SpaceTime Series 28 Episode 02
Liquid Water on Mars: A Mirage?
A new study casts doubt on the existence of liquid water on Mars, challenging previous assumptions about recurring slope lineae and the potential for brine pools. Researchers argue that the Martian environment's low temperature and pressure make it unlikely for liquid water to exist, even in the form of salty brines. The findings question the habitability of the Red Planet by Earth standards.
New Asteroids Discovered
NASA's Webb Space Telescope has identified a new population of small main belt asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. These 138 newly discovered celestial bodies range in size from a bus to a football stadium, offering insights into asteroid formation and the potential risks of asteroid impacts on Earth.
Australia's Lunar Rover Project Advances
Australia's first Lunar Rover project is moving forward with the development of prototype rovers and essential technology to tackle lunar dust challenges. Supported by the Australian Space Agency, this $42 million initiative aims to enhance Australia's role in lunar exploration.
January Skywatch
00:00 New study claims we're unlikely to ever find liquid water on Mars
04:50 NASA's Webb Space Telescope has discovered 138 new asteroids in the main asteroid belt
07:53 January marks Earth's closest orbital position to the sun perihelion
09:59 Sirius is the fifth closest star to the sun and it's gradually moving closer
16:37 Looking due north just above the horizon this time of year you'll see Capella
22:28 January also plays host to one primary meteor shower, the Quadrantids
24:26 There's plenty to see in the night sky during January, as long as
28:36 The Orion Nebula looks magnificent through a telescope and even better on photos
31:59 Just beyond Orion we've got Taurus constellation Taurus
33:05 On 15 January, planet Mars reaches its closest point in its orbitwww.spacetimewithstuartgary.com
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✍️ Episode References
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
[https://www.pnas.org/](https://www.pnas.org/)
NASA Ames Research Center
[https://www.nasa.gov/ames](https://www.nasa.gov/ames)
Australian Space Agency
[https://www.industry.gov.au/space](https://www.industry.gov.au/space)
Sky & Telescope Magazine
[https://skyandtelescope.org/](https://skyandtelescope.org/)
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) .
Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/24898873?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 this is spacetime series 28 episode 2
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 for broadcast on the 3rd of January
00:00:05 --> 00:00:09 2025 coming up on SpaceTime a new study
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 claims we're unlikely to ever find
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 liquid water on the red planet Mars
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 discovery of a new population of small
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 main belt asteroids and Australia's
00:00:19 --> 00:00:21 lunar rover project takes another step
00:00:21 --> 00:00:26 forward all that and more coming up on
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 SpaceTime welcome to SpaceTime with
00:00:29 --> 00:00:31 Stuart G
00:00:31 --> 00:00:38 [Music]
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 more than a 100 years ago astronomer
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 persal L made the case for the existence
00:00:50 --> 00:00:53 of possible Canali or canals on Mars
00:00:53 --> 00:00:55 designed to redistribute water from the
00:00:55 --> 00:00:58 Martian ice caps down to lower drier
00:00:58 --> 00:01:00 latitudes now this necess necessarily
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 meant the existence of intelligent life
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 on Mars that built the canals while L
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 was proven to be wrong the question of
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 whether there is liquid water on Mars
00:01:09 --> 00:01:12 continues to tantalize researchers
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 liquid water is essential for Life as we
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 know it consequently it's a precondition
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 for a habitable planet yet the
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 combination of low temperature
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 atmospheric pressure and water vapor
00:01:23 --> 00:01:26 mean the triple point for water doesn't
00:01:26 --> 00:01:27 allow liquid water to exist on the
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 Martian surface any water that was
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 liquid on the Martian surface would
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 likely freeze or sublimate in other
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37 words boil or evaporate immediately yet
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 a much thicker atmosphere in the past
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 with higher pressure would have also
00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 meant warmer temperatures and that would
00:01:43 --> 00:01:44 have allowed liquid water to exist on
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 the red planet surface and there's
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 plenty of evidence to confirm that
00:01:48 --> 00:01:51 that's exactly what did happen but the
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 once warm wet world of the red planet is
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56 today a freeze-dried desert and that
00:01:56 --> 00:01:58 raises the question could liquid water
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 exist anywhere on the red planet today
00:02:00 --> 00:02:03 most likely is a salty brine which is a
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 lower freezing point than pure liquid
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 water of special interest has been the
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 discovery of recurring slope lineer
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 which are dark linear features often
00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 found on the side of steep slopes and
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 these display seasonal changes appearing
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 to form in warmer seasons and then
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 fading away again in cooler ones now
00:02:21 --> 00:02:23 that's a way that's consistent with the
00:02:23 --> 00:02:26 behavior of liquid water but now new
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 research reported in the Journal of the
00:02:28 --> 00:02:29 proceedings of the National Academy of
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 Science es has thrown cold water on the
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 ID that were ever likely to find liquid
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 water on Mars be it in the form of
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 recurring slope line permafrost or pools
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 of brine one of the studies authors
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 Vincent chevrier from the University of
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 Arkansas says there's a lot of confusion
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 misunder understandings and erroneous
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 interpretations of what researchers
00:02:49 --> 00:02:51 really say about the state of liquid
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 water on the red planet He suggests that
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 a closer look at recurring slope line
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 indicates their behavior is consistent
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 with sand and dust flows and that no
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 water would be needed to create them
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 available data from Mars orbiters can
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 confirm that liquid water plays any role
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 in their development however other
