Challenger’s Legacy, Cosmic Moons & the Mystery of Rapid Black Hole Growth | Space Nuts:...


Challenger Remembrance, Australian of the Year, and the Mystery of Massive Moons
In this poignant episode of Space Nuts , hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson reflect on the 40th anniversary of the Challenger space shuttle disaster, sharing their memories and insights about this tragic event. They also celebrate the announcement of the Australian of the Year and delve into intriguing discussions about the definition of moons and the rapid growth of black holes.
Episode Highlights:
- Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster: Andrew and Fred discuss the Challenger disaster of 1986, revisiting the events leading to the tragic explosion and the lessons learned from this pivotal moment in space history. They reflect on the human cost and the impact it had on the space program.
- Australian of the Year: The hosts celebrate the recognition of Catherine Bennell Pegg, an Australian astronaut and Director of Space Technology at the Australian Space Agency, as the Australian of the Year. They discuss her contributions to space science and her role in inspiring future generations.
- Defining a Moon: Andrew and Fred explore a recent study that challenges our understanding of what constitutes a moon. They discuss the discovery of a massive potential moon orbiting a gas giant and the implications for our definitions in astronomy.
- The Rapid Growth of Black Holes: The episode concludes with a fascinating examination of how black holes can grow rapidly in chaotic conditions, as discussed in recent research. The hosts analyze the findings and what they mean for our understanding of the universe.
For more Space Nuts, including our continuously updating newsfeed and to listen to all our episodes, visit our website. (https://www.spacenutspodcast.com/) Follow us on social media at SpaceNutsPod on Facebook, Instagram, and more. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favorite platform.
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Stay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.
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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/31421706?utm_source=youtube
Kind: captions
Language: en
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Hi there. Thanks for joining us on Space
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Nuts, where we talk astronomy and space
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science uh twice a week, in fact. And
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I'm glad you could join us yet again. Uh
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today's episode has some uh great news,
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but also a bit of a sad reflection. It's
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40 years since the Challenger space
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shuttle disaster. Can you believe that?
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40 years. Of course, some of you
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listening to us
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won't remember it because you're 40. Uh
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but uh for those of us who are a few
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years older, it is um a very very strong
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memory. We'll uh talk about that. On a
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happier note, we will reveal the
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Australian of the year. I think most
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Australians will know who that is. Uh
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how do you define a moon? That question
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has come up because of a potential
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discovery. And they think they know why
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black holes are getting big fast. We'll
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talk about all of that on this episode
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of Space Nuts.
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>> 15 seconds. Guidance is internal. 10 9
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Ignition sequence start.
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>> Space Nuts.
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>> 5 4 3 2 1 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1
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>> Space Nuts.
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>> Astronauts report. It feels good.
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>> Joining us as always is his good self,
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Professor Fred Watson, astronomer at
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large. Hello, Fred.
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>> Hello. It's good to be good. It is good
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to be good. It's good to see you.
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>> It's good to be in a cool room because
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it's not cool in our part of the world
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at the moment. We're right in the middle
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of a week long uh run of 40 plus Celsius
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temperatures. Uh we we've uh broken our
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uh record in in do for the hottest day
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in January and that was 461
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I think we had uh on Monday on Australia
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Day which um yeah it was dreadful. I
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mean it was just horrific. Um so yeah
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it's it's been a pretty rough week. U my
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plants are suffering. There's nothing I
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can do about it and I think we're going
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to lose a few. know unfortunately that's
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the way it goes. Um I suppose that's
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what happens when they plant plants in
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an environment like this that um don't
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come from here. They struggle. But uh
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yes, all all is well with you. Uh yeah,
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our plants uh pretty well are all
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natives uh in Man's Garden, so they they
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don't seem to mind, but we've got um
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much more modest temperatures than you
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have here on the coast.
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>> Probably about 10° cooler, I imagine.
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Uh, it's not quite that, but not far
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off. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, no, it's more
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like 20 at the moment. 20°. Yeah, we're
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down at um, but it's forecast to be 29
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today. So,
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>> yeah, we're going to get to 41, I think,
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today. So, I think we're already pushing
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towards 30 as I speak, and it's only
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what, 9:30 in the morning local time.
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So,
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um, we got a lot to talk about, so we
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better get stuck into it. Uh the first
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thing is uh something that um I I don't
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think anyone who was around at the time
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will ever forget. I'm talking about the
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Challenger space shuttle launch uh in
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1986
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and this is basically what happened.
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>> T-minus 15 seconds
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9.
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We have main engine start. 4 3 2 1 and
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liftoff. Liftoff of the 25th space
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shuttle mission. And it has cleared the
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tower.
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>> Good. Roll program confirmed.
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>> Challenger now heading down range.
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Engine's beginning throttling down now
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at 94%.
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Normal throttles uh for most of the
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flight 104%.
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We'll throttle down to uh 65% shortly.
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Engines at 65%. Three engines running
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normally. Three good fuel cells. Three
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good APUs.
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Velocity 2257 ft per second. Altitude
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4.3 nautical miles. Downrange distance 3
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nautical miles.
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>> Engines throttling up. Three engines now
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at 104%.
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>> Challenger go at throttle up.
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>> Go throttle up.
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>> 1 minute 15 seconds. Velocity 2900 ft
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per second. Altitude 9 nautical miles.
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Down range distance 7 nautical mile.
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Flight controllers here looking very
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carefully at the situation.
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Obviously a major malfunction.
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We have no down link.
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We have a report from the flight
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dynamics officer that the vehicle has
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exploded. Flight director confirms that.
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We are looking at uh checking with the
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recovery forces to see what can be done
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at this point.
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>> And there it is. That was the launch of
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Challenger in 1986
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uh in real time. Uh and we heard the
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final words of uh the commander Dick
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Scobby when he said, "Roger, going with
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throttle up." And that was basically
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where it all went horribly wrong, Fred.
