In this listener Q&A episode of Space Nuts, Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson tackle a curious collection of cosmic questions. They explain why a crescent Moon can appear alongside the Sun in the morning sky, then explore the Great Attractor: the enormous concentration of galaxy clusters influencing the motion of our Local Group. The conversation turns to a lingering classification puzzle — what exactly makes a moon a moon, and should it have to clear its orbit? Finally, they imagine the view from a rocky world with rings, considering how the rings might look through the seasons, how sunlight would filter through them and what spectacular shadows or eclipses might occur. Join Andrew and Fred Watson for astronomy, imagination and the occasional tractor joke.
Key topics
- Why the Sun and a crescent Moon can be visible together in the morning sky.
- The Great Attractor, the Zone of Avoidance and the Laniakea Supercluster.
- Whether moons need to be spherical or clear their orbits, and the case of Pluto and Charon.
- What a ringed planet might look like from its surface, including seasonal changes, shadows and eclipses.
Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction and overview of listener questions
01:20 - Why the Sun and crescent Moon can appear together in the morning
06:00 - Moon phases and how sunlight illuminates the Moon
09:30 - Paul’s question about the Great Attractor
11:00 - The Zone of Avoidance and the Laniakea Supercluster
16:00 - What defines a moon, and should it clear its orbit?
20:00 - Binary planets, Pluto and Charon
23:00 - What it might look like to stand beneath a planet’s rings
26:00 - Seasonal ring illumination, shadows and possible eclipses
30:00 - Listener feedback, updates and closing remarks
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Andrew Dunkley: G'. Day. Thanks for joining us again on Space
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 Nuts. My name is Andrew Dunkley, your host.
00:00:04 --> 00:00:05 I, uh, hope you're well.
00:00:06 --> 00:00:08 Coming up in a Q and A episode, we're going
00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 to be looking at the sun and the
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 moon. Uh, a little bit of confusion going on
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 there. It's all about the angles, I
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 think. Uh, we're also going to, uh,
00:00:19 --> 00:00:21 see if we can tackle a question about the
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 Great Attractor. Uh, is it John
00:00:23 --> 00:00:26 Deere or Massey Ferguson? Oh, I don't know.
00:00:27 --> 00:00:29 Uh, we're also, um, we've had
00:00:29 --> 00:00:31 this question question before, but I think
00:00:31 --> 00:00:33 this is sort of a follow up question on
00:00:33 --> 00:00:36 redefining a moon. What, you know,
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 what defines a moon? And what do you take
00:00:39 --> 00:00:41 into account to define a moon?
00:00:41 --> 00:00:44 And finally, uh, an interesting question from
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 someone who has a friend who's writing a
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 graphic novel which is also science fiction
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 and it's set on a planet that's got rings.
00:00:51 --> 00:00:54 And she's wondering about the rings. What do
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 you see when you're standing on the planet
00:00:56 --> 00:00:57 looking up at them and how do they act and
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 what do they do? And uh, can you put it on
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 your finger and is it worth anything? That's
00:01:01 --> 00:01:04 all coming up on this edition of space
00:01:04 --> 00:01:05 nuts.
00:01:05 --> 00:01:06 Generic: 15 seconds.
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 Guidance is internal. 10,
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 9. Ignition sequence start.
00:01:11 --> 00:01:12 Generic: Space nuts. 5,
00:01:12 --> 00:01:15 Generic: 4, 3. 2. 1, 2, 3, 4,
00:01:15 --> 00:01:18 Generic: 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Space
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 Generic: nuts. Astronauts report it feels good.
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 Andrew Dunkley: Joining us again as he thunders away on
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 his keyboard to try and answer all these
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 questions because he's so well prepared is
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 Professor Fred Watson Watson, astronomer lad.
00:01:30 --> 00:01:31 Hello, Fred Watson.
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 Professor Fred Watson: I'm just writing the email I should have sent
00:01:33 --> 00:01:34 before we, uh, started.
00:01:36 --> 00:01:36 Yes,
00:01:36 --> 00:01:38 Andrew Dunkley: uh, I can wait.
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 Professor Fred Watson: It's okay. It's fine.
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 Andrew Dunkley: It's only 500 words. Um,
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 shall we get straight into it and see if we
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 can solve some of these puzzles from people?
00:01:48 --> 00:01:49 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, yeah. I think
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 Andrew Dunkley: Justin has sent in a question. I don't know
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 where Justin's from. Um, probably from his
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 house. Uh, I was at work the other morning
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 and the sun and the moon were both in the
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 eastern sky, yet it was a
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 crescent moon, the same moon as the night
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 before. How is this possible?
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 That's a good question because I've often
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 wondered the same thing. I'll look up and go,
00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 hang on a minute. Moon's
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 there, sun's there. It
00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 doesn't look right. I know
00:02:21 --> 00:02:22 where he's coming from. I don't know the
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 answer. I think it's got everything to do
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 with angles and distances and that
00:02:28 --> 00:02:28 sort of.
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 Professor Fred Watson: It does. It's actually got a little bit More
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 than that, I don't know where Justin is.
00:02:33 --> 00:02:34 Um,
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 Andrew Dunkley: he's on Earth, for
00:02:36 --> 00:02:37 starters.
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 Professor Fred Watson: So he's on Earth, so that narrows it down
00:02:39 --> 00:02:39 quite a bit.
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 Andrew Dunkley: I'm going to guess Northern Hemisphere,
00:02:41 --> 00:02:42 although, um,
00:02:43 --> 00:02:44 Professor Fred Watson: yeah, I've
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 Andrew Dunkley: got a 50 chance of being right. Actually,
00:02:46 --> 00:02:47 it's more than that because more people live
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 in the Northern hemisphere.
00:02:49 --> 00:02:51 Professor Fred Watson: Yes, that's right. Um, and it
00:02:51 --> 00:02:54 depends a bit on your latitude as well. Uh,
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 but so let me answer that as if Justin's
00:02:57 --> 00:02:59 in Australia, um, because
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 one of the things I was going to say was we
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 have pretty clear skies. We have very high
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 atmospheric transparency here, and that
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 helps in this sort of situation.
