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Cosmic Conversations: Time on Mars, Eccentric Orbits, and Space Gum
In this riveting episode of Space Nuts, hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson embark on a fascinating journey through the cosmos, tackling the complexities of timekeeping on Mars, the peculiar orbit of exoplanet TOI 3884B, and a surprising discovery from asteroid Bennu.
Episode Highlights:
- Timekeeping on Mars : Andrew and Fred delve into the challenges of synchronizing time between Earth and Mars, highlighting the unique aspects of Martian days and the effects of relativity that complicate clock synchronization.
- TOI 3884B's Eccentric Orbit : The hosts explore the unusual orbit of TOI 3884B, a planet that orbits its star at a significant angle, raising questions about its formation and the dynamics at play in its solar system.
- Space Gum from Asteroid Bennu : A surprising find of nitrogen-rich polymeric sheets in the samples returned from asteroid Bennu leads to a discussion about the origins of this "space gum" and its implications for understanding asteroid composition and formation.
- Curiosities and Speculations : The episode wraps up with playful banter about the implications of these discoveries and the mysteries that continue to unfold in our universe.
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, X, YouTube Music Music, Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favorite platform.
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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/30601476?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Hello there. Thanks for joining us on
00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 Space Nuts, where we talk astronomy and
00:00:05 --> 00:00:09 space science and sometimes canines. And
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 coming up, coming up in this episode,
00:00:12 --> 00:00:15 uh, does anybody really know what time
00:00:15 --> 00:00:18 it is on Mars? Well, apparently they've
00:00:18 --> 00:00:19 worked out a way and it's really
00:00:19 --> 00:00:21 fascinating and there's a good reason
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 for it, too. Uh, we're also going to
00:00:23 --> 00:00:29 talk about the weird orbit of TOI 3884b.
00:00:29 --> 00:00:31 I was only there last week. And chewing
00:00:31 --> 00:00:34 gum on asteroids, it's a thing. That's
00:00:34 --> 00:00:37 all coming up on this episode of Space
00:00:37 --> 00:00:38 Nuts.
00:00:38 --> 00:00:42 >> 15 seconds. Guidance is internal. 10 9
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 Ignition sequence start.
00:00:44 --> 00:00:45 >> Space Nuts.
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 >> 5 4 3 2
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 >> 1 2 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1
00:00:50 --> 00:00:51 >> Space Nuts.
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 >> Astronauts report. It feels good.
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 >> And he's back again for more. Here is
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 Professor Fred Watson, an astronomer at
00:00:58 --> 00:00:59 large. Hello, Fred.
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 >> Hello, Andrew. Complete with a dog.
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 >> Yes. Yes. Um, good old Jordy. He's uh
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 he's great value. I I still laugh at the
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 the way he greeted us when we went to
00:01:09 --> 00:01:11 your place a month or so back and
00:01:11 --> 00:01:12 >> Yeah.
00:01:12 --> 00:01:15 >> came tearing down the stairs.
00:01:15 --> 00:01:16 >> That's right. That's
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 >> But that's his um
00:01:18 --> 00:01:19 >> modus operandi.
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 >> Yes, it is. And it's not it's not
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 aggressive. It's just um excit how are
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 you? But it's he just goes beside
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 himself when
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 Yeah. Anyway, he's already had a session
00:01:30 --> 00:01:31 this morning standing at the bottom of
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 our stairs yelling at something and I'
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 have no idea what it was. Probably a
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 blade of grass that got blown in the
00:01:37 --> 00:01:37 weed.
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 >> Yeah. Yeah. That's that's the level at
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 which he gets excited. Absolutely. Oh,
00:01:42 --> 00:01:43 blade of grass. Well,
00:01:43 --> 00:01:44 >> yeah.
00:01:44 --> 00:01:48 >> Yeah. I love it. Okay. Uh we have got uh
00:01:48 --> 00:01:50 some really interesting topics today.
00:01:50 --> 00:01:51 We've always got interesting topics, but
00:01:51 --> 00:01:54 this is a really great combination. Uh
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56 we're talking time, weird orbits, and
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 chewing gum. Let's uh let's start on
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 Mars. Uh and to quote the famous song,
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 does anybody really know what time it
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 is? Uh Mars is a bit bit of a problem
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 when it comes to time and and so is the
00:02:09 --> 00:02:13 moon to a certain degree because time
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 doesn't run the same way in those places
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 as it does on Earth. And going forward
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 that could become an issue because we're
00:02:19 --> 00:02:23 going to ultimately spend time on Mars
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 uh wandering around growing potatoes.
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 But um we need to be able to get the
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 time right.
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 We do. Um and I mean there are some s
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 sort of basic facts before you get into
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 the nitty-gritty which is which include
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 the fact that the a day on Mars is 40
00:02:42 --> 00:02:45 minutes longer than a day on Earth. is
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 uh 24 about 24 hours and 40 minutes. And
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 of course the year on Mars is longer
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 too. It's uh 600 and something days of
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 our days. 687
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 uh is the length of time a Martian year
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 takes. So those those are they're the
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 easy bits. They're the the givens. But
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 if you're trying to synchronize your
00:03:07 --> 00:03:11 clocks uh between Earth and Mars and
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 this is kind of already happening with
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 you know with the rovers uh the fact
00:03:16 --> 00:03:17 that the the rovers are actually
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 controlled from Earth but uh because of
00:03:20 --> 00:03:21 the time delay for signals to get to
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 Mars they they they actually there's a
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 degree of autonomy in all the rovers
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28 that are roving on Mars. That's not the
00:03:28 --> 00:03:30 issue at the moment. The issue is how
00:03:30 --> 00:03:33 you make your clocks on Earth uh agree
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 with clocks on Mars. And there's two uh
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 subtleties that come into this. And I
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 should um credit the organization that's
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 done the work on this, which is the
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 United States National Institute of
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 Standards and Technology or NIST. Uh
00:03:47 --> 00:03:50 they've um actually done detailed
00:03:50 --> 00:03:54 calculations uh about uh exactly how
00:03:54 --> 00:03:57 time varies on Mars. And so you've got
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 two things, Andrew, when you're trying
00:03:59 --> 00:04:00 to synchronize with clocks on Earth,
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 apart from the the time, you know, the
00:04:03 --> 00:04:06 time delay with signals going to Mars.
