glow of the universe when
00:24:30 --> 00:24:35 it was about 380 years old so uh I
00:24:35 --> 00:24:38 call that map the cosmic wallpaper
00:24:38 --> 00:24:40 andrew I'm sure I've said this before
00:24:40 --> 00:24:42 yes I recall mainly because it's
00:24:42 --> 00:24:44 patterned like some wallpapers are but
00:24:44 --> 00:24:46 mostly because it's behind everything we
00:24:46 --> 00:24:48 can see everything else in the universe
00:24:48 --> 00:24:50 is in front of that so the cosmic
00:24:50 --> 00:24:52 wallpaper is right at the back just as
00:24:52 --> 00:24:55 it is in a room uh everything's in front
00:24:55 --> 00:24:57 of it if you're in the room so in if
00:24:57 --> 00:24:58 you're in the universe which most of us
00:24:58 --> 00:25:02 are it's uh it's the cosmic wallpaper uh
00:25:02 --> 00:25:05 so yes uh those tiny temperature
00:25:05 --> 00:25:10 fluctuations come about because of
00:25:10 --> 00:25:14 uh essentially density changes uh in the
00:25:14 --> 00:25:19 in the the the plasma of the big bang uh
00:25:19 --> 00:25:22 and in fact we we we
00:25:22 --> 00:25:25 uh interpret them as the effect of sound
00:25:25 --> 00:25:30 waves uh passing through the early
00:25:30 --> 00:25:33 universe uh if you like it's the bang of
00:25:33 --> 00:25:37 the big bang uh we call them uh baos uh
00:25:38 --> 00:25:40 barionic acoustic oscillations and
00:25:40 --> 00:25:43 barionic means normal material something
00:25:43 --> 00:25:44 different from dark matter or dark
00:25:44 --> 00:25:48 energy uh so so they are um you know
00:25:48 --> 00:25:50 what we see is the is the is the
00:25:50 --> 00:25:54 reverberation of the big bang but um u
00:25:54 --> 00:25:57 basically Mark is is right in
00:25:57 --> 00:26:00 questioning what the origin of those
00:26:00 --> 00:26:03 fluctuations were in the immediate
00:26:03 --> 00:26:05 aftermath of the big bang much earlier
00:26:05 --> 00:26:08 than 10 uh much earlier than 380
00:26:08 --> 00:26:10 years we're talking about 10 to the
00:26:10 --> 00:26:13 minus 32 of a second um which is a
00:26:13 --> 00:26:17 period we call uh uh inflation it's when
00:26:17 --> 00:26:19 whatever mechanism did it and we don't
00:26:19 --> 00:26:23 really understand what uh it caused the
00:26:23 --> 00:26:26 universe to grow exponentially over a
00:26:26 --> 00:26:28 very short period of time of the order
00:26:28 --> 00:26:33 of 10us 32 of a second and indeed uh
00:26:33 --> 00:26:36 Mark is correct it is quantum
00:26:36 --> 00:26:39 fluctuations in that expansion that are
00:26:39 --> 00:26:41 thought to have led to the growth of
00:26:41 --> 00:26:44 structure the structure that we see in
00:26:44 --> 00:26:47 the W map image uh and also now which we
00:26:47 --> 00:26:51 see uh as galaxies uh around us and what
00:26:51 --> 00:26:53 we call the cosmic web that those
00:26:53 --> 00:26:55 strings of galaxies uh filaments of
00:26:55 --> 00:26:58 galaxies and a kind of honeycomb of
00:26:58 --> 00:27:01 material that we see so yeah all kicked
00:27:01 --> 00:27:04 off by quantum fluctuations in the
00:27:04 --> 00:27:07 inflation field
00:27:07 --> 00:27:10 well done Mark um I I I remember us
00:27:10 --> 00:27:12 talking recently about how they've
00:27:12 --> 00:27:14 discovered all these
00:27:14 --> 00:27:17 uh connections between the the
00:27:17 --> 00:27:18 supercluster
00:27:18 --> 00:27:22 um groupings of galaxies and the the
00:27:22 --> 00:27:24 wider we view and the more we look that
