Join us as we delve into the latest space science stories, from the universe's most comprehensive magnetic map to the mysteries of black holes and dark matter. Our casual chat is packed with insights into ongoing research and space exploration plans, including Elon Musk's ventures into space and beyond.
In this episode:
The CSIRO's groundbreaking map of the universe's magnetic fields, five times more extensive than previous efforts, revealing complex galactic structures and the role of magnetic fields in galaxy evolution [00:00–10:00]
How polarization and Faraday rotation are used to infer magnetic fields across the cosmos, and what the map tells us about the Milky Way's center [10:00–12:40]
The innovative method of reverberation mapping in studying black holes and the potential connection to dark matter congregations around these cosmic giants [16:37–22:39]
The speculative but exciting prospects for interstellar travel, including the limitations posed by physics, time dilation effects near relativistic speeds, and the Breakthrough Starshot initiative [50:57–55:36]
Elon Musk's recent public offer of SpaceX ventures, merchandise, and the symbolism of mission patches and rockets, illustrating his flair and boldness in space entrepreneurship [24:00–34:10]
The impact of lunar and planetary dynamics on Earth's tides, weather, and ocean currents, with reflections on moonless Earth scenarios [60:00–62:48]
Nostalgic references to 70s science fiction, notably Space 1999, and its imaginative visions of moon-based colonies and space wandering [58:56–59:53]
For enthusiasts eager to explore further, check out resources like:
CSIRO's Magnetic Map of the Universe
Breakthrough Starshot Initiative
SpaceX Official Website
Physical Review D - Space Science Publications
Connect with our guest, Professor Fred Watson:
LinkedIn | Twitter
Looking for the perfect space-themed gear? Visit our Shop for stickers, caps, T-shirts, and mission patches that celebrate our cosmic curiosity.
Join the conversation: Share your questions or comments at spacenutspodcast.com, and help us explore the universe together. Thanks for listening—until next time, keep looking up!
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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/33857597?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Hello again. Thanks for joining us on
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 another episode of Space Nuts. My name
00:00:04 --> 00:00:05 is Andrew Dunley. It's great to have
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 your company. I hope you're well. Uh
00:00:08 --> 00:00:10 coming up in this episode, some exciting
00:00:10 --> 00:00:15 stories and one of them is a new CSIO
00:00:15 --> 00:00:19 map developed in Australia of
00:00:19 --> 00:00:21 magnetic fields. Now, it's been quite a
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 while since they updated this and
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 they've got a new one out and uh it's
00:00:25 --> 00:00:26 quite extraordinary uh the way it was
00:00:26 --> 00:00:28 done and what it shows and and what it
00:00:28 --> 00:00:31 can be used for. Uh we've also got a new
00:00:31 --> 00:00:34 report about the relationship or
00:00:34 --> 00:00:37 otherwise between uh black holes and
00:00:37 --> 00:00:39 dark matter. Now, this is interesting
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 because it's only been a theory until
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 now. Now, this isn't absolute proof, but
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 it's a step closer to proving there is
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 something going on between the two of
00:00:50 --> 00:00:51 them. and they just don't want anyone to
00:00:51 --> 00:00:55 know. And the world's first trillionaire
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 goes public. We'll talk about all of
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00 that on this episode of Space Nuts.
00:01:00 --> 00:01:05 >> 15 seconds. Guidance is internal. 10 9g
00:01:05 --> 00:01:06 Ignition sequence start.
00:01:06 --> 00:01:07 >> Space nuts.
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 >> 5 4 3 2
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 >> 1 2 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1
00:01:12 --> 00:01:13 >> Space Nuts.
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 >> Astronauts report. It feels good. And
00:01:16 --> 00:01:19 he's with us again for another dose of
00:01:19 --> 00:01:20 whatever it is he takes before he talks
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 to me. It's Professor Fred. What's an
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 astronomer at large? Hello, Fred.
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 >> It's a good cup of tea that I take
00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 normally.
00:01:29 --> 00:01:32 Uh I I I've been drinking a bit more tea
00:01:32 --> 00:01:36 of late only because um by the afternoon
00:01:36 --> 00:01:38 I'm not really into coffee. But
00:01:38 --> 00:01:41 >> today I did have coffee. So
00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 >> um do love my coffee.
00:01:43 --> 00:01:44 >> I do too. But
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 >> I make my own. I I got the whole barista
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 thing going. I'm even doing I'm even
00:01:49 --> 00:01:50 doing latte art, Fred.
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 >> Oh, really?
00:01:52 --> 00:01:53 >> I don't know if you'll see this. I I
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 took this photo
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 um today of my latte art. Can you see
00:01:58 --> 00:01:59 that?
00:01:59 --> 00:02:00 >> That is brilliant.
00:02:00 --> 00:02:01 >> Yeah.
00:02:01 --> 00:02:05 >> That's real self. Selfaugh barista.
00:02:05 --> 00:02:06 >> Yes.
00:02:06 --> 00:02:08 >> I don't know what it is. Some kind some
00:02:08 --> 00:02:09 kind of flower. Like a lotus flower.
00:02:09 --> 00:02:12 >> Well, it reminds me of ears of corn.
00:02:12 --> 00:02:13 >> Oh, yeah. It does, doesn't it?
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's what it
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 >> or just ducks sitting on top of each
00:02:17 --> 00:02:17 other or something.
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 >> Could be your could be your corny latte.
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 >> Yes, it could be. Yeah. Anyway, I've
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 been working on that. That's
00:02:25 --> 00:02:26 >> impressive. I was going to do a whole
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 series and put them on Instagram of my
00:02:28 --> 00:02:31 progression through being really crap at
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 it and to reaching a point where it's,
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 you know, something to look at. But I
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 didn't bother and now I wish I had
00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 because I've had some epic fails. But,
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 um, that one came out quite well today.
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 That's very nice. Well done.
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 >> Right, let's uh let's get on with this
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 because uh we've got a lot to talk about
00:02:49 --> 00:02:52 as always and our first story comes from
00:02:52 --> 00:02:56 Australia, mate. And it is the uh the
00:02:56 --> 00:03:00 remapping of uh the magnetic fields of a
00:03:00 --> 00:03:04 large swave of um the universe or is it
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 a large sway of whatever piece of the
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 backyard sky someone can see out of? I'm
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 not sure how much of it they got.
