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Exploring Dark Matter, Telescope Innovations, and Olympus Mons
In this engaging Q&A edition of Space Nuts , hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson tackle a range of fascinating listener questions that dive deep into the mysteries of our universe. From the elusive nature of dark matter to the future of space telescopes, this episode promises to enlighten and entertain.
Episode Highlights:
- The Mystery of Dark Matter: Listener Bob from Chicago asks how astronomers have determined that approximately 80% of the universe is made up of dark matter. Fred explains the historical context and the groundbreaking techniques that have led to this astonishing conclusion.
- Next-Gen Telescopes: Ben also inquires about the next large telescope to be launched. Fred shares his excitement for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) in Chile, which promises to revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos with its advanced capabilities.
- Understanding Telescopes: Ash from Australia seeks clarity on the different types of telescopes and the wavelengths they detect. Fred elaborates on the intricate designs of optical, infrared, and radio telescopes, explaining how their unique technologies allow them to observe various forms of light.
- The Graviton Enigma: Russ from the UK poses a thought-provoking question about the graviton and its relation to Einstein's theory of gravity. Fred discusses the complexities of gravity as a force and the ongoing quest to understand its fundamental particles.
- Olympus Mons and Space Elevators: Robert from Iceland wonders if Olympus Mons could serve as a staging point for a space elevator. The hosts explore the challenges and feasibility of this intriguing concept, revealing the importance of location in such ambitious projects.
For more Space Nuts, including our continuously updating newsfeed and to listen to all our episodes, visit our website. (https://www.spacenutspodcast.com/) Follow us on social media at SpaceNutsPod on Facebook, Instagram, and more. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favorite platform.
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.
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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/31808838?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Hi there. Thanks again for joining us.
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 This is Space Nuts, a Q&A edition. This
00:00:04 --> 00:00:07 is where we answer audience questions.
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 Well, we read them out and then we
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 pretend we know what we're talking about
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 and most people fall for it. They might
00:00:14 --> 00:00:15 not fall for it today, though, because
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 we've got some uh really interesting
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 questions about uh a matter of matter
00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 that we cannot see. Uh does it matter?
00:00:23 --> 00:00:26 We will find out. Um questions come up
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 about gravitons. We're also going to
00:00:29 --> 00:00:30 answer a question about space
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 telescopes. Now, that's right up uh
00:00:33 --> 00:00:35 Fred's alley. He knows everything there
00:00:35 --> 00:00:37 is to know about space te. He's written
00:00:37 --> 00:00:39 books about these things. So, this is
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 going to be a good question. And uh a
00:00:42 --> 00:00:43 question has come up about whether or
00:00:43 --> 00:00:46 not Olympus Mons might make a good
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 staging staging point for a space
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 elevator. We will answer all of that on
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 this episode of Space Nuts.
00:00:53 --> 00:00:58 >> 15 seconds. Guidance is internal. 10 9
00:00:58 --> 00:01:00 ignition sequence start.
00:01:00 --> 00:01:01 >> Space nuts.
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 >> 5 4 3 2
00:01:03 --> 00:01:06 >> 1 2 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1
00:01:06 --> 00:01:07 >> Space nuts.
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 >> Astronauts report. It feels good.
00:01:10 --> 00:01:13 >> And it feels good to have his one and
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 only self, Professor Fred Watson, an
00:01:15 --> 00:01:16 astronomer at large, back in the chair.
00:01:16 --> 00:01:19 Hello, Fred. Hello. Hello. Here. All
00:01:19 --> 00:01:24 ready to go. Fresh and um uh well slept.
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 Yeah. So, sort of.
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 >> Yeah. I had a weird night last night. I
00:01:28 --> 00:01:31 I I actually went to sleep fast. Didn't
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 I I only woke up kind of and once once,
00:01:33 --> 00:01:36 which is, you know, a new world record.
00:01:36 --> 00:01:41 And then um I woke up again 5 5:18 a.m.
00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 And that was it. My body went, "No, no,
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 we're done. You can get up. Go and watch
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 something on television because I'm not,
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 you know, I don't want to go any to
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 sleep ever again." So, here we go. Who
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 knows what'll happen tonight. Um, sleep
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 is a weird thing. We need it and yet our
00:01:57 --> 00:02:01 bodies sometimes refuse to comply.
00:02:01 --> 00:02:01 >> Yeah.
00:02:01 --> 00:02:02 >> Yeah,
00:02:02 --> 00:02:03 >> it is. It's bizarre. It's a strange
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 thing.
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 >> Um, shall we answer some questions?
00:02:08 --> 00:02:09 >> I thought that was it.
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 >> Well, I was just going to say, Fred, why
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13 can't I sleep?
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 >> Let's answer some questions. Yes.
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 >> Okay. Our first one comes from Ben. He
00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 says, uh, Ben here. It's good because I
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 thought he was Ben, too. uh the Aussie
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 in Chicago with a few new questions. In
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 your last question podcast, you
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 mentioned about how 80% of matter is
00:02:28 --> 00:02:31 missing or not visible to us. And it
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 made me think, how do we know or measure
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 that amount in the first place? I know a
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 lot of science is about measuring what
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 we didn't find in results, but I'm
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 curious about how they came to that 80%
00:02:44 --> 00:02:48 dark matter number. And secondly, uh,
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 for a smaller question, if you could
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 pick the next large telescope to be
00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 launched, what would it be and why? I'd
00:02:55 --> 00:02:57 personally love to see a new larger
00:02:57 --> 00:02:59 Hubble type telescope with all the
00:02:59 --> 00:03:02 advances we've applied to it uh, that
00:03:02 --> 00:03:03 we've learned from the James Webb Space
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 Telescope. Thanks again for the great
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 podcast. Thank you, Ben. Great to hear
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 from you. Hope all is well in uh, in
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 Chicago, home of the Bears. Chicago
00:03:12 --> 00:03:14 Bears.
00:03:14 --> 00:03:19 Um right so it's a matter of matter and
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 um he's saying we know there's 80% of
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 the universe made up of dark matter or
00:03:24 --> 00:03:29 thereabouts. Uh how do we know that?
