Cosmic Connections: Mapping Magnetic Fields, Dark Matter Mysteries & SpaceX’s IPO Success |...
Join us as we delve into the latest space science stories, from the universe's most comprehensive magnetic map to the mysteries of black holes and dark matter. Our casual chat is packed with insights into ongoing research and space exploration plans, including Elon Musk's ventures into space and beyond.
In this episode:
The CSIRO's groundbreaking map of the universe's magnetic fields, five times more extensive than previous efforts, revealing complex galactic structures and the role of magnetic fields in galaxy evolution [00:00–10:00]
How polarization and Faraday rotation are used to infer magnetic fields across the cosmos, and what the map tells us about the Milky Way's center [10:00–12:40]
The innovative method of reverberation mapping in studying black holes and the potential connection to dark matter congregations around these cosmic giants [16:37–22:39]
The speculative but exciting prospects for interstellar travel, including the limitations posed by physics, time dilation effects near relativistic speeds, and the Breakthrough Starshot initiative [50:57–55:36]
Elon Musk's recent public offer of SpaceX ventures, merchandise, and the symbolism of mission patches and rockets, illustrating his flair and boldness in space entrepreneurship [24:00–34:10]
The impact of lunar and planetary dynamics on Earth's tides, weather, and ocean currents, with reflections on moonless Earth scenarios [60:00–62:48]
Nostalgic references to 70s science fiction, notably Space 1999, and its imaginative visions of moon-based colonies and space wandering [58:56–59:53]
For enthusiasts eager to explore further, check out resources like:
CSIRO's Magnetic Map of the Universe
Breakthrough Starshot Initiative
SpaceX Official Website
Physical Review D - Space Science Publications
Connect with our guest, Professor Fred Watson:
LinkedIn | Twitter
Looking for the perfect space-themed gear? Visit our Shop for stickers, caps, T-shirts, and mission patches that celebrate our cosmic curiosity.
Join the conversation: Share your questions or comments at spacenutspodcast.com, and help us explore the universe together. Thanks for listening—until next time, keep looking up!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) .
Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/33857597?utm_source=youtube
10:00 - How polarization and Faraday rotation are used to infer magnetic fields across the cosmos, and what the map tells us about the Milky Way’s center.]
16:37 - The innovative method of reverberation mapping in studying black holes and the potential connection to dark matter congregations around these cosmic giants.]
24:00 - Elon Musk’s recent public offer of SpaceX ventures, merchandise, and the symbolism of mission patches and rockets, illustrating his flair and boldness in space entrepreneurship.34:10]
Kind: captions
Language: en
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Hello again. Thanks for joining us on
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another episode of Space Nuts. My name
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is Andrew Dunley. It's great to have
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your company. I hope you're well. Uh
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coming up in this episode, some exciting
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stories and one of them is a new CSIO
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map developed in Australia of
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magnetic fields. Now, it's been quite a
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while since they updated this and
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they've got a new one out and uh it's
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quite extraordinary uh the way it was
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done and what it shows and and what it
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can be used for. Uh we've also got a new
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report about the relationship or
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otherwise between uh black holes and
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dark matter. Now, this is interesting
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because it's only been a theory until
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now. Now, this isn't absolute proof, but
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it's a step closer to proving there is
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something going on between the two of
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them. and they just don't want anyone to
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know. And the world's first trillionaire
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goes public. We'll talk about all of
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that on this episode of Space Nuts.
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>> 15 seconds. Guidance is internal. 10 9g
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Ignition sequence start.
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>> Space nuts.
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>> 5 4 3 2
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>> 1 2 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1
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>> Space Nuts.
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>> Astronauts report. It feels good. And
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he's with us again for another dose of
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whatever it is he takes before he talks
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to me. It's Professor Fred. What's an
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astronomer at large? Hello, Fred.
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>> It's a good cup of tea that I take
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normally.
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Uh I I I've been drinking a bit more tea
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of late only because um by the afternoon
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I'm not really into coffee. But
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>> today I did have coffee. So
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>> um do love my coffee.
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>> I do too. But
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>> I make my own. I I got the whole barista
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thing going. I'm even doing I'm even
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doing latte art, Fred.
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>> Oh, really?
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>> I don't know if you'll see this. I I
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took this photo
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um today of my latte art. Can you see
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that?
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>> That is brilliant.
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>> Yeah.
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>> That's real self. Selfaugh barista.
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>> Yes.
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>> I don't know what it is. Some kind some
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kind of flower. Like a lotus flower.
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>> Well, it reminds me of ears of corn.
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>> Oh, yeah. It does, doesn't it?
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>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's what it
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>> or just ducks sitting on top of each
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other or something.
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>> Could be your could be your corny latte.
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>> Yes, it could be. Yeah. Anyway, I've
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been working on that. That's
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>> impressive. I was going to do a whole
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series and put them on Instagram of my
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progression through being really crap at
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it and to reaching a point where it's,
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you know, something to look at. But I
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didn't bother and now I wish I had
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because I've had some epic fails. But,
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um, that one came out quite well today.
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That's very nice. Well done.
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>> Right, let's uh let's get on with this
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because uh we've got a lot to talk about
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as always and our first story comes from
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Australia, mate. And it is the uh the
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remapping of uh the magnetic fields of a
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large swave of um the universe or is it
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a large sway of whatever piece of the
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backyard sky someone can see out of? I'm
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not sure how much of it they got.
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a good chunk of it actually. Um
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>> I thought so
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>> because um so this was these
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observations were made at uh an site in
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Western Australia known as in Yarimani
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Ilgari Bundura which is Wadger for
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sharing sky and stars. The Wadger people
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are the traditional owners there and
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it's also called the CSRO Merches and
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Radio Astronomy Observatory but we tend
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to refer to it as Inarima Ilgari Bunda
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because it's a very nice name. Uh so
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what's there? There is uh first of all
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um it's the site for the low frequency
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uh arm of the square kilometer array. Uh
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the square kilometer array observatory
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exists in three places. Uh one is
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western Australia where the low
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frequency antennas are. Uh the other is
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in South Africa where the mid-frequency
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antennas are and the other is near
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Manchester where the headquarters are.