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Uh the um cause of the accident was
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ultimately blamed on the O-rings. the
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the O-rings joined each section of the
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solid rocket boosters and there were
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several of them, but one of them had a
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catastrophic failure and the um uh the
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vehicle exploded as a consequence of of
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that failure. And we all saw it, we all
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watched it. Um it was it was horrifying.
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Uh indeed it was. I remember it very
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well too, of course. Um so yeah it was
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um nothing to do with the throttling up
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that that was just
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>> that was just to get it going. Yeah that
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>> and
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um the throttle back for the um maximum
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dynamic pressure uh region where when
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you've got the biggest aerodynamic
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forces you throttle back for that and
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then throttle up again. Um and so it was
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eventually determined that uh what had
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happened was that the temperature on one
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side of the shuttle uh it was a cold
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morning. It was a winter morning 28th of
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January. two degrees I think or
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>> it was two degrees above zero ambient
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when they launched but one of the one
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side of the throttle sorry the shuttle
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and its boosters were still at minus2
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and at those temperatures um those
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O-rings become effectively uh
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non-pliable. They they don't you know
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they're not flexible. Uh and so that's
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what allowed the fact that it was not
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behaving properly allowed gas to escape
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from that joint is exactly as you've
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said there are there are four sections
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to the shuttle booster each sealed by
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O-rings and it was the the lower one um
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where combustion was at its extreme. Uh
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it meant the gases came through and in
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fact there is footage that shows exactly
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that uh with these hot gases playing on
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the main fuel tank. um the the you know
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the external fuel tank of the shuttle.
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So
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>> it was uh very much their fate was
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sealed even before launch basically and
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>> there were people at the company who
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built the boosters Morton Fire call who
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knew that and they were overridden in
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their warnings that this was likely to
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be dangerous.
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>> They they raised concerns a long time
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before this happened. In fact, they'd uh
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they'd discovered damage in the O-rings
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from previous missions.
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And even the night before the launch,
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they held a meeting to say, "We don't
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think you've got to scrub the launch.
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It's not it's not safe. Something, you
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know, something dreadful could happen."
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>> And I think the the different the factor
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that made the difference, as you said,
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was the temperature that morning. Um
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because previous flights were warmer. It
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was warmer.
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>> Yeah. I think 12 degrees was the lowest
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they'd ever launched at and it was two
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that morning as you said.
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>> Um and one of the reasons for the for
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the reluctance to scrub the mission may
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have been the fact that we did have this
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teacher uh on board. Yeah. Christina
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McAuliff, that's her name, I think.
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um she uh was a school teacher, not an
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astronaut. Uh she'd engaged many many
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schools across across this the the
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country. So huge numbers of people were
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were watching and NASA had done that
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purposely I think to sort of inject some
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more interest into the shuttle program
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because they'd had 25 successful
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launches and it was becoming
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>> basically routine. Um you know very
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people were blas about it. uh but just
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to also confirm that there were a
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further 87 successful shuttle launches
00:10:09.760 --> 00:10:12.150
after that. So the problems were fixed
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and uh the lessons were learned. Um it
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was a tragedy of course a human tragedy
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with the loss of life. Uh I I noticed
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something yesterday that blew me away
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Andrew. Um there are 17 astronauts were
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lost uh in NASA programs. the three um
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Apollo ast one astronauts who died in
00:10:36.880 --> 00:10:40.069
the fire on the ground of the Apollo one
00:10:40.079 --> 00:10:44.069
capsule. That was on the uh 27th of
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January 1967.
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>> Yes.
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>> The uh Colombia disaster uh when um
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re-entry was basically turned into a uh
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you know a disintegration because of uh
00:10:58.560 --> 00:11:01.030
damage to the to the shuttle wing. That
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was on, wasn't it?
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>> That's correct. That was on the 1st of
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February, 2003. So these losses of life
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were all within a week of each other in
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anniversary times. It was quite amazing.
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So yes, the the Challenger disaster uh
00:11:18.959 --> 00:11:22.470
59 years before the day before we'd lost
00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:26.870
the Apollo one crew and uh it's um it's
00:11:26.880 --> 00:11:29.190
a coincidence, but it's a spooky one.
00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:31.509
>> It is very spooky. I I remember where I
00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:33.829
was when the news broke. I'd just got in
00:11:33.839 --> 00:11:38.389
my car and um I naturally had the radio
00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:40.150
on being someone who worked in the
00:11:40.160 --> 00:11:43.350
industry and uh the news came on as I
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was backing the car out and I just
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stopped in my tracks and I just shook. I
00:11:48.160 --> 00:11:50.310
couldn't believe it. M
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>> um and and what really haunts me is that
00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:56.310
only a week before I'd been talking to
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my future sister-in-law who was still in
00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:00.150
high school at the time and she brought
00:12:00.160 --> 00:12:01.990
it up with me about the space shuttle
00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:04.949
program and I said what worries me is
00:12:04.959 --> 00:12:07.350
something horribly wrong is going to
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happen. Yeah. Uh I I think I think
00:12:10.560 --> 00:12:13.110
they're actually being too gung-ho.
00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:16.310
those that's what I said to her and I
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couldn't believe less you know about a
00:12:17.920 --> 00:12:19.990
week later this happened.
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>> Well, you were right in in a way that's
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sort of what what led to it. Yeah.
00:12:24.079 --> 00:12:27.430
>> Yeah. Yeah. Uh but the same thing uh as
00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:29.350
you mentioned with the the loss of
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interest in the space shuttle program
00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:33.670
from the public perspective. Uh the same
00:12:33.680 --> 00:12:35.350
thing happened with Apollo.
00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:36.790
>> Like they were supposed to they were
00:12:36.800 --> 00:12:38.389
supposed to have more missions but they
00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:40.230
just went no one's interested anymore.
00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:42.790
So they stopped at 17.
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>> Um that's quite right
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>> and and I I suppose these days space
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travel has just become routine. There
00:12:50.079 --> 00:12:51.509
are missions going up and down all the
00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:54.870
time we never hear about because it's
00:12:54.880 --> 00:12:58.310
just it's so very regular now. And and
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when you bring in the private sector on
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top of that, there's launches every
00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:04.389
other day. It's it's just happening.
