00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 this is spacetime series 27 episode 146
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 for broadcast on the 4th of December
00:00:05 --> 00:00:09 2024 coming up on SpaceTime how a nearby
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 Supernova could end the search for Dark
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 Matter magnetic tornado stirring up the
00:00:14 --> 00:00:17 haze at Jupiter's poles and the world's
00:00:17 --> 00:00:19 biggest digital camera arrives at
00:00:19 --> 00:00:22 nessa's Godard all that and more coming
00:00:22 --> 00:00:24 up on
00:00:24 --> 00:00:27 SpaceTime welcome to SpaceTime with
00:00:27 --> 00:00:29 Stuart Gary
00:00:29 --> 00:00:36 [Music]
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 astronomers are waiting for a neby
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 supernova that could finally end the
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 search for the universe's mysterious
00:00:50 --> 00:00:53 dark matter the nature of dark matter
00:00:53 --> 00:00:55 has eluded astronomers for more than 90
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 years ever since the realization that
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00 85% of all the matter in the universe
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 wasn't visible throughout telescopes the
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 most likely Dark Matter candidate today
00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 a tiny subatomic particles hypothetical
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 particles known as axons and researchers
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 around the world are desperately trying
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 to find them now a new report in the
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 journal physical review letters argues
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 that these axons could be discovered
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 within seconds of the detection of gamma
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 rays from a nearby supern explosion you
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 see according to the theory axons if
00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 they exist would be produced in copious
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 quantities during the first 10 seconds
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 following a core collapse Supernova
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 explosion involving a massive star
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 turning into a neutron star and those
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 axons would then Escape but be
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 transformed into high energy gamma rays
00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 by the star's intense magnetic
00:01:43 --> 00:01:46 field such a detection is possible today
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 only if the lone gamma ray Space
00:01:49 --> 00:01:50 Telescope in orbit above the Earth right
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 now that's the firery gamma ray Space
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 Telescope is pointing in the right
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 direction when the Supernova happens now
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 given the telescope's field of view
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 that's about a one in 10 chance yet a
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 single detection of gamas would be
00:02:04 --> 00:02:06 enough to pinpoint the mass of the Axion
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09 and in particular the so-called qcd
00:02:09 --> 00:02:12 Axion thereby eliminating a huge range
00:02:12 --> 00:02:13 of theoretical masses including Mass
00:02:13 --> 00:02:16 ranges now being scouted and experiments
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 on Earth on the other hand the lack of a
00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 detection would eliminate a large range
00:02:21 --> 00:02:23 of potential masses for the axon in the
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 process making most current Dark Matter
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 searches irrelevant the problem is that
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 for gamma ray to be bright enough to be
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32 detected the Supernova would need to be
00:02:32 --> 00:02:34 really close by that means within our
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 own Milky Way galaxy or one of its
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 nearby satellite galaxies and stars
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 there only explode on average once every
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 few decades in fact the last time one of
00:02:43 --> 00:02:46 these nearby Supernova happened was
00:02:46 --> 00:02:49 1987a in the large melenic Cloud
00:02:49 --> 00:02:51 amazingly at that time the now defun
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 Gamay telescope the solar maximum
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 mission was pointing in the supernova's
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 direction but it wasn't sensitive enough
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 to be able to detect the predicted
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 intensity of those gamar Rays the
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 study's lead author Benjamin safy from
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 the University of California Berkeley
00:03:06 --> 00:03:08 says that if we were to see a supernova
00:03:08 --> 00:03:11 like 1987a with a modern gamma telescope
00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 we should be able to detect or rule out
