Cosmic Colors, Stellar Mysteries & the Intricacies of Light: A Q&A Episode | Space Nuts:...

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Kind: captions
Language: en

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all right let's rock and roll Welcome to


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another episode of Space Nuts I am your


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host Heidi Combo today filling in for


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Andrew Dunley and I'm here with


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Professor Watson astronomer at


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large Professor Fred Watson Actually I


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just say Watson If I just say Watson it


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makes it sound like this is a mystery


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podcast and not a space podcast Yeah


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that's right Elementary my dear Watson


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All right Well speaking of mysteries we


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have a lot of really good questions with


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mysteries for you to solve today And our


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first question


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uh comes from Rusty from Donnie Brook


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Hey Andrew and Fred It's Rusty and Donny


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Brook I'm sitting out in a beautiful


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clear night and looking due north I see


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Mars there and it's quite close to the


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twins Caster and Pock the Gemini


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twins It's closest to


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Pock which is it's an orange giant


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star and it looks redder Pock looks


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redder than Mars


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Um and if we look to the southwest from


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there we can see Beetlejuice part of


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Orion That one looks redder again So the


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question my question


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is when you take a picture through a


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very large telescope and you can really


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see uh these colors close up how


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colorful are they is is a red giant as


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red as


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um as


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a tomato or a pillar


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box and what about the the blue stars


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how blue do they get is it like when we


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call them red and blue is that fair


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dinkham anyway have a good one And so I


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can imagine so Rusty is one of our


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regular questioners Donny Brook Donny


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Brook in Western Australia uh and always


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asking intriguing intriguing questions


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and I think what he's thinking of here


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is if you sat yourself at the eyepiece


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for example of the biggest telescope in


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Australia uh the one that I used to be


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astronomer in charge of up in Kuna


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Baraban with its uh 3.9 m diameter


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mirror and you looked through an


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eyepiece uh at some of these objects


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what would you would you see the colors


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more richly than we do with a small


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instrument and the answer's a bit a


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little bit


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um I suppose disappointing really


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because the colors are still subtle Um


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looking through a very big telescope and


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I've actually done it with the Anglo


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Australian telescope It's quite hard to


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get an eyepiece on a telescope like that


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because it's funed with spectrographs


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and uh autoguiders and instruments of


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all different kinds that don't have an


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eyepiece on them But when you look


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through yes you do see the colors uh


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Mars looking red serious looking


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dazzlingly white um some blue stars the


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the the jewel box which is a cluster of


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stars in um in the constellation of the


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southern cross uh so named because it's


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it's got stars of different colors


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including a particularly red one uh


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which is a sort of ruby colored stars


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Those those colors are exaggerated but


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perhaps not as much as you think they


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would be rusty They they um you know


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they don't go deep red or anything like


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that The colors are still as subtle as


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you see them But if I can put it this


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way it's just like sliding up the


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saturation button on your color editor


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uh in whatever whatever photo editing


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system you use Slide up saturation a bit


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and you get a bit more color Likewise


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with the size of a telescope What you


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what you might be surprised at though is


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that um the the detail that you see with


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a big telescope uh is is not as fine as


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you'd expect And that's all about the


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way the atmosphere behaves The


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atmosphere in terms of the way


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turbulence in the atmosphere spoils the


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view through a telescope it's actually


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far less forgiving of a big telescope


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than it is in a smaller one A smaller


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one you might just see the object moving


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around but you can see it quite sharply


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Whereas with a big telescope it just


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tends to blur it out It still moves out


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Would have totally thought it was the


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other way around I would have thought


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those big telescopes were like high def


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4K perfect picture Uh they are with with


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modern technology Uh these new uh not


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really new they've been around for 30


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years but it's only within the last


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decade that they've been perfected what


00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:00.150
we call adaptive optics systems which


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actually it it's all about the


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turbulence the mirror the telescopes


00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:05.189
themselves if they were in space they


00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:07.189
would reveal perfect images exactly like


00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:09.350
the web telescope or the Hubble


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telescope do but because they're at the


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bottom of an atmosphere with a lot of


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turbulence in the air even on top of


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mountains there's turbulence uh that's


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what spoils the view but modern


00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:22.950
technology lets you sense that


00:05:22.960 --> 00:05:25.909
turbulence it lets you see what is the


00:05:25.919 --> 00:05:28.150
distortion that the atmosphere is


00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:30.710
providing and then just like a pair of