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 Um, the two things that come into being
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 both are to do with Einstein's theories
00:04:12 --> 00:04:15 of relativity. Uh, and we've talked
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 about these infinitum. We've gone on
00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 about them a lot for a long time. uh and
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 you from that will know that uh when you
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 put a clock into a gravitational field
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 it runs slower uh and that's the time
00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 dilation effect of general relativity.
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 So we know that uh clocks on the surface
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 of the earth run slightly slower than
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 clocks either in space or even in the
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 air. We've now got clocks that are so
00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 accurate, you can tell the difference
00:04:43 --> 00:04:46 between time ticking away on a jet plane
00:04:46 --> 00:04:48 at 10 kilometers high and time ticking
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 away on the surface of the Earth. But
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 Mars of course also has a gravitational
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 field. It's got a gravitational pull,
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 but it's only a sixth or thereabouts of
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 what we have here on our planet. So that
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 means because the gravity is lower, the
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 clock runs faster on the surface of
00:05:07 --> 00:05:08 Mars.
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 uh if you're on Mars, your clock is
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 ticking away at the same rate. But to an
00:05:12 --> 00:05:16 outside observer, it runs it runs uh
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 slower and to an observer on the Earth
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 whose clocks are running even slower, it
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 seems to be running faster. And the
00:05:23 --> 00:05:26 calculation has been that from the NIST,
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 the National Institute of Standards and
00:05:28 --> 00:05:31 Technology, a clock on Mars would run
00:05:31 --> 00:05:32
00:05:32 --> 00:05:36 microsconds faster per day compared with
00:05:36 --> 00:05:39 a clock on the Earth. So 477 millionth
00:05:39 --> 00:05:42 of a second doesn't actually sound much
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 except that when you've got
00:05:44 --> 00:05:45 communications
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 uh like the 5G network, you're working
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 to, you know, the internal clocks work
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 to better than a millionth of a second.
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 Um and so 477 of those millionth of a
00:05:56 --> 00:06:00 second is is yeah
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 messy indeed. But it actually gets
00:06:02 --> 00:06:06 messier because um as you know, we've
00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 talked about this too. Uh the special
00:06:08 --> 00:06:12 theory of relativity says that um if you
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 have a clock on a moving object and you
00:06:14 --> 00:06:18 observe it from not a moving object, uh
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 then you will also get time dilation.
00:06:20 --> 00:06:21 That clock will look as though it's
00:06:22 --> 00:06:23 going slower. Even though it's ticking
00:06:23 --> 00:06:25 away at the same rate to the person
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 who's on the moving object, to an
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 outside observer who's stationary, it
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 looks as though it's going slower. And
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 so we've got an effect because of the
00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 motion of Mars relative to the motion of
00:06:37 --> 00:06:40 Earth. Now, Mars is in an orbit around
00:06:40 --> 00:06:41 the sun just like we are, but it's
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 actually quite uh an eccentric orbit. In
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 other words, it's rather elongated, more
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 so than Earth's orbit is. And so that
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 means it's it's it's always got a motion
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 towards or away from the earth. And that
00:06:53 --> 00:06:57 adds another uncertainty. Uh and which
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 can go either way because if it's coming
00:06:59 --> 00:07:00 towards us then you get a different
00:07:00 --> 00:07:06 effect. Um uh it's 226 microsconds
00:07:06 --> 00:07:09 uh the daily offset uh in the course of
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 a Martian year. uh the difference
00:07:12 --> 00:07:17 between us and uh and there and um that
00:07:17 --> 00:07:20 uh I just said something that I want to
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 correct there because um it's the thing
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 is always the same sign. It doesn't
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 matter whether it's going towards us or
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 away from us. Uh you've still got the
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 the offset in terms of the gravit the um
00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 relativistic time dilation. Uh which is
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 not what I said so I'm correcting that
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 now. Uh the um but yeah so you've got
00:07:39 --> 00:07:43 this additional 226 microsconds. So 477
00:07:43 --> 00:07:44 microsconds
00:07:44 --> 00:07:48 uh with up to 226 microsconds added to
00:07:48 --> 00:07:50 that it means you've got actually quite
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 a messy difference in uh in time. It's
00:07:53 --> 00:07:55 almost a thousandth of a second.
00:07:55 --> 00:07:58 >> Yeah. This this relates to a time where
00:07:58 --> 00:08:01 we've got long-term uh human presence on
00:08:01 --> 00:08:05 Mars and we need to and the technology
00:08:05 --> 00:08:06 doesn't exist exist yet but we need to
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 be able to communicate with Earth in
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 real time. Technically, they they're
00:08:11 --> 00:08:15 going to um uh probably develop ways of
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 setting up communication systems so that
00:08:17 --> 00:08:21 the the the radio signal issue doesn't
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 um impinge on that communication because
00:08:24 --> 00:08:25 at the moment it's like
00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 >> what 24 minutes to send in.
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30 >> I think at maximum it can be. Yeah. And
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 it's you're not going to be able to get
00:08:32 --> 00:08:33 away from that. But you can build that
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 in because you know Mars's distance very
00:08:36 --> 00:08:37 precisely. Yeah.
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 >> So you can build in a time delay. So
00:08:40 --> 00:08:43 this is more about working out a a a
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 time system that is in sync with earth.
