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Space Nuts: Time Travel, Orbiting Telescopes, and Gold Origins
In this Q&A episode of Space Nuts, hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson tackle a range of thought-provoking listener questions. They begin with a fascinating inquiry from Andy, a train driver in the UK, about the implications of time travel at relativistic speeds. What does it mean to age differently when travelling close to the speed of light? The duo then dives into the mechanics of orbiting telescopes, addressing Nick's questions about how these instruments manage their observations while minimising interruptions from Earth. Finally, Ash from Brisbane poses an intriguing question about the origins of gold, prompting a discussion on neutron star collisions and the cosmic processes that create heavy elements.
Key topics
- Time travel and the effects of relativistic speeds on aging: Can we really travel through time?
- The scheduling and operational strategies of orbiting telescopes like Hubble: How do they maximise observation time?
- The origins of gold in the universe: What role do neutron star collisions play in the creation of heavy elements?
Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction and overview of listener questions
01:20 - Andy’s question on time travel and relativistic speeds
15:30 - Nick’s inquiry about orbiting telescopes and their observation strategies
25:00 - Ash’s question regarding the origins of gold and neutron star collisions
35:15 - Final thoughts and listener engagement
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Andrew Dunkley: Hello yet again, this is Space Nuts, a Q and
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 A edition. My name is Andrew Dunkley. Thanks
00:00:05 --> 00:00:07 for joining us and hope you're well wherever
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 you are. Could be Yemen, could be the United
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 States, the uk, Australia, New Zealand,
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 India, Sweden. Uh, I've
00:00:14 --> 00:00:17 probably missed a couple. Um, uh, one person
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 in each country listens to us. So that's yay,
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 our entire audience. Uh, on today's
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 episode, uh, Andy the train driver in UK has
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 got back to us. He's asking a question about
00:00:28 --> 00:00:30 time travel. Uh, we've also got another
00:00:31 --> 00:00:33 UK question about orbiting telescopes.
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36 A, uh, question aimed at, uh, one of the
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38 things that, uh, most people on Earth love,
00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 and that is gold, the metal. Uh,
00:00:41 --> 00:00:43 and we are, uh, getting a what if question
00:00:43 --> 00:00:46 from Ryan about the sun straying through
00:00:46 --> 00:00:49 a star forming nebula. What might happen?
00:00:49 --> 00:00:52 We will tell you what might happen or what
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 might not happen. We might not answer any
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57 questions at all on this episode of
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 space nuts. 15 seconds,
00:01:00 --> 00:01:01 distances internal.
00:01:01 --> 00:01:04 Professor Fred Watson: 10, 9. Ignition
00:01:04 --> 00:01:06 sequence start. Uh, space nuts.
00:01:06 --> 00:01:07 Andrew Dunkley: 5, 4, 3, 2.
00:01:07 --> 00:01:07 Professor Fred Watson: 1.
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 Speaker C: 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2,
00:01:10 --> 00:01:11 1.
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 Andrew Dunkley: Space nuts. Astronauts report. It feels
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 good. And to help us, uh,
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 figure all of that out is Professor
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 Fred Watson Watson, astronomena, ah,
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 at large. Hello, Fred Watson.
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 Professor Fred Watson: I've been described as an astronomist as
00:01:27 --> 00:01:27 well.
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 Andrew Dunkley: Astronomist. I sounded like a Muppet
00:01:30 --> 00:01:30 then.
00:01:32 --> 00:01:33 Professor Fred Watson: Yes.
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 Andrew Dunkley: Never mind. How are you, Fred Watson?
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 Professor Fred Watson: Okay, thank you. Yes, that's good. Recovering
00:01:37 --> 00:01:40 from my knee surgery. These things
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 take time, but, uh, it's going in the right
00:01:43 --> 00:01:44 direction, which is great.
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 Andrew Dunkley: Indeed. Let's, um, let's
00:01:47 --> 00:01:48 tackle some questions, shall we?
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 All right, here we go. Our first one comes
00:01:52 --> 00:01:53 from Andy.
00:01:54 --> 00:01:55 Andrew Dunkley: Hi, Andrew and Fred Watson. This is Andy, the
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 train driver from London. Uh, hope you're
00:01:58 --> 00:02:01 both doing well. I hope you also received the
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 video I sent you. Um, just a short one, but,
00:02:03 --> 00:02:04 uh, interesting.
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 Time travel and relativistic speeds.
00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 Um, if I was to travel away from the earth
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 for, uh, 100 years at 99.9%
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 the speed of light and then turned around and
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22 came back at the same speed, I would age
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 differently to someone that was being left
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 behind. Would that be classed as time
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 travel? And obviously we haven't got
00:02:29 --> 00:02:32 the capability, uh, of moving that fast yet.
00:02:32 --> 00:02:34 But if we did, could we use that to travel
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 through time? Thanks guys, Love the
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 podcast and see you on the next one.
00:02:40 --> 00:02:42 Andrew Dunkley: Thanks, Andy. Uh, great to hear from you.
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 Yeah, we both got, uh, Andy's video
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 and uh, I think we both emailed him back
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 about it. But, uh, yeah, he took us for a
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 little walk up the railway tracks and showed
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 Us, um, the train he was driving
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 that day and what it was capable of and was
00:02:57 --> 00:03:00 really fascinating. So um, yeah, thanks for
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 that Andy. It's um, it's nice to see how
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 other people work and live and um,
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 you know, train driving the different world.
00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 To me, I've done it once. Um, and
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 uh, that was on an old diesel locomotive, um,
00:03:13 --> 00:03:16 that we, that we went out on one Sunday. That
00:03:16 --> 00:03:18 was a, it was a vintage um,
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 unit. And I got to spend the return trip
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 up the front because I was doing uh, doing
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 coverage for the ABC at the time. And uh, so
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 I uh, I got to do the story Honk the
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 Horn. Because in New South Wales,
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 nanny, um, state we call it, uh, they have to
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 blast the horn at every level crossing
00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 and you don't know how many there are until
00:03:42 --> 00:03:43 you have to actually blow the horn every
00:03:43 --> 00:03:46 time. Uh, it's a safety protocol.
