Space Nuts Episode: Ryugu's Microbial Mystery, Martian Moon Origins, and Galactic Collisions
Join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson as they explore the latest cosmic revelations. From unexpected microbial contamination of Richie asteroid samples to a groundbreaking theory on the formation of Mars's moons, and the first results from a new instrument on the William Herschel Telescope, this episode is packed with stellar insights and astronomical wonders.
Episode Highlights:
- Richie Asteroid Contamination: Delve into the challenges of keeping extraterrestrial samples free from Earth's microbes. Despite stringent sterilisation efforts, Richie samples returned by Hayabusa2 show signs of terrestrial contamination, raising questions about planetary protection protocols.
- Martian Moons' New Origin Theory: Discover a fresh perspective on how Phobos and Deimos may have formed. A new model suggests that these moons originated from debris of an asteroid that broke apart due to Mars's gravitational forces, offering an alternative to previous impact and capture theories.
- Galactic Collisions Unveiled : Explore the first findings from the WEAVE instrument on the William Herschel Telescope. By studying Stefan's Quintet, astronomers reveal the staggering speeds of shock waves from colliding galaxies, shedding light on cosmic interactions and future Milky Way-Andromeda collision scenarios.
For more Space Nuts, including our continually 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, Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok . We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favourite 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.
00:00 - Andrew Dunkley: Coming up on this edition of Space Nuts
01:15 - This episode will be officially released two days after your 800th birthday
02:29 - Justin Jackson says Ryugu samples show effort to keep them clean has failed
12:12 - If that can happen in a room that's designed not to allow it
12:47 - New theory put forward about origin of moon's phobos and Deimos
21:22 - Andrew Dunkley says spherical potatoes could be useful in space missions
22:46 - Fred looks at an instrument connected to the William Herschel telescope
26:45 - Professor Gavin Dalton has been working on the William Herschel Telescope
31:30 - We've got similar collision speeds as Andromeda.
✍️ Episode References
Imperial College London
[imperial.ac.uk](https://www.imperial.ac.uk/)
Meteoritics and Planetary Science Journal
[wiley.com](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19455100)
phys.org
[phys.org](https://phys.org/)
Durham University
[durham.ac.uk](https://www.dur.ac.uk/)
NASA Spaceflight
[nasaspaceflight.com](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/)
JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency)
[jaxa.jp](https://www.jaxa.jp/)
William Herschel Telescope
[ing.iac.es](http://www.ing.iac.es/astronomy/telescopes/wht/)
Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes
[ing.iac.es](http://www.ing.iac.es/)
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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/24600384?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 hi there Andrew Dunley here thanks for
00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 joining us on another edition of Space
00:00:05 --> 00:00:09 Nuts coming up this time we are going to
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 once again talk about the ryugu asteroid
00:00:12 --> 00:00:13 we've had a couple of discussions about
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 it recently but the news this time is
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 not so positive and it involves um some
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 kind of contamination that seems to have
00:00:22 --> 00:00:24 happened uh despite everyone's best
00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 efforts to avoid it uh there's also a
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 new Theory that's been put forward
00:00:29 --> 00:00:31 thanks to Comm computer modeling about
00:00:31 --> 00:00:34 how the moons of Mars may well have
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36 formed there's a few theories this is a
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 new one to add to the sphere boom boom
00:00:39 --> 00:00:41 and uh the first results from a new
00:00:41 --> 00:00:43 instrument on the William hersel
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 telescope we'll talk about all of that
00:00:46 --> 00:00:49 on this edition of Space Nuts 15 seconds
00:00:49 --> 00:00:54 guidance is internal 10 9 ignition
00:00:54 --> 00:00:59 sequence start Space Nuts 5 4 3 2 1 2 3
00:00:59 --> 00:01:04 4 5 4 3 Space Nuts asut report feels
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 good and joining me to talk about all of
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 that and much much more is Professor
00:01:09 --> 00:01:11 Fred wat's an astronomer at large hello
00:01:11 --> 00:01:14 Fred hello Andrew good to see you good
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16 to see you too now before we start I'm
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 going to put you on the spot because
00:01:18 --> 00:01:19 I've been I've been looking at the
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 calendar and working a few things out
00:01:22 --> 00:01:23 this episode will be officially re
00:01:23 --> 00:01:26 released on the 12th of the
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 12th and your birthday is two days later
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 and you're turning 800 now hang on it's
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 got an eight in it yeah but it's it's uh
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 it begins with an e and it's not 11 so
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 that's a
00:01:40 --> 00:01:44 clue so um I suppose this episode we
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 should start by uh collectively wishing
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 you a very happy birthday Fred thank you
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 thank you very much it'll be two days
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 time after the release of this episode
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 even though we're recording this one in
00:01:55 --> 00:02:00 2021 so um
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 speaking for yourself I thought it was
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 1947 yeah it could have been too no uh