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 It's not does that mean we have to
00:08:49 --> 00:08:53 invent a new kind of clock to use on
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 Mars so that it's
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 >> I think I think what it mean it's it's
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 really about the you know the internal
00:08:59 --> 00:09:03 consistency of time signals on Mars. So,
00:09:03 --> 00:09:07 um, you you've got, uh, you're
00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 absolutely right. You know, the
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 synchronization with Earth comes into
00:09:11 --> 00:09:15 into play here, but you also want to
00:09:15 --> 00:09:17 make sure that your communications
00:09:17 --> 00:09:20 actually on Mars, which will be vital,
00:09:20 --> 00:09:24 uh, are all right. And that's in a way
00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 okay because the relativistic effects
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 don't come in there because you're all
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31 in the same gravity and you're all
00:09:31 --> 00:09:33 basically moving uh on a planet at the
00:09:33 --> 00:09:35 same speed. It's like it's like we don't
00:09:35 --> 00:09:37 have to take these effects into
00:09:37 --> 00:09:39 consideration when we're talking between
00:09:39 --> 00:09:41 ourselves on the surface of the earth.
00:09:41 --> 00:09:42 But only when you're talking up to
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 satellites above the earth uh which we
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 do through GPS and through
00:09:47 --> 00:09:48 communications then you need to take
00:09:48 --> 00:09:51 those minute time differences into
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54 account and in a sense that's what this
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 is all about. So you know you've got the
00:09:56 --> 00:09:58 basic property that you can't get away
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 from the speed of light 300
00:10:00 --> 00:10:02 kilometers/s. That's the speed at which
00:10:02 --> 00:10:05 radio signals go to and from Mars that
00:10:05 --> 00:10:07 you can deal with because we know the
00:10:07 --> 00:10:09 distance. But then on top of that,
00:10:09 --> 00:10:12 you've got this added tweak in in terms
00:10:12 --> 00:10:14 of synchronizing our clocks with the
00:10:14 --> 00:10:17 clocks on Mars, which makes for a very
00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 interesting, you know, a very
00:10:19 --> 00:10:20 interesting uh scenario.
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 >> Yeah. Well, here's a dumb question. Why
00:10:22 --> 00:10:25 can't we just do what we do on Earth
00:10:25 --> 00:10:29 across the entire solar system and use
00:10:29 --> 00:10:33 Zulu time? Would Would that not work?
00:10:33 --> 00:10:36 Um um
00:10:36 --> 00:10:39 >> it's it's it just Zulu time on Earth
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 basically means it's the same time
00:10:42 --> 00:10:43 everywhere on the planet.
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 >> That's an expression I haven't heard
00:10:45 --> 00:10:45 before actually.
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 >> Oh, it's it's a real thing.
00:10:47 --> 00:10:47 >> Is it
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 >> Zulu time? Yeah, it's used by the
00:10:50 --> 00:10:51 military specifically. But
00:10:51 --> 00:10:52 >> yeah, that might be why um why I haven't
00:10:52 --> 00:10:53 heard of it.
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 >> I'll look it up. Um cuz right now it
00:10:55 --> 00:10:58 it's set on Greenwich Men time, but um
00:10:58 --> 00:11:01 you know, Zulu time applies across the
00:11:01 --> 00:11:03 entire planet. So, but that's what we
00:11:04 --> 00:11:05 would call universal time in the world
00:11:06 --> 00:11:06 of astronomy.
00:11:06 --> 00:11:07 >> Yeah.
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 >> So, why why can't we do that?
00:11:09 --> 00:11:12 >> Uh, well, we do. I mean, you know, we do
00:11:12 --> 00:11:15 in space, but but you that's fine. That
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 gives you a a time base, but you've got
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 to you've got to tweak it for all these
00:11:20 --> 00:11:21 relativistic differences.
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 >> So, you got the time slip problem
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 regardless of how you run the clock.
00:11:25 --> 00:11:26 >> It doesn't matter how you run the clock.
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 Yeah. So, so on, you know, if you if
00:11:28 --> 00:11:31 you're on a one of the moons of Uranus,
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 then you you'd have you probably still
00:11:34 --> 00:11:37 work on universal time or Zulu time. Um,
00:11:37 --> 00:11:40 and um but you but it when you
00:11:40 --> 00:11:41 synchronize that with Earth, you've got
00:11:41 --> 00:11:42 to take all these things into
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44 consideration. That's the bottom line.
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 >> Okay, I get it. Gosh, it's so
00:11:46 --> 00:11:49 complicated. And yet, you know, Mars is
00:11:49 --> 00:11:51 as close to Earth as you're probably
00:11:51 --> 00:11:53 going to find in another planet. the uh
00:11:53 --> 00:11:56 the the daytime difference is only 40
00:11:56 --> 00:12:01 minutes. But when we actually set up uh
00:12:01 --> 00:12:04 long-term stays on Mars, that in itself
00:12:04 --> 00:12:05 is going to be a problem for humans
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 because we are tuned to our own
00:12:08 --> 00:12:09 environment.
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 >> Having an extra 40 minutes a day is
00:12:12 --> 00:12:13 going to throw everything into a
00:12:14 --> 00:12:15 >> into a sphere. And I think we talked
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 about this some time ago and then the
00:12:17 --> 00:12:20 only way around it would be um you'd
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 have to have a daytime snooze.
00:12:23 --> 00:12:26 Well, we we kind of know about this
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28 already because uh and again, we've
00:12:28 --> 00:12:29 talked about this before that the the
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 people who actually operate Perseverance
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 and Curiosity and all the other rovers
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 that are on Mars um the the ones that
00:12:37 --> 00:12:39 the only other one that's operational is
00:12:39 --> 00:12:42 the Chinese one that uh they the people
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 who operate those actually change onto a
00:12:45 --> 00:12:48 24 hours and 40minut schedule. M
00:12:48 --> 00:12:51 >> so they they're isolated in a sense from
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 their from their community and I think
00:12:53 --> 00:12:55 they quickly quite quickly adapt. I
00:12:55 --> 00:12:57 think it's a bit rough for the first few
00:12:57 --> 00:13:00 days. It's a bit like jet lag. Um but
00:13:00 --> 00:13:01 they I think they quite quickly adapt to
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 that longer day Martian day.
