Artemis 2 Progress, Iron Bars in Space & Life's Deadly Origins

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Andrew Dunkley: Hi there. Thanks for joining us again. This

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is Space Nuts where we talk astronomy and

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space science every week. Twice a week in

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fact. Uh, on today's episode, we are

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going to look at the progress of Artemis 2.

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There's uh, an update for you and it's good

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news. Uh, this is a weird story. An iron

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bar seen in space. And no, it is

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not a runaway spanner from the International

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Space Station. Although that does happen.

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And something deadly that could be important

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in the origin of life. We'll find out about

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that on this episode of space nuts.

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15 seconds. Guidance is internal.

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Professor Fred Watson: 10, 9. Ignition

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sequence start. Space nuts.

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Andrew Dunkley: 5, 4, 3, 2.

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Professor Fred Watson: 1.

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Andrew Dunkley: 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2,

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1. Space nuts. Astronauts report it

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feels good. Back for more with

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stories galore is Professor Fred Watson,

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astronomer at large. Hello Fred.

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Professor Fred Watson: Good morning, Andrew. Or good whatever

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part of the day it is when you're listening

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to this.

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Andrew Dunkley: Yes, it's difficult dealing with a global

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audience, isn't it? Because you just don't

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know. You just don't know what time it is

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wherever.

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Professor Fred Watson: But uh, we basically know what time it is

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here.

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Andrew Dunkley: Well, it's eastern summertime is what it is.

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And uh, we are approaching the

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hottest time of the year in this

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part of the world. And I've been looking at

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the forecast, Fred, because uh, right now

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it's not too bad. You know, low, low to

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mid-30s, uh, Celsius, which some

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people would be horrified by. But for us

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that's pretty normal. But next week

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we are expected to hit, uh, a string

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of 40 plus temperatures peaking at

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45, 45,

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which is, uh, for those who don't use the

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metric system, that is 113

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degrees Fahrenheit. So

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that's um, that's what's coming up for us. I

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mean some people will hear this and it will

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already have happened and we won't be there

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next week. And they'll wonder why. Well,

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that's the answer. We're just going to burn.

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We are. Burn, burn, burn. Uh,

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yeah. Horrific. It's been horrific. We had a

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massive storm here the other day and it, uh,

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ripped through the city. I actually looked at

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it on the radar. It was only a really small

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cell, but gee, it was intense.

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It absolutely devastated the golf course. We

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lost a lot of trees and branches. Uh, but it

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happened all over town. So yeah, we've had

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some pretty uh, radical weather of late. And

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now we're going to hit a heat wave and I

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don't, I think we've got like six or seven

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days in a row at least. Over the old

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100 Fahrenheit.

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Professor Fred Watson: So there you go.

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Andrew Dunkley: Looking forward to that.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yes, I'm sure you are. It's a bit more

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temperate here on the coast, but, uh, we did

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have a day wheat last Saturday where it

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was, uh, 43 was the highest I. I saw.

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I was out and about and it's.

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Andrew Dunkley: Been quite a few years, quite a few years

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since we had a 45 here. But I do remember one

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some years ago and it. Yeah, it was horrible.

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They actually forecast 47 or 48 that day and

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it didn't get there thankfully. But

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hopefully m. It won't do it again this year.

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But, um, it's been a long time since we've

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had temperatures like this. Um,

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for a few years in a row we didn't even make

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40. But, um, yeah, we're

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getting at least four in a row next week.

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Anyway. Um. Oh, and the other thing that's

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been really exciting this week, uh, is,

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um, the auroral activity in,

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uh, if you saw anything. No, I went out

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last night and didn't see anything. It's too

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much light and I thought, oh, uh, well, I go

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out of town. Uh, how far

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do I go? Where do I go to get a perch?

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Because it's pretty flat out here. Um, but I

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didn't see anything. There was one photo I

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took where it may. There was a little bit of

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a purple sheen in the distance maybe.

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I don't know. Uh,

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last night. The night before was better.

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It was this morning, of course, I wake up

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to all these amazing photos that people have

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taken and they saw them as far north as

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southern Queensland.

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Professor Fred Watson: So. Yeah, that's right.

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Andrew Dunkley: It's been a very intense solar storm that's,

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um, that's caused all this. But it looks like

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I missed the boat again.

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Professor Fred Watson: Fred just got to come with

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us to the Arctic sometime.

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Andrew Dunkley: Oh, look. Yeah, the other thing I

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saw this morning, um, was

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there's a, um, a trip to the Arctic this year

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to watch the solar eclipse. That'll

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be a big one. I think that's in, um, August,

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is it? Or was that last?

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Professor Fred Watson: Um, no, um, there is.

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I thought it was the Antarctic.

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Andrew Dunkley: Oh, ah, it might be.

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Professor Fred Watson: I just kissed. Yeah, I think that's probably

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it.

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There is an eclipse in August. It's the 12th

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of August. We'll be watching that from, uh,

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northern Spain. Um, so we're taking

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one of Mani's tour groups up there to see the

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eclipse.

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Andrew Dunkley: Well, that's the one they were talking about.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, I think the. I think the one you're

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talking about Was untitled together. And it's

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not the same Eclipse anyway. All right, never

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mind.

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Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, I can see the one. The one I was

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thinking of is the one you're going to see.

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Okay. Yeah.

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Professor Fred Watson: All right. Okay. Yeah. Might start in the

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Arctic.

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Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, it's crossing all the places we were

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visiting last year. So

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we're all.

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We're a year too early.

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Nevermind.

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Professor Fred Watson: Always ahead of. Always ahead of the game.

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Andrew Dunkley: Yes. Always get through Dodge before the

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disaster. That's what, that's our philosophy.

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Um, we've got a bit to get through so we'll.

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We'll start with um, this exciting

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news and that is an update on the Artemis 2

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mission. Now we only mentioned that a week or

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so ago, uh, that it was one of the big

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things happening in 2026. Uh, it's starting

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to happen. They've started moving stuff.

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Professor Fred Watson: That's right. Uh, so, um,

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as we speak, the uh,

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Artemis II stack, if that's what you call it,

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with the space, uh, launch system and its

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two solid rocket boosters and the uh,

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service module, the. I nearly said

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Apollo there, the Orion capsule on top,

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uh, is sitting on launch pad 39B,

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uh, which is very famous. Part of the

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launch facility, uh, um, at Cape

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Canaveral. So, uh, yes, it's made

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its journey from the uh, Vehicle Assembly

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Building, uh, to launch pad

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39B, which if I remember

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rightly is 6km. And it took 12 hours to do

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it. So a half a kilometer per hour.

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Um, uh. Is that right? Yes, that's right.