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 Um, so, uh, yeah, so what you're looking
00:03:13 --> 00:03:15 at is, uh, after
00:03:15 --> 00:03:18 sunset, um, when the Moon is
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 in its crescent phase, the sun goes down,
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 uh, and the crescent Moon is very
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 obvious, um, basically
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 in the western sky, and it follows the sun
00:03:30 --> 00:03:33 down. Uh, as the sun sets, the moon
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 sets not very long afterwards. So,
00:03:36 --> 00:03:39 um, in the morning, it's the same sort
00:03:39 --> 00:03:41 of thing, but in reverse. The sun rises,
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 but the crescent Moon is still about the same
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 angular distance from the sun.
00:03:48 --> 00:03:50 Uh, you know, you can say, well, if it was,
00:03:50 --> 00:03:53 for example, 45 degrees or 40 degrees or
00:03:53 --> 00:03:56 something like that, um, it would be still
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 about that little bit more, perhaps. Um,
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 or. I beg your pardon, a little bit, uh,
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 yeah, a little bit more. Um, as
00:04:04 --> 00:04:05 it, uh,
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 because you're talking about a new moon, uh,
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 the crescent moon is going to swell to become
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 a first quarter moon, and that means its
00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 distance from the sun is getting bigger in
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 angular terms. So forget about that bit. But
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 the bottom line is it's not that much
00:04:20 --> 00:04:23 different, uh, in the morning sky. So
00:04:23 --> 00:04:26 what happens is the sun rises and then
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 the moon rises after it. If it's, say, 40
00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 degrees away, it will rise later.
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 Uh, and so you'll be able to see the two of
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 them in the sky looking very similar to what
00:04:37 --> 00:04:38 they looked the previous night, except
00:04:38 --> 00:04:41 they're the other way around. The sun's
00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 higher in the sky than the moon is. And then
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 as the two of them progress their way through
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 the sky during the day, the sun eventually
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 will set and the Moon, the crescent moon,
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 will follow it. That's the
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 answer. I'm not sure whether I've, uh,
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 expressed it very well, but that's the bottom
00:04:56 --> 00:04:57 line.
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 Andrew Dunkley: No, I get that. Um, but again,
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 I still struggle to get my head around
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 the light source that's illuminating the
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 Moon. And the way it looks to us from our
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 perspective sometimes just
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 doesn't make sense to me. And I think
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 that's where Justin was coming from too. I
00:05:21 --> 00:05:21 just,
00:05:22 --> 00:05:22 Professor Fred Watson: yeah,
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 Andrew Dunkley: I try to, try to understand, try to think in
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 my mind, okay, where is the sun right now and
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 why? Yeah, sometimes it's obvious. Other
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 times I think that just doesn't seem right.
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 Professor Fred Watson: M. I think it's probably most obvious when
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 it's at first or last quarter because then
00:05:39 --> 00:05:40 it's basically half.
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 Half the moon is always being illuminated.
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 What changes is how much of that half moon we
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 can see. Uh, and at new moon you can't see
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 any of it because it's all on the sunward
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 side, uh, of the moon.
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 Uh, but as the moon moves through its orbit,
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 you see more and more of the illuminated side
00:06:01 --> 00:06:02 till it's a half moon and then it turns into
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 a gibbous moon. More than a half moon, uh,
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 as it sort of goes around in its orbit. Um,
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 in some ways it's maybe best
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 illustrated by, by a model. Um,
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 and often people hold up a tennis ball and
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 sort of show how, how it's lit up by a lamp
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 or the sun or whatever. And you can sort of
00:06:21 --> 00:06:24 imagine how the phases change as we
00:06:24 --> 00:06:25 see the moon.
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 Andrew Dunkley: Gibbous moon. Where did that name come from?
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 Professor Fred Watson: Gibbous means, uh, fat.
00:06:31 --> 00:06:32 Andrew Dunkley: Oh,
00:06:33 --> 00:06:33 Professor Fred Watson: yep,
00:06:33 --> 00:06:34 Andrew Dunkley: right.
00:06:34 --> 00:06:35 Professor Fred Watson: That's where it came from.
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 Andrew Dunkley: I saw a gibbons moon once at the zoo. It
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 wasn't pretty. Anyway.
00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 Professor Fred Watson: Gibbon's moon is just a bit different from a
00:06:43 --> 00:06:43 gibbous moon.
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 Andrew Dunkley: Ye, definitely not pretty at all.
00:06:47 --> 00:06:49 Hope, uh, that answered your question,
00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 Justin. And thanks for sending us in.
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 Sending it into us is what I meant to say.
00:06:54 --> 00:06:57 Um, this is Space Nuts with Andrew
00:06:57 --> 00:06:58 Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson Watson.
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 We'll go straight on to our next question.
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 It's an audio question. M this one comes from
00:07:02 --> 00:07:03 Paul.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 Paul: Hello there. My name is Paul and I'm from
00:07:06 --> 00:07:09 Salt Lake City, Utah. Been listening to the
00:07:09 --> 00:07:12 show for as long as it's been out.
00:07:12 --> 00:07:15 The one thing that I don't hear often on the
00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 show and would love an explanation on
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 is the Great Attractor. Is there
00:07:21 --> 00:07:24 anything in particular that we do know about
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 it? If so, what is it?
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 I love the show so much, Mr.
00:07:30 --> 00:07:32 Dunkley. Professor Fred Watson Watson,
00:07:32 --> 00:07:35 astronomer at large. What do you care? So
00:07:35 --> 00:07:38 much. Thank you for taking the time. Bye bye.