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Um that's Jodel Bank is where the
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headquarters of SKAO are. Uh and they've
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just got a new director general by the
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way. Um Jessica Dempsey I think is her
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name. Somebody I've kind of run into
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before over the years. Uh is um uh the
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new director general of the SKAO
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observatory. Sorry, SKA Observatory.
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Anyway, yeah. Also on the site in
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Western Australia is ASCAP, which is the
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Australian
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SKA
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Pathfinder, ASK AP.
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>> Coincidence an ASCAP is also something
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you can wear if you don't have any
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pants.
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>> There's no answer to that, Andrew. I uh
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No,
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>> no, we just let that one.
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>> I might leave that one alone. Yeah.
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Anyway, notwithstanding that,
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see, you don't get this on other
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podcasts, do you? It's why we're number
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one in Iceland.
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>> That's right.
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>> We are. Thank you, Iceland.
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>> Absolutely. Go for it. Um I forgot. Yes.
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ASCAP. The not the not the garment, but
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the um the radio telescope array. 36 12
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m dishes which were built um over the I
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guess 15 years ago was when they
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started. It's been operational for
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probably more than 10 years now and done
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some fabulous work. Uh, but the latest
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piece of high-profile research that's
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come from ASCAP is exactly as you've
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said, the largest magnetic map of the
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universe ever produced. Five times
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larger than all previous efforts
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combined and it marks the beginning of a
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new generation of research into the
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field of intergalactic magnetism. And
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I'm reading there from the CSRO news
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release. Um, you could probably spot the
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hype, but it's welldeserved hype as
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well. And a welld deserved kudos to the
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team leader, Alec Thompson of CSRO. Um,
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what they've done is used the telescope
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in a in a I suppose an innovative way.
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Uh, how do you measure magnetic fields?
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Well, you know, normally to measure a
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magnetic field, we stick a magnetometer
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in the way. That's how magnetic fields
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are measured in the solar system by
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various spacecraft because they carry
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magnetometers which measure the local
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magnetic field of where you are. Um, and
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that gives us some insights into not
00:06:34.080 --> 00:06:36.230
just the the Sun's magnetic field, not
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the Earth's magnetic field and the Sun's
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magnetic field, but also uh courtesy of
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Voyager, the two Voyager spacecraft, the
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galaxy's magnetic field, because we can
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sense the direction of that with the
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magnetometers uh carried by those
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spacecraft which are now beyond the
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sun's magnetic influence. But uh it's
00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:59.990
quite a a long jump from the environs of
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the solar system to the universe as a
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whole. Uh which is what these scientists
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have done. And the basic technique is uh
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it's all about um polarization.
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And we've talked about polarization
00:07:17.440 --> 00:07:21.589
before. We all know what it does when we
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wear our polarizing sunglasses and
00:07:23.599 --> 00:07:26.070
you're driving your car into the
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sunlight and there's a huge reflection
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coming off the road, especially if it's
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wet. Uh, and your polarizing sunglasses
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magically take that away. That's
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happening because the the light waves uh
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have um
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they're if you think of them as as just
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being wiggles in space, which they are
00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:47.110
electromagnetic wiggles, they have a
00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:50.390
preferred direction. Um normal light has
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a mix of all these directions, but uh it
00:07:53.280 --> 00:07:56.469
turns out that you can separate out them
00:07:56.479 --> 00:07:58.629
by using well a polarizing filter, which
00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:00.390
is what we've got in our sunglasses that
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only lets through the vibrations that
00:08:02.960 --> 00:08:04.869
are vertical. That's the vertical
00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:06.629
direction of the light that's coming to
00:08:06.639 --> 00:08:09.189
you. Because the horizontal ones which
00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:13.430
are um very much reflected in the uh in
00:08:13.440 --> 00:08:15.909
in the in the you know in the reflection
00:08:15.919 --> 00:08:17.909
from the wet road they are canceled out
00:08:17.919 --> 00:08:20.070
and so you don't see them.
00:08:20.080 --> 00:08:22.550
>> Uh so so we're kind of familiar with
00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:25.029
that effect that idea of the direction
00:08:25.039 --> 00:08:28.150
of vibration of of light waves. Well the
00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:32.230
same holds good in um in radio waves.
00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:34.949
And so ASCAP and many other radio
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telescopes can actually sense the
00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:40.389
polarization of the radio signals that
00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:43.589
they're receiving from deep space. Uh
00:08:43.599 --> 00:08:45.750
and so that's all well and good. You can
00:08:45.760 --> 00:08:48.870
sense the polarization, but you can also
00:08:48.880 --> 00:08:51.910
detect if that polarization's been
00:08:51.920 --> 00:08:54.710
twisted. And that's what happens when
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the light passes through a magnetic
00:08:56.560 --> 00:08:59.590
field. Um it it actually rotates. It's
00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:01.910
called Faraday rotation. It's the plane
00:09:01.920 --> 00:09:05.990
of the of the radio waves twists and you
00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:09.430
can detect that with an array like ASCAP
00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:12.070
and that is what has allowed people to
00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:13.670
measure the magnetic field of the
00:09:13.680 --> 00:09:15.750
universe because
00:09:15.760 --> 00:09:19.509
what you do is you look at the light
00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:22.550
from a distant galaxy and you look at