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Andrew Dunkley: Yeah. I think it's like 0.82 of a

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mile per hour or something like that.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yes, that's what I saw too. Um, I

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think when you average it out it comes to

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half a kilometer an hour. But I think it's a

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little bit more than that, uh, in terms of

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um, the maximum speed when it

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accelerated up to full speed, 0.82

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miles per hour. Uh, so that is the start of

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the journey to the moon, uh, which is really

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quite nice. Um, and Artemis 2.

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Yes, the mission, uh, will we

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hope, ah, actually launch

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within the next few months. What we do know

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is that uh, there is to be

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um, a wet. What's called

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a wet, um, test. Is

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that the right word? Uh, a wet.

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Dress rehearsal. That's. That's the correct

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term. Uh, where it's fully fueled up,

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uh, and basically uh,

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undergoes a countdown, a dummy countdown, uh,

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everything as if you were about to launch but

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you don't launch. Uh, and we're told that

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is not going to happen any later than

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basically next Week our time or the week

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after next, which is, uh,

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February 2nd is the date that we've got. So,

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um, that will be exciting to see how

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that, uh, how that goes. Whether everything

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goes flawlessly or whether they find

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a gotcha and have to wheel it back to the

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vehicle assembly building. Which has

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happened.

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Andrew Dunkley: That's happened before, hasn't it?

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Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, it did with Artemis 1. In fact, I think

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it happened two or three times, didn't, if I

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remember rightly. Uh, because they've got to

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get this right and they've got to, you know,

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it's got to be right. And it will be, uh.

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Andrew Dunkley: Yeah.

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Professor Fred Watson: Is the bottom line. Yeah.

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Andrew Dunkley: Yes, indeed. But it's exciting. I think

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it has been delayed. It was supposed to go

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last year, wasn't it?

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Professor Fred Watson: Uh, that's correct. Yes. Uh, indeed, that's

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true. Uh, I mean, the whole

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project has suffered, uh, delays.

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Uh, there is one bit of good news, though,

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which has come out of

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Congress. Uh, I think I should get my

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terms right. But the NASA funding,

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uh, for next year or for this year,

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uh, seems to be, uh, much more secure

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than was previously thought. Some of the big

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cuts that were being planned have sort of

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evaporated. Uh, and I think the funding level

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for NASA this year, uh, is not that much.

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I think it's on a par with what they received

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last year. Um, uh,

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notwithstanding the fact that, yes, the Mars

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Sample Return Mission has still been axed

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from that budget. But that leaves room for

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some other things to be funded. And no doubt

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there'll be further talks on how we get these

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canisters of, uh, Martian soil back from,

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uh, Mars, uh, before we all die.

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Andrew Dunkley: Yes.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, well, hope.

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Andrew Dunkley: Let's hope somebody, um, riding a trail bike

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up there one day comes across it and goes,

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oi, what's this?

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Professor Fred Watson: What's this?

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Andrew Dunkley: Who left this here? Um,

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but yeah, uh, it's good news. Uh, and we

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should mention the astronauts involved. Uh,

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Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina

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Koch, uh, and they're all from,

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uh. Uh, NASA, Americans. And then you've got,

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uh. From the Canadian Space Agency, Jeremy

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Hansen. And, uh, they'll be

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journeying out and around and back,

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uh, over a period of 10 days, which is about

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the same length as the average Apollo

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mission. Although there was one mission that

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only went five days because, well, they

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couldn't stop because they.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, that's right.

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Andrew Dunkley: They had a bit of an.

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Professor Fred Watson: That was another story. Yeah, but

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it's true. It's reminiscent of Apollo 8.

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Uh, you know, my Christmas Day. Wasn't it,

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uh, Christmas Eve, I think Something like

259
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Christmas Eve. I think it was Christmas eve.

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Yeah, yeah, 1968. Um,

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um, but, but what's different though is

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I think their orbits around the backside of

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the moon will be uh, at a higher

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distance from the lunar surface than we

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saw with the Apollo mission. So uh, these

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astronauts will be uh, will hold a record

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as being the furthest humans,

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the furthest that humans have been from

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planet Earth after the end of their mission.

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Andrew Dunkley: So yeah, that record currently held by

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Michael Collins.

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Professor Fred Watson: That is correct, yes, yes.

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Andrew Dunkley: In fact there's a famous photo I think I've

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mentioned before that Michael Collins took

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which uh, showed uh, the moon where

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Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were on the

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surface at the time and Earth in the

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background. And it basically said every

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human being that's ever existed is in

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this photo. Except

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I think that's great.

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Professor Fred Watson: That was him. Yeah, yeah.

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Andrew Dunkley: I mean, you think it's

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pretty. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty deep. When

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you take a photo and someone says to you,

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lady, do you realize you're the only human

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human being in history that's not in that

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photograph? I reckon

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that's uh, that's incredible. Yeah. Uh, of

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course people come back and say, oh, but what

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about the people on the other side of the

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planet that weren't in the picture? Well they

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were on the planet so they're in the picture.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yeah.

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Andrew Dunkley: We could use a bit of creative license

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surely.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yes, that's right.

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Andrew Dunkley: Um, we should also mention why

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this mission is happening. And it's

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based around putting long

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term humans or a long term human

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presence on the lunar surface. But the

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ultimate goal is to create that springboard

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for missions to Mars. So

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it's part of a long term venture, I suppose.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, I think actually it's got an

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immediacy about it that um, um

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M makes the Mars issue, uh,

309
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perhaps not uh, reducing its

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significance, but uh,

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giving us a good reason to be on the

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moon anyway. And that's the possible

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resources that are on the moon. Plus there's

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still a geopolitical aspect of

315
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this exactly as there was in the 1960s.

316
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Um, the Americans are very keen to get there

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before Chinese Taikonauts walk on the lunar

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surface, which they're certainly uh, planning

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to do by 2030. That is what we hear.

320
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But you're right, um, I mean Artemis 2 is

321
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a precursor to Artemis 3, which is likely to

322
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be not next year but the following year.

323
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There's still a lot of work to do on that,

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uh, where four astronauts will land on the

325
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lunar surface. And that in a sense

326
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is perhaps the opening gambit for a

327
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permanent, uh, or a semi permanent human

328
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presence on Mars. And yes, you're right.

329
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Eventually that will lead to, we hope,

330
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uh, expertise that we can gather that will

331
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take astronauts to Mars not to

332
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colonize it, but to explore it

333
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in a suitably ethical way.

334
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Andrew Dunkley: You hope not to colonize it?

335
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Professor Fred Watson: Well, that's right.

336
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Andrew Dunkley: Okay, um, yeah, very exciting news.

