April 2, 2026

Artemis Adventures, Interstellar Toilets & Unveiling Second Generation Stars

Artemis Adventures, Interstellar Toilets & Unveiling Second Generation Stars

Artemis 2, Space Toilets, and the Discovery of a Second Generation Star In this fascinating episode of Space Nuts, hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson take you on a journey through the latest developments in space exploration. With Artemis...

Artemis 2, Space Toilets, and the Discovery of a Second Generation Star
In this fascinating episode of Space Nuts, hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson take you on a journey through the latest developments in space exploration. With Artemis 2 set to launch, they dive into the mission's exciting details, including Australia's role in communication and the innovative design of the spacecraft's toilet system. They also discuss NASA's ambitious plans for a permanent moon base and the recent evacuation of an astronaut from the International Space Station, shedding light on the challenges faced in space travel. Finally, the episode wraps up with an intriguing discovery of a second generation star, offering insights into the universe's early history.
Episode Highlights:
- Artemis 2 Launch: Andrew and Fred explore the Artemis 2 mission, discussing the significance of Australia's CSIRO involvement in communications and the advanced technology behind the Orion spacecraft's hygiene bay.
- NASA's Moon Base Plans: The hosts delve into NASA's announcement of a $20 billion investment over seven years to establish a permanent base on the moon, examining the implications for future lunar exploration.
- ISS Crew Evacuation Update: A detailed look at the recent medical emergency involving astronaut Mike Finke, including the mystery surrounding his seizure and the ongoing investigations to ensure astronaut safety in space.
- Second Generation Star Discovery: Andrew and Fred discuss the implications of discovering a second generation star, known as Pick 2503, and what it reveals about the universe's formation and the lifecycle of stars.

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Stay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.

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WEBVTT

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Hello again, thanks for joining us on another episode of

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Space Nuts.

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My name is Andrew Unkley. Great to have your company.

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Hope you're well.

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Coming up on this episode and by the time you

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hear this, Artemis two should be on its way to

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the Moon. But more importantly, we're going to talk about

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their plumbing.

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That's very interesting.

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We'll also talk about CSIRO involvement in the mission and

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NASA's announcement about a moon base.

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It'll have toilets too, more.

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News on the ISS crew evacuation in January, and some

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real astronomy with the discovery of a second generation star.

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What is the second generation star? We'll tell you in

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a second.

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Fifteen seconds guidance is Internal ten nine ignition sequence Star,

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Space Nuts NY or three two one spacenutes.

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As when I reported Bill's good.

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And he's back for more, he is Professor Fred Watson,

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Astronomer at Large.

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Hello Fred, Hello Andrew, and back for more.

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Yes, and very excited because of where we are in

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the story of human exploration in the Moon.

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Yes, it is very exciting, all these years after the

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Apollo missions, and it looks like systems are go.

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Touch wood. I've got a wooden table.

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But yes, by the time people hear this should be

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well on its way, so we keep our hopes ever

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positive for Artemis too. Let's get straight into talking about

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the mission launch aside. There's a lot of cooperation that

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goes into missions like these, and that was the case

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with Apollo and many other missions, space Shuttle missions, etc.

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Since then, and this is no different. There's a lot

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of involvement and our very own CSIRO, the National Science Agency,

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is involved.

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Indeed, it is via NASA's Deep Space Network, which is

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actually managed by the Jet Propulsional Laboratory in Southern California,

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part of NASA, but that is going to be responsible

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for communication with the Orion spacecraft, which is the vehicle

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that's taking the Artemis.

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Two crew around the Moon.

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They will be responsible for that those communications while it's

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not in lower Earth orbit, in other words, while it's

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sort of on the way to the Moon, going round

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the Moon and on the way back, and so it's

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The Deep Space Network has three facilities, one at Goldstone

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in California, one near Madrid in Spain, and one near

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Canberra in Australia, and that's at Tidbinbilla. It's quite a

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major communications center. The tid Bimbila Deep Space Network Station,

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a place we've visited several times and has some fantastic equipment,

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including some very big dishes, that is going to be

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part and parcel of the Artemis two mission. So it's

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great that Australia is playing an enabling role in that,

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because the reason why you have three of these stations

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more or less equidistant around the Earth is that as

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the Earth turns, there will always be one of them

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which can contact any given spacecraft, except if that spacecraft

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happens to be Voyager two, which can only be communicated

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with by the Tidbinbilla facility. Because it is in the

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Southern Hemisphere sky.

