Milky Way’s Satellite Galaxies // Japan Lunar Lander // NASA’s Infrared Radiometer | S27E03

This is Spacetime Series twenty seven, Episode three, for broadcast on the fifth of January twenty twenty four. Coming up on space Time, A new study has concluded that most small satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way are destroyed soon after they enter the Milky Way's galactic Hello, Japan's Luna Landa enters orbit around the Moon in preparation for a potential touchdown later this month, and first light for NASA's new Compact Infra red radiometer. All that and more coming up on Spacetime Welcome to space Time with Stuart Gary. A new study has concluded that most small satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way are destroyed soon after that enter the Milky Ways galactic halo. The findings reported in the Journal of the Monthly Notices the Royal Astronomical Society, erasing new questions about the standard cosmological model, including on the prevalence of dark matter in our airspace environment. The conclusions are based on new data from the European Space Agency's GUY emission suggests that dwarf galaxies might be out of equilibrium. It's long been assumed that the dwarf galaxies around the Milky Way are ancient satellites, with some having been in orbit around our galaxy for nearly ten billion years, and this would require them to contain huge amounts of dark matter in order to provide all the gravity needed to hold them together, protecting them from the enormous gravitational tidal forces of the far more massive Milky Way. It was also assumed that dark matter was causing large differences observed in the velocities of stars within these dwarf galaxies. Trouble is, the latest guy data has revealed a completely different view dwarf galaxy properties. Astronomers were able to date the history of the Milky Way thanks to the relationship that connects the orbital energy of an object to its epoch of entry into the halo, the time at dwarf galaxy first became captured by the milky wayste gravitational field. Objects that arrived early when the Milky Way was less massive than it is now have lower orbital energies than more recent arrivals. The orbital energies of most dwarf galaxies are surprisingly substantially larger than that of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, which entered the halo between five and six billion years ago, and this implies that most dwarf galaxies must have arrived much more recently, less than three billion years ago. Such recent arrivals implies that nearby dwarf galaxies must have come from outside the halo, where almost all dwarf galaxies are observed to contain huge reservoirs of neutral hydrogen gas, the gas which galaxies lost their gas when they collided with the hot gas and the Milky wayte galactic halo. The violence of shocks and turbulence during the process completely changes the dwarf galaxies. While the previously gas rich dwarf galaxies were dominated by the rotation of gas and stars, when they were transformed into gas free systems, their gravity became balanced by the random motions of the remaining stars. But the thing is, dwarf galaxies lose their gas in the process so violet. It puts them out of equilibrium, which means that how fast their stars move is no longer in balance with their gravitational acceleration. The combined effects of gas loss and gravitational shocks due to the dive into the galaxy nicely explains the widespread velocities of the stars within the dwarf galaxy remnant. One of the curiosities of this study is the role of dark matter, that mysterious substance which we can't see, which we don't understand, which we don't even know what it's made of, but we know it exists because we can see its impact on other galaxies, stopping them from flinging apart as they rotate. Now, the absence of any equilibrium prevents any estimation of a dynamic mass for these dwarf galaxies around the Milky Way, or for that matter, their dark matter content. Also, while in the previous scenario, dark matter protected the supposed stability of dwarf galaxies, inverting dark matter actually becomes rather awkward for objects out of balance. In fact, if the dwarf galaxy already contained lots of dark matter, it would have stabilized the initial rotating disk of stars, preventing the dwarf's transition into a galaxy with random stellar motions. The recent arrival of dwarf galaxies and their transformations in the Milky Ways galactic halo explained many of the observed properties of these objects, including why they have stars at such large distances from their cores, their properties seem more compatible with an absence of dark matter, and that's contrary to our previous understanding of dwarf galaxies as the most dark matter dominated of objects. And of course, that then raises the question of where are all these dark matter dominated dwarf galaxies which the standard cosmological model predicts to be orbiting around the Milky Way? And for that matter, how can we even infer the dark matter content of a dwarf galaxy if equilibrium can't be assumed. This is space time still to come. Japan's lunar lander enters orbit around the Moon and first light for NASA's new Compact Infrared Radiometer. All that and more still to come on space time. Japan's new lunar lander has entered orbit around the Moon. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JACKSA says it's smart lander for investigating the Moon or SLIM spacecraft will undertake a landing attempt on the lunar surface within the next few weeks. The mission was launched back in September last year aboard an H two a rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center south of Tokyo. Three previous launch attempts had to be scrubbed because of bad weather. The journey to the Moon wasn't a direct flight. Instead, Smart was sent into a highly elliptical orbit around the Earth, which gradually got bigger and bigger until it encompassed the Moon as well. It then began tightening its elliptical orbit until it achieved a circular orbit around the Moon. Mission manager say the probe will now begin it's twenty minute descent down to the lunar's surface on January the twentieth. This is designed to touch down within one hundred meters of a specific target on the lunar surface. This will allow scientists to target a specific crater or rock formation for the landing site. Once on the ground, SLIM will deploy a small spherical probe slightly larger than the tennis ball. The probe can change its shape in order to move across the lunar surface. Now. If successful, this mission will make Japan only the fifth nation after the United States, Russia, China, and India the successfully land a probe on the Moon. Two previous Japanese lunar missions have both failed. Back in twenty twenty two, Japan's what NASHI Lunar Probe CubeSat, which was part of NASA's artemus I mission, failed after deployment, and in April last g Japanese startup ice Space also failed when their spacecraft loss communications crashed onto the lunar surface. This space time still to come a successful first light for NASA's new compact infrared radiometer, and later in the science report, a new study shows a human can tell when a chicken's happy. All that and more still to come of space time, NASA's first ORBAL experiments using its latest infrared Earth observation instrument have proven to be highly successful. The Multibanded Uncooled Radiometer Instrument, or MURRAY, was mounted aboard loft Orbital ZAM five platform, which fluids space on a technology validation mission aboard a Falcon nine rocket a year ago. Most satellite based infrared instruments, such as murders, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer and Infrared Radiometer fitted aboard both NASA's Aqua and Terra spacecraft, require bulky cryogenic systems weighing over two hundred and thirty kilograms in order to cool the instrument down enough to reach an operating temperature of minus one hundred and eighty five degrees celsius. That's needed because otherwise the optics of the infrared system are picking up the camera itself rather than the subject they're looking at. But Murray is different. It operates at room temperature and so at anyways five kilograms. The key to the new technology is a novel microbilometer, which takes infrared radiation without a cryogenic cooler. This greatly reduces the cost and complexity of observing the planet's surface temperature from low Earth orbit. Bilometers are good because they detect infrared radiation in the form of heat and don't require cryogenic operation. Now, microbolometers still need to be held at a constant temperature in order to maintain accuracy in space, but that temperature can be room temperature, making the whole thing far easier to maintain Earlier. During both airborne and laboratory tests, Murray achieved an absolute radiometric accuracy of around one percent, which is considered world class for any long wave infrared radiometers of any size, and the first light orbital data is suggesting the instrument performs just as well in the rigors of space. In fact, Murray's initial observations suggest the instrument can measure the Earth's surface temperature with a sensitivity as low as one hundred and twenty three millikelvin, which is comparable to existing landsat instruments. Murray principal investigator Philip Ealy from Leonardo Diagnostic Retrieval Systems, says the unique technology could become the foundation for future orbital science missions dedicated to observing phenomenon like volcanic activity. Its superpower would be that it's a very small sensor with the power of a much greater sensor. Murray was launched by the SpaceX Transporter six on Tuesday, January third, twenty twenty three, as one of several hosted payloads within Loft Orbitals. YAM five washing machine sized satellite. Murray is a smaller version on the Tiers instrument. The TEARS is more like a telephone booth size instrument, and ours is on the order of roughly a cubic foot thirty five centimeters by thirty by thirty centimeters, so we have a much smaller system. We don't have a large cryod cooler that takes up size, weight and power, which significantly grow the instrument. Land temperature and water temperature are very important for scientists to be able to understand water monitoring, how full lakes are for crop monitoring, and other land imaging such as fire monitoring. There's also interested in an infrared for volcanic monitor In order to achieve radiometric accuracy on the order of one percent, state of the art for radiometers use three techniques. The t COMP algorithm will adjust for global changes in temperature. The telescope temperature and the focal plane temperature are changing together. In addition, we have heater controllers to control the temperature throughout the orbit. And then thirdly, we use a calibration paddle that flips in front of the telescope and then DC restores the sensor output. We take out any radiometric error that may have crept in in that the temperature may have shifted from when we did our original calibration. Murray can't afford image