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 Um, thanks Andy. Uh, time travel,
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 Fred Watson. I love time travel stories or
00:03:51 --> 00:03:51 questions.
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 Professor Fred Watson: Uh, yeah, this is um, the only way that we
00:03:55 --> 00:03:58 can travel through time. What Andy has
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 suggested I used um, to have a
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 recipe which I think it meant Visit.
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 You go 100, 500 light years
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 to a star. You need to travel at 99 point. I
00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 think it's 9% of the speed of
00:04:16 --> 00:04:17 light for which we don't have the technology
00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 yet. But if you did, uh, and then came
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 back, you would have aged 10 years
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 while the planet has aged 1
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 years. Because you've done two, 500 year
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 stints at nearly the speed of light. 500
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34 light years stints at nearly the speed of
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 light. So um, it is a way of
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 travelling forward through time. Um,
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 as long as you can put up with being
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 pushed in a spacecraft that's going to go at
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 that sort of rate. And
00:04:48 --> 00:04:50 that's courtesy of special
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 relativity, which is for objects that travel
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 near the speed of light. General relativity
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 has time dilation as well, uh, for
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 objects that um, uh,
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 near intense gravitational fields. And I
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 think we saw the science fiction version of
00:05:06 --> 00:05:07 that in interstellar.
00:05:08 --> 00:05:09 Andrew Dunkley: Yes we did.
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 Professor Fred Watson: Which certainly had its, its
00:05:11 --> 00:05:13 weaknesses in terms of the scientific
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 arguments. Um, but, but relativistic
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 time travel by speed does work. Uh,
00:05:19 --> 00:05:22 it's theoretically possible uh, for you to do
00:05:22 --> 00:05:23 that so you're travelling forward in time.
00:05:23 --> 00:05:26 What you can't do under really any
00:05:26 --> 00:05:29 circumstances is go backwards in time. Um,
00:05:30 --> 00:05:31 there have been people who've looked at the
00:05:31 --> 00:05:34 prospect from the point of view of um, sort
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 of gravitational loops in space time.
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 Uh, but if you want to go back in time,
00:05:39 --> 00:05:42 you've sort of Got to set things up first so
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 that the point you go back to, you've got to
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47 do something, whether it's build a
00:05:47 --> 00:05:50 gravitational detector or something, you have
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 to do something there. And that isn't really
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 backward time travel because you've got to
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 start with the time that you want to travel
00:05:58 --> 00:05:59 back to. If I can put it that way.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah. Um, and the other problem
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 is, uh, you've got to work out where the
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 Earth probably would have been at the
00:06:07 --> 00:06:08 particular point where you want to go.
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 Otherwise you'll end up in, you know,
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 you'll be in a piece of space that hasn't got
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 a planet. Um, yeah,
00:06:19 --> 00:06:20 there's all sorts of things you need to
00:06:20 --> 00:06:21 consider.
00:06:22 --> 00:06:22 Speaker C: Um,
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 Andrew Dunkley: I thought I came across an article recently,
00:06:27 --> 00:06:30 um, that suggested they
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 now think backward time travel
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 may be plausible. But I can't remember where
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 I read it. It might have just been one of
00:06:37 --> 00:06:40 those speculative articles. It was quite a
00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 while back that I read it. Didn't see it in
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 the news, um, at
00:06:45 --> 00:06:48 any sort of significant level. But um, yeah,
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 um, but yeah, it is possible. Not
00:06:51 --> 00:06:54 possible, but it is certainly scientifically
00:06:54 --> 00:06:57 plausible to go forward in time.
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 Uh, but you're not really going forward in
00:06:59 --> 00:07:02 time because your time still remains
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 the same according to our clock. It's
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 just that because of the speed you're
00:07:07 --> 00:07:10 travelling, you are not
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 ageing as fast as other people.
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 Professor Fred Watson: Correct. Uh, what you might call the outside
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 observer, you're still ageing at the normal
00:07:18 --> 00:07:21 rate, but, uh, but you're not.
00:07:21 --> 00:07:24 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, you've just wasted a decade proving
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 a theory, more or less.
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 Professor Fred Watson: Although to go forward a thousand years in
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 time might be quite interesting.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:35 Andrew Dunkley: I suppose. So if you, um. If, yeah, and
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 if they ever achieve warp
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 technology, um, you could go,
00:07:41 --> 00:07:44 uh, you could go a hell of a long
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 way forward in time, couldn't you?
00:07:47 --> 00:07:48 Professor Fred Watson: Well, um,
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 yeah, if you could warp space so that you
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 can, you know, drop through a wormhole or
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 something like that. That's a different
00:07:58 --> 00:07:59 story.
00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 Andrew Dunkley: Well, that removes the time paradox, doesn't
00:08:01 --> 00:08:02 it?
00:08:02 --> 00:08:05 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah. Basically you can take shortcuts
00:08:05 --> 00:08:06 through space time.
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 Andrew Dunkley: That's right, yes, correct. Um, I think we
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 had a similar question last week, uh, in
00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 regard to um, uh, the movie Hail
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 Mary project, uh, asking how could
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 uh, scientists do 11 light years in
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 um, you know, whatever speed he was doing and
00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 uh, how long would it take him? How much
00:08:28 --> 00:08:29 younger would he be when he came back, that
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 sort of thing. Uh, yeah. And it comes down to
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 that time dilation issue, doesn't it?
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 Professor Fred Watson: Exactly. That's right. Mhm.
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 Andrew Dunkley: All right. Have we answered Andy's question
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 because it's very confusing.