00:03:12 --> 00:03:13 a good chunk of it actually. Um
00:03:13 --> 00:03:14 >> I thought so
00:03:14 --> 00:03:18 >> because um so this was these
00:03:18 --> 00:03:22 observations were made at uh an site in
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 Western Australia known as in Yarimani
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 Ilgari Bundura which is Wadger for
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 sharing sky and stars. The Wadger people
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 are the traditional owners there and
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 it's also called the CSRO Merches and
00:03:33 --> 00:03:35 Radio Astronomy Observatory but we tend
00:03:35 --> 00:03:38 to refer to it as Inarima Ilgari Bunda
00:03:38 --> 00:03:42 because it's a very nice name. Uh so
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 what's there? There is uh first of all
00:03:45 --> 00:03:49 um it's the site for the low frequency
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 uh arm of the square kilometer array. Uh
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 the square kilometer array observatory
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 exists in three places. Uh one is
00:03:56 --> 00:03:58 western Australia where the low
00:03:58 --> 00:04:00 frequency antennas are. Uh the other is
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 in South Africa where the mid-frequency
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 antennas are and the other is near
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 Manchester where the headquarters are.
00:04:08 --> 00:04:10 Um that's Jodel Bank is where the
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 headquarters of SKAO are. Uh and they've
00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 just got a new director general by the
00:04:16 --> 00:04:19 way. Um Jessica Dempsey I think is her
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 name. Somebody I've kind of run into
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 before over the years. Uh is um uh the
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 new director general of the SKAO
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 observatory. Sorry, SKA Observatory.
00:04:29 --> 00:04:32 Anyway, yeah. Also on the site in
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 Western Australia is ASCAP, which is the
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 Australian
00:04:37 --> 00:04:38 SKA
00:04:38 --> 00:04:42 Pathfinder, ASK AP.
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 >> Coincidence an ASCAP is also something
00:04:44 --> 00:04:45 you can wear if you don't have any
00:04:46 --> 00:04:50 pants.
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 >> There's no answer to that, Andrew. I uh
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 No,
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 >> no, we just let that one.
00:04:57 --> 00:04:59 >> I might leave that one alone. Yeah.
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 Anyway, notwithstanding that,
00:05:02 --> 00:05:03 see, you don't get this on other
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 podcasts, do you? It's why we're number
00:05:06 --> 00:05:07 one in Iceland.
00:05:07 --> 00:05:09 >> That's right.
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 >> We are. Thank you, Iceland.
00:05:11 --> 00:05:15 >> Absolutely. Go for it. Um I forgot. Yes.
00:05:15 --> 00:05:19 ASCAP. The not the not the garment, but
00:05:19 --> 00:05:22 the um the radio telescope array. 36 12
00:05:22 --> 00:05:27 m dishes which were built um over the I
00:05:27 --> 00:05:28 guess 15 years ago was when they
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 started. It's been operational for
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 probably more than 10 years now and done
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 some fabulous work. Uh, but the latest
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 piece of high-profile research that's
00:05:37 --> 00:05:40 come from ASCAP is exactly as you've
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 said, the largest magnetic map of the
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 universe ever produced. Five times
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 larger than all previous efforts
00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 combined and it marks the beginning of a
00:05:49 --> 00:05:50 new generation of research into the
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 field of intergalactic magnetism. And
00:05:53 --> 00:05:55 I'm reading there from the CSRO news
00:05:55 --> 00:05:57 release. Um, you could probably spot the
00:05:57 --> 00:05:59 hype, but it's welldeserved hype as
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 well. And a welld deserved kudos to the
00:06:02 --> 00:06:06 team leader, Alec Thompson of CSRO. Um,
00:06:06 --> 00:06:10 what they've done is used the telescope
00:06:10 --> 00:06:14 in a in a I suppose an innovative way.
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 Uh, how do you measure magnetic fields?
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 Well, you know, normally to measure a
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 magnetic field, we stick a magnetometer
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 in the way. That's how magnetic fields
00:06:23 --> 00:06:24 are measured in the solar system by
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 various spacecraft because they carry
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 magnetometers which measure the local
00:06:28 --> 00:06:31 magnetic field of where you are. Um, and
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 that gives us some insights into not
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 just the the Sun's magnetic field, not
00:06:36 --> 00:06:37 the Earth's magnetic field and the Sun's
00:06:37 --> 00:06:40 magnetic field, but also uh courtesy of
00:06:40 --> 00:06:42 Voyager, the two Voyager spacecraft, the
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 galaxy's magnetic field, because we can
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 sense the direction of that with the
00:06:47 --> 00:06:49 magnetometers uh carried by those
00:06:49 --> 00:06:50 spacecraft which are now beyond the
00:06:50 --> 00:06:54 sun's magnetic influence. But uh it's
00:06:54 --> 00:06:59 quite a a long jump from the environs of
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 the solar system to the universe as a
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 whole. Uh which is what these scientists
00:07:05 --> 00:07:11 have done. And the basic technique is uh
00:07:11 --> 00:07:15 it's all about um polarization.
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 And we've talked about polarization
00:07:17 --> 00:07:21 before. We all know what it does when we
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 wear our polarizing sunglasses and
00:07:23 --> 00:07:26 you're driving your car into the
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 sunlight and there's a huge reflection
00:07:28 --> 00:07:30 coming off the road, especially if it's
00:07:30 --> 00:07:33 wet. Uh, and your polarizing sunglasses
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 magically take that away. That's
00:07:35 --> 00:07:38 happening because the the light waves uh
00:07:38 --> 00:07:41 have um
00:07:41 --> 00:07:43 they're if you think of them as as just
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 being wiggles in space, which they are
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 electromagnetic wiggles, they have a
00:07:47 --> 00:07:50 preferred direction. Um normal light has
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 a mix of all these directions, but uh it
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 turns out that you can separate out them
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 by using well a polarizing filter, which
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00 is what we've got in our sunglasses that
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 only lets through the vibrations that
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 are vertical. That's the vertical
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 direction of the light that's coming to
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 you. Because the horizontal ones which
00:08:09 --> 00:08:13 are um very much reflected in the uh in
00:08:13 --> 00:08:15 in the in the you know in the reflection
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 from the wet road they are canceled out
00:08:17 --> 00:08:20 and so you don't see them.
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 >> Uh so so we're kind of familiar with
00:08:22 --> 00:08:25 that effect that idea of the direction
00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 of vibration of of light waves. Well the
00:08:28 --> 00:08:32 same holds good in um in radio waves.
