Nov. 21, 2024

#471: HERA's Martian Maneuvers, Black Hole Light Echoes & Ancient Healing Rays

#471: HERA's Martian Maneuvers, Black Hole Light Echoes & Ancient Healing Rays

Space Nuts Episode 471: HERA's Journey and the Light of Healing
Join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson in this enlightening episode of Space Nuts, where they explore the latest developments in Space exploration and the fascinating role of light...

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Space Nuts Episode 471: HERA's Journey and the Light of Healing
Join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson in this enlightening episode of Space Nuts, where they explore the latest developments in Space exploration and the fascinating role of light in both astronomy and human healing.
Episode Highlights:
- HERA Mission Milestones: Discover the latest updates on the HERA mission, including critical trajectory corrections and its upcoming Mars gravity assist. Learn about its objectives, including a close encounter with Mars' moon Deimos, and its ultimate goal of orbiting the asteroid Didymos.
- Black Hole Light Echoes: Delve into the intriguing concept of black hole light echoes and how light can be bent by gravity to create multiple observations of the same event. Understand the potential of using Very Long Baseline Interferometry to study these phenomena and what it could reveal about accretion discs.
- Healing with Light: Explore the historical and modern uses of light in medicine, from ancient sun worship to contemporary phototherapy treatments. Hear Andrew's personal experience with radiation therapy and the importance of regular health checks.
For more Space Nuts, including our continually updating newsfeed and to listen to all our episodes, visit our website. Follow us on social media at SpaceNutsPod on facebook, X, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favourite platform.
For more Space and Astronomy News Podcasts, visit our HQ at www.bitesz.com.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts/support.
Stay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.
00:00 - Andrew Dunkley: Coming up on Space Nuts is the HERA mission
02:11 - I'm interested in two different stories about light about the hero mission
02:59 - ESA's HERA mission will make a close approach to Mars next year
11:07 - Andrew Dunkley and Fred Watson discuss light echoes in Space Nuts
13:17 - Measuring Black Hole Light Echoes with Very Long Baseline Interferometry
21:42 - Measuring black hole light echoes with very long baseline interferometry
22:39 - Even since ancient times, we've used light for medical purposes
27:55 - Fred has been receiving radiation therapy for prostate cancer for five weeks now
34:16 - Professor Fred Watson: Believe me, I'll be around for next episode
✍️ Episode References
European Space Agency
https://www.esa.int
Phys.org
https://www.phys.org
Universe Today
https://www.universetoday.com
Astrophysical Journal Letters
https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/
8205
5--- The Conversation
https://theconversation.com
Cancer Council New South Wales
https://www.cancercouncil.com.au

 

 

WEBVTT

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Hi there, thanks for joining us. This is Space Nuts.

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My name is Andrew Dunkley. Lovely to have your company again.

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Coming up in this episode, we're going to look at

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the Hero mission, which was launched not so long ago,

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but now they've reached some critical points in the mission,

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even though it won't reach its destination for quite some time,

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they've done some critical burns to get the thing moving

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in a more expedient fashion. Let's say, we're also going

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to look at black holes, well not specifically, but black

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hole echoes and how they might be able to be

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found using light. And speaking of light, this is a

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really interesting story about the human history of using light

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to treat people's ailments. That's all coming up on this

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episode of Space.

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Nuts fifteen in Channel ten nine.

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Ignition Space Nuts NI or three more Radio one spaces

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and I reported Neils.

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Good and here again see what I did there is

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Professor Fred. What's a hello?

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Fred? Oh? You should be on radio?

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You know there such good stuff that you do know.

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I think forty years on radio was enough. Although you

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know what, I'd go back tomorrow if anyone asked, Suh,

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I tell Judy, I teld Judy, Well, I would get there.

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It's just good fun. I just I loved being on

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the air and telling silly stories and got a big

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kick out of breaking news if something big happened and

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no one else knew about it.

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Yeah.

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I know that sounds pretty more because sometimes it wasn't

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good news. But break breaking a story is as a

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journalist is always a big Yeah, it makes you feel good.

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Sometimes I better qualify that, do's not always?

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I know what you mean.