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 no we we're running a bit early uh to
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 see out the year but um yeah I hope you
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 have a wonderful birthday Fred and um
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 and many many more yeah that's the
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 important bit that is the important bit
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 yes that's right got keep got to keep
00:02:19 --> 00:02:20 this thing the the brain cells ticking
00:02:21 --> 00:02:22 over I think that's the secret to long
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 life just I think I think space brain
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 working space not yes
00:02:28 --> 00:02:33 absolutely uh now um we have got some
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 fascinating stories today and we'll
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 start off with ryugu the asteroid that
00:02:38 --> 00:02:42 uh was visited um a Japanese Mission I
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 believe uh that brought back samples and
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 they've been looking at those samples
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 and now they've looked at them and gone
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 oh hang on a minute what's happened here
00:02:50 --> 00:02:54 um somebody spilled some jam on them or
00:02:54 --> 00:02:56 something um that wasn't that but they
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 they do appear to have become um
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 questionable in in terms of um the
00:03:01 --> 00:03:02 quality
00:03:02 --> 00:03:06 because the the effort to keep them
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 clean uh has failed that's right and
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 that's really the lesson of this story
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 uh just how hard it is to keep Earthly
00:03:14 --> 00:03:18 microbes away from anything um and you
00:03:18 --> 00:03:20 know it has implications with our
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 sterilization processes for spacecraft
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 going to other worlds you we've talked
00:03:24 --> 00:03:25 before about the planetary protection
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 rules which mean that if you're sending
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 a spacecraft to somewhere on Mars liquid
00:03:30 --> 00:03:31 water could exist it's got to have the
00:03:32 --> 00:03:33 very highest if I remember it's category
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 4 C sterilization which means that there
00:03:36 --> 00:03:39 are only 30 microbes on board the
00:03:39 --> 00:03:40 spacecraft um I don't know how they do
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 that but uh that's what they do but but
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 what this story is telling us is that
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 that might not be enough that might just
00:03:48 --> 00:03:50 you know be effectively scratching the
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 surface and uh so this is some work
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 that's been done at Imperial College in
00:03:54 --> 00:03:58 London uh one of the London universities
00:03:58 --> 00:04:00 uh and a paper that's been published in
00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 meteoritics and planetary science which
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 is called rapid colonization of a space
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 returned ryugu sample by terrestrial
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 microorganisms uh and basically it tells
00:04:12 --> 00:04:15 you that on the surface of the samples
00:04:15 --> 00:04:19 that came back to Earth uh from it's via
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 the hyabusa 2 spacecraft from ryugu uh
00:04:22 --> 00:04:26 they have found microbes basically uh
00:04:26 --> 00:04:30 and uh it's extraordinary that um you
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 know the
00:04:32 --> 00:04:36 the despite everybody's best efforts to
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 keep these free from contaminations
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 they've got contaminated I might just
00:04:40 --> 00:04:44 read um very nice article on f.org uh
00:04:44 --> 00:04:46 which is um just is one by Justin
00:04:46 --> 00:04:49 Jackson uh and there's a a paragraph
00:04:49 --> 00:04:54 here that tells you what um basically
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 what the samples underwent to keep them
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 clean uh so believe that transported to
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 Earth in a hermetically sealed chamber
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 the sample was opened in nitrogen in a
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 class 10 clean room I don't know
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 what that means but it sounds very clean
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 uh to prevent contamination individual
00:05:12 --> 00:05:14 particles were picked with sterilized
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 tools and stored under nitrogen in
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 airtight containers before analysis the
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 sample underwent Nano x-ray computed
00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 tomography and was embedded in an epoxy
00:05:24 --> 00:05:26 resin block for scanning electron
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 scanning electron microscopy but they
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 found these um what are described as
00:05:32 --> 00:05:36 rods and filaments of organic matter um
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 and lovely s lovely phrase here
00:05:38 --> 00:05:41 interpreted as filamentous
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 microorganisms uh were or observed on
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 the sample surface uh and uh yeah
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 variations in size and morphology or