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 And so ASCAP and many other radio
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 telescopes can actually sense the
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 polarization of the radio signals that
00:08:40 --> 00:08:43 they're receiving from deep space. Uh
00:08:43 --> 00:08:45 and so that's all well and good. You can
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 sense the polarization, but you can also
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 detect if that polarization's been
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 twisted. And that's what happens when
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 the light passes through a magnetic
00:08:56 --> 00:08:59 field. Um it it actually rotates. It's
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 called Faraday rotation. It's the plane
00:09:01 --> 00:09:05 of the of the radio waves twists and you
00:09:06 --> 00:09:09 can detect that with an array like ASCAP
00:09:09 --> 00:09:12 and that is what has allowed people to
00:09:12 --> 00:09:13 measure the magnetic field of the
00:09:13 --> 00:09:15 universe because
00:09:15 --> 00:09:19 what you do is you look at the light
00:09:19 --> 00:09:22 from a distant galaxy and you look at
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 the way its polarization changes uh as
00:09:25 --> 00:09:27 that light comes towards us by using
00:09:27 --> 00:09:30 this technique. And so what you what
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 you're saying is that you've got a kind
00:09:32 --> 00:09:36 of um you know a beacon lamp in the
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 distance and what you can sense is
00:09:38 --> 00:09:39 what's happening to the light coming
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42 from that as it passes through magnetic
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 fields on its way. And so that's the
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 basis of the map. Um as far as I can
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 tell from because I'm not a radio
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 astronomer which is patently obvious
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 probably from the way I'm talking about
00:09:54 --> 00:09:58 it. Um I I think you you probably don't
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 know how far away that magnetic field
00:10:00 --> 00:10:05 is. And so um what you can infer is uh
00:10:05 --> 00:10:07 how how for example how rapidly it
00:10:07 --> 00:10:11 changes uh depending on the position in
00:10:12 --> 00:10:15 the sky. Um it's there's there's when
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 you look at this map and I urge our
00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 listeners to have a look at it. It's
00:10:19 --> 00:10:21 pretty easy to find the largest magnetic
00:10:21 --> 00:10:23 map of the universe yet. Um you'll see
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 lots of colors. Um the colors I think
00:10:26 --> 00:10:29 are colorcoded in that um I think if I
00:10:29 --> 00:10:32 remember rightly red is with the north
00:10:32 --> 00:10:34 pole pointing towards us of the
00:10:34 --> 00:10:37 magnetism and blue is it pointing the
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 other way. Um and so that uh lets you
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 sense the magnetism along that line of
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 sight. And so the the biggest detail is
00:10:45 --> 00:10:48 actually in the galactic center which is
00:10:48 --> 00:10:50 full of churning magnetic fields. I I
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 guess you're having a look at it now. I
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 I'm looking at it right this minute and
00:10:54 --> 00:10:55 yeah, you're right that they they're
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 explaining that just like um you've got
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 blue shift and red shift with with light
00:10:59 --> 00:11:01 waves, the magnetic
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 >> fields have the same kind of qualities
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 in terms of north south
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08 >> on the um on the magnetic plane. And
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 yes, the center of the Milky Way galaxy
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 is probably the most volatile part of
00:11:12 --> 00:11:15 this entire picture. Um yeah, not
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 surprising. We live there. We know we
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 know all about volatility. Yeah, it's
00:11:20 --> 00:11:23 home from home. Uh, and just just going
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 back to um what you said a few minutes
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 ago, um there is a there is a hole in
00:11:27 --> 00:11:31 the in the uh map and that's because
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 ASCAP there's certainly regions of the
00:11:33 --> 00:11:35 northern sky that ASCAP can't see
00:11:35 --> 00:11:37 because they're permanently below the
00:11:37 --> 00:11:38 horizon. They're relatively small
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 actually because ASCAP can look a long
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 way down towards the horizon, much
00:11:42 --> 00:11:43 further than we can in optical
00:11:43 --> 00:11:45 astronomy. in optical astronomy that the
00:11:45 --> 00:11:47 atmosphere just gets too thick when
00:11:47 --> 00:11:49 you're looking very low down and so you
00:11:49 --> 00:11:50 get all the distortions and everything
00:11:50 --> 00:11:53 from the atmosphere. That doesn't happen
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 uh with low frequency radio waves. So um
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 the the gap that's missing because of
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 the northern hemisphere uh because it's
00:12:00 --> 00:12:01 not visible to the telescope that's
00:12:01 --> 00:12:04 actually relatively small compared with
00:12:04 --> 00:12:06 if it was an optical astronomy picture
00:12:06 --> 00:12:07 that you were looking at. But yes, the
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 this this map has the the line of the
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 Milky Way across its equator across the
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 middle. Um, lots of magnetic turbulence
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 in there. Some really intriguing
00:12:17 --> 00:12:19 features, things that look like magnetic
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 fingers just sort of pointing around.
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 It's a remarkable map which um, yeah, I
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 encourage people to have a look at.
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28 Yeah. Just by way of um, taking this a
00:12:28 --> 00:12:32 step further. Uh, what can they now or
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 what can anybody now do with a map like
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 this? Because it's been made publicly
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 available, hasn't it? Yes. So, that
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 that's exactly right. those data are now
00:12:41 --> 00:12:43 publicly available. By the way, I do
00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 like the name of it which is spice
00:12:46 --> 00:12:47 racks.
00:12:47 --> 00:12:51 >> Yeah. Uh so RAX is the rapid ASCAP
00:12:51 --> 00:12:55 continuum survey and I've forgotten what
00:12:55 --> 00:12:57 spice is but it's something equally
00:12:58 --> 00:13:00 equally delightful. Uh but the spice
00:13:00 --> 00:13:03 rack survey I think is uh is you know
00:13:03 --> 00:13:06 it's got its own uh own charm about it.
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 I I was going to say something tongue
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 and cheek about a a girl group named
00:13:11 --> 00:13:12 something to do with spice.
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 >> Oh yes, I know the one you
00:13:14 --> 00:13:16 >> and then then I thought no, you can't
00:13:16 --> 00:13:17 really associate that with racks. You
00:13:17 --> 00:13:19 could get yourself smacked across the
00:13:19 --> 00:13:20 face.
00:13:20 --> 00:13:21 >> I would leave that well alone.
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 >> I will I won't mention it.
00:13:23 --> 00:13:24 >> Yeah.