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Yes, yes, we have plenty. This is a really fascinating episode, Fred,

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because we're talking about, firstly the hero mission, but I'm

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really interested in the two different stories about light and

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because we know we couldn't do without light for many,

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many reasons. So we'll get into that. But the Here emission,

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we didn't really talk about it when it first started

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because I mean, it started as a rocket launch and

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what can you say, it launched. Okay, we got that done,

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But now Here has reached a critical point and they've

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done a fairly significant burn to get it into an

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accelerated approach to Mars where it will do a gravity

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assist and then that'll pick it up even more. But

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I think they've got to do another burn before that

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because they've got to adjust its course to get on target.

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We might start though, by talking about what the Hero

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mission is all about. It's got two sort of objectives.

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One's a minor objective taking advantage of the of the

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Mars visit.

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Indeed, that's right, so it's in fact it will be

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really interesting. And that that flyby that we're about to

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talk about is March next year. It's not very far

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down the track, so we've got a close approach to Mars.

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And it's a gravitationally assist that's why it's basically happening.

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But it comes, it will come within three hundred kilometers

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of the surface of Demos, which is Mars's smaller moon.

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If I remember right, this is about fourteen kilometers across.

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It's a tiny world. And this will give us some

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really good close up images of the surface of Demos,

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which has been explored already by the you know, some

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of the orbiters that are around Mars. But that is

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here is going to give us another look and just

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to tight the details. You've sort of mentioned this already,

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but the fly But the reason why we're talking about

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this and why it's sort of in the news is

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because of this trajectory correction, so it's an eesumission. I

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didn't mention that at the beginning. European Space Agency launched

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the seventh of October, so very recently, but towards the

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end of October, on the twenty third, as you said,

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it underwent course correction, and the details are that it

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fired all three of its orbital control thrusters for one

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hundred minutes. That's how long we're earn It changed the

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velocity by one hundred and forty six meters per second,

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and then there was another one carried out just a

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few days, few days ago, I'm not sure. Yes, from

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where we are now, it's four days ago. It was

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on the sixth of November. That lasted thirteen minutes and

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put in an additional twenty meters per second. And now

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we've got it absolutely on track for the gravity assist

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at Mars in March twenty twenty five. So something to

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look forward to that we will almost certainly talk about

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next year.

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Yes, indeed, I'm just trying to look up what its

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actual speed is total, but I'm having trouble finding it

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a bit. It's going hellful leather.

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Let's just yes, yes, so there is a there's a

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further burn coming up a little bit later this month,

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Andrew on twenty first of November, which the mission scientists

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say will be a few It will be another correction

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of just a few tens of centimeters per second, so.

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It's less than a Yeah, it's.

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Just incredible what these guys can do. I read.

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I think that the telemetry that they're gathering so that

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they can make the adjustments includes three locations on the

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surface of the Earth, and one of those is in Australia.

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Is that right? Yes, that's right, said does have a

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it's got a tracking station in Australia. I think it's

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the new Nausea one. That might be wrong with that,

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but there is an ISSA tracking station here. Now.

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You know, it's going to take a closer look at Demos,

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which is of great interest given that you know, it

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could it could become crucial in terms of future visits

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to Mars. It might, it might provide some kind of

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Is it the one that's going to actually fall back

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into Mars at some stage in terms of the otherwise

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that's Phobos.

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Yeah, Phobos is kind of spiraling slowly downwards towards the

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surface of Mars. I think Demos is going the other way.

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Actually right, oh okay, And is the thinking that they

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used to be like they're captured asteroids.

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Yes, probably it's that there odd world's Phobos is it's

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got the density of a piece of pummus. It's you know,

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it's most probably fifty percent of it is empty space,

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which is really interesting, so that Phobos will be an

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interesting world to visit. And you might remember it's probably

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now at least a decade ago, there was a mission

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to Phobos which was launched by the Russian Space Agency

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ross Cosmos. It was called Phobos Grunt and Grant was

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the work ground because it was going to land on Phobos.

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But it didn't make it. The launch vehicle didn't give

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it in a forbital velocity, and sadly it burned up

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in the atmosphere, in the atmosphere, not marsers. So yes,

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you're you're right, there's all that happening. And then there

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is the mission. The mission's real you know, its real goal,

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which is to go into orbit around Didimos, so it

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will actually orbit it's target when it gets there. And

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by the way, the target date, the date for orbit

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insertion around Didimos is the fourteenth of December twenty twenty sixth.

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That's my birthday, so that'll be a good meet to celebrate.