00:08:41 --> 00:08:42 Professor Fred Watson: The answer is yes.
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 Andrew Dunkley: Yes, it is. There it is.
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46 Professor Fred Watson: Yes, Andy, whack your train up to
00:08:46 --> 00:08:49 99% of the speed of light.
00:08:50 --> 00:08:51 What happens to your passengers?
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, especially when you stop fast.
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 Yeah, the cabin will get crowded. Um, thanks,
00:08:57 --> 00:09:00 Andy. Nice to hear from you.
00:09:02 --> 00:09:04 Now we've got another question, Fred Watson.
00:09:04 --> 00:09:07 Uh, which I have right in front of me
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 here. Hello, Professor Fred Watson and
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 Andrew. Thank you for answering my past
00:09:12 --> 00:09:14 questions. It's always nice to get answers,
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 uh, to my incoherent questions this, uh,
00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 time. My question is about orbiting
00:09:19 --> 00:09:22 telescopes like Hubble, uh, not SK
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 Survey telescopes. Uh, are observations
00:09:25 --> 00:09:28 planned to minimise the time that the Earth
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 is between the telescope and the target?
00:09:31 --> 00:09:33 Uh, are multiple targets recorded
00:09:33 --> 00:09:35 concurrently as the telescope whizzes around
00:09:35 --> 00:09:38 Earth? Is satellite orbit,
00:09:39 --> 00:09:42 uh, parallax a problem, an advantage, or,
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 um, uh, unusually irrelevant
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 because space is really, really big.
00:09:48 --> 00:09:49 It's so big.
00:09:49 --> 00:09:50 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah.
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 Andrew Dunkley: Anyway, uh, and I'm sorry it's three
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 questions, but at least they aren't about
00:09:55 --> 00:09:57 black holes. Thanks for the sterling effort,
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 Nick from Cambridge. Uh,
00:09:59 --> 00:10:02 so, yes, um, Hubble. Um,
00:10:03 --> 00:10:06 yeah, our observations plan to
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 minimise the time that the Earth is between
00:10:08 --> 00:10:09 the telescope and the target. That's an
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11 interesting one because, yeah, it is an
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 orbiting, uh,
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 uh, telescope. Uh, whereas the others are out
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 in the L2 Lagrange point. So
00:10:19 --> 00:10:21 they're not, as they don't have anything
00:10:21 --> 00:10:22 blocking their view.
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 Professor Fred Watson: There are limitations, though, that amount to
00:10:26 --> 00:10:29 the same thing with the. You can only point
00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 it in certain directions. Uh, so it means
00:10:32 --> 00:10:33 during the course of the year you can cover
00:10:33 --> 00:10:36 the whole sky, but you can't just
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 point it randomly in any direction.
00:10:38 --> 00:10:39 Andrew Dunkley: You got to time it right.
00:10:39 --> 00:10:42 Professor Fred Watson: Yes, quite so, as with the Hubble as well,
00:10:42 --> 00:10:45 because, um, what happens when
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 time is granted on a telescope like the
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 Hubble? Uh, and this is, you know, to the
00:10:51 --> 00:10:54 applicants who successfully convinced the
00:10:54 --> 00:10:56 gatekeepers that, uh, their project is worth,
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 uh, spending a few hours of Hubble time on.
00:10:59 --> 00:11:02 Uh, when, when, when those
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 observations are brought together, they, they
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 fall into the hands of a scheduler. Uh, so
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 that they're scheduled for in exactly that
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 way. Um, so that they're going to be
00:11:12 --> 00:11:15 visible when the telescope is
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 at that orientation with respect to the
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 Earth. Uh, in other words, keep the Earth out
00:11:20 --> 00:11:22 of the way. So that's certainly the case.
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 It's not a random thing. Um, the
00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 scheduling of space telescopes is very, uh,
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 complicated and quite carefully done.
00:11:31 --> 00:11:32 That was the first question.
00:11:33 --> 00:11:36 Andrew Dunkley: Are multiple targets recorded concurrently as
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 the telescope whizzes around Earth?
00:11:38 --> 00:11:41 Professor Fred Watson: Um, um,
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 the Hubble looks at one thing at a time.
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47 But yes, if you, if you,
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 depending on, you know, where the object
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 is in relation to the ah, Earth, you might do
00:11:54 --> 00:11:57 sort of n seconds of integration on one
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 object. N seconds of integration on another.
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 And then on the next orbit, repeat that, uh,
00:12:02 --> 00:12:04 something like that. So that you could. It's
00:12:04 --> 00:12:07 not concurrently, but it's doing them, you
00:12:07 --> 00:12:09 know, dovetailing them together so that you
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 get the best performance. And I forgot what
00:12:12 --> 00:12:13 the last question was. I think we might have
00:12:13 --> 00:12:14 answered it already.
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 Andrew Dunkley: Is satellite orbit parallax
00:12:17 --> 00:12:20 a problem or an advantage or
00:12:20 --> 00:12:21 irrelevant?
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 Professor Fred Watson: Irrelevant. Uh, for most of astronomy, if
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 you're looking at the moon, it's not, um, the
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28 moon is near enough that the parallax
00:12:29 --> 00:12:32 differences caused by, um, the spacecraft
00:12:32 --> 00:12:33 being on one side of the Earth and then on
00:12:33 --> 00:12:36 the other will be enough. But for pretty well
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 everything else, uh, you can ignore it.
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 Andrew Dunkley: Okay, interesting. Uh, and of course,
00:12:41 --> 00:12:44 um, yeah, we're sending more and more of
00:12:44 --> 00:12:46 these, um, things into space. And, um,
00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 the, uh, Vera Rubin is. No,
00:12:50 --> 00:12:51 no, it's the other one.
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 Professor Fred Watson: Um, uh, the one you're talking about. It's a
00:12:53 --> 00:12:54 Nancy Grace Roman.