00:13:24 --> 00:13:28 So um it's Yes. So it's so and and yes,
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 as you said the the data are already
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 publicly available. uh research groups
00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 are already actually digging through
00:13:36 --> 00:13:40 this to see what it tells us about the
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 you know the magnetism of galaxies for a
00:13:42 --> 00:13:46 start. Uh it's and and just the way the
00:13:46 --> 00:13:49 environment of a galaxy is dominated by
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 a particular magnetic field. It's only
00:13:51 --> 00:13:54 recently that we've understood that
00:13:54 --> 00:13:57 cosmic magnetic fields i.e. magnetic
00:13:57 --> 00:14:00 fields in space play a huge role in so
00:14:00 --> 00:14:02 many areas of astrophysics. But
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 certainly in the way galaxies evolve
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07 over the millennia,
00:14:07 --> 00:14:09 billennia I suppose they are uh the way
00:14:09 --> 00:14:13 they evolve uh is um is very much
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 dominated by the local magnetic fields.
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 And one of the big puzzles in cosmology,
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 the science of you know the universe as
00:14:20 --> 00:14:22 a whole is where did these magnetic
00:14:22 --> 00:14:24 fields come from in the first place?
00:14:24 --> 00:14:27 Yeah. And it's actually one of it's one
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 of the things on the list of target
00:14:30 --> 00:14:31 science that as that the square
00:14:32 --> 00:14:34 kilometer array itself was designed to
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36 address. What's the origin of the of the
00:14:36 --> 00:14:39 cosmic magnetic field? Because we really
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 don't know how they came to exist and
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 more than that we don't know how
00:14:44 --> 00:14:47 magnetic fields have changed as you know
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 as the universe itself has evolved. All
00:14:49 --> 00:14:50 this lets you do that because of course
00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 as you look further out into space
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 you're looking further back in time. So
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 there's a a time dimension of this as
00:14:56 --> 00:14:57 well.
00:14:57 --> 00:14:58 >> Yep. There's a there's a lot of
00:14:58 --> 00:15:00 magnetism out there and as you say they
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 don't know where it came from. Uh we
00:15:02 --> 00:15:04 probably would have solved it solved it
00:15:04 --> 00:15:06 except dark matter and dark energy came
00:15:06 --> 00:15:07 along and we went oh well this is more
00:15:07 --> 00:15:10 exciting but um yeah it's just another
00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 one of those mysteries by the look of
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 >> it is and I I you know I'm sure the um
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 all the scientists who've been involved
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 with this have got magnetic
00:15:19 --> 00:15:20 personalities.
00:15:20 --> 00:15:24 >> Oh sorry I do my best. We aim to please.
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 >> Pretty good that one. All right. If
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 you'd like to read up on it, you can do
00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 that through the CSRO website. It's an
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 Australian website and you can download
00:15:32 --> 00:15:35 the map. It's only 6 million megaby.
00:15:35 --> 00:15:38 It's 6 megabytes. It's not a big file in
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 the modern age. Uh you can also read the
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 paper in publications of the
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 Astronomical Society of Australia. This
00:15:46 --> 00:15:49 is Space Nuts with Professor Fred Watson
00:15:49 --> 00:15:53 and Andrew Dunley.
00:15:54 --> 00:15:55 G and I feel fine.
00:15:55 --> 00:15:59 >> Space nuts. All right. Um, now you did
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 you did press record, didn't you?
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04 >> I did press record. Yes. Um, yes. The
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 giant gap was a misfire.
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 >> Oh, good. That's good. Okay. We get
00:16:08 --> 00:16:11 those. Uh, now, uh, our next story, it's
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 a, uh, a new report about the
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 relationship between black holes and
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 dark matter. Now, this is this is
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 something that our audience has quite
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 often thrown up. you know, there's got
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 to be a connection uh between black
00:16:23 --> 00:16:27 holes and and dark matter, etc., etc. Uh
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 and now they've released a paper that's
00:16:29 --> 00:16:32 suggesting just that.
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 >> Yes, this is really interesting stuff.
00:16:34 --> 00:16:37 And of course, it it um it covers two of
00:16:37 --> 00:16:41 the most popular topics that we discuss
00:16:41 --> 00:16:44 on on Space Nuts. Uh this is research uh
00:16:44 --> 00:16:47 from Virginia Tech uh in the United
00:16:47 --> 00:16:51 States and it it's very neat because it
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 uses a technique that I've always found
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 absolutely fascinating
00:16:55 --> 00:16:59 um which is it's got a fancy name uh
00:16:59 --> 00:17:03 called reverberation mapping uh but we
00:17:03 --> 00:17:07 usually talk about light echoes uh and
00:17:07 --> 00:17:10 the the easiest way to envisage it is uh
00:17:10 --> 00:17:14 the one that I think drew everybody's
00:17:14 --> 00:17:16 attention to this phenomenon back in the
00:17:16 --> 00:17:18 1980s
00:17:18 --> 00:17:22 uh when supernova 1987a
00:17:22 --> 00:17:25 the nearest supernova to us since Kepler
00:17:25 --> 00:17:29 supernova in6004 I think it was um that
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 uh became very much the object of
00:17:31 --> 00:17:33 attention uh it was in the large melanic
00:17:33 --> 00:17:36 cloud so 165 lighty years away from
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 us as the crow flies uh and what was
00:17:40 --> 00:17:43 discovered as time went on was the so
00:17:43 --> 00:17:45 the the supernova explodes. You've got
00:17:45 --> 00:17:47 this brilliant flash of light. It was
00:17:47 --> 00:17:49 easily visible to the naked eye. I
00:17:49 --> 00:17:52 remember looking at it. Uh and uh then
00:17:52 --> 00:17:55 as time goes by the light fades, but
00:17:55 --> 00:17:58 what you get uh
00:17:58 --> 00:18:01 as time goes on is a series of rings
00:18:01 --> 00:18:04 around the apparently around the the
00:18:04 --> 00:18:08 site of the explosion. And those rings
00:18:08 --> 00:18:12 are caused by light being reflected off
00:18:12 --> 00:18:15 clouds of dust which are between us and
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17 the supernova. And you can do all kinds
00:18:17 --> 00:18:21 of really neat calculations uh to dis
00:18:21 --> 00:18:23 discover how thick those clouds of dust
00:18:23 --> 00:18:25 are, where they are in relation to the
00:18:25 --> 00:18:28 supernova. Um uh one of my colleagues
00:18:28 --> 00:18:30 for now sadly no longer with us, David
00:18:30 --> 00:18:34 Allen was a past master about working on
00:18:34 --> 00:18:36 this and writing about it. And uh that
00:18:36 --> 00:18:38 those rings are called light echoes
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 because it's the echo of the light of
00:18:40 --> 00:18:43 the supernova which has now faded away
00:18:43 --> 00:18:44 but you can still see it because it's
00:18:44 --> 00:18:47 bouncing off off clouds of dust in
00:18:47 --> 00:18:51 space. So what this article is about the
00:18:52 --> 00:18:53 Virginia Tech work that we've just
00:18:53 --> 00:18:56 mentioned is we know that black holes
00:18:56 --> 00:18:59 super massive black holes are surrounded
00:18:59 --> 00:19:03 by swirling discs of matter uh they're
00:19:03 --> 00:19:05 called the accretion disc. It's the
00:19:05 --> 00:19:07 stuff that's basically swirling around
00:19:07 --> 00:19:10 the plug hole uh before it either gets
00:19:10 --> 00:19:12 sucked into the black hole or shot out
00:19:12 --> 00:19:14 vertically from the poles of the black
00:19:14 --> 00:19:17 hole, the rotation poles in the form of
00:19:17 --> 00:19:18 these jets which we hear a lot about.