00:13:04 --> 00:13:06 >> So if you start work at 9:00 on a
00:13:06 --> 00:13:08 Monday, you start at 9:40 on Tuesday. Is
00:13:08 --> 00:13:08 that
00:13:08 --> 00:13:10 >> Yeah, that's right.
00:13:10 --> 00:13:12 >> Follow me. By by the end of the week,
00:13:12 --> 00:13:13 you
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 >> Yeah. So um actually it's the other way
00:13:15 --> 00:13:16 around, isn't it? You'd
00:13:16 --> 00:13:18 >> Yeah. Would it be? Yeah, you'd have to
00:13:18 --> 00:13:19 start earlier
00:13:19 --> 00:13:21 >> by by the by Monday. Well,
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 >> see, it's the same as trying to figure
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 out daylight saving, isn't it? Just am I
00:13:25 --> 00:13:28 going to be early or late?
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 >> Oh, imagine trying to do that every day.
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 Gosh. No, it's fascinating. And uh so
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 yeah, the and the bottom line is that
00:13:35 --> 00:13:39 this this team has um has more or less
00:13:39 --> 00:13:41 figured it all out and worked out what
00:13:41 --> 00:13:43 we have to do to make the time right
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 when we get to Mars.
00:13:45 --> 00:13:46 >> You're right. And you you were right
00:13:46 --> 00:13:49 actually you would start so to everybody
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52 else your day you'd be starting 40
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 minutes late Tuesday.
00:13:54 --> 00:13:58 >> Um uh but you're still starting at
00:13:58 --> 00:14:00 midnight or you know whatever time you
00:14:00 --> 00:14:04 you you started 9:00 in fact
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 >> 9:00 Martian time.
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 >> Yeah. Yeah. It's just a bit crazy isn't
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 it? But um yeah it's a fascinating
00:14:10 --> 00:14:11 story. Or if you'd like to read about
00:14:11 --> 00:14:14 it, it's on the website Scitec Daily, or
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 you can read the paper that's been
00:14:16 --> 00:14:19 published in the Astronomical Journal.
00:14:19 --> 00:14:21 This is Space Nuts with Andrew Dunley
00:14:21 --> 00:14:25 and Professor Fred Watson.
00:14:25 --> 00:14:26 Let's take a break from the show to tell
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00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 notes.
00:16:01 --> 00:16:02 >> And I feel
00:16:02 --> 00:16:03 >> space nuts.
00:16:03 --> 00:16:06 >> All right, we're um going to uh focus on
00:16:06 --> 00:16:09 a target of interest. Now, I only just
00:16:09 --> 00:16:13 figured out what that means. TOI 3884b.
00:16:13 --> 00:16:16 This is a planet orbiting a star. And at
00:16:16 --> 00:16:18 this point in time, they've only found
00:16:18 --> 00:16:21 this one planet. But the weird thing is
00:16:21 --> 00:16:24 its orbit is just so out of kilter with
00:16:24 --> 00:16:27 what we would consider normal and they
00:16:27 --> 00:16:28 don't know why.
00:16:28 --> 00:16:31 >> They don't. So you're absolutely right.
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 We're talking about an object by the
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 name of TI384B.
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 Um
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 I was just talking to uh a radio
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43 presenter uh in uh actually in Coffs
00:16:44 --> 00:16:47 Harour in uh uh northern uh what's it
00:16:47 --> 00:16:48 called? The Mid North Coast.
00:16:48 --> 00:16:49 >> Mid North Coast. Yeah.
00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 >> New South Wales. Um about this very
00:16:52 --> 00:16:55 topic. Uh and he wants to rename it the
00:16:55 --> 00:16:56 hula hoop.
00:16:56 --> 00:16:57 >> That's a good idea.
00:16:57 --> 00:17:01 >> Yeah. Because um as he said um with hula
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 hoops, the problem is always keeping the
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 hula hoop at the same angle to your
00:17:05 --> 00:17:06 waistline.
00:17:06 --> 00:17:08 Uh he said it tends to wander off and
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 that's exactly what's happened with this
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 planet. So um Luke Ryan, this is one for
00:17:12 --> 00:17:13 you.
00:17:13 --> 00:17:14 >> Cool.
00:17:14 --> 00:17:17 >> It's the hula hoop the hula hoop planet.
00:17:17 --> 00:17:19 Um so what's the story? Well, this is a
00:17:19 --> 00:17:21 planet going around a red dwarf star.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:24 Uh, it's one of the is it 7 odd now?
00:17:24 --> 00:17:27 Um, exoplanets that we know about. Uh,
00:17:27 --> 00:17:31 it's at a distance of something like
00:17:31 --> 00:17:35 130 light years from Earth. Uh, this red
00:17:35 --> 00:17:40 dwarf is pretty un um, you know, un
00:17:40 --> 00:17:41 unspectacular
00:17:41 --> 00:17:44 in that it's just a typical red dwarf
00:17:44 --> 00:17:48 star, but it's got uh, spots on it. Now,
00:17:48 --> 00:17:50 a lot of stars we know have spots on it.
