”Jupiter’s not quite as big as we thought.” | Space Nuts: Astronomy Insights & Cosmic Discoveries


Tiny Jupiter, Unusual Comet Behavior, and Gravitational Lensing
In this exciting episode of Space Nuts , hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson delve into some intriguing astronomical discoveries. They discuss the surprising news about Jupiter's size, the strange rotation of Comet 41P, and the fascinating concept of utilizing solar gravitational lensing for deep space exploration.
Episode Highlights:
- Jupiter's Revised Size: The duo explores new measurements from NASA's Juno mission that indicate Jupiter is slightly smaller than previously thought. They discuss the implications of these findings on our understanding of the gas giant's internal structure and atmospheric dynamics.
- The Mystery of Comet 41P: Andrew and Fred reveal the unusual behavior of Comet 41P, which has experienced a significant slowdown in its rotation, potentially reversing its spin direction. They analyze the possible causes of this phenomenon and what it could mean for the comet's future.
- Solar Gravitational Lensing: The hosts dive into the concept of using the Sun's gravitational field as a lens to observe distant exoplanets. They discuss the challenges of reaching the solar gravitational lens focal point and the technologies that might one day make such missions feasible.
For more Space Nuts, including our continuously updating newsfeed and to listen to all our episodes, visit our website. (https://www.spacenutspodcast.com/) Follow us on social media at SpaceNutsPod on Facebook, Instagram, and more. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favorite platform.
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Stay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.
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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/31901861?utm_source=youtube
Kind: captions
Language: en
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Hello there. Thanks for joining us yet
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again. This is Space Nuts. My name is
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Andrew Dunley. Uh we're here to talk
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astronomy and space science. And on
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today's program, we're going to look at
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a tiny weeny itsybitsy Jupiter. Yes,
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it's not nearly as big as they thought
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it was. In fact, it could lose status as
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a consequence of this. Maybe not, but
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we'll talk about that. We're also going
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to look at a flipping interesting comet
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and uh solar gravitational lens focal
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points. Could we visit them and what
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will that mean? We'll find out on this
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episode of Space Nuts.
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>> 15 seconds. Guidance is internal. 10 9
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Ignition sequence start.
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>> Space Nuts.
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>> 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 2 1
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>> Space nuts.
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>> Astronauts report. It feels good.
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>> And joining us again to talk about all
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of that stuff and probably a lot more is
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Professor Fred Watson, astronomer at
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large. Hello, Fred.
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>> Hello, Andrew. Good to see you again.
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>> Yep. As always,
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>> love the hoopy shirt.
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>> Oh, yeah. Sorry. It's a very tatty old
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one. This shirt should be buttoning it
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up. This one's tatty.
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>> Tatty, but it's white and it's got more
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food on it than I've ever put in his
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stomach. So,
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>> has it got the Has it got the Space
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Notes logo on it?
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>> Uh, hang on. I'm I've got one here
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somewhere. A Space Nuts logo.
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>> Oh, yeah.
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>> No, I have It's not on It's not not on
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this shirt. It's on the other wide
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shirt.
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>> But um Where did that logo go?
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>> I've lost me logo. Anyway, we'll we'll
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find out better than losing your mojo.
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>> That's true, too. Yes, indeed. Uh let's
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begin because we got a lot to talk
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about. This uh first story uh looks at
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Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar
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system until we find planet 9. And this
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is a story that's suggesting that
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Jupiter's not quite as big as we thought
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it was.
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>> Yeah. It's it shrunk by well 8
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kilometers.
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>> Yeah.
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>> At the equator and 24 kilometers at the
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poles. So what this is all about and and
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I should just give you the numbers. Uh
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so the revised radius of Jupiter at its
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equator is 71,488
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kilometers
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>> which is actually um I think 4
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kilometers less than we thought before.
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Uh which doubles up to up to uh 8
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kilometers when you're talking about
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diameter. uh but its polar radius uh
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which is
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um 66,842
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and those two numbers are quite
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different which is why Jupiter's
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flattened but at its poles just as
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Saturn is uh but that's actually 24
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kilometers less than the previous
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estimations so for the diameter. So, um,
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it's not a huge amount, but it's
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>> not not when you not when you're talking
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about the size of the planet. That's
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>> exactly that's what I mean. Yeah.
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71,0004. So, it's what 140,000
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kilometers or thereabouts in diameter,
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which is um Yep. 11 Earth diameters,
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which is what we always say.
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>> Um, so uh why well, first of all, how
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have these measurements been made? Uh
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and the answer is that the old
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measurements actually go back a long
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way. They come from the Voyager and
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Pioneer era of the exploration of the
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outer planets and that goes back to the
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70s and 80s. Oh, it does.
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>> Um they uh so what what led to the
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diameter or the size of Jupiter that
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we've been using since then uh is a is
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what's called a radio occultation. So
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the spacecraft is behind as it passes
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behind Jupiter uh its signals get
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refracted actually by uh the atmosphere
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of the planet probably scattered as
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well. Uh but you can time it very
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accurately. Uh you time when the the
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spacecraft disappears behind the planet
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and you know its trajectory. uh you can
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then time when it reappears and from
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that you can calculate the and knowing
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about Jupiter's motion and the
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spacecraft's motion you can calculate
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what the diameter is. Uh so those are
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the values that we've been using ever
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since.
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>> Ah you know I think I know where all of
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this went wrong. They didn't allow for
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it stopping for gas.
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>> Um the the planet or the spacecraft?
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>> The spacecraft.
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>> Well, it's a gas giant. That's right.
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The planet's a gas giant. So yes, that's
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a good point. Yeah.
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>> Um anyway, I let that one pass. Um so,
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moving on. Wasn't very good. It was It
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was all right for the start of the show.
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They usually get better as we go along.