00:19:18 --> 00:19:21 But the accretion disc itself is bright
00:19:21 --> 00:19:25 and it um in X-rays and radio.
00:19:25 --> 00:19:28 Uh once in a while um a larger dollop of
00:19:28 --> 00:19:32 matter enters the accretion disc and you
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 get this outburst. you get a brilliant
00:19:34 --> 00:19:39 outburst of of of radiation. Um, and
00:19:39 --> 00:19:42 that outburst is relatively short-lived.
00:19:42 --> 00:19:44 It might last for a few weeks or even
00:19:44 --> 00:19:47 months, but it's short-lived. And so
00:19:47 --> 00:19:50 what you can look for is a light echo
00:19:50 --> 00:19:52 around it because that light radiates
00:19:52 --> 00:19:55 outwards from the accretion disc. And if
00:19:55 --> 00:19:58 it hits anything, you know, outside it,
00:19:58 --> 00:20:00 it will reflect back to us and we'll see
00:20:00 --> 00:20:05 it at a later date from when the bright
00:20:05 --> 00:20:07 event itself happened. So you see the
00:20:07 --> 00:20:10 bright event in the accretion disc and
00:20:10 --> 00:20:13 then at some time later you see an an
00:20:13 --> 00:20:15 echo of that light which is being
00:20:15 --> 00:20:18 reflected off usually gas and dust which
00:20:18 --> 00:20:21 is surrounding the uh the accretion
00:20:21 --> 00:20:23 disc. What this story is all about
00:20:23 --> 00:20:27 though is that when you do calculations
00:20:27 --> 00:20:32 about how much material there is in the
00:20:32 --> 00:20:35 accretion disc where the echo is taking
00:20:35 --> 00:20:38 place, you get a much higher mass than
00:20:38 --> 00:20:41 what you can see. And that's al always
00:20:41 --> 00:20:45 the um that's always the uh uh kind of
00:20:45 --> 00:20:48 telltale signature of dark matter uh
00:20:48 --> 00:20:50 when you can only see a limited amount
00:20:50 --> 00:20:53 of stuff but gravity tells you that
00:20:53 --> 00:20:55 there's much more there's more there
00:20:55 --> 00:20:56 >> and that's exactly the basis of this
00:20:56 --> 00:20:59 story. So, it's just a new way of
00:20:59 --> 00:21:03 detecting the dark matter uh around
00:21:04 --> 00:21:06 black holes. But it looks as though
00:21:06 --> 00:21:09 black holes, as you'd expect, not only
00:21:09 --> 00:21:12 are a magnet for regular matter, uh I
00:21:12 --> 00:21:14 mean a gravitational magnet. I guess
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 it's not magnetic in the sense that
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 we've just been talking about uh but a
00:21:18 --> 00:21:21 gravitational uh pull for normal matter.
00:21:21 --> 00:21:24 It's also a gravitational pull for dark
00:21:24 --> 00:21:25 matter as well. And it looks as though
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27 the dark matter actually congregates
00:21:28 --> 00:21:31 around black holes that we've got these
00:21:31 --> 00:21:34 buildups of dark matter in the vicinity
00:21:34 --> 00:21:35 of of a black hole.
00:21:35 --> 00:21:37 >> Quite remarkable.
00:21:37 --> 00:21:39 >> Now the the situation is that they
00:21:39 --> 00:21:42 haven't absolutely proven it. They've
00:21:42 --> 00:21:44 just come up with a way of suggesting
00:21:44 --> 00:21:47 that this might be the case. But um
00:21:48 --> 00:21:49 yeah, it's not absolute. It's not it's
00:21:49 --> 00:21:51 not
00:21:51 --> 00:21:54 >> fact. It's it it is in the sense that um
00:21:54 --> 00:21:57 they've looked at this for for 14
00:21:57 --> 00:21:59 different galaxies
00:21:59 --> 00:22:03 >> and and all found cases where uh what
00:22:03 --> 00:22:05 what you what you're looking for is the
00:22:05 --> 00:22:07 way the mass changes with distance from
00:22:07 --> 00:22:10 the black hole and that mass is
00:22:10 --> 00:22:12 increasing because you're looking at
00:22:12 --> 00:22:14 stuff swirling around. But the increase
00:22:14 --> 00:22:18 in mass is faster than the visible
00:22:18 --> 00:22:21 matter on its own can explain. Yeah. And
00:22:21 --> 00:22:23 that's the it's a kind of smoking gun
00:22:23 --> 00:22:24 for dark matter really.
00:22:24 --> 00:22:26 >> Yeah. I I've I've found the paragraph.
00:22:26 --> 00:22:28 It says data limitations mean the
00:22:28 --> 00:22:31 results are a proof of concept, not a
00:22:31 --> 00:22:34 definitive dete detection, but the study
00:22:34 --> 00:22:36 outlines a clear path to confirmation.
00:22:36 --> 00:22:37 >> That's right. Yeah. So
00:22:37 --> 00:22:38 >> we're almost there.
00:22:38 --> 00:22:40 >> We're almost there. That's exactly
00:22:40 --> 00:22:41 right. We're almost there.
00:22:41 --> 00:22:44 >> That is very exciting news. And um that
00:22:44 --> 00:22:46 will stop probably 75% of the questions
00:22:46 --> 00:22:50 we get on our Q&A editions.
00:22:50 --> 00:22:53 Well, it it might, but I bet it produces
00:22:53 --> 00:22:56 another 150% about what it is that we're
00:22:56 --> 00:22:58 finding. And how do we know? Why isn't
00:22:58 --> 00:23:00 it Mond and things like that?
00:23:00 --> 00:23:02 >> Yeah. Yes. Oh gosh. It will just it
00:23:02 --> 00:23:03 it'll never end.