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 Studies have shown High hydroxy levels
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 associated with recurring slope line
00:03:14 --> 00:03:15 supporting the idea that it could really
00:03:15 --> 00:03:18 be melting permafrost seeping out of the
00:03:18 --> 00:03:20 ground other researchers believe that
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 brins which are solutions with high
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 concentrations of salts could hold the
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 key to finding liquid water on Mars and
00:03:27 --> 00:03:28 of course there is an abundance of salts
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 on Mars of these salts perchlorates
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 would seem the most promising since they
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 have extremely low tic temperatures
00:03:36 --> 00:03:37 that's when the melting point of the
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 combined mixture is lower than that of
00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 any single ingredient in it for instance
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 a calcium perchlorate brine solidifies
00:03:44 --> 00:03:48 atus 75° Celsius mass is an average
00:03:48 --> 00:03:50 surface temperature of -50° C at the
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 equator theoretically that suggest that
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 there could be zones where calcium
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 perchlorate brins could stay liquid
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 especially in the subsurface the authors
00:03:59 --> 00:04:00 of this new study examined all the
00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 arguments for and against Brian's
00:04:02 --> 00:04:04 potentially forming stable liquids on
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 the red planet now ultimately They
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 concluded that the various limiting
00:04:08 --> 00:04:10 factors including the relatively low
00:04:10 --> 00:04:12 amounts of the most promising salts
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 water vapor pressure and Ice locations
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 strongly limited the abundances of brins
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 both on the surface or for that matter
00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 in the shallow subsurface and the
00:04:21 --> 00:04:23 authors conclude that even if brinds did
00:04:23 --> 00:04:24 form they would remain highly
00:04:24 --> 00:04:28 unhabitable by Earth's standards this is
00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 spacetime still to come discovery of a
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 new population of small maint asteroids
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 and Australia's lunar rover project
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 takes another step forward all that and
00:04:38 --> 00:04:41 more still to come on
00:04:41 --> 00:04:55 [Music]
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 SpaceTime astronomers using NASA's
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 webspace telescope have disc CED a new
00:05:00 --> 00:05:02 population of celestial bodies in the
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 main asteroid belt between Mars and
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 Jupiter the 138 new asteroids range in
00:05:07 --> 00:05:09 size from that of a bus to about the
00:05:09 --> 00:05:12 size of a football stadium and that's a
00:05:12 --> 00:05:13 size range within the main asteroid
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 built that has not previously been
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 observed knowing how many main belt
00:05:18 --> 00:05:19 asteroids there are in different size
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 ranges can tell astronomers something
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 about how asteroids have changed over
00:05:23 --> 00:05:26 time thanks to ongoing collisions and
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 that process is related to how some of
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 them have escaped the main as built over
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 the solar systems history and even how
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 some meteorites end up on Earth one of
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 the study's authors Tom Green from Nas's
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 Ames Research Center in California
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 Silicon Valley says we Now understand
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 more about how small objects in the
00:05:43 --> 00:05:45 asteroid build are formed and how many
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 there could be asteroids this size
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 likely form through collisions between
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 larger ones and they're also likely to
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 drift towards the vicinity of the Earth
00:05:54 --> 00:05:57 and the Sun over time so insights from
00:05:57 --> 00:05:59 this research could hope astronomers
00:05:59 --> 00:06:00 working on the asteroid threat
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 assessment project at ases which is
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 studying what would happen in the case
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 of an Earth impact and modeling the
00:06:06 --> 00:06:10 associated risks this is spacetime still
00:06:10 --> 00:06:12 to come Australia's lunar rover project
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 takes another step forward and planet
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 Earth reaches perah helion the brightest
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 star in the night sky serus the missing
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 constellation argonavis and the
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 quadrants meteor showers are among the
00:06:23 --> 00:06:25 celestial highlights during the month of
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 January on Skywatch
00:06:27 --> 00:06:42 [Music]
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 Luna alut says its Australian Branch
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 will lead efforts by the ot2 Consortium
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 to build and operate Australia's first
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 lunar rover the $42 million initiative
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 is being funded by the federal
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 government through ASA the Australian
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 space agency The Rovers be named the
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 Rover through a public naming camp
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 campaign and if you think that sounds
00:07:01 --> 00:07:02 bad remember it could have been a lot
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 worse after all they might have called
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 it Rover Mac roverf face Luna alpur
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 initially developed four prototype
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 Rovers over 15 months in order to test
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 different technical features such as
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 autonomous systems for remote operations
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 meanwhile swinburn university has been
00:07:18 --> 00:07:19 selected to provide essential technology
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 for the new Rover including evaluating
00:07:22 --> 00:07:23 and testing at space radiation
00:07:24 --> 00:07:25 resistance and active lunar dust
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 mitigation Technologies in the extreme
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 lunar environment Moon dust remains a
00:07:30 --> 00:07:33 key problem for any lunar surface