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That is interesting, isn't it. Yeah, it was so far

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away now you can't really. Yeah, the angles are all wrong.

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I think that's right.

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Angles are wrong for them, Yes, it is so that

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for the other, for the two Northern Hemisphere stations, it's

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below their horizon permanently. So yes, so we Voyager two,

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of course carries no humans. It's a robotics. They're doing

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well if they're still there after microbes. Yeah, there could

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be microbes, and in fact they almost certainly will be microbes,

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and it probably playing cards in a corner somewhere, waiting

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for some suitable solar system to come along in about

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five billion years time.

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Yeah, that's something to think about, isn't it.

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That's right, Yes, it's of colonizing the universe.

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Yeah, I suppose back to the CSRO involvement, and if

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you look, if anyone's seen that great Australian movie The Dish,

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I'll know that the park's radio telescope was very much

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at the center of communications with the Apollo eleven moonwalk

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and relaying a lot of that radio traffic from the

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lunar surface.

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So we've got a history of it.

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Indeed, I mean.

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It's a very funny, very funny feel a lot of

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creative license. But ye, in fact, you know it really

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really put Parks on the map, didn't it.

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Yes, where it should have put Tidbinbiller on the map,

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because they did most of their work. Apparently it's always

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been a bone of contention because Tidbinbiller and in fact

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the dish that they did, in fact, it wasn't at

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Tidbinbilla then it was a place called Auroral Creek if

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I remember rightly, which is also near camera. But the

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dish that was used there for the Apollo missions was

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actually it's not used anymore, but it was recited to

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Tidbinbiller so for the Deep Space Network. And yes, I

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don't think I mentioned in my intro there that the

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the CSIRO operates. That's that facility on behalf of NASA,

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the Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organization.

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Yeah, terrific people, and yeah, they do a lot of

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work in silence. They do obviously publish their findings, but

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or they work or whatever it is they're doing, but

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people tend not to really notice them much, which is unfortunate.

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I thought that was I thought that was going to

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be a pun there because they a lot of them

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have to do with radio silence, to do with protecting

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radio astronomy facilities.

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That's one of the things. But you're absolutely right.

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They are the unsung heroes in many ways of the

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Australian scientific world. It's the National Science Agency.

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Indeed, so that's one aspect of this particular mission with

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the Australian communications involvement.

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Let's talk about the toilet. What's going on with the toilet.

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I'm glad you asked me about that. The main thing

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is that believe it or not, there is one on

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the Apollo Capsule, which is what the artemists two crew

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will be riding to and around them own in. It's

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got this private enclosure in the Apollo capsule itself.

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Apparently it's accessible.

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Through a hatch in the floor of the spacecraft, but

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floor doesn't matter when you're when you're in zero gravity.

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It's not big.

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Apparently, it's about the size of the restroom on a

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small passenger jet, and it was actually built by Lockheed Martin,

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who built passenger jets as.

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Well, I think.

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Still unlike the Apollo missions, in which three male astronauts

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had to virtually improvise over their more or less ten

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day trips to the Moon and back. This basically this

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toilet facility has echoes of the toilet facilities on the

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International Space Station. It's referred to not as about through

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but as a hygiene bay. It's got a door. There's

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a hinging door in the floor of the the floor

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of the Orion capsule through which the astronauts can access

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this hygiene bay, and you can either shut the door,

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or if you need a bit more room, there's a

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curtain that you can use. One of the quotes I

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love from actually one of the astronauts who's talking about

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their mission coming up. You would float over to the door,

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open up the hinging door and float on in the

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idea of floating.

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Into your floating in it's okay, But floating out.

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That's what might float out with you. That's they worry.

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But that's all taken care of by a fan apparently,

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so and squishing things down. Okay, I think actually I

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think it's a I think it's a polythene bag. I

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think it's a fan on the International Space Station, but

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not not in the in the Oriyan capsule.