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 Andrew Dunkley: Nancy Grace Roman has just been, uh,
00:12:56 --> 00:12:59 launched. So it's, it's heading out. Uh,
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 and, uh, I think what M is that about 100
00:13:01 --> 00:13:02 days to get there? Something like that.
00:13:03 --> 00:13:04 Professor Fred Watson: Yes, that's right.
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 Andrew Dunkley: So it'd be getting pretty close, wouldn't it?
00:13:07 --> 00:13:10 Professor Fred Watson: Yes, I think it's. I'm, um, caught up with
00:13:10 --> 00:13:11 where it is at the moment. But I think it's
00:13:11 --> 00:13:14 in good shape and nearly at its, um,
00:13:14 --> 00:13:15 vantage point.
00:13:16 --> 00:13:17 Andrew Dunkley: I want to find out now.
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 Professor Fred Watson: Good. Well, tell me when you do.
00:13:21 --> 00:13:24 Andrew Dunkley: Um, yeah, we'll have a look. Uh,
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 um, so it was launched on the 30th of
00:13:27 --> 00:13:30 August. So, uh, it's probably coming
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 up on about a third of the way there.
00:13:32 --> 00:13:33 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, sounds about right.
00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah. Okay. There you go. Thank you,
00:13:36 --> 00:13:39 Nick. Uh, I hope we managed to adequately
00:13:39 --> 00:13:40 answer your question. That's what we strive
00:13:40 --> 00:13:43 for here on Space Nuts. A Q and A edition
00:13:43 --> 00:13:46 with Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson
00:13:46 --> 00:13:46 Watson.
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here.
00:13:51 --> 00:13:51 Speaker C: This is Houston.
00:13:51 --> 00:13:54 Andrew Dunkley: Say again, please. Houston, we've had a
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 problem. We've had a main B plus undervolt.
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 Roger, main B interval. Okay, standby 13.
00:13:58 --> 00:14:01 We're looking at it. Space butts. Of course,
00:14:01 --> 00:14:03 if you're only. Yes, Earth, Yes.
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 If you're only half listening to that, um,
00:14:05 --> 00:14:08 that radio call from Apollo 13 about what,
00:14:08 --> 00:14:11 you know, about their main B bus undervolt
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 problem. You, you Would have thought they
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 were actually hit by a bus. So,
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 um, yeah, it can be very confusing. Um,
00:14:19 --> 00:14:19 now.
00:14:20 --> 00:14:21 Professor Fred Watson: Oh, gosh.
00:14:21 --> 00:14:22 Andrew Dunkley: Uh, Fred Watson, let's, uh, go to our next
00:14:22 --> 00:14:25 question. Uh, this comes from Ash in
00:14:25 --> 00:14:28 Brisbane. Hi, Ash. Uh, I've got a spanner to
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 throw into the works. In a previous episode,
00:14:30 --> 00:14:32 you mentioned that when neutro stars
00:14:32 --> 00:14:35 collide, the gravity is so extreme that
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 essentially no debris escapes. Now
00:14:37 --> 00:14:40 here's where my brain started making funny
00:14:40 --> 00:14:43 noises. I'm a bit of a gold
00:14:43 --> 00:14:46 fanatic, and I was under the impression that
00:14:46 --> 00:14:49 regular supernovae aren't energetic enough
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 to make a heavy, uh, element like gold.
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 I thought the current thinking is that
00:14:54 --> 00:14:57 neutron star mergers produced much of
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 the universe's gold. So here is my question.
00:14:59 --> 00:15:02 If no debris escapes a neutron collision,
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 how did all the gold end up here,
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 quite literally, uh, for me to admire,
00:15:08 --> 00:15:10 hoard, and dream about buying more of,
00:15:11 --> 00:15:14 uh. Have I misunderstood what nothing escapes
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 means? Does some material actually get
00:15:16 --> 00:15:19 flung out before the merged objects
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 settle down? Or have I completely missed a
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 piece of the puzzle? Love the show and thanks
00:15:24 --> 00:15:27 for feeding my curiosity every week. Looking
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 forward to hearing your thoughts. Cheers. Uh,
00:15:29 --> 00:15:31 Ash from Brisbane, that is a really good
00:15:31 --> 00:15:34 question. Is there a fundamentally simple
00:15:34 --> 00:15:34 answer?
00:15:35 --> 00:15:37 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, I think, um, stuff can escape from
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 a neutron star collision. Maybe I glossed
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 over something in the past. Um,
00:15:44 --> 00:15:47 I mean, we know neutron star collisions
00:15:47 --> 00:15:50 not only produce, um, a
00:15:50 --> 00:15:53 significant amount of, uh, gravitational
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 waves, but we also get, um,
00:15:56 --> 00:15:59 electromagnetic radiation from that as well.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:02 So that's something else that can escape. Uh,
00:16:02 --> 00:16:04 and there must be debris, uh,
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 because otherwise. Exactly. Uh, as Ash
00:16:07 --> 00:16:10 says, uh, you wouldn't get the interstellar
00:16:10 --> 00:16:13 medium being sort of seeded by, uh, by
00:16:13 --> 00:16:13 gold.
00:16:16 --> 00:16:18 Andrew Dunkley: It still makes you wonder like, you know, the
00:16:18 --> 00:16:21 two neutron stars collide, cataclysmic
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 explosion, stuff gets flung. I mean, they're
00:16:23 --> 00:16:25 not gold bars floating out in space, are
00:16:25 --> 00:16:28 they? So what form does the
00:16:28 --> 00:16:28 gold take?
00:16:29 --> 00:16:31 Professor Fred Watson: It's, It'll be atomic, atomic gold.
00:16:32 --> 00:16:32 Andrew Dunkley: Okay?