00:09:22.560 --> 00:09:25.590
the way its polarization changes uh as
00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:27.750
that light comes towards us by using
00:09:27.760 --> 00:09:30.310
this technique. And so what you what
00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:32.310
you're saying is that you've got a kind
00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:36.310
of um you know a beacon lamp in the
00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:38.470
distance and what you can sense is
00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:39.990
what's happening to the light coming
00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:42.310
from that as it passes through magnetic
00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:45.430
fields on its way. And so that's the
00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:48.949
basis of the map. Um as far as I can
00:09:48.959 --> 00:09:50.710
tell from because I'm not a radio
00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:52.630
astronomer which is patently obvious
00:09:52.640 --> 00:09:54.070
probably from the way I'm talking about
00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:58.150
it. Um I I think you you probably don't
00:09:58.160 --> 00:10:00.150
know how far away that magnetic field
00:10:00.160 --> 00:10:05.269
is. And so um what you can infer is uh
00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:07.910
how how for example how rapidly it
00:10:07.920 --> 00:10:11.990
changes uh depending on the position in
00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:15.590
the sky. Um it's there's there's when
00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:17.829
you look at this map and I urge our
00:10:17.839 --> 00:10:19.110
listeners to have a look at it. It's
00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:21.350
pretty easy to find the largest magnetic
00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:23.990
map of the universe yet. Um you'll see
00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.069
lots of colors. Um the colors I think
00:10:26.079 --> 00:10:29.190
are colorcoded in that um I think if I
00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:32.150
remember rightly red is with the north
00:10:32.160 --> 00:10:34.150
pole pointing towards us of the
00:10:34.160 --> 00:10:37.269
magnetism and blue is it pointing the
00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:40.870
other way. Um and so that uh lets you
00:10:40.880 --> 00:10:43.430
sense the magnetism along that line of
00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:45.829
sight. And so the the biggest detail is
00:10:45.839 --> 00:10:48.230
actually in the galactic center which is
00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:50.550
full of churning magnetic fields. I I
00:10:50.560 --> 00:10:52.230
guess you're having a look at it now. I
00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:54.389
I'm looking at it right this minute and
00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:55.829
yeah, you're right that they they're
00:10:55.839 --> 00:10:57.670
explaining that just like um you've got
00:10:57.680 --> 00:10:59.670
blue shift and red shift with with light
00:10:59.680 --> 00:11:01.990
waves, the magnetic
00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:04.150
>> fields have the same kind of qualities
00:11:04.160 --> 00:11:06.389
in terms of north south
00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:08.470
>> on the um on the magnetic plane. And
00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:10.230
yes, the center of the Milky Way galaxy
00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:12.389
is probably the most volatile part of
00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:15.670
this entire picture. Um yeah, not
00:11:15.680 --> 00:11:17.829
surprising. We live there. We know we
00:11:17.839 --> 00:11:20.630
know all about volatility. Yeah, it's
00:11:20.640 --> 00:11:23.030
home from home. Uh, and just just going
00:11:23.040 --> 00:11:25.509
back to um what you said a few minutes
00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:27.829
ago, um there is a there is a hole in
00:11:27.839 --> 00:11:31.269
the in the uh map and that's because
00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:33.750
ASCAP there's certainly regions of the
00:11:33.760 --> 00:11:35.829
northern sky that ASCAP can't see
00:11:35.839 --> 00:11:37.269
because they're permanently below the
00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:38.870
horizon. They're relatively small
00:11:38.880 --> 00:11:40.710
actually because ASCAP can look a long
00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:42.389
way down towards the horizon, much
00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:43.670
further than we can in optical
00:11:43.680 --> 00:11:45.910
astronomy. in optical astronomy that the
00:11:45.920 --> 00:11:47.430
atmosphere just gets too thick when
00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:49.430
you're looking very low down and so you
00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:50.949
get all the distortions and everything
00:11:50.959 --> 00:11:53.110
from the atmosphere. That doesn't happen
00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:55.910
uh with low frequency radio waves. So um
00:11:55.920 --> 00:11:57.990
the the gap that's missing because of
00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:00.389
the northern hemisphere uh because it's
00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:01.910
not visible to the telescope that's
00:12:01.920 --> 00:12:04.069
actually relatively small compared with
00:12:04.079 --> 00:12:06.069
if it was an optical astronomy picture
00:12:06.079 --> 00:12:07.990
that you were looking at. But yes, the
00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:10.230
this this map has the the line of the
00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:12.550
Milky Way across its equator across the
00:12:12.560 --> 00:12:15.430
middle. Um, lots of magnetic turbulence
00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:17.509
in there. Some really intriguing
00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:19.350
features, things that look like magnetic
00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:21.990
fingers just sort of pointing around.
00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:24.470
It's a remarkable map which um, yeah, I
00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:26.389
encourage people to have a look at.
00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:28.790
Yeah. Just by way of um, taking this a
00:12:28.800 --> 00:12:32.069
step further. Uh, what can they now or
00:12:32.079 --> 00:12:34.470
what can anybody now do with a map like
00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:36.230
this? Because it's been made publicly
00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:38.150
available, hasn't it? Yes. So, that
00:12:38.160 --> 00:12:41.190
that's exactly right. those data are now
00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:43.430
publicly available. By the way, I do
00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:46.949
like the name of it which is spice
00:12:46.959 --> 00:12:47.670
racks.
00:12:47.680 --> 00:12:51.910
>> Yeah. Uh so RAX is the rapid ASCAP
00:12:51.920 --> 00:12:55.269
continuum survey and I've forgotten what
00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:57.990
spice is but it's something equally
00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:00.550
equally delightful. Uh but the spice
00:13:00.560 --> 00:13:03.110
rack survey I think is uh is you know
00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:06.629
it's got its own uh own charm about it.
00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:09.190
I I was going to say something tongue
00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:11.509
and cheek about a a girl group named
00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:12.790
something to do with spice.
00:13:12.800 --> 00:13:14.310
>> Oh yes, I know the one you
00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:16.150
>> and then then I thought no, you can't
00:13:16.160 --> 00:13:17.750
really associate that with racks. You
00:13:17.760 --> 00:13:19.670
could get yourself smacked across the
00:13:19.680 --> 00:13:20.230
face.
00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:21.829
>> I would leave that well alone.
00:13:21.839 --> 00:13:23.269
>> I will I won't mention it.
00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:24.790
>> Yeah.
00:13:24.800 --> 00:13:28.550
So um it's Yes. So it's so and and yes,
00:13:28.560 --> 00:13:30.870
as you said the the data are already
00:13:30.880 --> 00:13:33.670
publicly available. uh research groups
00:13:33.680 --> 00:13:36.790
are already actually digging through
00:13:36.800 --> 00:13:40.230
this to see what it tells us about the
00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:42.389
you know the magnetism of galaxies for a
00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:46.310
start. Uh it's and and just the way the
00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:49.269
environment of a galaxy is dominated by
00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:51.590
a particular magnetic field. It's only
00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:54.470
recently that we've understood that
00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:57.350
cosmic magnetic fields i.e. magnetic
00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:00.389
fields in space play a huge role in so
00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:02.069
many areas of astrophysics. But
00:14:02.079 --> 00:14:04.790
certainly in the way galaxies evolve
00:14:04.800 --> 00:14:07.110
over the millennia,
00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:09.590
billennia I suppose they are uh the way
00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:13.670
they evolve uh is um is very much
00:14:13.680 --> 00:14:16.150
dominated by the local magnetic fields.