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So and what you know, the questions that it will

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will really be interested in are not so much to

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do with Didimos the asteroid, but it's Moon Dimorphous, which is,

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if I remember rightly, aboute hundred and seventy meters across,

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and that's the one that the Dark Mission impacted in

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twenty twenty two. So the questions that Hero will be

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asking are things like did it leave a crater or

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did it just sort of rebuild the whole asteroid because

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we think Didimos is a rubble pile. Sorry, we think, well,

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Didimos is probably a rubble pile as well, but we

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think Dimorphois is a rubble pile, and a little bit

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more about its internal structure, which you'd be able to

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get from the details of the orbit that here finally

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goes into. So I think it's going to be a

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very interesting mission. That will be a really neat follow

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up for the Dart mission, and we'll give us more

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information again on you know, the relative all relevant stuff.

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If ever, we are under threat from an asteroid impact

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because this knowledge that we really need.

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Yes, absolutely, absolutely, And the good news about this mission

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is that it's not going to be that long down

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the track. Some of the missions that are headed out

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at the moment are just going to take so long.

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But this one, Yeah, we're looking at just a bit

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over two years before we reach the destination, which in

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astronomical terms is a pretty quick trip.

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Yes, it's my calculations are correct. It's less than two years.

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Less than oh yeah, hang on a big time.

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I know you're right now, sorry, you're quite right. Yes,

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it's a bit over two years, exactly, Sorry, I'm miscalculating

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there and putting my March is where my December should be.

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And I believe I would think that Marie Claire, won

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of our most dedicated listeners who went to NASA for

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that particular impact event of the Dart mission, should be

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pretty keen on what happens next. So yeah, and I've

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got all my Dart memorabilia here, I've got my Dart

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T shirt, my Dart stickers are over there, and thanks

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to Mary Claire, and hello to you, thanks for your support,

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and yeah, it would be a pretty exciting mission for

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all those involved, even those that were invited just to watch.

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Yeah, terrific.

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So yeah, we will definitely be updating that when the

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time comes. And if you want to read the story

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about the course adjustment and the mission, the Hero mission,

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it's at the fizz dot org website. Phys Now you're

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with Andrew Duncle and Fred Watson. This is space Nuts.

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Space Nuts. Now.

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We've got a couple of light stories.

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They're either light stories or light stories, depending on which

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way you want to look at it. This first story,

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Fred brings us back to our old favorite topic black holes.

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But I found this story interesting because it really explains

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well how light is affected by gravity, particularly the gravitational

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effect of black holes in space, and how we can

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witness events more than once because of this. We've talked

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about that before and they refer to them as light echoes.

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Do they not?

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Y if they do? And later light echoes are sort

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of a broad topic. In astronomy, we've got a situation

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where because of the finite speed of light, you can

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sometimes see the same event twice. Perhaps the classic one

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is and the one that's easiest to get your head around.

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If you have a super and over explosion, a star

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explodes and you get the direct beam of light that

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comes to us that tells the story of the explosion.

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But sometimes you get reflections off dust clouds, which is

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quite often a long way away from the super and

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over explosion, so that the light takes a dog leg

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path and eventually we see it again. And that's actually

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one of the ways why we can see sometimes see

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super and Ova, which exploded in historic historical times. The

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one that I like is Kepler super and Ova, which

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took place in sixteen hundred and four, and we can

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still see it because of a light echo. So you

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can analyze body equipment to analyze the lights. This is

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something a little bit different. I'm going to pour from

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min Andrew because there's a gentleman with a what I

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would call a strummer and you'd call something else, is

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doing the grass out the back of our house. Are

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you getting any noise interference there? Just a little bit.

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It's not too bad. Okay, I'll keep going, then I

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keep doing so. With the black hole story, it's not

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about reflections from dust clouds. It's about refraction, about the

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light being bent by gravity around the black hole. So

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the intense gravitational field of a black hole pull's light

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around it. And you know it will either deflect it

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slightly or depending on where the light is emitted, or

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it can be something that goes all the way round,

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and in fact, you can go all the way round

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more than once. And so the paper that we're talking about,

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which is I'm looking at the original paper here in

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Astrophysical Journal Letters, is called Measuring black Hole Light Echoes

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with very long Baseline into Ferometry, and it's by a

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group of scientists who are all in the US at

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institutions with very very prestigious names, like the Institute for

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Advanced Study in Princeton, which I think was where Einstein worked,