00:16:32 --> 00:16:35 Professor Fred Watson: Basically atoms of gold that if you had
00:16:35 --> 00:16:38 enough of them, they'd form a gas. Uh, but
00:16:39 --> 00:16:42 you, um, know, they're. They're probably
00:16:42 --> 00:16:44 quite rarefied. Um, it's.
00:16:44 --> 00:16:47 It. The gold's an interesting one though,
00:16:47 --> 00:16:50 because we think most of the gold on Earth
00:16:50 --> 00:16:51 must have arrived after the Earth's
00:16:51 --> 00:16:54 formation. Because if gold was a
00:16:54 --> 00:16:56 significant proportion of the
00:16:57 --> 00:16:59 gas and dust cloud that the Earth formed from
00:16:59 --> 00:17:02 it, all the gold will be in the middle. It
00:17:02 --> 00:17:04 will be mixed up with the iron core, uh,
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 because of its mass. So, um, the
00:17:08 --> 00:17:11 thinking is that other objects, like
00:17:11 --> 00:17:14 broken up protoplanets, which would Give rise
00:17:14 --> 00:17:17 to meteorites, uh, and small asteroids.
00:17:17 --> 00:17:19 Those things bombarding the earth are
00:17:19 --> 00:17:21 probably where most of the Earth's gold came
00:17:21 --> 00:17:23 from. But in turn they would have come from,
00:17:24 --> 00:17:26 um, a neutron star collision.
00:17:26 --> 00:17:26 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah.
00:17:27 --> 00:17:29 Professor Fred Watson: They're called kilonovas now, are they,
00:17:29 --> 00:17:32 uh, like a thousand kilo
00:17:32 --> 00:17:34 nova? Ah. Rather than a supernova.
00:17:35 --> 00:17:37 Andrew Dunkley: Wow. Does that make them bigger or just, you
00:17:37 --> 00:17:40 know, nastier? Smaller. Oh, okay. Yeah,
00:17:40 --> 00:17:42 yeah. Super, super bigger. Yeah. Right,
00:17:42 --> 00:17:45 gotcha. Yeah. We're still waiting for the
00:17:45 --> 00:17:46 next big one, aren't we?
00:17:47 --> 00:17:50 Professor Fred Watson: Uh, yes, in terms of, uh, supernovae. That's
00:17:50 --> 00:17:52 right. There's a couple of candidate stars
00:17:52 --> 00:17:54 that might blow their top sometime within the
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 next few thousand years. Yeah.
00:17:57 --> 00:17:59 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, we'll have to hang around for that.
00:17:59 --> 00:18:02 It's like m. Yeah. The difference is, um,
00:18:02 --> 00:18:04 between that and waiting for a solar eclipse
00:18:04 --> 00:18:06 is you can get a date for a solar eclipse.
00:18:06 --> 00:18:08 You can't get a date for a supernova.
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 Professor Fred Watson: 22nd of July, 2028.
00:18:11 --> 00:18:14 Andrew Dunkley: Yes, I know where I'll be. I
00:18:14 --> 00:18:16 don't have to move for once.
00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 Professor Fred Watson: No, you don't. You probably forget and have a
00:18:18 --> 00:18:20 golf match because it's Saturday afternoon.
00:18:20 --> 00:18:21 Andrew Dunkley: Well, it is a Saturday.
00:18:21 --> 00:18:21 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah.
00:18:21 --> 00:18:23 Andrew Dunkley: Ah, but I'm usually finished by then.
00:18:25 --> 00:18:27 I can imagine there'll be people that will be
00:18:27 --> 00:18:28 out there playing that are oblivious to it
00:18:29 --> 00:18:31 and suddenly it'll pitch black.
00:18:31 --> 00:18:34 Professor Fred Watson: We, we hope nobody will be oblivious to it.
00:18:34 --> 00:18:35 That's one of the times that I'm
00:18:35 --> 00:18:37 Andrew Dunkley: pretty sure the news will be significant.
00:18:37 --> 00:18:39 It's already. There's a Facebook page that's
00:18:39 --> 00:18:42 been dedicated to it already, so I've joined
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 that. And they're constantly. They're already
00:18:44 --> 00:18:46 looking for accommodation. Fred Watson.
00:18:46 --> 00:18:47 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, there will be.
00:18:47 --> 00:18:50 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah. But, um, yeah, Ash, um,
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 it's. The stuff does get away.
00:18:53 --> 00:18:56 Um, and, and gold
00:18:56 --> 00:18:58 does end up in space. Gets picked up by the.
00:18:58 --> 00:19:01 Or distributed by the, um,
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03 the debris, I suppose. And some of it ended
00:19:03 --> 00:19:06 up on Earth. Uh, and I still, I
00:19:06 --> 00:19:09 believe still the amount of pure gold
00:19:09 --> 00:19:12 that's been, that's been found. And
00:19:12 --> 00:19:15 um, and, and you know, what do
00:19:15 --> 00:19:18 you call it? Um, refined on Earth still
00:19:18 --> 00:19:21 would only fill. Is it one
00:19:21 --> 00:19:23 or two Olympic size swimming pools.
00:19:24 --> 00:19:26 That's the world's total amount of gold at
00:19:26 --> 00:19:29 the moment. It's not much, is it?
00:19:29 --> 00:19:32 Professor Fred Watson: Not really. No. No, you're right.
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 I don't think I've got any actually.
00:19:34 --> 00:19:36 Andrew Dunkley: Um. Oh, I've got this.
00:19:37 --> 00:19:38 Professor Fred Watson: All right. Okay, good. Very good.
00:19:38 --> 00:19:41 Andrew Dunkley: That's my grandfather's wedding ring. Uh, my
00:19:41 --> 00:19:43 grandmother gave it to me and said, when you
00:19:43 --> 00:19:43 get married.
00:19:44 --> 00:19:45 Professor Fred Watson: Oh, uh, that's lovely.