motion because you're flying over the Earth from lower orbit at seven kilometers a second, the imagery from the scene is moving across the focal plane. So what we came up with was a technique to backscan the focal plane in a way to match the orbital velocity, the piazo stage that moves the focal plane very small distance on the order of a millimeter, that stares at the scene and moves ahead about a millimeter and then snaps back and does that again and again, and so what you have is a step stair system. And then we also do what's called frame stacking, superimposing those frames in order to create an image that's looked ten times long. I think one of the exciting things about working in ESTO program is that you get to see the results in a pretty short timescale. But to get up into space in less than two years, that's really an accomplishment. That's something I'm really proud of. We came up with the idea, we found the right sort of application. That's Marie Principal investigative Philip Peley from LEONARDA diagnostic traval systems this space, time and time. That'll take another brief look at some of the other stories making use in science this week with a science report. A new study claims that while getting enough sleep can help improve your memory, it can also impact how you develop false memories. The findings reported in the Journal of the Royal Society follow the testing of four hundred and eighty eight participants on their ability to memorize the list of words and then recall them between two and twelve hours later at the twelve hour mark. The authors found that those who had slept during the twelve hour weight period record more of the words on the list than those who hadn't slept. They say participants who slept also guessed fewer entirely incorrect words, but they guessed more words that, while incorrect, were at least related to the correct words. The researcher say this means that sleep may be influencing the very nature of your memories, not just how much you remember. Scientists have used octopus DNA to discover that the West Antarctic ice sheet likely collapsed around the last Interglacial period, around one hundred and twenty thousand years ago, when global temperatures were very similar to what they are now. The findings are reported in the journal Science. Compared the genetic profiles of Turkit's octopus, which are found in the Woodill, Adminson, and Ross seas, and they found genetic connectivity dating back to the last into glacial. The authors knew that this genetic connectivity could only be possible if a complete collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet occurred during the last inter glacial, thereby opening seaways linking the present day were del Edmundson and Ross seas and allowing the octopus to spread. A new study shows that seven out of ten people can correctly tell if a chicken's happy or not simply based on their clucks. The findings, reported in the journal of the Raw Society Opened Science, are based on researchers recruiting two hundred people who were then played recordings of different chicken calls, some where the chickens were expecting to get a reward and some from other contexts. The researchers say sixty nine percent of participants correctly guessed whether the chicken was excited about getting a potential reward, and previous experiences didn't appear to change how accurate their guesses were. The authors say this provides evidence that humans may be able to innately perceive the emotions of chickens, which could help us make better choices about their welfare. Well, it seems that whether or not brainwashing is real depends entirely on your definition of brainwashing. Are you talking about the influence of advertising pushing religious or political views, or a Mandurian candidate like ability to implant secret commands that can be triggered by a key word at some future date. If you're attempting to influence or manipulate the views or beliefs of others through advertising, religious nirvana or biased news stories, then the answer is yes. But if you're talking about Manturian candidate like programs that blindly kill on command, then the answer is a very firm no. The CIA tried that with the mk Ultra mind control program and it failed to explain what it all means. We're joined by Tim Mindham from Austria and skeptics. Is brainwashing real or is it just this is a question. I think No, it's to be the idea of the Manurian candidate, that's get That was my next question. Yeah, candidate is in the film where you during the Korean War you capture some American soldiers and you bombard them with images and sounds and you, my friend George believes in the Manasarin candidate. He believes it could become one. But then again, he's done in the meds right now, and he should be. It's the idea that you can persuade someone to do something that they wouldn't mom me do it by brainwashing, right, you turn their brain around, And the question is can you do that? Unlikely? The issue with brainwashing is it's supplied as a description of what happens in the cult that people follow instructions from your cult leader because they've been brainwashed. And I think really everyone else is doing it. That's why they're doing it, and they don't want to. Well, I think what happens is there's a particular image of brainwashing, of the manipulation, psychological manipulation through serious streep and sound and vision and whatever. The term brainwashing, though, is widely used, and it's often overused to coming from a religious perspective. Saying that the