Dec. 23, 2024

Dyson Spheres, Dark Matter Mysteries & Time Twists: #480 Q&A

Space Nuts Episode: Dyson Spheres, Dark Matter, and Time Distortions #480
Join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson in the final fresh episode of the year as they tackle intriguing questions from listeners around the globe. From the mysteries of...

Show Notes
Transcript

Space Nuts Episode: Dyson Spheres, Dark Matter, and Time Distortions #480
Join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson in the final fresh episode of the year as they tackle intriguing questions from listeners around the globe. From the mysteries of Dyson spheres to the enigmatic effects of dark matter and the curious nature of time distortion, this Q&A edition is packed with cosmic conundrums and insightful discussions.
Episode Highlights:
- Dyson Spheres and Stellar Light: Explore the concept of Dyson spheres and their impact on planetary light and life. Uncover the truth about these megastructures and how they might affect solar systems.
- Dark Matter's Gravitational Pull: Delve into the hypothetical scenario of encountering a glob of dark matter in space. Understand the gravitational effects and whether a spaceship could be ensnared by dark matter's invisible clutches.
- Black Holes and Time-Space Switch: Investigate the theory that space and time swap roles beyond a black hole's event horizon. Consider the implications of this switch on the nature of escape and time travel.
- Time Distortion Without Gravity: Contemplate the possibility of time distortion occurring independently of gravity. Examine the connection between time, gravity, and acceleration as proposed by Einstein's theories.
For more Space Nuts, including our continually updating newsfeed and to listen to all our episodes, visit our website. Follow us on social media at SpaceNutsPod on Facebook, X, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favourite platform.
For more Space and Astronomy News Podcasts, visit our HQ at www.bitesz.com.
Become a supporter of this podcast for extended commercial-free episodes and more. Visit our Support page for options: spacenutspodcast.com/about
Stay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.
00:00 - This is our final regular Space Nuts episode of the year
01:45 - If a Dyson sphere surrounds a star, how does the planet get light
09:00 - Andrew Dunkley: Can dark matter be thrown out of a galaxy
12:38 - Fred from Sweden has yet another question about black holes
14:35 - There's a nice question on um, the physics stack exchange
16:23 - Buddy from Oregon asks question about time distortion and gravity
21:36 - Fred did a search on Google about the biggest astronomy stories of 2024
23:45 - We'll be digging up stories from the archives over the next few weeks
24:54 - Andrew Dunkley thanks Professor Fred Watson
✍️ Episode References
Dyson Sphere
[Dyson Sphere](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere)
Science Magazine
[Science Magazine](https://www.sciencemag.org/)
Square Kilometre Array
[Square Kilometre Array](https://www.skatelescope.org/)
Contact (Movie)
[Contact (1997)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118884/)
RAVE Project
[RAVE Project](https://www.rave-survey.org/)

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts--2631155/support.

WEBVTT

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

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My name is Andrew Dunkley. This is our final Fresh

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episode of the year, and I'll tell you what we're

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doing at the end of the episode over the Christmas

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New Year period. But it's a Q and A episode,

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which means we'll answer audience questions. We'll be basically focusing

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on Dyson spheres today. We'll be getting a question about

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the dark matter effect as a matter of fact, and

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black hole effects and time distortion without gravity and if

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you can chuck anything else, and we will time permitting

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on this Q and A edition of Space Nuts fifteen

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second the Channel ten nine ignition sign Space Nuts NI

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or three two.

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Space Nuts has.

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Been actually bought it.

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Bill's good And for.

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The last, last, last, last, last time official this year,

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we welcome Professor Fred What's an astronomer at Larchello. Fred?

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Hello, Andrew, good to see you again. You true really

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really been missing you.

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It's been so long. But yes, it is our final

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episode of the year and we've got all audio questions

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today and we'll try to answer one or two of them.

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But yeah, it's been a busy year. There's been a

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lot to talk about. Some amazing discoveries, some mysteries that

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continue to elude us, and that's what tends to spawn

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most of our questions. To be perfectly honest, are you

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ready to get into it? And we'll take question one?

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Why do we do that?

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Yes? Nothing else today? I think all the questions come

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from regular contributors. Our first one comes from mikey.

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Ethrid and Andrew Hope everything's well done there in the

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Southern Hammy. This is Mackey again from Illinois. If a

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dison sphere is a megastructure surround the star, how does

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the planet get light or is the planet inside of

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the dison sphere as well? And if the latter is

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the case, do you just prevent every other planet or

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that's already in that start from receiving any light, heat

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and energy, completely wiping out any other chances for life

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on any of those other planets and our moons orbiting

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it like you know, like Europa or tighten here, I

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mean without if I'm biggeno this right, If a dice

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and sphere in cases the sun, you know, how's how's

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life going to get a chance without any heat or

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sun or any type of energy from that star? Anyways?