00:03:29 --> 00:03:33 Um we actually the the way that we get
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 the you know the accurate figures is
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 quite interesting because it involves
00:03:38 --> 00:03:42 work um of the kind that wasn't possible
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 before astronomers started using fiber
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 optics in their telescopes and uh that's
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 what I did. I was one of the pioneers of
00:03:51 --> 00:03:54 fiber optics in astronomy. uh and the
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 systems that we built back in the 80s,
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 the 1980s have now evolved into
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 marvelous machines which are fully
00:04:02 --> 00:04:06 automated. Um the uh organization that I
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 worked for has just delivered one to
00:04:08 --> 00:04:12 Chile which will position 2 fibers
00:04:12 --> 00:04:15 in 57 seconds. Uh and each one of those
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 fibers can be aligned with a target star
00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 or galaxy. uh and that's the way you
00:04:21 --> 00:04:23 collect lots of information about very
00:04:23 --> 00:04:26 large numbers of galaxies and about uh
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 their velocities what we call their red
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 shifts. So we'll get to that in a minute
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 because that's that's how we are so
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34 certain about these numbers because of
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 the ability to do that to measure these
00:04:37 --> 00:04:38 very large numbers of galaxies what we
00:04:38 --> 00:04:41 call large scale surveys. But the story
00:04:41 --> 00:04:46 starts uh back in 1933 with Fritz Vicki
00:04:46 --> 00:04:49 uh the man who famously called some of
00:04:49 --> 00:04:52 his colleagues uh not just bastards they
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 were spherical bastards. Uh the reason
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 for that was that they were bastards
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 whichever way you looked at them. That's
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 why call them spherical bastards.
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 >> Astron astronomers love him. Yeah,
00:05:03 --> 00:05:07 >> I'm sure they do. Yeah. Um, I usually
00:05:07 --> 00:05:09 tone that down a bit and make it rat
00:05:09 --> 00:05:12 bags, but for this show I can re
00:05:12 --> 00:05:14 >> I could quote him verbatim.
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 >> It is a quote. Therefore, it's it's a
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 quote. Yeah, it's part of it's a part of
00:05:18 --> 00:05:19 history.
00:05:19 --> 00:05:22 >> It is indeed part of history. Um, but
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 what he was doing was measuring a
00:05:24 --> 00:05:25 cluster of galaxies actually in the
00:05:26 --> 00:05:27 northern hemisphere constellation of
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 Koma Bernese. Uh, the Koma cluster, a
00:05:30 --> 00:05:31 very rich cluster of galaxies. And he
00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 figured out that the he was measuring
00:05:34 --> 00:05:36 the motions of all the galaxies. And
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 when he looked at it, they were all
00:05:38 --> 00:05:41 going too fast for the gravity of what
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 he could see to hold on to them.
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 >> So if all that was uh there was what all
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 he could see, then this cluster should
00:05:48 --> 00:05:51 have evaporated gazillions of years ago
00:05:51 --> 00:05:54 and it hasn't. And he was the person who
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 coined the term dark matter. Uh he said
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 there's something there that we can't
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 see. the ast world of astronomy
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 basically ignored it because it was just
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 too hard to get your head around.
00:06:04 --> 00:06:05 There's obviously something wrong. We
00:06:06 --> 00:06:07 don't know what it is. We'll go and do
00:06:07 --> 00:06:10 something else. And it wasn't until well
00:06:10 --> 00:06:12 actually there was an Australian who um
00:06:12 --> 00:06:15 in 1970 Ken Freeman down at the A&U
00:06:15 --> 00:06:19 still a good friend uh he um figured out
00:06:19 --> 00:06:22 that galaxies were rotating too fast for
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 the what was in them to hold them
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 together. Uh and um that again was
00:06:27 --> 00:06:30 largely ignored that 1970 result until
00:06:30 --> 00:06:34 Vera Rubin um basically did the same
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 thing but worked out that in order for
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 galaxies to stay together and not fly
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42 apart as they rotate, they must all be
00:06:42 --> 00:06:45 enveloped in a sort of sphere or halo as
00:06:45 --> 00:06:47 we call it of something we call dark
00:06:47 --> 00:06:49 matter. And that in 1978 was the start
00:06:49 --> 00:06:52 of the modern era of dark matter. And so
00:06:52 --> 00:06:55 you can actually use those uh those
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 measurements to make a crude estimate of
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 what's missing. You know that you can
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 say use something called the viral
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 theorem which I haven't thought about
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 for a long time. But that's what lets
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 you weigh things by their motion. So you
00:07:07 --> 00:07:10 can weigh the dark matter uh by the
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 motion of galaxies in a cluster for
00:07:12 --> 00:07:16 example. You can then weigh what you can
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 see because you know roughly how much
00:07:18 --> 00:07:19 stars weigh and the stars are what you
00:07:20 --> 00:07:21 can see and the gas too. and then you
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 can divide one by the other and you do
00:07:24 --> 00:07:27 get this sort of 80-ish percent. Um, but
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 the the way that it's done today, as
00:07:30 --> 00:07:32 I've said, it involves these very large
00:07:32 --> 00:07:35 scale surveys of galaxies and their
00:07:35 --> 00:07:38 positions and velocities in, you know,
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 as much of the universe as you can see.
00:07:40 --> 00:07:42 Very, very large scale surveys involving
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 millions of galaxies. And when you do
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 that, you can make statistical
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 deductions that tell you that uh the
00:07:48 --> 00:07:50 universe is made of something like 70%
00:07:50 --> 00:07:54 dark energy, uh about 20% dark matter,
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 about 5% normal matter, uh most of which
00:07:57 --> 00:07:59 is hydrogen. So that that comes from the
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 large scale surveys. And it's because
00:08:02 --> 00:08:05 the positions of galaxies are actually
00:08:05 --> 00:08:07 determined by the gravitational forces
00:08:07 --> 00:08:10 that they feel. And you know that's the
00:08:10 --> 00:08:11 key to understanding dark matter and
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 dark energy to see how these forces
00:08:14 --> 00:08:15 stack up.
00:08:15 --> 00:08:18 >> It's so hard to comprehend because when
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 you say that 5% of the universe is made
00:08:21 --> 00:08:24 up of stars, planets and gas, and you
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 look out into space and see so many
00:08:26 --> 00:08:30 stars, so many other things, and yet
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 you're only seeing 5% of what out what
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 is out there. It's it's it's
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 mind-blowing.