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Um it's uh the new measurements come of
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course from the spacecraft that is
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currently in orbit and working away very
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hard uh at at Jupiter in orbit around
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the planet and that is Juno. NASA's Juno
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mission which has been orbiting Jupiter
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since 2016 uh and doing pretty well.
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It's Yes. It's a decade since we've had
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Juno which gosh it time flies doesn't
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it? Sure does.
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>> Anyway, um so that's allowed much more
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accurate measurements because the space
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that Juno spacecraft its orbit is very
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well understood. It's fairly close to
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Jupiter. Um, but you might think, you
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know, well, why are we so keen to know
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the diameter of the planet to such a
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high degree of accuracy? Uh, and the the
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answer is um to do with our model
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because it is. Yeah, that's right. It's
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to do with our modeling of the planet's
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interior. Um because a small difference
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like that can make a big difference to
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what we imagine the in interior of the
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planet is like and remember of course
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everybody that Jupiter all we see is its
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cloud belts when we look at the planet
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we don't see any surface or any hint of
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a surface so the internal structure of
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Jupiter is something we have to deduce
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from other measurements and the the an
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accurate measurement of the diameter of
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the planet comes into that um so That's
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that's the reason it also uh you know
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one of the other things that's of
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interest in Jupiter is the the behavior
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of the atmosphere itself and the winds
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that blow in Jupiter's atmosphere and
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that also needs an accurate
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understanding of the diameter of the
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planet. Yeah, I actually I was just
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looking at that diagram uh that shows
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the different potential diameter
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situations based on the behavior of the
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planet. And yeah, without wind it loses
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another what 14 kilometers in.
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>> Yes, that's right. It does. Um if you if
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you uh if you imagine the winds aren't
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there, it does. It shrinks. So So the
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And by 14 kilometers exactly, that's the
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radius, not the not the diameter. Um so
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um we we have um you know a tiny figure
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that looks minuscule compared with the
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diameter of the planet itself but it is
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important in understanding the upper
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atmosphere. It's uh if there were no
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winds uh then what we will be seeing
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will be 14 kilometers smaller. I I'm
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surprised that it's taken us a decade to
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figure it out. And Juno is there been
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there nearly 10 years.
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>> Yeah. Um but maybe um you know the the
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accuracy that we're getting with this
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relies on many uh passages of Juno
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around Jupiter. um there will and
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because you're always you know that the
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chord that um of the Jupiter's disc that
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the planet that the spacecraft flies
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behind is different every time. And so
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we you probably need to um build up a
00:08:01.919 --> 00:08:04.390
statistically significant sample of
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entry and egress times when you're
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looking at you know the object
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disappearing by behind the planet.
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Occultation is what we call it. um uh an
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occultation is when one object hides
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another and that's how you're measuring
00:08:17.840 --> 00:08:19.350
uh these diameters. So yeah, it's
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probably it's probably taken 10 years
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partly to amass the data to give us this
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kind of level of accuracy.
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>> So okay, how accurate do you think it is
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now compared to those early um flybys
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with Voyager and Pioneer?
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>> That's a really good question actually.
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I haven't seen any error estimates on
00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:44.230
and um as you know in physics and
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certainly in astronomy too you always
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need a plus or minus an error estimate
00:08:48.959 --> 00:08:51.910
as to you know what the likelihood of
00:08:51.920 --> 00:08:55.990
your measurement um being that number is
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uh and I haven't seen it for these so I
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don't know the answer to that but my
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guess is that we're talking about in the
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region of a kilometer which is um pretty
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impressive for something that diameter
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uh and something that's that far away,
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half a billion kilometers away.
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>> Yeah.
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>> So, does this mean that our estimations
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of other planets in the solar system are
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probably a bit off as well? Uh when you
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consider that uh like Neptune, for
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example, I think we've only visited
00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:25.269
once. Would that be right?
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>> Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Uh so, yes, I
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I I think you're right. you know, you
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certainly the the um estimates of
00:09:34.800 --> 00:09:37.350
planets beyond Jupiter and Saturn in
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terms of their diameter and physical
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characteristics will have much bigger
00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:44.389
error limits on them just because we
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can't make the measurements as
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accurately as you can when you've got a
00:09:47.920 --> 00:09:50.630
spacecraft in orbit around one of them.
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>> Okay. So, um that's that's a work in
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progress. Whenever we go back, we might
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be able to
00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:58.870
>> fix that. But, uh I don't know. Have
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they got any missions planned for
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Neptune and Uranus or anything?
00:10:02.560 --> 00:10:04.389
>> There's there's always calls for them
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because they're such interesting worlds.
00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:06.630
>> Yeah.
00:10:06.640 --> 00:10:08.949
>> Um but I don't think I mean I think
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there are uh there are lots of proposals
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but I don't think there's anything
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funded. Might be wrong about that.
00:10:14.959 --> 00:10:16.470
>> Maybe our listeners can tell me if I'm
00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:18.630
wrong about that. They they may well cuz
00:10:18.640 --> 00:10:20.470
a lot of the actually we've got one
00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:23.190
fellow on Facebook who regularly uh
00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:24.949
researches some of the things we talk
00:10:24.959 --> 00:10:26.790
about and he publishes his findings on
00:10:26.800 --> 00:10:28.790
on the Facebook podcast group.
00:10:28.800 --> 00:10:29.829
>> Good on
00:10:29.839 --> 00:10:32.150
>> um yeah and I I think it's great. I've
00:10:32.160 --> 00:10:34.230
read a few of his um explanations and
00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:36.310
they're they're very good. Um so we're
00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:38.790
probably going to get sacked but uh it's
00:10:38.800 --> 00:10:40.870
um
00:10:40.880 --> 00:10:44.150
surprised them sacked us all.
00:10:44.160 --> 00:10:46.310
>> Well they they can afford us. that's why
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we're still here. Um,
00:10:47.680 --> 00:10:50.310
>> well, that's true. Yes, true. Very true.