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 Andrew Dunkley: Thank you, Paul. Hope all is well in Utah as
00:07:41 --> 00:07:44 things start to freeze over. I think it's uh,
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 a. It's a pretty cold state that one, isn't
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 it? Utah in, in the winter. Just about
00:07:48 --> 00:07:50 everything's cold in the northern hemisphere
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 in, in winter. On our recent trip
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 to the the Balkans, it's going
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 into, um, into winter. They're in mid autumn
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 at the moment. And, um, yeah, we had a couple
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 of pretty chilly days and I noticed snow
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 already on the mountains in, in
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 Bulgaria, so. Yeah, but we
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 were ready for it. No, we weren't. We're
00:08:11 --> 00:08:14 Australian. We hate the cold. Um, the
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 Great Attractor. I can tell you, Paul, that
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 it's great and it's an attractor, and that's
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 about as much as. I know.
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 Professor Fred Watson: I thought it was the John Deere or the
00:08:23 --> 00:08:24 massive Massey
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 Andrew Dunkley: Ferguson. Yeah, the John Deere, I think.
00:08:27 --> 00:08:27 Yeah.
00:08:28 --> 00:08:29 Professor Fred Watson: So what is it?
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 It's. It's something that, um, it goes back
00:08:32 --> 00:08:35 to, I guess, the 1980s, when
00:08:35 --> 00:08:38 people first started, uh,
00:08:38 --> 00:08:40 looking at the Great Attractor.
00:08:40 --> 00:08:42 Um, uh,
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 it's basically,
00:08:46 --> 00:08:48 um, uh, something
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 massive in the universe,
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 in our local universe, not very far away,
00:08:53 --> 00:08:56 maybe 250 million light years away. And that
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 in galactic terms is relatively
00:08:59 --> 00:09:02 close by. Um, and it
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 basically pulls on our
00:09:05 --> 00:09:08 galaxy and our companion galaxies, which
00:09:08 --> 00:09:11 are known as the Local Group. So, uh,
00:09:11 --> 00:09:14 we are heading to the Great
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 Attractor at, uh, a speed in the region
00:09:17 --> 00:09:20 of 600 kilometres per second. It's pulling us
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 towards it. Uh, now we
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 will actually never get there because
00:09:25 --> 00:09:28 eventually the expansion
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 of the universe will overcome that. 600
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 kilometres per per second.
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 Andrew Dunkley: I thought of that just as you said it.
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah. So that. So the
00:09:36 --> 00:09:36 Andrew Dunkley: most. I did.
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 Professor Fred Watson: Oh, good. Yeah, you should
00:09:40 --> 00:09:40 have said it.
00:09:41 --> 00:09:42 Andrew Dunkley: No, I knew you would.
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah. So it's never gonna.
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 There's never going to be a collision.
00:09:48 --> 00:09:51 Um, the reason why it's mysterious is
00:09:51 --> 00:09:53 its direction. It's in the plane of the
00:09:53 --> 00:09:55 Milky Way, what we call the zone of
00:09:55 --> 00:09:58 avoidance. That, uh, goes back before we knew
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 that galaxies were galaxies. The zone of
00:10:00 --> 00:10:02 avoidance was the region around the Milky Way
00:10:02 --> 00:10:04 where you don't see any galaxies. And that's
00:10:04 --> 00:10:07 because the dust in the Milky Way blocks our
00:10:07 --> 00:10:09 view towards them. So,
00:10:09 --> 00:10:12 um, um, it's in the plane of the Milky
00:10:12 --> 00:10:14 Way. That means we're sort of. If you think
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 of, uh, our sun and planets
00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 sitting in the disc, the spiral disc of the
00:10:19 --> 00:10:22 Milky Way, and then imagine looking at
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 something that's on the other side of that
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 disc, which is what the Great Attractor is,
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 you realise that you're never going to see
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 it. With visible light telescopes you can.
00:10:31 --> 00:10:34 With radio telescopes, though, and, uh,
00:10:34 --> 00:10:36 and infrared telescopes, you can penetrate
00:10:36 --> 00:10:39 some of this dust. So, uh, what we
00:10:39 --> 00:10:42 know is that there is a
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 huge amount of
00:10:45 --> 00:10:48 solar mass there. Um,
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 it'll be both visible and dark matter, which
00:10:51 --> 00:10:54 is probably not one, but
00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 a whole lot of cluster of
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 Clusters of galaxies. And sometimes
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 it's called a supercluster when you've got a
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 cluster of clusters. Uh, and in fact,
00:11:05 --> 00:11:08 this particular one has a name, even though
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 we can't see most of it because it's in the
00:11:10 --> 00:11:11 zone of avoidance.
00:11:11 --> 00:11:14 Uh, it's called the Laniakea
00:11:14 --> 00:11:17 Supercluster. Um, and it's
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 basically pulling our, uh, Milky Way
00:11:20 --> 00:11:23 and many, many other galaxies, uh,
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26 in our Local Group and others towards it,
00:11:27 --> 00:11:29 um, towards the Great Attractor, which is how
00:11:29 --> 00:11:31 it got its name. But as I said, we'll never
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 collide with it because the expansion of the
00:11:33 --> 00:11:35 universe will eventually overcome that,
00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 um, mad dash towards each other. Uh,
00:11:39 --> 00:11:42 so, yeah, so people are still, um, using,
00:11:42 --> 00:11:45 well, x ray telescopes, uh, radio and
00:11:45 --> 00:11:48 infrared surveys, as I mentioned before, to
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 look at the structures, um, which
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 exist within this. And we can identify
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 not just the Great Attractor itself, but the,
00:11:57 --> 00:12:00 the clusters of galaxies that sit within it.
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02 Because the Great Attractor is a cluster of
00:12:02 --> 00:12:04 clusters. And so we can see these
00:12:04 --> 00:12:07 individual clusters now. Um,
00:12:07 --> 00:12:10 it's. Yes, it's really quite remarkable that
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 this object is there.
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 We don't talk about it that much because
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 there's just a few scientists who are
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 studying that cluster of clusters.