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As long as you don't have to waffle stomp it.

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Okay, that sounds like, yes, I can sort of. You know,

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that countries up a picture in my mind that I'd

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rather not have.

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That's what we're doing.

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That's what you do when you take your dog to

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the dog park. You end up with something like.

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Possibly sad.

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But this is interesting because back in the Apollo era

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they didn't have anything remotely exotic like this. They had

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plastic bags apparently yep.

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And sort of slip on facilities that would only work

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for a male and yep.

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So that's all right, Thankfully they've caught up with the

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times and.

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Hopefully that all works.

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Well.

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Yeah, there is another subtlety, Andrew that might be of interest,

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and that is, and we've talked about this before, the

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urine on the International Space Station, which is an everyday

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product by its inhabitants, is actually recycled in a bid

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to make the International Space Station as free from as

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sustainable as possible, I guess is the way to put it.

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They recycle that and use it for drinking, which is extraordinary.

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Why don't we do that on Earth? Well, you can

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do it in space, But I do remember in the

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early days of the International Space Station they didn't do that.

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They used to dump the urine into space. And I

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can't remember which astronautic was who made that famous quote,

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there's nothing more beautiful in space than a urine dump

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at dawn, which is when the low angle of the

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sun catches all these ice crystals, which is what they

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are now. That is what they're going to do on

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Orion because the mission is short in that they don't

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need to go through the recycling process that can carry

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enough water with them, and so they will they will

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maybe see a urine dump at Dawn who.

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Now, okay, could be interesting. I'm not sure that they'll

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broadcast it. They're broadcasting quite a bit though, which will

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be fascinating. So we'll be able to keep an eye

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on things, just certain things we probably don't want to

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keep an eye on. But while we're talking about the Moon,

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there is one more story that's that's making headlines, and

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that is an announcement by NASA for a Moon base.

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That's correct, really, yeah, they've obviously been behind closed doors

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making a lot of plans and now they're ready to

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go public.

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A lot's changed actually in the last month. We've got

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Apollo three being the not the first landing on the Moon,

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but an exercise in low Earth orbit, which will test

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out the capabilities of both the SpaceX and the Blue

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Origin versions of the Lunar Lander. And then Artemis four

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will be the landing process itself, the lunar landing hopefully

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in twenty twenty eight. But the other big announcement, exactly

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as you've said from Jared Isaac Munday, NASA Administrator, the

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boss of NASA, is the idea of an point and appropriation.

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That's the word of twenty billion dollars over seven years

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in order to build a permanent moon base on the

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lunar surface. And that's a change in philosophy because it

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was not seen as being artemis was seen as more exploratory,

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with only the very later stages of the Artemist program

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settling anything like a permanent.

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Base on the Moon.

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But it looks as though over the next seven years

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that money is going to be spent on actually setting

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up shop on the Moon for perhaps long term, maybe

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permanent habitation, teaching us how to live on an alien world.

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One consequence of.

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This is that the the project to have a mini

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international space station in orbit around the Moon, which was

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called the Gateway spacecraft that has been put on pause,

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which probably means it's dead, I would guess, even though

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some of the main contractors have put a lot of

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effort into it, and in fact, I think most of

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the Gateway already exists, but it's being put on pause.

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It may one day be re you know, re invigorated

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to take to be useful for astronauts visiting the Moon,

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but at the moment it's on hold.

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Fair enough to.

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I guess putting a permanent base on the Moon is

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going to be divisive to a lot of people don't

229
00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:59.080
think that's a good idea, But if Nessa doesn't do it,

230
00:13:59.159 --> 00:13:59.759
somebody will.

231
00:14:01.159 --> 00:14:04.320
That's correct, yes, and we know who it will be,

232
00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:08.879
probably probably, Yeah, all right.

233
00:14:09.480 --> 00:14:13.840
Those stories are all available via the NASA website. You

234
00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:18.720
can also read about the CSIRO through their own website

235
00:14:18.759 --> 00:14:23.840
c csiro dot au and the Space Toilet. Well, I

236
00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:27.600
think that's probably on every website of the popular press,

237
00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:30.360
but you can read about it on space dot com

238
00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:34.399
as well. There's a Space Nuts with Andrew Dunkley and

239
00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:36.200
Professor Fred Watson.

