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Exploring Theia, Near-Earth Asteroids, and Enceladus
In this exciting episode of Space Nuts , hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson dive into a wealth of astronomical discoveries and insights. From new revelations about the ancient collision between Earth and Theia to the astounding discovery of 40,000 near-Earth asteroids, this episode is packed with cosmic revelations that will spark your curiosity about the universe.
Episode Highlights:
- Theia and Earth's Relationship: Andrew and Fred discuss groundbreaking research from the Max Planck Institute that redefines our understanding of Theia, the protoplanet that collided with Earth. They explore how isotopic similarities suggest Theia was not just a random object, but likely a companion planet in the early solar system.
- 40,000 Near-Earth Asteroids: The hosts celebrate the milestone of 40,000 discovered near-Earth asteroids, discussing the implications for planetary defense and the importance of monitoring potentially hazardous objects that could pose a threat to Earth.
- Life on Enceladus: A thrilling discussion emerges around the latest findings from the Cassini mission, revealing new organic compounds in the icy plumes of Enceladus. Andrew and Fred ponder the exciting possibility of life existing in the subsurface ocean of this intriguing moon of Saturn.
- Updates on Comet 3I Atlas: The episode wraps up with an update on the interstellar comet 3I Atlas, including stunning new images captured from Mars. The hosts discuss the significance of these observations and what they might reveal about the comet's characteristics as it continues its journey through our solar system.
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/30340531?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Hi there. Thanks for joining us on Space
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 Nuts, where we talk astronomy and space
00:00:04 --> 00:00:06 science. My name is Andrew Dunley. Great
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 to have your company. Coming up on this
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 episode, uh, a new study from the Max
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 Plank Institute shedding some new light
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 on the the Earth relationship, which
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 might surprise you. And just when you
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 thought it was safe to go back to sleep
00:00:21 --> 00:00:24 at night, 40 new uh near Earth
00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 asteroids have been discovered. Only
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 40. And they're all coming our way.
00:00:29 --> 00:00:31 No, they're not. Uh, the Search for Life
00:00:31 --> 00:00:34 just got another um a bit closer uh
00:00:34 --> 00:00:37 thanks to some Cassini data and three
00:00:37 --> 00:00:40 Atlas still making the news. We'll talk
00:00:40 --> 00:00:42 about all of that on this episode of
00:00:42 --> 00:00:43 Space Nuts.
00:00:43 --> 00:00:48 >> 15 seconds. Guidance is internal. 10 9
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 Ignition sequence start.
00:00:50 --> 00:00:51 >> Space Nuts.
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 >> 5 4 3 2
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 >> 1 2 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 >> Space nuts. astronauts report. It feels
00:00:58 --> 00:00:59 good.
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 >> And we rolled out the red carpet because
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 he's back. It's Professor Fred, what's
00:01:04 --> 00:01:06 an astronomer at large? Hello, Fred.
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 >> Hi, Andrew. I'm actually looking for the
00:01:08 --> 00:01:09 red carpet.
00:01:09 --> 00:01:11 >> Yeah, I rolled it back up again. It's
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 had a few moth holes in it. [laughter]
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16 >> Yeah. But he's glad to hear it.
00:01:16 --> 00:01:17 >> Good.
00:01:17 --> 00:01:20 >> And you, too. And um Well, we've missed
00:01:20 --> 00:01:21 you. No, wait a minute. No, you've
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 missed one or the other. Yes, we did
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 have a few people starting to um I found
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 in radio if you were away for more than
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 about 3 or 4 weeks people started
00:01:30 --> 00:01:33 ringing the station and emailing to say
00:01:33 --> 00:01:36 where's Joe Blogs or where's you know
00:01:36 --> 00:01:38 this started happening with you Fred so
00:01:38 --> 00:01:39 >> oh seriously
00:01:39 --> 00:01:40 >> where's Fred where's Fred what's going
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 on with Fred what happened to Fred
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45 >> uh and and funnily enough I I was able
00:01:45 --> 00:01:48 to say yeah I don't know
00:01:48 --> 00:01:48 [laughter]
00:01:48 --> 00:01:50 >> seen him for weeks
00:01:50 --> 00:01:53 >> he's just disappeared but no he's back.
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 He's back. So, where did where did you
00:01:55 --> 00:01:57 go? What was the give us the give us the
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 the the preed version of your seven
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 weeks away.
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 >> Three weeks um leading one of man's
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 tours uh which uh is the third big one
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 we've done this year actually um after
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 the Arctic in in January and February
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 and then it was uh Western Australia in
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 the middle of the year and then this
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 time we went to Japan. Uh, so we had a
00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 tour that took in uh interesting places
00:02:21 --> 00:02:25 like Osaka and Kyoto and Tokyo. And um
00:02:25 --> 00:02:27 Mani and I actually made a side trip
00:02:27 --> 00:02:29 down to Hiroshima, which is a place I've
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 always wanted to visit and I'm very glad
00:02:31 --> 00:02:32 I did.
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 >> Very sobering place to be. Uh but a
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 welcoming city as well. It was um it was
00:02:38 --> 00:02:39 a pleasure to be there.
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 >> Uh and then um we wound up actually in
00:02:41 --> 00:02:44 Hokkaido right in the north of of Japan
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 where it was essentially coming on to
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 winter. uh they they get lots and lots
00:02:48 --> 00:02:51 of snow up there. It's a lot similar to
00:02:51 --> 00:02:52 um to the Arctic, even though it's at a
00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 much lower latitude. Um yeah, that was
00:02:55 --> 00:02:56 all fun. So, we came back, we had four
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 nights in Sydney at home [laughter] in
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 our own bed, do the washing, and then
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 off again to a conference on dark skies
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 in County Mayo in Ireland. Uh we were in
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 Ireland for about a week, a little bit
00:03:07 --> 00:03:08 more than a week. We did some touring
00:03:08 --> 00:03:11 down in the south. We blew a kiss to the
00:03:12 --> 00:03:14 Blanny Stone. I did.
00:03:14 --> 00:03:15 >> Yeah. [laughter]
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 I wasn't game to kiss the Blney Stone
00:03:17 --> 00:03:18 because you have to be upside down.
00:03:18 --> 00:03:19 Yeah.
00:03:19 --> 00:03:20 >> Doesn't suit me at all.
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 >> We didn't do that either.
00:03:22 --> 00:03:23 >> No. [snorts] So, we blew it a kiss,
00:03:23 --> 00:03:25 which is enough apparently to get the
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 gift of the gab. And then, in fact,
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 Blani was a delightful place. It was the
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 one sunny afternoon we had in in um
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 Ireland and it was lovely. Such an
00:03:33 --> 00:03:35 amazing castle and the crowds are
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 picture perfect. Uh then we went over to
00:03:37 --> 00:03:40 Scotland, spent some time with my two
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 daughters. Had a great time with them.