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 But, um, it's not anything that in
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 a. You know, it's not one of the big
00:12:26 --> 00:12:27 mysteries of the universe, if I can put it
00:12:27 --> 00:12:30 that way. Which is why Space Nuts doesn't
00:12:30 --> 00:12:31 talk about it all that often.
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 Andrew Dunkley: Although we have, we have, we have done a
00:12:34 --> 00:12:35 couple of times in the past.
00:12:37 --> 00:12:40 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, there's a number of YouTube
00:12:40 --> 00:12:42 videos, um, that talk about it.
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 So, um, you know, Paul might usefully
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 get online and just have a look at some of
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 these YouTube videos that will probably give
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52 you a much more succinct, uh, answer
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 than the adequate one that you've just had.
00:12:54 --> 00:12:54 Ah.
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 Andrew Dunkley: Or. Or Paul can
00:12:57 --> 00:12:59 go to where I've just gone
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 Amazon.com and he can
00:13:01 --> 00:13:04 buy a copy of the Great Book of Tractors,
00:13:06 --> 00:13:08 which, which includes
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 John Deere, Caterpillar, Massey Ferguson
00:13:11 --> 00:13:14 International. I'm not joking.
00:13:14 --> 00:13:15 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah,
00:13:15 --> 00:13:17 Andrew Dunkley: I'm not joking. There is such a book.
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 So, um, that might not answer his question,
00:13:22 --> 00:13:24 but at least he'd know which. And, you know,
00:13:24 --> 00:13:27 they have a Tractor of the Month thing
00:13:27 --> 00:13:30 as well. And this greater tractor
00:13:30 --> 00:13:31 has never won that.
00:13:31 --> 00:13:33 Professor Fred Watson: No, we should have a greater Tractor of the
00:13:33 --> 00:13:34 Month, really.
00:13:34 --> 00:13:35 Andrew Dunkley: Yes, we should.
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 Professor Fred Watson: Uh, in Astronomy.
00:13:37 --> 00:13:37 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah.
00:13:37 --> 00:13:38 Professor Fred Watson: Yep,
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 Andrew Dunkley: there it is. Um, thank you, Paul. Great
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 question. Lovely to hear from you. Hope you
00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 can stay warm in Utah in the coming months.
00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 This is Space Nuts with Andrew Dunkley
00:13:48 --> 00:13:49 and Professor Fred Watson Watson.
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 Speaker G: I believe that this nation should commit
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 itself to achieving the goal
00:13:56 --> 00:13:59 before this decade is out, of landing a
00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 man on the moon and returning him safely to
00:14:01 --> 00:14:03 the Earth. These nuts.
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 Andrew Dunkley: I'm actually so glad that Paul asked that
00:14:06 --> 00:14:09 question because it's been way too long since
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 I did the Great Attractor joke and I,
00:14:12 --> 00:14:13 I really love that one.
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 Yeah. Our next question, Fred Watson,
00:14:16 --> 00:14:19 comes from Bob. Um, you put
00:14:19 --> 00:14:21 no limit on the size of a moon.
00:14:22 --> 00:14:25 Considering the billions to trillions of
00:14:25 --> 00:14:28 Saturn's ring particles, do we
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 need to add has cleared its
00:14:30 --> 00:14:33 orbit to our definition of a
00:14:33 --> 00:14:36 moon. Now, we've had a few questions
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 recently, and maybe Bob asked one before
00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 about defining a moon when, you know, when
00:14:41 --> 00:14:44 does a moon become a moon by our definition?
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 Uh, and now he's sort of another little
00:14:46 --> 00:14:48 tricky point to throw into the mix.
00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 Professor Fred Watson: Um, yeah, except that there are
00:14:52 --> 00:14:55 objects which we definitely accept as moons
00:14:55 --> 00:14:58 which are embedded in the, in the rings
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 of Saturn. M so, and in fact,
00:15:01 --> 00:15:04 to some extent shepherd the rings of Saturn,
00:15:04 --> 00:15:06 if I can put it that way, gravitationally
00:15:06 --> 00:15:08 keep them in the right spot. Um, so,
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 uh, I do like the idea though, Bob's idea,
00:15:11 --> 00:15:14 which comes from our, ah, definition of a
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 planet. A planet is an object that's orbiting
00:15:16 --> 00:15:18 the, um, sun. In the case of solar system
00:15:18 --> 00:15:21 planets, it's orbiting the sun. It's big
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 enough for its own gravity to pull it into a
00:15:23 --> 00:15:25 spherical shape and it's cleared
00:15:25 --> 00:15:28 the area around it of
00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 debris. So it's become the most
00:15:30 --> 00:15:33 gravitationally dominant object within
00:15:33 --> 00:15:36 that region. And I don't think you can
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 say that about the little moons
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 of Saturn that are embedded in the rings,
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 even though they probably are the most
00:15:43 --> 00:15:45 dominant gravitational objects, because they
00:15:45 --> 00:15:48 do shepherd the rings. Um, but it's a
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 good point. You know, it's embarrassing that
00:15:50 --> 00:15:53 we don't have a lower limit, uh,
00:15:53 --> 00:15:56 for, for what,
00:15:56 --> 00:15:57 what counts as a moon.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 Andrew Dunkley: In which case you could question the
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04 authenticity of Phobos and
00:16:04 --> 00:16:05 Demos. Maybe.
00:16:06 --> 00:16:09 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, well, um, maybe
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 Andrew Dunkley: we find out, as we spoke about it in the last
00:16:11 --> 00:16:14 episode, if we find out with this new
00:16:14 --> 00:16:16 mission that
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 they're asteroids.
00:16:20 --> 00:16:21 Professor Fred Watson: That's right. Captured asteroids.
00:16:22 --> 00:16:23 Um, yes.