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at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, all

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of these places, and so this is something you know,

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it's work of a very high quality. What these authors

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are suggesting is that if you have so think of

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a black hole around it, it's got the accretion disc,

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the disc of material that is swirling around the black hole,

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some of which is actually going to disappear inside it,

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and some of it will be squirted upwards along the

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relativistic jets. Think of that accretion disc that's got stuff

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in it that's swirling to together, and you know just

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basically the energies that are involved as such that you

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get X rays and radio waves coming from that accretion disc. Now,

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if you imagine, you know, a particularly big lump of

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something in there, that it's another particularly big lump in

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that disc, you're going to get a flash, basically, an

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explosive event, which will release radiation. And the point that

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these authors make is that that radiation, yes, may take

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a direct path towards the Earth, but it could also

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go around the black hole, and it could go around

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multiple times. So you might get an explosion that we

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see and then a number of light echoes that follow

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it at sort of pretty regular intervals as the light

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travels around the black hole. And so what they've suggested

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is that if you can analyze that and look at

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it in detail with radio telescopes we're talking about here,

254
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because that's the wavebandits of interest in this, then that

255
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might tell you something about the details of the accretion

256
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disc and the events that are taking place inside it.

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If you could see, you know, whereabouts these light echoes

258
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seem to come from, and things of that sort. And

259
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what they're suggesting is that you could do it with

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this technique called very long baseline interferometry or VLBI, which

261
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is beloved of radio astronomers. And what you do is

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you have dishes separate, separated by large distances, and you

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can sort of correlate the signals that each gets because

264
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they're slightly different, you know, because of the separation of them,

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and that lets you essentially see very very fine details.

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It's actually how the event horizon telescope works, the thing

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that has indeed mapped the event horizon of several super

268
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massive black holes. So so the bottom line is you

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can't actually do it with very long baseline into geometry

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on Earth. You need to put one of your one

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of your You can do it with one telescope on Earth,

272
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but you need to put one of them in orbit

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around around the Earth, or at least into space. You

274
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need the distances that you know that you get from

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putting putting the antennas that are going to provide the baseline.

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You need to put them very very far apart. And

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so it's the paper that suggests how you might do that.

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I've just got the abstract from the paper in front

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of me. What they say is our results suggest that

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detecting echoes may be achievable through interferometric observations with a

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modest space based, very long baseline into ferrometory mission. The

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modest is a word that you can put numbers on,

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and I think the numbers are later in the article.

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Haven't actually read the paper itself, but in the abstract

285
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they certainly talk about the kinds of the kinds of

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effects that you might see and what you might need

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to build in order to do that. Now, interferometer is

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interferometers in space and not a new suggestion.

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So it may well some of our audience have suggested it.

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They have, indeed, that's right, they have. Indeed, so we

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might we might find that this is something that almost

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that the the you know, the hardware already exists because

293
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there are radio telescopes in space already. But anyway they're suggesting,

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they're not they're not really going into detail of how

295
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you might do it, but they're suggesting that it will

296
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in fact be possible.

297
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Okay, so we are not there yet, but they've certainly

298
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looked at ways that they might be able to do

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this by through publishing this paper. They've they've gone public

300
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on it.

301
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That's exactly right. Yeah, what they've what they concentrate on

302
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in the detail in the paper is the details of this,

303
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you know, this multiple apparition of flashes of light and

304
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the actual how how the gravity of the black hole

305
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actually steers the light around, and just the details of

306
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what the black hole might do to the to the

307
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light and by light, I'm talking really here about radio radiation, uh,

308
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and suggesting that you might need bigger tackle than we've

309
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got already in order to in order to measure it.

310
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Yeah. What fascinated me in the story is how you

311
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talk about an event collision that creates a flash, and

312
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that light comes straight towards us, and we see that event,

313
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But the light can also be disrupted by the gravity

314
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of the black hole and do a few laps around

315
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the black hole before it gets headed in our direction.

316
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So what sort of a time difference would it make

317
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between us seeing the real event and then the echo.

318
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Well, they'd be very small, wouldn't they dis going to

319
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depend on the size of the black hole. You know,

320
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some I think they're talking about super massive black holes,

321
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And in fact the article talks about we explore the

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viability of our method using I love this using numerical

323
00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:22.799
general relativistic magneto hydrodynamic simulations. There you are of a

324
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near face on decretion system scale to M eighty seven

325
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like Parameises et seven being the galaxy of which we've

326
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imaged the super massive black hole center. And so you're

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talking there about an event horizon that is solar system

328
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sized or much bigger than the solar system. So you're

329
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talking about possibly hours to days of delay in the efforts.