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 operations you see the dust is as fine
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 as talcum powder and it's composed of
00:07:38 --> 00:07:41 sharp glass-like shards small enough to
00:07:41 --> 00:07:43 get into any opening and sharp enough to
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 clog up critical mechanisms including
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 equipment conveyors cameras and vacuum
00:07:47 --> 00:07:49 systems so it's a problem which needs to
00:07:49 --> 00:07:52 be solved if reliability on the moon is
00:07:52 --> 00:07:57 to be achieved this is spacetime
00:07:57 --> 00:08:05 [Music]
00:08:11 --> 00:08:13 and time that to turn our eyes to the
00:08:13 --> 00:08:15 skies and check out the celestial sphere
00:08:15 --> 00:08:18 for January on Skywatch January is the
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 first month of the year in the Julian
00:08:20 --> 00:08:23 and gorian calendars the name originates
00:08:23 --> 00:08:25 in the Latin word for door that's
00:08:25 --> 00:08:27 because January is the door to the new
00:08:27 --> 00:08:30 year and an opening to New Beginnings
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 the month is conventionally thought of
00:08:32 --> 00:08:35 as being named after Janus the mythical
00:08:35 --> 00:08:37 Roman god of beginnings and transitions
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 but according to the ancient Roman
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42 Farmers Almanac it was actually Juno who
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 was the traditional God of January of
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46 course from an astronomical point of
00:08:46 --> 00:08:48 view January marks Earth's closest
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 orbital position to the sun perhelion
00:08:50 --> 00:08:52 which occurs about 2 weeks after the
00:08:52 --> 00:08:55 December solce planets including the
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 Earth don't orbit the Sun in perfect
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 circles but rather in EV changing
00:08:59 --> 00:09:02 elliptical orbits the shape of these
00:09:02 --> 00:09:04 orbits vary due to gravitational
00:09:04 --> 00:09:06 influences from other planetary objects
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 and in Earth's case that especially
00:09:08 --> 00:09:09 includes the moon which is almost
00:09:10 --> 00:09:11 massive enough to be considered a binary
00:09:11 --> 00:09:14 partner so over a roughly 100 years
00:09:15 --> 00:09:17 cycle Earth's orbit changes in shape
00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 from almost circular to far more
00:09:19 --> 00:09:22 elliptical this difference is known as
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 eccentricity and the nearest pointing
00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 Earth's orbit around the Sun is called
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 perhelion this Ed perhelion will occur
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 on Sunday the 5th of January at 12:28 in
00:09:32 --> 00:09:33 the morning Australian eastern daylight
00:09:33 --> 00:09:36 time when the earth will be just 147
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 million1
00:09:38 --> 00:09:42 3 km from the Sun that's 8:28 in the
00:09:42 --> 00:09:44 morning of January the 4th us Eastern
00:09:44 --> 00:09:47 Standard Time and 1 128 in the afternoon
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 of January the 4th Greenwich
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 meantime around 6 months later and about
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 2 weeks after the June Solstice Earth
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 will be at its furthest orbital position
00:09:56 --> 00:10:00 from the Sun a location known as aelan
00:10:00 --> 00:10:02 okay let's start our tour of the January
00:10:02 --> 00:10:04 night sky by looking to the Northeast
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 right next to the constellation Orion
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 where you'll see the brightest star in
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 the night sky the dog star serus soall
00:10:11 --> 00:10:12 because it's the brightest star at the
00:10:12 --> 00:10:15 constellation Canis Major the big dog
00:10:15 --> 00:10:18 the name serus actually means scorching
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 or brilliant a clear reference to its
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 spectacular brightness in the sky as
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 well as being one of the nearest stars
00:10:24 --> 00:10:27 to the Sun at just 8.7 light years it's
00:10:27 --> 00:10:29 also intrinsically bright and almost
00:10:29 --> 00:10:30 twice as bright as the second brightest
00:10:31 --> 00:10:33 St in the night skies canopus a light
00:10:33 --> 00:10:36 year is about 10 trillion kilm the
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 distance of photon can travel in a year
00:10:38 --> 00:10:41 at 300 km/s the speed of light in a
00:10:41 --> 00:10:43 vacuum and the ultimate speed limit of
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 the universe Sirius is the fifth closest
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 start of the Sun and it's gradually
00:10:48 --> 00:10:50 moving closer to the solar system so
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 it'll steadily increase in brightness
00:10:52 --> 00:10:55 over the next 60 years after which
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 time it will begin moving away again and
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 it will gradually become fater fainter
00:11:00 --> 00:11:01 but it will still continue to be the
00:11:01 --> 00:11:03 brightest star in Earth's night sky for
00:11:03 --> 00:11:07 at least the next 210 years Sirius
00:11:07 --> 00:11:10 is a binary star system comprising a
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 spectr type a main sequence white star
00:11:13 --> 00:11:15 called Sirius a and a small white dwarf
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 companion Serius B which orbits between
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 8.2 and 31.5 astronomical units away
00:11:21 --> 00:11:24 from the primary star an astronomical
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26 unit is the average distance between the
00:11:26 --> 00:11:30 Earth and the Sun about 150 million km
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 main sequence stars are those undergoing
00:11:32 --> 00:11:34 hydrogen fusion into helium in their
00:11:35 --> 00:11:38 core astronomist describe stars in terms
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 of spectral types A classification
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 system based on temperature and
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44 characteristics the hottest most massive
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 and most luminous stars are known as
00:11:46 --> 00:11:49 spectr type O blue stars they're
00:11:49 --> 00:11:51 followed by spectr type B blue white
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 stars then spectr type a white stars
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 spectral type f whitish yellow stars
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 spectral type G yellow stars that's
00:11:58 --> 00:12:01 where Sun fits in spectr type K orange
00:12:01 --> 00:12:04 stars and the coolest and least massive
00:12:04 --> 00:12:07 stars known are spectr Type M red stars
00:12:07 --> 00:12:09 each spectral classification can also be
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 subdivided using a numeric digit to
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 represent temperature with zero being
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 the hottest and nine the coolest and a
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 Roman numeral to represent Luminosity
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 now put all that together and our sun
00:12:20 --> 00:12:25 becomes a g2v or G25 yellow dwarf star
00:12:25 --> 00:12:27 also included in the spectral
00:12:27 --> 00:12:29 classification system a spectr types T
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 and Y which are assigned to fail Stars