240
00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:43.960
Space Nuts. Now, some time ago.

241
00:14:44.200 --> 00:14:47.399
We did a story about a crew evacuation on the

242
00:14:47.399 --> 00:14:53.799
International Space Stations Station involving an astronaut, fifty nine year

243
00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:58.879
old Mike Finkey. At the time, it was pretty scary,

244
00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:03.759
but they got him back to E pronto, and there's

245
00:15:03.799 --> 00:15:09.200
been a bit more information released about what transpired. However,

246
00:15:09.639 --> 00:15:12.799
we still don't know exactly what happened to him.

247
00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:14.399
That's right.

248
00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:18.240
We really only found out very recently that that's the

249
00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:23.240
identity of the astronaut who caused that evacuation back in January.

250
00:15:23.960 --> 00:15:29.960
Might think he as you've said, or think he apparently

251
00:15:31.720 --> 00:15:38.279
suffered some kind of seizure. We're not sure what I

252
00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:42.639
might just quote. This is actually a fizz dot org article.

253
00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:48.000
It's probably quoting NASA material. He was just eating dinner

254
00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:52.000
on January the seventh, after getting ready for a space

255
00:15:52.039 --> 00:15:53.240
walk the next day.

256
00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:55.879
When he could not talk.

257
00:15:58.200 --> 00:16:03.720
Suddenly lost the ability to talk and said he remembers

258
00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:07.440
no pain, but his anxious crewmates of quoting here jumped

259
00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:10.600
into action after seeing him in distress and requested help

260
00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:15.519
from flight surgeons on the ground. Fink said it was

261
00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:18.960
completely out of the blue. It was just amazingly quick,

262
00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.559
and said he the episode. Sorry, The episode lasted about

263
00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:28.840
twenty minutes. He felt perfectly okay afterwards and still does.

264
00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:32.320
Has never experienced anything like that before or since.

265
00:16:33.320 --> 00:16:34.519
Things that have been ruled.

266
00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:38.240
Out are a heart attack and probably some other, you know,

267
00:16:38.279 --> 00:16:41.120
stroke type symptoms, things of that kind.

268
00:16:41.240 --> 00:16:46.519
Yeah, they ruled out choking, Yes, yes, but yeah.

269
00:16:46.600 --> 00:16:48.679
There's a lot of theory going around as to what

270
00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:53.799
it could have been, Whether it was something to do

271
00:16:53.879 --> 00:16:57.519
with his physiological response to being in space for so

272
00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:02.960
long because he's been up there a few times. One

273
00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:06.359
of the suspicions is a clotting issue.

274
00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:09.359
One of the other.

275
00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:14.319
Suggestions is some kind of issue in the spine that

276
00:17:15.559 --> 00:17:18.599
might have affected him, but it's all theory. They don't

277
00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:21.200
actually know at this point what happened.

278
00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:29.279
One thing that is being done is checking NASA, checking

279
00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:34.440
the as thoroughly checking the astronauts. Oh sorry, the medical

280
00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:37.920
records of other astronauts who've flown on the International Space Station,

281
00:17:37.960 --> 00:17:41.400
because it's the total number now is probably five hundred

282
00:17:41.480 --> 00:17:43.119
or so. I can't the number of people have been

283
00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:47.039
into space, just to see whether there's any other related instances,

284
00:17:47.160 --> 00:17:48.599
anything similar to.

285
00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:49.440
This in any way.

286
00:17:50.839 --> 00:17:54.440
The you know, the there is an issue here, and

287
00:17:54.519 --> 00:17:59.079
once again quoting from fizz dot org, the astronauts said

288
00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:02.119
he can't provide any more details about his medical episode.

289
00:18:02.279 --> 00:18:05.319
The Space agency wants to make sure that other astronauts

290
00:18:05.400 --> 00:18:08.039
do not feel that their medical privacy will be compromised

291
00:18:08.039 --> 00:18:13.240
if something happens to them, which is completely fair enough. Yeah,

292
00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:20.319
he's apparently he's stopped apologizing to everybody after he was

293
00:18:20.440 --> 00:18:24.759
ordered to stop by Jonah Isaacman, the NASA boss. This

294
00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:28.279
wasn't you, this was space, right, His colleagues assured him.