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 Took a weekend out. Uh we all beled off
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 to St. Andrews where I was educated. Uh
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 a town that's very close to my heart. We
00:03:49 --> 00:03:50 had a great time there. Didn't do any
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 golf. I'm sorry, but we did walk past
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 the old course and thought of you with
00:03:54 --> 00:03:57 your golf clubs and that they don't
00:03:57 --> 00:03:58 float and things like that.
00:03:58 --> 00:04:00 >> And and
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 then after that we um took the train
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 down to Birmingham from Edinburgh and
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 that was pleasant. And at Birmingham, we
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 got on a plane and went to Cyprus uh in
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 the eastern end of the Mediterranean and
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 had we actually had a holiday six
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 >> nights. Found an observatory, a brand
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 new one called Trudeau.
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 >> Trudeau observatory. Yes, we did. We
00:04:19 --> 00:04:20 Manne checked it out as she does with
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 these things. And so we made a
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 pilgrimage up into the hills, not very
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 far from the highest point in the island
00:04:26 --> 00:04:29 actually, Mount Olympus. Uh but um it's
00:04:29 --> 00:04:31 got its own little mountain has uh uh
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 the Trudeau Observatory. Uh we went up
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 there. We went completely unannounced.
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 They just had a tour group through. So,
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 there were two coaches which were just
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 about to set off down this road that was
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 slightly narrower than a coach. Uh, and
00:04:44 --> 00:04:48 an angle of 45 degrees. Uh, if we'd been
00:04:48 --> 00:04:49 um, you know, if we'd been half an hour
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 later, we'd have probably not been able
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 to get there because these damn coaches
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 going by. But when we arrived, um, that,
00:04:56 --> 00:04:57 you know, they just got rid of all the
00:04:57 --> 00:04:59 coach party and we turned up and said,
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 "We're astronomers. Uh, can we have a
00:05:01 --> 00:05:02 look?" And they said, "Oh, no, no,
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 you'll have to wait till the next tour."
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 Uh but we managed to get hold of the
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 events manager who said, "Yeah, come in.
00:05:08 --> 00:05:09 Let's talk about what we do and all the
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 rest of it." Had a great time. Awesome.
00:05:11 --> 00:05:12 So that was very very nice.
00:05:12 --> 00:05:13 >> Yeah.
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 >> And if she's a Space Nuts listener, um
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 nice to have met you. I think it was
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 Arena was her name.
00:05:20 --> 00:05:20 >> Nice.
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 >> Greek version of that. And then came
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 home uh and we came home last week and
00:05:24 --> 00:05:25 we're now jetlagged.
00:05:26 --> 00:05:27 >> Yeah, it's it's hard to get over
00:05:27 --> 00:05:28 jetlagged. I think it's it's an age
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 thing, Fred. We can't
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 >> could be except um my other half is a
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 lot younger than I am and she's jetlike
00:05:34 --> 00:05:36 too. [laughter]
00:05:36 --> 00:05:37 >> Just goes a bit territory.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:39 >> Yeah. Well, I I got a golf story for
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 you. While you were away, I won a I won
00:05:41 --> 00:05:42 a championship.
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 >> You You did? Yeah.
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 >> Well done. So, it was um
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 >> 17 years between
00:05:48 --> 00:05:51 >> uh uh Well, no, I came uh in the state
00:05:51 --> 00:05:55 championships. I came third on handicap
00:05:55 --> 00:05:57 and uh top 10. I finished ninth, I
00:05:57 --> 00:05:58 think.
00:05:58 --> 00:05:59 >> Fantastic. in the state championship,
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 but then we had our own um championship
00:06:01 --> 00:06:03 at do golf club the other day and I I
00:06:04 --> 00:06:05 managed to win one of those. So
00:06:05 --> 00:06:06 >> that's very good.
00:06:06 --> 00:06:09 >> And then today just before this I played
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 in the proam because we're hosting the
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 New South Wales women's open qualifying
00:06:14 --> 00:06:15 event. So
00:06:15 --> 00:06:17 >> played with a young lass from Melbourne.
00:06:17 --> 00:06:21 Her name is Piper. Um Piper
00:06:21 --> 00:06:25 oh gone blank. Um anyway, come back to
00:06:25 --> 00:06:28 me. Uh lovely young lady, hits a really
00:06:28 --> 00:06:31 mean ball and wishing her well. Hope she
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 makes it to the New South Wales Open and
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 um I'll be watching her career closely.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 So very good.
00:06:37 --> 00:06:38 >> She beat you.
00:06:38 --> 00:06:41 >> Uh gosh, yes. Oh yes. Well, it was a
00:06:41 --> 00:06:42 team's event today, so we were
00:06:42 --> 00:06:43 technically playing together, but she
00:06:43 --> 00:06:47 out drove us miles. Yes. She could hit
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 it a long way, but uh just a pleasure.
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 Just a delight. We had a good day.
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 >> We should get down to it, Fred.
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 >> We should. Yes, we're not here to talk
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 about golf, are we? Although it doesn't
00:06:59 --> 00:06:59 seem that way.
00:07:00 --> 00:07:03 >> Not for a change. Um, our first story
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 takes us back 4 and a half billion years
00:07:05 --> 00:07:08 when our neighboring world known as Thea
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 smashed into us and all hell broke
00:07:10 --> 00:07:13 loose, literally and figuratively. But,
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 uh, a new study has just been released
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 from the Max Plank Institute that's shed
00:07:17 --> 00:07:20 a bit of new light on the the earth
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 relationship. Uh it it doesn't sound
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 like this was a what we originally
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 thought, just some random thing coming
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 in and hitting us. There's there's more
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 to the story now.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 >> There is. Yes. Um sorry, Andrew, you
00:07:34 --> 00:07:35 broke up there, but I think I know what
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 you said. Uh
00:07:37 --> 00:07:40 um the the story of the of course this
00:07:40 --> 00:07:43 has been the the principal theory uh for
00:07:43 --> 00:07:44 the origin of the moon for at least the
00:07:44 --> 00:07:47 last 60 years. uh when the Apollo
00:07:47 --> 00:07:49 astronauts brought back what was it 380
00:07:49 --> 00:07:52 kg of lunar rock and soil which is still
00:07:52 --> 00:07:56 being analyzed. Um so uh thea is the
00:07:56 --> 00:08:00 hypothesized planet uh perhaps
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 protolanet is a better word because this
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 was at a time when the solar system was
00:08:04 --> 00:08:05 still in its infancy 4 and a half
00:08:05 --> 00:08:09 billion years ago. Um and this object uh
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 basically clouded the earth. Uh and uh
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 we think that what happened in the
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 aftermath of the that collision was a
00:08:16 --> 00:08:19 cloud of debris raised from the surface
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 of the earth went into orbit around the
00:08:21 --> 00:08:22 earth and eventually coalesed to form
00:08:22 --> 00:08:26 the moon. And so we've we've um had
00:08:26 --> 00:08:28 puzzles which you and I have spoken
00:08:28 --> 00:08:32 about a number of times as to why it is.