337
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And uh, hopefully all will go well

338
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with the, uh, with the tests. In uh, fact,

339
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they're talking about doing it more than once

340
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if they've got time. Um, but

341
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yeah, it'll be, uh, it'll be,

342
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it'll bring about the same level of

343
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excitement, I suppose, that we enjoyed in

344
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the 60s with the Apollo missions. Because

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you've got a whole new generation that

346
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weren't around to see that. And so this is

347
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all fresh and new for them. I reckon that

348
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that's right. That will revive the, the

349
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interest in, uh, space science,

350
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uh, as well, I suppose. Uh, if you'd

351
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like to read all about it, you can log on to

352
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scitech Daily. But I think you'll probably

353
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find there's plenty of news on plenty of

354
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platforms, including the NASA website. This

355
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is Space Nuts with Andrew Dunkley and

356
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Professor Fred Watson.

357
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Three, two, one.

358
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Space Nuts. Okay, Fred, uh,

359
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this weird story has, uh, been

360
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published in a, in a paper about a

361
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nebula that is demonstrating something that

362
00:15:01.130 --> 00:15:03.930
at this point in time is inexplicable.

363
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Uh, they know what it is, they don't know why

364
00:15:07.130 --> 00:15:07.610
it is.

365
00:15:08.410 --> 00:15:11.370
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, exactly. And so this story is

366
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about perhaps one of the most famous,

367
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um, celestial objects in the northern sky.

368
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Uh, an object called the Ring Nebula, uh,

369
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because it's shaped like a ring. Uh, it's in

370
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the constellation of Lyra one that,

371
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um, certainly I've been aware of ever since I

372
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first became interested in astronomy in the

373
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1950s. Um, it is

374
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a, uh, planetary nebula. And that is

375
00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:38.240
a bit of a misnomer term. It was one coined

376
00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:40.520
by William Herschel in the early 1800s.

377
00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:42.620
Because these things kind of look like

378
00:15:42.620 --> 00:15:44.020
planets, but they're nothing to do with

379
00:15:44.020 --> 00:15:45.500
planets. They're not in the solar system.

380
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They are clouds of gas. And we now know that

381
00:15:47.940 --> 00:15:50.380
they are the bubbles of gas that are puffed

382
00:15:50.380 --> 00:15:52.100
off by, uh, uh,

383
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giant stars in their old age. Um, and we

384
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also know that the sun will go through a

385
00:15:57.939 --> 00:16:00.580
phase where eventually it's surrounded by a

386
00:16:00.580 --> 00:16:02.660
nebula, a planetary nebula, very like the

387
00:16:02.660 --> 00:16:05.660
Ring Nebula. So, um, we

388
00:16:05.820 --> 00:16:08.300
know a lot about that nebula. And

389
00:16:08.800 --> 00:16:11.370
um, what. There's a sort of slightly personal

390
00:16:11.610 --> 00:16:14.200
aspect to this story because a, uh,

391
00:16:14.250 --> 00:16:16.970
telescope that I Worked on quite commonly in

392
00:16:16.970 --> 00:16:19.610
the 1990s, uh, the William Herschel

393
00:16:19.610 --> 00:16:22.490
telescope, uh, which was uh, then operated

394
00:16:22.490 --> 00:16:24.650
by the uk I think it's now the UK

395
00:16:25.210 --> 00:16:28.210
and some other. Uh, Sorry,

396
00:16:28.210 --> 00:16:30.890
I'm gonna cancel this. I

397
00:16:30.890 --> 00:16:33.610
can't take that call. Don't know if you heard

398
00:16:33.610 --> 00:16:34.130
that but my.

399
00:16:34.130 --> 00:16:34.650
Andrew Dunkley: No I did.

400
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Professor Fred Watson: Ringing. It's ringing. My

401
00:16:37.140 --> 00:16:37.660
earphones.

402
00:16:37.660 --> 00:16:38.180
Andrew Dunkley: Sorry.

403
00:16:38.500 --> 00:16:41.420
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, yeah, sorry, sorry. I'll call them

404
00:16:41.420 --> 00:16:44.080
back shortly. Um, uh,

405
00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:46.980
it's ah, the telescope

406
00:16:46.980 --> 00:16:48.900
that was uh, built in the

407
00:16:50.020 --> 00:16:52.740
late 1980s, commissioned I think around about

408
00:16:52.820 --> 00:16:55.780
1990. Uh, as I said I worked on it

409
00:16:56.020 --> 00:16:58.660
in the 1990s. A 4.2 meter

410
00:16:58.660 --> 00:17:01.580
telescope which is situated uh, at

411
00:17:01.580 --> 00:17:03.900
a place called uh, El Roque de los

412
00:17:03.900 --> 00:17:06.660
Mochachos, which is the name of a fique

413
00:17:06.740 --> 00:17:09.600
in island of La Palma. It's a volcanic

414
00:17:09.600 --> 00:17:12.360
peak. Uh, and there is a major global

415
00:17:12.360 --> 00:17:15.330
observatory there. Um, uh,

416
00:17:15.520 --> 00:17:18.390
it's as I said, 4.2 meter telescope. Uh,

417
00:17:18.390 --> 00:17:20.640
I think it's now jointly operated by a number

418
00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:23.519
of uh, different nations. It was built by

419
00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:26.440
the Brits, uh and uh, was

420
00:17:26.440 --> 00:17:28.600
for a while something like the third biggest

421
00:17:28.600 --> 00:17:30.520
telescope in the Northern hemisphere. I

422
00:17:30.520 --> 00:17:32.240
think. Um, it

423
00:17:32.530 --> 00:17:35.110
uh, uh, has an instrument on it

424
00:17:35.640 --> 00:17:36.870
uh, which is sort of.

425
00:17:36.870 --> 00:17:37.670
Andrew Dunkley: Let me guess, let me guess.

426
00:17:37.670 --> 00:17:38.310
Professor Fred Watson: Descendant.

427
00:17:38.710 --> 00:17:41.710
Andrew Dunkley: It's a saxophone. Sorry, I couldn't help.

428
00:17:41.710 --> 00:17:43.270
Professor Fred Watson: No, it's an E flat trombone.