00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:51.910
>> No, it's it's it's a really good
00:10:51.920 --> 00:10:53.590
discussion point. So, it sort of keeps
00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:55.590
the momentum going when when we discuss
00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:57.190
these things. So, I'm sure it'll work on
00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:00.630
our uh our tiny Jupiter story. Uh, which
00:11:00.640 --> 00:11:00.949
um
00:11:00.959 --> 00:11:01.509
>> Good.
00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:03.670
>> Yes. Which you can read about at the
00:11:03.680 --> 00:11:05.910
daily galaxy.com website or you can read
00:11:05.920 --> 00:11:09.430
the paper at Nature Astronomy. This is
00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:11.350
Space Nuts with Andrew Dunley and
00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:17.670
Professor Fred Watson.
00:11:17.680 --> 00:11:20.150
That's agre that's agreement. He's at
00:11:20.160 --> 00:11:25.430
for goodness sake. I'm really sorry.
00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:26.389
>> Okay.
00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:28.870
>> He gets very enthusiastic. Hang on. Hang
00:11:28.880 --> 00:11:31.750
on.
00:11:31.760 --> 00:11:33.430
>> Space nuts.
00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:35.430
>> I I couldn't help but turn that into a
00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:36.310
link.
00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:38.310
>> It's It's Yeah. Brilliant. I'll tell
00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:39.030
him.
00:11:39.040 --> 00:11:41.430
>> Oh gosh. It's just too good. It's just
00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:42.949
too good. But he was going off his nut
00:11:42.959 --> 00:11:44.230
that day, wasn't he?
00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:45.990
>> He was.
00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:48.069
He was. He does. Yes. He's very highly
00:11:48.079 --> 00:11:48.790
strung nut, though.
00:11:48.800 --> 00:11:50.310
>> Yes. He is. Well, that that's how he
00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:52.230
that's how he greeted us when we visited
00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:54.310
you late last year. He came tearing down
00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:56.069
the stairs.
00:11:56.079 --> 00:11:58.389
>> Yeah. Doing his rooster impersonation.
00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:00.870
>> No one could ever rob you, Fred. No one.
00:12:00.880 --> 00:12:03.750
>> That's the one good thing about it. Yes,
00:12:03.760 --> 00:12:04.790
that is the one good thing.
00:12:04.800 --> 00:12:06.230
>> They don't have to be big aggressive
00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:09.190
dogs. They they just have to be loud.
00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:11.030
>> Or or even, you know, a brush turkey
00:12:11.040 --> 00:12:12.389
going past the window in the middle of
00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:15.350
the night. That's enough as well.
00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:17.190
>> Yes, that's uh that's all it takes
00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:20.150
sometimes. Now, let's move on to our
00:12:20.160 --> 00:12:22.629
next story. And this this is a story
00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:25.350
that's got scientists uh really well,
00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:27.750
the headline says scientists stunned.
00:12:27.760 --> 00:12:30.949
We're talking about uh a comet that has
00:12:30.959 --> 00:12:34.069
done something really really unusual.
00:12:34.079 --> 00:12:37.670
Unusual. We're talking about comet 41P.
00:12:37.680 --> 00:12:39.990
What's it done this time?
00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:42.310
>> Cuz it keeps making the news this one.
00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:46.230
>> Yes, it does. Tuttle Jacobini Cresac is
00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:49.269
its full name. Uh comet better known as
00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:53.030
41P. Uh it's an object uh probably a
00:12:53.040 --> 00:12:56.310
kilometer across. A flying iceberg like
00:12:56.320 --> 00:12:59.350
basically like comets are. Um and it
00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:01.430
orbits the sun I think about every 5 and
00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:03.590
a half years. So it's in a what we will
00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:07.750
call a short period comet orbit. Um and
00:13:07.760 --> 00:13:10.150
it's uh when it passes near the sun, of
00:13:10.160 --> 00:13:12.310
course it does what comets do. It uh out
00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:17.030
gases uh produces um u basically plumes
00:13:17.040 --> 00:13:20.629
of of gas leaving its surface. Um it's
00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:23.269
usually water ice being converted
00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:26.470
directly to water vapor by the process
00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:30.230
known as sublimation. Um uh but what has
00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:36.629
been recorded uh in uh uh in fact in
00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:38.150
quite a while ago actually I think this
00:13:38.160 --> 00:13:40.550
is eight years ago by a NASA spacecraft
00:13:40.560 --> 00:13:42.790
observations made by NASA Swift
00:13:42.800 --> 00:13:47.910
spacecraft um measuring its rotation and
00:13:47.920 --> 00:13:51.670
basically over 60 days what's that sort
00:13:51.680 --> 00:13:54.470
of nine weeks or something like that
00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:58.710
>> um it slowed down from rotating once
00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:03.110
every 20 hours to once every 53 hours.
00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:05.269
Uh so that is a you know it's almost a
00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:09.590
three factor of three uh in this the um
00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:12.069
level of spin that this comet has got.
00:14:12.079 --> 00:14:12.470
>> Yeah.
00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:16.949
>> Uh and it's there's suggestion
00:14:16.959 --> 00:14:20.470
that maybe it's now rotating in the
00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:24.150
other direction uh from what it was
00:14:24.160 --> 00:14:26.150
before that there's been some sort of
00:14:26.160 --> 00:14:28.470
reverse. It hasn't slowed down to about
00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:31.910
1/3. It's It's reversed. So, it's it's
00:14:31.920 --> 00:14:34.629
slowed down five times
00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:36.389
>> cuz it's going back the other way.
00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:39.189
>> It could be I mean, part of it could be
00:14:39.199 --> 00:14:41.750
due to how you measure the rotation
00:14:41.760 --> 00:14:43.590
because it could be tumbling as well.