00:17:50 --> 00:17:51 And actually here in Australia, we've
00:17:51 --> 00:17:54 got a group who I work with quite often
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 up in the University of Southern
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 Queensland whose specialtity is star
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 spots and understanding how we can learn
00:18:00 --> 00:18:03 about them. And they do they they some
00:18:03 --> 00:18:04 you know I've seen some of the papers
00:18:04 --> 00:18:06 that they've written and sometimes these
00:18:06 --> 00:18:09 star spots uh you know they're almost a
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 a quarter of the size of the disc of the
00:18:11 --> 00:18:14 star itself unlike the sunspots that we
00:18:14 --> 00:18:16 see which are yes bigger than earth many
00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 of them but the earth's 100 times
00:18:18 --> 00:18:20 smaller than the sun. So our sunspots
00:18:20 --> 00:18:23 are quite tiny compared with some of the
00:18:23 --> 00:18:25 star spots that we know exist on other
00:18:25 --> 00:18:28 stars. And this particular uh red dwarf
00:18:28 --> 00:18:31 has at least one big spot uh which are
00:18:31 --> 00:18:34 cool. They're cooler than uh the rest of
00:18:34 --> 00:18:35 the atmosphere. They're cool spots and
00:18:35 --> 00:18:38 that's why they look darker. Uh and it's
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 because of that even though you can't
00:18:40 --> 00:18:42 see the spot directly, what you can see
00:18:42 --> 00:18:45 is the way the light from that star
00:18:45 --> 00:18:49 changes as the star rotates. Uh bringing
00:18:49 --> 00:18:51 the spot towards us and then on the
00:18:51 --> 00:18:53 other side of the star. Uh and when the
00:18:53 --> 00:18:54 spot's towards us, it's a little bit
00:18:54 --> 00:18:57 dimmer. And so what they've done is um
00:18:58 --> 00:18:59 uh these scientists uh and I should
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 acknowledge uh where they are. I'll come
00:19:02 --> 00:19:06 to that in a minute. Uh they they have
00:19:06 --> 00:19:10 uh figured out uh first of all from that
00:19:10 --> 00:19:13 spot uh rotation uh they figured out
00:19:13 --> 00:19:17 that this planet sorry this star itself
00:19:17 --> 00:19:21 rotates every 11 days uh which is uh of
00:19:22 --> 00:19:25 course um shorter than the sun. is kind
00:19:25 --> 00:19:27 of half the the sun's rotation. But that
00:19:27 --> 00:19:31 11 days is the key uh to understanding
00:19:31 --> 00:19:34 how the star itself rotates. Now enter
00:19:34 --> 00:19:37 the planet into this. The planet itself
00:19:38 --> 00:19:41 goes round in something like 4 days. Uh
00:19:41 --> 00:19:43 so it sort of whizzes around the parent
00:19:43 --> 00:19:47 star. Um but what the the scientists
00:19:47 --> 00:19:51 have done is used some very very careful
00:19:51 --> 00:19:54 measurements and a phenomenon which is
00:19:54 --> 00:19:57 called the Rosita McGloin effect uh
00:19:57 --> 00:20:02 which is to do with the way um the uh
00:20:02 --> 00:20:05 appearance of a stars spectrum changes
00:20:05 --> 00:20:09 as a planet rotates around the star or
00:20:09 --> 00:20:12 evolves around the star and using that
00:20:12 --> 00:20:17 effect they have um basically discovered
00:20:17 --> 00:20:21 that this planet orbits the star at an
00:20:21 --> 00:20:25 angle of 62°
00:20:25 --> 00:20:28 to the stars equator.
00:20:28 --> 00:20:30 Um and and contrast that with the solar
00:20:30 --> 00:20:32 system where the planets all orbit more
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 or less in the same plane. Mercury is
00:20:34 --> 00:20:38 the outlier in that it's tilted. Uh but
00:20:38 --> 00:20:41 uh the that plane is more or less the
00:20:41 --> 00:20:44 same as the as the equator of the sun.
00:20:44 --> 00:20:47 >> Yeah. If you if you compare it to Earth,
00:20:47 --> 00:20:50 uh that that planet's 40° off. We're
00:20:50 --> 00:20:53 23.44 and they're 60 whatever you said.
00:20:53 --> 00:20:55 Uh that's a heck of a tilt.
00:20:55 --> 00:20:57 >> No, it's a different tilt you're talking
00:20:57 --> 00:20:59 about there.
00:20:59 --> 00:21:00 >> Uh that's the tilt of the Earth's
00:21:00 --> 00:21:01 >> Oh, that's the axis.
00:21:01 --> 00:21:03 >> Rotation axis. Yeah.
00:21:03 --> 00:21:05 >> Right. Right. But the tilt of the
00:21:05 --> 00:21:08 earth's orbit to the sun uh to the sun's
00:21:08 --> 00:21:10 equator is effectively zero.
00:21:10 --> 00:21:11 >> Right. Gotcha.
00:21:11 --> 00:21:13 >> As as most of the planets are with the
00:21:13 --> 00:21:14 exception.
00:21:14 --> 00:21:15 >> So it's not the tilt. It's the actual
00:21:15 --> 00:21:16 orbit itself is
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 >> Yep. That's right. It's the orbit
00:21:18 --> 00:21:18 itself.
00:21:18 --> 00:21:20 >> That's even we not not the rotation of
00:21:20 --> 00:21:22 the planet. That's right. Good to good
00:21:22 --> 00:21:25 to clarify that. Thanks Andrew. Um so
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27 yeah and that's peculiar because you
00:21:27 --> 00:21:29 know we we conventionally understand
00:21:29 --> 00:21:33 that the way planets form is in a in a
00:21:33 --> 00:21:36 um what we call a a protolanetary disc
00:21:36 --> 00:21:39 which surrounds the infant star and
00:21:39 --> 00:21:41 because this that both the star and the
00:21:41 --> 00:21:43 planets have come from a collapsing
00:21:43 --> 00:21:46 cloud of dust and gas which is itself
00:21:46 --> 00:21:47 rotating and it's that sort of
00:21:47 --> 00:21:50 fossilized rotation that we've uh that
00:21:50 --> 00:21:52 we see in the rotation of the planets or
00:21:52 --> 00:21:54 the revolution of the planets around the
00:21:54 --> 00:21:56 sun and the rotation of the sun and
00:21:56 --> 00:21:58 they're all in the same plane. This
00:21:58 --> 00:22:01 one's not. So, how has that happened?
00:22:01 --> 00:22:04 >> And the the the suggestion is
00:22:04 --> 00:22:06 >> Oh, I know. I know.
00:22:06 --> 00:22:08 >> Theo did it.