00:19:45 --> 00:19:48 Andrew Dunkley: So that ring now has got
00:19:49 --> 00:19:51 80, 40, 50,
00:19:51 --> 00:19:54 57. Oh, hang on, 40. Nearly.
00:19:55 --> 00:19:57 Yeah. 90. 90.
00:19:57 --> 00:19:57 Andrew Dunkley: Nearly.
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 Andrew Dunkley: 93 years of marriage on it
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 without. With our, my grandparents.
00:20:04 --> 00:20:06 Um, marriage and, and Judy and I are coming
00:20:06 --> 00:20:08 up on 40 years. Can you believe that?
00:20:09 --> 00:20:10 Professor Fred Watson: Um, no,
00:20:12 --> 00:20:12 Andrew Dunkley: no.
00:20:12 --> 00:20:13 Speaker C: January.
00:20:13 --> 00:20:14 Professor Fred Watson: Think of you as a young couple.
00:20:15 --> 00:20:17 Andrew Dunkley: January, 40 years, marriage. Yeah, it's
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 hard to get your head around, isn't it? What
00:20:20 --> 00:20:23 have we done with our lives? Uh, anyway, hope
00:20:23 --> 00:20:24 you're doing something good
00:20:24 --> 00:20:25 Professor Fred Watson: for the anniversary, Andrew.
00:20:25 --> 00:20:28 Andrew Dunkley: Uh, we're going to Antarctica.
00:20:28 --> 00:20:28 Professor Fred Watson: Right.
00:20:29 --> 00:20:31 Andrew Dunkley: We wanted to um, put our initials in the
00:20:31 --> 00:20:31 snow,
00:20:33 --> 00:20:34 Professor Fred Watson: um, as you do.
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, we're not going ashore. We're not doing
00:20:36 --> 00:20:38 that. We're doing the um,
00:20:39 --> 00:20:41 environmentally friendly version of the
00:20:41 --> 00:20:42 train.
00:20:42 --> 00:20:42 Professor Fred Watson: Very good.
00:20:42 --> 00:20:43 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah.
00:20:43 --> 00:20:45 Professor Fred Watson: It's the right thing to do.
00:20:45 --> 00:20:48 Andrew Dunkley: Indeed. Okay. Uh, thanks Ash. Uh, great to
00:20:48 --> 00:20:50 hear from you. Keep collecting the gold and
00:20:50 --> 00:20:51 if you've got any spare, you know where I
00:20:51 --> 00:20:54 live. Uh, our final question, Fred Watson
00:20:54 --> 00:20:56 comes from. Um,
00:20:57 --> 00:20:59 I've got to find it. It's from Ryan.
00:20:59 --> 00:21:02 Speaker C: Hey guys, it's Ryan from Hokassin.
00:21:02 --> 00:21:05 Delaware. Yes, Delaware actually exists. I
00:21:05 --> 00:21:07 have a question and if you would permit me, I
00:21:07 --> 00:21:10 would be interested to hear answers, uh, from
00:21:10 --> 00:21:13 both of you. I recognise
00:21:13 --> 00:21:16 that our solar system and our sun is
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 rocketing through the universe. Rocketing
00:21:18 --> 00:21:21 around the galaxy. Well, not rocketing, but
00:21:21 --> 00:21:23 you know what I mean. Um, and that currently
00:21:24 --> 00:21:27 our solar system is in what is known as the
00:21:27 --> 00:21:29 local interstellar cloud. It's a
00:21:29 --> 00:21:32 very thin diffuse patch of
00:21:32 --> 00:21:35 gas that we're going through. And the sun's
00:21:35 --> 00:21:38 heliosphere has enough outward pressure to
00:21:38 --> 00:21:40 protect us from this interstellar medium.
00:21:41 --> 00:21:43 My question is, what would happen
00:21:43 --> 00:21:46 if our sun were to stray through a
00:21:46 --> 00:21:49 dense star forming nebula? Something
00:21:49 --> 00:21:51 that has much higher
00:21:52 --> 00:21:55 parts, um, per million or even I don't know
00:21:55 --> 00:21:58 what dense is defined as in a star forming
00:21:58 --> 00:22:01 nebula. Um, but if our sun were to wander
00:22:01 --> 00:22:03 through one of these things, what would
00:22:03 --> 00:22:05 happen to the earth? What would happen to the
00:22:05 --> 00:22:08 heliosphere? What would happen to our solar
00:22:08 --> 00:22:10 system? And again, if you permit me, I'd be
00:22:10 --> 00:22:13 curious to hear the sci fi writer writer on
00:22:13 --> 00:22:16 your show answer first. Thanks so
00:22:16 --> 00:22:18 much guys. Keep uh, up the great work.
00:22:18 --> 00:22:21 Andrew Dunkley: Thank you, Ryan. Uh, I was thinking, um,
00:22:21 --> 00:22:24 Martin Berman Govine could have tackled this
00:22:24 --> 00:22:26 one. But um, he didn't pick up the phone when
00:22:26 --> 00:22:29 I rang. Um, and that's who I
00:22:29 --> 00:22:30 assume he wanted to hear from in terms of
00:22:30 --> 00:22:32 science fiction writers. And um,
00:22:33 --> 00:22:36 I. Look, I did
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38 research this because from a science
00:22:38 --> 00:22:41 fiction point of view I'd like to Think it
00:22:41 --> 00:22:44 would, um, the sun, which means the Earth
00:22:44 --> 00:22:45 and the rest of the solar system would go
00:22:45 --> 00:22:48 with it. Uh, the sun would, uh, start to
00:22:48 --> 00:22:51 fuel itself up on all that, um, meaty
00:22:51 --> 00:22:54 goodness in a nebula. And we
00:22:54 --> 00:22:57 suddenly realise that our life on Earth is
00:22:57 --> 00:22:59 threatened. Significantly, the truth is much
00:22:59 --> 00:23:02 more boring. I'll
00:23:02 --> 00:23:05 let Fred Watson tell the truth, but, um, from
00:23:05 --> 00:23:07 a science fiction perspective, look, it's got
00:23:07 --> 00:23:10 merit. If you wanted to stretch,
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13 um, the truth a very, very.