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 shape of these structures resembled
00:05:51 --> 00:05:54 known terrestrial microbes and uh
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 observations showed that the abundance
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 of these filaments changed over time
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 suggest the growth and decline of a
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 population it's incredible isn't it that
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 no matter what you do you can't keep
00:06:06 --> 00:06:10 them clean um and so uh
00:06:10 --> 00:06:14 it's it's really uh a lesson I think for
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 our future understanding of of the
00:06:17 --> 00:06:22 exploration of life beyond the Earth um
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 for a start uh it means that there's
00:06:25 --> 00:06:28 probably microbial contamination now on
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 on Mars on the moon
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 all over the place if if we've created a
00:06:33 --> 00:06:36 really significant clean environment for
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 those samples we brought
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 back it stands the reason we've sent
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 microbes to other worlds because we
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 probably weren't that thorough in
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 sending those
00:06:48 --> 00:06:54 spacecraft um and if if the the
00:06:54 --> 00:06:57 safety situation was so strict on the
00:06:57 --> 00:07:00 ryugu samples and the microbes got
00:07:00 --> 00:07:03 through uh I I it stands to reason that
00:07:03 --> 00:07:07 we have sent microbes all over system
00:07:07 --> 00:07:08 yeah
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 pretty um yeah that's it's a bit scary
00:07:11 --> 00:07:14 really because if there is a world with
00:07:14 --> 00:07:18 life and we've sent microbes to them
00:07:18 --> 00:07:21 what could happen I mean my logic says
00:07:21 --> 00:07:24 to me our microbes wouldn't survive but
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 they're pretty
00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 tough uh and and and more than that they
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 they adapt um there's another lovely
00:07:32 --> 00:07:35 paragraph from Justin's piece on f.org
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 uh which is basically what we've just
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 been saying NASA tries to avoid
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 introducing Earth microbes to Mars by
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 constructing probes and Landers in clean
00:07:44 --> 00:07:47 room environments and has found the task
00:07:47 --> 00:07:49 nearly impossible there have been
00:07:50 --> 00:07:52 species of microbes wait for this there
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 have been species of microbes discovered
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 in NASA clean rooms that not only evade
00:07:57 --> 00:08:01 disinfection methods but also adapt to
00:08:01 --> 00:08:04 using cleaning agents as a food source I
00:08:04 --> 00:08:08 yes I know that absolutely BW my mind
00:08:08 --> 00:08:11 when I read that good grief I know yeah
00:08:11 --> 00:08:16 so yeah I mean that that is
00:08:16 --> 00:08:20 the a glaring example of uh adaptation
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 to an environment isn't it when yeah
00:08:22 --> 00:08:26 that's right let's eat the petrol yes
00:08:26 --> 00:08:28 exactly yeah that's basically what
00:08:28 --> 00:08:32 they're doing that's quite I I know I
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 know that somebody in our audience
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 probably more than one person will say
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 hang on a minute how do we know that
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 these weren't microbes that already
00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 existed on
00:08:43 --> 00:08:47 rugu and they're pretty they're pretty
00:08:47 --> 00:08:50 um positive that they aren't um the the
00:08:50 --> 00:08:53 article says um population statistics
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 indicate that the microorgan
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 microorganisms originated from
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 terrestrial contamination during the
00:08:59 --> 00:09:02 sample preparation stage rather than
00:09:02 --> 00:09:06 being indigenous to the asteroid so um
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 yeah they are very confident probably
00:09:08 --> 00:09:11 disappointed that they are
00:09:11 --> 00:09:14 not yeah that's right asteroidal origin
00:09:14 --> 00:09:18 yeah I mean people do look for uh signs
00:09:18 --> 00:09:22 of perhaps fossilized microbes in in uh
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 in meteorites particularly and you'll
00:09:25 --> 00:09:30 remember um it's alh 8400 01 I think was
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 the name of it the Allen Hills
00:09:32 --> 00:09:36 meteorite um which uh in the early 1990s
00:09:36 --> 00:09:39 was found to have within within its
00:09:40 --> 00:09:41 structure these weren't on the surface
00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 like these things that have been found
00:09:43 --> 00:09:46 in this story uh but um the uh within
00:09:46 --> 00:09:47 its structure it was found to have
00:09:47 --> 00:09:51 things that strongly resembl terrestrial
00:09:51 --> 00:09:53 microbes only they were about a thousand
00:09:53 --> 00:09:56 times smaller uh so they they they
00:09:56 --> 00:09:58 started calling them nanoes uh because
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 they they were lot nanoc scale rather
00:10:01 --> 00:10:03 than micros scale but um but it turned
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05 out that there are there are simple
00:10:05 --> 00:10:07 chemical reactions that take place in
00:10:07 --> 00:10:09 geological formations that can produce
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11 these things that look like yeah that
00:10:11 --> 00:10:15 look like uh living or organisms so um
00:10:15 --> 00:10:18 the the astrobiology community has been