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Just trying to wrap us all on my head. See

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what you guys think.

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Thanks, Thanks Mirky, you might get out of perspects, Mikey,

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that's really the solution, m I didn't know. It's a

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really good question. I haven't really thought about that side

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of it. If a civilization had enough technology to build

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a Dyson sphere and harness the energy of the Solar

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System's star, what happens to the light and what happens

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to the planets that reliant on that light and that

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energy that's been mopped up by an object that's basically

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surrounding the Sun.

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So that's the I guess the misapprehension that most of

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us have and what a Dyson sphere is because Dyson

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himself didn't envisage that his I haven't read the paper. Actually,

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it's published in Science back in nineteen sixty. It's called

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Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation.

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What he's saying is.

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That if you've got a structure built around a star

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because you've got such an energy hungry civilization, then you basically,

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you know, you build things around the star that collect

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the energy from the star and turn it into electricity.

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But they would naturally reradiate the excess heat in the infrared,

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and indeed he's suspecting that it would be perhaps the

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far infrared, longer wavelengths. So and his proposal was that

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that would be a far infra red signature around a

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star that you'd expect to be just pumping out visible light,

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wouldn't suggest that there was some sort of structure around it. Now,

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there is a quotation that I'm reading from Dyson himself

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who says a solid shell or ring surround a star

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is mechanically impossible. The form of biosphere which I envisaged

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consists of a loose collection or swarm of objects traveling

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on independent orbits around the star. And that's basically the

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bottom line that the dicesphere isn't really a solid sphere.

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It's a region around the star where you've got many

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objects in orbits, in independent orbits which are turning the

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energy of the star into electricity, so you're not harvesting

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all the light of the star. So Mikey's question is

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one that I hadn't really thought about before, but is

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almost directly answered by this, because you still have some

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of the radiation of the star that's leaking through coming

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between the swarming objects. It's not leaking, it's probably by

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far the bulk of that material. But you're adding to

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the light of the star this firing for a signature

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that tells you that there's object around the star that

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are artificial, and so you could probably put it wherever

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you want. I would guess the dysosphere around the Sun

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will be a swarm of objects, perhaps even inside the

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orbit of Mercury, and so there will be a slight

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reduction in the amount of energy going out to the

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rest of the Solar System. And it might be one

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of those things that would modify the climate of habitable

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planets like Earth. But it wouldn't shut down the light

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of the star altogether because you can't do that. It's

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mechanically impossible.

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It's dyce and so yeah, it certainly makes more sense

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when you explain it that way, and it's not dissimilar

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to what we're doing around the planet with communications satellites.

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I wonder if an alien species observing our planet from

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afar could detect that something's a little bit off because

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of all the satellites. Would that be possible? Do you

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think it would be?

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Well, this enough, you know, just straightforward radio radiation leaking

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from the Earth that will be detectable by certainly by

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a civilization having similar facilities to the square kilometer array

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which we have. The square kilmeter array claims that it

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will be able to detect an airport.

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Radar at fifty light years.

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So that's telling you that, you know, our airport radars

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will be detectable by as somebody at the other end

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having the same sort of equipment. Yeah, So it's so

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we're already we've already given away our presence in a

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cosmic sense. And I mean it's often quoted that the

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first high power radio broadcast that was made from Earth

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was the nineteen thirty six was it Munich Olympic Games

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that was broadcast around the world. And so there's a

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gentleman that wasn't really a gentleman, and that's saying a

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lot of things loudly and with force at that time

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in his speeches.

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His voice will be the.

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One that will go all around the local environment of

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the sun and make any alien.

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Not want to come here.

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I think, well, that was portrayed in the movie Contact

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with Jodie Foster, where the return signal from the alien

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species was images of the Nazis at the opening ceremony

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of the Olympic GA. Yeah, it was well used, very

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well used in that film. But in terms of a

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dison sphere around a star, yeah, not a solid object

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blocking light, but multiple objects collecting. What did you say

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on the infrared spectrum?

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And yeah, yeah, well really bilating it as far infra red.

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That's right, the collecting the visible light and re emitting

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it as far in for red. So it changes the

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spectrum signature of the star. And that's what Dyson's paper

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is about.