00:03:13 --> 00:03:16 this qcd Axion across much of its
00:03:16 --> 00:03:18 parameter space and all that would
00:03:18 --> 00:03:20 happen within the first 10 seconds
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 problem is astronomers are really
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 nervous because when this long overdue
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 Supernova does pop off in the nearby
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28 Universe they won't be ready to see any
00:03:28 --> 00:03:30 gamma Ras produced by accident
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 so scientists are now talking with
00:03:32 --> 00:03:34 colleagues who build Gamay telescopes to
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 judge the feasibility of launching one
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 or really a flood of such telescopes to
00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 cover 100% of the sky 24/7 thereby being
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 assured of catching any Gamay burst
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 they've even proposed a name for their
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 full Sky Gamay satellite constellation
00:03:48 --> 00:03:50 the galactic Axion instrument for
00:03:50 --> 00:03:54 Supernova or galaxis for short sey says
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 all of his team members on this project
00:03:56 --> 00:03:57 are pretty stressed out because there's
00:03:58 --> 00:03:59 always the chance of there being the
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 next Supernova before they have the
00:04:01 --> 00:04:03 right instrumentation to study it and it
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 would be a real shame if a supernova
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 went off tomorrow and they missed the
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 opportunity to detect the axons because
00:04:09 --> 00:04:10 there might not be another one for
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 another 50 years Searchers for Dark
00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 Matter originally focused on faint
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 massive compact Halo objects or machos
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 theoretically sprinkled throughout our
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 universe and the cosmos but when that
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 didn't materialize physicists began to
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 look for elementary subatomic particles
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 which theoretically are all around us
00:04:29 --> 00:04:31 and should be detectable in EarthBound
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 Laboratories but these so-called weakly
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36 interacting massive objects or wimps
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 also failed to show up that's why the
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 current best candidate for dark matter
00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 is the Axion a particle that fits nicely
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 within the standard model of particle
00:04:45 --> 00:04:46 physics and solves several other
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 outstanding puzzles in physics as well
00:04:49 --> 00:04:52 Axion also fall neatly out of string
00:04:52 --> 00:04:53 theory the hypothesis about the
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 underlying geometry of the universe and
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 they might even be able to unify gravity
00:04:58 --> 00:05:00 which explains interaction on the cosmic
00:05:00 --> 00:05:02 scale through relativity Theory and the
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 theory of quantum mechanics which
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 describes the subatomic Universe the
00:05:07 --> 00:05:09 strongest candidate for an Axion is a
00:05:09 --> 00:05:12 so-called qcd Axion named after the
00:05:12 --> 00:05:14 reigning theory on the strong nuclear
00:05:14 --> 00:05:15 force Quantum
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 chromodynamics now qcd axons would
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 theoretically interact with all matter
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 though weakly through the four forces of
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 nature gravity electromagnetism the
00:05:25 --> 00:05:26 strong nuclear force which holds atoms
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 together and the weak nuclear force
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 which explains the break up of atoms
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 through processes like radioactive decay
00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 one consequence of all that is that in a
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 strong magnetic field an Axion should
00:05:37 --> 00:05:38 occasionally turn into an
00:05:38 --> 00:05:41 electromagnetic wave or Photon now we
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 should also point out that the Axion is
00:05:43 --> 00:05:44 distinctly different from another
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 lightweight weakly interacting particle
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 the neutrino which only interacts
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 through gravity and the weak nuclear
00:05:50 --> 00:05:51 force and totally ignores the
00:05:51 --> 00:05:54 electromagnetic force lab experiments
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 impling compact cavities which are sort
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 of similar to a chining fork should
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 resonate and amplify the the faint