00:10:18 --> 00:10:22 pretty strict uh about what the criteria
00:10:22 --> 00:10:26 are for having discovered life in a in a
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 meteorite um and it's not just that you
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 find something that looks like a a
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 microbe um I think there are chemical
00:10:32 --> 00:10:33 tests and things of that sort that will
00:10:34 --> 00:10:37 be done uh that would uh you know verify
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 if this was indeed a a microb that had
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 come from Mars but I think you know it's
00:10:43 --> 00:10:44 still possible we might find something
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46 like that I I think there's so much
00:10:46 --> 00:10:49 activity in this field Andrew that I
00:10:49 --> 00:10:50 think there's a good chance we might one
00:10:50 --> 00:10:54 day turn up a a martian microbe and even
00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 more likely uh that when finally the the
00:10:58 --> 00:11:00 soil and rock samples from perseverance
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 come back to earth that we might find
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 something in there that's that will be
00:11:04 --> 00:11:05 the U that'll be the really exciting
00:11:05 --> 00:11:09 story when when um NASA and Isa get
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 their act together I don't know what
00:11:11 --> 00:11:13 this situation is but I think it's still
00:11:13 --> 00:11:15 in OB bance because everything that they
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 plan was going to cost too much uh but
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 to bring back these uh little tubes of
00:11:20 --> 00:11:23 Martian soil uh and and uh rock that
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 have been left by perseverance on the
00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 surface of Mars yeah that's so human
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 isn't it let's get some samples uh yeah
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 but what are we going to do about
00:11:32 --> 00:11:34 collecting them oh yeah yeah we'll
00:11:34 --> 00:11:35 figure that
00:11:35 --> 00:11:38 out we'll figure it out later oh hang on
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 it's going to cost too much oh we'll
00:11:40 --> 00:11:43 figure it out much later well that's
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 basically where we are now um yes unless
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 it's in there of other men I'm not not
00:11:48 --> 00:11:49 aware of yes it's a very human thing
00:11:50 --> 00:11:53 she'll be right but but I do agree with
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 you that sometime in the not too distant
00:11:55 --> 00:11:58 future we will find evidence of past
00:11:58 --> 00:12:01 life somewhere in the solar system
00:12:01 --> 00:12:04 really uh and and this is a classic
00:12:04 --> 00:12:07 example of how life can grasp even the
00:12:07 --> 00:12:10 smallest almost impossible opportunity
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 yeah and right if that can if that can
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 happen in a in a room that's designed
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 not to allow it to happen then it could
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 probably happen anywhere exactly and and
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 you don't even have to add the caveat if
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 the circumstances are right because the
00:12:25 --> 00:12:28 circumstances were not right and it's
00:12:28 --> 00:12:30 still happened yeah that's right quite
00:12:30 --> 00:12:34 extraordinary yeah Amazing Story and you
00:12:34 --> 00:12:38 can read it at f.org you're listening to
00:12:38 --> 00:12:40 Space Nuts with Andrew Dunley and
00:12:40 --> 00:12:44 Professor Fred
00:12:44 --> 00:12:48 Watson here A Space Nuts now this next
00:12:48 --> 00:12:51 story takes us to Mars and there's a new
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 Theory that's been put forward about the
00:12:53 --> 00:12:56 origin of the moons Phobos and
00:12:56 --> 00:12:59 deos uh there were I think there were
00:12:59 --> 00:13:02 two theories that previously existed and
00:13:02 --> 00:13:03 that was that they were both captured
00:13:03 --> 00:13:06 asteroids I think the other theory was
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 that something hit Mars just like theia
00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 hit Earth and created the moons as a
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 consequence of that impact now they've
00:13:14 --> 00:13:17 got another idea and this one seems to
00:13:17 --> 00:13:21 have um just as much validity maybe
00:13:21 --> 00:13:24 more uh yes that's right in fact it's um
00:13:24 --> 00:13:27 the modeling really uh seems to
00:13:27 --> 00:13:29 demonstrate that this this is on the on
00:13:29 --> 00:13:33 the right track uh it's um a study
00:13:33 --> 00:13:37 that's been carried out uh by um
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 scientists in the United States uh um as
00:13:41 --> 00:13:45 well as uh as well as using some uh code
00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 that Durham university has prepared
00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 that's the University of Durham in the
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 UK they've got one of the most advanced
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 Computing systems in the United Kingdom
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 and they they've used it um to build
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 models of the universe that are kind of
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 complete in every detail it's amazing
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 stuff uh so that um that Computing
00:14:02 --> 00:14:06 facility has been used in this research
00:14:06 --> 00:14:09 uh trying to work out what H happened to
00:14:10 --> 00:14:13 create these two tiny moons of Mars
00:14:13 --> 00:14:14 Phobos which if I remember rightly is
00:14:15 --> 00:14:17 about um 23 kilometers across shaped
00:14:17 --> 00:14:20 like a potato and deos which is quite a
00:14:20 --> 00:14:22 bit smaller I think it's only 15 or