00:12:31 --> 00:12:33 known as brown dwarves some of which
00:12:33 --> 00:12:36 were born as spectr Type M red stars but
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 became Brown dwarves after losing some
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 of their Mass BR dwarves fit into a
00:12:41 --> 00:12:43 category between the largest planets
00:12:43 --> 00:12:45 which are about 13 times the mass of
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 Jupiter and the smallest stars those
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 spectr type M red dwarfs we talked about
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52 before which are about 75 to 80 times
00:12:52 --> 00:12:55 the mass of Jupiter or around 0.08 solar
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 masses Brown dwarves don't have enough
00:12:58 --> 00:13:00 Mass to build up the sorts of
00:13:00 --> 00:13:01 temperatures and pressures in their
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 cores needed to trigger the nuclear
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 fusion process which Mak stars like our
00:13:06 --> 00:13:07 sun
00:13:07 --> 00:13:10 shine Sirius a has at least twice the
00:13:10 --> 00:13:12 mass of the Sun and is about 25 times
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 more luminous the Sirus binary system is
00:13:16 --> 00:13:18 between 200 and 300 million years old
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 quite Young by astronomical standards
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 and it originally consisted of two
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 bright spectr type a white stars the
00:13:25 --> 00:13:28 more massive of these two stars serus B
00:13:28 --> 00:13:29 consumed its resource es and became a
00:13:30 --> 00:13:31 red giant before shedding off its outer
00:13:31 --> 00:13:33 layers and collapsing into its current
00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 state as a white dwarf around 120
00:13:36 --> 00:13:39 million years ago a white dwarf is the
00:13:39 --> 00:13:42 Stellar corpse of a sunlike star having
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 used up its nuclear fuel supply fusing
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 hydrogen into helium in its core it
00:13:46 --> 00:13:49 expands into a red giant as it fuses
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 helium into carbon and oxygen now
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 biggest stars can fuse progressively
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 heavier and heavier elements but low
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 mass stars like the sun simply aren't
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 big enough to fuse carbon and oxygen
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 into heavier elements and so they turn
00:14:02 --> 00:14:05 off the outer gases envelope separates
00:14:05 --> 00:14:06 and floats off into space as a
00:14:06 --> 00:14:09 spectacular object called a planetary
00:14:09 --> 00:14:12 nebula What's Left Behind is a super
00:14:12 --> 00:14:14 dense white hot Stellar core about the
00:14:14 --> 00:14:17 size of the Earth called a white dwarf
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 which will slowly cool down over the
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 aons of time our sun will become a white
00:14:22 --> 00:14:26 dwarf in about 7 billion years from now
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 5 years ago the ancient Egyptians
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 looked at serious and they saw it as the
00:14:31 --> 00:14:33 god an nubis lord of the underworld who
00:14:33 --> 00:14:35 had the head of a dog and who invented
00:14:35 --> 00:14:38 himing the funeral rights and who guided
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 one through the underworld to judgment
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 where he attended the scales during the
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 weighing of the heart to determine one's
00:14:44 --> 00:14:47 fate in the afterlife Anubis was later
00:14:47 --> 00:14:50 replaced in Egyptian mythology by Osiris
00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 as the lord of the underworld and Sirius
00:14:52 --> 00:14:55 became the Goddess Isis by carefully
00:14:55 --> 00:14:57 watching sirus's movements across the
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 sky the ancient egyp Egyptians
00:14:59 --> 00:15:00 determined that it would be visible
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 every night for 295 and a quarter nights
00:15:03 --> 00:15:06 followed by 70 nights of absence and
00:15:06 --> 00:15:08 this allowed them to determine that a
00:15:08 --> 00:15:12 year was 365 and a/4 days long the
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 calculations were accurate to within 11
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 minutes the helical rising of Sirius
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 also marked the annual flooding of the
00:15:19 --> 00:15:21 River Nile in ancient Egypt and the hot
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 sultry dog days of summer for the
00:15:23 --> 00:15:26 ancient Greeks in Greek mythology Sirius
00:15:26 --> 00:15:29 was the dog star and the canine
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 companion of Ryan the hunter helical
00:15:32 --> 00:15:33 Rising refers to the first time of the
00:15:33 --> 00:15:35 year when star becomes visible above the
00:15:35 --> 00:15:38 Eastern Horizon for a brief moment just
00:15:38 --> 00:15:39 Before
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 Sunrise it's been claimed that the Doon
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 people in Marley and western Africa have
00:15:44 --> 00:15:46 ancient stories describing the 50e
00:15:46 --> 00:15:47 orbital period of Sirius and its
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 companion white dwarf which predate the
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 white dwarf's Discovery by modern
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 astronomers it's also claimed that these
00:15:54 --> 00:15:57 Legends were handed to the Doon people
00:15:57 --> 00:15:59 by ancient aquatic space Travelers who
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 told them of a third star accompanying
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04 series A and B however a report in the
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 journal current anthropology raised
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 serious doubts about whether the Stars
00:16:08 --> 00:16:10 referred to by the Doon people were in
00:16:10 --> 00:16:12 fact Sirius a and its white dwarf
00:16:12 --> 00:16:14 companion that's because senior Doon
00:16:15 --> 00:16:16 claim the story actually refers to a
00:16:16 --> 00:16:19 different grouping of stars also other
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 researchers have pointed out the Doon
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 could have heard about the discovery of
00:16:23 --> 00:16:25 sirus's companion and then simply
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 incorporated into their mythology in
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 1893 when a French Expedition arrived in
00:16:29 --> 00:16:32 Central West Africa to observe an April
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 16 total eclipse and were overheard
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 discussing the
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 discovery looking due north just above
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 the Horizon this time of year and you'll
00:16:40 --> 00:16:42 see the bright yellowish star capella
00:16:42 --> 00:16:44 the brightest star in the constellation
00:16:44 --> 00:16:47 Orga the charioteer capella is the Latin
00:16:47 --> 00:16:50 term for a small female goat the star's
00:16:50 --> 00:16:52 alternative name is Capra which was more
00:16:52 --> 00:16:55 commonly used in classical times
00:16:55 --> 00:16:56 although it appears to be a single star
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 of the uned eye capella is actually a
00:16:59 --> 00:17:02 system of four stars in Two binary pairs
00:17:02 --> 00:17:04 the first pair comprises two bright
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 yellow giant stars both of which were
00:17:06 --> 00:17:08 around 2 and 1/ half times the mass of