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 electromagnetic field or Photon produced
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 if a low mass Axion transforms in the
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 presence of a strong magnetic field now
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 alternatively astrophysicists have
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 proposed looking for axons produced
00:06:11 --> 00:06:13 inside neutron stars immediately after a
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 core collapse Supernova like
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 1987a until now however they focused
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 primarily on detecting gamma rays from
00:06:20 --> 00:06:23 these Axion slow transformation into
00:06:23 --> 00:06:24 photons in the magnetic fields of
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 galaxies safian colleagues realized
00:06:27 --> 00:06:28 however this process isn't very
00:06:29 --> 00:06:30 efficient at producing gamma rays at
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 least not enough of them to be detected
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 from Earth so instead they're exploring
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 the production of gamma rays by axons in
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 the strong magnetic fields around the
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42 very star which generates the axons
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 supercomputer simulation showed that
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 this process creates a burst of gamma
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 rays that is dependent on the mass of
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 the Axion and this burst should occur
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 simultaneously with a burst of neutrinos
00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 from inside the hot neutron star but the
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 burst of Axion only lasts to meere 10
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 seconds after the ne neuton star forms
00:07:01 --> 00:07:02 after that the production rate drops
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 dramatically and that's hours before the
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 outer layers of the star explode neutron
00:07:07 --> 00:07:08 stars have a lot of things going for
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 them they're extremely hot objects they
00:07:11 --> 00:07:14 also H strong magnetic fields in fact
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 the strongest magnetic fields in our
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 universe are found around neutron stars
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 known as magnar which have magnetic
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 fields tens of billions of times
00:07:22 --> 00:07:23 stronger than anything that can be
00:07:23 --> 00:07:26 produced in laboratory and that would
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 help convert these axons into observable
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 signals two years ago seftian colleagues
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 put the best upper limit on the mass of
00:07:33 --> 00:07:36 the qcd Axion at around 16 million
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 electron volts and that's about 32 times
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 less than the mass of an electron that
00:07:41 --> 00:07:43 was based on the cooling rate of neutron
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 stars which would cool faster if axons
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 were produced alongside neutrinos inside
00:07:47 --> 00:07:50 these hot compact bodies the new study
00:07:50 --> 00:07:52 not only describes the production of
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 gamma ray following core collapse of a
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 neutron star but also uses the non-
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 detection of gamma rays from the 1987a
00:07:58 --> 00:08:01 supern to put the best constraints shed
00:08:01 --> 00:08:03 on the massive Axion likee particles
00:08:03 --> 00:08:06 which differ from qcd Axion in that they
00:08:06 --> 00:08:07 don't interact through the strong
00:08:07 --> 00:08:10 nuclear force they predict that a gamma
00:08:10 --> 00:08:11 ray detection would allow them to
00:08:11 --> 00:08:14 identify the qcd axion's mass if it's
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 above 50 microelectron vaults or about
00:08:16 --> 00:08:19 110 billionth the mass of an electron
00:08:19 --> 00:08:20 and it would take just a single
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 detection to refocus existing
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 experiments to confirm the mass of the
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 axon while a flet of dedicated Gamay
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 telescopes Remains the best option for
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 detecting gamma ray from a nearby
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 Supernova a lucky break with fery would
00:08:33 --> 00:08:36 be even better sefy says the best case
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 scenario for axons is fery catching a
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 supernova it's just that the chances of
00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 that occurring are really small but if
00:08:43 --> 00:08:46 fery saw it scientists would be able to
00:08:46 --> 00:08:48 measure its mass they'd be able to
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 measure its interacting strength they'd
00:08:50 --> 00:08:52 be able to determine everything they