00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:45.030
So, you might be seeing it going the
00:14:45.040 --> 00:14:46.310
other way around. But, it does seem to
00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:48.230
be I think you're right. It's I think
00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:49.670
what you've just said is correct that
00:14:49.680 --> 00:14:51.990
it's a it's a reversal, a genuine
00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:55.750
reversal of its rotation direction. Um,
00:14:55.760 --> 00:14:58.069
so yes, it's it's got much more than a
00:14:58.079 --> 00:14:59.430
factor of three. That's right.
00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:01.590
>> That kills my theory because my first
00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:03.350
thought was, well, this must just be an
00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:05.990
observational error. But an
00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:07.750
observational error wouldn't get it the
00:15:07.760 --> 00:15:10.069
wrong way round, unless of course you
00:15:10.079 --> 00:15:11.269
you're talking about the color of the
00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:15.030
universe, but we won't go there. But um,
00:15:15.040 --> 00:15:18.389
>> wasn't my fault.
00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:21.670
>> Um, so yeah. Uh, what else could be
00:15:21.680 --> 00:15:24.550
causing this change of behavior? it. I
00:15:24.560 --> 00:15:26.790
think if if it was anything other than a
00:15:26.800 --> 00:15:29.110
comet, you know, if it was an asteroid
00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:33.430
doing this or a planetisimal or or a a
00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:35.430
distant one of the distant Kyper belt
00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:37.269
objects or something like that, it was
00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:40.069
if it was any of those, we would be
00:15:40.079 --> 00:15:42.550
utterly gobsmacked. Uh because there's
00:15:42.560 --> 00:15:44.870
no physical mechanism to do that other
00:15:44.880 --> 00:15:47.509
than an interaction with another body.
00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:49.350
You know, if you had two bodies
00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:51.990
gravitating close together, it could
00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:54.310
have an effect on the rotation.
00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:56.230
>> But, uh, in fact, more especially a
00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:58.550
collision, that would do it as well. Um,
00:15:58.560 --> 00:16:00.389
but with a comet, you've got this
00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:02.710
process that it outgasses. what I was
00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:05.430
saying earlier as it gets near the sun
00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:09.030
um the there basically the ices start to
00:16:09.040 --> 00:16:12.470
vaporize and you get a thrust from the
00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:16.230
from the outgassing material uh which is
00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:17.829
what we call a non-gravitational
00:16:17.839 --> 00:16:21.030
perturbation. It's when uh when you know
00:16:21.040 --> 00:16:23.030
the the outgassing material is acting
00:16:23.040 --> 00:16:25.990
like a rocket engine and it's changing
00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:29.269
the dynamics of the object as it's
00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:31.910
orbiting the sun. Um, and you can
00:16:31.920 --> 00:16:35.590
imagine that if there was um a formation
00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:38.710
of ice on the on the surface of the
00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:41.350
comet that essentially tilted the blast
00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:46.069
of the of the um escaping material uh as
00:16:46.079 --> 00:16:49.910
it as it sublimated as the as the um the
00:16:49.920 --> 00:16:52.470
material the water mostly went straight
00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:55.030
from a solid to a gas. Um it's like
00:16:55.040 --> 00:16:57.670
having a you know a sort of verier
00:16:57.680 --> 00:16:59.829
thruster. It's like where you've got a a
00:16:59.839 --> 00:17:01.910
thrust that is changing the rotation of
00:17:01.920 --> 00:17:04.949
a spacecraft because it's not going um
00:17:04.959 --> 00:17:07.590
the line of of the of the thrust is not
00:17:07.600 --> 00:17:09.510
going through the center of gravity of
00:17:09.520 --> 00:17:11.270
the comet. If it's off the center of
00:17:11.280 --> 00:17:12.789
gravity, then it's going to impart a
00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:14.390
rotation on it. And if it's strong
00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:16.309
enough, then it might be enough to slow
00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:18.549
it down and perhaps even reverse its uh
00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:21.189
reverse its rotation. So that's what the
00:17:21.199 --> 00:17:22.710
thinking is, but it's never been seen
00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:23.429
before.
00:17:23.439 --> 00:17:26.949
>> No. Well, like retro rockets.
00:17:26.959 --> 00:17:29.270
>> Yeah, that's right. is a retro rocket,
00:17:29.280 --> 00:17:32.070
but one that that's not slowing it down
00:17:32.080 --> 00:17:34.230
in its orbit. It's changing its rotation
00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:35.830
because of the angle that the the
00:17:35.840 --> 00:17:37.990
rocket, if you want to call it that, the
00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:40.470
rocket exhaust is coming out.
00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:43.510
>> Yeah. At the moment, it's 774 million
00:17:43.520 --> 00:17:47.510
kilometers from Earth, 5.18 astronomical
00:17:47.520 --> 00:17:51.110
units. And uh as you mentioned, this
00:17:51.120 --> 00:17:54.710
unusual behavior was checked back in
00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:59.190
2017 and they've only just sort of put a
00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:01.669
paper together to try and explain it. Um
00:18:01.679 --> 00:18:04.390
it's got a 5.4 year orbit, so it comes
00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:05.830
back quite often.
00:18:05.840 --> 00:18:08.549
>> Yeah, that's right. It's um it it's it's
00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:11.190
capt basically captured by Jupiter.
00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:13.590
>> So its orbit is dictated. It would have
00:18:13.600 --> 00:18:15.590
been in its early history, it would have
00:18:15.600 --> 00:18:17.990
been a comet coming into the inner solar
00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:20.310
system from the or cloud, this spherical
00:18:20.320 --> 00:18:22.950
sort of reservoir of comets. Um, but
00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:25.190
would have had its orbit modified maybe
00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:26.870
several times by the influence of
00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:29.430
Jupiter, which is why it's now in this
00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:33.430
really short um short period orbit, 5.4
00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:34.310
years. Yeah.