00:22:08 --> 00:22:11 >> Well, yeah, that's it could be a the
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13 effect, something that's actually
00:22:13 --> 00:22:15 collided
00:22:15 --> 00:22:17 >> with this object. But there's apparently
00:22:17 --> 00:22:19 um as you pointed out right at the
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 beginning, there's no there there isn't
00:22:21 --> 00:22:24 another there isn't another there's no
00:22:24 --> 00:22:27 other objects known to be in orbit
00:22:27 --> 00:22:29 around this star. It seems to be a
00:22:29 --> 00:22:31 single planet. That's not to say that
00:22:31 --> 00:22:32 there wasn't something that collided
00:22:32 --> 00:22:35 with it and moved its orbit. But but
00:22:35 --> 00:22:37 even, you know, something like Thea
00:22:37 --> 00:22:38 hitting the Earth, which is how we think
00:22:38 --> 00:22:40 the moon was formed, that didn't push
00:22:40 --> 00:22:42 the Earth out of its orbit and tilt the
00:22:42 --> 00:22:45 orbit. It's a very peculiar effect. I
00:22:45 --> 00:22:47 mean, it may be that this star has had
00:22:48 --> 00:22:50 an interaction gravitationally at some
00:22:50 --> 00:22:53 time in the past and shifted shifted the
00:22:53 --> 00:22:56 orbit of the planet by the gravitational
00:22:56 --> 00:22:58 inter interference of something else
00:22:58 --> 00:23:01 going past. But that's, you know, that's
00:23:01 --> 00:23:03 just conjecture. Uh, and the bottom line
00:23:04 --> 00:23:06 is for a a single planet going around a
00:23:06 --> 00:23:09 star, this is the most peculiar one
00:23:09 --> 00:23:11 we've ever found. It's because of this
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13 tilt in its orbit. And that's that's
00:23:13 --> 00:23:15 what we keep seeing. Every time we find
00:23:15 --> 00:23:18 something new in another solar system,
00:23:18 --> 00:23:21 we find not every time, but we are
00:23:21 --> 00:23:23 starting to find something new and
00:23:23 --> 00:23:27 different and unexplainable and um yeah,
00:23:27 --> 00:23:29 nothing's normal really when it comes to
00:23:29 --> 00:23:31 all these new discoveries.
00:23:31 --> 00:23:33 >> That's correct. That's right. Uh it's,
00:23:34 --> 00:23:37 you know, it's just a it's a it's a
00:23:37 --> 00:23:39 universe out there that's full of
00:23:39 --> 00:23:41 diversity. That's probably the best way
00:23:41 --> 00:23:42 to put it.
00:23:42 --> 00:23:45 >> Yeah. Um and quite a strange place. Do
00:23:45 --> 00:23:48 we know what kind of planet it is?
00:23:48 --> 00:23:50 >> Uh yeah, it's a it's a super Earth. I
00:23:50 --> 00:23:52 think it's got a mass of 39 Earths. So
00:23:52 --> 00:23:56 it's um something less than Jupiter. Uh
00:23:56 --> 00:23:58 but it but I think it's um not as big
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 not as big in diameter as Jupiter is. I
00:24:00 --> 00:24:02 think that's right. But you know, it
00:24:02 --> 00:24:03 probably means it's a hot Jupiter
00:24:04 --> 00:24:05 basically or a hot subjupiter. Perhaps
00:24:05 --> 00:24:07 that's the best way to put it.
00:24:07 --> 00:24:09 >> Right. Okay. Well, uh, it's another
00:24:09 --> 00:24:12 interesting find. Um, I'm sure they'll
00:24:12 --> 00:24:14 keep looking at it to try and figure out
00:24:14 --> 00:24:18 how it ended up where it is and why. Um,
00:24:18 --> 00:24:21 but yeah, it sounds log logic. If you
00:24:21 --> 00:24:23 tear it all down, you go with the most
00:24:23 --> 00:24:26 obvious answer, it's probably been hit
00:24:26 --> 00:24:28 by something. Probably Steve Smith's
00:24:28 --> 00:24:32 cricket bat would be my theory.
00:24:32 --> 00:24:34 >> I think you've probably just baffled uh
00:24:34 --> 00:24:36 twothirds of our listeners. is probably
00:24:36 --> 00:24:39 look up Steve Smith cricketer and you'll
00:24:39 --> 00:24:41 know what I'm talking about. Um, been
00:24:41 --> 00:24:44 having a great season. Absolutely
00:24:44 --> 00:24:46 wonderful season. But I I won't gloat
00:24:46 --> 00:24:48 because I know we're heard in England
00:24:48 --> 00:24:50 and I I don't want to, you know, it's
00:24:50 --> 00:24:53 not over yet. Um, so if you would like
00:24:53 --> 00:24:55 to read up on that story, uh, you can do
00:24:55 --> 00:24:58 so at the daily galaxy.com website or
00:24:58 --> 00:25:01 you can read the paper in the
00:25:01 --> 00:25:03 astronomical journal, I think it is. Let
00:25:03 --> 00:25:05 me just double check that. Yes,
00:25:05 --> 00:25:06 >> the astronomical journal.
00:25:06 --> 00:25:07 >> Yeah,
00:25:07 --> 00:25:09 >> this is Space Nuts with Andrew Dunley
00:25:09 --> 00:25:12 and Professor Fred Watson.
00:25:12 --> 00:25:14 >> Now, let's take a break from the show to
00:25:14 --> 00:25:16 tell you about our sponsor, NordVPN.
00:25:16 --> 00:25:18 Now, I think we'll all agree that
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00:26:37 --> 00:26:39 >> You're sir here.