00:14:16.160 --> 00:14:18.870
And one of the big puzzles in cosmology,
00:14:18.880 --> 00:14:20.949
the science of you know the universe as
00:14:20.959 --> 00:14:22.949
a whole is where did these magnetic
00:14:22.959 --> 00:14:24.790
fields come from in the first place?
00:14:24.800 --> 00:14:27.189
Yeah. And it's actually one of it's one
00:14:27.199 --> 00:14:29.990
of the things on the list of target
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:31.990
science that as that the square
00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:34.710
kilometer array itself was designed to
00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:36.949
address. What's the origin of the of the
00:14:36.959 --> 00:14:39.590
cosmic magnetic field? Because we really
00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:42.870
don't know how they came to exist and
00:14:42.880 --> 00:14:44.949
more than that we don't know how
00:14:44.959 --> 00:14:47.110
magnetic fields have changed as you know
00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:49.430
as the universe itself has evolved. All
00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:50.870
this lets you do that because of course
00:14:50.880 --> 00:14:52.629
as you look further out into space
00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:54.550
you're looking further back in time. So
00:14:54.560 --> 00:14:56.710
there's a a time dimension of this as
00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:57.269
well.
00:14:57.279 --> 00:14:58.550
>> Yep. There's a there's a lot of
00:14:58.560 --> 00:15:00.710
magnetism out there and as you say they
00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:02.389
don't know where it came from. Uh we
00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:04.470
probably would have solved it solved it
00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:06.150
except dark matter and dark energy came
00:15:06.160 --> 00:15:07.590
along and we went oh well this is more
00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:10.389
exciting but um yeah it's just another
00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:12.069
one of those mysteries by the look of
00:15:12.079 --> 00:15:15.590
>> it is and I I you know I'm sure the um
00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:17.509
all the scientists who've been involved
00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:19.430
with this have got magnetic
00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:20.629
personalities.
00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:24.470
>> Oh sorry I do my best. We aim to please.
00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:26.629
>> Pretty good that one. All right. If
00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:28.150
you'd like to read up on it, you can do
00:15:28.160 --> 00:15:30.870
that through the CSRO website. It's an
00:15:30.880 --> 00:15:32.870
Australian website and you can download
00:15:32.880 --> 00:15:35.670
the map. It's only 6 million megaby.
00:15:35.680 --> 00:15:38.710
It's 6 megabytes. It's not a big file in
00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:41.590
the modern age. Uh you can also read the
00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:43.750
paper in publications of the
00:15:43.760 --> 00:15:46.949
Astronomical Society of Australia. This
00:15:46.959 --> 00:15:49.509
is Space Nuts with Professor Fred Watson
00:15:49.519 --> 00:15:53.990
and Andrew Dunley.
00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:55.590
G and I feel fine.
00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:59.670
>> Space nuts. All right. Um, now you did
00:15:59.680 --> 00:16:01.430
you did press record, didn't you?
00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:04.470
>> I did press record. Yes. Um, yes. The
00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:06.230
giant gap was a misfire.
00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:08.389
>> Oh, good. That's good. Okay. We get
00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:11.189
those. Uh, now, uh, our next story, it's
00:16:11.199 --> 00:16:13.590
a, uh, a new report about the
00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:15.670
relationship between black holes and
00:16:15.680 --> 00:16:17.110
dark matter. Now, this is this is
00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:19.030
something that our audience has quite
00:16:19.040 --> 00:16:21.030
often thrown up. you know, there's got
00:16:21.040 --> 00:16:23.670
to be a connection uh between black
00:16:23.680 --> 00:16:27.189
holes and and dark matter, etc., etc. Uh
00:16:27.199 --> 00:16:29.910
and now they've released a paper that's
00:16:29.920 --> 00:16:32.069
suggesting just that.
00:16:32.079 --> 00:16:34.069
>> Yes, this is really interesting stuff.
00:16:34.079 --> 00:16:37.670
And of course, it it um it covers two of
00:16:37.680 --> 00:16:41.030
the most popular topics that we discuss
00:16:41.040 --> 00:16:44.310
on on Space Nuts. Uh this is research uh
00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:47.269
from Virginia Tech uh in the United
00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:51.030
States and it it's very neat because it
00:16:51.040 --> 00:16:53.269
uses a technique that I've always found
00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:55.590
absolutely fascinating
00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:59.910
um which is it's got a fancy name uh
00:16:59.920 --> 00:17:03.430
called reverberation mapping uh but we
00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:07.350
usually talk about light echoes uh and
00:17:07.360 --> 00:17:10.069
the the easiest way to envisage it is uh
00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:14.470
the one that I think drew everybody's
00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:16.949
attention to this phenomenon back in the
00:17:16.959 --> 00:17:18.789
1980s
00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:22.470
uh when supernova 1987a
00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:25.350
the nearest supernova to us since Kepler
00:17:25.360 --> 00:17:29.350
supernova in6004 I think it was um that
00:17:29.360 --> 00:17:31.190
uh became very much the object of
00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:33.669
attention uh it was in the large melanic
00:17:33.679 --> 00:17:36.630
cloud so 165,000 lighty years away from
00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:39.990
us as the crow flies uh and what was
00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:43.510
discovered as time went on was the so
00:17:43.520 --> 00:17:45.669
the the supernova explodes. You've got
00:17:45.679 --> 00:17:47.270
this brilliant flash of light. It was
00:17:47.280 --> 00:17:49.350
easily visible to the naked eye. I
00:17:49.360 --> 00:17:52.630
remember looking at it. Uh and uh then
00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:55.750
as time goes by the light fades, but
00:17:55.760 --> 00:17:58.789
what you get uh
00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:01.270
as time goes on is a series of rings
00:18:01.280 --> 00:18:04.630
around the apparently around the the
00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:08.070
site of the explosion. And those rings
00:18:08.080 --> 00:18:12.390
are caused by light being reflected off
00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:15.110
clouds of dust which are between us and
00:18:15.120 --> 00:18:17.590
the supernova. And you can do all kinds
00:18:17.600 --> 00:18:21.190
of really neat calculations uh to dis
00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:23.510
discover how thick those clouds of dust
00:18:23.520 --> 00:18:25.029
are, where they are in relation to the
00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:28.470
supernova. Um uh one of my colleagues
00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:30.630
for now sadly no longer with us, David
00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:34.150
Allen was a past master about working on
00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:36.870
this and writing about it. And uh that
00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:38.789
those rings are called light echoes
00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:40.470
because it's the echo of the light of
00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:43.190
the supernova which has now faded away
00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:44.870
but you can still see it because it's
00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:47.510
bouncing off off clouds of dust in
00:18:47.520 --> 00:18:51.990
space. So what this article is about the
00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:53.669
Virginia Tech work that we've just
00:18:53.679 --> 00:18:56.950
mentioned is we know that black holes
00:18:56.960 --> 00:18:59.430
super massive black holes are surrounded
00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:03.669
by swirling discs of matter uh they're
00:19:03.679 --> 00:19:05.270
called the accretion disc. It's the
00:19:05.280 --> 00:19:07.350
stuff that's basically swirling around
00:19:07.360 --> 00:19:10.150
the plug hole uh before it either gets
00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:12.549
sucked into the black hole or shot out
00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:14.310
vertically from the poles of the black
00:19:14.320 --> 00:19:17.029
hole, the rotation poles in the form of
00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:18.950
these jets which we hear a lot about.