00:18:34.320 --> 00:18:37.990
>> Um there has been a suggestion that if
00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:39.510
you've got these sort of oblique
00:18:39.520 --> 00:18:41.190
outgassing that we've just been talking
00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:43.590
about that would change the rotation of
00:18:43.600 --> 00:18:47.029
the object that that might also signal
00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:48.789
that there might be weaknesses in the
00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:51.350
comet structure and it may even be a
00:18:51.360 --> 00:18:53.430
precursor to it breaking up which is
00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:55.909
something that I think will be observed
00:18:55.919 --> 00:18:58.230
with great interest as to how it uh how
00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:01.190
it progresses uh since since this change
00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:01.830
of spin.
00:19:01.840 --> 00:19:03.750
>> Yeah, maybe. And we we'll find we could
00:19:03.760 --> 00:19:06.710
find out as late as or as soon as late
00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:08.230
2028
00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:11.750
I think is its next appearance near the
00:19:11.760 --> 00:19:14.310
sun or near us or whatever you like. So
00:19:14.320 --> 00:19:15.110
um
00:19:15.120 --> 00:19:19.110
>> yeah we'll keep an eye on 41p I guess
00:19:19.120 --> 00:19:21.830
>> 41p that's right. Um there was a
00:19:21.840 --> 00:19:26.310
proposal long long ago uh to send a
00:19:26.320 --> 00:19:28.549
spacecraft to it because it's a short
00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:30.470
period comet. So it's always in the
00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:32.789
inner solar system and that was what was
00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:35.430
then called Ezro European Space Research
00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:38.390
Organization the the precursor of the
00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:40.950
European Space Agency. Uh this is in the
00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:43.190
1960s. They looked at sending a probe to
00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:45.430
that comet but they changed their mind
00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:47.350
so it never went.
00:19:47.360 --> 00:19:51.190
>> A yes. I'm sure that happens a lot in in
00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:54.070
astronomy. I mean, it's not an easy not
00:19:54.080 --> 00:19:58.070
an easy thing to um to do to to, you
00:19:58.080 --> 00:20:00.390
know, set up a mission and actually
00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:01.909
execute it. You got to come up with the
00:20:01.919 --> 00:20:05.190
dollars and Yeah. You know, it's only
00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:07.029
only so many 10-centent pieces can fit
00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:10.310
on a jar on the mantle piece. So,
00:20:10.320 --> 00:20:12.950
>> yeah. Yeah, that's right.
00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:15.830
>> Yeah. All right. Um, you can read all
00:20:15.840 --> 00:20:19.350
about uh comet 41P
00:20:19.360 --> 00:20:22.310
uh at um it's at the daily galaxy.com
00:20:22.320 --> 00:20:23.909
website, but you can also read the
00:20:23.919 --> 00:20:26.070
paper. I think it's just uh been
00:20:26.080 --> 00:20:29.110
pre-published or pre there's a pre-print
00:20:29.120 --> 00:20:32.789
available uh on the archive. Uh this is
00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:34.710
Space Nuts. Andrew Dunley here with
00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:38.630
Professor Fred. What's that?
00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:42.549
>> I'm going to step off the limb now.
00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:47.830
That's one small step for man,
00:20:47.840 --> 00:20:50.789
one leap for mankind.
00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:52.549
>> Space nuts.
00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:54.789
>> Now, Fred, to our final story on this
00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:57.350
episode, we've talked many times about
00:20:57.360 --> 00:20:59.830
gravitational lensing and some of the
00:20:59.840 --> 00:21:01.590
strange things that it does. You can
00:21:01.600 --> 00:21:03.590
watch something happen two, three, four
00:21:03.600 --> 00:21:06.070
times over the course of many years
00:21:06.080 --> 00:21:07.830
because of gravitational lensing because
00:21:07.840 --> 00:21:11.350
the light is redirected and takes longer
00:21:11.360 --> 00:21:12.789
to get here. And so you can see
00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:14.789
something and go, "Oh, what was that?
00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:16.310
Hang on. I'll I'll know again in a
00:21:16.320 --> 00:21:18.470
couple of years." Because
00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:21.430
yeah, not quite. But um what we're
00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:22.470
talking about in
00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:23.110
>> Yeah.
00:21:23.120 --> 00:21:24.630
>> What we're talking about in this
00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:27.590
particular case though is actually going
00:21:27.600 --> 00:21:31.750
out to a solar gravitational lens focal
00:21:31.760 --> 00:21:33.830
point. Is that the crux of the story?
00:21:33.840 --> 00:21:36.390
>> It it is. That's right. It's a this is a
00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:38.630
really interesting kind of essay really
00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:42.070
on the universe today website by Andy
00:21:42.080 --> 00:21:45.750
Thomas Wick uh about um about the solar
00:21:45.760 --> 00:21:47.510
gravitational lens and about how you'd
00:21:47.520 --> 00:21:49.750
get there. Um but the solar
00:21:49.760 --> 00:21:51.590
gravitational lens itself is really
00:21:51.600 --> 00:21:54.310
interesting. So the idea is exactly as
00:21:54.320 --> 00:21:57.750
you've said if you've got a an object of
00:21:57.760 --> 00:21:59.909
any mass and it happens with planets as
00:21:59.919 --> 00:22:03.590
well as stars uh it's going to bend the
00:22:03.600 --> 00:22:05.350
light passing around it because it's
00:22:05.360 --> 00:22:08.390
distorting space uh under the uh under
00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:12.390
the protocols introduced by um not in
00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:14.390
sorry as we understand it by the
00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:16.870
protocols introduced by Einstein's
00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:18.870
general theory of relativity that's what
00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:20.789
lets us calc do all the calculations
00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:22.390
about this sort of So, you've got an
00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:24.470
object in space. It's bending the light
00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:26.149
around it, which means it acts kind of
00:22:26.159 --> 00:22:28.630
like a lens. It's a very odd sort of
00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:32.230
lens, though. Um, I've seen a glass kind
00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:34.470
of interpretation of a gravitational
00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:38.230
lens. Um, there's a specialist who uh
00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:40.230
who works on this stuff in Melbourne who
00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:42.390
showed me her glass version of a
00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:45.750
gravitational lens. And it it resembles,
00:22:45.760 --> 00:22:47.669
you know, the the bottom of a wine glass
00:22:47.679 --> 00:22:49.510
where the the stalk comes up out of the
00:22:49.520 --> 00:22:51.430
middle of that. I I know them very well,
00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:52.230
Fred.