00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:33.350
noiseancelling headphones it cancels it


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out It provides the opposite signal Uh


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so it cancels out the the turbulence Uh


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it's very hard technology because you


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have to uh measure the star Uh we use


00:05:45.919 --> 00:05:47.350
what's called a reference star which is


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sometimes artificial Uh the you've got


00:05:50.400 --> 00:05:52.310
to measure that star a thousand times a


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second for this process to work Uh so it


00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:58.390
needs very fast readout sensors much


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much faster than what you find in a in


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for example a mobile phone Uh but the


00:06:03.280 --> 00:06:04.870
same sort of thing but they're reading


00:06:04.880 --> 00:06:06.790
out a thousand times a second at least


00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:09.270
in fact sometimes twice that That is so


00:06:09.280 --> 00:06:11.350
incredible I just every day I'm so proud


00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:13.189
of humanity for what we've come up with


00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:15.990
It's just fantastic to think and if you


00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:17.670
know if we all just worked together as a


00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:20.550
team this would be you know we'd already


00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:22.710
have you know gone past our own solar


00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:24.390
system by now if we all worked as a big


00:06:24.400 --> 00:06:26.870
team That is so incredible just to think


00:06:26.880 --> 00:06:31.430
of all the details of these technologies


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Let's take a little break from the show


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about All the details of course are in


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our show


00:09:02.200 --> 00:09:05.430
notes Now back to the show Okay we


00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:07.829
checked all four systems and being with


00:09:07.839 --> 00:09:10.790
Space Nuts Well our next question is


00:09:10.800 --> 00:09:15.590
from Dan from California Dan the man He


00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:18.070
says "I was reading about gammaray


00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:20.630
bursts and how devastating they can be


00:09:20.640 --> 00:09:22.710
should they hit Earth Can you explain


00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:25.430
why gamma ray bursts become less lethal


00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:27.430
the further away they are because the


00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:29.430
majority of space is a void rather than


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dust?" I assume the same goes for radio


00:09:32.640 --> 00:09:34.870
waves where over distance they get


00:09:34.880 --> 00:09:37.509
weaker and weaker Is this really due to


00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:39.829
dust and gas that are weakening the


00:09:39.839 --> 00:09:43.389
signals thanks


00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:46.310
Um yes it's actually nothing to do with


00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:50.750
dust and gas Uh uh Dan sorry wrong


00:09:50.760 --> 00:09:52.870
name Reading the wrong bit of the


00:09:52.880 --> 00:09:56.310
question Uh Dan the uh the reason why


00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:58.550
things get weaker the further away you


00:09:58.560 --> 00:10:01.269
get is because of a fundamental law of


00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:02.949
physics which is called the inverse


00:10:02.959 --> 00:10:07.190
square law uh and that is that uh if you


00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:09.030
double the distance that you are from a


00:10:09.040 --> 00:10:11.350
source of gamma rays or radio waves or


00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:14.150
whatever you double the distance uh the


00:10:14.160 --> 00:10:16.230
signal drops by a factor of four It's


00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:18.150
the square of the distance That's why


00:10:18.160 --> 00:10:21.030
it's called the inverse square law Uh so


00:10:21.040 --> 00:10:23.829
double the distance um you get you know


00:10:23.839 --> 00:10:26.389
a quarter of the signal and if you then


00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:28.870
double the distance again um it goes


00:10:28.880 --> 00:10:32.069
down by an equally large you know it


00:10:32.079 --> 00:10:33.829
goes down by the square of the the new


00:10:33.839 --> 00:10:35.990
distance The new distance is four so it


00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:38.630
goes down by 16 a factor of 16 and


00:10:38.640 --> 00:10:41.030
that's why uh all these signals get


00:10:41.040 --> 00:10:44.870
weaker Uh dust and gas do impact on them


00:10:44.880 --> 00:10:48.790
Uh um and for example um the perhaps the


00:10:48.800 --> 00:10:50.550
best example of that is the center of


00:10:50.560 --> 00:10:52.790
our Milky Way galaxy at a distance of


00:10:52.800 --> 00:10:57.030
about 25,000 light years Um we can't see


00:10:57.040 --> 00:10:58.949
the center of that with visible light


00:10:58.959 --> 00:11:00.630
telescopes because of the dust that


00:11:00.640 --> 00:11:03.430
blocks our view It's dusty in the Milky


00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:05.269
Way and the center of our galaxy is