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 the Sun having exhausted their core
00:17:10 --> 00:17:13 hydrogen supplies both stars have cooled
00:17:13 --> 00:17:15 and expanded out to become Giants moving
00:17:15 --> 00:17:18 off the main sequence designated capella
00:17:18 --> 00:17:21 AA and capella AB they're in a very
00:17:21 --> 00:17:24 tight circular orbit some 0.76
00:17:24 --> 00:17:26 astronomical units apart orbiting each
00:17:26 --> 00:17:30 other every 104 Earth days capella AA is
00:17:30 --> 00:17:32 the cooler and more luminous of the two
00:17:32 --> 00:17:35 with some 78 times the luminosity and 12
00:17:35 --> 00:17:38 times the radius of the Sun known as an
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40 aging red Clump star capillar AA is
00:17:40 --> 00:17:43 fusing helium into carbon and oxygen in
00:17:43 --> 00:17:46 its core capillar AB is a slightly
00:17:46 --> 00:17:49 smaller but hotter subgiant about 73
00:17:49 --> 00:17:51 times as luminous and almost nine times
00:17:52 --> 00:17:54 the radius of the Sun and it's in the
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 process of expanding out to become a red
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 giant the capillar system is one of the
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 brightest sources of x-rays in the sky
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 thought to come primarily from the
00:18:02 --> 00:18:05 corona of the more massive giant the
00:18:05 --> 00:18:06 second pair of stars in Capella are
00:18:06 --> 00:18:09 located about 10 astronomical units
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 from the first pair they consist of two
00:18:11 --> 00:18:14 faint small relatively cool spectr Type
00:18:14 --> 00:18:17 M main sequence red dwarf stars the two
00:18:17 --> 00:18:20 red dwars have been designated capella H
00:18:20 --> 00:18:23 and capella L now almost directly
00:18:23 --> 00:18:25 overhead this time of year a position in
00:18:25 --> 00:18:28 the sky known as Zenith we find kopus
00:18:28 --> 00:18:30 the second brightest star in the night
00:18:30 --> 00:18:33 sky after Sirius located some 3133 light
00:18:33 --> 00:18:35 years away in the constellation Kore of
00:18:35 --> 00:18:38 the Keel canopus looks incredibly bright
00:18:38 --> 00:18:41 because it is huge it's a giant spectral
00:18:41 --> 00:18:44 type a white star with some 10 times the
00:18:44 --> 00:18:48 mass 71 times the diameter and 10
00:18:48 --> 00:18:51 times the Luminosity of the sun kopus is
00:18:51 --> 00:18:53 another bride x-ray Source also most
00:18:53 --> 00:18:55 likely produced by its Corona
00:18:55 --> 00:18:57 magnetically heed to several million
00:18:57 --> 00:18:59 Kelvin the temperatures is also likely
00:18:59 --> 00:19:01 to be stimulated by fast rotation
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03 combined with strong internal convection
00:19:03 --> 00:19:05 currents percolating through the Stars
00:19:05 --> 00:19:08 outer layers no star in our night sky
00:19:08 --> 00:19:11 closer than canopus is more luminous
00:19:11 --> 00:19:13 than it and it's been the brightest star
00:19:13 --> 00:19:14 in Earth's night sky during three
00:19:14 --> 00:19:17 different epochs over the past 4 million
00:19:17 --> 00:19:20 years other stars appear brighter only
00:19:20 --> 00:19:22 during relatively temporary periods
00:19:22 --> 00:19:23 during which they're passing the solar
00:19:24 --> 00:19:26 system at much closer distances than
00:19:26 --> 00:19:29 canopus about 990 years ago serus
00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 move close enough that it appeared to be
00:19:31 --> 00:19:33 brighter in our night sky than canopus
00:19:33 --> 00:19:35 and as we mentioned earlier that'll
00:19:35 --> 00:19:37 Remain the case for another 210
00:19:37 --> 00:19:40 years but in 480 years from now
00:19:40 --> 00:19:43 kobis will once again be the brightest
00:19:43 --> 00:19:45 star in the night sky and it will remain
00:19:45 --> 00:19:49 so for a period of about 510
00:19:49 --> 00:19:52 years in Greek mythology kopus was a
00:19:52 --> 00:19:54 Helmsman and the navigator for the fleet
00:19:54 --> 00:19:56 of min's King of Sparta which was
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 sailing back from the battle of Troy
00:19:59 --> 00:20:01 canopus is said to have died when the
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 fleet arrived at the Port of Alexandria
00:20:03 --> 00:20:06 in Egypt and so a star which was visible
00:20:06 --> 00:20:09 in the Horizon was named in his honor
00:20:09 --> 00:20:10 now as we said it's the brightest star
00:20:10 --> 00:20:12 of the constellation Kina which
00:20:12 --> 00:20:15 represents the kill of the boat Argo
00:20:15 --> 00:20:17 used by Jason and the Argonauts in their
00:20:17 --> 00:20:19 quest for the Golden Fleece located
00:20:19 --> 00:20:22 nearby are the vessel sails represented
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 by the constellation V and the roof of
00:20:24 --> 00:20:26 the birs re cabin or poop deck which is
00:20:27 --> 00:20:29 represented by the constellation papus
00:20:29 --> 00:20:32 combined Karina V and papus used to form
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 the constellation Argo Navas
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 representing the ship Argo skimming
00:20:36 --> 00:20:39 along the river of the Milky Way But
00:20:39 --> 00:20:40 modern day astronomers considered the
00:20:40 --> 00:20:42 constellation simply too big as it was
00:20:42 --> 00:20:45 28% larger than the next largest
00:20:45 --> 00:20:47 constellation had more than 180 easily
00:20:47 --> 00:20:50 visible stars so it was divided into
00:20:50 --> 00:20:53 three smaller constellations Kina verer
00:20:53 --> 00:20:55 and puus in
00:20:55 --> 00:20:58 1755 kopus forms part of the Stellar
00:20:58 --> 00:21:00 Association asterism known as the false
00:21:00 --> 00:21:03 cross which straddles the constellations
00:21:03 --> 00:21:05 Kina and V of the cells and is often
00:21:05 --> 00:21:08 confused with the real Southern Cross or
00:21:08 --> 00:21:10 Crooks this time of the year the
00:21:10 --> 00:21:12 Southern Cross is upside down low down
00:21:12 --> 00:21:14 in the southern Skies during the early
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 evening for our listeners north of say
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 Brisbane it'll most likely be hidden by
00:21:18 --> 00:21:20 trees and buildings on the horizon
00:21:20 --> 00:21:23 during the early evening but later on as
00:21:23 --> 00:21:25 the Earth turns the Southern Cross will
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27 rise above the Horizon in the South
00:21:27 --> 00:21:29 Southeast for our Northern listeners and
00:21:29 --> 00:21:32 appear to be lying on its left side one
00:21:32 --> 00:21:33 of the best things about living in the
00:21:33 --> 00:21:35 southern hemisphere is that most of the
00:21:35 --> 00:21:38 brightest stars in the night sky are
00:21:38 --> 00:21:41 visible during January nights Sirius the
00:21:41 --> 00:21:43 dog star is the brightest followed by
00:21:43 --> 00:21:45 canopus the navigation star third
00:21:45 --> 00:21:48 brightest is alent Tori the furthest of
00:21:48 --> 00:21:50 the two pointer Stars pointing to the
00:21:50 --> 00:21:52 Southern Cross and the nearest star
00:21:52 --> 00:21:55 system to the Sun the fourth and fifth
00:21:55 --> 00:21:57 brighter stars acturus and Vega aren't
00:21:57 --> 00:21:58 visible in the southern hemisphere
00:21:58 --> 00:22:00 featuring January but the sixth
00:22:01 --> 00:22:03 brightest capella is visible just above
00:22:03 --> 00:22:06 the northern Horizon and the seventh
00:22:06 --> 00:22:09 rigel marks Orion's knee next in eighth
00:22:09 --> 00:22:12 place is prion the little dog and Ninth
00:22:12 --> 00:22:15 is akar at the end of the river eridanus
00:22:15 --> 00:22:18 finally there's bleers Orion shoulder
00:22:18 --> 00:22:20 the 10th brightest star in the night sky
00:22:20 --> 00:22:22 so that's eight of the 10 brightest
00:22:22 --> 00:22:24 stars in the night sky all visible at
00:22:24 --> 00:22:26 once on a warm Summer's evening in the
00:22:26 --> 00:22:29 southern hemisphere
00:22:29 --> 00:22:31 January also plays host to one primary
00:22:31 --> 00:22:34 meteor shower the quadrantids most
00:22:34 --> 00:22:36 meteor showers radiate out from a
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38 recognizable constellation like Leo's
00:22:38 --> 00:22:41 leonids or Gemini's Geminids or Orion's