00:23:03 --> 00:23:04 >> It will never end.
00:23:04 --> 00:23:06 >> I hope it never ends. I think it's
00:23:06 --> 00:23:06 great.
00:23:06 --> 00:23:07 >> So do I.
00:23:07 --> 00:23:08 >> But if you want to read about it, it's
00:23:08 --> 00:23:11 at fizz.org. Uh they publish the paper
00:23:11 --> 00:23:14 in the physical review D. Does that mean
00:23:14 --> 00:23:16 there's an A, B, and C that comes?
00:23:16 --> 00:23:17 >> Yes, it does.
00:23:17 --> 00:23:19 >> I assume so. Yes. But um that's a
00:23:19 --> 00:23:21 high-profile journal though, Physical
00:23:21 --> 00:23:24 Review. It's uh definitely uh
00:23:24 --> 00:23:27 >> you know it's it's ranks with nature and
00:23:27 --> 00:23:28 science and these very high-profile
00:23:28 --> 00:23:31 journals. So it's it's not work that is
00:23:31 --> 00:23:34 in any way secondary. It's not like
00:23:34 --> 00:23:36 Space Nuts where it's adequate. This is
00:23:36 --> 00:23:41 top top top running stuff. Indeed it is.
00:23:41 --> 00:23:43 Uh yes. So read about it at physical
00:23:43 --> 00:23:45 review or at fizz.org. This is Space
00:23:45 --> 00:23:47 Nuts. Andrew Dunley here with Professor
00:23:47 --> 00:23:51 Fred Watson.
00:23:51 --> 00:23:54 >> Okay, we checked all four systems and
00:23:54 --> 00:23:56 >> Space Nets.
00:23:56 --> 00:23:59 >> Our final story, Fred, uh takes us into
00:23:59 --> 00:24:02 the realm of um publicly offering your
00:24:02 --> 00:24:05 company up on the stock exchange.
00:24:05 --> 00:24:07 >> I wonder why we're going to talk about
00:24:07 --> 00:24:07 that.
00:24:07 --> 00:24:09 >> I wonder why. Uh the world's first
00:24:09 --> 00:24:12 trillionaire has just done that in um in
00:24:12 --> 00:24:14 a very interesting way. And to coincide
00:24:14 --> 00:24:17 with the launch, he's um he's selling
00:24:17 --> 00:24:19 stuff like we do on on the Space Nuts
00:24:19 --> 00:24:22 shop. All sorts of little bits and bobs
00:24:22 --> 00:24:24 if you want a piece of the action.
00:24:24 --> 00:24:26 >> Yes, the IPO merch.
00:24:26 --> 00:24:28 >> It is it really is a remarkable story
00:24:28 --> 00:24:31 though uh Elon Musk and SpaceX because
00:24:31 --> 00:24:34 uh as as this article um briefly
00:24:34 --> 00:24:36 mentions, he didn't think the company
00:24:36 --> 00:24:39 would survive. He didn't expect it to to
00:24:39 --> 00:24:41 actually be a success. He gave it a very
00:24:41 --> 00:24:44 low chance of lasting and look at him
00:24:44 --> 00:24:46 now.
00:24:46 --> 00:24:48 >> Quite so. The world's first
00:24:48 --> 00:24:49 trillionaire.
00:24:50 --> 00:24:50 >> Yeah.
00:24:50 --> 00:24:54 >> It's um I mean I don't honestly I know
00:24:54 --> 00:24:55 virtually nothing about the world of
00:24:55 --> 00:24:57 high finance.
00:24:57 --> 00:24:58 >> Um
00:24:58 --> 00:25:00 >> well, you know more than me then.
00:25:00 --> 00:25:02 >> When I see numbers like millions and
00:25:02 --> 00:25:04 billions, I always expect there to be
00:25:04 --> 00:25:05 light years after them rather than
00:25:05 --> 00:25:09 dollars. Uh but yeah, it's uh the the
00:25:10 --> 00:25:13 public the IPO initial public offering
00:25:13 --> 00:25:15 um has valued this company at something
00:25:16 --> 00:25:17 absolutely huge compared with all the
00:25:17 --> 00:25:19 other tech companies that that are being
00:25:19 --> 00:25:22 floated or are likely to be floated into
00:25:22 --> 00:25:25 public ownership. It's enormous.
00:25:25 --> 00:25:28 >> Um is it 170 billion? Am I thinking of
00:25:28 --> 00:25:29 the right number there? Or is that light
00:25:29 --> 00:25:31 years? That could be light years.
00:25:31 --> 00:25:33 >> I don't know.
00:25:33 --> 00:25:35 Uh anyway, the bottom line, so yes, that
00:25:36 --> 00:25:40 was um uh over the weekend that um that
00:25:40 --> 00:25:44 offering IPO uh happened and it was very
00:25:44 --> 00:25:47 successful. Um I heard people on Friday
00:25:47 --> 00:25:49 saying, "Oh no, the it'll probably just
00:25:49 --> 00:25:51 fail because nobody will actually
00:25:51 --> 00:25:53 believe what Elon Musk's saying."
00:25:53 --> 00:25:54 >> Well, they might not have believed what
00:25:54 --> 00:25:56 he was saying, but they put their money
00:25:56 --> 00:25:58 where they where their mouths were. And
00:25:58 --> 00:26:01 um yeah, so it's done very very well.
00:26:01 --> 00:26:03 Um, I think the number I'm thinking of
00:26:03 --> 00:26:05 is $160.95,
00:26:05 --> 00:26:07 which is the share price.
00:26:07 --> 00:26:08 >> Well, I've just looked it up now, and I
00:26:08 --> 00:26:10 know this is being recorded, so by the
00:26:10 --> 00:26:12 time people hear this, the number will
00:26:12 --> 00:26:14 change. But at the moment, at this very
00:26:14 --> 00:26:15 moment,
00:26:16 --> 00:26:17 >> $19
00:26:17 --> 00:26:19 in US.
00:26:19 --> 00:26:21 >> All right. So, they've already gone up
00:26:21 --> 00:26:21 then.
00:26:21 --> 00:26:24 >> They've gone up 19.6%.
00:26:24 --> 00:26:24 >> Yeah.
00:26:24 --> 00:26:27 >> In fact, they're up 31.55%
00:26:27 --> 00:26:29 today. So, not a bad investment really
00:26:29 --> 00:26:30 if you're into that kind of thing.
00:26:30 --> 00:26:31 >> Yeah.