00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:08.389
hidden uh infrared radiation penetrates


00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:10.470
the dust and that's why we can actually


00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:12.550
see it uh see the center of our galaxy


00:11:12.560 --> 00:11:15.110
in infrared but not with visible light


00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:17.910
So dust certainly has an effect but it's


00:11:17.920 --> 00:11:19.509
the distance that is the real effect


00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:21.990
This inverse square or means it you know


00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:24.230
it's the square of the distance uh by


00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:28.949
which it drops every time you move away


00:11:28.959 --> 00:11:30.949
I wonder if that's uh everyone has that


00:11:30.959 --> 00:11:32.870
crazy friend that always is just on


00:11:32.880 --> 00:11:34.150
speaker phone And they're like "Oh I


00:11:34.160 --> 00:11:35.430
don't want to hold the phone up to my


00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:37.750
head I don't want the waves to get me


00:11:37.760 --> 00:11:40.069
I'm going to hold my phone." Yeah You


00:11:40.079 --> 00:11:41.990
know two feet away from my face and I'm


00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:43.750
going to shout into it so everybody can


00:11:43.760 --> 00:11:46.150
hear my conversation Who knows maybe


00:11:46.160 --> 00:11:48.230
they might be on to something Well


00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:50.230
you're you're right that sound waves


00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:52.550
also uh are affected by the inverse


00:11:52.560 --> 00:11:55.269
square law So So if you double the


00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:57.430
distance from the person who's yelling


00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:00.389
into their phone uh then it's going to


00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:03.030
go down by a factor of four So that you


00:12:03.040 --> 00:12:06.470
you know you try try you know doubling


00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:08.150
the distance twice and it'll drop by a


00:12:08.160 --> 00:12:10.790
factor of 16


00:12:10.800 --> 00:12:13.310
Yeah I can't hear


00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:16.230
you All right our next question is from


00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:19.509
Mike from the UK It's Mike Cupid from


00:12:19.519 --> 00:12:22.150
the UK here Uh a very quick question if


00:12:22.160 --> 00:12:25.269
I may I have heard many many questions


00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:27.350
over the years into you guys about


00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:30.069
terraforming Mars uh which is obviously


00:12:30.079 --> 00:12:32.870
something that is beyond our capability


00:12:32.880 --> 00:12:35.829
but a lot of people dream about Um what


00:12:35.839 --> 00:12:38.949
about terraforming Venus uh it's not


00:12:38.959 --> 00:12:40.870
something I've heard a lot about Now


00:12:40.880 --> 00:12:44.069
obviously it it's probably still beyond


00:12:44.079 --> 00:12:46.550
our capability So let's just talk sort


00:12:46.560 --> 00:12:49.509
of theoretical but would it just be a


00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:52.470
case of blocking out some of the sun's


00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:54.870
rays to cool the planet down and


00:12:54.880 --> 00:12:57.190
potentially reverse that runaway


00:12:57.200 --> 00:12:59.710
greenhouse effect that's happening on on


00:12:59.720 --> 00:13:03.030
Venus so potentially just thinking


00:13:03.040 --> 00:13:06.710
outside the box possibly um collide to


00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:10.150
uh asteroids together and let the debris


00:13:10.160 --> 00:13:12.550
catch in the orbit of Venus blocking out


00:13:12.560 --> 00:13:15.030
some of the sun and then cooling it down


00:13:15.040 --> 00:13:17.430
or potentially even sort of build a


00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:19.670
structure to block some of the sun's


00:13:19.680 --> 00:13:22.710
rays Um and the other question as well


00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:24.949
and like I say I know this is probably


00:13:24.959 --> 00:13:27.430
beyond our capability but if we did


00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:30.230
manage to do that and cool the planet


00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:33.269
down if we could get the conditions on


00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:36.550
Venus to be similar to what they are on


00:13:36.560 --> 00:13:39.350
Earth um which would probably never


00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:42.590
happen anyway but would it


00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:46.069
stabilize or would the greenhouse


00:13:46.079 --> 00:13:49.829
runaway effect happen again um is it too


00:13:49.839 --> 00:13:53.910
close to the sun to hold a stable


00:13:53.920 --> 00:13:56.389
atmosphere and a similar temperature to


00:13:56.399 --> 00:13:59.350
Earth um love the show It's my favorite


00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:01.509
podcast in the uh in the world I listen