00:22:41 --> 00:22:44 orionids but the quadrantids and meteors
00:22:44 --> 00:22:45 that appear to radiate out from the
00:22:45 --> 00:22:48 location of the former quadran Morales
00:22:48 --> 00:22:51 constellation in the early 1920s the
00:22:51 --> 00:22:53 international astronomical Union divided
00:22:53 --> 00:22:55 the sky into 88 official
00:22:55 --> 00:22:57 constellations however that means more
00:22:57 --> 00:22:59 than 30 other historical constellations
00:23:00 --> 00:23:02 didn't make the cut the quadran Morales
00:23:02 --> 00:23:04 area of the sky falls within the
00:23:04 --> 00:23:06 boundaries of the official constellation
00:23:06 --> 00:23:09 booties the radiant point of the shower
00:23:09 --> 00:23:11 is near the Big Dipper between the end
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13 of the handle and the quadrilateral of
00:23:13 --> 00:23:14 stars marking the head of the
00:23:14 --> 00:23:17 constellation Draco the quadrantids are
00:23:17 --> 00:23:18 usually one of the year's most
00:23:18 --> 00:23:21 spectacular meteor showers with up to
00:23:21 --> 00:23:23 eight meteors per hour they're best seen
00:23:23 --> 00:23:25 from the Northern Hemisphere and unlike
00:23:25 --> 00:23:27 other meteor showers which tend to pick
00:23:27 --> 00:23:28 for at least a day or two the
00:23:28 --> 00:23:30 quadrantids only pick for a couple of
00:23:30 --> 00:23:33 hours while most meteor showers are
00:23:33 --> 00:23:34 produced by the Earth passing through
00:23:34 --> 00:23:37 debris Trails left behind by comets the
00:23:37 --> 00:23:38 quadrantids are one of only two meteor
00:23:38 --> 00:23:41 shs known to be produced by asteroids
00:23:41 --> 00:23:43 they're associated with the asteroid
00:23:43 --> 00:23:46 2003 eh1 which is thought to be the
00:23:46 --> 00:23:48 remains of a cometry nucleus that
00:23:48 --> 00:23:51 fragmented and broke apart centuries ago
00:23:51 --> 00:23:53 eh1 still circles the sun in a 5 and a
00:23:53 --> 00:23:55 half Earth yearlong elongated comet-like
00:23:55 --> 00:23:58 orbit which extends out Beyond Jupiter
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 the progenitor is thought to be the
00:24:00 --> 00:24:03 comet c490 y1 which was first observed
00:24:03 --> 00:24:05 by Chinese Japanese and Korean
00:24:05 --> 00:24:07 astronomers 500 years ago it was
00:24:08 --> 00:24:09 classified as an asteroid when it was
00:24:10 --> 00:24:11 discovered by a neear asteroid
00:24:11 --> 00:24:15 telescopic survey in 2003 the only other
00:24:15 --> 00:24:17 major meteor shower associated with an
00:24:17 --> 00:24:19 asteroid are the Geminids which occur in
00:24:19 --> 00:24:21 December and are caused by a debris left
00:24:21 --> 00:24:23 behind by the asteroid 3200 faton which
00:24:24 --> 00:24:25 is also thought to be the remains of a
00:24:25 --> 00:24:28 comet Jonathan nelli from sky telescope
00:24:28 --> 00:24:30 magazine joins us now for the rest of
00:24:30 --> 00:24:33 our tour of the January night skies good
00:24:33 --> 00:24:34 day Stuart yeah well there's plenty to
00:24:34 --> 00:24:36 see in the night sky during January as
00:24:36 --> 00:24:38 long of course as you have reasonably
00:24:38 --> 00:24:39 Dark Skies or you can travel to where
00:24:39 --> 00:24:42 there are few or no artificial lights
00:24:42 --> 00:24:42 because of course it's the light
00:24:42 --> 00:24:44 pollution in the cities and towns that
00:24:45 --> 00:24:46 mainly spoils our view of the night sky
00:24:46 --> 00:24:48 so try and get away from lights I
00:24:48 --> 00:24:49 thought we'd try something a little
00:24:49 --> 00:24:50 different this time we'll take a bit of
00:24:50 --> 00:24:52 a tour along the length of the Milky Way
00:24:52 --> 00:24:54 or at least the half of the Milky Way
00:24:54 --> 00:24:55 that we can see during the hours before
00:24:55 --> 00:24:57 midnight this time of the year because
00:24:57 --> 00:24:58 it's the other half of Milky Way of
00:24:58 --> 00:24:59 course that we can't see because at the
00:24:59 --> 00:25:00 moment it's on the other side of the
00:25:00 --> 00:25:02 Earth but we'll start down the South
00:25:02 --> 00:25:03 with a sudden cross it's part of the Noy
00:25:03 --> 00:25:06 way and at the moment it's right down
00:25:06 --> 00:25:08 south not far above the southern Horizon
00:25:08 --> 00:25:09 so you need to be in the Southern
00:25:09 --> 00:25:10 Hemisphere and you need to look right
00:25:10 --> 00:25:12 down in the southern Horizon in the mid
00:25:12 --> 00:25:14 evening hours this time of year it's
00:25:14 --> 00:25:16 sort of more or less upside down sort of
00:25:16 --> 00:25:18 angled a bit to the left and remember it
00:25:18 --> 00:25:20 looks like a kite shape and it looks
00:25:20 --> 00:25:22 like upside down kite shape and once you
00:25:22 --> 00:25:24 spot the cross you don't usually have
00:25:24 --> 00:25:25 any trouble finding it again but it's
00:25:25 --> 00:25:27 that first time trying to spot the cross
00:25:27 --> 00:25:29 that tricks a lot people because it's
00:25:29 --> 00:25:31 really quite small most people expect to
00:25:31 --> 00:25:32 see something huge dominating the
00:25:32 --> 00:25:33 strikers they've always heard of the
00:25:34 --> 00:25:35 Southern Cross and they expect it to be
00:25:35 --> 00:25:36 really really big but it's actually
00:25:37 --> 00:25:38 really small in fact it's the smallest
00:25:38 --> 00:25:41 of all the 88 official constellations or
00:25:41 --> 00:25:42 they get mixed up with the false cross
00:25:42 --> 00:25:43 that's the other thing that happens a
00:25:43 --> 00:25:45 lot there's the false cross and there's
00:25:45 --> 00:25:46 another cross called the diamond cross
00:25:46 --> 00:25:48 which sort of sort of a similar sort of
00:25:48 --> 00:25:49 shape I mean you can make a cross out of
00:25:49 --> 00:25:52 anything just join the dots but
00:25:52 --> 00:25:53 certainly the false cross here now that
00:25:53 --> 00:25:55 is big that's much bigger than the
00:25:55 --> 00:25:56 Southern Cross when we say cross it's
00:25:56 --> 00:25:59 just four stars and and lines and join
00:25:59 --> 00:26:01 the dots yeah the false cross is often
00:26:01 --> 00:26:02 mistaken because it's the same sort of
00:26:02 --> 00:26:05 shape just much larger than the Southern
00:26:05 --> 00:26:07 Cross sort of surrounding the Southern
00:26:07 --> 00:26:08 Cross constellation is another
00:26:08 --> 00:26:10 constellation called curus and this
00:26:10 --> 00:26:12 one's full of lots and lots of
00:26:12 --> 00:26:14 interesting sights deep Sky objects and
00:26:14 --> 00:26:15 things although not many of them can
00:26:15 --> 00:26:16 actually be seen at this time of the
00:26:16 --> 00:26:19 year because cus is really right down on
00:26:19 --> 00:26:20 the horizon but if you give it a couple
00:26:20 --> 00:26:22 of months the constellation will have
00:26:22 --> 00:26:23 risen higher in the night sky after the
00:26:23 --> 00:26:25 sun goes down and that'll bring some
00:26:25 --> 00:26:26 much wonders into view because if you
00:26:26 --> 00:26:28 can just make out a galaxy to the ne eye
00:26:28 --> 00:26:29 there you can see some star clusters
00:26:29 --> 00:26:31 with a naked eye and plenty of things
00:26:31 --> 00:26:33 with telescope or even binoculars the
00:26:33 --> 00:26:35 next constellation along the Milky Way
00:26:35 --> 00:26:38 is called Karina and Karina is home to a
00:26:38 --> 00:26:40 very large nebula called naturally
00:26:40 --> 00:26:42 enough the Karina nebula and you can
00:26:42 --> 00:26:44 easily see it actually if you have dark
00:26:44 --> 00:26:45 skies it looks like a bit of a fuzzy
00:26:45 --> 00:26:47 patch but it's about as wide as the moon
00:26:47 --> 00:26:49 it's really really big and in fact a lot
00:26:49 --> 00:26:51 of Amer astronomers consider this to be
00:26:51 --> 00:26:53 the best nebula in the in the whole
00:26:53 --> 00:26:56 night sky and to get the view that you
00:26:56 --> 00:26:58 need to appreciate that you do need to
00:26:58 --> 00:27:00 to use a telescope but you can see the
00:27:00 --> 00:27:02 Kina nebula as a fuzzy catch just with
00:27:02 --> 00:27:04 the naked eye a small telescope you much
00:27:04 --> 00:27:05 better view even a pair of binoculars
00:27:05 --> 00:27:07 will give you a great view around there
00:27:07 --> 00:27:08 and you spend some time just looking
00:27:08 --> 00:27:10 around the constellation Karina because
00:27:10 --> 00:27:11 there stacks of things in there which
00:27:11 --> 00:27:13 you can see just with binoculars Karina
00:27:13 --> 00:27:14 actually was once part of a a much
00:27:14 --> 00:27:16 larger constellation known as aronis the