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 Well, let me let me step back a bit. The
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 the first theory was that because this
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 is a smaller object hitting a bigger
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 object. So theor is thought to have been
00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 half the size of the earth to get the
00:08:43 --> 00:08:46 dynamics right. Um the earth's a bigger
00:08:46 --> 00:08:49 planet. Uh what you would expect is that
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 the the debris cloud raised from the
00:08:52 --> 00:08:54 earth when the collision happened would
00:08:54 --> 00:08:58 be mostly made of the material. Um, and
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 that's been a puzzle for a long time
00:09:00 --> 00:09:04 because most of the lunar rocks and soil
00:09:04 --> 00:09:07 have the same isotopic signature, which
00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 we've talked about before as well, the
00:09:10 --> 00:09:11 same isotopic signature as the Earth.
00:09:11 --> 00:09:14 They're identical uh to the Earth's
00:09:14 --> 00:09:16 rocks. And so that was seen as a puzzle.
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 And then about probably five years ago
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 or so, we did cover it on Space Note.
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 some Japanese researchers um figured out
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 that if the Earth was still effectively
00:09:24 --> 00:09:27 molten at that time, if it was still a
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 magnum magma world when the collision
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 happened, then you'd get um a moon that
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 was formed largely of of Earth
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 compounds.
00:09:36 --> 00:09:39 So, um what has now happened is that um
00:09:39 --> 00:09:42 a close examination has been made and as
00:09:42 --> 00:09:44 you're right, it's the Maxplank
00:09:44 --> 00:09:46 Institute for Solar System Research
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 along with the University of Chicago. um
00:09:48 --> 00:09:52 they've they've really honed in on the
00:09:52 --> 00:09:56 uh the the exact uh details of the
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 isotopes in rocks from the earth, the
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 moon and meteorites because they're part
00:10:02 --> 00:10:05 of the story too. And and it's not just
00:10:05 --> 00:10:06 the sort of isotopes that have been
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 looked at before. These are iron,
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 chromium, malibdum, malibdinum,
00:10:11 --> 00:10:15 zirconium. All these iso that these um
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 chemical elements their isotope data
00:10:18 --> 00:10:22 have been analyzed to look again at what
00:10:22 --> 00:10:25 we find because yes we we still find
00:10:25 --> 00:10:27 that the the earth and the moon have
00:10:27 --> 00:10:31 very similar isotopic mixes. Uh but then
00:10:31 --> 00:10:34 you can identify some slight differences
00:10:34 --> 00:10:37 that are attributed to be isotopes that
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 have come from thea itself. So they can
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 tease out what was Thea and what was
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 Earth. And it turns out that when you do
00:10:46 --> 00:10:49 that, you still get a similar picture
00:10:49 --> 00:10:53 that the isotope ratios on Thea were
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 probably very similar to what they are
00:10:56 --> 00:11:01 on Earth. Um, and that is
00:11:01 --> 00:11:03 symptomatic, if I can put it that way,
00:11:03 --> 00:11:08 of the Earth and Thea being born close
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 together. And the reason why we think
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 that is that when you look at the solar
00:11:12 --> 00:11:15 system, you find that these isotope
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 ratios change depending on how far out
00:11:18 --> 00:11:20 you are from the sun. So if you've got
00:11:20 --> 00:11:23 two planets with very similar isotope
00:11:23 --> 00:11:26 ratios, then what you can deduce from
00:11:26 --> 00:11:29 that is that they were orbiting the sun
00:11:29 --> 00:11:32 close together. And that makes complete
00:11:32 --> 00:11:33 sense because eventually they run into
00:11:33 --> 00:11:37 one another. Um but what the outcome of
00:11:37 --> 00:11:40 this research is is that uh thea was not
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 just a random object that ran into the
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44 earth in the early solar system. It was
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47 actually if not a companion of earth but
00:11:47 --> 00:11:49 something in a very similar orbit. So
00:11:50 --> 00:11:51 you know maybe we had Mercury, Venus,
00:11:51 --> 00:11:55 the Earth, Mars as the rocky planets. Um
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 although that order, you know, I've made
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 that up, but that's the kind of thing
00:11:59 --> 00:12:01 it's it's bringing bringing Thea into
00:12:02 --> 00:12:03 the picture as something that would have
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 been maybe had it not collided with the
00:12:06 --> 00:12:08 Earth, it would have been uh the ninth
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 planet uh in the inner part of the solar
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 system. So uh a very nice piece of work,
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 some very very careful studies there
00:12:15 --> 00:12:16 that I think has raised a lot of um
00:12:16 --> 00:12:19 interest in the uh uh the planetary
00:12:20 --> 00:12:22 science community. Yeah, I suppose that
00:12:22 --> 00:12:25 sort of uh confirms that it was part of
00:12:25 --> 00:12:26 the solar system and not just some
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 random thing passing through knocking us
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 over in the process.
00:12:31 --> 00:12:33 >> That's right. Yeah. And um and I should
00:12:33 --> 00:12:36 just explain how how the the remnants
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 have been the the isotopes have been
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 determined and it's by looking at things
00:12:41 --> 00:12:43 that we find in the crust of the earth.
00:12:43 --> 00:12:45 Uh because we know that the heavy
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 elements would have already sunk to the
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 to the center of the earth when that
00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 collision happened. So when we think
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 find things like these malib malibdinum
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 iron zirconium things of that sort we
00:12:58 --> 00:12:59 can infer that some of that actually
00:12:59 --> 00:13:02 came from theory itself and that's how
00:13:02 --> 00:13:05 the similarity has been deduced along
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 with looking at meteorite samples too.
00:13:07 --> 00:13:11 So you're right um it it is not
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 something that's come from another solar
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 system like our current visitor Threei
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 Atlas. Uh it's it's definitely a
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 homegrown planet that we collided with.
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 >> Okay. And now it's sort of a well it's
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 not a part of us. There's bits and
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 pieces of it but um most of it sort of
00:13:27 --> 00:13:29 vanquished into into the never never
00:13:29 --> 00:13:30 didn't it?
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 >> Yeah. A lot of it would have done but um
00:13:32 --> 00:13:33 some of it's in the moon. Some of it's
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 on the earth as well.
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 >> Yeah. All right. Uh so I guess some new
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 information from the Max Planck
00:13:40 --> 00:13:43 Institute about uh Thea being a part of
00:13:43 --> 00:13:44 the inner solar system. If you'd like to
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 read about that, there's a really great
00:13:46 --> 00:13:49 article at scienceblog.com.
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 This is Space Nuts with Andrew Dunley
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 and Professor Fred.
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 Let's take a break from the show and
00:13:55 --> 00:13:58 talk about our sponsor, NordVPN. Now, if
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00:15:05 --> 00:15:06 experience today. That's
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00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 Don't forget the code word spacen nuts
00:15:12 --> 00:15:17 and their 30-day money back guarantee.