00:08:52 --> 00:08:54 need to know about the Axion and they'd
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 be incredibly confident in the signal
00:08:56 --> 00:08:57 and what it means because there's no
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 ordinary matter which could create
00:08:59 --> 00:09:03 create such an event here's hoping this
00:09:03 --> 00:09:06 SpaceTime still to come magnetic tornado
00:09:06 --> 00:09:09 stirring up the haze of Jupiter's poles
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 and the biggest digital camera ever made
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 arrives at NASA's Godard space flight
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 center all that and more still to come
00:09:16 --> 00:09:19 on SpaceTime
00:09:19 --> 00:09:33 [Music]
00:09:33 --> 00:09:34 a new study has shown unusual
00:09:35 --> 00:09:36 magnetically driven vortexes at
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 Jupiter's poles which may be generating
00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 earth-sized concentrations of
00:09:40 --> 00:09:44 hydrocarbon Haze while Jupiter's Great
00:09:44 --> 00:09:46 Red Spot has been a constant feature of
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 the Jovian landscape for centuries now
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 astronomers have discovered equally
00:09:50 --> 00:09:51 large spots at the planet's North and
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54 South poles that appear to be seemingly
00:09:54 --> 00:09:57 random these earth-sized ovals which are
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 only visible at ultraviolet wavelengths
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 are embedded in layers of stratospheric
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 haze that cap the planet's poles the
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 dark ovals when seen are almost always
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 located just below the bright auroral
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 zones at each pole which are akin to
00:10:10 --> 00:10:11 Earth's Northern and Southern Lights the
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 Aurora Borealis and Aurora stalis a
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 report in the journal Nature astronomy
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 claims that these spots absorb more
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 ultraviolet radiation than the
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 surrounding areas and that's what's
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 making them appear dark on images from
00:10:24 --> 00:10:27 NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in early
00:10:27 --> 00:10:29 images of the gas giant taken by hub
00:10:29 --> 00:10:32 between 2015 and 2022 a dark ultraviolet
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 radiation oval appeared 75% of the time
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 at the South Pole while similar dark
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 ovals appeared in one in eight images
00:10:39 --> 00:10:41 taken of the North Pole these
00:10:41 --> 00:10:44 ultraviolet ovals are hinting at unusual
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46 processes taking place in Jupiter's
00:10:46 --> 00:10:47 strong magnetic field which propagates
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 down to the poles and deeper into the
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51 atmosphere far deeper than the magnetic
00:10:51 --> 00:10:54 processors producing Aurora on Earth
00:10:54 --> 00:10:56 dark ultraviolet overs were first
00:10:56 --> 00:10:58 detected by Hubble in the late 1990s at
00:10:58 --> 00:11:00 the North and South Poles of Jupiter and
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 subsequently the North Pole by the
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 Cassini spacecraft which flew by Jupiter
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 in the year 2000 but back then they drew
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 little attention but when University of
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 California Berkeley undergraduate Troy
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 subta conducted a systematic study of
00:11:14 --> 00:11:15 recent images obtained by Hubble he
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 found there were a common feature at the
00:11:17 --> 00:11:19 South Pole counting eight Southern
00:11:19 --> 00:11:23 ultraviolet dark ovals between 1994 and
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 2022 most Hubble images have been
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 captured as part of the outer planet
00:11:27 --> 00:11:29 atmosphere's Legacy or opal project
00:11:29 --> 00:11:31 directed by NASA's God out space flight
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 center in green Bel Maryland using
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 Hubble opal astronomers make yearly
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 observations of Jupiter Saturn Uranus
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 and Neptune in order to better
00:11:40 --> 00:11:41 understand their atmospheric Dynamics
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 and evolution over time suburan
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 colleagues theorized that the dark ovals
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 are likely stirred from above by a
00:11:48 --> 00:11:50 Vortex created when the planet's
00:11:50 --> 00:11:52 magnetic field lines experienced
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54 fraction in two very distinct locations
00:11:54 --> 00:11:57 in the ionosphere where astronomers have
00:11:57 --> 00:11:58 previously detected spinning motions
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 using ground based telescopes and in the
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 sheet of hot ionized plasma around