00:23:14 --> 00:23:16 Not break the rubber band, but, um, you
00:23:16 --> 00:23:18 probably would break the rubber band. But,
00:23:18 --> 00:23:21 uh, I'd go down the line of,
00:23:21 --> 00:23:23 um, yes, if it happened,
00:23:24 --> 00:23:27 uh, the sun would, um, have a
00:23:27 --> 00:23:29 feeding frenzy like a great white shark.
00:23:29 --> 00:23:32 And, uh, Earth would suddenly
00:23:32 --> 00:23:35 risk being gobbled up by what may become
00:23:35 --> 00:23:38 a super sun as a consequence.
00:23:38 --> 00:23:40 But, uh, I just don't believe that's.
00:23:41 --> 00:23:43 That's possible. And, uh,
00:23:44 --> 00:23:47 the chances of this happening, Ryan, are
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 pretty much nil because the
00:23:49 --> 00:23:52 nearest nebula to Earth, the, uh,
00:23:52 --> 00:23:55 Helix nebula, is about 650 light
00:23:55 --> 00:23:57 years away. So, um,
00:23:58 --> 00:24:01 um, that sort of
00:24:01 --> 00:24:03 puts us out of the realm of possibility. But,
00:24:03 --> 00:24:06 you know, you never know. There might be one
00:24:06 --> 00:24:08 we've missed and is sneaking up on us as we
00:24:08 --> 00:24:11 speak. Time, uh, for you to save this
00:24:11 --> 00:24:11 question, Fred Watson.
00:24:12 --> 00:24:15 Professor Fred Watson: I'm just cheating here because, um, you've
00:24:15 --> 00:24:17 made me think of something I should know.
00:24:19 --> 00:24:21 Uh, so what we're really talking about,
00:24:22 --> 00:24:25 star forming regions are, uh, technically
00:24:25 --> 00:24:27 known as giant molecular clouds. And,
00:24:27 --> 00:24:30 um, the nearest one is 1500 light
00:24:30 --> 00:24:31 years away.
00:24:31 --> 00:24:32 Andrew Dunkley: Oh, there you go.
00:24:32 --> 00:24:34 Professor Fred Watson: Uh, it's the Orion molecular cloud complex.
00:24:34 --> 00:24:37 That makes sense because we know the Orion
00:24:37 --> 00:24:39 Nebula is one of the brightest in the sky.
00:24:40 --> 00:24:42 So giant molecular clouds are indeed where,
00:24:43 --> 00:24:45 uh, star formation is taking taking place.
00:24:45 --> 00:24:48 Um, and the densities there, because
00:24:48 --> 00:24:50 it's a molecular cloud, uh, are higher
00:24:50 --> 00:24:53 than what they would be in the sort of normal
00:24:53 --> 00:24:56 interstellar medium. Um, but
00:24:56 --> 00:24:59 it would be, um. The thing that
00:24:59 --> 00:25:01 would probably make the biggest difference is
00:25:01 --> 00:25:04 that as you approach this thing, and
00:25:04 --> 00:25:06 two people I used to work with at the Royal
00:25:06 --> 00:25:09 Observatory in Edinburgh, um, Victor Klub and
00:25:09 --> 00:25:12 Bill Napier, both theorise
00:25:12 --> 00:25:14 that this has happened in the past, that
00:25:14 --> 00:25:17 a giant molecular cloud passing
00:25:18 --> 00:25:20 close to the solar system would
00:25:20 --> 00:25:23 disturb the Oort cloud to the extent
00:25:23 --> 00:25:26 that you would bombard the inner solar system
00:25:26 --> 00:25:29 with cometary objects. In other words, comet
00:25:29 --> 00:25:31 nuclei coming from the Oort cloud, which we
00:25:31 --> 00:25:33 think is the reservoir of these things at the
00:25:33 --> 00:25:36 edge of the gas cloud that made our own
00:25:36 --> 00:25:39 solar system. So there could be quite
00:25:39 --> 00:25:42 catastrophic, uh, consequences. In
00:25:42 --> 00:25:45 fact, uh, Victor and Bill wrote a book called
00:25:45 --> 00:25:47 the Cosmic Serpent in Which they
00:25:48 --> 00:25:50 equated, if I remember rightly, uh,
00:25:51 --> 00:25:53 some of the um,
00:25:53 --> 00:25:55 geological and
00:25:56 --> 00:25:59 um, mythical, if I can put it that way,
00:26:00 --> 00:26:02 uh, the stories of death and
00:26:02 --> 00:26:05 devastation, um, of which there are
00:26:05 --> 00:26:07 plenty in ancient records. Uh,
00:26:08 --> 00:26:11 those, uh, and the geological
00:26:11 --> 00:26:14 evidence of there having been um, debris
00:26:14 --> 00:26:16 bombarding the earth, uh, they sort of
00:26:16 --> 00:26:19 equated that with the passage of. Potential
00:26:19 --> 00:26:22 passage of known molecular. Giant
00:26:22 --> 00:26:24 molecular clouds. Now their work, that work
00:26:24 --> 00:26:27 was done 70 years, sorry, 50 years ago
00:26:27 --> 00:26:29 or thereabouts. A bit less than that, um,
00:26:30 --> 00:26:33 40 years ago. 46 years ago to
00:26:33 --> 00:26:35 be exact. Um, so things have probably
00:26:35 --> 00:26:38 moved on in terms of what we know about these
00:26:38 --> 00:26:41 things and also about the geological
00:26:41 --> 00:26:43 record too and what the
00:26:43 --> 00:26:45 anthropologists tell us about some of the
00:26:46 --> 00:26:48 um, destruction, uh,
00:26:49 --> 00:26:51 stories, uh, that pervade, uh, ancient
00:26:51 --> 00:26:54 texts of whatever kind they are.
