00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Andrew Dunkley: Hello again. Thank you for joining us on
00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 Space Nuts. This is our weekly Q and A
00:00:05 --> 00:00:07 edition where we take questions from the
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 audience. We go and find someone who can tell
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 us the answer and then we pretend we're doing
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 it. Um, my name is Andrew Dunkley. Your
00:00:14 --> 00:00:17 host. Fred's face went, no, we don't.
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 Uh, coming up on this episode, uh, we've got
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 a lot of, uh, solar questions. We've got a
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 question from Andrew about the sun's ark.
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 Ernie wants to know about the sun's siblings.
00:00:27 --> 00:00:29 And Mark wants to know about missions to the
00:00:29 --> 00:00:32 sun. You go, Mark. I'm not setting foot on
00:00:32 --> 00:00:34 it. It's hot enough here already. And we're
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36 going to finish, uh, off with a question
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38 about Earth, like planets. That's all coming
00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 up on this episode of space nuts.
00:00:41 --> 00:00:43 Generic: 15 seconds. Guidance is internal.
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 10, 9, ignition
00:00:46 --> 00:00:47 sequence star.
00:00:47 --> 00:00:48 Andrew Dunkley: Uh, space nuts.
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 Generic: 5, 4, 3, 2. 1, 2, 3, 4,
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
00:00:53 --> 00:00:54 Berman Gorvine: Space nuts.
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 Generic: Astronauts report it feels good.
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00 Andrew Dunkley: Back again for more. His name is Professor
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 Fred Watson, astronomer at large. Hello,
00:01:02 --> 00:01:02 Fred.
00:01:03 --> 00:01:05 Professor Fred Watson: Hello. Hello, Andrew. Um, fancy seeing you
00:01:05 --> 00:01:06 here.
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 Andrew Dunkley: Yes, it's quite unusual. Quite
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 unusual. We're all decked out in blue today.
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 You've got gun barrel blue, I've got the sky
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 blue of New South Wales. On. That's
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 the official sporting color of my state.
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 Professor Fred Watson: I, uh, didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, I didn't
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 even know there was sky blue.
00:01:23 --> 00:01:26 Andrew Dunkley: M. Yeah. Oh, uh, look, um, the, the,
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 the official Australian sporting colors are
00:01:28 --> 00:01:29 green and gold.
00:01:29 --> 00:01:30 Professor Fred Watson: Green and gold, that's right.
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 Andrew Dunkley: But that, that wasn't actually official, uh,
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 until the 80s. Before that they just
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 used to wear a pair of thongs and a cut off
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 jeans and go to the Olympics.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 Professor Fred Watson: I think she'll be right.
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, mate, no worries. Yes,
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 um, we got a bunch of questions to deal with
00:01:48 --> 00:01:51 so we might as well hit the ground running in
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 our thongs. I know there's some people
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 laughing at that because thong means
00:01:55 --> 00:01:56 something else in other countries, but
00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 it's, it's a pair of flip flops or jandals or
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 whatever you call them wherever you're from.
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 Uh, first question comes from Andrew. It's
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 about the sun's arc. I'm sitting here in the
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 French Alps on Boxing Day, you lucky duck.
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 Uh, slightly hungover thanks to,
00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 uh, an excess of Apreski, uh,
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 last night and watching the sun trace
00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 an arc across the sky measured from mountain
00:02:21 --> 00:02:24 peak to mountain peak. But why an arc,
00:02:24 --> 00:02:27 the shape of which varies, uh, by the time of
00:02:27 --> 00:02:29 year, given the Earth itself is rotating
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 on only one axis I know
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 the Earth's tilted, uh, from, um, the
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 vertical. But how does that
00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 explain the arc? Uh, with only one
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 axis of rotation, shouldn't it be a straight
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 line? That comes from Andrew Jones. Hope you
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 had a nice Christmas, Andrew. Sounds like it.
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 What a horrible place to be. The French Alps
00:02:49 --> 00:02:50 for Christmas.
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah. Sounds great, doesn't it? Yeah.
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 Andrew Dunkley: But he brings up an interesting point.
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 Sitting there sipping on whatever it is he
00:02:57 --> 00:02:59 was drinking and, uh, watching the sun and
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 going, hang on a minute.
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 What's going on here? There's an ark.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:06 And it's not Noah's.
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 Professor Fred Watson: It's not. That's right. Uh, it's a different
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 sort of ark, uh, because it's spelled
00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 differently. It's got a C instead of a kid.
00:03:15 --> 00:03:18 Uh, it, uh. And in
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 fact, so, so, uh, you
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 know, Andrew's question is, uh. With
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 only one axis of rotation, shouldn't it be a
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 straight line? And the answer is it is a
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 straight line. Yeah, but it's a straight line
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 on a sphere. Uh, because we
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 are, uh, our vantage point, uh,
00:03:37 --> 00:03:40 from Earth, uh, uh, we look out into
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 space. We imagine something called the
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 celestial sphere. It's a great way of, uh,
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 working out the way things move in space.
00:03:47 --> 00:03:50 And, um, the motion of the sun and planets
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 all fits together. What you imagine is a
00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 sphere of infinite dimensions. And we're
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 sitting at the middle of it. We only see half
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 of it because the other half is below the
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 horizon. It's still there. The celestial
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 sphere goes on below the Earth, this
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 hypothesized sphere. Um, but,
00:04:08 --> 00:04:10 um, it's very useful, uh,
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 a useful device for understanding how things
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 move in the sky. And if you imagine
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 yourself, uh, sitting in the French Alps
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 with the celestial sphere above you,
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 uh, you, uh, would certainly in the Northern
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 Hemisphere be able to see, uh, the thing that
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 we call the north Pole star. Polar star
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 Polaris, uh, the pole star,
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 um, faint star that, um, I nearly always look
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 for whenever I'm in the Northern Hemisphere.