00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:03.030
to it all the time I think I've listened


00:14:03.040 --> 00:14:05.189
to just about every episode So uh


00:14:05.199 --> 00:14:07.189
regardless of whether you answer my


00:14:07.199 --> 00:14:08.870
question or not please keep up the good


00:14:08.880 --> 00:14:10.710
work and thank you very much for your


00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:14.430
time Yeah that's a a great question Mike


00:14:14.440 --> 00:14:19.030
Um terraforming Venus Venus is so


00:14:19.040 --> 00:14:22.310
different from the Earth in its natural


00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:24.629
environment that it's hard to think of a


00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:26.310
more well you can think of more


00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:28.949
different planets because exoplanets are


00:14:28.959 --> 00:14:30.790
even wider in range But yes here we've


00:14:30.800 --> 00:14:32.310
got a planet with a surface temperature


00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:36.870
of about 460° C Hot enough to melt lead


00:14:36.880 --> 00:14:39.509
uh uh hot enough that the rocks probably


00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:42.150
glow a dull red as well uh because of


00:14:42.160 --> 00:14:44.870
that temperature uh and an atmosphere


00:14:44.880 --> 00:14:46.870
whose pressure is 100 times the pressure


00:14:46.880 --> 00:14:49.350
of the Earth's atmosphere laden with


00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:51.750
carbon dioxide And just to add to that


00:14:51.760 --> 00:14:55.110
lovely um benign picture uh in the upper


00:14:55.120 --> 00:14:57.430
atmosphere it drizzles sulfuric acid So


00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:00.110
you've really got a hellish uh


00:15:00.120 --> 00:15:04.629
circumstance for anybody on Venus Uh how


00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:07.269
could you terraform it well you you're


00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:11.030
you're right that the fact that Venus is


00:15:11.040 --> 00:15:12.790
you know it's much nearer the sun than


00:15:12.800 --> 00:15:15.509
we are on Earth that contributes and


00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:17.030
goes back to the question we were just


00:15:17.040 --> 00:15:19.110
talking about You you it's the inverse


00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:21.910
square law Uh so you're actually getting


00:15:21.920 --> 00:15:23.750
far more radiation than you might think


00:15:23.760 --> 00:15:26.629
just by being um you know a few million


00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:28.629
kil a few tens of millions of kilometers


00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:32.470
nearer to the sun Um the idea of


00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:34.710
blocking the sun's light is something


00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:37.829
that has been suggested quite seriously


00:15:37.839 --> 00:15:42.550
uh on on Earth uh in order to reduce the


00:15:42.560 --> 00:15:45.710
carbon footprint that we're all making


00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:48.949
Uh if you um launch I'm trying to


00:15:48.959 --> 00:15:50.629
remember who suggested it at first It's


00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:52.069
somebody I know and I can't remember who


00:15:52.079 --> 00:15:55.150
it was Uh but if you launch a swarm of


00:15:55.160 --> 00:15:58.310
spacecraft and put them at what we call


00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:00.949
the L2 point the second mrange point


00:16:00.959 --> 00:16:03.910
which is a stable position between any


00:16:03.920 --> 00:16:05.990
planet and the sun where the gravity


00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:07.990
balances out you put this swarm of


00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:09.829
spacecraft This was suggested for the


00:16:09.839 --> 00:16:11.509
Earth but it would equally apply to


00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:13.829
Venus You can do the same thing to try


00:16:13.839 --> 00:16:16.629
and block down the sun's light I'm not


00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:19.189
convinced that that would actually have


00:16:19.199 --> 00:16:23.189
any uh positive effect on the uh on the


00:16:23.199 --> 00:16:25.110
atmosphere of Venus It would certainly


00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:27.269
cool the radiation that it feels from


00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:31.910
the sun Uh that uh the the the carbon


00:16:31.920 --> 00:16:33.910
dioxide rich atmosphere would still act


00:16:33.920 --> 00:16:36.870
as a um you know as a a runaway


00:16:36.880 --> 00:16:39.670
greenhouse atmosphere Uh so I think you


00:16:39.680 --> 00:16:41.350
would still have these very high


00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:44.790
temperatures and I don't think there is


00:16:44.800 --> 00:16:46.949
any technology we could imagine that


00:16:46.959 --> 00:16:49.189
would change that and if you were going


00:16:49.199 --> 00:16:52.389
to think about terraforming somewhere uh


00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:53.990
and I should say it's pretty well