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 Jupiter which is shed by its volcanic
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 moon IO The Vortex spins fastest in the
00:12:08 --> 00:12:11 ionosphere progressively weakening as it
00:12:11 --> 00:12:14 reaches each deeper layer like a tornado
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 touching down on Dusty ground the
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 deepest extent of the vortex stirs up
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 the hazy atmosphere to create dense
00:12:20 --> 00:12:22 spots now it's not clear if the mixing
00:12:22 --> 00:12:25 dredges up more haze from below or
00:12:25 --> 00:12:26 whether it's actually generating new
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 Haze based on the observations the
00:12:29 --> 00:12:30 authors suspect that these ovals have
00:12:30 --> 00:12:32 formed over the course of roughly a
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 month or so but they dissipate in Just 2
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 weeks and the haze in the dark ovals is
00:12:37 --> 00:12:39 50 times thicker than the typical
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 concentration that suggests it likely
00:12:41 --> 00:12:43 forms due to the swirling vortex's
00:12:43 --> 00:12:45 Dynamics rather than chemical reactions
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 triggered by high energy particles in
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 the upper atmosphere the observations
00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 also showed that the timing and location
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 of these energetic particles don't
00:12:53 --> 00:12:55 correlate with the appearance of the
00:12:55 --> 00:12:58 dark ovals what the findings do show is
00:12:58 --> 00:12:59 how atmospheric dynamic in the Solar
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02 System's biggest planets differs so
00:13:02 --> 00:13:05 widely from what we know here on Earth
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 this is spacetime still to come the
00:13:08 --> 00:13:09 world's biggest digital camera arrives
00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 at Nasa Gody for installation of the
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and
00:13:14 --> 00:13:16 later in the science report
00:13:16 --> 00:13:18 paleontologists studying dinosaur feces
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 to better understand how they came to
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 dominate the world all that and more
00:13:22 --> 00:13:28 still to come on SpaceTime
00:13:28 --> 00:13:40 [Music]
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 the primary instrument fin nessa's Nancy
00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 Grace Roman Space Telescope has just
00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 been delivered to the agency's Gard
00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 space flight center in Green Belt
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 Maryland called the Widefield instrument
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 it's the largest and most sophisticated
00:13:53 --> 00:13:56 camera ever built it'll survey the
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 cosmos from the outskirts of our solar
00:13:58 --> 00:14:00 system all the way out to the edge of
00:14:00 --> 00:14:02 the observable universe some 13.8
00:14:02 --> 00:14:05 billion light years away the camera's
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 large field of view sharp resolution and
00:14:07 --> 00:14:09 sensitivity from visible to near
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 infrared wavelengths will give the Nancy
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 Grace Roman Observatory an unrivaled
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 deep panoramic view of the universe
00:14:16 --> 00:14:19 scanning much larger portions of the sky
00:14:19 --> 00:14:20 than astronomist can with NASA's Hubble
00:14:20 --> 00:14:22 Space Telescope or for that matter with
00:14:22 --> 00:14:24 the web space Observatory it'll open up
00:14:24 --> 00:14:28 new avenues of cosmic exploration see
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 Roman is designed to study dark energy
00:14:30 --> 00:14:32 that mysterious Cosmic Force thought to
00:14:33 --> 00:14:35 accelerate the expansion of the universe
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 it'll also study dark matter that
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 invisible substance which only interacts
00:14:39 --> 00:14:41 gravitationally with normal matter and
00:14:41 --> 00:14:44 it will explore exoplanets worlds beyond
00:14:44 --> 00:14:47 our solar system now to achieve these
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 many main goals the mission will
00:14:49 --> 00:14:50 precisely measure hundreds of millions
00:14:50 --> 00:14:53 of galaxies providing a unique data set
00:14:53 --> 00:14:55 for astronomers and the potential for a
00:14:55 --> 00:14:58 flood of results on a vast array of
00:14:58 --> 00:15:00 science Roman is one of two Surplus
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 Keyhole spy satellites donated to NASA
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 by the national reconnaissance office
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07 the nro didn't need them anymore because
00:15:07 --> 00:15:09 its own technology had moved on and so
00:15:09 --> 00:15:11 because Hubble was based on the same
00:15:11 --> 00:15:13 Keyhole design but looked out into space
00:15:13 --> 00:15:14 rather than down towards the Earth
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 surface Keyhole does they were offered
00:15:16 --> 00:15:20 to NASA after Roman launches in May 2027
00:15:20 --> 00:15:22 each of the Widefield instruments 300
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 million pixel images will capture a