00:26:31 --> 00:26:32 >> Well, we're not into that kind of thing,
00:26:32 --> 00:26:35 but we're definitely into merch. Uh, and
00:26:35 --> 00:26:38 that's what this story is about, right?
00:26:38 --> 00:26:41 >> Because, um, uh, I I I guess the one
00:26:41 --> 00:26:45 thing you can not accuse Elon Musk of is
00:26:45 --> 00:26:48 lacking flare. um because he's done this
00:26:48 --> 00:26:50 very nicely that you can buy a mission
00:26:50 --> 00:26:51 patch
00:26:51 --> 00:26:56 >> for the uh for the IPO uh which says the
00:26:56 --> 00:26:58 future is public. There's a lovely
00:26:58 --> 00:27:01 embroidered uh Starship in the
00:27:01 --> 00:27:03 background. Uh in the middle it says
00:27:03 --> 00:27:06 SPCX which is SpaceX liftoff underneath
00:27:06 --> 00:27:11 it and uh SpaceX 2026. Uh and it's also
00:27:11 --> 00:27:13 got a four-leaf clover on it which I
00:27:13 --> 00:27:15 think is present on all Elon Musk
00:27:15 --> 00:27:17 SpaceX. I think that's been his logo
00:27:17 --> 00:27:19 since day one.
00:27:19 --> 00:27:22 >> Yes. Yeah. A sign of good luck. Maybe
00:27:22 --> 00:27:23 that's what's done it.
00:27:23 --> 00:27:28 >> But the thing I liked was um you can you
00:27:28 --> 00:27:32 can have a souvenir bell. And I guess I
00:27:32 --> 00:27:34 don't know whether bells are normally
00:27:34 --> 00:27:36 associated. I know they're certainly
00:27:36 --> 00:27:37 associated with the stock exchange, but
00:27:38 --> 00:27:40 whether whether with public offerings
00:27:40 --> 00:27:42 they're associated, but they certainly
00:27:42 --> 00:27:44 are in this case. And what he's chosen
00:27:44 --> 00:27:45 for the shape of his bell is something
00:27:45 --> 00:27:49 absolutely perfect. It's the bell um of
00:27:49 --> 00:27:52 a Raptor engine. Uh these rocket motors
00:27:52 --> 00:27:55 have a very strongly bell-shaped uh
00:27:55 --> 00:27:57 thrust chamber. I guess it's the it's
00:27:57 --> 00:28:00 the um opening uh that lets all the gas
00:28:00 --> 00:28:03 out uh after it's been ignited in the
00:28:03 --> 00:28:05 the combustion chamber above it. And so
00:28:05 --> 00:28:07 it's a scale replica of the Raptor
00:28:07 --> 00:28:11 engines that actually power the Falcon
00:28:11 --> 00:28:12 Heavy. Um, I beg you pardon the
00:28:12 --> 00:28:13 superheavy
00:28:14 --> 00:28:16 >> booster which is the basis of Starship.
00:28:16 --> 00:28:19 It's got 33 of these.
00:28:19 --> 00:28:22 >> And um they uh the this one's got a
00:28:22 --> 00:28:24 little clapper in the middle that lets
00:28:24 --> 00:28:27 you ring it as well as all the work. And
00:28:27 --> 00:28:28 apparently it rings. Yes. Cuz there's a
00:28:28 --> 00:28:30 video on the website that shows you
00:28:30 --> 00:28:31 that.
00:28:31 --> 00:28:34 >> Uh they they haven't released those yet
00:28:34 --> 00:28:36 to the public, but they will be out
00:28:36 --> 00:28:37 probably I think they're talking
00:28:37 --> 00:28:41 December. Yeah. And um yeah, there sort
00:28:41 --> 00:28:45 of an 18 cm or 7 in scale model of the
00:28:45 --> 00:28:49 um the SpaceX Raptor bell, but this one
00:28:49 --> 00:28:50 has a
00:28:50 --> 00:28:51 >> you know clunker in it that makes it
00:28:52 --> 00:28:53 ring. I don't know what that thing's
00:28:53 --> 00:28:56 called inside the bell. The dingy thing.
00:28:56 --> 00:28:58 >> It's a clapper. It's a clapper.
00:28:58 --> 00:28:58 >> Is it?
00:28:58 --> 00:29:00 >> That's the name. Yeah. For
00:29:00 --> 00:29:01 >> anyway. So, they're selling those.
00:29:02 --> 00:29:05 They're selling uh tote bags and um as
00:29:06 --> 00:29:08 you said, mission patches, t-shirts,
00:29:08 --> 00:29:10 caps.
00:29:10 --> 00:29:12 Don't let it, you know, he he's um he's
00:29:12 --> 00:29:14 the sort of bloke that never lets
00:29:14 --> 00:29:15 opportunity no
00:29:15 --> 00:29:17 >> get away. No whatsoever.
00:29:17 --> 00:29:20 >> I I did hear some of the things that he
00:29:20 --> 00:29:23 said publicly at the launch, which made
00:29:23 --> 00:29:28 me cringe. Uh because
00:29:28 --> 00:29:33 you know I can I can just about um
00:29:33 --> 00:29:36 believe that we might get humans to Mars
00:29:36 --> 00:29:38 in his lifetime.
00:29:38 --> 00:29:41 >> It won't be millions and that's because
00:29:41 --> 00:29:44 that's immoral apart from anything else.
00:29:44 --> 00:29:49 Um but he was talking about uh the you
00:29:49 --> 00:29:51 know flying through around the solar
00:29:51 --> 00:29:56 system and beyond and at the moment that
00:29:56 --> 00:29:59 is off the agenda. Physics don't doesn't
00:29:59 --> 00:30:02 let you do that. Uh just actually as a
00:30:02 --> 00:30:04 as a little footnote to that I read a
00:30:04 --> 00:30:06 paper yesterday
00:30:06 --> 00:30:09 >> uh which is about you know the idea of
00:30:09 --> 00:30:13 using um photonic propulsion or or
00:30:13 --> 00:30:16 basically uh light energy blasted at a
00:30:16 --> 00:30:19 light sail. You've got a laser uh you
00:30:19 --> 00:30:20 fire it at this light sail and the
00:30:20 --> 00:30:22 spacecraft accelerates because of that.