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 >> That's right. I mean some of that that
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 figure of 5% is the when you look at it
00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 as a fraction of the mass and energy
00:08:43 --> 00:08:45 budget and energy and matter you know
00:08:45 --> 00:08:49 they're interchangeable E= MC² uh and so
00:08:49 --> 00:08:50 uh it's when you do that some you
00:08:50 --> 00:08:55 realize that yes um 70% of the mass
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 energy budget of the universe is dark
00:08:57 --> 00:09:00 energy uh 20% is dark matter 5%
00:09:00 --> 00:09:04 thereabouts uh is is normal matter but
00:09:04 --> 00:09:06 most of that normal matter is invisible
00:09:06 --> 00:09:07 to because most of it is just called
00:09:07 --> 00:09:08 hydrogen.
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 >> Uh the the you know the materials that
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 make up the the planets in particular
00:09:12 --> 00:09:16 the the um you know the normal elements
00:09:16 --> 00:09:19 that we see around us on earth there's a
00:09:19 --> 00:09:21 vanishingly small fraction of that uh
00:09:21 --> 00:09:23 that represents you know the their
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 fraction within the universe.
00:09:25 --> 00:09:28 >> Yeah. All right. So that covers his 80%
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 question. But uh he asks a question
00:09:30 --> 00:09:34 about what will be the next uh large
00:09:34 --> 00:09:35 telescope to be launched. What would you
00:09:36 --> 00:09:37 like it to be?
00:09:38 --> 00:09:39 >> Um, yeah, that's an interesting
00:09:39 --> 00:09:41 question. I mean, the thing that I'm
00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 looking forward to, and we'll see it
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 online within the next probably two
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 years, is the ELT, the extremely large
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 telescope down in Chile. That's going to
00:09:50 --> 00:09:53 be a visible light telescope with uh a
00:09:53 --> 00:09:57 mirror 39 m in diameter.
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 uh and it will be able to observe
00:10:00 --> 00:10:03 because it's got this very sophisticated
00:10:03 --> 00:10:06 adaptive optic system that effectively
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 puts it above the atmosphere. Um it's uh
00:10:09 --> 00:10:14 it is uh it will have 20 times the
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 resolution of the Hubble telescope. So
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 if you thought the Hubble images that
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 you see have fine detail in them, wait
00:10:20 --> 00:10:21 till you see what's going to come from
00:10:21 --> 00:10:23 the ELT because it'll be 20 times
00:10:23 --> 00:10:27 better. And the reason why that's my
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 favorite big telescope is that its cost
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 has been almost since the beginning
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 estimated at 1.3 billion euros and it
00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 still is. Uh it's on on budget and
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 pretty well on time. Uh and remember the
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 James Webb telescope cost10 billion.
00:10:43 --> 00:10:44 >> Yeah.
00:10:44 --> 00:10:47 >> To build launch and and you know and
00:10:47 --> 00:10:50 keep it going. uh the
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 as soon as you put things into space,
00:10:52 --> 00:10:55 the price tag goes up enormously, which
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 is why I'm a big fan of groundbased
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 astronomy, especially when we now have
00:10:59 --> 00:11:01 sites like Sarah Amazon is in northern
00:11:01 --> 00:11:04 Chile, which is where the ELT will be uh
00:11:04 --> 00:11:08 whose whose uh you know whose clarity
00:11:08 --> 00:11:12 and atmospheric stability you can hone
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 with that adaptive optics system that
00:11:14 --> 00:11:17 the telescope's going to be fitted with.
00:11:17 --> 00:11:17 M.
00:11:17 --> 00:11:19 >> So, um, that's that's what I'm looking
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 out for next. I don't think you need to
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 launch anything else into space to get
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 anywhere near what the ELT will do.
00:11:25 --> 00:11:26 >> Very exciting.
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 >> Yeah. I heard they're going to have a
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 visitors center at the ELT, but the only
00:11:30 --> 00:11:35 thing on the menu will be BLT, so
00:11:35 --> 00:11:37 I had to do that joke. It just, you
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 know, my brain doesn't let me stop
00:11:40 --> 00:11:41 sometimes.
00:11:41 --> 00:11:43 >> No, it
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 uh Thank you, Ben, for the question.
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 Great to hear from you.
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 Let's talk about our sponsor, NordVPN.
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00:13:04 --> 00:13:06 Don't forget the code word spacenuts and
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00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 >> Roger, you're here also.
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 >> Spacenuts. Uh, I'm going to do a bit of
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 a switcheroo here because we we're
00:13:15 --> 00:13:16 already talking about telescopes and
00:13:16 --> 00:13:18 we've got a question about telescopes.
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 So, we might just jump straight to that
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 one. Uh, hi Fred and Andrew. Just
00:13:22 --> 00:13:26 wondering if Fred can shed some light,
00:13:26 --> 00:13:29 puny intended. Uh, on telescopes and the
00:13:29 --> 00:13:30 different types of light they can
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 detect. I was recently thinking about
00:13:32 --> 00:13:35 how the James Webb Space Telescope uses
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 mirrors to observe infrared light but
00:13:37 --> 00:13:39 not visible light while Hubble also uses
00:13:39 --> 00:13:41 mirrors for visible light yet can't
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 really see infrared. Uh that got me
00:13:44 --> 00:13:47 wondering how mirrors, detectors and
00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 telescope design all come together or
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52 don't uh for different uh wavelengths.
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 Could you please walk us through the
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 various types of telescopes, optical,
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 infrared, radio, all the way to gamma,
00:13:58 --> 00:14:00 and explain what kinds of light they
00:14:00 --> 00:14:02 detect, how they do it, and why each
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 telescope can only be used in certain
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07 ways. Absolutely love the show. May your
00:14:07 --> 00:14:09 rain uh may you reign supreme for many
00:14:09 --> 00:14:12 years to come. Cheers, Ash. Thank you,
00:14:12 --> 00:14:16 Ash. And um yeah, he just wants to know
00:14:16 --> 00:14:17 everything you've ever written down
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 about telescopes. Fred,
00:14:19 --> 00:14:20 >> yeah, there's a book on it. I I
00:14:20 --> 00:14:23 recommend Ash Hunted Out.