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All right, So nothing to worry about, Mikey, nothing to

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worry about. It's all good. Thanks, thanks for your question.

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Our next question comes from.

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Bill Hill, San Francisco Bay Area. I appreciate you guys

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answering my last question, which was can dark matter be

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thrown out of a galaxy and travel through space through

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some sort of gravitational event? So I'll give you an

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A plus plus and a cold star on that answer.

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Good job. And my next question has related if there

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was a glob of dark manner floating in space and

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I got too close to it in my spaceship with

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the dark matters gravity, pull me in and hold on.

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Jimmy and not let me go. So that's my question.

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Love the show.

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Thanks okay, thank you Bill. We'll be in San Francisco

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in a few months, Judy and know I. So we

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were going to once before, but we didn't. We regretted that,

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so we're going to go back. Yeah, the effect of

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dark matter. If you run, you're in your spaceship, in

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your yep, hit a glob of dark matter, or you're

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in its proximity. Are you stuck? I suspect not.

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No, I don't think you would be.

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Andrew.

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I think you're right.

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Because we've got We did some work on the Rave project,

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which I was involved with back in the early two thousands,

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which looked at the minimum size of a dark matter

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blob because we were measuring the velocities of stars, and

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if you've got blobs of dark matter, you would expect

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that to be revealed in anomalies in the velocities of stars.

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And we didn't see any anomalies. And I think that

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meant that you don't get dark matter blobs less. I'm

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trying to remember the number. I think it's about one

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hundred light years or thereabouts. Should go back and look

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through my stuff. But you're talking about very large lumps

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of stuff being the minimum quantity of dark matter, because

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we don't really know what it is. We don't know

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how it reacts with itself, but we believe that dark

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matter doesn't clump on those very small scales, and so

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you probably wouldn't notice it in your spaceship probably, you

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know the the It would be such a gradual change

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that your spacecraft would might deviate a tiny amount, but

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it certainly wouldn't be grabbed hold of so that you

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couldn't get away.

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So I think you said you wouldn't. You wouldn't have

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alarms going off, that's right. The claxons wouldn't be blaring

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or whatever it is they use on spaceships to tell

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you something strictfully.

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Wrong or something like that.

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Yes, yeah, so yeah, you probably wouldn't notice anything, Bill,

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You wouldn't even see it. It's just it's there. It's

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you know, we haven't even proven it, except we've proved it,

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we haven't found any is that right? No, I don't know.

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It's it's one of those mysteries we're still working on.

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We're looking for.

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Yeah, it's yes, there are many candidates for what it

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might be, but we haven't found any of them yet,

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so yeah, m hmmm, sort of telling about because of

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some sort that's the thing. Yes, that's it, that's what's

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the matter. All right, Thank you Bill.

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This is Space Nuts with Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred.

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What'son space Nuts? Okay? Our next question, Fred comes from Sweden.

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Hi Fred and Andrew, O.

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You're from the west coast of Sweden. Here, I have

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yet another question about black holes. Is it true that

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space and time swhich rolls the moment you paused the

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event horizon? And if so, does that mean that space

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can go only in one direction, in one dimension towards

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the center, hence being the reason why nothing can get out?

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And does it also mean that time can go in

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any direction inside the event horizon?

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Thanks?

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Love the show. Thanks okay, lovely to hear from you

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west coast. Is there an east coast of Sweden for it?

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I need to look at a bed certainly is yeah?

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Okay, okay, it's mostly forgive my ignorance, but I've never

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been to that part of the world.

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00:13:33.879 --> 00:13:36.759
Yeah, oh sorry, all right, So we'll be up there

219
00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:40.879
next month month after Lovely.

220
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All right, well, we'll be up around that way in

221
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July maybe July next year.

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I would think.

223
00:13:49.240 --> 00:13:51.840
I didn't you know, I've now forgotten this question.

224
00:13:52.759 --> 00:13:57.039
But it's about time and space in exchange on the

225
00:13:57.240 --> 00:14:00.480
advent horizon. And unfortunately I haven't had time to look

226
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at these questions in advance because I just had too.

227
00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:04.799
Much to do.

228
00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:08.840
And so that is one that I would need to

229
00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:10.120
follow up in.

230
00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:10.840
A bit more detail.

231
00:14:10.919 --> 00:14:17.240
I've heard the same thing, but I don't really know

232
00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:22.320
the physics of it. Just let me check something here, Andrew.

233
00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:24.120
I love it when we do this. I love it

234
00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:26.879
when we do this, just finding the answer on the fly.

235
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Well, it's good if we can.