00:16:25 --> 00:16:28 Look, it's, it's,
00:16:28 --> 00:16:30 it's, you know,
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 basically it's a, it's a, it's an open
00:16:34 --> 00:16:37 question. Um, I'm just looking at a nice
00:16:37 --> 00:16:39 little piece here from the National Air and
00:16:39 --> 00:16:42 Space Museum. What makes a moon a moon? A
00:16:42 --> 00:16:43 moon is a planetary body that goes around
00:16:43 --> 00:16:46 another planetary body. Usually this is one,
00:16:46 --> 00:16:48 or usually this is one or more moons going
00:16:48 --> 00:16:50 around a planet. But it doesn't have to be a
00:16:50 --> 00:16:53 planet. But once again, nobody
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 bothers defining, uh, what a
00:16:55 --> 00:16:58 small. You know, what the size limit is.
00:16:58 --> 00:16:59 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah.
00:17:00 --> 00:17:02 Professor Fred Watson: So, yeah, interesting stuff. We, we need to
00:17:02 --> 00:17:03 get that sorted out, I think. But
00:17:03 --> 00:17:06 Andrew Dunkley: we don't put a size limit on planets, do we?
00:17:07 --> 00:17:10 Professor Fred Watson: No, we don't. Uh, in terms of, uh.
00:17:10 --> 00:17:13 Yes. So m. Like. Yeah, exactly. So Mercury is
00:17:13 --> 00:17:14 clearly a planet, even though it's actually
00:17:14 --> 00:17:17 smaller than some of the moons of the other
00:17:17 --> 00:17:20 of the gas giants, smaller than Ganymede and
00:17:20 --> 00:17:22 smaller than Titan. But it's still a planet
00:17:22 --> 00:17:24 because it's the only object in that region
00:17:24 --> 00:17:26 of the solar system and it is spher.
00:17:27 --> 00:17:30 Andrew Dunkley: What if you had two objects
00:17:31 --> 00:17:32 orbiting each other,
00:17:33 --> 00:17:34 like two Earths? Uh,
00:17:35 --> 00:17:35 Professor Fred Watson: yeah.
00:17:37 --> 00:17:39 Andrew Dunkley: Would you define them both as planets or. One
00:17:39 --> 00:17:40 would have to be a moon.
00:17:41 --> 00:17:43 Professor Fred Watson: So there is a definition there. Uh,
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 if their centre of mass,
00:17:46 --> 00:17:48 um, in other words, something we call the
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 barycenter, the centre of gravity of the two,
00:17:51 --> 00:17:54 if it's outside of both
00:17:54 --> 00:17:57 of them, in other words, they're kind
00:17:57 --> 00:17:59 of orbiting around a common centre of mass,
00:18:00 --> 00:18:03 then what you've got is a binary planet.
00:18:04 --> 00:18:06 Uh, it's not a planet and a moon.
00:18:06 --> 00:18:08 Um, you've got a binary planet and
00:18:08 --> 00:18:11 technically that's what Pluto is. Pluto and
00:18:11 --> 00:18:14 its moon, Charon, uh, which
00:18:14 --> 00:18:17 is the centre of mass, is actually outside
00:18:17 --> 00:18:19 the body of Pluto. Yeah. So
00:18:20 --> 00:18:22 Pluto and Charon really should be considered
00:18:22 --> 00:18:25 a binary dwarf planet because they're both
00:18:25 --> 00:18:27 spherical and. Yeah,
00:18:27 --> 00:18:30 Andrew Dunkley: they are. Ah. And that makes me wonder why
00:18:30 --> 00:18:33 we don't consider the shape
00:18:34 --> 00:18:37 when defining a moon too. I mean, should it.
00:18:37 --> 00:18:40 Um. Maybe I'm just being idealistic, but
00:18:40 --> 00:18:41 shouldn't it be spherical?
00:18:42 --> 00:18:45 Professor Fred Watson: Um, well, that would rule out Phobos and
00:18:45 --> 00:18:45 Deimos.
00:18:45 --> 00:18:46 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
00:18:46 --> 00:18:49 Professor Fred Watson: And it would rule out, you know, probably
00:18:49 --> 00:18:52 200, 250 of the moons of Saturn. Um,
00:18:52 --> 00:18:54 I think 297. That's
00:18:54 --> 00:18:55 Andrew Dunkley: just greed.
00:18:58 --> 00:19:00 Professor Fred Watson: Um, yeah, Saturn's very replete with moons,
00:19:00 --> 00:19:03 but most of them are odd shapes. Some of them
00:19:03 --> 00:19:06 are very interesting indeed. Um,
00:19:06 --> 00:19:09 yeah, so, um. But yes, there's a loose
00:19:09 --> 00:19:11 end there in astronomy. Uh, I need to check a
00:19:11 --> 00:19:12 little bit further.
00:19:12 --> 00:19:15 Ah, the International Astronomical Union
00:19:15 --> 00:19:17 might have a definition of a moon that's
00:19:17 --> 00:19:18 better than what I've just been pulling out
00:19:18 --> 00:19:19 of the back of my head.
00:19:20 --> 00:19:23 Andrew Dunkley: Maybe. Yeah. But, uh, it is, it is
00:19:23 --> 00:19:26 kind of a grey area all up. Uh, and no
00:19:26 --> 00:19:27 pun intended, because that's basically the
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 colour of ours. But,
00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 Professor Fred Watson: um, it's the colour of the back of my head as
00:19:31 --> 00:19:32 well. Yeah.
00:19:33 --> 00:19:35 Andrew Dunkley: Only the Back, though. Yeah.
00:19:37 --> 00:19:40 All right. Um, it's a. It's a really good
00:19:40 --> 00:19:42 question. And, uh, there is.
00:19:43 --> 00:19:45 And he brings up a really valid point,
00:19:46 --> 00:19:47 so.
00:19:47 --> 00:19:50 Professor Fred Watson: Hm. Yeah, maybe.
00:19:50 --> 00:19:52 Andrew Dunkley: Maybe he should file that one, send it into
00:19:52 --> 00:19:54 them and say, look, have you considered this?
00:19:54 --> 00:19:57 And they might go, oh, you know what? We
00:19:57 --> 00:19:58 should. And that'll change everything.