00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:54.710
>> Yeah. Yeah. Um well, if you break the
00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:57.669
wine glass off and you're left with that
00:22:57.679 --> 00:22:59.270
sort of flared part at the bottom,
00:22:59.280 --> 00:23:01.270
that's more or less the same as a
00:23:01.280 --> 00:23:02.870
gravitational lens in the way it would
00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:04.710
act on the light going around it.
00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:06.710
>> So, it's not it's not like a magnifying
00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:08.310
glass, which is what you'd like it to
00:23:08.320 --> 00:23:11.750
be. It's this very peculiar cuspshaped
00:23:11.760 --> 00:23:16.149
lens. And so it gives you um a focus
00:23:16.159 --> 00:23:19.510
that is blurred, but it's because you
00:23:19.520 --> 00:23:21.750
know the properties of the of the object
00:23:21.760 --> 00:23:23.350
that's doing the lensing. And in this
00:23:23.360 --> 00:23:25.830
case, we're talking about the sun. Uh
00:23:25.840 --> 00:23:27.350
because you know the properties of the
00:23:27.360 --> 00:23:29.830
sun, you can calculate what that
00:23:29.840 --> 00:23:32.149
blurring does to the image and you can
00:23:32.159 --> 00:23:34.710
essentially compensate it. So you could
00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:36.310
recreate
00:23:36.320 --> 00:23:38.789
uh the light coming from a very distant
00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:42.390
object um and recreate the image that
00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:44.630
the sun is forming as though it was a
00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:46.950
proper lens rather than a peculiar
00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:49.669
cusped lens. And that's what's sort of
00:23:49.679 --> 00:23:51.350
being proposed. Could we send a
00:23:51.360 --> 00:23:55.350
spacecraft to uh the solar gravitational
00:23:55.360 --> 00:24:00.390
lens focus where you could look directly
00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:03.830
back at a planet on the other side of
00:24:03.840 --> 00:24:07.990
the sun around a distant star? So you're
00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:10.070
looking into another solar system a long
00:24:10.080 --> 00:24:12.149
way away, but you're using the sun's
00:24:12.159 --> 00:24:15.909
gravity to bend that light by relativity
00:24:15.919 --> 00:24:18.950
and focus it to a point. Uh, and if you
00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:21.190
put a spacecraft there with a camera and
00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:23.830
a fancy computer, you might be able to
00:24:23.840 --> 00:24:26.950
reveal continents on an exoplanet, for
00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:28.149
example.
00:24:28.159 --> 00:24:30.870
>> Um, or even cities. That's the sort of
00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:33.110
thing that people are thinking of. So,
00:24:33.120 --> 00:24:35.029
here's the snag, though. That's a great
00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:36.630
idea, but snag.
00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:39.990
>> I think I just read that exact paragraph
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:41.909
as you were about to say it, so I might
00:24:41.919 --> 00:24:43.510
blow the whistle.
00:24:43.520 --> 00:24:45.269
>> Yeah. Well, you can.
00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:47.669
>> No, no, you do it. It it's the distance,
00:24:47.679 --> 00:24:50.950
isn't it? It's it's Yeah. Um about
00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:53.350
somewhere between 650 and 900
00:24:53.360 --> 00:24:55.510
astronomical units is what's quoted in
00:24:55.520 --> 00:24:57.190
this in this article. And an
00:24:57.200 --> 00:24:59.669
astronomical unit is 150 million
00:24:59.679 --> 00:25:02.390
kilometers. So it is a number with a lot
00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:07.190
of zeros after it in kilometers. Um and
00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:09.590
you know it's getting your spacecraft
00:25:09.600 --> 00:25:11.909
there that is the issue. Uh we're
00:25:11.919 --> 00:25:13.990
talking about well the estimate here is
00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:15.909
four times further than Voyager 1 has
00:25:15.919 --> 00:25:19.590
traveled and that as we know is 23 light
00:25:19.600 --> 00:25:23.110
hours away. Um they reckon that it would
00:25:23.120 --> 00:25:28.070
be um more than another 130 years to uh
00:25:28.080 --> 00:25:31.669
for Voyager 1 to get to the the sun's
00:25:31.679 --> 00:25:34.230
gravitational lens point. By my
00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:36.310
calculation, and and this is probably
00:25:36.320 --> 00:25:39.430
way wrong, 97,500
00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:41.350
million kilometers.
00:25:41.360 --> 00:25:43.430
>> Sounds about right. Sounds like a lot.
00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:43.990
>> Yep.
00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:45.750
>> I didn't think my calculator could fit
00:25:45.760 --> 00:25:48.390
that many numbers on it.
00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:50.230
>> Remember the old the old calculators
00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:51.669
when they first came out? If you gave it
00:25:51.679 --> 00:25:53.110
too big a problem, it would just give
00:25:53.120 --> 00:25:54.950
you a little E.
00:25:54.960 --> 00:25:55.269
>> Yeah.
00:25:55.279 --> 00:25:57.590
>> E for error. No, I can't do that. Sorry.
00:25:57.600 --> 00:25:59.669
>> Yep. Yeah. This computer says no,
00:25:59.679 --> 00:26:00.630
really, isn't it?
00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:02.870
>> That's right. Yeah, that's a long way
00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:06.390
away and very difficult to achieve, but
00:26:06.400 --> 00:26:08.630
I think one day maybe we could do that.