236
00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:31.440
It doesn't always work.

237
00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:36.000
So here we are.

238
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There's a nice question on the physics stack exchange, which

239
00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:43.519
is our space and time interchangeable?

240
00:14:46.039 --> 00:14:46.240
Yeah?

241
00:14:47.159 --> 00:14:48.759
Yeah, And it's.

242
00:14:48.519 --> 00:14:54.039
Quite hard to quiet tired to tease out what's fact

243
00:14:54.039 --> 00:14:59.039
from what's fiction. It is all about Are there similar questions?

244
00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:03.639
I recognize that lovely as a metric for special relativity.

245
00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:08.039
There I often recognize equations and I quickly turned the page.

246
00:15:10.120 --> 00:15:12.480
Well that's one, yeah, I used to I used to

247
00:15:12.519 --> 00:15:15.559
put that in talks, that particular one when C squared

248
00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:18.000
DT squared plus d x square plus y square plus

249
00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:19.679
D squared equals d square.

250
00:15:19.720 --> 00:15:20.240
There you go.

251
00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:26.320
And that's basically it's a special relativity way of interchanging

252
00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:28.679
space and time. It tells you that the time is

253
00:15:28.679 --> 00:15:32.240
a dimension just like space. But that's not what OKI's

254
00:15:32.279 --> 00:15:36.759
question is, which is specifically about how it behaves in

255
00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:39.159
the vicinity of a black call. And I wouldn't need

256
00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:41.360
to follow up a little bit more detail on that.

257
00:15:41.399 --> 00:15:46.080
So apologies for the fact that that there's been so

258
00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:47.879
much going on in the last few days that I

259
00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:49.559
haven't got managed to get to that one.

260
00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:51.600
That's okay, we'll put it. We'll put a pin in

261
00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:54.960
that one, and we will get back to ORKI in

262
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the new year.

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We'll have a we'll have an episode in early janet

264
00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:02.440
mid January, I think where we can perhaps discuss that.

265
00:16:02.519 --> 00:16:03.320
So I'll put a yes.

266
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As you said, I'll put a pin next to it.

267
00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:08.559
All right, and I'm going to use a Stabilo foss

268
00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:12.960
highlighter and marketers homework. There we go, done, all right.

269
00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:16.000
We won't forget to walkie, and if we do, just

270
00:16:16.120 --> 00:16:19.480
send us a note and say, hey, bof DS, you

271
00:16:19.559 --> 00:16:23.600
forgot my question. We will get back to it. We've

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00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:28.200
got one final question, which is not unrelated, actually, Fred

273
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in terms of topic, this one comes from one of

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our regular sender Inderies. Here is Buddy, Hello Space.

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Answer is Buddy from Morgan. Haven't we've been thinking about

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time distortion and gravity if in our space or we'll

277
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say there was no gravity but there was a time distortion.

278
00:16:51.799 --> 00:16:53.679
Okay, well, what do you think that would be? Like?

279
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Seems like to me like there would be some kind

280
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of drag from the slower end of things, floor on

281
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the time time moving things. And I'm wondering if you

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work that out, that drag could actually be gravity. All right,

283
00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:17.640
Thanks guys, love the podcast.

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00:17:18.920 --> 00:17:22.000
Thank you Buddy. He's always got a bit of a

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curveball for us. Has Buddy, time distortion without gravity ultimately

286
00:17:28.519 --> 00:17:31.880
being gravity, I think was what the gubts of his

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00:17:32.039 --> 00:17:36.119
question was. And yeah, look at that.

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Well let me let me start because that's exactly what

289
00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:49.079
Einstein's thinking was where he when he formulated the special

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00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:53.359
general relativity theory. But you've got to remember that there

291
00:17:53.400 --> 00:17:57.519
is time distortion in special relativity, which has nothing to

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do with gravity. Special relativity is the theory that says,

293
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as things move as they get nearer, the faster nearer,

294
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the speed of light. All kinds of weird things happen,

295
00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:11.920
and time distortion time dilation is one of them. Your

296
00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:17.599
time system changes from the observed person to the person

297
00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:20.240
being observed. They've got different time systems, and that's just

298
00:18:20.279 --> 00:18:22.839
because of movement. It doesn't have gravity in it at all.

299
00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:28.559
So but he's right in that regard. But what Einstein

300
00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:36.480
then thought about was how that idea impacts on the

301
00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:38.640
gravity that we experience.

302
00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:40.319
He didn't.