00:15:17 --> 00:15:18 >> And I feel
00:15:18 --> 00:15:20 >> space nuts. Uh, now to some really good
00:15:20 --> 00:15:24 news, Fred. 40 near-earth asteroids
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 have been discovered. Is that all? Is
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 that all they could find?
00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 >> Well, it's Yeah, I mean, we've for a you
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 know, for a long time we've known of
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 39.
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 [laughter]
00:15:36 --> 00:15:37 Maybe not for very long because because
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 we're discovering asteroids at a very
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 prolific rate at the moment and that
00:15:41 --> 00:15:42 comes about because we've got such good
00:15:42 --> 00:15:45 technology discovering them. Um, and so
00:15:46 --> 00:15:47 yes, this is a milestone that's been
00:15:47 --> 00:15:49 celebrated by ISSa, the European Space
00:15:49 --> 00:15:52 Agency. Uh, and you know, so they've
00:15:52 --> 00:15:55 they've put out a a press release saying
00:15:55 --> 00:15:57 40 near-ear asteroids discovered.
00:15:57 --> 00:15:59 Uh, what do we mean by a near-earth
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 asteroid? It's one that approaches
00:16:01 --> 00:16:05 within about 45 million kilometers of
00:16:05 --> 00:16:08 the Earth. And that's nearly a third of
00:16:08 --> 00:16:11 the distance to the sun. So it's when
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 you say near, it's it's a fairly
00:16:13 --> 00:16:16 relative term. It's one uh with objects
00:16:16 --> 00:16:18 that that can get within that distance
00:16:18 --> 00:16:21 of Earth. Then there's another subset of
00:16:21 --> 00:16:24 those though that we tend to call PHAS,
00:16:24 --> 00:16:28 potentially hazardous asteroids. Uh and
00:16:28 --> 00:16:30 um there are something like I think if I
00:16:30 --> 00:16:31 remember right, it's about two and a
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 half thousand of those. And they're the
00:16:33 --> 00:16:35 ones whose orbits cross the orbit of the
00:16:35 --> 00:16:36 Earth.
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 >> Um and so they are potentially
00:16:38 --> 00:16:39 hazardous. So they're the ones that we
00:16:40 --> 00:16:42 keep an eye on all the time uh
00:16:42 --> 00:16:45 monitoring where they are uh and
00:16:45 --> 00:16:48 checking forward uh in computers once we
00:16:48 --> 00:16:50 know their orbits checking forward as to
00:16:50 --> 00:16:52 whether there's any likelihood of
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 collision. The good news is is that
00:16:54 --> 00:16:56 there's not uh over the next 100 years
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 or so we've got a fairly clean sweep of
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 things at least things bigger than about
00:17:01 --> 00:17:04 140 mters across and they can be very
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 dangerous. they can be they could be
00:17:06 --> 00:17:08 city destroyers or even state
00:17:08 --> 00:17:11 destroyers. So um so keeping an eye on
00:17:11 --> 00:17:13 those is important. Uh and I think you
00:17:13 --> 00:17:15 know the reason why um issa has
00:17:16 --> 00:17:17 highlighted this is because it does
00:17:17 --> 00:17:20 highlight the whole um regime of
00:17:20 --> 00:17:22 planetary defense. Uh that's a very
00:17:22 --> 00:17:26 active area in astronomy and um actually
00:17:26 --> 00:17:28 almost civil defense as well. It's not
00:17:28 --> 00:17:30 just astronomy that is concerned with
00:17:30 --> 00:17:32 that. I I think I probably mentioned
00:17:32 --> 00:17:34 before when I was at the IAU a couple of
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 years ago um I actually got myself into
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 a meeting uh which was the planetary
00:17:38 --> 00:17:41 defense agency
00:17:41 --> 00:17:43 uh talking about uh their next
00:17:43 --> 00:17:47 activities which included a a mock um a
00:17:47 --> 00:17:49 mock threatened planetary asteroid
00:17:49 --> 00:17:51 impact and how all the services would
00:17:52 --> 00:17:53 deal with that and you know the astron
00:17:53 --> 00:17:56 from the astronomers right to the people
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 who get the fire engines out to put out
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 the fires and things of that. thought it
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 was very interesting thing to watch. So,
00:18:02 --> 00:18:04 um what it did was reure reassured me
00:18:04 --> 00:18:07 that were in quite good hands. Uh but
00:18:07 --> 00:18:09 yeah, the bottom line, uh 40
00:18:09 --> 00:18:12 near-earth asteroids known. Uh the good
00:18:12 --> 00:18:14 news is always that the big ones, uh
00:18:14 --> 00:18:16 which are the most dangerous ones,
00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 they're the easiest to find. And we
00:18:18 --> 00:18:21 think we know pretty well all of the
00:18:21 --> 00:18:24 asteroids bigger than a kilometer, which
00:18:24 --> 00:18:27 would be um dinosaur killers. they would
00:18:27 --> 00:18:28 wipe out, you know, there'd be mass
00:18:28 --> 00:18:31 extinction objects. Uh we think one of
00:18:31 --> 00:18:35 those hits the earth roughly every 200
00:18:35 --> 00:18:37 million years. Uh it's 66 million years
00:18:37 --> 00:18:40 ago since the last one did, which was
00:18:40 --> 00:18:42 was the one that wiped out the the
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 dinosaurs. Um since then though, we've
00:18:44 --> 00:18:46 learned a lot about not only about
00:18:46 --> 00:18:48 asteroids, but about how we might
00:18:48 --> 00:18:52 deflect uh an asteroid if uh if there
00:18:52 --> 00:18:54 was one that could be shown to be on a
00:18:54 --> 00:18:55 collision course with Earth. And you
00:18:56 --> 00:18:58 have I you and I have talked at length
00:18:58 --> 00:19:00 and with great enthusiasm about the Dart
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 mission back in 2022 in the double
00:19:02 --> 00:19:06 asteroid redirection test uh a really
00:19:06 --> 00:19:08 well put together experiment by NASA
00:19:08 --> 00:19:12 which uh succeeded in changing the orbit
00:19:12 --> 00:19:15 of a little world called Dorphos uh and
00:19:15 --> 00:19:17 that's great news because we know that
00:19:17 --> 00:19:19 it's now possible to do that. And just
00:19:19 --> 00:19:22 as a postcript to this story, um, ISSA
00:19:22 --> 00:19:25 currently has a spacecraft called HIA, H
00:19:25 --> 00:19:29 E R A on its way to Dorphos to check out
00:19:29 --> 00:19:32 what the result of that impact was. It's
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 going to study that little world, look
00:19:34 --> 00:19:37 at the debris that was raised by the
00:19:37 --> 00:19:39 impact, uh, get a much better idea of
00:19:39 --> 00:19:41 whether it's a it really is just a
00:19:41 --> 00:19:43 rubble pile, which we think it probably
00:19:43 --> 00:19:46 is, and just, uh, learn more about what
00:19:46 --> 00:19:50 an impact by uh, a spacecraft does to an
00:19:50 --> 00:19:52 asteroid because that's the key thing.