00:14:22 --> 00:14:25 there abouts kilometers across um and
00:14:25 --> 00:14:28 shaped a bit like a smaller potato so uh
00:14:28 --> 00:14:33 you quite right uh two theories um are
00:14:33 --> 00:14:35 one is that they were simply asteroids
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 that were captured when they passed
00:14:37 --> 00:14:40 close to Mars and the other one is that
00:14:40 --> 00:14:44 perhaps uh there was an a giant impact
00:14:44 --> 00:14:45 exactly as you've said a little bit like
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 sea impacting the Earth and creating the
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 moon uh an impact on the Martian surface
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 that lifted an enormous amount of
00:14:51 --> 00:14:54 material to form a disc of material
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 around Mars and and the moons basically
00:14:56 --> 00:14:59 formed in that dis and that's probably
00:15:00 --> 00:15:04 the more popular Theory um but uh and
00:15:04 --> 00:15:06 and that the reason for that is that it
00:15:06 --> 00:15:09 it really neatly um accounts for the the
00:15:09 --> 00:15:11 orbits of Phobos and deos that's why
00:15:11 --> 00:15:14 people like that because the it sort of
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 matches the present day orbits of Phobos
00:15:16 --> 00:15:19 and deos that's what you'd get uh if
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 this um ejector from a an impact had
00:15:22 --> 00:15:28 collected in in orbit around Mars but um
00:15:28 --> 00:15:29 um there is a snap
00:15:29 --> 00:15:34 uh and one is that um if that had been
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 the case if it if these worlds are made
00:15:37 --> 00:15:40 of material that was ejected from Mars
00:15:40 --> 00:15:43 itself uh they would have formed closer
00:15:43 --> 00:15:48 to Mars than they are uh and the the
00:15:48 --> 00:15:52 there's a gotcha in particular with deos
00:15:52 --> 00:15:55 um it's the radius of its orbit tells
00:15:55 --> 00:15:57 you that it actually had to form that
00:15:58 --> 00:16:00 far away from Mars it couldn't have
00:16:00 --> 00:16:02 formed very close to Mars and then
00:16:02 --> 00:16:04 migrated outwards it would have
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 basically just gone back to Mars and
00:16:06 --> 00:16:10 crashed again and so this this new
00:16:10 --> 00:16:14 material sorry this new model um
00:16:14 --> 00:16:17 suggests that the material from which uh
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 these two worlds are made Phobos and
00:16:19 --> 00:16:22 deos didn't come from Mars that it came
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 from an asteroid that passed too close
00:16:24 --> 00:16:28 to Mars's surface and basically broke up
00:16:28 --> 00:16:29 um
00:16:29 --> 00:16:33 as it as it bypassed Mars uh so uh if
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 you imagine an asteroid uh heading in
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 Mars's Direction it's not going to
00:16:38 --> 00:16:41 impact the planet but it's going to do a
00:16:41 --> 00:16:44 near Miss now a near Miss means that
00:16:44 --> 00:16:46 it's very close to Mars's surface and it
00:16:46 --> 00:16:49 feels very strong tidal effects and what
00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 we mean by tidal effect is the the
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 difference in the gravitational pull on
00:16:55 --> 00:16:56 one side of an object compared with the
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 other uh that's what creates on Earth so
00:16:59 --> 00:17:02 the the near side of uh the this
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 asteroid hypothetical asteroid would
00:17:05 --> 00:17:07 have felt more gravity than the far side
00:17:07 --> 00:17:09 and that creates tension within it which
00:17:09 --> 00:17:12 basically breaks it up so this thing uh
00:17:12 --> 00:17:14 cannot withstand the tidal forces it
00:17:14 --> 00:17:17 breaks up into debris and then
00:17:17 --> 00:17:22 circulates around Mars and eventually uh
00:17:22 --> 00:17:25 Phobos and deos uh are formed within
00:17:25 --> 00:17:29 that ring of material um
00:17:29 --> 00:17:32 and in in fact it's uh it's it very
00:17:32 --> 00:17:35 nicely accounts for the differences
00:17:35 --> 00:17:38 between Phobos and deos the different
00:17:38 --> 00:17:39 orbits that they've
00:17:39 --> 00:17:43 got okay well so it's not dissimilar to
00:17:43 --> 00:17:46 Theory two that
00:17:46 --> 00:17:48 um what they're saying to expand on what
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 you were said uh it's it's it's an
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 asteroid that was passing Mars the
00:17:53 --> 00:17:55 gravitational effect caused it to break
00:17:55 --> 00:17:59 up um but further to that all the those
00:17:59 --> 00:18:02 bits and pieces continued to collide and
00:18:02 --> 00:18:05 smash up and created created a
00:18:05 --> 00:18:08 protoplanetary disc if you like yeah y
00:18:08 --> 00:18:11 um on on a Mars scale and then that
00:18:11 --> 00:18:14 formed into the two moons is that what
00:18:14 --> 00:18:15 they that's what they're saying that's
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17 that's correct yes that's what they're
00:18:17 --> 00:18:19 saying and um and the model sort of
00:18:19 --> 00:18:23 makes predictions about the uh the
00:18:23 --> 00:18:25 orbits of the final orbits of the Moon
00:18:25 --> 00:18:28 which which basically are what we see in
00:18:28 --> 00:18:29 reality
00:18:29 --> 00:18:32 uh so yes it's uh it's it's a very nice
00:18:32 --> 00:18:36 piece of work um and there is some
00:18:36 --> 00:18:39 possibility uh that we might get some
00:18:39 --> 00:18:42 hard and fast results from both Phobos
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 and deos because there's a jaxa
00:18:44 --> 00:18:46 spacecraft Japanese Aerospace
00:18:46 --> 00:18:50 Exploration Agency uh called MMX which
00:18:50 --> 00:18:54 is uh the Martian Moon Explorer or
00:18:54 --> 00:18:57 Martian Moon's exploration Mission uh
00:18:57 --> 00:18:59 and it's a sample return mission
00:18:59 --> 00:19:00 uh and of course the Japanese are very
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 good at sample return we've just been
00:19:02 --> 00:19:04 talking about the fragments of asteroid
00:19:04 --> 00:19:06 ryugu which is a sample return from an
00:19:06 --> 00:19:10 asteroid so uh this Mission will uh will
00:19:10 --> 00:19:13 bring back samples from both Phobos and