295
00:18:28.920 --> 00:18:30.200
You didn't let anybody down.

296
00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:32.440
No, we're human.

297
00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:36.720
These things happen, and you've got to remember what a

298
00:18:37.640 --> 00:18:44.880
hostile environment space is it's not friendly, and it won't

299
00:18:44.920 --> 00:18:48.880
be the last time something happens to somebody in space,

300
00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:50.960
I don't doubt, because more and more and more and

301
00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:54.319
more people are going to end up in space doing whatever.

302
00:18:55.400 --> 00:18:57.519
There'll probably be a McDonald's up there one day. But

303
00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:02.920
things will happen. It's just whenever you expose yourself to

304
00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:08.160
a hostile environment, something's got to give occasionally. And the

305
00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:11.279
good news is he's alive and well and it seems

306
00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:14.440
to be okay now. But what happened, how it happened.

307
00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:18.519
I suppose they'll just keep investigating and maybe come up

308
00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:20.640
with an answer at some stage. I think the sad

309
00:19:20.680 --> 00:19:23.920
part for him is that he may well be grounded now.

310
00:19:24.920 --> 00:19:28.000
Yeah, it's apparently it's still hopeful of flowing again, as

311
00:19:28.039 --> 00:19:32.680
I'm sure all astronauts are, but yes, he might be grounded.

312
00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:35.599
That's right. It might just be seen as a step

313
00:19:35.640 --> 00:19:36.000
too far.

314
00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:38.880
What surprises me, Andrew, is that we've found out anything

315
00:19:38.920 --> 00:19:42.000
about this at all, because NASA was completely silent about

316
00:19:42.039 --> 00:19:44.720
who was involved and what the issue was. It wasn't

317
00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:47.440
an emergency, but it was something that they felt they

318
00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:51.839
needed to get the astronauts onto the ground quickly.

319
00:19:52.839 --> 00:19:53.680
What I didn't know.

320
00:19:53.799 --> 00:19:57.200
As well is that there's a portable ultrasell machine on

321
00:19:57.200 --> 00:19:57.920
the PlayStation.

322
00:19:58.119 --> 00:20:00.920
Yeah, they've got some gear upby got some gear up there,

323
00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:01.400
that's right.

324
00:20:01.799 --> 00:20:07.279
Yeah, which probably was handy, so it would have ruled

325
00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:10.720
out a few things immediately. But yeah, the good news

326
00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:14.359
is he's back in the land of the living. Well,

327
00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:17.359
he never left, but we still don't know what happened.

328
00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:20.200
But if you want to read about it, you can

329
00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:23.680
find that story at fizz dot org. This is space

330
00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:26.720
Nuts with Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson.

331
00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:30.759
Space Nuts.

332
00:20:31.559 --> 00:20:37.119
All right, our final story, Fred, is a real astronomical

333
00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:40.880
story with the discovery of what they're claiming is the

334
00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:46.400
second generation star. So look straight up, what is the

335
00:20:46.440 --> 00:20:47.559
second generation star?

336
00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:52.680
Well, the first generation star will be one of the

337
00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:57.279
first generation of stars formed in the universe. So after

338
00:20:57.319 --> 00:20:59.599
the Big Bang, the universe was well, it was a

339
00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:03.920
hot plasma for quite a while, cooled off, leaving basically

340
00:21:03.960 --> 00:21:07.799
called hydrogen and some helium and a few other trace elements.

341
00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:12.279
But it was the hydrogen collapsing on itself in clouds

342
00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:14.119
that led to the first stars being formed.

343
00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:16.079
So that will be the first generation of stars.

344
00:21:16.920 --> 00:21:21.519
The second generation would form as a result of the

345
00:21:21.559 --> 00:21:25.319
first generation of stars coming to an end or more

346
00:21:25.480 --> 00:21:30.759
gas clouds collapsing. But the trace thing is, and this

347
00:21:30.839 --> 00:21:34.440
is how astronomers are suspicious that this object. By the way,

348
00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:38.480
it's called pick two five zero three, which I quite like.