00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:05.910
And and it was always going to go that
00:13:05.920 --> 00:13:08.870
way, I suppose. Uh but you you've got to
00:13:08.880 --> 00:13:11.750
um you've got to spare a thought for the
00:13:11.760 --> 00:13:14.389
pioneers that sacrificed their lives to
00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:16.069
make all this possible because without
00:13:16.079 --> 00:13:18.470
them it it just would never have got to
00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:21.670
the point it is now. And I think we've
00:13:21.680 --> 00:13:23.590
said it before, you you go back to the
00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:25.990
history of flight and we got to the moon
00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:28.310
in less than a 100red years of the first
00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:31.590
flight by a human being in a in a um
00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:33.350
purpose-built
00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:35.430
uh aircraft. It's just extraordinary to
00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:38.710
to think that we we could have leapt so
00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:40.949
far so fast and I suppose when you do
00:13:40.959 --> 00:13:43.190
that there is a price and this was one
00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:46.150
of the one of the costs of of space
00:13:46.160 --> 00:13:49.269
travel and aeronautics and yeah it was
00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:51.990
very sad day and um one I will never
00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:54.870
forget red
00:13:54.880 --> 00:13:57.829
>> uh we will leave challenger there um to
00:13:57.839 --> 00:14:01.110
some happier news and of course uh the
00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:04.389
other day we celebrated Australia day in
00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:08.310
this country 26th of January and every
00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:12.550
year we uh have the announcement of the
00:14:12.560 --> 00:14:14.389
Australian of the year. Now quite often
00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:16.870
it's a sports star [laughter] that
00:14:16.880 --> 00:14:19.590
usually usually happens. Uh although in
00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:21.509
recent years they've been focusing more
00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:23.910
on the academic side of things or the
00:14:23.920 --> 00:14:25.590
the medical side of things which is
00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:28.629
which is good. This year though uh you
00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:30.790
must be really pleased. It is an
00:14:30.800 --> 00:14:33.430
Australian astronaut.
00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:35.350
>> Uh absolutely delighted. Yeah. Really
00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:38.310
thrilled about that. She's um she's an
00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:40.470
an [clears throat] astronaut who uh has
00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:42.790
been qualified under ISA's program,
00:14:42.800 --> 00:14:44.389
astronaut program, Europe uh the
00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:46.389
European Space Agency. She hasn't flown
00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:48.470
yet. Uh there's every chance that she
00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:50.470
will that she will fly to the space
00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:53.670
station uh and fulfill a mission.
00:14:53.680 --> 00:14:56.150
Katherine Benel Peg is her name. I
00:14:56.160 --> 00:14:58.389
discovered um yesterday I was looking at
00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:02.150
dates yesterday obviously um she is one
00:15:02.160 --> 00:15:05.189
day short of 40 years younger than me
00:15:05.199 --> 00:15:05.750
was
00:15:05.760 --> 00:15:08.230
>> but her birthday is the day after mine
00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:10.389
uh so that's that's that's a
00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:13.269
non-coincidence but um not not only an
00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:15.350
astronaut but she is also director of
00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:17.030
space technology at this the Australian
00:15:17.040 --> 00:15:20.790
space agency which was um very much um
00:15:20.800 --> 00:15:23.110
close to my heart in the work that I did
00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:24.949
for the government the Australian space
00:15:24.959 --> 00:15:25.990
agency
00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:27.670
a sister organization within the
00:15:27.680 --> 00:15:28.870
department of industry science and
00:15:28.880 --> 00:15:31.189
resources where I worked. So, a lot of
00:15:31.199 --> 00:15:35.829
friends there. Um, and Katherine uh is
00:15:35.839 --> 00:15:39.670
absolutely welldeserved recipient of the
00:15:39.680 --> 00:15:41.829
annual Australian of the Year award and
00:15:41.839 --> 00:15:43.910
she'll do great things with it. She
00:15:43.920 --> 00:15:46.870
wants to be um very much a STEM
00:15:46.880 --> 00:15:49.829
ambassador as well for public educ for
00:15:49.839 --> 00:15:52.150
education uh for science technology
00:15:52.160 --> 00:15:53.990
education. She'll do a great job. She's
00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:55.350
a lovely person.
00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:59.590
>> Yes. Um she comes across that way and
00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:02.310
I I think the interest in space science
00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:05.030
is starting to really uh grow from
00:16:05.040 --> 00:16:08.150
strength to strength and uh she she will
00:16:08.160 --> 00:16:10.949
do a a wonderful job in that regard and
00:16:10.959 --> 00:16:13.350
and maybe inspire other Australians to
00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:16.310
follow in her footsteps. And now that we
00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:18.150
have our own space agency, we certainly
00:16:18.160 --> 00:16:20.069
want that, don't we?
00:16:20.079 --> 00:16:22.230
>> Very much so. Yes. The Australian Space
00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:25.990
Agency was uh formed in 2018. It's um
00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:29.350
still going strong. A lot of its uh
00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:31.189
functions are regulatory. It's all about
00:16:31.199 --> 00:16:32.870
regulating launches and things of that
00:16:32.880 --> 00:16:36.629
sort. Um but also promoting startups and
00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:38.389
uh things of that sort to encourage the
00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:40.389
space industry here in Australia, which
00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:41.910
was why it was set up in the first
00:16:41.920 --> 00:16:42.470
place.
00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:42.790
>> Yeah.
00:16:42.800 --> 00:16:44.550
>> Katherine Katherine's a great um you
00:16:44.560 --> 00:16:46.310
know, a great cheerleader for that. It's
00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:46.629
brilliant.