00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:10.549
>> Yes. So that that's really the thrust of
00:26:10.559 --> 00:26:12.549
this article. How about you know what's
00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:16.549
the way to do it? Can you can you get to
00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:19.830
that point and they um the author's done
00:26:19.840 --> 00:26:21.510
some nice calculations which I haven't
00:26:21.520 --> 00:26:23.590
checked so I hope these are correct. I
00:26:23.600 --> 00:26:27.269
should check them. Anyway, um if you
00:26:27.279 --> 00:26:29.029
were trying to get to that solar
00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:32.149
gravitational lens point, focal point in
00:26:32.159 --> 00:26:34.870
20 years, then you need your spacecraft
00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:38.789
to travel at about 150 kilometers/s.
00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:43.909
Um uh it's which is very hard uh when
00:26:43.919 --> 00:26:45.750
you're pointing away from the sun. The
00:26:45.760 --> 00:26:47.990
Parker Solar Probe, they point out, and
00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:49.269
we kind of know this because we've
00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:51.110
talked about it, has actually got to
00:26:51.120 --> 00:26:53.590
nearly 200 kilometers/s,
00:26:53.600 --> 00:26:55.350
but that's only when it's at what we
00:26:55.360 --> 00:26:57.669
call perihelion. It's at its closest
00:26:57.679 --> 00:26:59.669
point to the sun where it's going
00:26:59.679 --> 00:27:02.310
fastest. Um, and what we're talking
00:27:02.320 --> 00:27:03.590
about here is something going in the
00:27:03.600 --> 00:27:05.350
opposite direction, going away from the
00:27:05.360 --> 00:27:07.510
sun. For it to travel at that sort of
00:27:07.520 --> 00:27:09.830
speed, you need an extraordinary amount
00:27:09.840 --> 00:27:12.710
of thrust. Um, I don't think you're
00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:14.470
talking about chemical rockets to get up
00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:16.549
to 150 kilometers/s.
00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:17.350
>> Light sales.
00:27:17.360 --> 00:27:20.950
>> So, light sails. Yeah, that's uh one of
00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:22.470
the things that you and I have spoken
00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:24.149
about before. If you can
00:27:24.159 --> 00:27:28.630
>> beam out laser light to a solar sail, a
00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:31.350
gigantic um piece of, you know,
00:27:31.360 --> 00:27:33.190
something very thin like myar that's
00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:35.350
reflective. Uh then the light itself
00:27:35.360 --> 00:27:37.269
pushes it along and you just keep going
00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:39.830
so that it just keeps up building up
00:27:39.840 --> 00:27:40.789
speed.
00:27:40.799 --> 00:27:42.870
>> Um there are um
00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:44.390
>> the trouble with that is when you get
00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:46.149
there, how do you stop it?
00:27:46.159 --> 00:27:47.750
>> Yeah, you don't. You just keep going.
00:27:47.760 --> 00:27:48.710
That's right.
00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:50.710
>> Unless Unless it had something on board
00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:54.630
to like you turn off the light and
00:27:54.640 --> 00:27:57.029
>> reverse or something. I don't know.
00:27:57.039 --> 00:27:58.630
>> Yeah. You're never going to slow it down
00:27:58.640 --> 00:28:01.190
because even if you turn off the light,
00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:03.269
it stops it accelerating, but it's still
00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:05.590
going at that speed. That's right.
00:28:05.600 --> 00:28:11.190
>> Um there's a a possibility that um you
00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:14.870
know, could you could you do the solar
00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:19.909
sail trick um and and
00:28:19.919 --> 00:28:23.029
basically um make it successful? The
00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:25.990
problem with solar sales is you you can
00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:28.470
only carry objects that are very light
00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:30.549
in weight or have low mass. And you
00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:33.029
might remember we've looked at this uh
00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:35.590
with um what was it the Breakthrough
00:28:35.600 --> 00:28:38.149
Starshot program which I think has now
00:28:38.159 --> 00:28:40.389
ceased. Breakthrough Starshot looked at
00:28:40.399 --> 00:28:42.549
the feasibility of using a solar sail to
00:28:42.559 --> 00:28:45.430
send a a spacecraft to Proxima Centuri
00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:48.710
which is only four light years away. Um,
00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:51.110
and uh, it could be done, but your
00:28:51.120 --> 00:28:54.470
spacecraft would basically consist of
00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:57.750
uh, one um, what's it called? Printed
00:28:57.760 --> 00:29:00.310
circuit board and a detector. Uh,
00:29:00.320 --> 00:29:01.590
there's not really room for anything
00:29:01.600 --> 00:29:03.830
else. It will be so it'd have to be so
00:29:03.840 --> 00:29:05.669
light in weight. It would be measured in
00:29:05.679 --> 00:29:09.110
grams rather than kilograms or tons. Uh,
00:29:09.120 --> 00:29:11.430
so that would be the problem with your,
00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:13.430
you know, with sending a a spacecraft to
00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:16.230
the uh, solar gravitational lens using a
00:29:16.240 --> 00:29:18.070
solar sail. So, you're talking then
00:29:18.080 --> 00:29:20.870
about nuclear sources and uh things of
00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:24.470
that sort that this very nice article uh
00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:27.269
goes into some of the uh the nicities of
00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:29.830
nuclear thermal propulsion and things of
00:29:29.840 --> 00:29:33.190
that sort. Even so, it's still a very
00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:37.750
tough ask to send a spacecraft to that
00:29:37.760 --> 00:29:40.389
interesting part of the sun's
00:29:40.399 --> 00:29:43.669
environment where you've got the solar
00:29:43.679 --> 00:29:47.430
the solar um uh gravity forming a focus.
00:29:47.440 --> 00:29:50.710
Uh even to get there, it's really to get
00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:53.190
there in, you know, 20 years or so, uh
00:29:53.200 --> 00:29:54.470
you're talking about really new
00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:55.990
technologies that we simply don't have
00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:57.029
at the moment.