00:26:39 --> 00:26:43 >> Spacenuts. Our last story is about one
00:26:43 --> 00:26:45 of my favorite things and that is
00:26:45 --> 00:26:47 chewing gum. Uh, I grew up on that
00:26:47 --> 00:26:48 stuff. I didn't eat food. I just chewed
00:26:48 --> 00:26:50 gum
00:26:50 --> 00:26:53 at infin item. I I I used to stick it on
00:26:54 --> 00:26:56 the bed post when I went to sleep and
00:26:56 --> 00:26:58 start again as soon as I woke up. I just
00:26:58 --> 00:27:00 I was addicted to the stuff, especially
00:27:00 --> 00:27:02 the stuff we had called Big Charlie. I
00:27:02 --> 00:27:04 don't know if anyone remembers Big
00:27:04 --> 00:27:06 Charlie, but it came in a stick about
00:27:06 --> 00:27:08 one foot long
00:27:08 --> 00:27:09 and good.
00:27:09 --> 00:27:12 >> It was amazing. Anyway, can't find that
00:27:12 --> 00:27:15 anymore. Um, the point I'm trying to
00:27:15 --> 00:27:17 make is that this is all about a
00:27:17 --> 00:27:19 discovery that's been made on the
00:27:19 --> 00:27:22 samples of the Beno Bennu asteroid that
00:27:22 --> 00:27:25 were returned to Earth in the deserts of
00:27:25 --> 00:27:27 Utah a couple of years ago and they've
00:27:27 --> 00:27:29 been sort of looking at it ever since
00:27:29 --> 00:27:33 and they have found something unusual.
00:27:33 --> 00:27:34 It's not chewing gum, but it is like
00:27:34 --> 00:27:38 chewing gum because it's um it's a it's
00:27:38 --> 00:27:41 a kind of a polymer.
00:27:41 --> 00:27:43 Yeah, I'm still grappling with you and
00:27:43 --> 00:27:46 your um your chewing gum on the on the
00:27:46 --> 00:27:48 bed post. Um if I remember rightly, it
00:27:48 --> 00:27:52 was Lonnie Donnigan who in the 1950s had
00:27:52 --> 00:27:54 a big hit with does your chewing gum
00:27:54 --> 00:27:56 lose its flavor in the bed post
00:27:56 --> 00:27:57 overnight?
00:27:57 --> 00:28:00 >> The answer is yes. Um
00:28:00 --> 00:28:01 >> yeah.
00:28:01 --> 00:28:06 >> So straight from there to Asteroid Benu.
00:28:06 --> 00:28:09 Um I think it was Lonnie Donigan anyway.
00:28:09 --> 00:28:11 Uh yeah, I can't remember, but I know
00:28:11 --> 00:28:14 >> great skiffl artist of the 1950s.
00:28:14 --> 00:28:16 Um he
00:28:16 --> 00:28:19 >> there's a photo of Big Charlie. I don't
00:28:19 --> 00:28:20 know if you can see that. No, you can't.
00:28:20 --> 00:28:22 >> I can't. No, it's just disappearing cuz
00:28:22 --> 00:28:24 you all I can see now is the moon.
00:28:24 --> 00:28:25 >> Yeah.
00:28:25 --> 00:28:26 >> Anyway,
00:28:26 --> 00:28:31 >> a big Charlie.
00:28:31 --> 00:28:34 >> Yeah, it was a monster packeted like you
00:28:34 --> 00:28:36 know, you couldn't put it in your
00:28:36 --> 00:28:42 pocket. you poking my ear.
00:28:42 --> 00:28:45 >> Well, I have to say uh it's something
00:28:45 --> 00:28:48 not at all like that that we're talking
00:28:48 --> 00:28:50 about with asteroid Bennu because all
00:28:50 --> 00:28:52 these observations have made been made
00:28:52 --> 00:28:54 with an electron microscope which you
00:28:54 --> 00:28:57 probably didn't need for a big Charlie.
00:28:57 --> 00:29:00 Um but the what what's it all about?
00:29:00 --> 00:29:06 It's uh what's been found in the dust uh
00:29:06 --> 00:29:08 which was returned by the Osiris Rex
00:29:08 --> 00:29:12 spacecraft uh I think in 2023 if I
00:29:12 --> 00:29:14 remember rightly samples from asteroid
00:29:14 --> 00:29:17 Bennu. It's a NASA project. Um what has
00:29:17 --> 00:29:19 been found in there is what the
00:29:19 --> 00:29:22 scientists call nitrogenrich polymer
00:29:22 --> 00:29:24 sheets.
00:29:24 --> 00:29:27 Uh which you and I would call gum. Uh
00:29:27 --> 00:29:30 it's a polymer basically. Uh, and
00:29:30 --> 00:29:33 polymers are are materials where you've
00:29:33 --> 00:29:36 got these long chains of molecules that
00:29:36 --> 00:29:38 give them that sort of flexible and
00:29:38 --> 00:29:42 sticky sticky flavor or not flavor but
00:29:42 --> 00:29:45 uh demeanor, let me put it that way. Uh,
00:29:45 --> 00:29:49 so it's yeah, it's got um it's got uh
00:29:49 --> 00:29:52 these longchain molecules on it and so
00:29:52 --> 00:29:54 the the scientists are calling it space
00:29:54 --> 00:29:57 gum. Uh it's not gum as we would know
00:29:57 --> 00:29:59 it, but what they've done is they've um
00:29:59 --> 00:30:02 they've found uh sort of almost like
00:30:02 --> 00:30:05 shards of this stuff within the dust
00:30:05 --> 00:30:09 samples from Bennu. And in order to
00:30:09 --> 00:30:11 analyze it, they've actually had to coat
00:30:11 --> 00:30:15 it with a a layer of uh I think it's
00:30:15 --> 00:30:19 platinum um uh that they've they've
00:30:19 --> 00:30:21 reinforced it with so that they can take
00:30:21 --> 00:30:25 samples from it uh with a tungsten micro
00:30:25 --> 00:30:27 needle. Uh and you see pictures of all
00:30:27 --> 00:30:29 this stuff going on on the web. Universe
00:30:29 --> 00:30:32 Today's got a nice story about it. Um
00:30:32 --> 00:30:36 and uh then with the micro needle then
00:30:36 --> 00:30:38 you can take the samples and you know
00:30:38 --> 00:30:40 analyze them with all the various pieces
00:30:40 --> 00:30:43 of kit that we we use to make these
00:30:43 --> 00:30:46 analyses. Uh and it turns out yeah
00:30:46 --> 00:30:48 there's um there's gum there. Uh I think
00:30:48 --> 00:30:52 the puzzle is how it got there. uh
00:30:52 --> 00:30:56 because well in let me just um since
00:30:56 --> 00:30:59 we're mentioning universe today and the
00:30:59 --> 00:31:02 lovely article uh by Andy Thomas Stwick
00:31:02 --> 00:31:04 I think is his name might not be how you
00:31:04 --> 00:31:07 pronounce it but uh what uh he says is
00:31:07 --> 00:31:09 one question remains one question
00:31:09 --> 00:31:12 remains how exactly did the space gum
00:31:12 --> 00:31:14 survive on Bennu for so long we know
00:31:14 --> 00:31:16 that Bennu was part of a larger asteroid
00:31:16 --> 00:31:19 that had hydrothermal vents
00:31:19 --> 00:31:20 meaning the asteroid itself was
00:31:20 --> 00:31:23 subjected to water. Complex organic
00:31:23 --> 00:31:26 molecules like the space gum usually
00:31:26 --> 00:31:28 either dissolve or break up when
00:31:28 --> 00:31:31 subjected to hot water. So, how had this
00:31:31 --> 00:31:34 particular sample uh avoided that fate?