00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:55.670
impossible but if you were going to


00:16:55.680 --> 00:16:58.470
think of it Mars will be a better bet Uh


00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:00.230
you'd have to keep on terraforming it


00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:01.590
though because Mars doesn't have enough


00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:03.910
gravity to hang on to an atmosphere like


00:17:03.920 --> 00:17:07.110
the Earth's So um I think you're right


00:17:07.120 --> 00:17:09.909
that you would not um you would not lose


00:17:09.919 --> 00:17:11.909
the runaway greenhouse effect It would


00:17:11.919 --> 00:17:15.750
not uh it would not go away basically


00:17:15.760 --> 00:17:17.990
Yeah Venus is really I'm sorry Venus


00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:21.110
It's a terrible terrible planet It's uh


00:17:21.120 --> 00:17:24.470
really I think pretty pretty nasty as


00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:26.069
far as everything that's going on on


00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:29.990
that planet But you know we we did


00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:31.669
historically used to think that that was


00:17:31.679 --> 00:17:34.390
going to be the most similar closest


00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:37.110
planet to us and then we flew some


00:17:37.120 --> 00:17:38.789
satellites by it and we're like "Oh


00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:40.789
that's terrifying."


00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:42.549
But yeah you're right I mean it is


00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:44.789
similar It's virtually the same size as


00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:47.270
Earth Uh there's some new research just


00:17:47.280 --> 00:17:50.150
been uh released actually which I nearly


00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:51.750
thought we might talk about on Space


00:17:51.760 --> 00:17:53.909
Nuts Uh and it's about the crust of


00:17:53.919 --> 00:17:58.390
Venus uh the the because like the Earth


00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:02.310
uh Venus has we don't know what's at its


00:18:02.320 --> 00:18:04.630
core It doesn't have a magnetic field So


00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:06.870
it's probably not an iron core like ours


00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:08.950
A mantle a sort of soft rock above that


00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:11.990
and a crust Uh and we live on the


00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:13.590
Earth's crust for example which is not


00:18:13.600 --> 00:18:16.470
very thick It's 30 or 40 kilometers


00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:19.669
thick which is quite slender But the


00:18:19.679 --> 00:18:22.310
thinking is that uh Venus has a much


00:18:22.320 --> 00:18:24.710
thicker crust and that there is what we


00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:26.390
call convection This you know heat


00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:29.029
rising or material rising because of


00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:31.669
because of heat convection taking place


00:18:31.679 --> 00:18:34.710
in the crust of Venus which may be why


00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:36.950
Venus has the largest number of


00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:39.350
volcanoes of any object known in the


00:18:39.360 --> 00:18:40.630
solar system Now we don't know if


00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:42.630
they're active or not Uh this is just


00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:44.630
counting craters from radar measurements


00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:47.430
of its surface It's uh got the largest


00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:50.230
number of certainly volcanic structures


00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:52.390
Uh and the thinking now is that that


00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:54.070
comes from convection in the crust


00:18:54.080 --> 00:18:55.750
rather than convection in the mantle


00:18:55.760 --> 00:18:57.750
which is what we have here on Earth Just


00:18:57.760 --> 00:18:59.669
a little factoid about Venus that I


00:18:59.679 --> 00:19:02.230
think contributes to its um its


00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:06.390
reputation as uh Earth's ugly system


00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:08.470
Well that's a that is a such a fun fact


00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:13.909
though I never knew that about Venus


00:19:13.919 --> 00:19:20.230
3 2 1 Space nuts Our very last question


00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:23.990
is from Todd who's from Utah Um I I am


00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:26.950
also from Utah So Todd thank you for uh


00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:29.029
representing our our little state


00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:31.750
Hopefully you're uh winding up for some


00:19:31.760 --> 00:19:34.789
good weather there I know springtime um


00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:36.549
in Salt Lake's always really beautiful


00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:38.310
and I don't know if you're a skier if


00:19:38.320 --> 00:19:40.190
you got some good skiing in this season


00:19:40.200 --> 00:19:44.430
but that's my little plug to a fellow


00:19:44.440 --> 00:19:47.990
Uton His question is "Hello gentlemen I


00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:50.549
have a question about the double slit


00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:53.190
experiment." Well truthfully I have many


00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:55.190
questions about it but let's just focus