00:19:52 --> 00:19:54 If we're going to have to save ourselves
00:19:54 --> 00:19:56 one day by doing this, we want to know
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 as much about it as possible. And if I
00:19:58 --> 00:20:00 remember rightly, here will reach
00:20:00 --> 00:20:02 Dimorphus. I think it's late next year.
00:20:02 --> 00:20:03 I think it's towards the end of next
00:20:03 --> 00:20:04 year.
00:20:04 --> 00:20:07 >> Very exciting. Yeah. Nice to get a
00:20:07 --> 00:20:09 follow-up on that story, too. Yeah. Um
00:20:09 --> 00:20:12 and of course this is not the end of
00:20:12 --> 00:20:14 finding these kinds of things cuz uh the
00:20:14 --> 00:20:18 Vera C Rubin Observatory in Chile is
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 it's it's not its primary role but it
00:20:20 --> 00:20:24 will be looking for other um near-Earth
00:20:24 --> 00:20:27 objects and they expect it to find tens
00:20:27 --> 00:20:28 of thousands of them.
00:20:28 --> 00:20:30 >> Absolutely. That's right. By this time
00:20:30 --> 00:20:32 next year we might be talking about
00:20:32 --> 00:20:35 80 or 100 nearear asteroids
00:20:35 --> 00:20:37 discovered. And of course again that's a
00:20:37 --> 00:20:39 good news story because as soon as you
00:20:39 --> 00:20:41 discover one of these things first thing
00:20:41 --> 00:20:43 you do is put its orbital elements into
00:20:43 --> 00:20:46 the computer grind away uh look at its
00:20:46 --> 00:20:49 trajectory in the future and that is all
00:20:49 --> 00:20:51 done automatically and if there is a
00:20:51 --> 00:20:53 need uh the system will raise alerts
00:20:53 --> 00:20:56 that there could be a collision uh in a
00:20:56 --> 00:20:58 certain window in the future. So um that
00:20:58 --> 00:21:01 whole process is really part of
00:21:01 --> 00:21:02 planetary defense. It's what's
00:21:02 --> 00:21:03 safeguarding us from the asteroid
00:21:03 --> 00:21:04 hazard.
00:21:04 --> 00:21:08 >> Yeah. Yeah. Um I I read a story the
00:21:08 --> 00:21:11 other day. I think Vera C. Rubin um had
00:21:11 --> 00:21:13 had it took its first picture, first
00:21:13 --> 00:21:15 light or I think they refer to it as in
00:21:15 --> 00:21:17 was it June or July this year?
00:21:17 --> 00:21:19 >> It was Yeah, I think it's about Yeah.
00:21:19 --> 00:21:22 >> Yeah. Uh so we almost at the pointy end
00:21:22 --> 00:21:25 of that um that observatory kicking into
00:21:25 --> 00:21:25 action.
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27 >> That's right. If I remember rightly, I
00:21:27 --> 00:21:28 might have these figures slightly wrong,
00:21:28 --> 00:21:29 but it was something like was it a
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32 10-hour set of observations they took
00:21:32 --> 00:21:33 and they discovered more than a thousand
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 asteroids. Yeah. Period. So, you know,
00:21:36 --> 00:21:37 imagine what it's going to be like. This
00:21:37 --> 00:21:40 thing looks at the entire southern sky
00:21:40 --> 00:21:41 every three nights.
00:21:42 --> 00:21:43 >> That's incredibly remarkable.
00:21:43 --> 00:21:44 >> Yeah. It's quite
00:21:44 --> 00:21:47 >> Yeah. Um like we we were so blessed to
00:21:47 --> 00:21:49 be able to get so much information out
00:21:49 --> 00:21:53 of um um Oh gosh, my brain's not working
00:21:53 --> 00:21:56 today. Um the other observatory, the one
00:21:56 --> 00:21:58 that's out on in the L2.
00:21:58 --> 00:22:00 >> Oh yeah, you you mean the James Webb
00:22:00 --> 00:22:00 telescope?
00:22:00 --> 00:22:02 >> James Webb. Gosh, why couldn't I think
00:22:02 --> 00:22:05 of that? But um working side by side
00:22:05 --> 00:22:07 with Ver Rubin, this is just going to
00:22:07 --> 00:22:09 open up a whole new
00:22:09 --> 00:22:12 >> Yep, that's right. List of new
00:22:12 --> 00:22:15 discoveries. Yeah. Yeah. Very exciting.
00:22:15 --> 00:22:17 >> Uh if you would like to read about those
00:22:17 --> 00:22:20 40 near-earth objects,
00:22:20 --> 00:22:22 if you really, you know, you can go to a
00:22:22 --> 00:22:24 horror movie instead. It probably much
00:22:24 --> 00:22:26 more fun. But um 40 near-earth
00:22:26 --> 00:22:28 objects, you can do that through the
00:22:28 --> 00:22:33 European Space Agency website.
00:22:33 --> 00:22:35 Okay, we checked all four systems and
00:22:36 --> 00:22:37 >> space nets.
00:22:37 --> 00:22:38 >> Now, this this is a story that really
00:22:38 --> 00:22:41 excites me because um we've talked about
00:22:41 --> 00:22:45 this so many times, but um this this
00:22:45 --> 00:22:48 story I saw pop up last weekend and we
00:22:48 --> 00:22:51 we have been talking so much about the
00:22:51 --> 00:22:54 potential for life elsewhere. haven't
00:22:54 --> 00:22:56 found it yet, but the signs are starting
00:22:56 --> 00:22:59 to build, particularly within our own
00:22:59 --> 00:23:03 solar system. And this particular story
00:23:03 --> 00:23:07 is is one again where we have taken a
00:23:07 --> 00:23:10 bit of old data and reanalyzed it. And
00:23:10 --> 00:23:13 this involves the Cassini uh mission uh
00:23:14 --> 00:23:17 which has been taking samples of the
00:23:17 --> 00:23:21 eruptions from Enceladus. And what
00:23:21 --> 00:23:24 they've discovered is very very uh
00:23:24 --> 00:23:25 exciting.