00:20:00 --> 00:20:03 You never know. Thank you, Bob. Um, great
00:20:03 --> 00:20:06 to hear from you and, uh, thanks
00:20:06 --> 00:20:06 for sending in your question.
00:20:10 --> 00:20:12 Generic: 3, 2, 1.
00:20:12 --> 00:20:13 Speaker H: Space nuts.
00:20:14 --> 00:20:16 Andrew Dunkley: Our final question today, Fred Watson's a
00:20:16 --> 00:20:19 little bit different, comes from Isla.
00:20:19 --> 00:20:22 Isla Miller: Hi, my name's Isla Miller. I'm from
00:20:22 --> 00:20:25 Perth, Western Australia. First of all, I
00:20:25 --> 00:20:27 just wanted to say thank you so much for
00:20:27 --> 00:20:29 everything you do. Um, I've been listening to
00:20:29 --> 00:20:32 the podcast for so long, so it's,
00:20:32 --> 00:20:35 um, been really wonderful to listen along.
00:20:36 --> 00:20:39 My question's actually in relation to a
00:20:39 --> 00:20:41 graphic novel that my friend's writing.
00:20:42 --> 00:20:44 So the graphic novel takes place on a
00:20:44 --> 00:20:47 rocky planet that has a ring around it.
00:20:48 --> 00:20:50 And I guess we understand how the
00:20:50 --> 00:20:53 ring would appear to move through the
00:20:53 --> 00:20:56 sky as the planet has seasons, much
00:20:56 --> 00:20:59 like Earth. But our question is
00:20:59 --> 00:21:01 how would it appear to the viewer who's
00:21:01 --> 00:21:04 standing on the planet? So what would it look
00:21:04 --> 00:21:06 like during the day? What would it look like
00:21:06 --> 00:21:09 at night? Um, also, I
00:21:09 --> 00:21:11 guess, would you be able to see planets
00:21:12 --> 00:21:15 and the moon at night as well?
00:21:16 --> 00:21:19 Um, how it would look to the viewer?
00:21:19 --> 00:21:22 Also, would there be any strange phenomena
00:21:22 --> 00:21:23 when the sun moves through
00:21:24 --> 00:21:27 the, uh, the belt as well?
00:21:28 --> 00:21:31 Thank you so much. And anything else, um, you
00:21:31 --> 00:21:33 can think of would be greatly appreciated.
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 Andrew Dunkley: Wonderful question. Thanks, Isla.
00:21:36 --> 00:21:37 I. I want to know more about the book,
00:21:37 --> 00:21:39 actually, so maybe Isla can
00:21:40 --> 00:21:42 send us a message. I want to find out
00:21:42 --> 00:21:45 because, you know, I'm very interested in
00:21:45 --> 00:21:47 science fiction and, and science fiction
00:21:47 --> 00:21:49 novels and, um,
00:21:49 --> 00:21:52 yeah, I'd like to find out about that. It
00:21:52 --> 00:21:54 might be. Might be my next read. Um,
00:21:55 --> 00:21:57 but, yeah, what would it look like standing
00:21:57 --> 00:22:00 on a planet with. With rings? I have seen
00:22:00 --> 00:22:03 artists impressions of this and even, uh,
00:22:03 --> 00:22:06 I think they have been a few depictions of
00:22:06 --> 00:22:09 what you would see looking from the surface
00:22:09 --> 00:22:11 of Saturn if you could stand on it out at the
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13 rings, and the effect that sunlight would
00:22:13 --> 00:22:16 have. I, uh, think it would be a glorious
00:22:16 --> 00:22:17 sight.
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 Professor Fred Watson: It would, um. So that's the best way to think
00:22:21 --> 00:22:24 of this, is to imagine, um, you know, you're
00:22:24 --> 00:22:26 standing on Saturn. As you said, there's no
00:22:26 --> 00:22:28 surface, so we can't do that. But if you
00:22:28 --> 00:22:31 were, um. So first of all,
00:22:32 --> 00:22:35 the rings, in terms of their
00:22:35 --> 00:22:37 position, would
00:22:39 --> 00:22:41 their position as you look at them, in other
00:22:41 --> 00:22:44 words, the Vista that you see, they would
00:22:44 --> 00:22:46 always be in the same direction and
00:22:47 --> 00:22:49 basically stretch from one horizon to the
00:22:49 --> 00:22:52 other. Um, that would not
00:22:52 --> 00:22:54 change throughout the year. Um,
00:22:55 --> 00:22:57 so they would always be in the same position
00:22:57 --> 00:23:00 because you're standing on the
00:23:00 --> 00:23:01 surface and these things are on the equator.
00:23:02 --> 00:23:04 You've got a latitude, so the two come
00:23:04 --> 00:23:06 together. But what would change is their
00:23:06 --> 00:23:08 appearance. And it's basically exactly as
00:23:08 --> 00:23:11 Isla says. Um, Saturn
00:23:11 --> 00:23:14 does have seasons a lot like the Earth in the
00:23:14 --> 00:23:16 sense that I think Saturn's axial tilt,
00:23:16 --> 00:23:19 its obliquity, the tilt to the plane of its
00:23:19 --> 00:23:22 orbit is, um, about 26
00:23:22 --> 00:23:23 degrees, not that much different from our,
00:23:23 --> 00:23:26 uh, 23 and a half degrees here on
00:23:26 --> 00:23:29 planet Earth. So as you look at the rings,
00:23:30 --> 00:23:32 um, in your summertime
00:23:32 --> 00:23:35 they will be illuminated by the sun
00:23:36 --> 00:23:38 on the side that you can see. The side of the
00:23:38 --> 00:23:39 rings that you can see?
00:23:40 --> 00:23:40 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah. And
00:23:40 --> 00:23:42 Professor Fred Watson: so they'd be very, very bright
00:23:43 --> 00:23:45 Andrew Dunkley: and you wouldn't sleep at night because
00:23:45 --> 00:23:46 they'd always be lit up
00:23:46 --> 00:23:47 Professor Fred Watson: that, um.