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 Just to, uh, reconnect with it. It's at the
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 end of the Little Bear's if you know
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 your northern constellations. But that is
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 the. With
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 us sometimes. Yeah,
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 they're great, the northern constellations.
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 They've got great charm. Anyway, that's
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 another story. So, um, that is the point
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 about which the whole celestial sphere
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 seems to rotate. And
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 so, uh, the height of the pole star above
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 your horizon, uh, is the same
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 as your latitude. So if you're
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 at latitude French alps is probably
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 45 or thereabouts, maybe a
00:05:19 --> 00:05:22 bit more than that. 45. Uh, it means your
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 pole star is going to be 45 degrees above the
00:05:24 --> 00:05:26 horizon. And this entire sphere
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 rotates around that point. And
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 so, uh, that's why, um, on a
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 sphere, the Sun's motion is a straight line.
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 It goes from the eastern side of the sky.
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 Depends on the time of year as to exactly
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 where it rises and sets. Sets, uh, but it
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 sets on the western side. And so, um,
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 uh, what looks like an arc to you
00:05:47 --> 00:05:50 is really a, ah, straight line bent by
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 the celestial sphere. This apparent,
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 um, you know, it's just
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 a great way of imagining the sky because
00:05:59 --> 00:06:00 you don't have to worry about the distances
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 of anything. You're just imagining everything
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 projected onto this infinite sphere. And
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 when you do that, as the Earth's rotating,
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 the sun rises in towards the east and
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 sets towards the west. Um, and
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 uh, it follows basically an arc
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 as we see it from our position. But
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 in terms of the sphere itself, it's just
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 going from one side to the other in a
00:06:23 --> 00:06:24 straight line.
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 Andrew Dunkley: There you go. Sounds like putting in golf.
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 Like every putt. They say every putt's a
00:06:29 --> 00:06:32 straight putt, except that,
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 um, the green isn't dead flat and straight.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 So, uh, the ball will m. Move accordingly.
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 Professor Fred Watson: Yes, that's right. Yeah. In fact,
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 um, that almost puts you into a
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 different regime, uh, because that's
00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 effectively what geodesics are, uh, which
00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 are, uh, the way light behaves,
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 uh, in general relativity. Uh,
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 so light travels in what it thinks is a
00:06:57 --> 00:07:00 straight line, but it's going through
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 different gravitational fields and
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 gravitational wells. And so like, you know,
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 like your golf ball, when you put.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 Putting, uh,
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 it's moving around, it's wandering around.
00:07:12 --> 00:07:13 Yeah.
00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 Andrew Dunkley: Um, we have a quirk at um, Dubbo Golf Club
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 where, um, if you want to figure out where
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 the putt goes, work out which direction the
00:07:21 --> 00:07:24 river is. Yes, they always
00:07:24 --> 00:07:25 fall towards the river.
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 Professor Fred Watson: Always remember, Andrew, that five irons
00:07:28 --> 00:07:29 don't float.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 Andrew Dunkley: They do not. It's a good book that. I don't
00:07:32 --> 00:07:33 know who wrote it, but it's a ripper.
00:07:34 --> 00:07:35 Professor Fred Watson: I should read this.
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 Andrew Dunkley: Well, it's got swearing in it. Don't know how
00:07:38 --> 00:07:39 that happened.
00:07:39 --> 00:07:39 Berman Gorvine: Yeah.
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 Andrew Dunkley: Gosh, Disgraceful, disgraceful. And by the
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 way, the French, uh, alps are at 455.
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 That was north, so. Very well.
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 And 6.85, uh,
00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 65 degrees east.
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 That's right, yeah. Uh, thank you for
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 the question, Andrew. Great to hear from you.
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 Hope you survived the, um, the French Alps.
00:08:02 --> 00:08:03 Um, uh, adventure.
00:08:04 --> 00:08:07 Uh, our, ah, next question comes from a,
00:08:07 --> 00:08:10 uh, a new contributor. Hello, Ernie.
00:08:10 --> 00:08:13 Berman Gorvine: Hello, Andrew. And Fred, my name is Ernie and
00:08:13 --> 00:08:14 I'm reaching out to you from a small town
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 near Buffalo, New York. I'm, um, a longtime
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 listener and this is the first time I'm
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 submitting a question. In a recent
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 episode, a listener asked if astronomers
00:08:25 --> 00:08:27 have ever identified the star or stars
00:08:27 --> 00:08:30 that went supernova seeding the
00:08:30 --> 00:08:33 nebula our sun formed in with heavy elements.
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 This got me to thinking. Stars typically form
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 in clusters and I assume
00:08:40 --> 00:08:42 our sun isn't any different.
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 Has there ever been or is there any
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 active research that is looking for
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 any of the Sun's siblings?
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 Thank you so much, um, for doing this
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 podcast. Really enjoy it. Always look
00:08:56 --> 00:08:59 forward when new episodes drop. Wishing
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 you the best for the holidays.
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 Andrew Dunkley: Thank you. Ernie, great to hear from you. A
00:09:03 --> 00:09:06 first time caller in. And great, um,
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 question too. Great question. Sorry to hear
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 about the Buffalo Bills. I don't know if
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13 you're into the American, uh, football, um,
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 Ernie, but, um, we visited
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 Buffalo, um, late last year and they were
00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 very, very hopeful that the Bills would
00:09:21 --> 00:09:23 come through. But they've, uh, been knocked
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 out in the playoffs. So, um, very
00:09:25 --> 00:09:27 unfortunate, but maybe, maybe next year.