00:27:24 --> 00:27:27 the more things are connected it's Yeah
00:27:27 --> 00:27:29 it's quite extraordinary there's there's
00:27:29 --> 00:27:32 some new work that's just been published
00:27:32 --> 00:27:34 from the James Webb telescope that we
00:27:34 --> 00:27:37 might cover in a future episode that
00:27:37 --> 00:27:40 suggests that galaxies in the universe
00:27:40 --> 00:27:42 in the very distant universe have a
00:27:42 --> 00:27:44 preferred direction of rotation is that
00:27:44 --> 00:27:47 right that is weird because we expect it
00:27:47 --> 00:27:52 to be random over the whole universe
00:27:52 --> 00:27:55 wow that's one that we we might cover
00:27:55 --> 00:27:57 yeah that that that'd be a really good
00:27:57 --> 00:28:00 story um but uh fabulous uh question
00:28:00 --> 00:28:02 from Mark and we appreciate uh him
00:28:02 --> 00:28:05 sending that in it also reminds me Fred
00:28:05 --> 00:28:07 the um the other day I I I saw that
00:28:07 --> 00:28:10 story resurface in the media about um
00:28:10 --> 00:28:13 our universe existing within a black
00:28:13 --> 00:28:15 hole so that one's doing the rounds
00:28:15 --> 00:28:18 again that's right and and that those
00:28:18 --> 00:28:21 two stories are inter interconnected
00:28:21 --> 00:28:22 because one of the possible
00:28:22 --> 00:28:24 interpretations of having galaxies that
00:28:24 --> 00:28:27 rotate in a particular way is that the
00:28:27 --> 00:28:30 universe is inside a black hole yeah
00:28:30 --> 00:28:33 yeah that's that's just way too much for
00:28:33 --> 00:28:36 me to think about that's when I have
00:28:36 --> 00:28:37 enough trouble backing the car out of a
00:28:37 --> 00:28:39 garage
00:28:40 --> 00:28:42 is your garage a black hole yep can be
00:28:42 --> 00:28:45 where can be might be yeah a lot of them
00:28:45 --> 00:28:48 are these days yes all right thank you
00:28:48 --> 00:28:51 Mark thank you to everybody who uh sent
00:28:51 --> 00:28:54 in questions um we need some more uh so
00:28:54 --> 00:28:57 if you'd like to uh send a question into
00:28:57 --> 00:28:59 us go to our website
00:28:59 --> 00:29:02 spacenutspodcast.com or
00:29:02 --> 00:29:05 spacenuts.io and just uh click on the
00:29:05 --> 00:29:07 AMA link at the top which we still
00:29:07 --> 00:29:09 haven't been able to rename so uh that's
00:29:09 --> 00:29:13 where you can send uh audio questions or
00:29:13 --> 00:29:15 text questions uh and uh please tell us
00:29:16 --> 00:29:17 who you are and where you're from
00:29:17 --> 00:29:19 because we just like to know so we can
00:29:19 --> 00:29:22 spam you no we don't do that we don't do
00:29:22 --> 00:29:26 that hugh does that thanks to you in the
00:29:26 --> 00:29:28 studio i wondered how I'd get him today
00:29:28 --> 00:29:31 that That one worked uh and um we'll see
00:29:31 --> 00:29:33 you later Fred thank you so much great
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35 pleasure Andrew always good to chat and
00:29:35 --> 00:29:38 we'll see you next time we will indeed
00:29:38 --> 00:29:40 fred Watson astronomer at large and yes
00:29:40 --> 00:29:42 thanks to Hugh in the studio and from me
00:29:42 --> 00:29:44 Andrew Dunley thanks for your company
00:29:44 --> 00:29:45 we'll see you on the very next episode
00:29:45 --> 00:29:48 of Space Nuts until then bye-bye space
00:29:48 --> 00:29:50 Nuts you've been listening to the Space
00:29:50 --> 00:29:53 Nuts podcast
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