explanation of cultive behavior is because of brainwashing is not borne out by the evidence. But there is evidence of coercive persuasion, right, encouragement, peer pressure, enthusiasm, perceived benefit, et cetera. Now, whether you call that brain washing, or whether you call that offering them a better deal than anyone else, whether they call that marketing right is a moot point. You might not be recreating their brain in the way you wanted, But you certainly can be doing treatments if you like, or you're dealing with people in a way that might have the same results. Classic case the Jonestown massacre. Jim Jones ran a cult in California, blah blah blah. He decides to move everything down to Guiana in South America and sets up a little sort of commune down there, Jonestoun named after himself, which is what leaders do. And then the father of one of the followers, and there were about thousand of the followers came to Guiana to try and get her back, and someone shot it and shot someone else as well, and he was a US congressman. Yeah, and the film crew or someone someone else, and Jim Jones realized oops in trouble here, and he then persuaded or told or ordered his followers to commit suicide. And the worst thing wasn't kol aid, but I mean for our kool aid gets targeted with that. But yeah, drinks kool aid, which means you're a follower and unthinking, blind faith follower of a particular leader. So they drank the poison sign I think it was, and they gave it to their kids as well. Some people had to just drink it, some people get ejected or whatever, and nine hundred plus close to a thousand people died. And you see the vision of this jamestown with bodies everywhere. It's horrible. And they had bucket loads or what do you go on? Drum loads of this kool aid treatment the suicide. Now you think, why would people suicide? And why would they kill their kids and talking little kids if they weren't brainwashed or coercively persuaded. How far do you have to go before people will kill themselves and kill their kids? And then you come with a definition of a cult. The term brain washing might be out of fashion if you like. The concept might be out of fashion if you're not totally rewiring someone's brain. But year fair enough, maybe the term brain washing is not a particularly good term for this sort of stuff. But it's something very like it that weak minded people are going to follow a charismatic leader. I mean, it doesn't matter if it's Jim Jones or the dude with the flying sources behind the common or who it is. Yeah, you wonder why. I mean, that's the sixty four oar question is why do people follow someone? There are various criteria. Obviously, there are various reasons why someone would follow a cult. One is a sense of community. We can all believe the same thing for therefore I feel good. One is to escape something else, and you go into like a little coming to a cave, almost a societal cave, to hide away from an unpleasant world. One is because you're being offered something, and heaven knows what you're being offered by a cult. Most of the time it's the cult leader who's benefiting rather than the cult followers. And whether that's weak minded, whether that's a need, a psychological need. There are people from all walks of life, different education, people who you would think in quotes for the cliche, these are not weak minded people. Eis are intelligent people no defense. If you hit someone for what they need, the intelligence goes out of the windows. And this is just true all the time. Now most people don't join cults, which is a good thing. Most people would have some defense against it. But once you're in a cult, you're they're pretty much totally committed to it, and that is increasing as they incorcud various ideas to you, is that brainwashing is it particularly accurate? Well, it doesn't matter if the same result happens. If people do go out and kill on behalf of a cult, they brainwashed to do it or are they encouraged to do it. That's timendum from Australian Skeptics, and that's the show for now. Space Time is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Stitcher, Google podcast, pocker Casts, Spotify a Cast, Amazon Music, Bites dot com, SoundCloud YouTube, your favorite podcast download provider, and from space Time with Stuart Gary dot com. Space Time's also broadcast through the National Science Foundation, on Science Zone Radio and on both iHeartRadio and tune In Radio. And you can help to support our show by visiting the space Time still for a range of promotional merchandising goodies, or by becoming a Spacetime Patron, which gives you access to triple episode commercial free versions of the show, as well as lots of bonnus audio content which doesn't go to wear, access to our exclusive Facebook group, and other rewards. Just go to space Time with Stewart Gary dot com for full details. And if you want more space Time, please check out our blog where you'll find all the stuff we couldn't fit in the show, as well as heaps of images, news stories, loads of videos and things on the WHEB I find interesting or amusing. Just go to space Time with Steward Gary dot tumbler dot com. That's all one word, and that's Tumbler without the E. You can also follow us through at Stuart Gary on Twitter, at space Time with Stuart Gary, on Instagram, through our Spacetime YouTube channel, and on Facebook. Just go to Facebook dot com forward slash space Time with Stuart Gary. You've been listening to space Time with Stuard Gary. This has been another quality podcast production Bytes dot com