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 They're certainly starting to look like a
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 pretty solid outfit. So, um,
00:09:32 --> 00:09:35 yeah. Any work going into finding the son's
00:09:35 --> 00:09:37 siblings? Now I remember us talking some time
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 back about the possibility that
00:09:40 --> 00:09:41 the son had a twin
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 and they got separated at birth and they
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 can't find each other. But they're going
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 through the archives to see if there's any
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 family history that can connect. Um,
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 that. Yeah, but the sun would have
00:09:55 --> 00:09:58 been part of, um, I imagine a whole
00:09:58 --> 00:10:01 bunch of stars that were born in that,
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 um, um, supernova
00:10:04 --> 00:10:05 situation. Is that what he was talking about?
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 Professor Fred Watson: Well, that's part of the issue. Uh, the
00:10:09 --> 00:10:12 fact that the gas cloud in
00:10:12 --> 00:10:15 which the sun and the rest of the
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 cluster that was formed at the same time as
00:10:17 --> 00:10:20 the sun, um, that was, uh,
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 seeded by gases from a
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 supernova explosion, which we have no
00:10:24 --> 00:10:27 knowledge of. But it's just the background
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 interstellar medium is enriched by the
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 elements that come from a supernova
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 explosion. But, um, no, Ernie's question is
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 on the money and the answer is yes. Uh,
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 that's, um, to
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 try and find the Sun's siblings is actually,
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46 uh, ongoing research and it's part of the
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 subject that we usually call galactic
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51 archaeology. It's looking at the way our, uh,
00:10:51 --> 00:10:54 galaxy has evolved, uh, by
00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 studying in detail the chemical
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 composition of the stars within
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 the Sun's neighborhood within a few thousand
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 light years. I was involved with all that
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 with the Reif project a few years ago. And so
00:11:06 --> 00:11:09 one of the, uh, not the holy grails of that,
00:11:09 --> 00:11:12 but certainly one of the interesting aspects
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 is to find stars that have
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 identical chemical
00:11:16 --> 00:11:19 mixes to the sun. Uh,
00:11:19 --> 00:11:22 and um, if you can do that, if you can
00:11:22 --> 00:11:24 find them, uh, there's a good chance that
00:11:24 --> 00:11:27 they were born from the same dust cloud as
00:11:27 --> 00:11:30 the sun was. Uh, and so they might very well
00:11:30 --> 00:11:33 be solar siblings. Um, it may even
00:11:33 --> 00:11:36 be possible that, you know, we know that the
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 sun's four, four and a half billion years
00:11:38 --> 00:11:41 old, about 4.6, 4.7 billion years old.
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 Um, if you could look at the motion
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47 of stars that have the identical
00:11:47 --> 00:11:50 uh, constituents to the sun and you will be
00:11:50 --> 00:11:52 able to certainly m, measure their velocities
00:11:52 --> 00:11:55 quite easily, then you might be able to
00:11:55 --> 00:11:58 almost rewind back to a time,
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 uh, when you could prove that they were all
00:12:00 --> 00:12:01 in the same place at the same time.
00:12:04 --> 00:12:05 Andrew Dunkley: Okay. Yeah. All right.
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 Professor Fred Watson: Um, so the answer is yes,
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 there is certainly research on all that. Uh,
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 and yes, I had a couple of weeks in Buffalo
00:12:13 --> 00:12:16 once. I was a gas lecturer at the Kinesius
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 College, uh, there. And it's very cold.
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 Andrew Dunkley: Uh, it wasn't cold while we were there. I
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 mean it's, it's a stone's throw from Niagara
00:12:23 --> 00:12:26 Falls, which is, yeah, like you could almost
00:12:26 --> 00:12:27 walk it.
00:12:27 --> 00:12:28 Professor Fred Watson: They were pretty icy when we were there.
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, um, but I really enjoyed
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 spending some time there and learning. Like
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 they had a big exhibition on while we were
00:12:37 --> 00:12:40 there about the, um, one of the
00:12:40 --> 00:12:41 great canals that was built
00:12:41 --> 00:12:44 150 odd years ago now I
00:12:44 --> 00:12:47 think, um, and, and how it
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 changed the entire region forever,
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 um, in terms of trade and movement of
00:12:52 --> 00:12:55 materials and uh, fascinating
00:12:55 --> 00:12:57 place, really quite fascinating. Um,
00:12:58 --> 00:13:01 yeah. I suppose the problem with trying to
00:13:01 --> 00:13:04 find the sun siblings is, is the amount of
00:13:04 --> 00:13:06 time that's passed. It's not like you're
00:13:06 --> 00:13:08 looking back through your family tree a
00:13:08 --> 00:13:10 couple of generations which we're talking
00:13:10 --> 00:13:12 billions of years of movement.
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 Professor Fred Watson: That's right. Yes. But, but as I said, you,
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 you know, the way you identify them is
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 not because they're close or anything like
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 that, it's by their chemical composition,
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 uh, which we can do out to
00:13:27 --> 00:13:29 many several thousands of light years,
00:13:29 --> 00:13:31 depending how, how precise you want it to be.
00:13:32 --> 00:13:33 Um, in fact there's an instrument on the
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 Anglo Australian telescope which is called
00:13:35 --> 00:13:38 hermes, uh, which is designed exactly
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 for doing that job at very limited areas,
00:13:41 --> 00:13:44 uh, regions of the spectrum of
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 stars, uh, to look for
00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 exactly the amount of chemicals that are in
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52 those atmospheres of those stars. And that's
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 the kind of instrument that you use to try
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 and find the sun siblings. What, uh, I
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 haven't said is whether there's been any
00:13:58 --> 00:13:59 success on that.