00:29:57.039 --> 00:29:59.110
>> Yeah. Well, one day it might be a long
00:29:59.120 --> 00:30:02.070
way off, but uh the time may come and uh
00:30:02.080 --> 00:30:03.590
but then again, we might have figured
00:30:03.600 --> 00:30:07.830
everything out by then. So, yeah.
00:30:07.840 --> 00:30:09.830
Yeah. I mean, you you know, the other
00:30:09.840 --> 00:30:12.070
thing is you'd want to choose So, you've
00:30:12.080 --> 00:30:13.830
got to choose the direction that you go
00:30:13.840 --> 00:30:14.310
in.
00:30:14.320 --> 00:30:14.630
>> Yeah.
00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:16.470
>> Uh to be in the opposite direction to
00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:18.310
the planet that you want to observe.
00:30:18.320 --> 00:30:21.430
>> Y the exoplanet. And if you get that
00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:23.350
wrong, if you choose a a planet that's
00:30:23.360 --> 00:30:25.029
completely boring and has no surface
00:30:25.039 --> 00:30:27.190
features whatsoever,
00:30:27.200 --> 00:30:30.070
uh then you uh you don't really
00:30:30.080 --> 00:30:31.590
contribute much to our knowledge,
00:30:31.600 --> 00:30:32.789
particularly our knowledge of whether
00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:34.310
we're alone or not, whether there's life
00:30:34.320 --> 00:30:35.110
anywhere else.
00:30:35.120 --> 00:30:36.789
>> It's sort of like leaving the lens cap
00:30:36.799 --> 00:30:39.830
on the camera when you land on a Venus.
00:30:39.840 --> 00:30:40.870
>> Yes, that's right.
00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:42.230
>> Actually, they didn't leave it on. It
00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:43.269
melted on. I think
00:30:43.279 --> 00:30:46.230
>> it it Yeah. Well, one of them fell off
00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:48.149
as well, didn't it? fall offs on top of
00:30:48.159 --> 00:30:50.310
the on top of the scale that was going
00:30:50.320 --> 00:30:52.870
to give the uh the you know there's a
00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:55.669
ruler that they jettisoned to give the
00:30:55.679 --> 00:30:57.590
camera something to look at so you could
00:30:57.600 --> 00:30:59.110
measure the size of things and the lens
00:30:59.120 --> 00:31:00.630
cap landed right on top of it. I think
00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:02.470
that's what happened. We've had quite a
00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:05.909
few venous disasters over the years, but
00:31:05.919 --> 00:31:07.669
yeah, you're right. This would be very
00:31:07.679 --> 00:31:10.070
very difficult to swallow if you're
00:31:10.080 --> 00:31:12.630
bugging it up cuz you couldn't go and
00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:13.750
fix it. Not like
00:31:13.760 --> 00:31:15.110
>> Yeah. Well, that's right. You can't move
00:31:15.120 --> 00:31:17.510
it in any direction. You You're stuck on
00:31:17.520 --> 00:31:18.789
one planet really.
00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:21.269
>> Indeed. But it's it's food for thought
00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:23.830
though. Um but one day we'll figure out
00:31:23.840 --> 00:31:26.070
a way. If you'd like to read about that
00:31:26.080 --> 00:31:29.590
story, it is at univertoday.com as Fred
00:31:29.600 --> 00:31:31.430
said. And we're done. Fred, thank you
00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:32.549
very much.
00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:35.029
>> Oh, uh, yeah, that was that was great to
00:31:35.039 --> 00:31:36.310
talk about all those things. I hope
00:31:36.320 --> 00:31:37.430
we'll do it again sometime.
00:31:37.440 --> 00:31:39.750
>> Fun topics. I'm sure we will. Uh, if you
00:31:39.760 --> 00:31:42.389
would like to, um, visit us in the
00:31:42.399 --> 00:31:44.710
meantime. Don't forget to visit our
00:31:44.720 --> 00:31:46.789
website, spacenutspodcast.com or
00:31:46.799 --> 00:31:49.269
spacenuts.io IO or visit our social
00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:51.430
media platforms, the official Space Nuts
00:31:51.440 --> 00:31:54.389
Facebook page or Instagram page or
00:31:54.399 --> 00:31:56.870
YouTube channel or whatever you like. Or
00:31:56.880 --> 00:31:59.830
if you want to talk to likeminded Space
00:31:59.840 --> 00:32:01.990
Nutters, you can do that on the Space
00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:04.389
Nuts podcast group on Facebook, which is
00:32:04.399 --> 00:32:06.070
always a lot of fun. Thanks, Red. We'll
00:32:06.080 --> 00:32:07.909
see you soon.
00:32:07.919 --> 00:32:09.590
>> Yes, I hope so.
00:32:09.600 --> 00:32:11.269
>> Well, he said that. And uh thanks to
00:32:11.279 --> 00:32:13.509
Hugh in the studio um who couldn't be
00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:15.990
with us today. He was invited by a
00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:18.470
friend to see a comet and he couldn't
00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:20.070
wait so he ran over there. It turned out
00:32:20.080 --> 00:32:21.909
to be a goldfish.
00:32:21.919 --> 00:32:24.789
Some people will get that. And from me,
00:32:24.799 --> 00:32:27.190
Andrew Dunley, thanks for your company.
00:32:27.200 --> 00:32:28.710
See you on the next episode of Space
00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:29.909
Nuts. Bye-bye.
00:32:29.919 --> 00:32:30.950
>> Space Nuts.
00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:33.029
>> You've been listening to the Space Nuts
00:32:33.039 --> 00:32:35.350
podcast.
00:32:35.360 --> 00:32:38.230
>> Available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
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iHeart Radio, or your favorite podcast
00:32:40.880 --> 00:32:43.269
player. You can also stream on demand at
00:32:43.279 --> 00:32:46.149
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00:32:46.159 --> 00:32:50.679
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