00:27:17 --> 00:27:19 ship of the Argonauts but that was split
00:27:19 --> 00:27:22 up many years ago and became Kina and
00:27:22 --> 00:27:24 two other constellations V and puppet
00:27:24 --> 00:27:26 and indeed V is the next one Along on
00:27:26 --> 00:27:28 our tour just the next one up The Noy
00:27:28 --> 00:27:30 way there's not a lot of great interest
00:27:30 --> 00:27:33 in this one for casual stargazers but
00:27:33 --> 00:27:34 amateur astronomers who know exactly
00:27:34 --> 00:27:36 where to look can find all sorts of
00:27:36 --> 00:27:39 interesting sites in V including Dean
00:27:39 --> 00:27:40 star clusters and things there's a
00:27:40 --> 00:27:43 famous Pulsar in V you don't see that
00:27:43 --> 00:27:45 with am equipment but that's one of its
00:27:45 --> 00:27:47 most famous inhabitants and after V
00:27:47 --> 00:27:50 we've got puppet which has a plethora of
00:27:50 --> 00:27:52 viewing targets for those because it's
00:27:52 --> 00:27:54 the poop deck the poop deck yeah so Aron
00:27:54 --> 00:27:56 got split into three you got Karina
00:27:56 --> 00:27:58 which was the Keel Z is the sh and
00:27:58 --> 00:28:00 puppet is the poop deck of this old ship
00:28:00 --> 00:28:02 and yeah lots of stuff to see in puppet
00:28:02 --> 00:28:04 if you have a tot scope and even if you
00:28:04 --> 00:28:05 don't there's one thing you can see for
00:28:05 --> 00:28:06 instance with the nak eye you can just
00:28:06 --> 00:28:09 make it out it's called m46 or Mia 46
00:28:09 --> 00:28:11 which is a starbuster so if you got good
00:28:11 --> 00:28:13 dark stars and you got good eyes and you
00:28:13 --> 00:28:14 let yourself your dark adjusted and you
00:28:15 --> 00:28:16 get a star map or something and you know
00:28:16 --> 00:28:17 exactly where to look you should be able
00:28:17 --> 00:28:20 to see this star cluster for m46 still
00:28:20 --> 00:28:21 going along the next constellation we
00:28:21 --> 00:28:24 come to is kis major the greater dog and
00:28:24 --> 00:28:26 it's bright star Serius which is the
00:28:26 --> 00:28:28 brightest star in the night sky it
00:28:28 --> 00:28:30 outshines everything apart from the Sun
00:28:30 --> 00:28:32 the moon and the planets Venus and
00:28:32 --> 00:28:33 Jupiter Venus and Jupiter become
00:28:33 --> 00:28:35 brighter than serious but nothing else
00:28:35 --> 00:28:36 does apart from the Sun and the Moon the
00:28:36 --> 00:28:38 next part of the Milky Way if you go
00:28:38 --> 00:28:39 along it's a bit thin on major
00:28:39 --> 00:28:41 attractions but just either side of it
00:28:41 --> 00:28:43 are some famous constellations and some
00:28:43 --> 00:28:45 really good sites the first of these is
00:28:45 --> 00:28:47 one we've spoken about many many times
00:28:47 --> 00:28:49 on the show and that's AR and the Hunter
00:28:49 --> 00:28:50 and it's good reason because it really
00:28:50 --> 00:28:52 is amazing if you join the dots with its
00:28:52 --> 00:28:55 Stars it has a really distinctive shape
00:28:55 --> 00:28:57 and has a lot of bright stars intact so
00:28:57 --> 00:28:59 it really does stand out and it's
00:28:59 --> 00:29:01 bookended by two Bright Stars R and
00:29:01 --> 00:29:03 Beetle Juice and in the middle there's a
00:29:03 --> 00:29:05 row of three stars which are very easy
00:29:05 --> 00:29:07 to spot it's very evenly distributed row
00:29:07 --> 00:29:09 of three stars and it's known as the
00:29:09 --> 00:29:11 Hunter's belt and between the belt and
00:29:11 --> 00:29:14 the star rigel are a couple of stars and
00:29:14 --> 00:29:15 if your eyesight is good enough a little
00:29:16 --> 00:29:17 smudge of light if you got Dark Skies
00:29:17 --> 00:29:19 again and you got good eyesight and you
00:29:19 --> 00:29:20 let yourself get dark adapted you should
00:29:20 --> 00:29:22 see a little smudge of light just with
00:29:22 --> 00:29:24 the naked eye now that smudge is the
00:29:24 --> 00:29:26 famous Ry nebula which is a huge region
00:29:26 --> 00:29:28 of interstellar gas and dut that really
00:29:28 --> 00:29:30 looks magnificent through a telescope
00:29:30 --> 00:29:32 and of course even better on photos can
00:29:32 --> 00:29:34 even sort of start to get a bit of an
00:29:34 --> 00:29:35 idea of that if you've got a pair of say
00:29:35 --> 00:29:38 10 by 50 binoculars as well so when you
00:29:38 --> 00:29:39 look at that you think okay it might
00:29:39 --> 00:29:41 just looks like a fuzzy SMUD or
00:29:41 --> 00:29:42 something but when you then look at a
00:29:42 --> 00:29:43 picture of the irion neula and you
00:29:43 --> 00:29:45 realize I'm looking at that that's
00:29:45 --> 00:29:47 incredible it's 1500 light years away
00:29:47 --> 00:29:49 this is a place where stars and planets
00:29:49 --> 00:29:50 and things have being born they call it
00:29:50 --> 00:29:52 a star forming region it really is quite
00:29:52 --> 00:29:53 amazing this is the thing you know you
00:29:53 --> 00:29:55 look at some stars and star clusters and
00:29:55 --> 00:29:58 in the night sky and depending on the
00:29:58 --> 00:29:59 just using your own eyes or maybe a
00:29:59 --> 00:30:01 small telescope that doesn't give you
00:30:01 --> 00:30:03 the best view okay it might not look
00:30:03 --> 00:30:04 super amazing but when you think about
00:30:04 --> 00:30:06 what it is that you're seeing and how
00:30:06 --> 00:30:08 far away it might be and therefore how
00:30:08 --> 00:30:11 long ago the staright left that thing
00:30:11 --> 00:30:12 could be hundreds of years could be
00:30:12 --> 00:30:14 thousands could be 10 thousands of years
00:30:14 --> 00:30:16 of theight left you know you think back
00:30:16 --> 00:30:18 to what Humanity was doing 10 years
00:30:18 --> 00:30:21 ago not a lot so you looking back in
00:30:21 --> 00:30:23 time the sky is sort of a time capsu you
00:30:23 --> 00:30:25 look out there and things are different
00:30:25 --> 00:30:27 distances from us and those distances
00:30:28 --> 00:30:30 equate to time and that's how far back
00:30:30 --> 00:30:31 we're looking in time and the Orion
00:30:31 --> 00:30:34 Nebula has been such a fascinating thing
00:30:34 --> 00:30:36 for scientists to study too it Tau us
00:30:36 --> 00:30:38 about globular clusters and about Brown
00:30:38 --> 00:30:41 dwarves and the evolution of planets and
00:30:41 --> 00:30:43 stars it's all by looking at this nebula
00:30:43 --> 00:30:45 of AR m42 yeah yeah look it is quite
00:30:45 --> 00:30:47 amazing I mean we're lucky in a way I
00:30:47 --> 00:30:48 mean I suppose wherever the Earth was
00:30:48 --> 00:30:50 situated in the Galaxy we' have lots of
00:30:50 --> 00:30:51 good things to see but we're lucky that
00:30:51 --> 00:30:53 we are where we are so that we can see
00:30:53 --> 00:30:55 the AR that from the right direction and
00:30:55 --> 00:30:57 yeah use it as a sort of a laboratory a
00:30:57 --> 00:30:59 dist distant laboratory to learn about
00:30:59 --> 00:31:00 all the things that are out there in
00:31:00 --> 00:31:02 space yeah not far away is the HSE head
00:31:02 --> 00:31:04 nebula yeah the horad nebula is just off
00:31:04 --> 00:31:06 the end of that little row of tre Stars
00:31:06 --> 00:31:07 I was talking about earlier on now if
00:31:07 --> 00:31:09 people have seen a picture of the horse
00:31:09 --> 00:31:11 head neb think oh wow I've got to get a
00:31:11 --> 00:31:12 telescope and go out and see that well
00:31:12 --> 00:31:14 you can but you need a fairly big
00:31:14 --> 00:31:16 telescope because the horse NE is quite
00:31:16 --> 00:31:19 small and bit hard to see so yeah it
00:31:19 --> 00:31:21 looks beautiful in photos lot of lots of
00:31:21 --> 00:31:22 things in the sty look beautiful in
00:31:22 --> 00:31:24 photos but the reality when you look
00:31:24 --> 00:31:25 through a telescope might be a little
00:31:25 --> 00:31:26 bit different yeah Ayan nebula looks
00:31:26 --> 00:31:28 great through a telescope because it's
00:31:28 --> 00:31:30 really big it's huge so is that Pina
00:31:30 --> 00:31:32 neul I was talking about earlier on it's
00:31:32 --> 00:31:33 big it's huge lots of things to see in
00:31:33 --> 00:31:35 there it could be getting easier to see
00:31:35 --> 00:31:37 too as time goes by because there are
00:31:37 --> 00:31:40 two huge OB blue stars that are reaching
00:31:40 --> 00:31:42 the end of their lives inside the
00:31:42 --> 00:31:44 homunculus nebula which is inside the
00:31:44 --> 00:31:46 Kina nebula and they're about to go
00:31:46 --> 00:31:47 supernova and they could do that any day
00:31:47 --> 00:31:49 now which in astronomical terms means
00:31:49 --> 00:31:51 tomorrow or maybe a million years from
00:31:51 --> 00:31:53 now yes well I can sort of sympathize