00:23:50 --> 00:23:52 Yes, to some extent. That's right. They
00:23:52 --> 00:23:54 would, uh, twilight, you
00:23:54 --> 00:23:57 would have the rings illuminated. And in
00:23:57 --> 00:23:59 fact, that's a really interesting thing. You
00:23:59 --> 00:24:02 would see the shadow of the planet, uh,
00:24:02 --> 00:24:03 traversing across the rings.
00:24:03 --> 00:24:04 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah,
00:24:05 --> 00:24:07 Professor Fred Watson: uh, that will be quite, quite something,
00:24:07 --> 00:24:10 wouldn't it? And you
00:24:10 --> 00:24:13 get. So. And during the winter when
00:24:13 --> 00:24:15 the sun is below the plane of the rings,
00:24:15 --> 00:24:18 because the rings are on your equator. So in
00:24:18 --> 00:24:20 summertime it's above the plane of the rings.
00:24:20 --> 00:24:22 In winter it's below the plane of the rings,
00:24:22 --> 00:24:25 it will be illuminating the rings, uh, from
00:24:25 --> 00:24:26 behind. And
00:24:28 --> 00:24:30 the rings, because they're made of individual
00:24:30 --> 00:24:33 particles, they're not solid, uh, they're
00:24:33 --> 00:24:35 translucent. So you'd still get sunlight
00:24:35 --> 00:24:37 filtering through. It would probably be quite
00:24:37 --> 00:24:40 a bit dimmer. Uh, but, um,
00:24:40 --> 00:24:42 you'd get sunlight filtering through the
00:24:42 --> 00:24:45 rings. Um, and
00:24:46 --> 00:24:48 again, it would depend on your latitude. You
00:24:48 --> 00:24:50 might also be able to see the sun itself
00:24:50 --> 00:24:52 directly, depending on your latitude.
00:24:52 --> 00:24:55 It's, uh, really all kinds
00:24:55 --> 00:24:58 of interesting phenomena in regard to
00:24:58 --> 00:25:00 unusual phenomena. I guess the one that would
00:25:00 --> 00:25:03 be intriguing, I think
00:25:03 --> 00:25:05 this could be quite spectacular because we've
00:25:05 --> 00:25:07 seen photos of this from the Cassini
00:25:07 --> 00:25:10 spacecraft when you're very near the equinox,
00:25:11 --> 00:25:13 so the sun is lighting up the ring system
00:25:13 --> 00:25:14 from the edge.
00:25:15 --> 00:25:18 Um, and remember the rings, 250
00:25:18 --> 00:25:21 kilometres across, the. Only 100 metres
00:25:21 --> 00:25:23 thick, if that, um,
00:25:24 --> 00:25:26 the, the.
00:25:27 --> 00:25:30 Any larger boulders or objects
00:25:31 --> 00:25:32 within the rings are going to cast long
00:25:32 --> 00:25:35 shadows on the ring surface. And we saw
00:25:35 --> 00:25:37 that with some of the Cassini images. In
00:25:37 --> 00:25:39 fact, one of the satellites Casting these
00:25:39 --> 00:25:41 great long shadows.
00:25:41 --> 00:25:42 Andrew Dunkley: Like big spokes.
00:25:42 --> 00:25:45 Professor Fred Watson: Like big spokes, that's right. So you get
00:25:45 --> 00:25:47 interesting phenomena around about the
00:25:47 --> 00:25:48 equinoxes.
00:25:48 --> 00:25:51 Andrew Dunkley: And would you have, like, little
00:25:51 --> 00:25:53 eclipses on, on the planet's surface from
00:25:53 --> 00:25:54 that situation?
00:25:55 --> 00:25:57 Professor Fred Watson: Yes, but, um, they.
00:26:00 --> 00:26:02 Only if you're on the equator. Ah,
00:26:02 --> 00:26:03 Andrew Dunkley: yeah.
00:26:03 --> 00:26:06 Professor Fred Watson: And if you're on the equator, uh,
00:26:06 --> 00:26:09 and you're at the equinox, the sun's got to
00:26:09 --> 00:26:10 shine through the rings. It was pretty,
00:26:11 --> 00:26:13 pretty dim, I think, um,
00:26:13 --> 00:26:15 the effect that you get. And of course the
00:26:15 --> 00:26:18 rings, um, in wintertime would
00:26:18 --> 00:26:20 cast a shadow over
00:26:21 --> 00:26:24 your location, depending on your latitude
00:26:24 --> 00:26:26 because the sun's being blocked, even though
00:26:26 --> 00:26:29 some light would filter through. Uh,
00:26:29 --> 00:26:31 nevertheless, the sun's mainly being blocked
00:26:31 --> 00:26:34 by the ring system. It's a great, great
00:26:34 --> 00:26:37 question. Great. Uh, to put your self into
00:26:37 --> 00:26:37 that.
00:26:37 --> 00:26:39 Into that situation.
00:26:40 --> 00:26:42 Andrew Dunkley: Absolutely. I think it'd be, um,
00:26:43 --> 00:26:45 an extraordinary sight. And I don't think
00:26:45 --> 00:26:48 there'd be a one size fits all scenario
00:26:48 --> 00:26:51 because we know
00:26:51 --> 00:26:54 of several planets with rings and
00:26:55 --> 00:26:57 some of them are quite significant, like
00:26:57 --> 00:27:00 Saturn. But then you get out to, um.
00:27:00 --> 00:27:03 Is it Neptune or Uranus that's got the rings?
00:27:03 --> 00:27:03 Neptune.
00:27:04 --> 00:27:05 Professor Fred Watson: Both of them have.
00:27:05 --> 00:27:07 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah. I mean, they're not, they're not big,
00:27:07 --> 00:27:08 thick, heavy. No,
00:27:08 --> 00:27:10 Professor Fred Watson: they're not. They're much more slender.