00:19:13 --> 00:19:16 deos uh and give us a lot more close-up
00:19:16 --> 00:19:18 studies of those two worlds and so you
00:19:18 --> 00:19:20 know we might find from whatever they
00:19:20 --> 00:19:25 bring back uh that uh we we find uh the
00:19:25 --> 00:19:27 compositions of the moons actually would
00:19:27 --> 00:19:30 match what uh what this scenario
00:19:30 --> 00:19:34 suggests because uh you you'd expect um
00:19:34 --> 00:19:37 if it was a broken up asteroid you'd
00:19:37 --> 00:19:39 expect the material the isotopic um
00:19:40 --> 00:19:41 content of the material of which fobos
00:19:41 --> 00:19:43 and deos were made would match that of
00:19:43 --> 00:19:46 the asteroid rather than Mars
00:19:46 --> 00:19:48 itself which is what you get from a
00:19:48 --> 00:19:52 collision so MMX launch in 2026 and
00:19:52 --> 00:19:54 something I hope we'll talk about on the
00:19:55 --> 00:20:00 on the Space Nuts absolutely yes I I one
00:20:00 --> 00:20:03 question though if that was the case and
00:20:03 --> 00:20:06 and um you can write off Theory one
00:20:06 --> 00:20:08 which was like you know Mars just
00:20:08 --> 00:20:11 captured two passing asteroids uh Theory
00:20:12 --> 00:20:17 2 and Theory three um still see ejector
00:20:17 --> 00:20:20 or material being used to form the moons
00:20:20 --> 00:20:24 why wouldn't they be spherical if that's
00:20:24 --> 00:20:27 the case big enough for the gravity to
00:20:27 --> 00:20:29 create the s correct that's absolutely
00:20:29 --> 00:20:32 it so they you know it's like um a lot
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 of asteroids are wobbly shaped they're a
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 bit like some some of them are very like
00:20:36 --> 00:20:39 spinning tops they the the rubble piles
00:20:39 --> 00:20:40 some of them are like potatoes some are
00:20:41 --> 00:20:42 like dumbbells and that's probably two
00:20:42 --> 00:20:45 asteroids that have come together uh and
00:20:45 --> 00:20:47 you know that originally in orbit around
00:20:47 --> 00:20:50 each other and have now become one uh so
00:20:50 --> 00:20:53 um so and a sample return would I think
00:20:53 --> 00:20:57 allow a a distinction between all of
00:20:57 --> 00:20:59 those models so we might have a very
00:20:59 --> 00:21:02 good model uh in much the same way as um
00:21:02 --> 00:21:04 sample returns from the Moon back in the
00:21:04 --> 00:21:07 1960s and70s gave us our ideas for how
00:21:07 --> 00:21:09 the moon
00:21:09 --> 00:21:11 formed okay yeah you know what we've
00:21:12 --> 00:21:14 learned from this from a Horticultural
00:21:14 --> 00:21:17 perspective Fred if potatoes on Earth
00:21:17 --> 00:21:19 grew bigger they'd ultimately become
00:21:19 --> 00:21:21 spherical that's what we've learned from
00:21:21 --> 00:21:23 they would they absolutely would yes a
00:21:23 --> 00:21:25 spherical potato um but they'd have to
00:21:25 --> 00:21:28 be big enough for their own gravity to
00:21:28 --> 00:21:29 pull them into to a spherical shape
00:21:29 --> 00:21:31 while they're in free fall so you need
00:21:31 --> 00:21:32 to be throwing them up in the air as
00:21:32 --> 00:21:35 well as as well as
00:21:35 --> 00:21:39 gr that was just add to the price yeah
00:21:39 --> 00:21:41 they'd have to get up to um in the
00:21:41 --> 00:21:44 region of 500 kilometers in diameter and
00:21:44 --> 00:21:47 most potatoes are not actually you know
00:21:47 --> 00:21:49 you see these prizewinning marrows and
00:21:49 --> 00:21:51 and pumpkins and things like that that
00:21:51 --> 00:21:53 people need a wheel barrel to move
00:21:53 --> 00:21:57 around forget it break a potato it's an
00:21:57 --> 00:21:59 interesting hobby that
00:21:59 --> 00:22:02 and I yeah and I just don't understand
00:22:02 --> 00:22:04 the logic of growing giant fruit that
00:22:04 --> 00:22:06 nobody can eat or
00:22:06 --> 00:22:07 giant
00:22:07 --> 00:22:09 vegetables so you know you can turn them
00:22:09 --> 00:22:12 into Motorway crash barriers and things
00:22:12 --> 00:22:13 like that they're quite easeful and that
00:22:13 --> 00:22:18 be C but F again oh gosh but yeah it's a
00:22:18 --> 00:22:19 really interesting Theory and it
00:22:20 --> 00:22:23 probably holds water uh compared to the
00:22:23 --> 00:22:29 other two um Theory 2 Theory 3 both uh
00:22:29 --> 00:22:31 same end result different different
00:22:31 --> 00:22:34 techniques that's right yeah uh but you
00:22:34 --> 00:22:36 can read that story at NASA space
00:22:36 --> 00:22:39 flight.com this is Space Nuts Andrew
00:22:39 --> 00:22:43 Dunley here with Professor
00:22:43 --> 00:22:47 Fred and I feel fine Space Nuts our
00:22:47 --> 00:22:50 final story Fred looks at an instrument
00:22:50 --> 00:22:52 it's not a violin a cello or a saxophone
00:22:52 --> 00:22:55 it is a an instrument connected to the
00:22:55 --> 00:22:58 William hersel telescope and it's just
00:22:58 --> 00:23:01 uh come up with some really interesting
00:23:01 --> 00:23:05 information about colliding galaxies do
00:23:05 --> 00:23:08 tell yeah so just about the instrument
00:23:08 --> 00:23:11 itself which um is something built by
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13 very close colleagues of mine actually
00:23:13 --> 00:23:16 at the University of Oxford in uh the
00:23:16 --> 00:23:19 United Kingdom um and it's it's a little
00:23:19 --> 00:23:22 bit like we have a thing called 2df on
00:23:22 --> 00:23:24 the Anglo Australian telescope 2df
00:23:24 --> 00:23:26 stands for the 2 degree field and it's a
00:23:26 --> 00:23:28 device that lets you position op iCal
00:23:29 --> 00:23:31 fibers and in fact in 2df there are 400
00:23:31 --> 00:23:35 of them uh in exact alignment with the
00:23:35 --> 00:23:37 images that the telescope delivers so
00:23:37 --> 00:23:39 you can for example measure the
00:23:39 --> 00:23:41 characteristics of 400 stars at a time
00:23:42 --> 00:23:44 or 400 galaxies at a time and you know
00:23:44 --> 00:23:46 back in the day when I started my career
00:23:46 --> 00:23:48 you you could only observe the Spectra
00:23:48 --> 00:23:49 the rainbow Spectra with all its
00:23:49 --> 00:23:51 information locked up in it you can only
00:23:51 --> 00:23:54 do that one at a time at least to get
00:23:55 --> 00:23:58 the details so um you you and I you and
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 I did a little TV special about the 2df
00:24:00 --> 00:24:04 when it was installed yeah yep yep
00:24:04 --> 00:24:06 remember that that's right so 2df has
00:24:06 --> 00:24:09 been uh incredibly successful now the
00:24:09 --> 00:24:11 William Hera telescope which was built
00:24:11 --> 00:24:12 if I remember rightly it was