00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:48.389
>> Yep. She's got a busy year ahead of her
00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:50.949
now because her her Australian of the
00:16:50.959 --> 00:16:53.030
Year duties will be on top of what she
00:16:53.040 --> 00:16:55.749
has to do for her regular gig. So, uh,
00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:57.509
she'll be doing a lot more travel, a lot
00:16:57.519 --> 00:16:59.509
more speaking, a lot more engagements.
00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:01.590
Uh, it it's a big job when you're named
00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:05.076
Australian of the Year, so I'm told.
00:17:05.086 --> 00:17:05.750
[laughter]
00:17:05.760 --> 00:17:07.909
Well, you never know, Andrew. One day,
00:17:07.919 --> 00:17:09.029
one day.
00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:12.470
>> Uh, look, I'd be I'd be lucky be to be
00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:15.350
named, you know, my street member of the
00:17:15.360 --> 00:17:16.866
year.
00:17:16.876 --> 00:17:17.669
>> [laughter]
00:17:17.679 --> 00:17:20.789
>> Not a big street either, but uh no, good
00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:22.630
luck to her and congratulations to
00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:26.150
Katherine Benell Peg. This is Space Nuts
00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:28.710
with Andrew Dunley and Professor Fred
00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:32.070
Watson.
00:17:32.080 --> 00:17:33.830
>> Okay, we've had a problem here.
00:17:33.840 --> 00:17:35.750
>> This is Houston. Say again, please.
00:17:35.760 --> 00:17:37.029
>> Houston, we've had a problem. We've had
00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:41.029
a main rot. Okay, stand by 13. We're
00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:41.590
looking at it.
00:17:41.600 --> 00:17:44.390
>> Space, do you like that, Fred? got some
00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:45.270
new links.
00:17:45.280 --> 00:17:47.750
>> I had a bit of time up my sleeve, so I
00:17:47.760 --> 00:17:49.830
um created some new stuff.
00:17:49.840 --> 00:17:51.830
>> That's a very appropriate one as well.
00:17:51.840 --> 00:17:53.430
>> Yes, I thought so, too.
00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:53.750
>> Yeah.
00:17:53.760 --> 00:17:57.270
>> Uh now, uh our next story is about
00:17:57.280 --> 00:18:00.470
defining what is a moon. This is come
00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:02.390
about after
00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:07.110
a study had been published um which is a
00:18:07.120 --> 00:18:10.470
um peer reviewed paper in the archive.
00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:13.669
Um, it's it's looking at a a a really
00:18:13.679 --> 00:18:15.750
big gas giant, but they think it's got a
00:18:15.760 --> 00:18:18.870
moon that could force us to redefine
00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:20.230
what a moon is.
00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:22.070
>> Is that is that the way it goes?
00:18:22.080 --> 00:18:24.789
>> Well, yeah, because it's big. Um, that's
00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:25.190
right.
00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:27.029
>> I got that impression.
00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:32.390
>> Yeah. So um this is uh work uh that's
00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:34.950
been done uh uh actually led from the
00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:38.070
University of Cambridge uh using uh a
00:18:38.080 --> 00:18:40.390
thing called an interferometer which is
00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:42.070
one of these things that that brings
00:18:42.080 --> 00:18:44.070
light waves together and watches them
00:18:44.080 --> 00:18:47.190
cancel out and by um doing that
00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:49.909
carefully enough you can learn a lot
00:18:49.919 --> 00:18:51.830
more than you otherwise could. Uh and
00:18:51.840 --> 00:18:53.669
there is an intererometer which is
00:18:53.679 --> 00:18:55.990
called gravity. uh good name for it
00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:58.150
because uh that's one of its tasks was
00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:01.909
to um kind of look at the look at the
00:19:01.919 --> 00:19:03.830
gravitational forces around black holes
00:19:03.840 --> 00:19:05.750
which done very successfully around the
00:19:05.760 --> 00:19:07.350
black hole at the center of our galaxy.
00:19:07.360 --> 00:19:09.029
It's on the very large telescope in
00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:12.070
Chile and it's a way of you you will
00:19:12.080 --> 00:19:13.990
know and some of your listeners sorry
00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:16.310
some of our listeners will remember uh
00:19:16.320 --> 00:19:17.830
that the very large telescope is
00:19:17.840 --> 00:19:21.190
actually four uh 8.2 2 meter telescopes
00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:23.830
which can be used together uh along with
00:19:23.840 --> 00:19:26.710
um some auxiliary telescopes as well and
00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:30.630
that's uh they're used together in the
00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:32.870
science of interpherometry which lets
00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:37.270
you uh look at um objects in space in
00:19:37.280 --> 00:19:40.390
very great detail and and in particular
00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:42.549
uh the scientists have been watching the
00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:48.630
orbit of a gas giant uh uh exoplanet
00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:52.789
which has the lovely name of HD 206893b.
00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:55.909
It's 133 light years from our solar
00:19:55.919 --> 00:19:58.470
system as the crow flies. Um, but what
00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:00.070
they've done is they've watched the
00:20:00.080 --> 00:20:04.870
motion of this gas giant. Uh, as it
00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:06.950
orbits around its parent star, which is
00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:10.950
HD 206893 itself. The B refers at the
00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:12.549
end of that refers to the gas giant
00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:15.029
planet itself. But what they've seen is
00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:18.390
that the orbit of this giant planet is
00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:21.830
wobbling slightly as it goes around. Uh
00:20:21.840 --> 00:20:25.110
little um you know deviations from a
00:20:25.120 --> 00:20:28.710
perfect ellipse which are interpreted uh
00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:33.750
as being due to a moon. And by knowing
00:20:33.760 --> 00:20:36.310
the knowing the mass of the or
00:20:36.320 --> 00:20:39.669
estimating the mass of the planet itself
00:20:39.679 --> 00:20:41.830
um you can estimate the mass of this
00:20:41.840 --> 00:20:46.310
moon and it's it's enormous. Uh it's um
00:20:46.320 --> 00:20:49.029
many times the mass uh if I remember
00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:51.510
rightly something like nine times the
00:20:51.520 --> 00:20:54.549
mass of Neptune, 40% of the mass of
00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:57.909
Jupiter. Uh and you know when you
00:20:57.919 --> 00:20:59.669
compare that with the moons in our solar
00:20:59.679 --> 00:21:01.669
system it's [clears throat] much much
00:21:01.679 --> 00:21:03.430
heavier than anything or much much
00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:05.510
massier mass more massive than anything
00:21:05.520 --> 00:21:06.630
we've got.