00:13:59 --> 00:14:00 Andrew Dunkley: Uh, it's bad to ask.
00:14:00 --> 00:14:03 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah. And, um, uh, I can't remember
00:14:03 --> 00:14:06 the answer. I mean, there are certainly stars
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 which have got very similar chemical
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 compositions and ages to the sun.
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 Uh, I'm not sure just how near we are to
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 being able to identify them as definitely
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 coming from the same gas cloud and being born
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 in the same cluster as the sun was.
00:14:21 --> 00:14:24 Andrew Dunkley: Well, according to a quick search I've
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 just done. And this is an AI
00:14:26 --> 00:14:29 Response. Uh, yes, astronomers have
00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 identified several candidates. The solar
00:14:32 --> 00:14:34 siblings stars form from the same gas cloud
00:14:34 --> 00:14:37 as, uh, our Sun 4, 4.5 billion years
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 ago. But none are definitely confirmed.
00:14:40 --> 00:14:40 Professor Fred Watson: There you go.
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45 Andrew Dunkley: Um, they. Maybe they don't want to be found.
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48 Maybe, maybe our, our son was, you know, the
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50 black sheep of the family and they all went,
00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 now we're out of here. We know what's going
00:14:52 --> 00:14:53 to happen around this place.
00:14:53 --> 00:14:55 Professor Fred Watson: It's going to form planets and then where
00:14:55 --> 00:14:56 will we be?
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 Andrew Dunkley: And then there'll be humans and then.
00:14:58 --> 00:14:59 Professor Fred Watson: That's right, exactly.
00:14:59 --> 00:15:01 Andrew Dunkley: You know, they'll want us. They'll want us to
00:15:01 --> 00:15:03 pay them money or something. Yeah, I don't
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 know. Uh, um, but it was a great question,
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07 Ernie. Thanks for sending it in. And please
00:15:07 --> 00:15:10 do so again. This is Space Nuts with
00:15:10 --> 00:15:13 Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson.
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 Generic: Hey, that's one of the better sims, believe
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 me. We've had a couple of cardiac arrests
00:15:19 --> 00:15:21 down here too, Pete. There wasn't any tonnage
00:15:21 --> 00:15:22 for that up here.
00:15:22 --> 00:15:25 Andrew Dunkley: Space Nuts. I love that
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 one. No time for a cardiac arrest.
00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 Uh, let's carry, uh, on to our
00:15:31 --> 00:15:34 next question. That comes from Mark. It's
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 another story about this, uh, question about
00:15:36 --> 00:15:38 the sun. Hi, Andrew and Fred. Are there any
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 plans to send a spacecraft to the sun? And I
00:15:41 --> 00:15:44 mean up close and personal. Uh, the
00:15:44 --> 00:15:46 data they could get would be invaluable and
00:15:46 --> 00:15:49 could really tighten up some loose ends
00:15:49 --> 00:15:52 on what we think we know. Uh, keep up the
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 great work. That's Mark from Sussex.
00:15:55 --> 00:15:58 Sussex in England, I assume. England. Uh,
00:15:58 --> 00:15:59 I'm pretty sure that'd be right.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:02 Professor Fred Watson: Here's how you said I used to live in Sussex
00:16:02 --> 00:16:03 as well. Yes.
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, I think we mentioned that a week or two
00:16:05 --> 00:16:08 ago. So we've had a few from Sussex of
00:16:08 --> 00:16:08 late.
00:16:08 --> 00:16:11 Professor Fred Watson: The Royal Greenwich Observatory used to be.
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 This is a place called Hersmondsew. Yeah.
00:16:14 --> 00:16:16 Not far from where William the conqueror
00:16:16 --> 00:16:18 landed in 1066.
00:16:18 --> 00:16:19 Andrew Dunkley: Okay.
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 Professor Fred Watson: It was all very historic place. Um,
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 and the Royal Observatory was actually
00:16:23 --> 00:16:23 Defeated.
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 Andrew Dunkley: He defeated King Henry, was it
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 Harold? I knew it started with an H. Yeah,
00:16:30 --> 00:16:33 um, so yeah, look, I, I, I, I
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 know there are probes that are um,
00:16:37 --> 00:16:38 gathering information about the sun all the
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 time. And in fact we had a recent probe
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43 that's name escapes me that actually touched
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 the sun, which was a, uh, pretty
00:16:45 --> 00:16:46 extraordinary thing.
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 Professor Fred Watson: And in fact that's the one that um, that
00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 really Mark is asking about. Uh, uh, are
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 there any plans to send a spacecraft to the
00:16:54 --> 00:16:57 sun? Uh, and I mean up close and personal. It
00:16:57 --> 00:17:00 is already there. Uh, it's called the Parker
00:17:00 --> 00:17:03 Solar Probe. Uh, it's um, flown
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 through the inner or the outer corona of the
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 sun, uh experiencing those very high
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 temperatures. It's got a heat shield. It's in
00:17:11 --> 00:17:13 an orbit that is highly elliptical, very
00:17:13 --> 00:17:16 elongated. So it
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19 spends some of its time close to the sun and
00:17:19 --> 00:17:22 some of its time quite a long way away. I'm
00:17:22 --> 00:17:24 not actually sure whether it is still active,
00:17:24 --> 00:17:27 um, but what it's done is it has
00:17:27 --> 00:17:28 enhanced our understanding,
00:17:30 --> 00:17:33 uh, of the way the corona is heated.