00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:21.430
But the accretion disc itself is bright
00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:25.029
and it um in X-rays and radio.
00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:28.950
Uh once in a while um a larger dollop of
00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:32.390
matter enters the accretion disc and you
00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:34.710
get this outburst. you get a brilliant
00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:39.190
outburst of of of radiation. Um, and
00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:42.150
that outburst is relatively short-lived.
00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:44.630
It might last for a few weeks or even
00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:47.110
months, but it's short-lived. And so
00:19:47.120 --> 00:19:50.630
what you can look for is a light echo
00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:52.789
around it because that light radiates
00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:55.590
outwards from the accretion disc. And if
00:19:55.600 --> 00:19:58.549
it hits anything, you know, outside it,
00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:00.870
it will reflect back to us and we'll see
00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:05.750
it at a later date from when the bright
00:20:05.760 --> 00:20:07.909
event itself happened. So you see the
00:20:07.919 --> 00:20:10.470
bright event in the accretion disc and
00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:13.590
then at some time later you see an an
00:20:13.600 --> 00:20:15.909
echo of that light which is being
00:20:15.919 --> 00:20:18.789
reflected off usually gas and dust which
00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:21.430
is surrounding the uh the accretion
00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:23.830
disc. What this story is all about
00:20:23.840 --> 00:20:27.669
though is that when you do calculations
00:20:27.679 --> 00:20:32.789
about how much material there is in the
00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:35.029
accretion disc where the echo is taking
00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:38.070
place, you get a much higher mass than
00:20:38.080 --> 00:20:41.110
what you can see. And that's al always
00:20:41.120 --> 00:20:45.110
the um that's always the uh uh kind of
00:20:45.120 --> 00:20:48.310
telltale signature of dark matter uh
00:20:48.320 --> 00:20:50.789
when you can only see a limited amount
00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:53.510
of stuff but gravity tells you that
00:20:53.520 --> 00:20:55.029
there's much more there's more there
00:20:55.039 --> 00:20:56.950
>> and that's exactly the basis of this
00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:59.669
story. So, it's just a new way of
00:20:59.679 --> 00:21:03.990
detecting the dark matter uh around
00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:06.470
black holes. But it looks as though
00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:09.669
black holes, as you'd expect, not only
00:21:09.679 --> 00:21:12.710
are a magnet for regular matter, uh I
00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:14.710
mean a gravitational magnet. I guess
00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:16.149
it's not magnetic in the sense that
00:21:16.159 --> 00:21:18.390
we've just been talking about uh but a
00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:21.190
gravitational uh pull for normal matter.
00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:24.230
It's also a gravitational pull for dark
00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:25.830
matter as well. And it looks as though
00:21:25.840 --> 00:21:27.990
the dark matter actually congregates
00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:31.190
around black holes that we've got these
00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:34.070
buildups of dark matter in the vicinity
00:21:34.080 --> 00:21:35.830
of of a black hole.
00:21:35.840 --> 00:21:37.270
>> Quite remarkable.
00:21:37.280 --> 00:21:39.909
>> Now the the situation is that they
00:21:39.919 --> 00:21:42.710
haven't absolutely proven it. They've
00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:44.870
just come up with a way of suggesting
00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:47.990
that this might be the case. But um
00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:49.909
yeah, it's not absolute. It's not it's
00:21:49.919 --> 00:21:51.430
not
00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:54.470
>> fact. It's it it is in the sense that um
00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:57.590
they've looked at this for for 14
00:21:57.600 --> 00:21:59.190
different galaxies
00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:03.190
>> and and all found cases where uh what
00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:05.110
what you what you're looking for is the
00:22:05.120 --> 00:22:07.830
way the mass changes with distance from
00:22:07.840 --> 00:22:10.070
the black hole and that mass is
00:22:10.080 --> 00:22:12.149
increasing because you're looking at
00:22:12.159 --> 00:22:14.470
stuff swirling around. But the increase
00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:18.149
in mass is faster than the visible
00:22:18.159 --> 00:22:21.190
matter on its own can explain. Yeah. And
00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:23.750
that's the it's a kind of smoking gun
00:22:23.760 --> 00:22:24.950
for dark matter really.
00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:26.950
>> Yeah. I I've I've found the paragraph.
00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:28.950
It says data limitations mean the
00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:31.750
results are a proof of concept, not a
00:22:31.760 --> 00:22:34.789
definitive dete detection, but the study
00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:36.710
outlines a clear path to confirmation.
00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:37.750
>> That's right. Yeah. So
00:22:37.760 --> 00:22:38.630
>> we're almost there.
00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:40.310
>> We're almost there. That's exactly
00:22:40.320 --> 00:22:41.909
right. We're almost there.
00:22:41.919 --> 00:22:44.230
>> That is very exciting news. And um that
00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:46.950
will stop probably 75% of the questions
00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:50.710
we get on our Q&A editions.