330
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Still, that's a short time frame in terms of being

331
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able to collect data. So that's you know, it makes

332
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it even more Gee, they're doing a good job in

333
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your backyard.

334
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By the end, I'm wondering what I'm going to have

335
00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:03.680
to move for Andrew to find quite a place to

336
00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:11.119
do this. So let's let's let's move house and we'll

337
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keep going. We'll keep talking, but I'm going to take

338
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you with me and I quiet a part perhaps to

339
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do this.

340
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This doesn't happen often, but that's.

341
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All about Yeah, that's right. I'm going to wander around

342
00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:33.279
this way because I think it will be quiet right

343
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at the other end of the house.

344
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Right, just depends whether or not you lose your your

345
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Wi Fi connection in the process.

346
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Should hopefully, hopefully it should be all right. So I mean,

347
00:21:43.480 --> 00:21:49.079
I'm knowing Marni's study with Currently we're taking service as

348
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a bedroom because we've got lots of visitors coming.

349
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So here we are, Oh very nice, oh nice view,

350
00:21:56.680 --> 00:22:02.880
beautiful mm hmm, excellent, Ah, very.

351
00:22:02.680 --> 00:22:06.960
Good, Thailand, complete silent until they come around the corner

352
00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:11.559
and do that bit that. Yes, but I think we've

353
00:22:11.559 --> 00:22:14.960
pretty well wrapped up that story. So if you are

354
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:18.079
interested in reading it, it's in Universe today dot com,

355
00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:21.680
or you can read the whole thing Measuring black hole

356
00:22:21.799 --> 00:22:26.920
light echoes with very long baseline interferometry in the Astrophysical

357
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Journal Letters. This is space nuts Andrew Dunkley with Professor

358
00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:41.079
Fred Watson piece nuts. Finally, Fred, we continue our look

359
00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:44.920
at light, but this is light of a very different ilk,

360
00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:48.440
I suppose you could say, because it looks at the

361
00:22:48.519 --> 00:22:53.200
relationship between light and humans and how even since ancient

362
00:22:53.279 --> 00:23:00.000
times we've used light for medical purposes, which is FASCT

363
00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:01.880
and this dates back a long long time.

364
00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:07.559
It does. Indeed, that's right, and you know, I guess

365
00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:12.279
we are. We're I think, as you said, you've you've

366
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almost experienced this yourself. We all know that the Sun

367
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is the principal source of heat and light, for the

368
00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:22.200
planetics what allows life to evolve, it's where the energy

369
00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:27.039
comes from. And so it's not really surprising that our

370
00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:34.279
forebears of various different ILKs should have had a special

371
00:23:34.359 --> 00:23:38.960
place for lights in their understanding. And you've only to

372
00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:41.680
think of some of the civilizations in South America which

373
00:23:42.119 --> 00:23:45.519
you know, which were based on sun worship, and talked

374
00:23:45.559 --> 00:23:48.920
about some of those. The reason why we're talking about

375
00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:54.039
this is a very very nice conversation article that has

376
00:23:54.359 --> 00:23:58.720
recently been issued the seventh of November, just a few

377
00:23:58.759 --> 00:24:03.279
days ago, written by Philippa Martyr who is a lecture

378
00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:08.519
lecturer in Pharmacology Women's Health at the School of Biomedical

379
00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:11.680
Sciences in the University of Western Australia. And philipp has

380
00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:16.720
written a lovely a lovely kind of overview of the

381
00:24:16.759 --> 00:24:23.400
part of light in making us better and her article

382
00:24:23.480 --> 00:24:27.519
is part science, part magic and illuminating history of feeling

383
00:24:27.559 --> 00:24:30.839
with lights. A very nice title there, and it you

384
00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:34.440
know it goes. It starts off with some of the

385
00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:37.920
most ancient religions on the planet, which involves some worship

386
00:24:38.039 --> 00:24:43.400
and takes it from there because often these early religions

387
00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:48.920
were tied up with healing and just reading from Philippa's

388
00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:53.359
article earlier. While sorry sick people would turn to the