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 patch of the sky bigger than the
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 apparent size of the full moon the
00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 instrument its large field of view will
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 enable astronomers to undertake research
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 that would otherwise take hundreds of
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 years to complete using other telescopes
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 by observing from space Roman's camera
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42 will be very sensitive to infrared light
00:15:42 --> 00:15:45 from far across the cosmos this ancient
00:15:45 --> 00:15:46 Cosmic light will help scientists
00:15:46 --> 00:15:48 address some of the biggest Cosmic
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 Mysteries such as How the Universe
00:15:50 --> 00:15:53 evolved to its present State this report
00:15:53 --> 00:15:56 from NASA TV the Widefield instrument is
00:15:56 --> 00:15:58 the heart of the Nancy Grace Roman Space
00:15:58 --> 00:15:59 Telescope
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 it is what allows the Roman Space
00:16:01 --> 00:16:03 Telescope to take pictures with the same
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05 detail as Hubble but covering an area
00:16:05 --> 00:16:08 100 times larger despite this incredible
00:16:08 --> 00:16:11 power the basic design is the same as
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 telescopes around the world light enters
00:16:13 --> 00:16:17 through Roman's 2.4 M aperture and is
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 reflected and focused by the curved main
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 mirror which is also the largest mirror
00:16:21 --> 00:16:22 in the
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 telescope this light is reflected and
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 focused Once More by the secondary
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 mirror more elements tighten the the
00:16:29 --> 00:16:31 beam and strip it of stray light rays
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 before it passes through the filter
00:16:33 --> 00:16:35 wheel this wheel has a variety of
00:16:35 --> 00:16:37 filters that allow different wavelengths
00:16:37 --> 00:16:40 of light to pass through it spins from
00:16:40 --> 00:16:41 one to another depending on what the
00:16:42 --> 00:16:45 researcher is looking for finally the
00:16:45 --> 00:16:46 focused and filtered Light reaches the
00:16:46 --> 00:16:48 focal plane where it creates an image on
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 the detectors these detectors use the
00:16:51 --> 00:16:54 photoelectric effect to convert photons
00:16:54 --> 00:16:56 into an electrical signal that is then
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 decoded into an image in Roman's case
00:16:59 --> 00:17:02 there are 18 detectors allowing it to
00:17:02 --> 00:17:04 create 300 million pixel images of large
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 patches of the
00:17:06 --> 00:17:09 sky the large number of detectors and
00:17:09 --> 00:17:11 pixels gives Roman its wide field of
00:17:11 --> 00:17:14 view the size of the mirror and the
00:17:14 --> 00:17:16 Precision of its Optics gives Roman its
00:17:16 --> 00:17:17 fine
00:17:17 --> 00:17:20 Imaging this combination of image size
00:17:20 --> 00:17:22 and detail has never been possible on a
00:17:22 --> 00:17:24 space-based telescope before and will
00:17:24 --> 00:17:26 make the Nancy Grace Roman Space
00:17:26 --> 00:17:29 Telescope an indispensable tool in the
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 future this is
00:17:31 --> 00:17:46 [Music]
00:17:46 --> 00:17:48 spacetime and time now to take another
00:17:48 --> 00:17:49 brief look at some of the other stories
00:17:49 --> 00:17:51 making news in science this week with a
00:17:51 --> 00:17:54 science report a new study claims the
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 more time spent sitting reclining or
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 lying down during the day may increase
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 your risk of heart disease and death
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 even if you're otherwise active the
00:18:02 --> 00:18:05 findings reported in the journal JC
00:18:05 --> 00:18:07 contradicted research published last
00:18:07 --> 00:18:09 month which found little difference
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 between people standing or sitting for
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 the majority of their time at work the
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 new study found that more than roughly
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17 10 and 1 half hours of sedentary
00:18:17 --> 00:18:19 Behavior per day was linked with future
00:18:19 --> 00:18:21 heart failure and death from heart
00:18:21 --> 00:18:23 attacks even among people meeting other
00:18:23 --> 00:18:25 recommended levels of activity and
00:18:25 --> 00:18:27 exercise the study looked at data from
00:18:27 --> 00:18:29 fitness trackers that captured movement
00:18:29 --> 00:18:31 over 7 days for
00:18:31 --> 00:18:34 8953 British people it then followed up
00:18:34 --> 00:18:36 on their heart health for an average of
00:18:36 --> 00:18:39 8 years the authors found that once
00:18:39 --> 00:18:42 Century time exceeded 10.6 hours a day
00:18:42 --> 00:18:43 the risk of heart failure and death from
00:18:43 --> 00:18:45 a heart attack rot significantly which
00:18:45 --> 00:18:48 they suggest indicates a threshold for
00:18:48 --> 00:18:49 these
00:18:49 --> 00:18:52 risks now as any ecologists will tell
00:18:52 --> 00:18:54 you sharks are the vacuum cleaners of
00:18:54 --> 00:18:57 the ocean they help keep the Seas clean
00:18:57 --> 00:19:00 by consuming dead and D ding animals now
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 a new study has shown that the Sharks