00:24:12 --> 00:24:15 commissioned in 1987 it's a telescope of
00:24:15 --> 00:24:17 a similar size to our Anglo Australian
00:24:17 --> 00:24:19 telescope it's got a slightly bigger
00:24:19 --> 00:24:23 mirror it's 4.2 M as against 3.9 MERS
00:24:23 --> 00:24:24 but it was built by the same company so
00:24:24 --> 00:24:26 Howard grub Parsons with whom I started
00:24:26 --> 00:24:29 my career Andrew
00:24:29 --> 00:24:31 um and so um the William Hershel
00:24:31 --> 00:24:33 telescope is not in Australia though uh
00:24:33 --> 00:24:36 like ours is it's on the island of
00:24:36 --> 00:24:38 lapalma which is one of the Canary
00:24:38 --> 00:24:41 Islands in uh off the west coast of
00:24:41 --> 00:24:45 Africa uh and lapalma is basically a a
00:24:45 --> 00:24:48 giant volcanic cone uh in fact it has an
00:24:48 --> 00:24:49 active volcano in the south of the
00:24:49 --> 00:24:51 island which has been in the news within
00:24:51 --> 00:24:53 the last couple of years I I think Judy
00:24:54 --> 00:24:56 and I will be visiting there next year
00:24:56 --> 00:24:59 oh W if I I have check out itinery but I
00:24:59 --> 00:25:01 got a feeling we do make a stop at the
00:25:01 --> 00:25:04 Canary Islands yeah well if you there
00:25:04 --> 00:25:07 are quite a few Canary Islands but La
00:25:07 --> 00:25:08 Palma is certainly the interesting one
00:25:08 --> 00:25:11 from uh from an astronomical point of
00:25:11 --> 00:25:14 view as is Tenerife the the the bigger
00:25:14 --> 00:25:15 island not very far away that's got
00:25:15 --> 00:25:17 telescopes on its on its Summit a
00:25:18 --> 00:25:22 mountain called t uh uh the mountain on
00:25:22 --> 00:25:27 uh La Palama is Al Ro de deos Muchachos
00:25:27 --> 00:25:29 which means uh the rock of the brothers
00:25:29 --> 00:25:32 or the rock of the friends uh it's uh
00:25:32 --> 00:25:34 sort of strange rock formation on top of
00:25:34 --> 00:25:36 the mountain uh but that's where the
00:25:36 --> 00:25:38 telescopes are including the William
00:25:38 --> 00:25:39 Hershel telescope which for a while was
00:25:39 --> 00:25:42 the biggest um on the island at 4.2
00:25:42 --> 00:25:46 meters there's now a 10 meter telescope
00:25:46 --> 00:25:50 called what is it the T Telescope Grand
00:25:50 --> 00:25:55 yeah TGC telescopio Grande canarias it's
00:25:55 --> 00:25:57 a Spanish telescope with a 10 ler mirror
00:25:57 --> 00:25:59 and that's you know why they call it
00:25:59 --> 00:26:03 that gives you a bird's eye
00:26:03 --> 00:26:05 view Canary eye view of course that's
00:26:05 --> 00:26:08 right yeah yes you know why you know why
00:26:08 --> 00:26:09 the Canary Islands are are called the
00:26:09 --> 00:26:12 Canary Islands he's a he's a friendly
00:26:12 --> 00:26:15 friendly factoid I I don't know actually
00:26:15 --> 00:26:18 I've never looked it up right well it's
00:26:18 --> 00:26:22 not because of canaries it comes from uh
00:26:22 --> 00:26:26 the Latin word canis for dog and it's
00:26:26 --> 00:26:28 because the were dogs on the island uh
00:26:28 --> 00:26:31 so it's Dog Island
00:26:31 --> 00:26:35 basically wow canice majer the great dog
00:26:35 --> 00:26:39 uh in uh yeah the Canary Islands had
00:26:39 --> 00:26:40 dogs on them that's why they got called
00:26:40 --> 00:26:42 that by the Romans I think which is why
00:26:42 --> 00:26:45 it's Latin anyway uh enough of that uh
00:26:46 --> 00:26:48 so what's this telescope got that we
00:26:48 --> 00:26:49 haven't got it's now got something
00:26:49 --> 00:26:51 called weave which is the William hersel
00:26:51 --> 00:26:53 telescope enhanced area velocity
00:26:53 --> 00:26:56 Explorer uh which is a similar system
00:26:56 --> 00:26:58 with a slightly different methodology
00:26:58 --> 00:27:01 ology for uh positioning Optical fibers
00:27:01 --> 00:27:03 and as I said it's very good friends of
00:27:03 --> 00:27:06 mine who've been involved with that and
00:27:06 --> 00:27:07 one of them's actually quoted in the
00:27:07 --> 00:27:09 article I was looking at Professor Gavin
00:27:09 --> 00:27:12 Gavin Dalton
00:27:12 --> 00:27:15 um actually I might just tell I hope
00:27:15 --> 00:27:16 you're not listening Gavin because I'm
00:27:16 --> 00:27:17 going to drop you in with a very
00:27:17 --> 00:27:19 well-known story Gavin uh was one of the
00:27:20 --> 00:27:21 commissioning scientists with 2df did a
00:27:21 --> 00:27:24 lot of work on the on the actually with
00:27:24 --> 00:27:26 the 2df survey a lot of work on the
00:27:26 --> 00:27:29 telescope uh and he
00:27:29 --> 00:27:31 um it was one of the first among us to
00:27:31 --> 00:27:34 have a Macbook um which uh of course
00:27:34 --> 00:27:37 comes with a power supply uh one Epic
00:27:37 --> 00:27:39 night at the start of the night's work
00:27:39 --> 00:27:43 uh Gavin put plugged his power supply
00:27:43 --> 00:27:44 for his MacBook in one of the wall
00:27:44 --> 00:27:47 sockets in the control room ofan
00:27:47 --> 00:27:50 telescope and there was a bang and we
00:27:50 --> 00:27:52 lost all power for the night yeah I
00:27:52 --> 00:27:54 don't know quite what happened with that
00:27:54 --> 00:27:56 but Gavin was very embarrassed about it
00:27:56 --> 00:27:57 I think we eventually got going again
00:27:57 --> 00:27:59 that was there at the time but he was
00:27:59 --> 00:28:03 quite everything everything just died
00:28:03 --> 00:28:06 loing this yeah I can understand that we
00:28:06 --> 00:28:08 had that happen at a radio station once
00:28:08 --> 00:28:12 because a cleaner plugged the vacuum
00:28:12 --> 00:28:13 into a
00:28:13 --> 00:28:17 UPS socket yes and it just the whole
00:28:17 --> 00:28:19 place just went dark because through too
00:28:19 --> 00:28:22 much just wow yeah it killed
00:28:22 --> 00:28:24 everything well it may have been
00:28:24 --> 00:28:26 something like that with with that
00:28:26 --> 00:28:28 MacBook um thing
00:28:28 --> 00:28:30 uh so yeah a good old guy has done a
00:28:30 --> 00:28:33 fantastic job a great scientist uh
00:28:33 --> 00:28:35 working with i Lewis another friend and
00:28:35 --> 00:28:37 colleague at Oxford uh Ian was out
00:28:37 --> 00:28:39 actually out for our 50th birthday
00:28:39 --> 00:28:40 celebration on the Eng Australian
00:28:40 --> 00:28:43 telescope last month anyway that's the
00:28:43 --> 00:28:45 instrument and all I know about it
00:28:45 --> 00:28:48 what's the story well it's been used uh
00:28:48 --> 00:28:50 in its commissioning mode they sort of
00:28:50 --> 00:28:52 just you know finishing it off and
00:28:52 --> 00:28:54 making sure everything works uh they
00:28:54 --> 00:28:58 have uh used it to explore some of the
00:28:58 --> 00:29:01 alies in a an area of Sky beloved to