00:17:33 --> 00:17:36 The sun's corona is at several
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 tens of millions of degrees. Uh, and
00:17:39 --> 00:17:42 the surface of the sun, the photosphere, this
00:17:42 --> 00:17:44 bit that we see is about five and a half
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 thousand degrees. How does the outer
00:17:46 --> 00:17:48 atmosphere get so hot when you've got
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 something relatively cool inside? And
00:17:51 --> 00:17:54 the Parker Solar Probe has revealed that it's
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 almost certainly magnetism that does that.
00:17:56 --> 00:17:59 The transportation of energy via magnetic
00:17:59 --> 00:18:01 fields. You're about to tell me whether it's
00:18:01 --> 00:18:02 still going or not.
00:18:02 --> 00:18:05 Andrew Dunkley: It is, it is actually, uh, um,
00:18:05 --> 00:18:07 it is fully active, it's healthy, it's
00:18:07 --> 00:18:09 operating normally as at early uh,
00:18:09 --> 00:18:12 2026. It's done 26
00:18:12 --> 00:18:15 close approach approaches to the
00:18:15 --> 00:18:18 sun. Um, and that was up
00:18:18 --> 00:18:21 to December of last year. And it
00:18:21 --> 00:18:23 uh, will continue to orbit the Sun. It'll set
00:18:23 --> 00:18:26 speed records while it's doing it. Uh, it's
00:18:26 --> 00:18:28 been doing some extraordinary things. Uh,
00:18:28 --> 00:18:31 what I find extraordinary is that it can
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 survive temperatures around two and a half
00:18:33 --> 00:18:36 thousand degrees Fahrenheit. Um,
00:18:37 --> 00:18:38 that's mighty warm.
00:18:39 --> 00:18:42 Professor Fred Watson: Yep, with a cleverly designed heat
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 shield. I think that's what keeps uh, the
00:18:44 --> 00:18:47 spacecraft cool and lets it continue its
00:18:47 --> 00:18:49 work. It's a very successful mission.
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 Andrew Dunkley: Are there any other probes working out there?
00:18:52 --> 00:18:55 I mean there are observer probes I
00:18:55 --> 00:18:57 believe. They're not designed to go in and
00:18:57 --> 00:19:00 out of the Sun's corona, but they're sort of
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 keeping a close eye on it.
00:19:02 --> 00:19:05 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, that's right. Uh, so the sun's
00:19:05 --> 00:19:08 observed from a uh, safer distance, uh, up
00:19:08 --> 00:19:11 close and Personal uh, compared with where we
00:19:11 --> 00:19:13 are on Earth, uh there's a flotilla of uh,
00:19:14 --> 00:19:17 uh, observatories looking at the various
00:19:17 --> 00:19:19 aspects of the sun. We also now have
00:19:20 --> 00:19:22 um, a very large ground based
00:19:22 --> 00:19:25 telescope that is providing the most
00:19:25 --> 00:19:28 amazing images of the Sun's photosphere.
00:19:28 --> 00:19:30 That's the visible sphere of the sun.
00:19:31 --> 00:19:33 Uh, it's the Daniel K Enoui Solar
00:19:33 --> 00:19:36 Telescope. It's on top of Haleakala on the
00:19:36 --> 00:19:38 island of Maui, uh, in the
00:19:38 --> 00:19:41 Hawaiian uh, islands. Marnie and
00:19:41 --> 00:19:43 I got married in front of it.
00:19:43 --> 00:19:45 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, I remember. Yeah. Ah, um,
00:19:46 --> 00:19:48 they have great names for stuff in Hawaii
00:19:48 --> 00:19:49 don't they?
00:19:49 --> 00:19:50 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah they do.
00:19:52 --> 00:19:54 Andrew Dunkley: Just rolls off the tongue that one. Uh, there
00:19:54 --> 00:19:57 are plenty of probes actually um, Mark
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 that are, that are wandering around the sun.
00:19:59 --> 00:20:02 There's the Solar Orbiter which is a, an ESA
00:20:02 --> 00:20:05 NASA mission, um, taking
00:20:05 --> 00:20:08 high resolution imagery and gathering data
00:20:08 --> 00:20:09 about the Sun. There's another one that was
00:20:09 --> 00:20:12 launched in 2023, uh, an
00:20:12 --> 00:20:15 Indian mission, uh, which is dedicated to
00:20:15 --> 00:20:18 observing the solar corona and it's the
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 Aditya L1 mission
00:20:21 --> 00:20:24 and there's a whole
00:20:24 --> 00:20:26 fleet of uh, probes
00:20:27 --> 00:20:29 that are monitoring the solar winds. So the
00:20:29 --> 00:20:32 Solar Dynamics Observatory, soho, that's a
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 famous one, uh, the STEREO mission
00:20:35 --> 00:20:37 because there are twin satellites doing that.
00:20:37 --> 00:20:40 I think we talked about that one, uh, Hinade,
00:20:40 --> 00:20:42 which is a JAXA mission, the GOES
00:20:42 --> 00:20:45 Solar Ultraviolet Imager and the Advanced
00:20:45 --> 00:20:48 Composition Explorer or ace, um, which
00:20:48 --> 00:20:51 is looking at the solar winds which have been
00:20:51 --> 00:20:53 very busy of late. We've seen some
00:20:54 --> 00:20:56 incredible uh, activity. The Sun's sort of
00:20:56 --> 00:20:59 reaching the end of its most active phase.
00:20:59 --> 00:21:00 Isn't it pretty?