00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:58.789
on one for now I have seen that some


00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:00.710
have done this experiment by shooting


00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:04.710
individual um photons at the double slit


00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:07.830
one at a time Yet this still produces an


00:20:07.840 --> 00:20:10.549
inference pattern This of course boggles


00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:13.190
my mind I've read that I've read that


00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:16.990
this is an example of quantum superos


00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:19.830
superposition and that somehow those


00:20:19.840 --> 00:20:22.150
photons are interacting with themselves


00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:24.310
Can you and Fred please elaborate on


00:20:24.320 --> 00:20:27.029
what exactly we understand is happening


00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:29.270
here is this something silly along the


00:20:29.280 --> 00:20:31.830
lines of photons not being bound by time


00:20:31.840 --> 00:20:34.870
speaking of time thank you for yours


00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:37.549
Finally I have an observational joke for


00:20:37.559 --> 00:20:42.310
you In 3,25 years from now life on Earth


00:20:42.320 --> 00:20:45.110
will either be really good or really bad


00:20:45.120 --> 00:20:46.350
It's


00:20:46.360 --> 00:20:51.270
50/50 That is from uh Todd from Utah USA


00:20:51.280 --> 00:20:53.190
Thank you so much for the joke Todd and


00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:56.230
the question I like the joke a lot but


00:20:56.240 --> 00:20:58.789
nobody I've told it to so far gets it So


00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:01.029
I'm obviously losing something in the


00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:03.669
retelling there Uh it's a good one Thank


00:21:03.679 --> 00:21:05.990
you I think you need a better audience


00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:07.990
They're not laughing at that They're


00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:13.110
maybe So yeah Anyway the question yeah


00:21:13.120 --> 00:21:15.510
this is and just to you know sort of


00:21:15.520 --> 00:21:16.950
fill in the backstory what are we


00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:18.149
talking about with the double slit


00:21:18.159 --> 00:21:22.470
experiment um if you pass beams of light


00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:25.110
through two slits uh under the right


00:21:25.120 --> 00:21:27.270
circumstance they will interfere with


00:21:27.280 --> 00:21:29.590
one another and that means we will see


00:21:29.600 --> 00:21:32.070
bright and dark patterns because of the


00:21:32.080 --> 00:21:36.470
way the waves mix Uh so waves of light


00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:38.630
basically can add together or can cancel


00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:40.390
out and it's where they add together and


00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:42.390
cancel out that we see these bright and


00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:45.390
dark patterns I was very keen on


00:21:45.400 --> 00:21:47.350
interferometry the technique of doing


00:21:47.360 --> 00:21:49.430
that and making measurements by it when


00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:53.110
I was a young student Uh but um so that


00:21:53.120 --> 00:21:56.789
uh is basically it was the proof of the


00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:59.590
fact that light is a wave motion um


00:21:59.600 --> 00:22:02.470
because Newton thought it was particles


00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:04.549
uh but it was demonstrated not long


00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:06.549
after Newton's time that it was a wave


00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:08.950
motion by virtue of this double slit


00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:11.470
experiment at the beginning of the 19th


00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:16.029
century But now um we know that light is


00:22:16.039 --> 00:22:19.190
particles and waves


00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:21.510
uh and sometime maybe the way to imagine


00:22:21.520 --> 00:22:24.390
it is as wave packets These photons


00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:28.029
particles of light are sort of also a


00:22:28.039 --> 00:22:30.950
wave Uh that was the way we kind of


00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:32.710
looked at things perhaps in the 50s and


00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:34.789
60s that photons were packets of waves


00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:36.710
because that would let you then use


00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:39.190
particles but the that they would still


00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:40.950
do this interference trick So that


00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:43.430
proved they had a wave motion Along


00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:46.789
comes quantum theory that says particles


00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:49.430
are basically made of waves Uh they're


00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:51.029
not just packets of waves they're made


00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:56.230
of waves in a very odd way And uh that


00:22:56.240 --> 00:22:59.190
uh experiment that uh that Todd has


00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:02.870
referred to is the one that tells you


00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:04.710
that there's something really peculiar


00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:08.470
going on uh because if you shoot photons


00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:11.190
single photons through this double slit


00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:13.590
experiment one at a time so that they


00:23:13.600 --> 00:23:16.430
they never come together in a wave meth


00:23:16.440 --> 00:23:18.950
method you still get the interference


00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:20.870
pattern building up that proves that