429
00:17:45.670 --> 00:17:48.550
It's, it's a um, an

430
00:17:48.550 --> 00:17:51.030
instrument which is, I was going to say is a

431
00:17:51.030 --> 00:17:53.550
descendant of a. Let me rephrase that. It is

432
00:17:53.550 --> 00:17:56.390
an optical instrument, uh, which is a

433
00:17:56.390 --> 00:17:59.350
descendant of something I was very deeply

434
00:17:59.350 --> 00:18:01.870
involved with when I was there. I was project

435
00:18:01.870 --> 00:18:04.300
scientist for a thing called a spectrograph,

436
00:18:04.780 --> 00:18:07.540
which is um, the device that splits up

437
00:18:07.540 --> 00:18:10.020
light uh, and lets us see that barcode of

438
00:18:10.020 --> 00:18:12.980
information in the light of a star or

439
00:18:12.980 --> 00:18:15.940
galaxy or indeed a planetary nebula. Uh,

440
00:18:15.940 --> 00:18:18.140
but the new version of that we were using

441
00:18:18.300 --> 00:18:21.260
optical fibers, uh, to look at individual

442
00:18:21.260 --> 00:18:23.810
objects. Uh the new version uses uh,

443
00:18:24.340 --> 00:18:27.140
optical fibers again, but in such a way

444
00:18:27.140 --> 00:18:29.380
that you can look at an object like this

445
00:18:29.380 --> 00:18:32.380
nebula and for every point on the image

446
00:18:32.380 --> 00:18:35.230
you can get a spectrum. Uh and uh,

447
00:18:35.230 --> 00:18:38.060
it's a technology which is known as integral

448
00:18:38.060 --> 00:18:40.820
Field spectroscopy. And

449
00:18:40.950 --> 00:18:43.460
uh, they have built something called a lifu,

450
00:18:43.460 --> 00:18:46.020
which is a large integral field unit for

451
00:18:46.180 --> 00:18:48.540
the WEAVE instrument, which is the

452
00:18:48.540 --> 00:18:51.060
WHT Enhanced Area

453
00:18:51.220 --> 00:18:53.860
Velocity Explorer. Uh, great

454
00:18:53.940 --> 00:18:56.860
stuff. And the bottom line is to get

455
00:18:56.860 --> 00:18:59.580
to the end of this long rambling story. This

456
00:18:59.580 --> 00:19:01.620
is a brand new instrument that is just

457
00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:05.440
tested. And what better object to test

458
00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:08.000
it on than this lovely northern hemisphere

459
00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:10.800
nebula, the Ring Nebula. And so that's what

460
00:19:11.760 --> 00:19:13.520
they've done. A group of scientists, uh,

461
00:19:13.520 --> 00:19:16.200
mostly, I think from the uk uh, they've used

462
00:19:16.200 --> 00:19:18.360
the Ring Nebula just to make sure that the

463
00:19:18.360 --> 00:19:20.960
WEAVE spectrograph works properly and

464
00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:23.320
does everything they want it to. And they've

465
00:19:23.320 --> 00:19:25.520
uncovered a complete surprise,

466
00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:28.560
uh, that has blown everybody's mind because

467
00:19:28.560 --> 00:19:31.520
nobody understands it. And that is exactly

468
00:19:31.520 --> 00:19:34.400
as you've said, it's an iron bar. Now, um,

469
00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:36.880
when you talk about a bar in astronomy, it's

470
00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:38.640
not something you prop yourself up against

471
00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:41.360
to, um, get over all your problems.

472
00:19:41.840 --> 00:19:44.820
Uh, although you can do that if you want. Uh,

473
00:19:45.870 --> 00:19:48.800
uh, usually it's a

474
00:19:48.800 --> 00:19:51.390
structure, a linear structure, um,

475
00:19:51.520 --> 00:19:54.440
often made of stars. Uh, galaxies often

476
00:19:54.440 --> 00:19:56.320
have a bar across the middle. We call them

477
00:19:56.320 --> 00:19:59.280
barred spiral galaxies. And that bar is made

478
00:19:59.280 --> 00:20:02.020
of stars which are circulating in a, in

479
00:20:02.020 --> 00:20:04.940
a very elliptical orbit around the

480
00:20:04.940 --> 00:20:07.420
center of the galaxy. So it looks like

481
00:20:07.820 --> 00:20:10.620
essentially a solid bar of material.

482
00:20:10.620 --> 00:20:13.380
It's actually made of stars. So the bar in

483
00:20:13.380 --> 00:20:16.140
the Ring Nebula is not made of stars.

484
00:20:16.140 --> 00:20:18.940
It's made of gas. Uh, but what

485
00:20:19.020 --> 00:20:21.660
is interesting is that that gas is

486
00:20:21.660 --> 00:20:23.900
highly ionized. That means energized,

487
00:20:24.990 --> 00:20:27.980
uh, version of iron. So this is a

488
00:20:27.980 --> 00:20:30.910
plasma of iron atoms. Uh,

489
00:20:31.110 --> 00:20:33.750
and, um, one of the interesting comments that

490
00:20:33.750 --> 00:20:36.710
comes out of the, um, data, um, that's

491
00:20:36.710 --> 00:20:39.500
been released on this, uh,

492
00:20:39.750 --> 00:20:42.310
piece, um, of research is that the total mass

493
00:20:42.310 --> 00:20:44.870
of the iron that's in that bar

494
00:20:45.030 --> 00:20:47.870
is comparable to the mass of Mars. Um,

495
00:20:47.870 --> 00:20:50.790
that is quite significant, and I love

496
00:20:50.790 --> 00:20:53.270
this comment. Its length is about equal to

497
00:20:53.270 --> 00:20:56.070
500 times the orbit of Pluto around the Sun.

498
00:20:56.550 --> 00:20:59.070
Uh, and so it's, you know, if you imagine

499
00:20:59.070 --> 00:21:01.930
Pluto's orbit, multiply it by 500 times and

500
00:21:01.930 --> 00:21:03.930
then take its diameter. That's how big this

501
00:21:03.930 --> 00:21:06.930
iron bar is. Uh, so it's not an iron bar in

502
00:21:06.930 --> 00:21:08.530
the sense that something you can pick up and

503
00:21:08.530 --> 00:21:11.210
hit somebody on the head with if you're that

504
00:21:11.210 --> 00:21:13.720
way inclined. And I'm certainly not, uh,

505
00:21:14.060 --> 00:21:16.490
uh, but it's an iron bar in the sense of a

506
00:21:16.490 --> 00:21:19.050
barred structure in what is

507
00:21:19.290 --> 00:21:22.170
completely normally expected to be

508
00:21:22.330 --> 00:21:24.450
quite spherically symmetrical. Because this

509
00:21:24.450 --> 00:21:27.010
is a bubble of material. The Ring Nebula is a

510
00:21:27.010 --> 00:21:29.890
bubble of gas. And yet here in the middle of

511
00:21:29.890 --> 00:21:32.740
it is this linear feature, a bar, uh,

512
00:21:33.210 --> 00:21:35.610
made of highly ionized ion atoms.

513
00:21:35.850 --> 00:21:38.250
So as you said at the beginning, Andrew,

514
00:21:38.570 --> 00:21:41.010
the big question now is where did it come

515
00:21:41.010 --> 00:21:41.290
from?