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 >> It's called Star Stargazer, the life and
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 times of the telescope. It's the first
00:14:27 --> 00:14:30 big thick book that I wrote. Uh and
00:14:30 --> 00:14:32 still one of my favorites because um
00:14:32 --> 00:14:34 even though it's slightly out of date,
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36 it opens by talking about what used to
00:14:36 --> 00:14:39 be called Owl, uh the overwhelmingly
00:14:39 --> 00:14:41 large telescope, which was actually the
00:14:41 --> 00:14:43 precursor of the ELT we were just
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 talking about there, right? But when
00:14:45 --> 00:14:49 they were proposing owl um which had an
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 overwhelmingly large mirror of 100 m in
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 diameter and then they realized it also
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 had an overwhelmingly large price tag
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 which is why it came down to 39 m and
00:14:58 --> 00:15:00 that's fine because that's still an
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 extremely big telescope. Anyway, um
00:15:02 --> 00:15:04 that's that's the plug over. That's the
00:15:04 --> 00:15:09 advert over. Uh so basically telescopes
00:15:09 --> 00:15:12 have sort of got the same ingredients no
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 matter what they're observing. Uh and
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 that is something to gather the
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 radiation and whether that's very short
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 wavelength radiation like gamma rays or
00:15:22 --> 00:15:25 long wavelength radiation like radio
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 waves. Uh you've got something to gather
00:15:27 --> 00:15:30 the radiation uh and either focus it in
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 some way or at least concentrate it and
00:15:32 --> 00:15:35 then something to detect it. And it's
00:15:35 --> 00:15:39 usually the detectors that are perhaps
00:15:39 --> 00:15:42 the most waveband critical because you
00:15:42 --> 00:15:45 need different detectors for example to
00:15:45 --> 00:15:48 detect visible light uh from the ones
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 that you would use to detect infrared
00:15:50 --> 00:15:53 light. Um it's and and again it depends
00:15:53 --> 00:15:57 on the infrared wavelength. Uh so I I
00:15:57 --> 00:16:00 guess starting right at the the short
00:16:00 --> 00:16:03 wavelength end with gamma ray and x-ray
00:16:03 --> 00:16:07 detectors um they are almost the same
00:16:07 --> 00:16:09 sort of technology as as are used in
00:16:09 --> 00:16:12 medical imaging. Uh but to focus them
00:16:12 --> 00:16:14 you've got to have very special
00:16:14 --> 00:16:16 technologies. um my recollection of
00:16:16 --> 00:16:19 gammaray telescopes and things might
00:16:19 --> 00:16:22 have changed a little bit here but the
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 they made mirrors which were called
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 grazing incidence mirrors which looked
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 more like a piece of origyami than than
00:16:29 --> 00:16:32 a a reflector that you'd imagine but
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 they did focus the light to to provide
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 that thing and then you go to
00:16:36 --> 00:16:39 ultraviolet the Hubble is sensitive to
00:16:39 --> 00:16:41 ultraviolet light um and that for that
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 it needed a very precise mirror and we
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 all know that the mirror was made very
00:16:45 --> 00:16:48 precisely but to the wrong prescription
00:16:48 --> 00:16:50 uh uh for reasons that we haven't time
00:16:50 --> 00:16:53 to go into. Uh so once again you know
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 the detector is sensitive to ultraviolet
00:16:55 --> 00:16:57 radiation. In fact they've got wideband
00:16:57 --> 00:17:00 quite wideband detectors. Um Hubble can
00:17:00 --> 00:17:03 detect longwavelength ultraviolet
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 whole of the visible and also the short
00:17:05 --> 00:17:07 wavelength infrared what we call the
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 near infrared. Uh and its mirror and
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 detectors are capable of doing that.
00:17:12 --> 00:17:14 When you go up to the James Web, you're
00:17:14 --> 00:17:17 right. That's tuned for infrared light.
00:17:17 --> 00:17:19 And that means your tolerances on the
00:17:20 --> 00:17:22 accuracy of the mirror are slightly less
00:17:22 --> 00:17:24 because infrared light's got a longer
00:17:24 --> 00:17:28 wavelength. And you know how how
00:17:28 --> 00:17:30 accurate your mirror mirror needs to be
00:17:30 --> 00:17:32 made is dependent on the wavelength. The
00:17:32 --> 00:17:34 longer the wavelength, the more relaxed
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 you can be about the shape of the
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 mirror. Uh so web telescope slightly
00:17:39 --> 00:17:42 more relaxed although still to very high
00:17:42 --> 00:17:44 tolerances but the detectors are the
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 thing that really render it uh not
00:17:46 --> 00:17:49 suitable for visible light uh it's got
00:17:49 --> 00:17:51 definitely got infrared uh sensitive
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 detectors.
00:17:53 --> 00:17:56 It's also got a gold coating uh and
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 that's so that rather than a an
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 aluminium or silver coating like a
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 visible light telescope would have, it's
00:18:02 --> 00:18:04 got a gold coating because gold reflects
00:18:04 --> 00:18:06 infrared light better. And then you get
00:18:06 --> 00:18:07 up to radio waves and you're talking
00:18:08 --> 00:18:11 about um often dishes and you know a
00:18:11 --> 00:18:15 dish is just a big mirror but uh one
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17 that's as I said before it doesn't have
00:18:17 --> 00:18:19 to be as accurate as the mirror on a
00:18:19 --> 00:18:20 visible light telescope because the
00:18:20 --> 00:18:22 wavelength is longer and that's why we
00:18:22 --> 00:18:25 see these much bigger bigger telescopes
00:18:25 --> 00:18:29 for radio waves. Uh you get the same
00:18:29 --> 00:18:31 um sensitivity to detail uh with a
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 bigger dish than you do with visible
00:18:33 --> 00:18:35 light. with a smaller dish. That's
00:18:35 --> 00:18:37 because that sensitive to details
00:18:37 --> 00:18:39 proportional to the wavelength. Um, but
00:18:39 --> 00:18:41 the detectors are quite different in
00:18:42 --> 00:18:45 radio telescopes. They use often very
00:18:45 --> 00:18:46 sophisticated technologies where they're
00:18:46 --> 00:18:49 actually measuring the waveform itself,
00:18:49 --> 00:18:51 which you don't do with visible light,
00:18:51 --> 00:18:53 what are called hetradine receivers and
00:18:53 --> 00:18:55 things of that sort. So, um, that's
00:18:55 --> 00:18:57 walking through the various types of
00:18:57 --> 00:19:00 telescopes as you've suggested. Ash, is
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 there another bit to the question uh,
00:19:02 --> 00:19:04 how they do it? Well, I've explained
00:19:04 --> 00:19:06 that why each telescope can only be used
00:19:06 --> 00:19:07 in certain ways. Yeah.