389
00:24:53.400 --> 00:24:59.880
shaman or priest or priestess for help and that's you know,

390
00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:02.599
so it's a natural thing to do when you kind

391
00:25:02.599 --> 00:25:05.640
of feel better when you're in sunlight. And so the

392
00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:10.640
article traces, you know, traces that history right through to

393
00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:15.799
more modern times. And you know the fact that we

394
00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:21.559
still use phototherapy with blue lights used to treat newborn

395
00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:24.960
babies with jaundice in hospital. That sort of thing really

396
00:25:25.079 --> 00:25:28.640
interesting and a really interesting story with a very comprehensive

397
00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:31.920
look at sunlight and its place and you know, well.

398
00:25:31.720 --> 00:25:36.960
Being yes, and when you talk about the ancient cultures

399
00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:41.279
that used to use it and papers were actually written

400
00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:45.599
about it dating back to fifteen hundred BCE in Egypt.

401
00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:52.839
Egyptian medical scrolls have been discovered that talk about using

402
00:25:53.240 --> 00:25:58.839
sunlight mixed with other things to try and overcome certain,

403
00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:05.240
i don't know, frailties, illnesses, afflictions, whatever you want to

404
00:26:05.240 --> 00:26:09.680
call them. But even as simple as the warmth of

405
00:26:09.799 --> 00:26:13.680
the sun being used to heal just simply getting warmer.

406
00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:18.799
And you probably could read some of this stuff and say, oh, look,

407
00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:21.759
you know it's all hogwash. They were obviously, just you know,

408
00:26:21.799 --> 00:26:24.599
they didn't know much about medicine, so they came up

409
00:26:24.599 --> 00:26:29.759
with these lame brain ideas. But even today light is

410
00:26:29.880 --> 00:26:34.799
used in medicine and there are great examples of it.

411
00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:36.920
It doesn't so much happen in Australia, but there are

412
00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:40.839
parts of the world that get very dark and dreary

413
00:26:41.559 --> 00:26:46.400
in winter, and you can overcome that with certain forms

414
00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:51.160
of light. You can cure jet lag with light. You

415
00:26:51.240 --> 00:26:55.480
can different kinds of light for different kinds of circumstances,

416
00:26:56.119 --> 00:26:59.160
white or blue light. When you expose people to that,

417
00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:04.240
it can over forms of depression in some cases, and

418
00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:08.799
you can use ultraviolet light to treat skin conditions. The

419
00:27:08.920 --> 00:27:14.240
article refers to that it is quite a natural thing

420
00:27:14.599 --> 00:27:18.559
because we've grown up and adapted to sunlight as a

421
00:27:18.599 --> 00:27:22.000
species on this planet over tens of thousands of years.

422
00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:26.440
So it makes sense. And some of the interesting people

423
00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:30.400
that have talked about light have been brought up in

424
00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:35.640
this article. One of them was Florence Nightingale, who actually

425
00:27:35.640 --> 00:27:39.240
wrote a I think did she write a book about it.

426
00:27:39.640 --> 00:27:43.480
She wrote a book called Notes on Nursing and was

427
00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:46.920
a strong believer in the power of sunlight. This is

428
00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:53.720
quite incredible stuff and sorry, go on, no, go.

429
00:27:53.640 --> 00:27:56.599
Ahead, go ahead, Andrew's find Well, I.

430
00:27:56.559 --> 00:27:58.359
Was going to just sort of put myself out there

431
00:27:58.400 --> 00:28:07.000
because even though it's not directly sunlight related, we still

432
00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:11.359
use things that are created in the light spectrum to

433
00:28:11.559 --> 00:28:20.119
treat serious illnesses. And you look at radiation therapy for cancer, Well,

434
00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:25.160
the rays that are produced by radiation therapy type machines

435
00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:27.799
are in the light spectrum. So you could argue that

436
00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:31.920
we're still to this day in modern medicine using light.

437
00:28:32.759 --> 00:28:36.960
And you said earlier Fred that I have some experience

438
00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:39.759
with that, and a few people that listen to the

439
00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:43.960
show already know this. But I have been for the

440
00:28:44.039 --> 00:28:48.319
last two and a bit years been dealing with a

441
00:28:48.359 --> 00:28:51.559
cancer diagnosis, and over the last five weeks, I've been

442
00:28:51.640 --> 00:28:59.200
receiving radiation therapy for remnant cells caused by prostate cancer,

443
00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:03.720
and hopefully the therapy will be successful and eradicate them.