516
00:21:41.530 --> 00:21:44.449
Andrew Dunkley: Yeah. Why is it there? What happened to

517
00:21:44.449 --> 00:21:47.090
create that? Because it sounds like it's

518
00:21:47.090 --> 00:21:49.130
unique. There's nothing else like it yet

519
00:21:49.530 --> 00:21:49.930
found.

520
00:21:50.170 --> 00:21:51.810
Professor Fred Watson: Not that we know of. That's right. But

521
00:21:51.810 --> 00:21:54.690
nobody's looked for iron in the

522
00:21:54.690 --> 00:21:57.610
center of these objects. So,

523
00:21:57.710 --> 00:22:00.030
um, I think, uh,

524
00:22:00.650 --> 00:22:03.570
there is, you know, a, um, um, this

525
00:22:03.570 --> 00:22:06.250
sort of. Well as the, as the article

526
00:22:06.490 --> 00:22:09.090
we might quote because this is from our old

527
00:22:09.090 --> 00:22:11.450
friend Universe Today. It's by Evan Gough.

528
00:22:11.810 --> 00:22:13.850
Uh, the um, the

529
00:22:14.810 --> 00:22:17.370
bottom line is that

530
00:22:17.670 --> 00:22:20.250
uh, there are two, uh, let me, let me, let me

531
00:22:20.250 --> 00:22:22.450
just read because this is uh, this is quite

532
00:22:22.450 --> 00:22:22.970
nicely put.

533
00:22:22.970 --> 00:22:25.210
There are two broad exploration explanations

534
00:22:25.210 --> 00:22:27.770
for this iron bar. Uh, one is that it reveals

535
00:22:27.770 --> 00:22:30.590
something new about how star. And

536
00:22:30.590 --> 00:22:33.030
that's the star that eventually gave rise to

537
00:22:33.030 --> 00:22:35.510
the nebula, how the central star ejected its

538
00:22:35.510 --> 00:22:37.990
material. Uh, the other is that

539
00:22:38.710 --> 00:22:41.590
the iron bar is the remnant of a planet

540
00:22:41.910 --> 00:22:44.510
that was vaporized and destroyed by the star

541
00:22:44.510 --> 00:22:47.430
as it expanded into a red giant. That's

542
00:22:47.430 --> 00:22:49.880
a really, really interesting uh,

543
00:22:49.910 --> 00:22:52.190
conjecture that what we're seeing is perhaps

544
00:22:52.190 --> 00:22:54.870
the um, remnant that the

545
00:22:55.030 --> 00:22:57.890
vaporized core of a

546
00:22:57.890 --> 00:23:00.210
planet, perhaps a rocky planet that was in

547
00:23:00.210 --> 00:23:02.690
orbit around the star. Uh, when it turned

548
00:23:02.690 --> 00:23:05.530
into a red giant, uh, it was vaporized.

549
00:23:05.530 --> 00:23:08.410
And what we are left with is this streak

550
00:23:08.490 --> 00:23:11.050
of, uh, highly ionized

551
00:23:11.130 --> 00:23:13.850
gas, uh, highly energized gas,

552
00:23:14.070 --> 00:23:16.450
uh, made of iron, across the middle of the

553
00:23:16.450 --> 00:23:18.830
nebula. Really, really interesting, uh,

554
00:23:19.310 --> 00:23:21.850
uh, really interesting, um, results there.

555
00:23:22.420 --> 00:23:24.540
Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, absolutely. And, and the pictures that

556
00:23:24.540 --> 00:23:27.380
they've gathered are spectacular. It looks

557
00:23:27.380 --> 00:23:27.780
amazing.

558
00:23:27.780 --> 00:23:30.390
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, yeah, it does. It's quite uh,

559
00:23:30.700 --> 00:23:32.750
extraordinary. Uh, there's a quote from uh,

560
00:23:32.750 --> 00:23:35.580
Janet Drew, who I won't say I

561
00:23:35.580 --> 00:23:37.220
know, but I'd certainly have met her a few

562
00:23:37.220 --> 00:23:39.500
times back in the day. Uh, she's one of the

563
00:23:39.500 --> 00:23:42.260
studies, co authors, University, uh, College

564
00:23:42.260 --> 00:23:44.660
London. Uh, said says we,

565
00:23:45.060 --> 00:23:47.460
this is in a press release. Uh, we definitely

566
00:23:47.460 --> 00:23:49.580
need to know more particularly whether any

567
00:23:49.580 --> 00:23:52.220
other chemical elements coexist with the

568
00:23:52.220 --> 00:23:55.000
newly detected iron, as would probably

569
00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:57.520
tell us the right class of model to pursue.

570
00:23:57.990 --> 00:24:00.040
Um, in other words, um, whether it was

571
00:24:00.040 --> 00:24:02.480
ejected from the star or a vaporized planet.

572
00:24:02.890 --> 00:24:04.480
Uh, right now we're missing this important

573
00:24:04.560 --> 00:24:07.360
information. So. Yep, really um, really

574
00:24:07.360 --> 00:24:08.960
interesting stuff. Yeah.

575
00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:11.080
Andrew Dunkley: And now that they've found it, they know what

576
00:24:11.080 --> 00:24:13.920
to look for. And they may well find that this

577
00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:16.840
has happened quite a few times, that you

578
00:24:16.840 --> 00:24:18.560
might even have one in your closet. You never

579
00:24:18.560 --> 00:24:20.880
know what's.

580
00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:23.240
Professor Fred Watson: What. Uh, is interesting to me and there's a,

581
00:24:23.390 --> 00:24:26.120
a, it's a tenuous link here, but um,

582
00:24:26.350 --> 00:24:29.030
perhaps the most famous planetary nebula in

583
00:24:29.030 --> 00:24:31.710
the southern hemisphere and it's one that is

584
00:24:31.710 --> 00:24:34.030
very familiar. It's called the Helix Nebula.

585
00:24:34.270 --> 00:24:36.510
Beautiful. Again, a ring like structure.

586
00:24:37.230 --> 00:24:40.070
Uh, we just uh, yesterday I think,

587
00:24:40.070 --> 00:24:42.470
or the day before received some new images of

588
00:24:42.470 --> 00:24:45.030
that from the James Webb Space

589
00:24:45.030 --> 00:24:47.710
Telescope. Which are absolutely staggering.

590
00:24:48.170 --> 00:24:51.100
Uh, they show structure on the sort

591
00:24:51.100 --> 00:24:53.940
of inner edge of this bubble of gas which is

592
00:24:53.940 --> 00:24:56.740
what the Helix Nebula is as well. Uh, which

593
00:24:56.740 --> 00:24:58.370
is uh.