00:21:01 --> 00:21:03 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, it's uh, sort of still at solar maximum
00:21:03 --> 00:21:06 but it gradually uh, dies away uh, to
00:21:06 --> 00:21:07 solar minimum.
00:21:07 --> 00:21:09 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, and from what I understand
00:21:10 --> 00:21:12 you've really only got a short period of time
00:21:12 --> 00:21:15 to enjoy the current
00:21:15 --> 00:21:17 level of activity before things start to ease
00:21:17 --> 00:21:20 off and we um, see less
00:21:21 --> 00:21:23 um, spectacular
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 light shows. Would that be the way to
00:21:26 --> 00:21:26 describe.
00:21:26 --> 00:21:28 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, and certainly as the Sun's activity
00:21:28 --> 00:21:31 declines, the aurora that we see get
00:21:31 --> 00:21:34 further and further away from the equator. If
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 I put it that way, uh, the more active the
00:21:36 --> 00:21:39 sun is, the lower latitude
00:21:39 --> 00:21:40 you can see it at.
00:21:41 --> 00:21:44 Andrew Dunkley: Well um, it's certainly uh, been
00:21:44 --> 00:21:47 spectacular lately. Thanks for the question
00:21:47 --> 00:21:47 mark. M.
00:21:52 --> 00:21:53 Space Nuts.
00:21:53 --> 00:21:55 Uh, our final question, or is it a sermon,
00:21:55 --> 00:21:58 comes from Martin, Sit back, relax,
00:21:58 --> 00:22:00 grab a cup of tea. This is going to take a
00:22:00 --> 00:22:00 while.
00:22:01 --> 00:22:03 Berman Gorvine: Hello, Space Nuts.
00:22:04 --> 00:22:07 Martin Berman Gorvine here, writer
00:22:07 --> 00:22:10 extraordinaire in many genres
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13 with a question for
00:22:13 --> 00:22:16 my m. Work in progress. Um,
00:22:16 --> 00:22:18 my science Fiction novel
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 involving a certain
00:22:21 --> 00:22:24 unpleasant, very rich dude
00:22:24 --> 00:22:26 called Egon Rusk,
00:22:27 --> 00:22:30 who wishes to see
00:22:30 --> 00:22:33 the stars with what he imagines
00:22:33 --> 00:22:36 is the master race, and comes
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38 to a rather unfortunate end.
00:22:39 --> 00:22:39 Andrew Dunkley: Um.
00:22:41 --> 00:22:43 Berman Gorvine: As I've been writing this,
00:22:45 --> 00:22:47 uh, their supposed
00:22:47 --> 00:22:49 destination is Trappist
00:22:50 --> 00:22:52 1E. Now,
00:22:54 --> 00:22:57 Professor John T. Horner mentioned on a
00:22:57 --> 00:22:59 recent podcast that
00:23:00 --> 00:23:03 all the planets in the Trappist 1
00:23:03 --> 00:23:06 system lack an atmosphere.
00:23:07 --> 00:23:10 So I was very concerned about that because,
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13 uh, I don't want my characters all choking
00:23:13 --> 00:23:16 and dying. So I
00:23:16 --> 00:23:19 had a look, and it seems, according
00:23:19 --> 00:23:21 to NASA, that it's
00:23:21 --> 00:23:23 Trappist1d,
00:23:24 --> 00:23:27 uh, as in David, that has been
00:23:27 --> 00:23:30 shown to lack an atmosphere. But they're
00:23:30 --> 00:23:32 still trying to figure out whether
00:23:32 --> 00:23:35 Trappist1e has one or
00:23:35 --> 00:23:38 not. Um, in any case,
00:23:39 --> 00:23:41 I was just wondering if there are any
00:23:41 --> 00:23:42 other.
00:23:44 --> 00:23:44 Professor Fred Watson: Uh.
00:23:44 --> 00:23:47 Berman Gorvine: Stars with
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 exoplanets within, say,
00:23:50 --> 00:23:53 20, 30, 40 light years of Earth
00:23:53 --> 00:23:56 that might conceivably be
00:23:56 --> 00:23:59 roughly the mass of Earth and might
00:23:59 --> 00:24:02 conceivably have a breathable
00:24:02 --> 00:24:04 atmosphere. I mean, this is all
00:24:06 --> 00:24:08 kind of off the wall satirical, uh,
00:24:09 --> 00:24:12 sci fi, so it doesn't matter that much. But I
00:24:12 --> 00:24:15 was just wondering about your thoughts. And
00:24:15 --> 00:24:16 I don't mean to,
00:24:18 --> 00:24:20 uh, disparage Professor
00:24:20 --> 00:24:22 Horner, um,
00:24:23 --> 00:24:26 but I just suspect that he did
00:24:26 --> 00:24:29 see that Trappist1d
00:24:29 --> 00:24:32 lacks an atmosphere and sort of thought,
00:24:32 --> 00:24:35 well, maybe that's all the planets in
00:24:35 --> 00:24:37 that system. And also
00:24:38 --> 00:24:41 I, um, would like to conclude by
00:24:41 --> 00:24:44 reading a poem that I've
00:24:44 --> 00:24:46 just written that is a riff on,
00:24:49 --> 00:24:52 uh, Robert Frost's famous, uh, Fire
00:24:52 --> 00:24:55 and Ice about the back and
00:24:55 --> 00:24:58 forth debate over the Big Bang
00:24:58 --> 00:25:01 versus the Big Crunch, also known as
00:25:01 --> 00:25:03 the Gnab Gib, although I don't love that
00:25:03 --> 00:25:06 term because it sort of sounds like a lost
00:25:06 --> 00:25:09 Bee Gee. So,
00:25:09 --> 00:25:12 um, swell or
00:25:12 --> 00:25:14 crunch, Some think
00:25:14 --> 00:25:16 the cosmos swells for I.