00:19:07 --> 00:19:10 >> Yeah. I guess the question he asks
00:19:10 --> 00:19:11 prompts a question in my mind or a
00:19:11 --> 00:19:13 suggestion that you really could not
00:19:13 --> 00:19:16 build a single telescope that could do
00:19:16 --> 00:19:18 absolutely everything you'd want to do
00:19:18 --> 00:19:21 on all spectrums.
00:19:21 --> 00:19:24 >> Um that's correct. There is a there is a
00:19:24 --> 00:19:25 device
00:19:25 --> 00:19:28 which uh in fact is only used really in
00:19:28 --> 00:19:31 the microwave region of the spectrum. uh
00:19:31 --> 00:19:34 but it's called a bometer and a bometer
00:19:34 --> 00:19:36 is something that is basically detects
00:19:36 --> 00:19:38 stuff but it's insensitive to
00:19:38 --> 00:19:41 wavelength. So in a sense a bometer a
00:19:41 --> 00:19:43 perfect bometer will be able to detect
00:19:43 --> 00:19:45 all wavelengths. Now the reality is you
00:19:45 --> 00:19:47 can't do that but that's the notion
00:19:47 --> 00:19:50 behind a bometer and what it means is
00:19:50 --> 00:19:54 that for microwave astronomy um the
00:19:54 --> 00:19:56 bometer gives you a very wide range of
00:19:56 --> 00:20:00 wavelengths to cover. So when you are
00:20:00 --> 00:20:02 planning to build a telescope,
00:20:02 --> 00:20:04 do you have an objective in mind before
00:20:04 --> 00:20:07 you build it or do you build it and then
00:20:07 --> 00:20:09 think well what can we do this?
00:20:09 --> 00:20:11 >> No, it's definitely the other way
00:20:11 --> 00:20:13 around. You you start off with a science
00:20:13 --> 00:20:15 case. What are the questions that we
00:20:15 --> 00:20:17 really think are the most urgent
00:20:17 --> 00:20:20 questions to answer? And you've got
00:20:20 --> 00:20:22 things like um you know the nature of
00:20:22 --> 00:20:25 dark energy, the nature of dark matter.
00:20:25 --> 00:20:27 Uh are there any living organisms
00:20:27 --> 00:20:28 anywhere else in the univer all the all
00:20:28 --> 00:20:29 the questions that you and I talk about
00:20:29 --> 00:20:32 on the show are the ones that scientists
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 are still intrigued by and there are
00:20:34 --> 00:20:35 many others as well. The details of the
00:20:35 --> 00:20:38 way galaxies interact with environments.
00:20:38 --> 00:20:41 What about all these um young galaxies
00:20:41 --> 00:20:44 that seem to be more mature than we
00:20:44 --> 00:20:46 think they should be at, you know, when
00:20:46 --> 00:20:47 the universe is only a couple hundred
00:20:47 --> 00:20:49 million years old? Questions like that.
00:20:49 --> 00:20:51 They're all the ones that would go into
00:20:51 --> 00:20:54 the science case for a project. But
00:20:54 --> 00:20:56 there is always the background that
00:20:56 --> 00:20:58 you're going to find things out that you
00:20:58 --> 00:21:01 simply did not expect to find out. So
00:21:01 --> 00:21:03 that's usually added into the science
00:21:03 --> 00:21:05 case. The stuff that we just don't
00:21:05 --> 00:21:07 expect. Serendipitous discovery. There's
00:21:07 --> 00:21:10 been so many of those um made by the
00:21:10 --> 00:21:12 world's great telescopes.
00:21:12 --> 00:21:14 >> Yeah, thank you Ash. That's a great
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 question and I could tell Fred was
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 excited about it. I I'm just going to go
00:21:18 --> 00:21:19 I'm going to go back to Ben's question
00:21:19 --> 00:21:21 about, you know, what do you want the
00:21:21 --> 00:21:23 next um big thing in telescopes to be?
00:21:23 --> 00:21:25 I've thought of one. I I want to see the
00:21:25 --> 00:21:28 FWST.
00:21:28 --> 00:21:32 >> Uh Fred Watson Space Telescope. That's
00:21:32 --> 00:21:32 that's what I
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34 >> want to sound. Yeah, I do too.
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 >> I want the sound of that. Thank you. Oh,
00:21:36 --> 00:21:38 well, you're a pioneer in fiber optics.
00:21:38 --> 00:21:39 I mean, it makes sense to me that you
00:21:39 --> 00:21:42 should have one named after you.
00:21:42 --> 00:21:42 >> Yeah.
00:21:42 --> 00:21:45 >> I always um I always think the reason
00:21:45 --> 00:21:47 for my hairstyle is because I worked in
00:21:47 --> 00:21:49 fiber optics cuz the individual
00:21:49 --> 00:21:52 follicules got jealous of all these thin
00:21:52 --> 00:21:53 strands of material that I was playing
00:21:53 --> 00:21:55 with and they all just fell out.
00:21:55 --> 00:21:56 >> Yeah, they gave up. Yeah. They said,
00:21:56 --> 00:21:58 "No, we can't beat that. See you later,
00:21:58 --> 00:22:00 France.
00:22:00 --> 00:22:02 We're going somewhere else." Uh, thanks
00:22:02 --> 00:22:04 Ash for the for the question. And this
00:22:04 --> 00:22:06 is Space Nuts with Andrew Dunley and
00:22:06 --> 00:22:10 Professor Fred Watson, a Q&A edition.