00:19:02 --> 00:19:04 most affected by fishing are the same
00:19:04 --> 00:19:06 ones most needed to maintain healthy
00:19:06 --> 00:19:09 oceans a report in the journal science
00:19:09 --> 00:19:11 warns that big sharks help maintain
00:19:11 --> 00:19:13 balance through their eating habits and
00:19:13 --> 00:19:15 their sheer sizes enough to scare away
00:19:15 --> 00:19:17 prey that could overc consume sea grass
00:19:17 --> 00:19:19 and other plant life needed for healthy
00:19:19 --> 00:19:22 oceans sharks can also help shape and
00:19:22 --> 00:19:24 maintain balance from bottom up that
00:19:24 --> 00:19:26 means a variety of sharks and a variety
00:19:26 --> 00:19:28 of sizes are needed yet there many and
00:19:29 --> 00:19:30 diverse contributions are all under
00:19:30 --> 00:19:33 threat from over fishing from climate
00:19:33 --> 00:19:35 change from habitat loss from energy
00:19:35 --> 00:19:38 mining shipping activities and more all
00:19:38 --> 00:19:40 of which is caused by
00:19:40 --> 00:19:44 people over 500 samples of coolites that
00:19:44 --> 00:19:46 is fossilized dinosaur feces together
00:19:46 --> 00:19:48 with Dino vomit have helped
00:19:48 --> 00:19:50 paleontologists determine how dinosaurs
00:19:50 --> 00:19:53 came to dominate the world their report
00:19:53 --> 00:19:55 in the journal Nature analyzed Dino
00:19:55 --> 00:19:57 digestive material it created
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 threedimensional images of their
00:19:59 --> 00:20:01 internal structure and compared this
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 with existing data in the fossil record
00:20:03 --> 00:20:05 to work out the identity feeding
00:20:05 --> 00:20:07 behavior and relative size and
00:20:07 --> 00:20:09 prevalence of the creatures that produce
00:20:09 --> 00:20:11 them from this paleontologists were able
00:20:11 --> 00:20:13 to create food webs which track the rise
00:20:14 --> 00:20:16 of dinosaurs over time they found that
00:20:16 --> 00:20:19 the meat and plant eating or omnivorous
00:20:19 --> 00:20:21 ancestors of early dinosaurs took over
00:20:21 --> 00:20:23 from other four-legged beasts and then
00:20:23 --> 00:20:25 evolved into the first carnivorous and
00:20:25 --> 00:20:27 herbivorous dinosaurs towards the end of
00:20:27 --> 00:20:29 the Triassic era increased volcanic
00:20:29 --> 00:20:31 activity May then have led to more
00:20:31 --> 00:20:34 diverse ranges of plants to feed on that
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 allowed for the emergence of larger and
00:20:36 --> 00:20:38 more diverse herbivore species and this
00:20:38 --> 00:20:40 in turn led to the evolution of larger
00:20:40 --> 00:20:42 carnivorous dinosaurs from the beginning
00:20:42 --> 00:20:45 of the Jurassic period and completed the
00:20:45 --> 00:20:47 transition to Dinosaur
00:20:48 --> 00:20:49 domination well with all the lithium
00:20:49 --> 00:20:51 battery fires we're hearing about of
00:20:51 --> 00:20:53 late a bit of good news is that the next
00:20:53 --> 00:20:55 generation of safer lithium batteries
00:20:55 --> 00:20:57 May well be on their way with the
00:20:57 --> 00:20:59 details which by technology editor Alex
00:20:59 --> 00:21:02 Sahara Roy from Tech advice start life
00:21:02 --> 00:21:05 we do hear about EV and E scooter and
00:21:05 --> 00:21:07 even in the old days Nokia phone
00:21:07 --> 00:21:09 batteries would more or less explode but
00:21:09 --> 00:21:10 that's because there were fake ones and
00:21:10 --> 00:21:12 the EV ones and especially the es
00:21:12 --> 00:21:14 scooter ones that get bounced around you
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 know people ride them hard and with some
00:21:16 --> 00:21:17 of the EVS there are things on the road
00:21:17 --> 00:21:19 that can strike the underside of a car
00:21:19 --> 00:21:22 and Pierce a battery there are now rules
00:21:22 --> 00:21:23 in in number of hotels they won't let
00:21:23 --> 00:21:26 you park in EV undercover because of the
00:21:26 --> 00:21:28 fear of the lithium batteries catching a
00:21:28 --> 00:21:30 li look I read that China a number of
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32 cities in China had just implemented the
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34 same rules and it is a genuine concern
00:21:34 --> 00:21:37 because we have had uh fires that have
00:21:37 --> 00:21:39 happened in an EV that have then you
00:21:39 --> 00:21:40 know burnt a number of cars around them
00:21:40 --> 00:21:42 or in the UK burnt down an entire car
00:21:42 --> 00:21:44 park in one of the airports yes so there
00:21:44 --> 00:21:46 is Battery Technology one of them is
00:21:46 --> 00:21:48 called lithium titanate used by the
00:21:48 --> 00:21:50 military and NASA for decades but it was
00:21:50 --> 00:21:52 quite expensive but this can operate at
00:21:52 --> 00:21:54 much lower at much colder and hotter
00:21:55 --> 00:21:57 temperatures than lithium ion it cannot
00:21:57 --> 00:21:59 have a runaway thermal re reaction like
00:21:59 --> 00:22:01 lithium ion can so if it gets damaged it
00:22:01 --> 00:22:02 doesn't just start burning which is very
00:22:02 --> 00:22:05 handy in a military situation and uh one
00:22:05 --> 00:22:06 of the benefits of this technology is
00:22:06 --> 00:22:09 that it can be recharged up to 50
00:22:09 --> 00:22:11 times like for many many years like more
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13 than one decade without the memory
00:22:13 --> 00:22:15 effect so normally a laptop battery
00:22:15 --> 00:22:17 lasts good couple of years and then
00:22:17 --> 00:22:19 suddenly it's not giving you anywhere as
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 much battery life as it did before but
00:22:21 --> 00:22:22 with this lithium Titanite technology
00:22:23 --> 00:22:24 which is going to be commercialized by
00:22:24 --> 00:22:26 tsha they're already working on getting
00:22:26 --> 00:22:29 this in the New Year into home
00:22:29 --> 00:22:30 appliances like those blowers and
00:22:30 --> 00:22:32 whipper snippers and those sorts of