00:29:01 --> 00:29:04 astronomers called Stefan's quintet and
00:29:04 --> 00:29:07 Stefan quintet is a quintet of galaxies
00:29:07 --> 00:29:09 very close together one of them actually
00:29:09 --> 00:29:11 is not part of the group physically
00:29:11 --> 00:29:13 because it's about half the distance of
00:29:13 --> 00:29:15 the rest uh the rest of them are a
00:29:15 --> 00:29:17 physical Group which are interacting
00:29:17 --> 00:29:19 these are four galaxies very close to
00:29:19 --> 00:29:22 each other uh which are themselves you
00:29:22 --> 00:29:24 know pulling each other about because of
00:29:25 --> 00:29:28 their gravity uh and it turns out that
00:29:28 --> 00:29:31 um by using the weave instrument to look
00:29:31 --> 00:29:36 at the velocities of material uh that uh
00:29:36 --> 00:29:38 basically being carried by the shock
00:29:38 --> 00:29:41 waves of the Collision uh they've
00:29:41 --> 00:29:45 explored this and are uh quite you know
00:29:45 --> 00:29:49 Amazed by the sorts of speed uh that are
00:29:49 --> 00:29:53 being reached by these by these um
00:29:53 --> 00:29:56 essentially these shot waves of galaxies
00:29:57 --> 00:29:58 uh so one of the Collision
00:29:58 --> 00:30:03 speeds is 3.2 million kilometers hour
00:30:03 --> 00:30:05 which is quite fast that's two of the
00:30:05 --> 00:30:08 galaxies colliding and so the shock wave
00:30:08 --> 00:30:09 between them because they both got gas
00:30:09 --> 00:30:11 clouds around them uh there's a shock
00:30:11 --> 00:30:14 wave formed by this collision and that
00:30:14 --> 00:30:17 is basically uh you know causing other
00:30:17 --> 00:30:19 things to move around and you can
00:30:20 --> 00:30:23 explore that that move Movement by uh
00:30:23 --> 00:30:25 something called The Weave large
00:30:25 --> 00:30:28 integral field unit or leafu which which
00:30:28 --> 00:30:31 is a way of uh putting many many Optical
00:30:31 --> 00:30:35 fibers on Galaxies so that you sample
00:30:35 --> 00:30:37 the movement of objects uh in in each
00:30:37 --> 00:30:41 Galaxy you create what's called uh uh
00:30:41 --> 00:30:43 spectal uh because there it's a three
00:30:44 --> 00:30:45 dimensional pixel if I can put it that
00:30:45 --> 00:30:48 way and so you've got velocity in One
00:30:48 --> 00:30:50 Direction and basically the the image in
00:30:50 --> 00:30:53 the other uh so yes so this works come
00:30:53 --> 00:30:56 now from the from weave uh it looks like
00:30:56 --> 00:30:58 a very very high
00:30:58 --> 00:31:02 uh result and in fact I can quote um the
00:31:02 --> 00:31:03 director of the Isaac Newton group of
00:31:03 --> 00:31:06 telescopes on the Palmer uh Mark I'm not
00:31:07 --> 00:31:08 sure how you pronounce his name because
00:31:08 --> 00:31:10 it's not somebody I know bells or balel
00:31:11 --> 00:31:14 Bells I guess uh who says I'm excited to
00:31:14 --> 00:31:16 see that the data gathered at the weave
00:31:16 --> 00:31:19 first light already provide a high
00:31:19 --> 00:31:21 impact result and I'm sure this is just
00:31:21 --> 00:31:23 an early example of the types of
00:31:23 --> 00:31:24 discoveries that will be made possible
00:31:24 --> 00:31:26 with weave on the William herel
00:31:26 --> 00:31:28 telescope in the coming years
00:31:28 --> 00:31:31 yeah that's extraordinary does that
00:31:31 --> 00:31:35 suggest that similar things could happen
00:31:35 --> 00:31:37 with andrometer in the Milky Way
00:31:37 --> 00:31:40 colliding wouldn't yeah yeah it does uh
00:31:40 --> 00:31:45 it's um it's uh let's see we've got
00:31:45 --> 00:31:47 similar Collision speeds it's about 200
00:31:47 --> 00:31:49 kilometers per second if I remember
00:31:49 --> 00:31:52 rightly that we're approaching Andromeda
00:31:52 --> 00:31:54 uh what's that multiplied by 3 it's
00:31:54 --> 00:31:59 a lot uh and so uh about 300 isn't
00:31:59 --> 00:32:03 it yeah now 600 kilometers per hour
00:32:03 --> 00:32:05 uh which is getting on for a million so
00:32:05 --> 00:32:06 the speeds are not quite as big as what
00:32:06 --> 00:32:09 we're seeing in Stefan's quintet but
00:32:09 --> 00:32:11 they are nevertheless big enough to
00:32:11 --> 00:32:14 cause shock waves and that's what will
00:32:14 --> 00:32:16 lead to Star formation it'll cause um
00:32:16 --> 00:32:19 stars to form rapidly uh and we might
00:32:19 --> 00:32:21 get many super NOA explosions which
00:32:21 --> 00:32:24 might be the most obvious consequence of
00:32:24 --> 00:32:26 the Andromeda Milky Way Collision when
00:32:26 --> 00:32:29 we see it in three .2 billion years
00:32:29 --> 00:32:33 watch this does it's on my calendar yeah
00:32:33 --> 00:32:36 good no worries uh yeah that's a great
00:32:36 --> 00:32:39 story uh so you can read all about that
00:32:39 --> 00:32:42 um well Julie's here he's excited very
00:32:42 --> 00:32:47 excited uh f.org f.org is the website um
00:32:47 --> 00:32:48 lots of great stories there it's a
00:32:48 --> 00:32:52 fabulous website really love it and that
00:32:52 --> 00:32:53 brings us to the end of the program
00:32:53 --> 00:32:57 don't forget to visit us online at our
00:32:57 --> 00:33:01 website SPAC nuts podcast.com or SPAC
00:33:01 --> 00:33:03 nuts. and have a bit of a browser out if
00:33:03 --> 00:33:05 you're looking for Christmas gifts well
00:33:05 --> 00:33:07 we've got a shop so uh if you've got
00:33:07 --> 00:33:10 someone that um you know you just can't
00:33:10 --> 00:33:13 think of anything but you know they like
00:33:13 --> 00:33:16 astronomy the space Nut Shop is the
00:33:16 --> 00:33:19 place to go uh and uh plenty of other
00:33:19 --> 00:33:21 things to see and do while you're there
00:33:21 --> 00:33:24 Fred thank you so much great to see you
00:33:24 --> 00:33:25 uh thanks for filling Us in on all of
00:33:25 --> 00:33:28 those great stories today sounds good
00:33:28 --> 00:33:31 thanks Andrew and we'll talk again soon
00:33:31 --> 00:33:33 we will indeed Professor Fred Watson
00:33:33 --> 00:33:36 astronomer at large and Hugh in the
00:33:36 --> 00:33:38 studio well uh Hugh couldn't be here
00:33:38 --> 00:33:42 today due to a microbial contamination
00:33:42 --> 00:33:43 and from me Andrew Dunley thanks for
00:33:43 --> 00:33:45 your company we'll catch you on the very
00:33:45 --> 00:33:48 next episode of Space Nuts bye Space
00:33:48 --> 00:33:50 Nuts youve been listening to the Space
00:33:50 --> 00:33:52 Nuts
00:33:52 --> 00:33:55 podcast available at Apple podcasts
00:33:55 --> 00:33:58 Spotify ihart radio or your favorite
00:33:58 --> 00:34:00 podcast player you can also stream on
00:34:00 --> 00:34:03 demand at bites.com this has been
00:34:03 --> 00:34:05 another quality podcast production from
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