00:31:34 --> 00:31:37 And what they're saying then is that
00:31:37 --> 00:31:42 perhaps the sample might have formed uh
00:31:42 --> 00:31:46 basically during a phase when Bennu was
00:31:46 --> 00:31:48 cold before it actually got hot enough
00:31:48 --> 00:31:51 for nuclear processes to heat it up. Um
00:31:51 --> 00:31:53 and they're saying that that these
00:31:53 --> 00:31:56 samples actually date from that time. Uh
00:31:56 --> 00:31:59 and that basically um uh what they say
00:31:59 --> 00:32:02 is uh by the time radioactive elements
00:32:02 --> 00:32:05 inside the asteroid and this again is
00:32:05 --> 00:32:07 quoted from Universe Today. By the time
00:32:07 --> 00:32:09 the radioactive elements inside the
00:32:09 --> 00:32:11 asteroid had heated up enough to create
00:32:11 --> 00:32:13 the water, the plastic in inverted
00:32:13 --> 00:32:15 commas, sheets of polymer were already
00:32:15 --> 00:32:18 formed and were in fact water resistant,
00:32:18 --> 00:32:20 thereby getting trapped by the rocks on
00:32:20 --> 00:32:22 the asteroid surface where they were
00:32:22 --> 00:32:24 eventually picked up by an intrepid
00:32:24 --> 00:32:28 space probe, namely uh a Sirius Rex. So
00:32:28 --> 00:32:30 yeah, and and here's the really
00:32:30 --> 00:32:32 interesting bit. Um we've got other
00:32:32 --> 00:32:35 asteroid samples, as you know, Andrew,
00:32:35 --> 00:32:36 from
00:32:36 --> 00:32:38 >> Yes. uh the two Japanese spacecraft that
00:32:38 --> 00:32:41 have brought back asteroid samples. Um
00:32:41 --> 00:32:44 and neither of those have polymers in
00:32:44 --> 00:32:45 them.
00:32:45 --> 00:32:48 >> Uh so uh Bennu is different. It's a
00:32:48 --> 00:32:51 different uh body. It's still a rubble
00:32:51 --> 00:32:54 pile asteroid as far as we know, but
00:32:54 --> 00:32:55 different in its chemical makeup.
00:32:55 --> 00:32:57 >> So I suppose that throws up questions
00:32:57 --> 00:33:01 about asteroid formation and why this is
00:33:01 --> 00:33:03 different or is it is it normal and the
00:33:03 --> 00:33:05 other two were different? You don't
00:33:05 --> 00:33:06 know, do you? Yeah, that's right. That's
00:33:06 --> 00:33:08 the thing. Yes.
00:33:08 --> 00:33:10 >> Yeah. Very interesting indeed. If you'd
00:33:10 --> 00:33:13 like to read about it, universetoday.com
00:33:13 --> 00:33:15 has that great article that uh Fred was
00:33:15 --> 00:33:18 talking about and uh yeah, we'll we'll
00:33:18 --> 00:33:19 probably learn more and more as they
00:33:19 --> 00:33:21 keep going through those samples from
00:33:21 --> 00:33:25 Benu. Um Fred, we're uh we're all done.
00:33:25 --> 00:33:27 Thank you so much. That was quick.
00:33:27 --> 00:33:30 >> It was, wasn't it? Um and they were they
00:33:30 --> 00:33:33 were quite complex stories as well.
00:33:33 --> 00:33:34 >> Yeah. probably why we didn't spend much
00:33:34 --> 00:33:36 time on them.
00:33:36 --> 00:33:37 >> Our brains neither of us understands
00:33:38 --> 00:33:40 them either.
00:33:40 --> 00:33:42 >> Yeah. All right. Thanks, Fred. We'll
00:33:42 --> 00:33:45 catch you shortly um for our final
00:33:45 --> 00:33:47 program of the year officially. So,
00:33:48 --> 00:33:49 we'll we'll see you then. Thanks, Fred.
00:33:50 --> 00:33:51 >> Sounds great. Well done, Andrew.
00:33:52 --> 00:33:54 >> And um thanks to Hugh in the studio who
00:33:54 --> 00:33:56 couldn't be with us today because of a
00:33:56 --> 00:33:59 weird uh object that uh he's gone to see
00:33:59 --> 00:34:01 the doctor about. Uh, and don't forget
00:34:01 --> 00:34:04 to visit us online and uh, you can do
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00:34:32 --> 00:34:34 And from me, Andrew Dunley, thanks for
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00:34:36 --> 00:34:38 the next episode real soon.
00:34:38 --> 00:34:40 >> Space, you've been listening to the
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