00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:24.230
they're waves And I think um you know uh


00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:25.909
Todd's comment about is it something


00:23:25.919 --> 00:23:30.510
silly like uh photons not being bound by


00:23:30.520 --> 00:23:34.630
time in a way it is uh I think it's more


00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:39.149
about the the mystery of uh quantum


00:23:39.159 --> 00:23:41.350
entanglement that these particles are


00:23:41.360 --> 00:23:43.909
entangled together which means that they


00:23:43.919 --> 00:23:45.990
behave like a single particle So if


00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:47.669
you've got one going through one side of


00:23:47.679 --> 00:23:49.750
the slit or one half of the slit one


00:23:49.760 --> 00:23:52.070
going through another uh they're still


00:23:52.080 --> 00:23:54.630
part of the same object even if they're


00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:57.669
going through at different times So


00:23:57.679 --> 00:24:00.149
that's perhaps yes that they're not


00:24:00.159 --> 00:24:01.990
bound by time in that sense but I think


00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:03.590
it's more to do with the phenomenon of


00:24:03.600 --> 00:24:06.789
quantum entanglement that things behave


00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:08.390
as though they're a single quantum


00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:09.669
object even though they're quite


00:24:09.679 --> 00:24:11.750
separate They're separated sometimes by


00:24:11.760 --> 00:24:15.029
very large distances uh uh but they they


00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:17.590
have common behavior between them and I


00:24:17.600 --> 00:24:19.590
think that's how the double slit


00:24:19.600 --> 00:24:22.950
experiment arises when you use photons


00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:25.830
separate photons I probably left you


00:24:25.840 --> 00:24:28.950
completely cold and hiding I thought


00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:30.710
this was fantastic and all went


00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:34.789
completely over my head Yeah but it's


00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:36.870
one of the it's one of the sort of


00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:39.269
fundamental experiments of physics that


00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:41.750
tells you that light is both a wave and


00:24:41.760 --> 00:24:44.070
a particle but the two somehow mix


00:24:44.080 --> 00:24:46.230
together in a very mysterious way I


00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:48.630
think that's the bottom line Okay Well I


00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:51.269
I I think I can understand that it's a


00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:53.590
mystery and they miss I understood those


00:24:53.600 --> 00:24:54.630
words


00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:57.510
Yeah Oh wow I mean once again thank you


00:24:57.520 --> 00:25:00.549
so much Fred for you always take um such


00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:02.390
such patience and care with answering


00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:05.590
these questions and making making things


00:25:05.600 --> 00:25:07.510
make sense and just making it fun and


00:25:07.520 --> 00:25:09.909
relatable and just and just exploring


00:25:09.919 --> 00:25:12.390
and thinking together So thank you so


00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:15.669
much for um everything that you provided


00:25:15.679 --> 00:25:18.710
us with today It's a pleasure Kaidie


00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:20.710
Thank you for being the the colonel of


00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:23.029
the of the show by keeping it going I


00:25:23.039 --> 00:25:26.909
mean K E R N E L rather than C O


00:25:26.919 --> 00:25:29.909
N C English language is uh quite


00:25:29.919 --> 00:25:31.750
interesting Well thank you so much


00:25:31.760 --> 00:25:35.269
everybody for listening in to today's


00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:37.430
episode This today's question and answer


00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:40.630
episode of Space Nuts and we will catch


00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:42.870
you next week I will be back here again


00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:44.390
for just a couple more weeks and then


00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:46.789
you'll get your dear sweet Andrew back


00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:48.870
But until then you're stuck with me Uh


00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:50.710
thanks again to those of you I heard


00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:52.630
that um a few of you wrote in with some


00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:54.789
kind words about me So thank you so much


00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:57.350
if you guys had compliments I appreciate


00:25:57.360 --> 00:26:01.430
that Um but until next time we will be


00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:03.990
signing off Thank you so much Thank you


00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:05.990
Heidi And thanks also to Hugh in the


00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:07.669
background there back in the studio


00:26:07.679 --> 00:26:10.789
keeping us all honest We'll see you next


00:26:10.799 --> 00:26:13.430
time Heidi Bye for now Space nuts You'll


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be listening to the Space Nuts podcast


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available at Apple Podcasts Spotify


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iHeart Radio or your favorite podcast


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player You can also stream on demand at


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byes.com This has been another quality


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podcast production from byes.com