00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:09.350
>> Uh so that
00:21:09.360 --> 00:21:11.510
leads to the question well you know if
00:21:11.520 --> 00:21:12.870
you've got something that's nine times
00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:14.870
the mass of Neptune could you ever call
00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:17.350
it a moon? Uh but the normal definition
00:21:17.360 --> 00:21:20.070
of a moon or technically a satellite is
00:21:20.080 --> 00:21:22.470
something that is in orbit around an
00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:25.029
object that is in orbit around a star.
00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:27.830
In other words, a planet. Um, so do we
00:21:27.840 --> 00:21:30.149
want to bend that definition or are we
00:21:30.159 --> 00:21:32.549
just content for this thing to be the
00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:34.789
most massive moon known?
00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:38.070
>> Well, where do you draw the line?
00:21:38.080 --> 00:21:39.830
You know, if the definition is a
00:21:39.840 --> 00:21:42.310
satellite orbiting at a an object
00:21:42.320 --> 00:21:45.190
orbiting a star, then that's it.
00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:46.470
Shouldn't matter how big it is, should
00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:48.070
it?
00:21:48.080 --> 00:21:49.909
>> Uh, no. That's right. That that would be
00:21:49.919 --> 00:21:53.029
my view. uh that you you you keep the um
00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:56.149
>> you keep the basically keep the uh
00:21:56.159 --> 00:21:58.950
definition as it stands. Uh what you do
00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:02.789
is you just extend your range of uh
00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:07.750
expectance expectancy in terms of uh the
00:22:07.760 --> 00:22:12.630
size of these objects. Um there's a in
00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:13.909
fact there's a lovely comment there's
00:22:13.919 --> 00:22:15.510
several comments from the lead author.
00:22:15.520 --> 00:22:17.510
Uh I'm looking just to say where we're
00:22:17.520 --> 00:22:18.870
looking. We're looking at Daily Galaxy
00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:21.029
for this report, but it's a paper uh
00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:23.029
that's been published I think in monthly
00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:25.430
notices again or one of the leading
00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:30.149
journals anyway. Um and the uh you know
00:22:30.159 --> 00:22:33.190
the the quotation from Quinton Kra who's
00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:34.549
one of the authors I think the lead
00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:39.190
author of this paper um uh some nice
00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:41.270
quotes. What we what we found is that HD
00:22:41.280 --> 00:22:43.029
206893b
00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:44.630
doesn't just follow a smooth orbit
00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:46.789
around its star. On top of that motion,
00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:48.789
it shows a small but measurable back and
00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:50.950
forth wubble. The wobble has a period of
00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:53.750
9 months and a size comparable to the
00:22:53.760 --> 00:22:56.070
Earth Moon distance. This kind of signal
00:22:56.080 --> 00:22:57.750
is exactly what you'd expect if the
00:22:57.760 --> 00:22:59.669
object were being tugged by an unseen
00:22:59.679 --> 00:23:02.149
companion such as a large moon, making
00:23:02.159 --> 00:23:04.950
this system a particularly intriguing
00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:08.630
candidate for hosting an exomoon.
00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:14.070
um and goes on to say um uh this raises
00:23:14.080 --> 00:23:16.070
the question because of the mass of this
00:23:16.080 --> 00:23:17.750
moon. This naturally raises the question
00:23:17.760 --> 00:23:19.669
of whether such an object should even be
00:23:19.679 --> 00:23:21.830
called a moon. At these masses, the
00:23:21.840 --> 00:23:23.909
distinction between a massive moon and a
00:23:23.919 --> 00:23:27.430
very low mass companion becomes blurred.
00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:29.110
However, there is currently no
00:23:29.120 --> 00:23:31.430
definition of an exomoon. And in
00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:33.270
practice, astronomers generally
00:23:33.280 --> 00:23:35.909
generally refer to any object orbiting a
00:23:35.919 --> 00:23:38.950
planet or substellar companion as a
00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:41.990
moon. So that's the bottom line.
00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:44.230
>> Um there are not many known and that's
00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:46.710
because moons naturally are generally
00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:50.149
small and so their effect on their on
00:23:50.159 --> 00:23:52.470
the planet around which they're orbiting
00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:56.390
is too small to to to uh discover.
00:23:56.400 --> 00:23:59.190
Whereas uh this thing is so big that its
00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:02.470
signal is really quite uh quite
00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:05.190
impressive. It's it's uh sufficient for
00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:07.750
the for this this team to to to give us
00:24:07.760 --> 00:24:09.430
the the paper that that we're talking
00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:12.390
about. And just one final quote uh from
00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:14.870
Kra. It's important to keep in mind that
00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:16.710
we're likely only seeing the tip of the
00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:19.190
iceberg. Just as the first exoplanets
00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:20.870
discovered were the most massive ones
00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:22.870
orbiting very close to their stars
00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:24.549
simply because they were the easiest to
00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:27.510
detect. The first exom moons we identify
00:24:27.520 --> 00:24:29.590
are expected to be the most massive and
00:24:29.600 --> 00:24:31.510
extreme examples. It's a really good
00:24:31.520 --> 00:24:31.990
point.
00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:34.549
>> And there it is. And and yet again, we
00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:39.029
find in a potential new discovery that
00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:41.669
it's not what we would expect to be the
00:24:41.679 --> 00:24:45.909
norm. This this is another thing that we
00:24:45.919 --> 00:24:48.549
may not have anticipated.