00:25:17 --> 00:25:20 Some see a crunch of aging
00:25:20 --> 00:25:23 bones, I know and sigh. So might
00:25:23 --> 00:25:26 the cold get worse for I. But
00:25:26 --> 00:25:29 pressure hits you like a punch. You feel
00:25:29 --> 00:25:32 your skin begin to burn. And
00:25:32 --> 00:25:35 so I have a dreadful hunch
00:25:35 --> 00:25:38 we may all learn we must all
00:25:38 --> 00:25:40 bunch. Berman
00:25:40 --> 00:25:43 Gourvine over and out.
00:25:44 --> 00:25:47 Andrew Dunkley: Never leaves you wondering. Martin,
00:25:48 --> 00:25:49 thanks for the question.
00:25:50 --> 00:25:52 Um, I'm going to go first here, Fred, because
00:25:52 --> 00:25:55 only this morning, by coincidence, did I read
00:25:55 --> 00:25:57 a story. And it's a little bit of an eye
00:25:57 --> 00:25:59 irony in this because it comes from the
00:25:59 --> 00:26:01 University of Southern Queensland where
00:26:01 --> 00:26:03 Professor Jonti Horner works.
00:26:04 --> 00:26:07 And it's. This has been published on the
00:26:07 --> 00:26:09 abc, uh, science website. Uh,
00:26:10 --> 00:26:12 so it basically says that the, that
00:26:12 --> 00:26:14 astronomers at the University of Southern
00:26:14 --> 00:26:17 Queensland have discovered a
00:26:17 --> 00:26:19 potential candidate for an Earth sized
00:26:19 --> 00:26:21 planet. It's planet um, HD
00:26:21 --> 00:26:24 137030 b.
00:26:25 --> 00:26:26 It's a bit further away than Martin would
00:26:26 --> 00:26:29 like, 150 light years from Earth, but it
00:26:29 --> 00:26:32 orbits a sun like star and
00:26:32 --> 00:26:34 they're referring to it as a planet
00:26:34 --> 00:26:37 candidate. Um, the paper
00:26:37 --> 00:26:40 needs uh, one more observation to
00:26:40 --> 00:26:42 confirm the uh, status of planet.
00:26:43 --> 00:26:45 But this one is only
00:26:45 --> 00:26:47 slightly bigger than Earth. If it is
00:26:48 --> 00:26:51 indeed um, a planet. I
00:26:51 --> 00:26:54 think they think so. Uh,
00:26:55 --> 00:26:57 almost Earth sized planet orbiting
00:26:58 --> 00:27:00 a sun like star. Sounds like it's got
00:27:00 --> 00:27:03 some potential there. Coming out of the
00:27:03 --> 00:27:04 University of Southern Queensland. So that's
00:27:04 --> 00:27:07 ah, interesting news. Very interesting timing
00:27:07 --> 00:27:10 based on um, receiving Martin's question
00:27:10 --> 00:27:13 um, just before the publication of that
00:27:13 --> 00:27:13 story.
00:27:14 --> 00:27:17 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, um, and uh, Luke Martin's as
00:27:17 --> 00:27:20 capable as I am of looking all these up.
00:27:20 --> 00:27:23 Uh, the Wikipedia list of nearest terrestrial
00:27:23 --> 00:27:26 exoplanet candidates is probably the neatest
00:27:26 --> 00:27:28 source to go to because it gives references
00:27:28 --> 00:27:30 to a lot of the original papers of these
00:27:32 --> 00:27:35 in which the planets are described. Uh, um,
00:27:35 --> 00:27:37 it's uh, ah currently got,
00:27:38 --> 00:27:41 this is uh ones uh, within
00:27:41 --> 00:27:44 50 light years, uh, I put in when
00:27:44 --> 00:27:46 I went through the search, 34
00:27:46 --> 00:27:49 exoplanets, 11 of which probably lie
00:27:49 --> 00:27:52 inside the star's habitable zone. It's a bit
00:27:52 --> 00:27:55 more difficult to ah, as Martin was
00:27:55 --> 00:27:58 um, kind of hinting there, it's a bit more
00:27:58 --> 00:28:01 difficult to confirm the atmosphere
00:28:01 --> 00:28:04 uh, of an exoplanet
00:28:04 --> 00:28:06 because what you're trying to do
00:28:07 --> 00:28:10 is um, most of these are discovered by the
00:28:10 --> 00:28:12 transit method. You know planets that go in
00:28:12 --> 00:28:14 front of their parent star, they dim the
00:28:14 --> 00:28:17 light slightly uh, as they pass in
00:28:17 --> 00:28:18 front of the parent star and you can measure
00:28:18 --> 00:28:21 that dimming. Uh but you can also um,
00:28:22 --> 00:28:25 if you've got very top line equipment
00:28:25 --> 00:28:28 like the Webb telescope, uh, you can also
00:28:28 --> 00:28:31 look at the spectrum uh change in the star as
00:28:31 --> 00:28:33 the planet passes in front of it. And if that
00:28:33 --> 00:28:35 spectrum changes then uh, you can
00:28:35 --> 00:28:38 be sure that the planet has an atmosphere and
00:28:38 --> 00:28:41 you can actually see what gases are ah,
00:28:41 --> 00:28:44 actually present in the atmosphere. So um,
00:28:44 --> 00:28:46 that's a much more difficult observation and
00:28:46 --> 00:28:48 I think that's why uh, it's a bit of a
00:28:48 --> 00:28:50 struggle for Martin to find, to apply,
00:28:50 --> 00:28:53 identify with certainty uh, which of these
00:28:53 --> 00:28:56 exoplanets might have an atmosphere. I might
00:28:56 --> 00:28:58 leave him to that and remind him that since
00:28:58 --> 00:29:00 he's writing fiction he can do anything like
00:29:00 --> 00:29:03 with these planets, anything he wants.