00:23:25 --> 00:23:28 >> It is. Uh that's right. And uh yes,
00:23:28 --> 00:23:30 Cassini, you know, uh it was active if
00:23:30 --> 00:23:33 if I remember rightly between
00:23:33 --> 00:23:35
00:23:35 --> 00:23:39 I think was it 2004? Yes. And 2017. So
00:23:39 --> 00:23:41 that was the period when Cassini was
00:23:41 --> 00:23:43 collecting its data. And as you've just
00:23:43 --> 00:23:46 said, we're still learning things from
00:23:46 --> 00:23:49 those data. Uh, and in particular, what
00:23:49 --> 00:23:52 has been identified is some previously
00:23:52 --> 00:23:56 unknown organic chemicals in the ice
00:23:56 --> 00:23:59 grains that Cassini flew through, which
00:23:59 --> 00:24:02 are erupting, as you said, from the ice
00:24:02 --> 00:24:05 geysers in near the southern uh pole,
00:24:05 --> 00:24:07 the south pole of Enteladus, that little
00:24:08 --> 00:24:11 500 kilometer diameter world, which is
00:24:11 --> 00:24:13 one of Saturn's moons with the structure
00:24:13 --> 00:24:15 that we think is fairly common out in
00:24:15 --> 00:24:18 that part of the solar system, a rocky
00:24:18 --> 00:24:21 body overlay with a liquid ocean with
00:24:21 --> 00:24:23 ice on top of that. And the pressure of
00:24:23 --> 00:24:24 the ice is what's keeping that ocean
00:24:24 --> 00:24:27 liquid along with the the squeezing and
00:24:27 --> 00:24:29 squashing of the of the rocky part of
00:24:29 --> 00:24:32 the the body by the tidal forces exerted
00:24:32 --> 00:24:35 by the giant planet Saturn uh next door.
00:24:35 --> 00:24:37 And Saturn, by the way, um we've just
00:24:37 --> 00:24:39 gone through its ring plane. So Saturn,
00:24:39 --> 00:24:40 if you looked at Saturn through a
00:24:40 --> 00:24:43 telescope tonight or anytime within the
00:24:43 --> 00:24:44 next couple of weeks, you won't see any
00:24:44 --> 00:24:45 sign of the rings because we're they're
00:24:46 --> 00:24:46 edge onto us.
00:24:46 --> 00:24:47 >> Oh, okay.
00:24:47 --> 00:24:51 >> Y just a little aside there. Um so what
00:24:51 --> 00:24:55 uh what has happened is that uh we've
00:24:55 --> 00:24:58 we've known about these organic
00:24:58 --> 00:25:02 chemicals in ice grains which we we know
00:25:02 --> 00:25:04 come from Enceladus because they
00:25:04 --> 00:25:07 actually feed into the outer ring of
00:25:07 --> 00:25:09 Saturn something called the E-ring which
00:25:09 --> 00:25:12 is a very diffuse ring and we know that
00:25:12 --> 00:25:14 the material in that ring the ice
00:25:14 --> 00:25:16 crystals in that E-ring actually come
00:25:16 --> 00:25:19 from the south pole of of Enceladus.
00:25:19 --> 00:25:22 And those have been well analyzed um by
00:25:22 --> 00:25:26 Cassini and also by other observations.
00:25:26 --> 00:25:27 And so it was known that there were
00:25:27 --> 00:25:31 organics in there. But the question was
00:25:31 --> 00:25:34 these ice crystals may have been in
00:25:34 --> 00:25:35 orbit. They may have been in space for
00:25:35 --> 00:25:39 centuries. And so their chemical
00:25:39 --> 00:25:43 structure might well have been modified
00:25:43 --> 00:25:44 first of all by the the sun's
00:25:44 --> 00:25:47 ultraviolet radiation which tends to
00:25:47 --> 00:25:50 change chemistry. uh and the the solar
00:25:50 --> 00:25:51 wind, the wind of subatomic particles
00:25:52 --> 00:25:54 that comes from the sun that too can
00:25:54 --> 00:25:57 change the chemistry of particles uh
00:25:57 --> 00:26:00 grains of you know of of of ice with
00:26:00 --> 00:26:03 their with their organics uh on them the
00:26:03 --> 00:26:05 organic chemicals uh it can change their
00:26:05 --> 00:26:07 chemistry and so there was always a
00:26:07 --> 00:26:10 question whether these quite complex
00:26:10 --> 00:26:13 organic chemicals that were identified
00:26:13 --> 00:26:17 uh in the E-ring uh whether they are
00:26:17 --> 00:26:19 telling knew that that's how
00:26:19 --> 00:26:21 [clears throat] the ice crystals were
00:26:21 --> 00:26:23 when they came when they were spat out
00:26:23 --> 00:26:26 from Cassini's south pole. Um, it puts
00:26:26 --> 00:26:29 doubt on it. And so what this new
00:26:29 --> 00:26:32 analysis does is looks back to one of
00:26:32 --> 00:26:36 the flythroughs of uh Cassini through
00:26:36 --> 00:26:40 the ice plumes back in 2008.
00:26:40 --> 00:26:42 uh Cassini flew through the plume at
00:26:42 --> 00:26:45 about um 18 kilometers/s
00:26:45 --> 00:26:47 at a height of about 20 kilometers above
00:26:47 --> 00:26:51 the surface of Cassini. And so the the
00:26:51 --> 00:26:54 ice crystals that it passed through um
00:26:54 --> 00:26:57 only a few minutes earlier were actually
00:26:57 --> 00:27:01 water in the ocean of Enceladus. So
00:27:01 --> 00:27:04 these are fresh crystals of ice straight
00:27:04 --> 00:27:06 from the ocean. In other words, they,
00:27:06 --> 00:27:07 you know, they're effectively samples of
00:27:07 --> 00:27:10 the ocean water. And what they've
00:27:10 --> 00:27:12 succeeded in showing, uh, what the
00:27:12 --> 00:27:13 scientists who have done this succeeded
00:27:13 --> 00:27:16 in showing is that the chemistry is
00:27:16 --> 00:27:18 still there. The the organic, the
00:27:18 --> 00:27:22 complex organics are there in this fresh
00:27:22 --> 00:27:24 ocean spray, as they call it. I love
00:27:24 --> 00:27:26 that idea. It's an ocean spray, but it's
00:27:26 --> 00:27:30 ice crystals. And there's a whole you
00:27:30 --> 00:27:33 know a whole list of um things like
00:27:33 --> 00:27:36 esters, aromatics, hetereroatombearing
00:27:36 --> 00:27:39 organics. These are chemical terms that
00:27:39 --> 00:27:41 um I'm not that familiar with because
00:27:41 --> 00:27:44 chemistry was not my strong point. Uh
00:27:44 --> 00:27:47 but these chemicals are yes they are
00:27:47 --> 00:27:50 there in the ocean of Enceladus. Uh and
00:27:50 --> 00:27:53 what that has done is raised again the
00:27:53 --> 00:27:55 possibility that living organisms might
00:27:55 --> 00:27:58 exist in that ocean. uh and that because
00:27:58 --> 00:28:00 these chemicals are as we keep on saying
00:28:00 --> 00:28:03 the building blocks of life. Uh so just
00:28:04 --> 00:28:05 maybe there's something swimming around
00:28:05 --> 00:28:07 in the ocean of Enceladus that we are
00:28:07 --> 00:28:09 yet to discover.