00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:53.190
>> Uh that's that's right. Um so yes. So, I
00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:55.110
mean, it's the point is well made, uh,
00:24:55.120 --> 00:24:58.549
Quent's point is well made that the uh
00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:01.269
the the that you're going to find the
00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:03.510
the real outliers first because they're
00:25:03.520 --> 00:25:06.950
the easiest ones to find. Uh, but at the
00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:09.110
same time, what you've said is true. Uh,
00:25:09.120 --> 00:25:10.710
the outliers are sometimes so
00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:12.630
surprising, but they're difficult to
00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:15.190
believe. Uh but we've got a um yeah,
00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:16.950
we've got an outlier here that might
00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:19.269
well be the first of a new breed of uh
00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:22.470
or a whole new regime of exom moon
00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:23.430
discoveries.
00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:25.350
>> Yeah, I I didn't even think about
00:25:25.360 --> 00:25:27.830
exomoons. Like we've discovered so many
00:25:27.840 --> 00:25:29.990
exoplanets now and we continue to do so,
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:32.549
but we we haven't actually laid our eyes
00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:35.830
on a on an exomoon yet.
00:25:35.840 --> 00:25:37.909
>> No. Um and in fact, we've not laid our
00:25:37.919 --> 00:25:39.990
eyes on most of the exoplanets. We've
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:42.630
inferred their presence uh by indirect
00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:44.789
means. there are one or two uh that we
00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:47.590
we can observe directly. Uh but when you
00:25:47.600 --> 00:25:49.190
think yes, moons are always going to be
00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:52.149
smaller than their parent planets, um
00:25:52.159 --> 00:25:56.870
that means that uh we're we're still
00:25:56.880 --> 00:25:58.630
pushing the limits of what is
00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:01.430
technically possible to to detect.
00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:04.149
>> Could we maybe redefine this discovery
00:26:04.159 --> 00:26:07.269
as like a dual planet?
00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:09.510
it. So there is a definition of a dual
00:26:09.520 --> 00:26:12.310
planet uh what we what we call a binary
00:26:12.320 --> 00:26:16.310
planet uh which is uh if you have two
00:26:16.320 --> 00:26:19.430
objects one orbiting the other if their
00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:21.269
center of gravity or what we call the
00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:23.830
baris center is outside the body of
00:26:23.840 --> 00:26:26.789
either of them then it's a binary planet
00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:31.350
rather than a planet and a moon uh and
00:26:31.360 --> 00:26:35.350
in fact uh Jupiter sorry Pluto and its
00:26:35.360 --> 00:26:38.070
moon kum um fit that bill. Pluto, of
00:26:38.080 --> 00:26:40.070
course, is a dwarf planet, but Pluto and
00:26:40.080 --> 00:26:42.149
Karen are probably a binary dwarf planet
00:26:42.159 --> 00:26:43.830
for that for that reason.
00:26:43.840 --> 00:26:47.830
>> Okay. Interesting. Yeah. So, um there'll
00:26:47.840 --> 00:26:51.830
be more work to find out exactly what
00:26:51.840 --> 00:26:54.310
the situation is here cuz they it's only
00:26:54.320 --> 00:26:56.710
suspicion at the moment, isn't it? That
00:26:56.720 --> 00:26:58.149
>> That's right. There'll be there will be
00:26:58.159 --> 00:27:00.470
more observations to to confirm that
00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:03.350
this uh this uh that you know the planet
00:27:03.360 --> 00:27:05.029
itself behaves in a way that is
00:27:05.039 --> 00:27:07.830
consistent with this large hypo
00:27:07.840 --> 00:27:09.990
hypothesized moon. We haven't seen it.
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:11.269
We haven't seen it yet. In fact, we
00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:13.750
haven't seen the planet either. But uh
00:27:13.760 --> 00:27:16.070
we can we can deduce things from you
00:27:16.080 --> 00:27:17.510
know from from the way the orbits
00:27:17.520 --> 00:27:18.230
behave.
00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:20.230
>> Yes indeed. If you'd like to read about
00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:22.470
that, the study's been published on the
00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:24.630
archive and it has been accepted for
00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:26.390
publication in astronomy and
00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:27.909
astrophysics.
00:27:27.919 --> 00:27:30.070
You can also read about it on the daily
00:27:30.080 --> 00:27:31.750
galaxy.com
00:27:31.760 --> 00:27:34.310
uh website. This is Space Nuts with
00:27:34.320 --> 00:27:42.230
Andrew Dunley and Professor Fred Watson
00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:44.390
Base here. The angle has landed.
00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:48.070
>> Space nets. Speaking of uh big planets
00:27:48.080 --> 00:27:51.029
with big moons, what about big black
00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:53.510
holes? Uh and the fact that they get big
00:27:53.520 --> 00:27:56.389
fast. We have always been mystified by
00:27:56.399 --> 00:28:00.070
this phenomenon, but uh have they solved
00:28:00.080 --> 00:28:01.750
it, Fred?
00:28:01.760 --> 00:28:03.830
>> Uh certainly some work that looks as
00:28:03.840 --> 00:28:04.950
though it's pointing in the right
00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:06.630
direction. Yeah, this comes about really
00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:09.990
be and it's an issue that has only
00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:11.909
arisen in the era of the James Web Space
00:28:11.919 --> 00:28:15.190
Telescope when which has detected
00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:18.549
um the evidence for super massive black
00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:21.350
holes very very early in the universe
00:28:21.360 --> 00:28:23.350
until the web came along. We all thought
00:28:23.360 --> 00:28:26.310
that super massive black holes evolved
00:28:26.320 --> 00:28:28.470
over time scales comparable with the age
00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:29.909
of the universe that you started off
00:28:29.919 --> 00:28:32.470
with small black holes and as time went
00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:35.269
on you know billions of years passing
00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:37.190
until we get to the universe's current
00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:40.149
age of 13.8 billion years uh that they
00:28:40.159 --> 00:28:43.190
gradually grew bigger to to form the
00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:44.950
super massive black holes that we see in
00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:46.549
today's universe. But when you look
00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:48.549
further back further out into space as
00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:50.389
the web has done, you're looking further
00:28:50.399 --> 00:28:52.149
back in time. We're now seeing within a
00:28:52.159 --> 00:28:53.990
few hundred million years of the big
00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:55.990
bang itself and we find these super
00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:59.350
massive black holes already there. U and
00:28:59.360 --> 00:29:01.350
that's the puzzle. That's the conundrum.