594
00:24:59.500 --> 00:25:01.660
It's unfathomable almost. What we're seeing

595
00:25:01.660 --> 00:25:03.780
is little bubbles of gas being stretched out

596
00:25:03.780 --> 00:25:06.700
into this myriad of fingers. It almost

597
00:25:06.700 --> 00:25:08.780
looks like a grassy paddock. It is quite

598
00:25:08.780 --> 00:25:10.660
extraordinary. It's well worth a look if you

599
00:25:10.660 --> 00:25:13.490
can find it Andrew. Uh, and I encourage our

600
00:25:13.490 --> 00:25:15.660
uh, listeners and viewers to look for the

601
00:25:15.660 --> 00:25:18.030
James Webb Telescope image of the ring of the

602
00:25:18.030 --> 00:25:20.590
Helix Nebula just uh, released.

603
00:25:20.990 --> 00:25:23.570
Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, keep an eye on that. But if you uh,

604
00:25:23.570 --> 00:25:25.950
want to read about this particular iron bar

605
00:25:25.950 --> 00:25:28.750
discovery you can read it uh, on

606
00:25:29.230 --> 00:25:32.150
what is uh, the universetoday.com website

607
00:25:32.150 --> 00:25:34.350
or you can go to the paper which was

608
00:25:34.350 --> 00:25:36.030
published in the

609
00:25:37.230 --> 00:25:40.030
Royal Astronomical Society Monthly Notices

610
00:25:40.590 --> 00:25:42.790
of. We could say it the other way around and

611
00:25:42.790 --> 00:25:44.900
you'd be right. Uh, yeah, um,

612
00:25:46.410 --> 00:25:48.050
but pictures uh, are spectacular in

613
00:25:48.050 --> 00:25:50.410
themselves. But the mystery itself is uh, is

614
00:25:50.490 --> 00:25:53.450
quite um, quite extraordinary. You're

615
00:25:53.450 --> 00:25:56.010
listening to Space Nuts with Andrew Dunkley

616
00:25:56.010 --> 00:25:58.330
and Professor Fred Watson.

617
00:26:00.650 --> 00:26:02.570
Professor Fred Watson: Okay, we checked all four systems.

618
00:26:03.610 --> 00:26:06.410
Andrew Dunkley: Space Nuts, our ah, final yarn.

619
00:26:06.490 --> 00:26:08.810
Fred uh, takes us into

620
00:26:09.270 --> 00:26:11.770
uh a bit of a mystery land. Um,

621
00:26:12.320 --> 00:26:14.520
something deadly that could be important in

622
00:26:14.520 --> 00:26:17.440
the origin of life. Uh and if

623
00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:20.280
you would ask people what is deadly to

624
00:26:20.280 --> 00:26:23.240
human life and life in general, um, you

625
00:26:23.240 --> 00:26:26.080
would come up with a few well known

626
00:26:26.610 --> 00:26:29.040
um, things including hydrogen

627
00:26:29.040 --> 00:26:32.040
cyanide. And that is the topic of the

628
00:26:32.040 --> 00:26:32.640
discussion.

629
00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:35.040
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, that's right.

630
00:26:35.170 --> 00:26:38.080
Um, now I ah, preface this discussion

631
00:26:38.080 --> 00:26:39.960
with something that you and all our listeners

632
00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:42.480
know already and that is that I'm no chemist

633
00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:44.780
and certainly no um, biochemist

634
00:26:45.100 --> 00:26:47.660
but um, this is a. Yeah it's a really

635
00:26:47.660 --> 00:26:50.590
interesting uh, study um,

636
00:26:50.590 --> 00:26:52.550
that um, I think comes from Swedish uh,

637
00:26:54.060 --> 00:26:56.940
Swedish scientists. Uh and

638
00:26:57.580 --> 00:26:58.860
it's, it's about

639
00:27:00.220 --> 00:27:02.660
hyd. Hydrogen cyanide as a

640
00:27:02.660 --> 00:27:05.660
molecule. Hcn. It's a chemical formula,

641
00:27:06.070 --> 00:27:08.970
um which we know occurs uh

642
00:27:08.970 --> 00:27:10.740
commonly in space. It's one of these

643
00:27:10.740 --> 00:27:13.020
molecules that seems to be readily formed

644
00:27:13.630 --> 00:27:16.350
um in the uh, coldness of space.

645
00:27:16.670 --> 00:27:18.910
So we find it for example in comets.

646
00:27:19.430 --> 00:27:21.950
Um, and that's one of the reasons why.

647
00:27:22.670 --> 00:27:25.490
Excuse me. There was panic in 1910, um

648
00:27:25.630 --> 00:27:27.510
when it was known that there was hydrogen

649
00:27:27.510 --> 00:27:30.430
cyanide in the tail of Comet Hallie. And uh,

650
00:27:30.470 --> 00:27:32.190
the Earth was going to pass through the tail.

651
00:27:32.270 --> 00:27:34.270
And so um, uh, I think all these

652
00:27:34.610 --> 00:27:37.310
uh, quack uh chemists

653
00:27:37.880 --> 00:27:40.710
uh made up their potions to stop you

654
00:27:40.710 --> 00:27:43.230
being poisoned by hydrogen cyanide. The fact

655
00:27:43.230 --> 00:27:46.170
that it's very, very rarefied

656
00:27:46.170 --> 00:27:48.810
gas wasn't something that impinged on their,

657
00:27:49.130 --> 00:27:51.130
on their consciousness. They just made money

658
00:27:51.130 --> 00:27:53.530
out of it. Yeah, uh, anyway it's in comets,

659
00:27:53.840 --> 00:27:56.240
uh, it's in clouds of uh,

660
00:27:56.240 --> 00:27:58.970
interstellar gas and dust. Uh, it's also

661
00:27:58.970 --> 00:28:01.610
present in large amounts actually as an

662
00:28:01.610 --> 00:28:04.210
ice in the atmosphere of Titan,

663
00:28:04.210 --> 00:28:06.810
Saturn's moon Titan. And

664
00:28:07.140 --> 00:28:10.050
um, it's um, not only on

665
00:28:10.050 --> 00:28:12.090
the atmosphere but it condenses out uh, on

666
00:28:12.250 --> 00:28:15.050
deposits onto the surface as well. And

667
00:28:15.050 --> 00:28:17.890
so the basically the

668
00:28:18.050 --> 00:28:20.530
link the rocks kids don't lick the rocks

669
00:28:22.210 --> 00:28:23.730
and don't breathe the atmosphere

670
00:28:25.790 --> 00:28:27.830
uh which you wouldn't want to anyway um

671
00:28:27.830 --> 00:28:30.450
because it's pretty horrible. But um, the.