00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:53.590
Well, it it might, but I bet it produces
00:22:53.600 --> 00:22:56.390
another 150% about what it is that we're
00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:58.310
finding. And how do we know? Why isn't
00:22:58.320 --> 00:23:00.070
it Mond and things like that?
00:23:00.080 --> 00:23:02.789
>> Yeah. Yes. Oh gosh. It will just it
00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:03.590
it'll never end.
00:23:03.600 --> 00:23:04.630
>> It will never end.
00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:06.230
>> I hope it never ends. I think it's
00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:06.630
great.
00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:07.190
>> So do I.
00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:08.789
>> But if you want to read about it, it's
00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:11.590
at fizz.org. Uh they publish the paper
00:23:11.600 --> 00:23:14.149
in the physical review D. Does that mean
00:23:14.159 --> 00:23:16.230
there's an A, B, and C that comes?
00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:17.270
>> Yes, it does.
00:23:17.280 --> 00:23:19.669
>> I assume so. Yes. But um that's a
00:23:19.679 --> 00:23:21.350
high-profile journal though, Physical
00:23:21.360 --> 00:23:24.310
Review. It's uh definitely uh
00:23:24.320 --> 00:23:27.110
>> you know it's it's ranks with nature and
00:23:27.120 --> 00:23:28.870
science and these very high-profile
00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:31.909
journals. So it's it's not work that is
00:23:31.919 --> 00:23:34.230
in any way secondary. It's not like
00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:36.870
Space Nuts where it's adequate. This is
00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:41.190
top top top running stuff. Indeed it is.
00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:43.029
Uh yes. So read about it at physical
00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:45.669
review or at fizz.org. This is Space
00:23:45.679 --> 00:23:47.270
Nuts. Andrew Dunley here with Professor
00:23:47.280 --> 00:23:51.510
Fred Watson.
00:23:51.520 --> 00:23:54.390
>> Okay, we checked all four systems and
00:23:54.400 --> 00:23:56.070
>> Space Nets.
00:23:56.080 --> 00:23:59.270
>> Our final story, Fred, uh takes us into
00:23:59.280 --> 00:24:02.950
the realm of um publicly offering your
00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:05.909
company up on the stock exchange.
00:24:05.919 --> 00:24:07.350
>> I wonder why we're going to talk about
00:24:07.360 --> 00:24:07.750
that.
00:24:07.760 --> 00:24:09.669
>> I wonder why. Uh the world's first
00:24:09.679 --> 00:24:12.470
trillionaire has just done that in um in
00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:14.390
a very interesting way. And to coincide
00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:17.190
with the launch, he's um he's selling
00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:19.750
stuff like we do on on the Space Nuts
00:24:19.760 --> 00:24:22.789
shop. All sorts of little bits and bobs
00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:24.549
if you want a piece of the action.
00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:26.070
>> Yes, the IPO merch.
00:24:26.080 --> 00:24:28.710
>> It is it really is a remarkable story
00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:31.669
though uh Elon Musk and SpaceX because
00:24:31.679 --> 00:24:34.549
uh as as this article um briefly
00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:36.870
mentions, he didn't think the company
00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:39.430
would survive. He didn't expect it to to
00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:41.750
actually be a success. He gave it a very
00:24:41.760 --> 00:24:44.549
low chance of lasting and look at him
00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:46.070
now.
00:24:46.080 --> 00:24:48.390
>> Quite so. The world's first
00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:49.990
trillionaire.
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:50.470
>> Yeah.
00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:54.310
>> It's um I mean I don't honestly I know
00:24:54.320 --> 00:24:55.830
virtually nothing about the world of
00:24:55.840 --> 00:24:57.190
high finance.
00:24:57.200 --> 00:24:58.149
>> Um
00:24:58.159 --> 00:25:00.950
>> well, you know more than me then.
00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:02.870
>> When I see numbers like millions and
00:25:02.880 --> 00:25:04.390
billions, I always expect there to be
00:25:04.400 --> 00:25:05.750
light years after them rather than
00:25:05.760 --> 00:25:09.990
dollars. Uh but yeah, it's uh the the
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:13.430
public the IPO initial public offering
00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:15.990
um has valued this company at something
00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:17.909
absolutely huge compared with all the
00:25:17.919 --> 00:25:19.830
other tech companies that that are being
00:25:19.840 --> 00:25:22.630
floated or are likely to be floated into
00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:25.029
public ownership. It's enormous.
00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:28.149
>> Um is it 170 billion? Am I thinking of
00:25:28.159 --> 00:25:29.750
the right number there? Or is that light
00:25:29.760 --> 00:25:31.430
years? That could be light years.
00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:33.350
>> I don't know.
00:25:33.360 --> 00:25:35.990
Uh anyway, the bottom line, so yes, that
00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:40.470
was um uh over the weekend that um that
00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:44.710
offering IPO uh happened and it was very
00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:47.510
successful. Um I heard people on Friday
00:25:47.520 --> 00:25:49.510
saying, "Oh no, the it'll probably just
00:25:49.520 --> 00:25:51.029
fail because nobody will actually
00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:53.430
believe what Elon Musk's saying."
00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:54.870
>> Well, they might not have believed what
00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:56.230
he was saying, but they put their money
00:25:56.240 --> 00:25:58.230
where they where their mouths were. And
00:25:58.240 --> 00:26:01.029
um yeah, so it's done very very well.
00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:03.029
Um, I think the number I'm thinking of
00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:05.269
is $160.95,
00:26:05.279 --> 00:26:07.190
which is the share price.
00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:08.789
>> Well, I've just looked it up now, and I
00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:10.630
know this is being recorded, so by the
00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:12.710
time people hear this, the number will
00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:14.870
change. But at the moment, at this very
00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:15.990
moment,
00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:17.909
>> $19,250
00:26:17.919 --> 00:26:19.029
in US.
00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:21.029
>> All right. So, they've already gone up
00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:21.430
then.
00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:24.070
>> They've gone up 19.6%.
00:26:24.080 --> 00:26:24.710
>> Yeah.
00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:27.110
>> In fact, they're up 31.55%
00:26:27.120 --> 00:26:29.190
today. So, not a bad investment really
00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:30.870
if you're into that kind of thing.
00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:31.430
>> Yeah.
00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:32.789
>> Well, we're not into that kind of thing,
00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:35.430
but we're definitely into merch. Uh, and
00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:38.310
that's what this story is about, right?