00:26:54 --> 00:26:56 So uh, there might be more to say about that.
00:26:56 --> 00:26:59 But it's still a real phenomenon, potentially
00:26:59 --> 00:27:02 that you could get, um, catastrophic
00:27:02 --> 00:27:04 bombardment of the inner solar system because
00:27:04 --> 00:27:05 of the disturbance, the gravitational
00:27:05 --> 00:27:08 disturbance of a big lump of stuff not very
00:27:08 --> 00:27:09 far away.
00:27:09 --> 00:27:10 Andrew Dunkley: Wow.
00:27:10 --> 00:27:11 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah.
00:27:11 --> 00:27:12 Andrew Dunkley: That's not boring at all.
00:27:12 --> 00:27:14 Professor Fred Watson: No, I don't think it's boring. No, I think
00:27:14 --> 00:27:14 it's.
00:27:15 --> 00:27:17 Andrew Dunkley: Makes a science fiction potential story much
00:27:17 --> 00:27:18 more exciting.
00:27:18 --> 00:27:21 Professor Fred Watson: Yes, well, it does. You could mix the two
00:27:21 --> 00:27:23 together and get a good answer. Probably.
00:27:23 --> 00:27:24 Andrew Dunkley: Good.
00:27:24 --> 00:27:26 Andrew Dunkley: Ryan will be relieved to know that
00:27:27 --> 00:27:30 getting to the um, star forming field
00:27:30 --> 00:27:32 that you uh, brought up, Fred Watson,
00:27:32 --> 00:27:35 1500 light years ago away, will take us
00:27:35 --> 00:27:38 at our current velocity 15 million years.
00:27:39 --> 00:27:42 Professor Fred Watson: Yes, that's probably right. If we were
00:27:42 --> 00:27:43 heading in the right direction.
00:27:43 --> 00:27:45 Andrew Dunkley: If we were heading in the right direction,
00:27:45 --> 00:27:47 that's the other point and we're not.
00:27:49 --> 00:27:52 So I think we're pretty safe at the moment,
00:27:52 --> 00:27:55 Ryan. But thanks, uh, for your thoughts and I
00:27:55 --> 00:27:57 do love the what if questions. That one was
00:27:57 --> 00:27:59 just a little bit out of my realm of
00:28:00 --> 00:28:02 imagination. Um, um, but yeah,
00:28:03 --> 00:28:05 um, but Fred Watson made us feel good by
00:28:05 --> 00:28:06 saying it would be catastrophic.
00:28:06 --> 00:28:08 Professor Fred Watson: Anyway, yes,
00:28:10 --> 00:28:12 Andrew Dunkley: uh, thank you, Ryan. Thank you to everyone
00:28:12 --> 00:28:14 who contributed. And if you've got questions
00:28:14 --> 00:28:16 for us, please send them in to, uh, our
00:28:16 --> 00:28:19 website or via our website, uh, Space Nuts
00:28:19 --> 00:28:22 IO and just click on the AMA button at the
00:28:22 --> 00:28:24 top and uh, you can send text or audio
00:28:24 --> 00:28:25 questions. Don't forget to tell us who you
00:28:25 --> 00:28:27 are and where you're from. We'd be, uh,
00:28:27 --> 00:28:28 thrilled to hear from you. And if you've
00:28:28 --> 00:28:30 never ever sent us a question before, please
00:28:30 --> 00:28:33 do. Um, always looking for newbies.
00:28:34 --> 00:28:36 Uh, we like our regulars too, of course. And
00:28:36 --> 00:28:38 uh, please leave a review wherever you listen
00:28:38 --> 00:28:40 to us or watch us if you watch us. That's.
00:28:40 --> 00:28:43 I'm really sorry about that. But, um, anyway,
00:28:43 --> 00:28:46 that's, you know, head for radio. I've had
00:28:46 --> 00:28:49 it for a long time. I can't change it. Um,
00:28:49 --> 00:28:50 thank you, Fred Watson. We'll see you real
00:28:50 --> 00:28:50 soon.
00:28:51 --> 00:28:53 Professor Fred Watson: I hope so. Yeah. Looking forward to it. Thank
00:28:53 --> 00:28:54 you.
00:28:54 --> 00:28:55 Andrew Dunkley: That's Professor Fred Watson Watson,
00:28:55 --> 00:28:58 Astronomer at large. And thanks to Huw in the
00:28:58 --> 00:29:00 studio who, um, also did some
00:29:01 --> 00:29:03 straying today. Um, like the Earth, um,
00:29:04 --> 00:29:06 or the sun straying through a nebula. He went
00:29:06 --> 00:29:09 straying. So, uh, we haven't seen him for a
00:29:09 --> 00:29:11 couple of months now. And from me, Andrew
00:29:11 --> 00:29:13 Dunkley, thanks for your company. We'll catch
00:29:13 --> 00:29:15 you on the next episode of Space Nuts. Bye.
00:29:15 --> 00:29:18 Bye. You've been listening to
00:29:18 --> 00:29:19 the Space Nuts podcast,
00:29:21 --> 00:29:24 available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
00:29:24 --> 00:29:26 iHeartRadio or your favourite, favourite
00:29:26 --> 00:29:28 podcast player. You can also stream
00:29:28 --> 00:29:30 ondemand@bytes.com.
00:29:30 --> 00:29:32 Professor Fred Watson: this has been another quality podcast
00:29:32 --> 00:29:34 production from Bytes.
00:29:34 --> 00:29:34 Speaker C: Com.
00:29:34 --> 00:29:34 Andrew Dunkley: Um,