00:29:01.360 --> 00:29:04.389
How did they get so big so rapidly?
00:29:04.399 --> 00:29:08.310
>> Uh and the so they they went to
00:29:08.320 --> 00:29:10.170
McDonald's. That's what they did.
00:29:10.180 --> 00:29:12.149
[laughter]
00:29:12.159 --> 00:29:14.789
>> Uh the McDonald's of the early universe.
00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:16.710
Yes. Uh, there must be a must be a name
00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:19.350
for that. Um, [laughter]
00:29:19.360 --> 00:29:21.029
>> fast food. That's what it's
00:29:21.039 --> 00:29:22.870
>> It's a fast food. Yeah. And I was going
00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:24.950
to work on drive-thru somehow, but that
00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:26.950
doesn't scan quite the same way as fast
00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:29.830
food does. It is fast food. That's
00:29:29.840 --> 00:29:32.310
exactly in fact that sums up the the the
00:29:32.320 --> 00:29:33.990
research paper by this team of
00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:35.430
scientists who are actually based in
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:38.389
Ireland. Uh, it's sums up their work
00:29:38.399 --> 00:29:42.789
very very succinctly. So the issue is uh
00:29:42.799 --> 00:29:44.389
that
00:29:44.399 --> 00:29:47.029
as we as the you know so what we've got
00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:50.549
is this observations set of observations
00:29:50.559 --> 00:29:52.870
tells us that black holes got super
00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:56.549
massive very quickly and that's a puzzle
00:29:56.559 --> 00:30:00.310
for the theoretical astronomers who work
00:30:00.320 --> 00:30:02.950
out how galaxies work, how galaxies
00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:06.230
form, how black holes form and and all
00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:08.310
of that great stuff in the early
00:30:08.320 --> 00:30:12.870
universe. And what um has been the point
00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:16.149
that they've struggled with is that if a
00:30:16.159 --> 00:30:19.590
black hole starts eating
00:30:19.600 --> 00:30:22.070
m the surrounding material, which is how
00:30:22.080 --> 00:30:24.310
they grow, the gas and dust that
00:30:24.320 --> 00:30:26.230
surrounds them, if they start eating
00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:29.430
that too quickly, in other words,
00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:30.870
quickly enough to grow into a super
00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:33.110
massive black hole very quickly, what
00:30:33.120 --> 00:30:35.750
happens is they um the radiation
00:30:35.760 --> 00:30:38.950
generated by this swirling mass of stuff
00:30:38.960 --> 00:30:42.310
getting sucked in actually stops the
00:30:42.320 --> 00:30:45.750
process. It it quenches the process of
00:30:45.760 --> 00:30:48.549
uh of accretion and the black holes
00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:51.350
growing. That's the way the theory has
00:30:51.360 --> 00:30:54.070
uh appeared so far. Mhm.
00:30:54.080 --> 00:30:57.269
>> But what the Irish astronomers have done
00:30:57.279 --> 00:31:02.389
is um they've looked at the sort of
00:31:02.399 --> 00:31:05.590
general turbulence of the gas in the
00:31:05.600 --> 00:31:10.870
early universe uh as a background to the
00:31:10.880 --> 00:31:14.149
the the feeding black hole. And it turns
00:31:14.159 --> 00:31:19.830
out that if the universe is um a lot
00:31:19.840 --> 00:31:23.990
more uh chaotic, turbulent, very violent
00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:26.470
motions in the background gas, if you've
00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:29.510
got a black hole in a in an environment
00:31:29.520 --> 00:31:32.950
like that, um it turns out that they can
00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:37.190
actually uh absorb huge amounts of gas
00:31:37.200 --> 00:31:40.389
and so they can grow much faster than we
00:31:40.399 --> 00:31:43.750
originally thought. Uh so um one of the
00:31:43.760 --> 00:31:47.669
authors uh of this paper uh there's a
00:31:47.679 --> 00:31:50.630
quote here um this is Scitec Daily that
00:31:50.640 --> 00:31:53.269
is carrying this story but uh the the
00:31:53.279 --> 00:31:54.630
researchers in one of the research
00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:56.710
papers this is one of the authors saying
00:31:56.720 --> 00:31:59.190
we found that the chaotic conditions
00:31:59.200 --> 00:32:01.110
that existed in the early universe
00:32:01.120 --> 00:32:04.149
triggered early smaller black holes to
00:32:04.159 --> 00:32:06.230
grow into the super massive black holes
00:32:06.240 --> 00:32:09.509
we see later following a feeding frenzy
00:32:09.519 --> 00:32:11.750
which devoured all the material material
00:32:11.760 --> 00:32:13.909
around them. We revealed using
00:32:13.919 --> 00:32:16.070
state-of-the-art computer simulations
00:32:16.080 --> 00:32:17.669
that the first generation of black
00:32:17.679 --> 00:32:19.350
holes, those born just a few hundred
00:32:19.360 --> 00:32:21.590
million years after the Big Bang, grew
00:32:21.600 --> 00:32:24.630
incredibly fast into tens of thousands
00:32:24.640 --> 00:32:27.909
of times the size of our sun. Uh, and
00:32:27.919 --> 00:32:30.789
another comment another uh from one of
00:32:30.799 --> 00:32:32.149
the other team members, this
00:32:32.159 --> 00:32:34.149
breakthrough unlocks one of astronomy's
00:32:34.159 --> 00:32:36.710
big puzzles, that being how black holes
00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:38.470
born in the early universe are observed
00:32:38.480 --> 00:32:41.269
by the James Web Space Telescope. uh as
00:32:41.279 --> 00:32:43.029
observed by the James Web Space
00:32:43.039 --> 00:32:45.430
Telescope managed to reach such super
00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:48.230
massive sizes so quickly. So maybe
00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:50.470
that's the answer to the puzzle, Andrew.