444
00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:08.799
So that's my personal experience with if you want to

445
00:29:08.839 --> 00:29:13.880
call it light therapy, it's not use of sunlight. These

446
00:29:14.440 --> 00:29:17.759
in my case would I've done some research because I

447
00:29:17.799 --> 00:29:22.119
need to know these things for it, but it's in

448
00:29:22.200 --> 00:29:25.599
my case the form of therapy I'm receiving is actually

449
00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:31.839
using X rays to attack the postak cancer cells. And

450
00:29:32.039 --> 00:29:35.079
according to bioncologist, I'm a very very good candidate for

451
00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:38.759
this kind of therapy. And it started off with an

452
00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:44.039
injection in the bum which was a hormone suppressant to

453
00:29:44.119 --> 00:29:49.559
stop testosterone, which is what prostate cancer feeds on. And

454
00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:52.759
then that was three months ago, and then I started

455
00:29:52.799 --> 00:29:56.079
my radiotherapy five weeks ago, once just after we got

456
00:29:56.119 --> 00:30:01.400
back from Turkey, and that finishes at the time of

457
00:30:01.400 --> 00:30:06.160
this recording tomorrow. It was my last dose. And then

458
00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:10.440
on Thursday I get another hormone shot to stop the

459
00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:15.200
testosterone from recharging so that the radiation therapy has got

460
00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:18.559
the best possible chance of killing off the cancer cells.

461
00:30:19.079 --> 00:30:22.519
So yeah, that's been my life for the last five

462
00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:27.200
weeks or so. And basically I've been dealing with this

463
00:30:27.319 --> 00:30:32.039
for a bit over two years. So at the beginning

464
00:30:32.039 --> 00:30:34.440
of last year, I had the prostate removed, but the

465
00:30:34.440 --> 00:30:39.240
pathology showed that the cancer had broken through the prostate

466
00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:46.359
cell prostate wall and got into a thing called the

467
00:30:46.359 --> 00:30:50.720
seminal vesicle. And this was probably the unlucky bit. When

468
00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:54.440
they took the prostate out, they severed the seminal vesicle,

469
00:30:54.640 --> 00:30:59.599
So two millimeters of cancer cells were retained in my

470
00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:02.400
body and that's where it's all sort of come from.

471
00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:07.279
So yeah, that sounds shocking, It sounds horrible, it sounds scary,

472
00:31:07.319 --> 00:31:09.400
and I suppose it is to a certain degree, but

473
00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:13.359
I'm dealing with it and my prognosis is very good.

474
00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:17.519
Obviously they can't give me absolute guarantees, but this therapy

475
00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:23.440
is the most successful available today, So fingers crossed. Yeah,

476
00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:25.599
light therapy is a thing, is a thing.

477
00:31:27.319 --> 00:31:29.519
So you're right. The X rays that you use are

478
00:31:29.519 --> 00:31:32.640
part of the electromagnetic spectrum and so it's just light

479
00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:37.599
radiation with very short wavelength. And you know, I think

480
00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:41.920
it's all credits you, Andrew, for what you're going through

481
00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:47.759
at the moment, and for opening up to all of

482
00:31:47.839 --> 00:31:52.799
us space not cases, who are all very much interested

483
00:31:52.799 --> 00:31:53.759
in your well being.

484
00:31:54.039 --> 00:31:58.359
And yeah, I've received some nice messages. I went public

485
00:31:59.319 --> 00:32:03.000
through the can the Council New South Wales because I

486
00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:05.640
get a regular newsletter from them, and they put an

487
00:32:05.640 --> 00:32:07.960
appeel out for anyone who might be willing to tell

488
00:32:07.960 --> 00:32:10.759
their story in the hope that it will help others.