00:22:10 --> 00:22:13 Let's tell you about our sponsor,
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00:23:38 --> 00:23:40 >> Swift
00:23:40 --> 00:23:42 base here. The angle has landed.
00:23:42 --> 00:23:43 >> Space nets.
00:23:43 --> 00:23:47 >> Our next question comes from somebody
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 else. Uh, hi Fred and Andrew. Gravity is
00:23:49 --> 00:23:52 described by Einstein's theories as the
00:23:52 --> 00:23:54 bending of spaceime in the presence of
00:23:54 --> 00:23:58 massive objects. Great. Why then does
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 physics discuss the hypothetical
00:24:00 --> 00:24:03 graviton as a force carrier for gravity?
00:24:03 --> 00:24:06 Uh what would a graviton look like were
00:24:06 --> 00:24:08 we to discover it uh or discover its
00:24:08 --> 00:24:11 existence? And why is it needed at all
00:24:11 --> 00:24:14 in the context of Einstein's theory?
00:24:14 --> 00:24:15 Thanks. Keep up the good work. Love the
00:24:15 --> 00:24:19 show. Russ from Stalbridge
00:24:19 --> 00:24:21 in the UK. Stalbridge
00:24:21 --> 00:24:22 >> it is. That's right. It's in the
00:24:22 --> 00:24:25 Midlands. Stbridge, I think, if I
00:24:25 --> 00:24:26 remember rightly.
00:24:26 --> 00:24:28 I mean,
00:24:28 --> 00:24:32 >> um, yeah, it's a good question. Uh, and
00:24:32 --> 00:24:35 that's kind of hard to know how to how
00:24:35 --> 00:24:38 to start it because there's so much to
00:24:38 --> 00:24:41 say. So, um, yes, general relativity,
00:24:42 --> 00:24:45 exactly as Ross says, uh, is that
00:24:45 --> 00:24:48 spacetime bends, uh, or the theory says
00:24:48 --> 00:24:50 spacetime bends, uh, when you've got
00:24:50 --> 00:24:53 matter there. Uh, and all the evidence
00:24:54 --> 00:24:56 is that general relativity is absolutely
00:24:56 --> 00:24:59 on the money. It's um, you know, it
00:24:59 --> 00:25:03 meets its predictions with with such a
00:25:03 --> 00:25:05 high level of accuracy that it's almost
00:25:05 --> 00:25:07 mind-blowing. If I remember rightly, I
00:25:07 --> 00:25:09 think it's one part in 10 to the 18 or
00:25:09 --> 00:25:11 something like that that it's been
00:25:11 --> 00:25:15 proven to work uh for. So uh that's
00:25:15 --> 00:25:20 great but um the physicists who look at
00:25:20 --> 00:25:23 the other end of the of the size scale
00:25:23 --> 00:25:25 the ones who are interested in quantum
00:25:25 --> 00:25:28 mechanics and uh you know particle
00:25:28 --> 00:25:33 physics uh sub subatomic particles they
00:25:33 --> 00:25:36 say that all forces
00:25:36 --> 00:25:38 uh and and here we're talking about
00:25:38 --> 00:25:41 gravity in the Newtonian sense that it's
00:25:41 --> 00:25:44 a force uh have have a particle that
00:25:44 --> 00:25:47 carries them. And so, you know, we've
00:25:47 --> 00:25:49 got the photon for electromagnetic
00:25:49 --> 00:25:53 force. We've got the um the various uh
00:25:53 --> 00:25:56 force carriers for the strong and weak
00:25:56 --> 00:25:59 nuclear forces. Um and we've also got
00:25:59 --> 00:26:03 now the Higs field, the the the Higs
00:26:03 --> 00:26:06 Bzon. So what they're saying is that the
00:26:06 --> 00:26:08 because gravity works that way there
00:26:08 --> 00:26:12 should be a bzon that carries gravity
00:26:12 --> 00:26:14 and that's the idea of a hypothetical
00:26:14 --> 00:26:19 graviton. Um my suspicion as to how that
00:26:19 --> 00:26:23 links with relativity comes from the the
00:26:23 --> 00:26:25 the
00:26:25 --> 00:26:28 description of uh of the Higs Bzon that
00:26:28 --> 00:26:29 I think we might have talked about a few
00:26:30 --> 00:26:35 weeks ago. So the Higs Bzon is I think
00:26:35 --> 00:26:37 somebody asked about you know how how do
00:26:37 --> 00:26:39 you reconcile the Higs Bzon with
00:26:39 --> 00:26:40 something that gives all the other
00:26:40 --> 00:26:43 forces their their mass
00:26:43 --> 00:26:46 >> because that's what the Bzon does. And
00:26:46 --> 00:26:47 the bottom line is that what you're
00:26:47 --> 00:26:49 really talking about is the Higs field,
00:26:49 --> 00:26:52 which is something like they usually
00:26:52 --> 00:26:55 talk about syrup or molasses. Uh, and as
00:26:55 --> 00:26:57 the particles move through it, they get
00:26:57 --> 00:27:00 they get resistance because they're uh,
00:27:00 --> 00:27:01 you know, because they're in this sticky
00:27:01 --> 00:27:05 stuff. Uh, and that gives them the
00:27:05 --> 00:27:08 effect of mass. It's not an analogy that
00:27:08 --> 00:27:11 thrills me, I have to say, but it kind
00:27:11 --> 00:27:14 of gets the idea. And the only time the
00:27:14 --> 00:27:17 Higs Bzon itself appears is when you've
00:27:17 --> 00:27:20 got something a collision between
00:27:20 --> 00:27:23 particles. So the Higs field is is the
00:27:23 --> 00:27:25 main thing. But if you collide particles
00:27:25 --> 00:27:28 together, you get this thing that
00:27:28 --> 00:27:30 emerges from the Higs field which is
00:27:30 --> 00:27:32 called the Higs Bzon. And that can be
00:27:32 --> 00:27:35 measured which it was in 2012. And my
00:27:35 --> 00:27:37 guess is that gravity, the graviton
00:27:37 --> 00:27:39 would be something like it. It would be
00:27:39 --> 00:27:41 a Bzon. it would emerge from the gravity
00:27:41 --> 00:27:44 field maybe would emerge when there were
00:27:44 --> 00:27:47 collisions in particle accelerators but
00:27:47 --> 00:27:50 we have no evidence for it yet. So um I
00:27:50 --> 00:27:52 think um you know Russ I think that's
00:27:52 --> 00:27:55 the bottom line that uh like the search
00:27:55 --> 00:27:58 for the Higs Bzon one day the Higs the
00:27:58 --> 00:28:01 search for the graviton will basically
00:28:01 --> 00:28:04 cough up the goods uh and uh and we'll
00:28:04 --> 00:28:06 we'll understand it perhaps in a similar
00:28:06 --> 00:28:08 way to the way we understand the Higs
00:28:08 --> 00:28:11 Bzon that you need um to actively create
00:28:11 --> 00:28:14 a Bzon from the Higs field. So maybe you
00:28:14 --> 00:28:16 need to create a graviton from the
00:28:16 --> 00:28:18 gravity field which we're used to
00:28:18 --> 00:28:18 talking about
00:28:18 --> 00:28:21 >> and some kind of particle to account for
00:28:21 --> 00:28:22 dark matter and so
00:28:22 --> 00:28:24 >> well that's right. Yes. Yeah. Well dark
00:28:24 --> 00:28:27 matter would probably be a firm on a
00:28:28 --> 00:28:29 thing that you know is a matter particle
00:28:29 --> 00:28:31 rather than a force particle.