00:31:53 --> 00:31:54 with a huge blow to the king that's
00:31:54 --> 00:31:59 going to uh sort of on on the FL ws and
00:31:59 --> 00:32:00 now now just beyond a let's get back to
00:32:00 --> 00:32:02 the Stars just beyond a we've got Taurus
00:32:02 --> 00:32:04 constellation Taurus and it's got a
00:32:04 --> 00:32:06 bright red star called Al Deon and it's
00:32:06 --> 00:32:08 got a wedge shaped cluster of stars
00:32:08 --> 00:32:10 known as the hi 8es and not far from
00:32:10 --> 00:32:12 them is perhaps the most famous star
00:32:12 --> 00:32:14 cluster visible to the uned ey which is
00:32:14 --> 00:32:15 the plees or the Seven Sisters we've
00:32:15 --> 00:32:17 talken about that a lot on the pr so we
00:32:17 --> 00:32:19 won't go through it again now but it it
00:32:19 --> 00:32:20 looks really really good get a pair of
00:32:20 --> 00:32:22 Noles on that it's really quite lovely
00:32:22 --> 00:32:24 really it's beautiful little cluster
00:32:24 --> 00:32:25 Stars opposite Forest on the other side
00:32:26 --> 00:32:28 of the Milky Way we've got Gemini
00:32:28 --> 00:32:30 and Gemini stands out because it has two
00:32:30 --> 00:32:33 stars called Castor and poock which are
00:32:33 --> 00:32:35 sort of the head of each of these two
00:32:35 --> 00:32:37 figures the sort of you do the join the
00:32:37 --> 00:32:38 dots thing and you use a bit of
00:32:38 --> 00:32:39 imagination and you can think oh maybe
00:32:39 --> 00:32:41 there I can see two people standing in
00:32:41 --> 00:32:42 the sky next to each other well those
00:32:42 --> 00:32:44 two stars pestor and polet sort of Mark
00:32:45 --> 00:32:46 their heads of each of those two
00:32:46 --> 00:32:47 characters now there look there's a lot
00:32:47 --> 00:32:49 more to the mie way as I said but not at
00:32:49 --> 00:32:51 this time of year that's the main ones
00:32:51 --> 00:32:52 that we can go through and see we have
00:32:53 --> 00:32:55 to wait until sort of mid year-ish to
00:32:55 --> 00:32:56 see some of the other Mighty
00:32:56 --> 00:32:57 constellations that will be around
00:32:57 --> 00:32:59 during the southern winter or the
00:32:59 --> 00:33:01 northern summer M such as Sagittarius
00:33:01 --> 00:33:04 and Scorpius and endless things to see
00:33:04 --> 00:33:05 inside those constellations now turning
00:33:05 --> 00:33:07 to the planets see what's up planet wise
00:33:07 --> 00:33:10 this time of the year so Venus is very
00:33:10 --> 00:33:11 easy to see at the moment after Sunset
00:33:11 --> 00:33:13 you can't miss it it's above the Western
00:33:13 --> 00:33:15 Horizon Fair Way up above the Western
00:33:15 --> 00:33:17 Horizon actually but you really can't
00:33:17 --> 00:33:18 miss it because it's very big and bright
00:33:18 --> 00:33:21 and white a little higher up above Venus
00:33:21 --> 00:33:24 you've got Saturn Saturn now it's dimmer
00:33:24 --> 00:33:26 than Venus but it does have a a not
00:33:26 --> 00:33:28 noticeable yellowish t so you should be
00:33:28 --> 00:33:30 able to spot that one quite easily now
00:33:30 --> 00:33:32 the thing is keep an eye on these two
00:33:32 --> 00:33:34 planets as the weeks pass because while
00:33:34 --> 00:33:36 Saturn doesn't shift or doesn't seem to
00:33:36 --> 00:33:37 shift its position very much in the
00:33:37 --> 00:33:40 night sky during January Venus will be
00:33:40 --> 00:33:42 so from night to night Venus will have
00:33:42 --> 00:33:44 moved a little bit and over the course
00:33:44 --> 00:33:46 of the first fourth night of January
00:33:46 --> 00:33:47 you'll see that Venus gets closer and
00:33:47 --> 00:33:49 closer and closer to Saturn and on the
00:33:49 --> 00:33:51 nights of the 18th and the 19th of
00:33:51 --> 00:33:53 January they'll be quite close together
00:33:53 --> 00:33:55 about 2 and a half degrees apart which
00:33:55 --> 00:33:57 is about 5 Moon weeks apart which is
00:33:57 --> 00:33:59 that we CL together so that should look
00:33:59 --> 00:34:01 pretty pretty pretty if that makes sense
00:34:01 --> 00:34:02 pretty pretty so got big bright big
00:34:02 --> 00:34:05 bright white Venus and slightly dimmer
00:34:05 --> 00:34:06 yellowish sat so that should be really
00:34:06 --> 00:34:08 nice to see Jupiter is around at the
00:34:08 --> 00:34:09 moment you can see that in the evening
00:34:09 --> 00:34:11 18 constellation Taurus very close to
00:34:11 --> 00:34:13 that star I mentioned earlier on called
00:34:13 --> 00:34:15 Al Deon and finally Mars Mars can be
00:34:15 --> 00:34:17 seen rising over the northeastern
00:34:17 --> 00:34:18 Horizon that's for us in the south at
00:34:18 --> 00:34:21 least just start at 10 p.m. at the start
00:34:21 --> 00:34:22 of the month and it gets bit earlier
00:34:22 --> 00:34:24 each night thereafter on the 15th of
00:34:24 --> 00:34:26 January it reaches a point in its orbit
00:34:26 --> 00:34:27 known as opposition this is something
00:34:27 --> 00:34:29 that am astronomers and particularly
00:34:29 --> 00:34:31 Planet Watchers are always look forward
00:34:31 --> 00:34:33 to because when a planet gets to the
00:34:33 --> 00:34:34 point for opposition it means that from
00:34:34 --> 00:34:37 our vage point on Earth looking out into
00:34:37 --> 00:34:38 space the sun is in One Direction and
00:34:38 --> 00:34:40 the planet is 180 degrees in the
00:34:40 --> 00:34:42 opposite direction so the upshot of that
00:34:42 --> 00:34:44 the Practical upshot of that is that for
00:34:44 --> 00:34:46 Mars since this during January when the
00:34:46 --> 00:34:48 Sun goes down in the west Mars will be
00:34:48 --> 00:34:50 rising in the East and that means you've
00:34:50 --> 00:34:52 got all night to have a look at it okay
00:34:52 --> 00:34:54 because Venus for instance we mentioned
00:34:54 --> 00:34:55 Venus earlier on it's you know high up
00:34:55 --> 00:34:58 in the Western sky after well it'll only
00:34:58 --> 00:35:00 be there for a couple of hours or so and
00:35:00 --> 00:35:01 then it will set so you don't have too
00:35:01 --> 00:35:03 long to look at it but with Mars during
00:35:03 --> 00:35:05 January it's going to be up all night so
00:35:05 --> 00:35:07 as long as you've got some good weather
00:35:07 --> 00:35:08 you should be able to see it and the
00:35:08 --> 00:35:10 other thing too is that when the planet
00:35:10 --> 00:35:12 is at opposition that's roughly the same
00:35:12 --> 00:35:14 time as when it is at its closest to the
00:35:14 --> 00:35:17 earth so Mars is a small planet is
00:35:17 --> 00:35:18 really quite small so when you look
00:35:18 --> 00:35:21 through a telescope it doesn't look big
00:35:21 --> 00:35:23 so the best time to see it at its
00:35:23 --> 00:35:25 biggest is when it's at its closest
00:35:25 --> 00:35:26 which is around the time of opposition
00:35:26 --> 00:35:28 so a lot of turn watch will be out there
00:35:28 --> 00:35:30 withs trying to get the best view of
00:35:30 --> 00:35:33 Mars this year because it'll take
00:35:33 --> 00:35:34 another roughly two years before
00:35:34 --> 00:35:36 opposition comes around again for Mars
00:35:36 --> 00:35:38 so I'm sure people will be making the
00:35:38 --> 00:35:39 most of it toew and this is also the
00:35:39 --> 00:35:42 time when space agencies tend to launch
00:35:42 --> 00:35:43 rockets towards Mars when they've got
00:35:43 --> 00:35:45 missions going that way although none
00:35:45 --> 00:35:47 this year yeah well yeah you want to
00:35:47 --> 00:35:49 when you launch a rocket to a planet
00:35:49 --> 00:35:50 like Mars you want to try and um
00:35:50 --> 00:35:52 minimize the amount of fuel uh and you
00:35:52 --> 00:35:54 sort of Rocket blasts off at a great
00:35:54 --> 00:35:56 rate of knots but then the spacecraft
00:35:56 --> 00:35:58 just coasts all the rest of the way on a
00:35:58 --> 00:36:00 sort of a curving trajectory and you
00:36:00 --> 00:36:01 want to get it there as quick as
00:36:01 --> 00:36:03 possible using the minimum fuel yeah
00:36:03 --> 00:36:05 you've got to launch at the right time
00:36:05 --> 00:36:07 when Earth and Mars are in the right
00:36:07 --> 00:36:08 spot and of course you don't aim for
00:36:08 --> 00:36:10 where Mars is right now you aim for
00:36:10 --> 00:36:12 where Mars will be in seven or eight or
00:36:12 --> 00:36:13 nine months by the time you planic get
00:36:14 --> 00:36:15 sort of aiming ahead like an
00:36:15 --> 00:36:17 interception course and that's do it is
00:36:17 --> 00:36:19 the sky for January that's Jonathan
00:36:19 --> 00:36:22 Nelly from sky and Telescope magazine
00:36:22 --> 00:36:25 and this is spacetime
00:36:25 --> 00:36:39 [Music]
00:36:39 --> 00:36:42 and that's the show for now SpaceTime is
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