489
00:32:10.759 --> 00:32:13.359
So I know, with my radio background, felt that was

490
00:32:13.400 --> 00:32:18.200
probably something appropriate, and I will give the same message

491
00:32:18.279 --> 00:32:22.319
right now. If you're a man fifty or over, you

492
00:32:22.440 --> 00:32:24.599
need to go to the doctor and have a PSA

493
00:32:24.759 --> 00:32:28.920
check and get them to check your heart, your diabetes

494
00:32:29.519 --> 00:32:31.839
or bloodshoo levels and your cholesterol or at the same

495
00:32:31.920 --> 00:32:37.160
time to make sure you're okay, particularly PSA levels, because

496
00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:40.039
if they start to climb, they can look innocent enough

497
00:32:40.079 --> 00:32:42.240
and then all of a sudden they will balloon. And

498
00:32:42.279 --> 00:32:44.680
that's what happened to me. I went from a two

499
00:32:44.759 --> 00:32:47.559
point one ps A level to a seven point eight

500
00:32:47.599 --> 00:32:50.599
in twenty two months, and that's when they knew something

501
00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:51.680
was dreadfully wrong.

502
00:32:53.440 --> 00:32:54.519
So all it.

503
00:32:54.480 --> 00:32:58.279
Takes is an annual checkup at your local doctor just

504
00:32:58.359 --> 00:33:01.799
to see if everything's okay. And if you do that

505
00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:05.680
and you do develop prostate cancer, chances are they'll catch

506
00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:09.240
it super early and you won't end up where I am.

507
00:33:09.559 --> 00:33:12.640
So don't Dealey Deli. It's not going to hurt you.

508
00:33:13.079 --> 00:33:14.720
Just to go and get a quick blood test and

509
00:33:14.759 --> 00:33:17.480
sort it all out. That's my message to any man

510
00:33:17.640 --> 00:33:22.079
or someone you know of the male persuading fifty or over,

511
00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:25.000
and I would take that back to forty plus. If

512
00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:28.720
there's a family history there, you go all right, I've

513
00:33:28.720 --> 00:33:29.519
done my job.

514
00:33:31.079 --> 00:33:35.480
Well done. Yeah, it's very good to hear.

515
00:33:36.599 --> 00:33:38.920
Yes, I think it's an important message.

516
00:33:40.079 --> 00:33:42.960
Indeed, did this. Yeah, and it's all about light, as

517
00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:44.680
you say, it's all about light, yes it is.

518
00:33:44.839 --> 00:33:47.319
Yeah, and it's a great story. Read it. It's at

519
00:33:47.319 --> 00:33:49.160
the Conversation dot com.

520
00:33:49.200 --> 00:33:50.200
And it's.

521
00:33:51.519 --> 00:33:55.200
A really interesting story, part science, past magic, past, part

522
00:33:55.240 --> 00:33:58.640
magic and illuminating history of healing with light. It's a

523
00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:02.880
terrific story while we're well worth reading. And we might

524
00:34:03.039 --> 00:34:05.000
just end it there, Fred, Thank you so much.

525
00:34:06.599 --> 00:34:10.800
It's a it's a pleasure, Andrew. It's a temporary ending,

526
00:34:10.880 --> 00:34:13.039
of course, because we'll be coming back again.

527
00:34:14.159 --> 00:34:17.519
Yeah. I'm not dropping off there. I'm not dropping out

528
00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:18.400
of the Twigans. Hurry.

529
00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:21.840
Believe me when you said I end it there. It

530
00:34:21.880 --> 00:34:23.400
did sound a bit final.

531
00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:25.800
But sorry about that.

532
00:34:26.440 --> 00:34:32.119
No, it's all good. Yeah, Sorry, I see you next time. Indeed.

533
00:34:32.159 --> 00:34:34.159
Yes, we've got some questions to sort out in our

534
00:34:34.159 --> 00:34:36.199
next episode, so I do want to be around for that.

535
00:34:36.639 --> 00:34:41.039
Thank you, Fred, so soon. Professor Fred Watson, Astronomer at Large.

536
00:34:41.039 --> 00:34:45.440
And thanks to Hugh in the studio for not sending

537
00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:48.360
me any sick jokes this week. He does it all

538
00:34:48.400 --> 00:34:51.039
the time and some of them horrible. And from me Andrew,

539
00:34:51.119 --> 00:34:53.079
Uncle you thanks for your company. Catch you on the

540
00:34:53.159 --> 00:34:56.039
very next episode guaranteed on Space Nuts.

541
00:34:56.079 --> 00:35:01.400
Bye bye to the Space nutsdcast.

542
00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:08.199
Available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or your favorite podcast player.

543
00:35:08.360 --> 00:35:11.679
You can also stream on demand at fights dot com.

544
00:35:11.679 --> 00:35:17.360
This has been another quality podcast production from fights dot com.
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