349
00:21:39.640 --> 00:21:44.599
It's in a what's called an ultra faint dwarf galaxy,

350
00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:48.079
one of the galaxies in orbit around our own Milky

351
00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:53.079
Way galaxy, and it's a very faint galaxy. Indeed, it's

352
00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:58.039
what gives away its second generationness, if I can put

353
00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:02.599
it that way, is elements which are found in its

354
00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:07.559
atmosphere which would have been produced by super and over

355
00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:12.400
explosions of first generation stars. So a super and over

356
00:22:12.440 --> 00:22:16.279
explosion is when a star collapses at the end of

357
00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:19.960
its short life. It's burned up all its hydrogen fuel,

358
00:22:20.440 --> 00:22:23.720
it's been generating other elements. It collapses, there's an explosion,

359
00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:27.400
and a lot of debris spread into space. Some of

360
00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:30.559
that forms the next generation of stars. This is a

361
00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:34.160
process that's still going on today, this process of enrichment

362
00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:38.319
of the what's called the interstellar medium, the gas between

363
00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:42.759
the stars. So that enrichment of that, you know, of

364
00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:48.440
that second generation star formation region included chemicals that could

365
00:22:48.519 --> 00:22:56.160
only have been produced in a first generation star explosion,

366
00:22:56.440 --> 00:22:59.039
and it's all about the ratios of iron and calcium

367
00:22:59.039 --> 00:22:59.920
and things of that sort.

368
00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:02.400
Okay, well that answers my next question.

369
00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:06.640
So I guess the question that follows that is this

370
00:23:06.680 --> 00:23:09.599
has made news obviously because this is not something we

371
00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:10.480
find every day.

372
00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:12.160
Is it a rare find?

373
00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:14.000
It is very rare.

374
00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:18.359
Yes, it's not unprecedented. I think there's at least one

375
00:23:18.440 --> 00:23:26.319
more hypothesized second generation star in a dwarf galaxy. This, however,

376
00:23:26.680 --> 00:23:32.160
is particularly old. So the second generation probably you know,

377
00:23:32.279 --> 00:23:35.160
went over a period of time, a few hundred million

378
00:23:35.240 --> 00:23:38.480
years perhaps, but what we're seeing here is something that

379
00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:41.759
happened right at the beginning of that process. So the

380
00:23:41.799 --> 00:23:46.240
observations were well, the star itself was discovered in Chile

381
00:23:46.359 --> 00:23:50.440
on a telescope not that different from our angle Australian

382
00:23:50.440 --> 00:23:56.440
telescope here in Australia. And it's something that people who

383
00:23:56.440 --> 00:24:00.480
do stellar astronomy astronomy looking at stars and studying the stars,

384
00:24:01.559 --> 00:24:05.079
they are always interested in looking out for these what

385
00:24:05.160 --> 00:24:09.200
are called very metal poor stars. Now, a metal two

386
00:24:09.240 --> 00:24:13.160
an astronomer is anything other than hydrogen and helium. It's

387
00:24:13.160 --> 00:24:17.400
all the heavier elements. So you know, carbons are metal,

388
00:24:18.119 --> 00:24:21.039
and silicons are metal, oxygen things of that, So oxygen's

389
00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:24.920
are metal too. Yes, sounds completely counterintuitive, but it's an

390
00:24:24.920 --> 00:24:28.920
old terminology that came at the beginning of spectroscopy astronomical

391
00:24:28.920 --> 00:24:33.480
spectroscopy in the eighteen eighteen sixties seventies. We've called them

392
00:24:33.519 --> 00:24:37.920
metals ever since, even though by you know, our normal terminology,

393
00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:41.920
they're not metals. But so stars which don't have much

394
00:24:41.960 --> 00:24:44.680
of iron or calcium or oxygen or anything like that

395
00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:47.759
are called metal poor and the search for metal poor

396
00:24:47.799 --> 00:24:51.759
stars is a very active area of stellar astronomers, involving

397
00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:53.880
some of the scientists I know very well because I

398
00:24:53.960 --> 00:24:57.000
used to work with on work with them on similar projects.

399
00:24:57.880 --> 00:25:02.759
So what general star would our sun be?