00:28:31 --> 00:28:34 >> Okay. Gotcha. Fair enough. All right. Uh
00:28:34 --> 00:28:37 so where does a light particle fit in
00:28:37 --> 00:28:38 that? A photon.
00:28:38 --> 00:28:39 >> Uh that's the photon. Yeah. It's a
00:28:39 --> 00:28:42 gravitational it's the electromagnetic
00:28:42 --> 00:28:43 particle. That's pro probably the best
00:28:43 --> 00:28:46 understood of of the subatomic particles
00:28:46 --> 00:28:48 because we use it all the time.
00:28:48 --> 00:28:50 >> We're using it as we speak.
00:28:50 --> 00:28:53 >> We are. It's very It's very handy.
00:28:53 --> 00:28:55 >> It's very handy. Yeah. I found it quite
00:28:55 --> 00:28:57 useful recently.
00:28:57 --> 00:28:58 >> Good. Very
00:28:58 --> 00:29:00 >> You probably find the strong and weak
00:29:00 --> 00:29:02 nuclear forces quite useful as well
00:29:02 --> 00:29:04 because they stop you falling to bits.
00:29:04 --> 00:29:07 >> That's a good one. Keep that in mind.
00:29:07 --> 00:29:09 >> Yeah, I think that's even more useful
00:29:09 --> 00:29:11 than photon. Really? The problem with
00:29:11 --> 00:29:13 all of this, Fred, is none of it gives
00:29:13 --> 00:29:15 me anything to work with to improve my
00:29:15 --> 00:29:18 golf game. So,
00:29:18 --> 00:29:21 >> uh, yeah. Well, you've got to start with
00:29:21 --> 00:29:24 the notion that five irons don't float.
00:29:24 --> 00:29:27 And once you've got past that step, then
00:29:27 --> 00:29:29 >> you were getting some book plugs in
00:29:29 --> 00:29:30 today.
00:29:30 --> 00:29:33 >> That's one for you. Thank you very much.
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35 Uh, thank you, Russ. I I hope we covered
00:29:35 --> 00:29:37 that. I think we did. Not sure, but
00:29:37 --> 00:29:39 anyway. Um, it it's a work in progress.
00:29:40 --> 00:29:42 We'll call it that. Uh our final
00:29:42 --> 00:29:45 question today uh comes from Robert. He
00:29:45 --> 00:29:47 said, "Hi, my friends down under. I live
00:29:47 --> 00:29:50 in Areri, Iceland,
00:29:50 --> 00:29:52 and I'm very much looking forward uh to
00:29:52 --> 00:29:54 the eclipses this year in the western
00:29:54 --> 00:29:58 part of Iceland. However, um your recent
00:29:58 --> 00:30:00 fabulous show regarding Olympus bonds on
00:30:00 --> 00:30:02 Mars, would this make a perfect
00:30:02 --> 00:30:06 candidate for a space elevator?" Uh that
00:30:06 --> 00:30:08 comes from Robert. Hello, Robert. Thanks
00:30:08 --> 00:30:10 for uh sending your question in
00:30:10 --> 00:30:12 Arerrera. You've been there.
00:30:12 --> 00:30:14 >> I have. Yes. I sent you some photographs
00:30:14 --> 00:30:16 so you could see what it's like. Uh we
00:30:16 --> 00:30:18 should put them up on the website if
00:30:18 --> 00:30:20 >> we could post them on in the Space Nuts
00:30:20 --> 00:30:21 podcast group.
00:30:21 --> 00:30:23 >> That would be nice. All right. One of
00:30:23 --> 00:30:25 the main street main and me in the main
00:30:25 --> 00:30:27 street in Akaria. We were there at this
00:30:27 --> 00:30:30 time last year actually. Okay. Uh
00:30:30 --> 00:30:32 Robert. So um I'm sorry I didn't know
00:30:32 --> 00:30:34 you then or else we'd have looked you
00:30:34 --> 00:30:36 up. But we had a great time there. It
00:30:36 --> 00:30:39 was part of our our ice land tour which
00:30:39 --> 00:30:41 was not the best for weather. So, we
00:30:41 --> 00:30:44 didn't see any aori, but uh certainly
00:30:44 --> 00:30:47 experienced some really fabulous
00:30:47 --> 00:30:49 landscapes up in the northwest of
00:30:49 --> 00:30:50 Iceland. It was the first our first
00:30:50 --> 00:30:52 visit up to the northwest. We spent a
00:30:52 --> 00:30:54 lot of time in the south on previous
00:30:54 --> 00:30:57 trips, but uh yeah, Aari such a stunning
00:30:57 --> 00:30:59 place. Beautiful scenery.
00:30:59 --> 00:31:01 >> They they love their cathedrals, don't
00:31:01 --> 00:31:04 they? In Iceland, the churches, gee,
00:31:04 --> 00:31:06 they're amazing. The one the one we saw
00:31:06 --> 00:31:08 in Rekuik just blew my mind.