00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:54.310
>> Yeah, they ate too much too fast.
00:32:54.320 --> 00:32:56.310
>> That's right. Fast food
00:32:56.320 --> 00:32:58.149
>> and then they get indigestion and then
00:32:58.159 --> 00:32:59.830
they have those you know
00:32:59.840 --> 00:33:01.110
>> Well, I think that was the problem
00:33:01.120 --> 00:33:03.350
before uh that you know they got
00:33:03.360 --> 00:33:05.190
indigestion and so they stop the
00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:05.909
process.
00:33:05.919 --> 00:33:08.070
>> Yeah. Uh but what these these authors
00:33:08.080 --> 00:33:10.149
are saying is that uh if you put them in
00:33:10.159 --> 00:33:14.149
a really turbulent um you know field of
00:33:14.159 --> 00:33:17.350
gas that which we think was in the early
00:33:17.360 --> 00:33:20.149
universe then things change you you they
00:33:20.159 --> 00:33:22.070
don't get indigestion. They just go for
00:33:22.080 --> 00:33:24.549
it. They just eat and eat.
00:33:24.559 --> 00:33:27.269
>> Don't don't notice that they're full.
00:33:27.279 --> 00:33:27.909
>> That's right.
00:33:27.919 --> 00:33:30.389
>> And keep eating like a goldfish. That's
00:33:30.399 --> 00:33:32.070
goldfish have that problem.
00:33:32.080 --> 00:33:34.230
>> That's why that's why they're so blobby
00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:36.549
looking. No. to stop eating.
00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:38.630
>> No, they don't. No, apparently it's
00:33:38.640 --> 00:33:40.149
>> cuz they can't remember when they
00:33:40.159 --> 00:33:42.630
started eating. I guess [laughter]
00:33:42.640 --> 00:33:44.950
>> I I don't believe that theory that
00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:46.789
goldfish only have a threeminute memory
00:33:46.799 --> 00:33:49.590
because I used to keep goldfish and they
00:33:49.600 --> 00:33:51.110
knew who fed them
00:33:51.120 --> 00:33:52.549
>> because they always reacted when you
00:33:52.559 --> 00:33:53.909
went near the the tank.
00:33:53.919 --> 00:33:54.310
>> Yeah.
00:33:54.320 --> 00:33:56.149
>> The time to be time for food. Time for
00:33:56.159 --> 00:33:59.029
food. They're like dogs except you can't
00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:01.269
take them for a walk. They tend to buy.
00:34:01.279 --> 00:34:02.958
Nice.
00:34:02.968 --> 00:34:03.750
[laughter]
00:34:03.760 --> 00:34:06.470
>> Got to take the bowl with the milk
00:34:06.480 --> 00:34:08.389
>> as well if you That's right. Exactly.
00:34:08.399 --> 00:34:10.710
You put them in a dog bowl, fill it with
00:34:10.720 --> 00:34:12.790
water. No, let's not go there.
00:34:12.800 --> 00:34:15.829
>> Uh but that's a fascinating story and uh
00:34:15.839 --> 00:34:17.430
another one that will probably be
00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:20.149
subject to future uh analysis, I
00:34:20.159 --> 00:34:20.710
imagine.
00:34:20.720 --> 00:34:22.069
>> Yeah, that's right.
00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:23.669
>> If you'd like to read about it, as Fred
00:34:23.679 --> 00:34:25.990
said, it's incitedaily.com or you can
00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:28.470
read the entire paper start to finish if
00:34:28.480 --> 00:34:30.069
you're having trouble falling asleep.
00:34:30.079 --> 00:34:33.909
And that's in nature astronomy. Oh dear.
00:34:33.919 --> 00:34:35.750
Um, we're just about done, Fred. Thank
00:34:35.760 --> 00:34:36.950
you very much.
00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:38.869
>> Oh, a pleasure, Andrew. Always good to
00:34:38.879 --> 00:34:41.430
talk. And, um, we'll see you next time.
00:34:41.440 --> 00:34:43.030
>> We will. Professor Fred Watson,
00:34:43.040 --> 00:34:44.470
astronomer at large. Don't forget to
00:34:44.480 --> 00:34:47.190
visit us online in the meantime at
00:34:47.200 --> 00:34:48.869
spaceenutspodcast.com
00:34:48.879 --> 00:34:51.349
or spacenuts.io.
00:34:51.359 --> 00:34:52.710
You can have a look around. You can
00:34:52.720 --> 00:34:54.710
visit the shop. You can sign up for the
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never make you do it. It's voluntary.
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And plenty of other things to see and
00:35:05.760 --> 00:35:07.510
do. And don't forget our social media
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00:35:09.359 --> 00:35:12.230
Facebook page or the podcast group on
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Facebook uh Facebook. They're very
00:35:14.320 --> 00:35:16.150
active. Always new members joining
00:35:16.160 --> 00:35:19.510
there. We're on Instagram as well. And I
00:35:19.520 --> 00:35:21.190
was going to say something else. Oh no,
00:35:21.200 --> 00:35:23.510
I can't remember. Anyway, u that's just
00:35:23.520 --> 00:35:25.430
about it. Uh also thanks to Hugh in the
00:35:25.440 --> 00:35:27.510
studio who couldn't be with us today.
00:35:27.520 --> 00:35:31.670
He's gone out the back to to brood for
00:35:31.680 --> 00:35:34.150
not being named Australian of the year.
00:35:34.160 --> 00:35:35.750
And from me, Andrew Dunley, thanks for
00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:37.109
your company. See you on the next
00:35:37.119 --> 00:35:39.349
episode of Space Nuts. Bye-bye.
00:35:39.359 --> 00:35:40.310
>> Space Nuts.
00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:42.390
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