00:28:09 --> 00:28:11 >> Yes. And wouldn't it be exciting? And uh
00:28:11 --> 00:28:13 hopefully in the not too distant future
00:28:13 --> 00:28:17 we'll be able to confirm it. Um I think
00:28:17 --> 00:28:18 people are starting to get very
00:28:18 --> 00:28:20 confident about the possibility though.
00:28:20 --> 00:28:20 >> Yeah. Yep.
00:28:20 --> 00:28:21 >> Yeah, that's right.
00:28:21 --> 00:28:24 >> So um fingers crossed. But uh yeah, the
00:28:24 --> 00:28:25 signs are starting to really build and I
00:28:25 --> 00:28:28 I even though it'll be probably one of
00:28:28 --> 00:28:31 the most exciting things ever discovered
00:28:31 --> 00:28:33 should we succeed in finding evidence of
00:28:33 --> 00:28:36 life elsewhere, we also probably
00:28:36 --> 00:28:40 shouldn't be surprised because water we
00:28:40 --> 00:28:42 now is know prolific throughout the
00:28:42 --> 00:28:43 universe.
00:28:43 --> 00:28:47 >> We know there are probably exoplanets
00:28:47 --> 00:28:49 orbiting almost every star in the
00:28:49 --> 00:28:51 universe. stands to reason that
00:28:51 --> 00:28:54 somewhere somewhere out there there's
00:28:54 --> 00:28:56 there's got to be some form of life.
00:28:56 --> 00:28:59 Even if it's only microbial, but
00:28:59 --> 00:29:01 >> or krill.
00:29:01 --> 00:29:04 >> Krill would be exciting. Green slime is
00:29:04 --> 00:29:06 what we're likely to find. I think
00:29:06 --> 00:29:08 >> green slime. Green slime will do.
00:29:08 --> 00:29:10 >> Green. Green slime would do it. That's
00:29:10 --> 00:29:11 right. It would indeed.
00:29:11 --> 00:29:13 >> Indeed. If you'd like to read up on that
00:29:13 --> 00:29:16 story about the latest from Enceladus,
00:29:16 --> 00:29:18 you can find it in the journal Nature
00:29:18 --> 00:29:22 Astronomy
00:29:22 --> 00:29:25 Space Nuts. One last story in this
00:29:25 --> 00:29:27 episode, Fred, and it's a bit of an
00:29:27 --> 00:29:30 update on three Atlas, the exo comet
00:29:30 --> 00:29:34 that is currently uh doing its thing.
00:29:34 --> 00:29:36 It's doing whatever it wants really. Uh
00:29:36 --> 00:29:39 but um it it's uh it's it's sort of
00:29:39 --> 00:29:41 reappeared and they're getting some
00:29:41 --> 00:29:42 great pictures of it, not only from
00:29:42 --> 00:29:47 Earth, but from Mars. And um some of
00:29:47 --> 00:29:49 these photos are extraordinary.
00:29:49 --> 00:29:51 Yes, they are. They're when you look at
00:29:51 --> 00:29:53 them, they're a little bit underwhelming
00:29:53 --> 00:29:54 until you realize that they've they've
00:29:54 --> 00:29:57 been taken by telescopes, not on Earth,
00:29:57 --> 00:29:59 but um in one case on the surface of
00:29:59 --> 00:30:04 Mars, but but also from Mars orbit. Uh
00:30:04 --> 00:30:06 and there's a little bit of a story to
00:30:06 --> 00:30:09 this because these images were taken um
00:30:09 --> 00:30:13 when uh the interstellar comet Three
00:30:13 --> 00:30:18 Atlas uh made its closest passage next
00:30:18 --> 00:30:20 close closest flyby of Mars basically uh
00:30:20 --> 00:30:23 30 million kilometers of Mars. That's
00:30:23 --> 00:30:25 quite a close approach compared with the
00:30:25 --> 00:30:28 distances that we we are from from it on
00:30:28 --> 00:30:31 Earth. Uh and that took place actually
00:30:31 --> 00:30:34 nearly two months ago. uh in early
00:30:34 --> 00:30:36 October. Um but what's held up the
00:30:36 --> 00:30:40 release of the uh of the images is the
00:30:40 --> 00:30:43 um US government shutdown which
00:30:43 --> 00:30:47 prevented these images being the world.
00:30:47 --> 00:30:49 >> Spoke about that at length
00:30:49 --> 00:30:51 previous episode. So yeah, I think
00:30:51 --> 00:30:53 pretty we're pretty well squared away on
00:30:53 --> 00:30:56 the issue. Um but he had colleagues that
00:30:56 --> 00:30:59 were so badly affected by that because
00:30:59 --> 00:31:02 >> the um you know well basically no income
00:31:02 --> 00:31:04 for as long as the shutdown existed.
00:31:04 --> 00:31:07 It's very very difficult situation but
00:31:07 --> 00:31:09 >> yes so we we we know why NASA couldn't
00:31:09 --> 00:31:11 do anything at the time.
00:31:11 --> 00:31:15 >> Yeah. So so that's right. So um but we
00:31:15 --> 00:31:17 now have these images revealed now that
00:31:17 --> 00:31:19 things are up and running again. And it
00:31:19 --> 00:31:22 perhaps the the best one has come from
00:31:22 --> 00:31:26 the um high-rise camera on board Mars
00:31:26 --> 00:31:28 Reconnaissance Orbiter. Uh and that's
00:31:28 --> 00:31:32 quite a detailed image of comet 3i Atlas
00:31:32 --> 00:31:35 with its a short tail and its coma.
00:31:35 --> 00:31:37 That's the region around the nucleus
00:31:37 --> 00:31:41 where material is outgassing and and
00:31:41 --> 00:31:44 shining because of exitation by the sun.