00:30:22 --> 00:30:25 That's all fine and dandy and will work
00:30:25 --> 00:30:27 um if you can make your spacecraft light
00:30:27 --> 00:30:29 enough. But it turns out that you're not
00:30:29 --> 00:30:31 ever going to get near the speed of
00:30:31 --> 00:30:34 light. You beyond about 75% of the speed
00:30:34 --> 00:30:37 of light. You uh get something called
00:30:37 --> 00:30:40 relativistic drag. Uh where space itself
00:30:40 --> 00:30:42 drags on the light sail as well as any
00:30:42 --> 00:30:44 kind of interstellar matter that you've
00:30:44 --> 00:30:47 got to plow through at the 75% of the
00:30:47 --> 00:30:49 speed of light. So that's not going to
00:30:49 --> 00:30:51 get us touring around the galaxy.
00:30:51 --> 00:30:52 >> No, we'll have to find another way.
00:30:52 --> 00:30:54 >> We need another way. Yes. They need to
00:30:54 --> 00:30:57 go to science fiction writers and see
00:30:57 --> 00:30:59 what they've come up with.
00:30:59 --> 00:31:01 >> Maybe that's what Elon's thinking of.
00:31:01 --> 00:31:03 Maybe he was suddenly in the realm of
00:31:03 --> 00:31:05 science fiction, but he didn't bother to
00:31:05 --> 00:31:05 tell us.
00:31:05 --> 00:31:07 >> No, maybe not. No, but there's no
00:31:07 --> 00:31:11 nothing fictional about his um IP IP.
00:31:11 --> 00:31:13 >> Not at all. Not at all.
00:31:13 --> 00:31:14 >> Initial public offering that is out
00:31:14 --> 00:31:16 there and it is going gang busters. It's
00:31:16 --> 00:31:19 it's burning like a raptor at the
00:31:19 --> 00:31:20 moment.
00:31:20 --> 00:31:22 >> Yeah, probably will. I mean, you you
00:31:22 --> 00:31:25 know, you've got to give the guy credit.
00:31:25 --> 00:31:27 Uh two of the biggest breakthroughs of
00:31:27 --> 00:31:31 our of our generation, uh electric
00:31:31 --> 00:31:34 vehicles and reusable booster rockets.
00:31:34 --> 00:31:36 And basically, they've come from him.
00:31:36 --> 00:31:36 >> Yes, certainly.
00:31:36 --> 00:31:38 >> Tesla. Yes, they have. It's quite
00:31:38 --> 00:31:39 extraordinary.
00:31:39 --> 00:31:41 >> You can read about it at
00:31:41 --> 00:31:43 collectpace.com.
00:31:43 --> 00:31:45 U we won't tell you all the prices of
00:31:45 --> 00:31:47 everything he's selling because that's,
00:31:47 --> 00:31:51 you know, you go and have a look. Um
00:31:51 --> 00:31:54 Totally your call. Um, but I do like the
00:31:54 --> 00:31:56 idea of mission patches and I'm pretty
00:31:56 --> 00:31:59 sure I suggested that to Hugh many years
00:31:59 --> 00:32:01 ago that we should have mission patches.
00:32:01 --> 00:32:01 Yes,
00:32:01 --> 00:32:02 >> we need Yes, we do.
00:32:02 --> 00:32:05 >> Yes, I thought we should a new one for
00:32:05 --> 00:32:07 every episode.
00:32:07 --> 00:32:09 >> Oh, all right. Okay.
00:32:09 --> 00:32:10 >> No, that's a bit much.
00:32:10 --> 00:32:12 >> Well, look, the trouble is the miss
00:32:12 --> 00:32:14 patches, they would just be adequate and
00:32:14 --> 00:32:15 if you
00:32:15 --> 00:32:17 >> Although I think our logo would make a
00:32:17 --> 00:32:18 great patch
00:32:18 --> 00:32:20 >> all on it own. Yeah.
00:32:20 --> 00:32:21 >> Yeah.
00:32:21 --> 00:32:24 >> Anyway, uh we'll we'll do that one day,
00:32:24 --> 00:32:25 maybe. I don't know. There's plenty of
00:32:25 --> 00:32:26 other stuff in the shop. Just go and
00:32:26 --> 00:32:28 have a look in our shop. It's on our
00:32:28 --> 00:32:30 website, spacenutspodcast.com
00:32:30 --> 00:32:33 or spacenuts.io.
00:32:33 --> 00:32:35 Uh click on the shop link and buy
00:32:35 --> 00:32:37 yourself a pair of socks or a notebook
00:32:37 --> 00:32:41 or a um or a coffee cup or a hat or a
00:32:41 --> 00:32:45 hoodie. Um stickers. There's just all
00:32:45 --> 00:32:47 this great stuff there. I've got some of
00:32:47 --> 00:32:49 it. Look, I've got my cup here. See,
00:32:49 --> 00:32:52 here's my cup. Oh, that's nice. Space
00:32:52 --> 00:32:53 nuts cup.
00:32:53 --> 00:32:54 >> Yeah, I might have one of those
00:32:54 --> 00:32:55 somewhere. You
00:32:55 --> 00:32:58 >> probably do. Yes. And I got the tote bag
00:32:58 --> 00:32:59 as well.
00:32:59 --> 00:33:01 >> So, we thought of that before, Elon.
00:33:01 --> 00:33:02 He's probably using the same company
00:33:02 --> 00:33:03 that we do.
00:33:04 --> 00:33:06 >> But, um,
00:33:06 --> 00:33:08 yes. Um, I think that brings us to the
00:33:08 --> 00:33:10 end. Fred, thank you so much.
00:33:10 --> 00:33:12 >> A pleasure, Andrew. Good to talk. And
00:33:12 --> 00:33:14 we'll speak again soon.
00:33:14 --> 00:33:16 >> We will indeed. Professor Fred Watson,
00:33:16 --> 00:33:18 astronomer at large, and thanks to Hugh
00:33:18 --> 00:33:19 in the studio. couldn't be with us today
00:33:19 --> 00:33:21 because he wants to be the world's
00:33:21 --> 00:33:23 second trillionaire and he's just put
00:33:23 --> 00:33:25 down five bucks and he's just watching
00:33:25 --> 00:33:27 to see what happens. And from me, Andrew
00:33:27 --> 00:33:29 Dunley, thanks for your company. We'll
00:33:29 --> 00:33:30 see you on the next episode of Space
00:33:30 --> 00:33:32 Nuts. Bye-bye.
00:33:32 --> 00:33:33 >> Space Nuts.
00:33:33 --> 00:33:35 >> You've been listening to the Space Nuts
00:33:35 --> 00:33:37 podcast
00:33:37 --> 00:33:40 >> available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
00:33:40 --> 00:33:43 iHeart Radio, or your favorite podcast
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