672
00:28:30.610 --> 00:28:33.610
So, so that has led scientists to

673
00:28:33.610 --> 00:28:35.570
look more closely at ah, the

674
00:28:36.210 --> 00:28:38.970
chemistry uh and sort of

675
00:28:38.970 --> 00:28:41.340
physics as well of um,

676
00:28:41.660 --> 00:28:44.060
hydrogen cyanide. And in particular

677
00:28:44.540 --> 00:28:47.260
what they found is that it

678
00:28:47.260 --> 00:28:48.940
has essentially

679
00:28:49.500 --> 00:28:52.300
electrostatic properties that

680
00:28:52.690 --> 00:28:54.940
um, may encourage

681
00:28:55.950 --> 00:28:58.620
uh, it to assist with the

682
00:28:58.620 --> 00:29:01.500
formation of other molecules. It's apparently

683
00:29:01.500 --> 00:29:03.180
got really strong

684
00:29:03.900 --> 00:29:06.060
electric fields at the

685
00:29:06.460 --> 00:29:09.420
ends of ah, a solid crystal

686
00:29:09.420 --> 00:29:12.150
of hydrogen cyanide. Um and

687
00:29:12.550 --> 00:29:14.750
what they're saying is that that might be a

688
00:29:14.750 --> 00:29:17.190
property that would allow this

689
00:29:17.990 --> 00:29:20.950
deadly chemical nevertheless to assist

690
00:29:21.350 --> 00:29:24.310
in the you know the, the building

691
00:29:24.310 --> 00:29:26.950
up of uh, prebiotic

692
00:29:26.950 --> 00:29:29.950
molecules, the um, organic molecules that

693
00:29:29.950 --> 00:29:32.150
we think um, are

694
00:29:33.190 --> 00:29:35.470
basically the uh, the building blocks of

695
00:29:35.470 --> 00:29:36.920
life. Um

696
00:29:40.260 --> 00:29:42.900
so um, it's really

697
00:29:43.540 --> 00:29:46.260
a uh, really interesting piece uh, of

698
00:29:46.260 --> 00:29:47.540
work that

699
00:29:48.680 --> 00:29:51.420
huh these authors

700
00:29:51.420 --> 00:29:53.940
have highlighted that maybe uh,

701
00:29:54.580 --> 00:29:57.500
this thing that to us is anathema, hydrogen

702
00:29:57.500 --> 00:29:59.900
cyanide, maybe it's the reason why we're

703
00:29:59.900 --> 00:30:02.460
here, uh because of reactions that might have

704
00:30:02.460 --> 00:30:04.420
taken place. And of course that has

705
00:30:04.980 --> 00:30:06.870
um, some interesting uh,

706
00:30:07.760 --> 00:30:10.320
implications for Titan if it's commonplace on

707
00:30:10.320 --> 00:30:13.120
Titan. Titan's a world that we think

708
00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:15.810
could harbor life uh

709
00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:18.800
maybe in its uh, under ice

710
00:30:18.800 --> 00:30:21.119
oceans. It's an ice world like many of the

711
00:30:21.119 --> 00:30:23.680
other uh satellites of the outer planets, but

712
00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:25.920
also has these seas and lakes of

713
00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:28.920
liquid ethane and methane. Um, you know,

714
00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:31.360
maybe there are reactions going on

715
00:30:31.810 --> 00:30:34.370
in there that involve hydrogen cyanide that

716
00:30:34.370 --> 00:30:37.370
might have created uh, uh organisms that

717
00:30:37.370 --> 00:30:39.970
use these um, basically these

718
00:30:40.290 --> 00:30:43.010
um, liquefied natural gases which is

719
00:30:43.090 --> 00:30:45.690
what they are as their working fluid. Who

720
00:30:45.690 --> 00:30:46.130
knows?

721
00:30:46.530 --> 00:30:49.050
Andrew Dunkley: Well and that's something we've talked about

722
00:30:49.050 --> 00:30:51.690
before because we you know when you, we think

723
00:30:51.690 --> 00:30:53.850
of life, we, we look at ourselves, carbon

724
00:30:53.850 --> 00:30:56.650
based life forms that breathe oxygen and you

725
00:30:56.650 --> 00:30:59.390
know, and, and have a heavy reliance on

726
00:30:59.390 --> 00:31:02.270
water. But uh, why does it just

727
00:31:02.270 --> 00:31:04.990
have to be that uh, why can't

728
00:31:05.390 --> 00:31:07.910
life develop in an environment that we would

729
00:31:07.910 --> 00:31:10.030
find toxic and

730
00:31:10.670 --> 00:31:13.070
well basically hostile. But

731
00:31:13.790 --> 00:31:16.670
if you can create the catalyst for Life on

732
00:31:16.670 --> 00:31:19.150
a world like Titan. Why couldn't it develop

733
00:31:19.550 --> 00:31:21.950
independently as a totally different life

734
00:31:21.950 --> 00:31:22.270
form?

735
00:31:22.430 --> 00:31:24.190
Professor Fred Watson: Something quite different. That's right. And,

736
00:31:24.230 --> 00:31:25.850
um, you know, that raises the question, how

737
00:31:25.850 --> 00:31:28.330
do you recognize that it's actually life if

738
00:31:28.330 --> 00:31:31.090
it's so different from, from our, our

739
00:31:31.090 --> 00:31:33.930
living organisms? Who. Yeah, well, we

740
00:31:33.930 --> 00:31:35.730
don't really have a proper definition of what

741
00:31:35.730 --> 00:31:36.370
life is.

742
00:31:36.610 --> 00:31:38.970
Andrew Dunkley: No, no. And you, you.

743
00:31:38.970 --> 00:31:39.210
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah.

744
00:31:39.210 --> 00:31:41.770
Andrew Dunkley: Some people argue that a

745
00:31:41.770 --> 00:31:44.210
virus isn't a life form.

746
00:31:44.210 --> 00:31:44.690
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah.

747
00:31:45.010 --> 00:31:47.010
Andrew Dunkley: So is, is a, is a virus life?

748
00:31:49.330 --> 00:31:51.590
I've seen that argument tossed around a few

749
00:31:51.590 --> 00:31:54.230
times. So what debate

750
00:31:54.230 --> 00:31:54.710
rages?

751
00:31:55.990 --> 00:31:58.390
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah. A definition that I think NASA uses

752
00:31:58.790 --> 00:32:01.350
from time to time is a living organism is a,

753
00:32:01.900 --> 00:32:04.710
uh, self sustaining, self

754
00:32:04.710 --> 00:32:07.110
replicating organism capable of

755
00:32:07.110 --> 00:32:09.830
Darwinian evolution. And

756
00:32:09.910 --> 00:32:12.310
I actually think a virus would satisfy that.