00:31:08 --> 00:31:10 >> That's right. That's that's the classic
00:31:10 --> 00:31:13 one. That is such an elegant building.
00:31:13 --> 00:31:13 It is.
00:31:13 --> 00:31:15 >> And indeed the church in Nakureri is
00:31:15 --> 00:31:16 lovely as well.
00:31:16 --> 00:31:17 >> It is. Yeah, you got a photo of that
00:31:18 --> 00:31:21 one. Yeah, I'll post that too.
00:31:21 --> 00:31:25 >> Uh what was the question again? Oh yeah.
00:31:25 --> 00:31:28 >> As a good platform for a space elevator.
00:31:28 --> 00:31:34 Um the yes um there's a kind of problem
00:31:34 --> 00:31:39 because to make a space elevator stable
00:31:39 --> 00:31:43 uh it has to start off from a point on
00:31:43 --> 00:31:45 the equator of whatever world you're
00:31:45 --> 00:31:48 trying to get up into space from. Right.
00:31:48 --> 00:31:52 And Olympus Mons, I am told, is at
00:31:52 --> 00:31:57 latitude 18° north. In fact, it's 18° 39
00:31:57 --> 00:31:59 minutes north, which is not the equator
00:31:59 --> 00:32:02 of Mars. So, you'd have problems with
00:32:02 --> 00:32:04 it. Uh, it would need to stretch and
00:32:04 --> 00:32:06 shrink uh and I think would probably
00:32:06 --> 00:32:09 shake itself to pieces. So, uh I think
00:32:09 --> 00:32:11 you've got to have the equator. So
00:32:11 --> 00:32:14 that's a bit sad because Olympus Mons as
00:32:14 --> 00:32:19 um as Robert is hinting at uh is um you
00:32:19 --> 00:32:21 know it's high enough that you kind of
00:32:22 --> 00:32:24 already you're already out.
00:32:24 --> 00:32:25 >> Well, you're already Yeah, you're
00:32:25 --> 00:32:27 already on the way up your space
00:32:27 --> 00:32:29 elevator. So, a nice idea. Very nice
00:32:29 --> 00:32:31 idea, but I don't think it would work.
00:32:31 --> 00:32:35 >> That's a pity. Well, I I suspect that uh
00:32:35 --> 00:32:38 the space elevator concept's probably
00:32:38 --> 00:32:40 not ever going to happen. And it just
00:32:40 --> 00:32:41 sounds like it's too expensive, too
00:32:41 --> 00:32:43 hard, and there are easier ways to do
00:32:43 --> 00:32:44 things.
00:32:44 --> 00:32:46 >> Yeah. Well, that's right. Reusable
00:32:46 --> 00:32:48 boosters is the way to do it. And uh as
00:32:48 --> 00:32:49 we talked about in the last show, that's
00:32:49 --> 00:32:52 now basically the normal way of getting
00:32:52 --> 00:32:53 into space.
00:32:54 --> 00:32:55 >> Very much so, Robert. Great to hear from
00:32:55 --> 00:32:58 you. Enjoy those eclipses later this
00:32:58 --> 00:33:00 year. Uh yeah, that that'll be very
00:33:00 --> 00:33:02 exciting in Iceland if you can get
00:33:02 --> 00:33:05 there. Uh be a lot of fun, too. Um so,
00:33:05 --> 00:33:07 Robert, hopefully we answered your
00:33:07 --> 00:33:09 question. It was an easy one as it turns
00:33:09 --> 00:33:11 out. U and that brings us to an end.
00:33:11 --> 00:33:13 Don't forget if you've got questions for
00:33:13 --> 00:33:14 us, please send them in. We we're
00:33:14 --> 00:33:16 actually quite desperately short of
00:33:16 --> 00:33:19 questions. So, uh send them to us via
00:33:19 --> 00:33:21 our website spacenutspodcast.com.
00:33:21 --> 00:33:22 spacenuts.io
00:33:22 --> 00:33:25 or just do a search for spaceodcast on
00:33:25 --> 00:33:27 your favorite search engine. Click on
00:33:27 --> 00:33:30 the AMA button that is ask me anything
00:33:30 --> 00:33:31 and send your text and audio questions
00:33:31 --> 00:33:34 in with your name and location. We would
00:33:34 --> 00:33:36 really love to hear from you. Fred,
00:33:36 --> 00:33:38 we're all done. Thank you so much. It
00:33:38 --> 00:33:39 was good fun today.
00:33:39 --> 00:33:41 >> Yeah, it's been great.
00:33:41 --> 00:33:42 >> Oh, it's never It's never fun any other
00:33:42 --> 00:33:45 time, but it was good fun today.
00:33:45 --> 00:33:47 >> I love connecting with our listeners.
00:33:47 --> 00:33:49 It's especially when they're in places
00:33:49 --> 00:33:51 like Arureri.
00:33:51 --> 00:33:53 >> Yeah. Yeah. What a what an amazing
00:33:53 --> 00:33:55 place. See you soon, Fred.
00:33:55 --> 00:33:56 >> Cheers for now.
00:33:56 --> 00:33:58 >> Professor Fred Watson, astronomer at
00:33:58 --> 00:34:00 large, part of the team here at Space
00:34:00 --> 00:34:03 Nuts. And uh thanks to Hugh in the
00:34:03 --> 00:34:05 studio, uh works really hard, but he
00:34:05 --> 00:34:06 couldn't be with us today. He got on a
00:34:06 --> 00:34:08 space elevator and he thought he'd be
00:34:08 --> 00:34:10 back in time, but some kid pushed all
00:34:10 --> 00:34:14 the buttons. So, he was he was very
00:34:14 --> 00:34:16 angry. Anyway, he sent me a text. Uh,
00:34:16 --> 00:34:18 and from me, Andrew Dunley, thanks for
00:34:18 --> 00:34:20 your company. We'll catch you on the
00:34:20 --> 00:34:22 next episode of Space Nuts. Bye-bye.
00:34:22 --> 00:34:23 >> Space Nuts.
00:34:23 --> 00:34:25 >> You'll be listening to the Space Nuts
00:34:25 --> 00:34:27 podcast
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