00:27:11 --> 00:27:13 Andrew Dunkley: So. And the distance from the, the sun
00:27:14 --> 00:27:16 would make a difference to the effect as
00:27:16 --> 00:27:16 well.
00:27:16 --> 00:27:18 So there's all of that that comes into play.
00:27:20 --> 00:27:22 Really interesting stuff. Great question,
00:27:22 --> 00:27:25 though. Very, very left field.
00:27:25 --> 00:27:28 And, um, I like it. Thanks, Isla, and
00:27:28 --> 00:27:30 wish, um, your friend well with, uh, their,
00:27:31 --> 00:27:33 Their, um, their graphic novel. And please
00:27:33 --> 00:27:35 tell me what it's called. I want to know. I'm
00:27:35 --> 00:27:37 desperate to know. By the way, Fred Watson,
00:27:37 --> 00:27:40 I've finished the first draft of my
00:27:40 --> 00:27:43 sequel or prequel to the Human Epoch. And
00:27:43 --> 00:27:45 thanks to everyone who's bought a copy, it's.
00:27:45 --> 00:27:47 It's doing all right at the moment. I made
00:27:47 --> 00:27:49 about 10 bucks and, um.
00:27:51 --> 00:27:52 Professor Fred Watson: Good.
00:27:52 --> 00:27:55 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah. Um, but don't spend
00:27:55 --> 00:27:55 Professor Fred Watson: it all at once.
00:27:56 --> 00:27:57 Andrew Dunkley: I can't. There's nothing worth that.
00:28:00 --> 00:28:03 And, uh, I'm. I'm now doing the,
00:28:03 --> 00:28:05 the rewrite of it. The draft is just to give
00:28:05 --> 00:28:07 me the guide to actually write the story the
00:28:07 --> 00:28:09 way I want it to be written. So. Yeah,
00:28:10 --> 00:28:13 um. But yeah, I, I'm. I'm really
00:28:13 --> 00:28:15 enjoying it. Really enjoying it. But, um.
00:28:15 --> 00:28:16 Professor Fred Watson: Good.
00:28:16 --> 00:28:18 Andrew Dunkley: It's a little way off being ready. I don't
00:28:18 --> 00:28:20 know whether to write the trilogy all in one
00:28:20 --> 00:28:23 go again or just to do one, you know, book
00:28:23 --> 00:28:25 one and then get stuck into book two after I
00:28:25 --> 00:28:27 Put book one, Book one out there. I don't. I
00:28:27 --> 00:28:29 don't know. I'm still pondering that
00:28:30 --> 00:28:32 this one's going to take a bit longer to
00:28:32 --> 00:28:33 formulate.
00:28:33 --> 00:28:36 Um, but, uh, yeah, anyway, thanks, uh, Isla,
00:28:36 --> 00:28:37 thanks for your question. Don't forget, if
00:28:37 --> 00:28:39 you've got questions, please send them into
00:28:39 --> 00:28:42 us via our website, space nutspodcast.com
00:28:42 --> 00:28:45 and spacenuts IO. Click on the AMA M
00:28:45 --> 00:28:47 tab at the top and send us text, uh, and
00:28:47 --> 00:28:50 audio questions. One more thing, Fred Watson.
00:28:50 --> 00:28:52 Um, we had not so much a question from Sarah,
00:28:52 --> 00:28:55 but a comment. I've learned about the
00:28:55 --> 00:28:58 astronomy world outside of just NASA press
00:28:58 --> 00:29:00 releases and it's all your fault.
00:29:00 --> 00:29:03 Space Nuts has driven huge leaps in
00:29:03 --> 00:29:06 understanding what humans are doing up there.
00:29:06 --> 00:29:08 I need more Geordie content,
00:29:09 --> 00:29:11 though mixed in lightly, to
00:29:11 --> 00:29:14 leaving the more serious discussions on
00:29:14 --> 00:29:17 space war. I didn't know my nation
00:29:17 --> 00:29:19 admitted to having bleep and
00:29:19 --> 00:29:22 goldeneye up there until you mentioned it.
00:29:22 --> 00:29:24 That came from Sarah. So
00:29:25 --> 00:29:27 thanks, Sarah, that's a great endorsement.
00:29:28 --> 00:29:31 Uh, really lovely, um, remarks.
00:29:31 --> 00:29:33 And yes, um, sometimes you do learn things
00:29:33 --> 00:29:36 that you didn't know about. Um, such
00:29:36 --> 00:29:39 as, uh, the, the U.S. government admitting
00:29:39 --> 00:29:42 they have weapons in orbit. Um, which we did
00:29:42 --> 00:29:43 a little while back.
00:29:43 --> 00:29:45 Uh, but yes, keep those cards and letters
00:29:45 --> 00:29:48 coming in or even emails. We take them too.
00:29:49 --> 00:29:51 And thank you, Fred Watson. We're all done.
00:29:51 --> 00:29:53 Uh, we'll catch again real soon.
00:29:53 --> 00:29:55 Professor Fred Watson: Sounds good. Andrew. Thank you very much for,
00:29:55 --> 00:29:58 um, for remembering me when you came back
00:29:58 --> 00:29:59 from the Balkans.
00:30:00 --> 00:30:02 Andrew Dunkley: It was a stretch, but I managed.
00:30:02 --> 00:30:03 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah. See you later.
00:30:03 --> 00:30:05 Andrew Dunkley: See. See you. Professor Fred Watson Watson,
00:30:05 --> 00:30:07 astronomer at large, and thanks to Huw in the
00:30:07 --> 00:30:08 studio. Couldn't be with us today because
00:30:08 --> 00:30:11 he's out judging the Great Attractor. And
00:30:11 --> 00:30:13 from me, Andrew Dunkley. Thanks for your
00:30:13 --> 00:30:15 company. We'll see you on the next episode of
00:30:15 --> 00:30:17 Space Nuts. Bye. Bye.
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