757
00:32:12.310 --> 00:32:15.030
Andrew Dunkley: I think it would. And it does it fast.

758
00:32:15.910 --> 00:32:17.710
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah. And it does. And I think I've got one

759
00:32:17.710 --> 00:32:19.510
at the moment, which is why I feel so crook

760
00:32:19.510 --> 00:32:20.070
this time.

761
00:32:21.890 --> 00:32:23.170
Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, they hang on, don't they?

762
00:32:23.570 --> 00:32:24.090
Professor Fred Watson: They do.

763
00:32:24.090 --> 00:32:25.850
Andrew Dunkley: Well, you know that, that's, that's the

764
00:32:25.850 --> 00:32:28.730
natural order, isn't it, in the fight

765
00:32:28.730 --> 00:32:29.730
for continuity?

766
00:32:30.040 --> 00:32:32.930
Professor Fred Watson: Uh, that's what a virus does. Yeah.

767
00:32:33.170 --> 00:32:35.570
Andrew Dunkley: All right. Very interesting story. And,

768
00:32:36.680 --> 00:32:38.610
uh, don't go to the chemist asking for

769
00:32:38.610 --> 00:32:40.810
hydrogen cyanide because you want to, you

770
00:32:40.810 --> 00:32:42.810
know, revive a cat or something. Don't. It

771
00:32:42.810 --> 00:32:43.330
doesn't work.

772
00:32:45.410 --> 00:32:47.490
Professor Fred Watson: Because, you know, it's got, um, interesting

773
00:32:47.490 --> 00:32:49.250
electrical properties. It would be a good

774
00:32:49.250 --> 00:32:51.440
excuse, wouldn't it? Oh, yes. Well, we'll

775
00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:53.440
sell you some if that's the case. Yes, yes,

776
00:32:53.600 --> 00:32:54.880
why not? Yeah.

777
00:32:55.200 --> 00:32:57.040
Andrew Dunkley: I don't think you could get it very easily,

778
00:32:57.040 --> 00:32:57.520
could you?

779
00:32:58.160 --> 00:33:00.280
Professor Fred Watson: I don't know. You'd get. I don't want any,

780
00:33:00.280 --> 00:33:03.080
but I don't know, you'd, uh, have to go to.

781
00:33:03.080 --> 00:33:05.440
Andrew Dunkley: An illegal arms dealer or something, I think.

782
00:33:05.440 --> 00:33:06.479
Professor Fred Watson: But yes.

783
00:33:07.120 --> 00:33:09.280
Andrew Dunkley: Anyway, if you want to read about that, it's

784
00:33:09.290 --> 00:33:11.280
uh, in, uh, the universe

785
00:33:11.520 --> 00:33:14.320
today.com website. Uh, and

786
00:33:14.400 --> 00:33:16.880
I think there's probably a paper that I have

787
00:33:16.880 --> 00:33:19.120
overlooked where it's been published. But,

788
00:33:19.150 --> 00:33:21.580
um, uh, or you could go to the

789
00:33:21.580 --> 00:33:24.140
ACS.org website.

790
00:33:24.590 --> 00:33:26.980
Uh, ACS Central Science is where you'll find

791
00:33:26.980 --> 00:33:29.940
the article. Um, we're just

792
00:33:29.940 --> 00:33:31.260
about done, Fred.

793
00:33:31.260 --> 00:33:34.020
Professor Fred Watson: Thank you very much. You're

794
00:33:34.020 --> 00:33:35.860
welcome, Andrew. And, uh, thank you for

795
00:33:35.860 --> 00:33:38.220
having me. As always. It's a pleasure.

796
00:33:38.940 --> 00:33:41.260
Andrew Dunkley: It is good fun. We really enjoy ourselves and

797
00:33:41.260 --> 00:33:42.980
hopefully the audience does too. They've been

798
00:33:42.980 --> 00:33:45.220
sticking with us for a good many years now,

799
00:33:45.220 --> 00:33:47.820
which we greatly appreciate. And, uh, between

800
00:33:47.820 --> 00:33:49.620
shows, don't forget to visit us on social

801
00:33:49.620 --> 00:33:52.600
media, Facebook, Instagram. We might pop

802
00:33:52.600 --> 00:33:54.880
up in other places that I'm unaware of. I

803
00:33:54.880 --> 00:33:57.720
don't know. Um, we'll have to go and lean on

804
00:33:57.720 --> 00:33:59.560
an iron bar and have a few drinks and figure

805
00:33:59.560 --> 00:34:01.600
it out. And, um,

806
00:34:02.360 --> 00:34:04.920
on our website, you can also, uh, look around

807
00:34:04.920 --> 00:34:07.880
at the shop or the Astronomy Daily Newsfeed

808
00:34:07.880 --> 00:34:09.440
if you want to sign up for that. There's

809
00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:11.690
plenty to do on, on the website, so, uh,

810
00:34:11.690 --> 00:34:13.960
check it out. Uh, and thanks to Huw in the

811
00:34:13.960 --> 00:34:15.200
studio, who couldn't be with us today.

812
00:34:15.200 --> 00:34:16.520
We were talking about the weather earlier,

813
00:34:16.840 --> 00:34:18.960
Fred, and, um, I don't know if you know this,

814
00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:20.720
but Huw's from New Zealand, so once the

815
00:34:20.720 --> 00:34:23.080
temperature hits 6 degrees, it's way too hot

816
00:34:23.219 --> 00:34:25.939
for him to go outside. So that's why he can't

817
00:34:25.939 --> 00:34:28.299
be with us today. And from me, Andrew

818
00:34:28.299 --> 00:34:29.779
Dunkley, thanks for your company. We'll catch

819
00:34:29.779 --> 00:34:32.459
you on the next episode of Space Nuts.

820
00:34:32.459 --> 00:34:32.779
Professor Fred Watson: Bye.

821
00:34:32.779 --> 00:34:35.659
Andrew Dunkley: Bye. You'll be listening to

822
00:34:35.659 --> 00:34:37.219
the Space Nuts podcast,

823
00:34:38.739 --> 00:34:41.539
available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify,

824
00:34:41.779 --> 00:34:44.459
iHeartRadio or your favorite podcast

825
00:34:44.459 --> 00:34:46.219
player. You can also stream on

826
00:34:46.219 --> 00:34:49.219
demand@bytes.com. this has been another

827
00:34:49.219 --> 00:34:52.170
quality podcast production from bytes.um

828
00:34:52.170 --> 00:34:52.419
com.