00:22:32 --> 00:22:33 things but these batteries will last for
00:22:33 --> 00:22:36 a decade or two and will retain the vast
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38 majority of their chargeable capacity
00:22:38 --> 00:22:39 will operate in colder and hotter
00:22:39 --> 00:22:40 temperatures and the most important
00:22:40 --> 00:22:42 thing of all they recharge in about 20
00:22:42 --> 00:22:44 minutes so this is the next generation
00:22:44 --> 00:22:46 of Battery Technology that we've been
00:22:46 --> 00:22:47 waiting for there's a famous saying from
00:22:47 --> 00:22:49 William Gibson the author of Neuromancer
00:22:49 --> 00:22:51 that says the future has already been
00:22:51 --> 00:22:53 invented it just hasn't been widely
00:22:53 --> 00:22:55 distributed yet and this is the case for
00:22:55 --> 00:22:58 many things I mean chat GPT version 5
00:22:58 --> 00:23:00 with artificial general intelligence is
00:23:00 --> 00:23:01 more or less supposedly working in the
00:23:02 --> 00:23:04 labs in open AI but it just hasn't been
00:23:04 --> 00:23:05 delivered to the public yet the iPhone
00:23:06 --> 00:23:08 was in Prototype form in 2004 3 years
00:23:08 --> 00:23:11 before it came to the public and at that
00:23:11 --> 00:23:12 time it was more of an iPad size before
00:23:12 --> 00:23:14 it was shrunken down so many of the
00:23:14 --> 00:23:15 things will take for granted in a few
00:23:16 --> 00:23:17 years are already in the labs already
00:23:17 --> 00:23:19 working they're just not ready to be
00:23:19 --> 00:23:20 commercialized at scale yet and these
00:23:20 --> 00:23:22 lithium Titanite batteries and there are
00:23:22 --> 00:23:24 other competing batteries as well solid
00:23:24 --> 00:23:25 state type technology batteries but
00:23:25 --> 00:23:27 don't have any liquids at all are all
00:23:27 --> 00:23:30 being worked on with ABC I did a story
00:23:30 --> 00:23:32 on how to store your laptop when you
00:23:32 --> 00:23:33 don't use it for a while and the the
00:23:33 --> 00:23:36 idea was you'd take your lithium battery
00:23:36 --> 00:23:38 pack out and keep that in a dark dry
00:23:38 --> 00:23:40 Place away from the laptop and that way
00:23:40 --> 00:23:42 it last for ages yeah well very hard to
00:23:42 --> 00:23:43 do that these days when the batteries
00:23:43 --> 00:23:46 are built into devices yes and that's
00:23:46 --> 00:23:47 the problem what do you do if you have a
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 perfectly good laptop or a perfectly
00:23:49 --> 00:23:51 good cell phone for example but you
00:23:51 --> 00:23:53 can't physically take the battery out of
00:23:53 --> 00:23:55 it anymore does it become a dangerous
00:23:55 --> 00:23:57 Time Bomb ticking waiting to explode or
00:23:57 --> 00:23:59 are they relatively safe if stored in a
00:23:59 --> 00:24:01 dry Place generally speaking they're
00:24:01 --> 00:24:03 safe you're supposed to keep them at
00:24:03 --> 00:24:05 sort of 50 to 80% charge don't have them
00:24:05 --> 00:24:07 stored for a long time at 100% and
00:24:07 --> 00:24:09 definitely do not have them stored at
00:24:09 --> 00:24:11 zero or below because it can stop the
00:24:11 --> 00:24:12 battery from being able to be charged
00:24:13 --> 00:24:16 whatsoever so they are safe just that if
00:24:16 --> 00:24:18 you store them unch charge they may not
00:24:18 --> 00:24:20 charge in the future that's correct so
00:24:20 --> 00:24:21 you should make sure that they have at
00:24:21 --> 00:24:23 least 50% charge and look the danger
00:24:23 --> 00:24:26 with modern devices is overcharging
00:24:26 --> 00:24:28 there was a story in the news in the
00:24:28 --> 00:24:30 last week or so of a family whose iPad
00:24:30 --> 00:24:32 was plugged in charging normally and it
00:24:32 --> 00:24:34 just exploded now Battery Technology is
00:24:34 --> 00:24:36 generally quite safe especially in
00:24:36 --> 00:24:38 phones and tablets but you never know
00:24:38 --> 00:24:40 what manufacturing defect there is I
00:24:40 --> 00:24:42 mean there was a manufacturing defect
00:24:42 --> 00:24:43 with a Samsung Note 7 it cost every
00:24:43 --> 00:24:45 airline in the world to say you're not
00:24:45 --> 00:24:47 bringing those on planes and so we have
00:24:47 --> 00:24:49 had battery scares genuinely big ones in
00:24:49 --> 00:24:52 the past but if batteries were a real
00:24:52 --> 00:24:53 problem then they'd be exploding all
00:24:54 --> 00:24:55 over the place and that clearly isn't
00:24:55 --> 00:24:57 happening but we are seeing a big jump
00:24:57 --> 00:25:00 in these e scooter and EV battery fires
00:25:00 --> 00:25:02 and that's why various apartment blocks
00:25:02 --> 00:25:04 and cities in China and other places are
00:25:04 --> 00:25:06 saying look have all the EVS you want
00:25:06 --> 00:25:07 but not downstairs so we are in
00:25:07 --> 00:25:10 desperate need of Battery Technology
00:25:10 --> 00:25:12 like this lithium titanate that will not
00:25:12 --> 00:25:14 have a Runway explosion if damaged
00:25:14 --> 00:25:16 recharges in 20 minutes and lasts for a
00:25:16 --> 00:25:18 decade two or longer before needing to
00:25:18 --> 00:25:20 be replaced I mean that is like the Holy
00:25:20 --> 00:25:22 Grail of Battery tech if you can
00:25:22 --> 00:25:23 recharge your battery in 20 minutes
00:25:23 --> 00:25:25 whether it's your phone or a car to full
00:25:25 --> 00:25:27 suddenly having the battery only last
00:25:27 --> 00:25:28 for a few hours or or a few hundred
00:25:28 --> 00:25:30 kmers doesn't make any difference
00:25:30 --> 00:25:32 because you can recharge it so quickly
00:25:32 --> 00:25:34 and this is the Sci-Fi Tech that we need
00:25:34 --> 00:25:36 that we still don't have available at
00:25:37 --> 00:25:39 scale but it is definitely coming and I
00:25:39 --> 00:25:40 think by the end of the decade there'll
00:25:40 --> 00:25:42 be plenty more of these batteries and
00:25:42 --> 00:25:44 lithium iron will be slowly phased out
00:25:44 --> 00:25:47 that's Alex Sahara Roy from take advice.
00:25:47 --> 00:25:49 life
00:25:49 --> 00:25:57 [Music]
00:26:03 --> 00:26:05 and that's the show for now SpaceTime is
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