00:31:44 --> 00:31:47 Um the there there's some interesting
00:31:47 --> 00:31:51 images from uh from the Maven uh
00:31:51 --> 00:31:54 spacecraft as well which uh has cameras
00:31:54 --> 00:31:56 on looking in the ultraviolet and in
00:31:56 --> 00:31:57 fact it's got a spectrometer on that
00:31:57 --> 00:32:00 allows you to uh split the light up into
00:32:00 --> 00:32:03 its component colors. Uh so we see the
00:32:03 --> 00:32:06 glow of hydrogen actually from uh from
00:32:06 --> 00:32:09 three Atlas uh photographed by the Maven
00:32:09 --> 00:32:12 spectra uh spec spacecraft cameras and
00:32:12 --> 00:32:17 the mast cam uh camera on the uh it's
00:32:17 --> 00:32:20 mass cam zed it's called on perseverance
00:32:20 --> 00:32:22 on the surface of Mars actually managed
00:32:22 --> 00:32:26 to capture a very very faint image uh of
00:32:26 --> 00:32:28 uh of three eye atlas against a
00:32:28 --> 00:32:30 background of stars. It's faint because
00:32:30 --> 00:32:33 that cam, mass cam, was never designed
00:32:33 --> 00:32:36 to do astronomy. It's all designed to
00:32:36 --> 00:32:38 navigate on the surface of Mars, but yet
00:32:38 --> 00:32:41 it's managed to catch a picture uh by
00:32:41 --> 00:32:43 being pointed upwards obviously uh at um
00:32:43 --> 00:32:46 at this celestial visitor. So the the
00:32:46 --> 00:32:47 hope is that as these images are
00:32:48 --> 00:32:50 analyzed, Andrew, we'll find out more
00:32:50 --> 00:32:53 about threei Atlas, maybe even to get a
00:32:53 --> 00:32:55 good measurement of how big its nucleus
00:32:55 --> 00:32:57 is, the the icy component that gives
00:32:57 --> 00:33:01 rise to all this all this luminosity. Um
00:33:01 --> 00:33:03 the last I heard was that the thinking
00:33:03 --> 00:33:05 was it was in the region of 20
00:33:05 --> 00:33:06 kilometers across, which is large for a
00:33:06 --> 00:33:09 comet nucleus. Uh but I think the jury
00:33:09 --> 00:33:11 is probably still out on that. Um might
00:33:11 --> 00:33:13 find more from these measurements. So,
00:33:13 --> 00:33:16 how much longer will ThreeI Atlas be in
00:33:16 --> 00:33:18 our vicinity?
00:33:18 --> 00:33:21 >> Uh, no, no, quite a while. Uh, it's not,
00:33:21 --> 00:33:24 you know, it's it's it's um I think it
00:33:24 --> 00:33:27 passes closest to Earth this month if I
00:33:27 --> 00:33:29 remember rightly. Um, and then we'll be
00:33:29 --> 00:33:32 receding. Uh, it has passed its closest
00:33:32 --> 00:33:34 to the sun and so it it certainly
00:33:34 --> 00:33:35 brightened up when it did that, which is
00:33:35 --> 00:33:38 what you expect. uh as it as it leaves
00:33:38 --> 00:33:40 the solar system, we'll continue to
00:33:40 --> 00:33:42 track it with the world's big
00:33:42 --> 00:33:44 telescopes. Probably the James Web will
00:33:44 --> 00:33:46 have a few more looks at it. Uh and so
00:33:46 --> 00:33:48 um I think we're we're going to be
00:33:48 --> 00:33:51 observing it for several months yet.
00:33:51 --> 00:33:52 >> Very good. All right. Yeah, it keeps
00:33:52 --> 00:33:55 making the news and uh I mean it's it's
00:33:55 --> 00:33:58 one of those things like this it's only
00:33:58 --> 00:34:00 one of a handful of these things that
00:34:00 --> 00:34:03 we've we've found, but it's starting to
00:34:03 --> 00:34:04 look like this is not an uncommon
00:34:04 --> 00:34:05 thread.
00:34:06 --> 00:34:08 That's right. And I think once again
00:34:08 --> 00:34:10 harking back to the Ver Rubin telescope,
00:34:10 --> 00:34:12 we're going to find more of these uh
00:34:12 --> 00:34:14 when that telescope comes online. We're
00:34:14 --> 00:34:15 probably going to have, you know, we've
00:34:15 --> 00:34:17 got three known interstellar objects
00:34:18 --> 00:34:20 now. It'll probably be 20 by middle of
00:34:20 --> 00:34:23 next year. Who knows? It'll be quite
00:34:23 --> 00:34:24 extraordinary
00:34:24 --> 00:34:26 >> indeed. All right. Uh you can read more
00:34:26 --> 00:34:29 about the uh the images that have been
00:34:29 --> 00:34:30 taken of three Atlas and you can see
00:34:30 --> 00:34:34 them too at the univertoday.com
00:34:34 --> 00:34:37 website. Uh Fred, that brings us to the
00:34:37 --> 00:34:39 end. Thank you so much.
00:34:39 --> 00:34:42 >> It's been a pleasure, Andrew. I amum uh
00:34:42 --> 00:34:44 I've forgotten how much I miss uh my
00:34:44 --> 00:34:46 weekly dose of space knots. So it's good
00:34:46 --> 00:34:48 to be talking again.
00:34:48 --> 00:34:49 >> It's good to have you back. Thank you
00:34:49 --> 00:34:52 for Thank you for deciding to return.
00:34:52 --> 00:34:53 >> [laughter]
00:34:53 --> 00:34:53 >> Yes,
00:34:53 --> 00:34:56 >> even without the red carpet. Oh, and by
00:34:56 --> 00:34:57 the way, that golfer I played with
00:34:57 --> 00:34:59 today, Piper Stubs from Melbourne, Piper
00:35:00 --> 00:35:01 Stubs. Look up her name.
00:35:01 --> 00:35:05 >> She uh she studied um at college in the
00:35:05 --> 00:35:06 United States and played collegiate golf
00:35:06 --> 00:35:07 over there.
00:35:07 --> 00:35:08 >> Very good.
00:35:08 --> 00:35:10 >> Uh she's finished now and she um
00:35:10 --> 00:35:14 qualified as a in political science. So,
00:35:14 --> 00:35:18 >> yeah. Uh quite a bright young lady. Uh,
00:35:18 --> 00:35:20 and um, thanks to Hugh in the studio,
00:35:20 --> 00:35:21 although he couldn't be with us today
00:35:21 --> 00:35:23 because he heard there were 40 near
00:35:23 --> 00:35:25 Earth asteroids discovered, so he built
00:35:25 --> 00:35:29 himself a bunker. He won't come out. And
00:35:29 --> 00:35:30 um,
00:35:30 --> 00:35:33 and by the way, uh, if you would like to
00:35:33 --> 00:35:35 become a patron, uh, by all means, jump
00:35:35 --> 00:35:38 on our website and and, uh, find out all
00:35:38 --> 00:35:40 about it. Uh, I know it's there are
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00:35:42 --> 00:35:45 expect you to, um, to to spend money to
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00:36:07 --> 00:36:10 They all do um uh various uh payment
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00:36:12 --> 00:36:14 not, just forget everything I just said.
00:36:14 --> 00:36:16 Uh and don't forget to visit us online
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00:36:22 --> 00:36:24 talk to each other about anything you
00:36:24 --> 00:36:27 like to do with space and astronomy.
00:36:27 --> 00:36:28 That's it for this episode. Join us
00:36:28 --> 00:36:31 again soon when we do a Q&A episode. Um
00:36:32 --> 00:36:34 and and looking forward to having you
00:36:34 --> 00:36:36 join us then from me, Andrew Dunley.
00:36:36 --> 00:36:38 Until next time, bye-bye.
00:36:38 --> 00:36:41 >> Space. You'll be listening to the Space
00:36:41 --> 00:36:43 Nuts podcast
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