00:26:38.320 --> 00:26:41.669
>> Because, um, uh, I I I guess the one
00:26:41.679 --> 00:26:45.669
thing you can not accuse Elon Musk of is
00:26:45.679 --> 00:26:48.549
lacking flare. um because he's done this
00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:50.470
very nicely that you can buy a mission
00:26:50.480 --> 00:26:51.510
patch
00:26:51.520 --> 00:26:56.070
>> for the uh for the IPO uh which says the
00:26:56.080 --> 00:26:58.390
future is public. There's a lovely
00:26:58.400 --> 00:27:01.110
embroidered uh Starship in the
00:27:01.120 --> 00:27:03.190
background. Uh in the middle it says
00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:06.710
SPCX which is SpaceX liftoff underneath
00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:11.269
it and uh SpaceX 2026. Uh and it's also
00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:13.110
got a four-leaf clover on it which I
00:27:13.120 --> 00:27:15.750
think is present on all Elon Musk
00:27:15.760 --> 00:27:17.830
SpaceX. I think that's been his logo
00:27:17.840 --> 00:27:19.110
since day one.
00:27:19.120 --> 00:27:22.230
>> Yes. Yeah. A sign of good luck. Maybe
00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:23.590
that's what's done it.
00:27:23.600 --> 00:27:28.149
>> But the thing I liked was um you can you
00:27:28.159 --> 00:27:32.950
can have a souvenir bell. And I guess I
00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:34.470
don't know whether bells are normally
00:27:34.480 --> 00:27:36.230
associated. I know they're certainly
00:27:36.240 --> 00:27:37.990
associated with the stock exchange, but
00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:40.549
whether whether with public offerings
00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:42.149
they're associated, but they certainly
00:27:42.159 --> 00:27:44.149
are in this case. And what he's chosen
00:27:44.159 --> 00:27:45.750
for the shape of his bell is something
00:27:45.760 --> 00:27:49.750
absolutely perfect. It's the bell um of
00:27:49.760 --> 00:27:52.870
a Raptor engine. Uh these rocket motors
00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:55.750
have a very strongly bell-shaped uh
00:27:55.760 --> 00:27:57.830
thrust chamber. I guess it's the it's
00:27:57.840 --> 00:28:00.789
the um opening uh that lets all the gas
00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:03.590
out uh after it's been ignited in the
00:28:03.600 --> 00:28:05.669
the combustion chamber above it. And so
00:28:05.679 --> 00:28:07.510
it's a scale replica of the Raptor
00:28:07.520 --> 00:28:11.029
engines that actually power the Falcon
00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:12.710
Heavy. Um, I beg you pardon the
00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:13.990
superheavy
00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:16.789
>> booster which is the basis of Starship.
00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:19.269
It's got 33 of these.
00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:22.950
>> And um they uh the this one's got a
00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:24.470
little clapper in the middle that lets
00:28:24.480 --> 00:28:27.269
you ring it as well as all the work. And
00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:28.870
apparently it rings. Yes. Cuz there's a
00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:30.549
video on the website that shows you
00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:31.430
that.
00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:34.389
>> Uh they they haven't released those yet
00:28:34.399 --> 00:28:36.549
to the public, but they will be out
00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:37.830
probably I think they're talking
00:28:37.840 --> 00:28:41.830
December. Yeah. And um yeah, there sort
00:28:41.840 --> 00:28:45.510
of an 18 cm or 7 in scale model of the
00:28:45.520 --> 00:28:49.029
um the SpaceX Raptor bell, but this one
00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:50.310
has a
00:28:50.320 --> 00:28:51.990
>> you know clunker in it that makes it
00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:53.430
ring. I don't know what that thing's
00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:56.230
called inside the bell. The dingy thing.
00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:58.070
>> It's a clapper. It's a clapper.
00:28:58.080 --> 00:28:58.630
>> Is it?
00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:00.389
>> That's the name. Yeah. For
00:29:00.399 --> 00:29:01.990
>> anyway. So, they're selling those.
00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:05.990
They're selling uh tote bags and um as
00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:08.630
you said, mission patches, t-shirts,
00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:10.630
caps.
00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:12.950
Don't let it, you know, he he's um he's
00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:14.230
the sort of bloke that never lets
00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:15.510
opportunity no
00:29:15.520 --> 00:29:17.590
>> get away. No whatsoever.
00:29:17.600 --> 00:29:20.789
>> I I did hear some of the things that he
00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:23.830
said publicly at the launch, which made
00:29:23.840 --> 00:29:28.630
me cringe. Uh because
00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:33.190
you know I can I can just about um
00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:36.710
believe that we might get humans to Mars
00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:38.710
in his lifetime.
00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:41.430
>> It won't be millions and that's because
00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:44.710
that's immoral apart from anything else.
00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:49.510
Um but he was talking about uh the you
00:29:49.520 --> 00:29:51.669
know flying through around the solar
00:29:51.679 --> 00:29:56.310
system and beyond and at the moment that
00:29:56.320 --> 00:29:59.510
is off the agenda. Physics don't doesn't
00:29:59.520 --> 00:30:02.310
let you do that. Uh just actually as a
00:30:02.320 --> 00:30:04.630
as a little footnote to that I read a
00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:06.310
paper yesterday
00:30:06.320 --> 00:30:09.510
>> uh which is about you know the idea of
00:30:09.520 --> 00:30:13.510
using um photonic propulsion or or
00:30:13.520 --> 00:30:16.630
basically uh light energy blasted at a
00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:19.110
light sail. You've got a laser uh you
00:30:19.120 --> 00:30:20.789
fire it at this light sail and the
00:30:20.799 --> 00:30:22.549
spacecraft accelerates because of that.
00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:25.430
That's all fine and dandy and will work
00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:27.110
um if you can make your spacecraft light
00:30:27.120 --> 00:30:29.430
enough. But it turns out that you're not
00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:31.190
ever going to get near the speed of
00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:34.310
light. You beyond about 75% of the speed
00:30:34.320 --> 00:30:37.269
of light. You uh get something called
00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:40.310
relativistic drag. Uh where space itself
00:30:40.320 --> 00:30:42.470
drags on the light sail as well as any
00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:44.149
kind of interstellar matter that you've
00:30:44.159 --> 00:30:47.269
got to plow through at the 75% of the
00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:49.269
speed of light. So that's not going to
00:30:49.279 --> 00:30:51.190
get us touring around the galaxy.