00:29:04 --> 00:29:07 Andrew Dunkley: I'm um, well into my trilogy Fred. I've
00:29:07 --> 00:29:09 written uh, the first book and I'm six
00:29:09 --> 00:29:12 chapters into the second book. And still,
00:29:12 --> 00:29:15 the ideas are still coming. I'm wondering
00:29:15 --> 00:29:17 when I'll hit the brick wall. But yeah, it's,
00:29:17 --> 00:29:19 it's going well at the moment. I'm enjoying
00:29:19 --> 00:29:21 it. So I'm not going to give anything.
00:29:21 --> 00:29:23 Professor Fred Watson: Away, but m. You're making it up as you go
00:29:23 --> 00:29:23 along.
00:29:23 --> 00:29:26 Andrew Dunkley: Um, that's exactly how I'm doing it.
00:29:27 --> 00:29:28 I'll get to the next chapter and go, okay,
00:29:28 --> 00:29:30 where do I want this to go? And I just let my
00:29:30 --> 00:29:33 imagination run wild. So, um, that's
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35 how I've always written. I don't, you know,
00:29:35 --> 00:29:38 started at school doing it that way when I
00:29:38 --> 00:29:39 won a composition contest.
00:29:39 --> 00:29:40 Professor Fred Watson: Very good.
00:29:40 --> 00:29:43 Andrew Dunkley: And that was that. Um, so,
00:29:43 --> 00:29:45 yeah, we, we covered Martin's question. Great
00:29:45 --> 00:29:48 poetry, by the way. The Big Crunch. Yeah,
00:29:48 --> 00:29:50 nice work. Thanks, Martin. Good to hear from
00:29:50 --> 00:29:52 you, as always. If you'd like to send
00:29:52 --> 00:29:54 questions into us, you can do so on our
00:29:54 --> 00:29:57 website, spacenutspodcast.com spacenuts
00:29:57 --> 00:30:00 IO choose your URL wisely
00:30:01 --> 00:30:03 and just click the, uh, AMA button,
00:30:03 --> 00:30:06 which stands for Ask me anything.
00:30:06 --> 00:30:08 And that's what we're all about. And don't
00:30:08 --> 00:30:10 forget to tell us who you are or where you're
00:30:10 --> 00:30:12 from. You can send text or audio questions,
00:30:13 --> 00:30:14 uh, and plenty of other things to see and do
00:30:14 --> 00:30:16 on our website as well. Well, uh, one thing
00:30:16 --> 00:30:18 we do ask is if you, um. It doesn't matter
00:30:18 --> 00:30:20 what platform you're on, whether it's
00:30:20 --> 00:30:23 YouTube Music or Spreaker or, uh, Apple
00:30:23 --> 00:30:25 Podcasts, please leave a review.
00:30:26 --> 00:30:28 Uh, the more the merrier. Uh, they do help,
00:30:28 --> 00:30:31 apparently, to, um, find more
00:30:31 --> 00:30:33 listeners, and that's what we'd like to do.
00:30:33 --> 00:30:36 So if you could leave a review for us, we
00:30:36 --> 00:30:39 would, uh, appreciate it greatly. And thank
00:30:39 --> 00:30:41 you, Fred, as always. It's been great fun.
00:30:41 --> 00:30:44 Professor Fred Watson: Um, it's good fun or else we wouldn't do it.
00:30:44 --> 00:30:46 Andrew Dunkley: That's absolutely true. We're not doing it
00:30:46 --> 00:30:49 for the money. Um, no.
00:30:49 --> 00:30:51 Thanks, Fred. We'll see you next week.
00:30:52 --> 00:30:54 Professor, uh, Fred Watson, astronomer at
00:30:54 --> 00:30:56 large. And thanks to Huw in the studio, who
00:30:56 --> 00:30:58 couldn't be with us today because he's
00:30:58 --> 00:31:00 actually put his hand up from Mission to the
00:31:00 --> 00:31:03 sun because it's a lot cooler there than it
00:31:03 --> 00:31:05 is in Australia at the moment. Can't blame
00:31:05 --> 00:31:07 him for that. And from me, Andrew Dunkley.
00:31:07 --> 00:31:08 Thanks for your company. We'll catch you on
00:31:08 --> 00:31:10 the next episode of Space Nuts.
00:31:10 --> 00:31:10 Berman Gorvine: Bye.
00:31:10 --> 00:31:13 Andrew Dunkley: Bye. You'll be listening to the
00:31:13 --> 00:31:14 Space Nuts podcast,
00:31:16 --> 00:31:19 available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
00:31:19 --> 00:31:22 iHeartRadio or your favorite podcast
00:31:22 --> 00:31:24 player. You can also stream On Demand at
00:31:24 --> 00:31:25 Bytes.
00:31:25 --> 00:31:25 Professor Fred Watson: Com.
00:31:25 --> 00:31:27 Andrew Dunkley: This has been another quality podcast
00:31:27 --> 00:31:29 production from Bytes.
00:31:29 --> 00:31:29 Professor Fred Watson: Com.
00:31:29 --> 00:31:31 Berman Gorvine: Um.