400
00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:04.359
Yeah, that's a great question.

401
00:25:04.440 --> 00:25:08.440
We don't know the answer to that, but it's it's

402
00:25:09.480 --> 00:25:12.440
the Sun's atmosphere is at a fairly high level of

403
00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:16.319
enrichment in terms of you know, what it's telling us

404
00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:20.319
about the gas climate when it was born four point

405
00:25:20.359 --> 00:25:23.559
six billion years ago, so it would be a late

406
00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:27.039
generation of stars, and I guess I don't know.

407
00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:27.920
It's a good question.

408
00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:32.319
Andrew, we're probably talking about dozens of generations rather than

409
00:25:32.359 --> 00:25:35.400
just four or five or something like that, since the

410
00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:37.720
Big Bang amazing.

411
00:25:38.680 --> 00:25:40.920
We don't want to be too old, because if it's

412
00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:42.920
too old, then you know, it might give up the

413
00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:44.359
ghost sooner than we want.

414
00:25:46.759 --> 00:25:50.240
No, that's right, it's already doing quite well. It's at

415
00:25:50.279 --> 00:25:52.720
an earlier stage in it's life than I am in mine.

416
00:25:52.759 --> 00:25:54.559
I think that's probably the way to put it.

417
00:25:55.559 --> 00:25:57.240
I think for most of us, if that's the case.

418
00:25:58.039 --> 00:26:02.799
Yes, that's right, all right, very interesting news a second

419
00:26:02.839 --> 00:26:06.720
generation star. You can read all about it at Sciencenews

420
00:26:06.759 --> 00:26:11.519
dot org, or you can find the paper which is

421
00:26:11.880 --> 00:26:16.400
available at Nature Astronomy. It's called Pick two five oh

422
00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:19.519
three if you want to check it out. That just

423
00:26:19.559 --> 00:26:22.160
about brings us to the end. Fred, Thank you so much.

424
00:26:22.920 --> 00:26:25.599
That's very exciting show this week. We might have a

425
00:26:25.559 --> 00:26:27.440
little more exciting one next week.

426
00:26:27.880 --> 00:26:29.839
Lots and lots and lots of things to talk about,

427
00:26:29.880 --> 00:26:34.319
and lots of amazing things happening yes here and beyond.

428
00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:37.119
So yeah, good one, real good one. Thanks Fred.

429
00:26:37.160 --> 00:26:41.160
We'll catch you on the next episode coming soon. Thank you, Andrew,

430
00:26:41.319 --> 00:26:44.319
See you then, Professor Fred. Wat's an astronomer at large

431
00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:46.400
and not forget to visit us online.

432
00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:47.200
Or on social media.

433
00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:51.720
We're on Instagram, We're on Facebook, We're on something else.

434
00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:54.839
I can't remember. Oh that X thing near We're on that.

435
00:26:55.960 --> 00:26:59.400
Or you can visit our website space nuts dot io

436
00:26:59.559 --> 00:27:02.400
and have a look around. Visit the shop, click on

437
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438
00:27:06.359 --> 00:27:08.839
comment through the Ask Me Anything tab at the top.

439
00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:10.079
Yes.

440
00:27:10.200 --> 00:27:13.160
All available at Space nuts podcast dot com or space

441
00:27:13.240 --> 00:27:14.240
nuts dot io.

442
00:27:14.440 --> 00:27:15.720
And thanks to here in the studio.

443
00:27:15.799 --> 00:27:19.079
Who couldn't be with us today Being an ex radio man,

444
00:27:19.160 --> 00:27:22.279
he thinks he's a first generation star. It just makes

445
00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:24.799
him very slow. He couldn't get here in time. And

446
00:27:24.839 --> 00:27:27.519
from me Andrew Dunkley, thanks for your company. We'll see

447
00:27:27.559 --> 00:27:29.319
you on the next episode of Space Nuts.

448
00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:33.839
Bye Byepacenuts. You'll be listening to the Space Nuts podcast

449
00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:41.559
available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or your favorite podcast player.

450
00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:44.839
You can also stream on demand at bides dot com.

451
00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:50.640
This has been another quality podcast production from nights dot com.
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