00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:52.950
>> No, we'll have to find another way.
00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:54.710
>> We need another way. Yes. They need to
00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:57.590
go to science fiction writers and see
00:30:57.600 --> 00:30:59.669
what they've come up with.
00:30:59.679 --> 00:31:01.750
>> Maybe that's what Elon's thinking of.
00:31:01.760 --> 00:31:03.590
Maybe he was suddenly in the realm of
00:31:03.600 --> 00:31:05.110
science fiction, but he didn't bother to
00:31:05.120 --> 00:31:05.750
tell us.
00:31:05.760 --> 00:31:07.750
>> No, maybe not. No, but there's no
00:31:07.760 --> 00:31:11.430
nothing fictional about his um IP IP.
00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:13.029
>> Not at all. Not at all.
00:31:13.039 --> 00:31:14.549
>> Initial public offering that is out
00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:16.630
there and it is going gang busters. It's
00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:19.510
it's burning like a raptor at the
00:31:19.520 --> 00:31:20.230
moment.
00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:22.710
>> Yeah, probably will. I mean, you you
00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:25.029
know, you've got to give the guy credit.
00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:27.750
Uh two of the biggest breakthroughs of
00:31:27.760 --> 00:31:31.110
our of our generation, uh electric
00:31:31.120 --> 00:31:34.149
vehicles and reusable booster rockets.
00:31:34.159 --> 00:31:36.070
And basically, they've come from him.
00:31:36.080 --> 00:31:36.789
>> Yes, certainly.
00:31:36.799 --> 00:31:38.389
>> Tesla. Yes, they have. It's quite
00:31:38.399 --> 00:31:39.669
extraordinary.
00:31:39.679 --> 00:31:41.509
>> You can read about it at
00:31:41.519 --> 00:31:43.509
collectpace.com.
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:45.750
U we won't tell you all the prices of
00:31:45.760 --> 00:31:47.590
everything he's selling because that's,
00:31:47.600 --> 00:31:51.509
you know, you go and have a look. Um
00:31:51.519 --> 00:31:54.389
Totally your call. Um, but I do like the
00:31:54.399 --> 00:31:56.230
idea of mission patches and I'm pretty
00:31:56.240 --> 00:31:59.029
sure I suggested that to Hugh many years
00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:01.110
ago that we should have mission patches.
00:32:01.120 --> 00:32:01.350
Yes,
00:32:01.360 --> 00:32:02.950
>> we need Yes, we do.
00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:05.430
>> Yes, I thought we should a new one for
00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:07.350
every episode.
00:32:07.360 --> 00:32:09.110
>> Oh, all right. Okay.
00:32:09.120 --> 00:32:10.389
>> No, that's a bit much.
00:32:10.399 --> 00:32:12.070
>> Well, look, the trouble is the miss
00:32:12.080 --> 00:32:14.310
patches, they would just be adequate and
00:32:14.320 --> 00:32:15.750
if you
00:32:15.760 --> 00:32:17.909
>> Although I think our logo would make a
00:32:17.919 --> 00:32:18.950
great patch
00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:20.389
>> all on it own. Yeah.
00:32:20.399 --> 00:32:21.269
>> Yeah.
00:32:21.279 --> 00:32:24.230
>> Anyway, uh we'll we'll do that one day,
00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:25.509
maybe. I don't know. There's plenty of
00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:26.870
other stuff in the shop. Just go and
00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:28.389
have a look in our shop. It's on our
00:32:28.399 --> 00:32:30.950
website, spacenutspodcast.com
00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:33.269
or spacenuts.io.
00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:35.350
Uh click on the shop link and buy
00:32:35.360 --> 00:32:37.909
yourself a pair of socks or a notebook
00:32:37.919 --> 00:32:41.669
or a um or a coffee cup or a hat or a
00:32:41.679 --> 00:32:45.269
hoodie. Um stickers. There's just all
00:32:45.279 --> 00:32:47.190
this great stuff there. I've got some of
00:32:47.200 --> 00:32:49.830
it. Look, I've got my cup here. See,
00:32:49.840 --> 00:32:52.470
here's my cup. Oh, that's nice. Space
00:32:52.480 --> 00:32:53.509
nuts cup.
00:32:53.519 --> 00:32:54.630
>> Yeah, I might have one of those
00:32:54.640 --> 00:32:55.269
somewhere. You
00:32:55.279 --> 00:32:58.149
>> probably do. Yes. And I got the tote bag
00:32:58.159 --> 00:32:59.190
as well.
00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:01.509
>> So, we thought of that before, Elon.
00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:02.870
He's probably using the same company
00:33:02.880 --> 00:33:03.990
that we do.
00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:06.149
>> But, um,
00:33:06.159 --> 00:33:08.710
yes. Um, I think that brings us to the
00:33:08.720 --> 00:33:10.230
end. Fred, thank you so much.
00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:12.149
>> A pleasure, Andrew. Good to talk. And
00:33:12.159 --> 00:33:14.389
we'll speak again soon.
00:33:14.399 --> 00:33:16.710
>> We will indeed. Professor Fred Watson,
00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:18.149
astronomer at large, and thanks to Hugh
00:33:18.159 --> 00:33:19.590
in the studio. couldn't be with us today
00:33:19.600 --> 00:33:21.509
because he wants to be the world's
00:33:21.519 --> 00:33:23.830
second trillionaire and he's just put
00:33:23.840 --> 00:33:25.430
down five bucks and he's just watching
00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:27.669
to see what happens. And from me, Andrew
00:33:27.679 --> 00:33:29.110
Dunley, thanks for your company. We'll
00:33:29.120 --> 00:33:30.630
see you on the next episode of Space
00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:32.230
Nuts. Bye-bye.
00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:33.190
>> Space Nuts.
00:33:33.200 --> 00:33:35.269
>> You've been listening to the Space Nuts
00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:37.590
podcast
00:33:37.600 --> 00:33:40.549
>> available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
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iHeart Radio, or your favorite podcast
00:33:43.200 --> 00:33:45.509
player. You can also stream on demand at
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