303
00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:44.720
He basically didn't think of it as a drag. But

304
00:18:44.920 --> 00:18:50.960
his thinking was what we call well, he dreamed up

305
00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:54.519
something that we now call the equivalence principle, which says

306
00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:57.799
that gravity and acceleration are the same thing.

307
00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:00.440
So, I know, Buddy is right.

308
00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:05.640
A drag which you might think covers a deceleration is gravity.

309
00:19:05.720 --> 00:19:08.440
Gravity and acceleration are the same thing. And that's what

310
00:19:08.519 --> 00:19:14.160
allowed him to arrive at the general theory of relativity

311
00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:19.720
because it turns gravity into a geometrical phenomenon which we

312
00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:24.279
can understand. We've got the mathematics to understand geometry, and

313
00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:30.000
something called Remannian algebra Riemannian manifold is the is the

314
00:19:30.039 --> 00:19:34.240
mathematical shape of space as affected by gravity. It twists

315
00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:37.279
and turns as you put matter into it. And so

316
00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:42.000
general relativity is a geometrical theory and acceleration is part

317
00:19:42.039 --> 00:19:47.359
of that geometry. So yeah, So basically, buddy, that's what

318
00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:52.200
Einstein worked out, and that's what gravity is. Now you are,

319
00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:55.920
but we don't really understand it. I mean, what you're

320
00:19:55.960 --> 00:19:59.279
saying is it can be. It is identical to acceleration,

321
00:19:59.319 --> 00:20:02.000
and that equivalent principle, by the way, has been demonstrated

322
00:20:02.039 --> 00:20:05.319
with an accuracy of something like one part in in

323
00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:08.680
eighteen billion or something like that. It's a hugely accurate

324
00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:15.079
equivalence gravity and acceleration. We are told by Einstein that

325
00:20:16.039 --> 00:20:20.680
he imagined himself when he published the Special Theory of Relativity.

326
00:20:20.680 --> 00:20:23.240
He was trying to think how it would affect gravity,

327
00:20:23.559 --> 00:20:27.359
and he imagined himself jumping off a building and realized

328
00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:33.640
that he would be weightless as he fell. That you know,

329
00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:36.079
if he had coins or keys in his hand, that'd

330
00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:37.920
float out of his hand, his pipe had float out

331
00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:40.359
of his mouth, all of that sort of thing, And

332
00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:45.440
that was what led him to the to the equivalence principle.

333
00:20:45.480 --> 00:20:47.480
He called it the what did he call it? The

334
00:20:47.519 --> 00:20:52.839
happiest thought of his life? That gravity and acceleration of

335
00:20:52.920 --> 00:20:53.480
the same thing.

336
00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:57.359
Incredible. Yeah, at the sudden stop at the bottom that

337
00:20:57.440 --> 00:20:58.519
made the big difference there.

338
00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:01.920
That well, yeah, you don't want to go there too far.

339
00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:02.759
And you didn't do it.

340
00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:05.000
It didn't try out in reality. But it's what I

341
00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:05.920
always tell people.

342
00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:09.279
When you're on a trampoline, when your feet are not

343
00:21:09.359 --> 00:21:12.039
touching the mats, when you're in the air, you are

344
00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:14.839
as weightless as you are in space. You can hanceld

345
00:21:14.839 --> 00:21:18.279
out gravity because the acceleration is counceling out with gravity perfectly.

346
00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:22.119
Yeah, it's a fleeting moment of joy, that's all.

347
00:21:22.359 --> 00:21:23.160
That's fine.

348
00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:27.359
Thank you, buddy. Great question, and I love where your

349
00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:31.640
brain goes. I mean, you've got a very sharp mind, buddy.

350
00:21:31.640 --> 00:21:37.279
It's yeah, it's a delight to hear your questions. Okay,

351
00:21:37.319 --> 00:21:38.000
we'll take your.

352
00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:40.920
Space nuts.

353
00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:45.880
A question without notice, spread your moment of the year

354
00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:50.000
astronomically speaking, What do you reckon? What tickled your fancy?

355
00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:53.000
I'll give you time to think. But I just did

356
00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:55.920
a bit of a search on Google about the biggest

357
00:21:55.920 --> 00:21:59.799
astronomy stories of twenty twenty four. Artemus two is up there.

358
00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:04.200
The discovery of ultra massive galaxies there was a story

359
00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:09.720
about a white dwarf, and major events like the total

360
00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:13.839
solar eclipse in April and a few other things that

361
00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:16.960
popped up during the year. Those were probably the stories

362
00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:20.279
that got the most headlines. That doesn't necessarily make them

363
00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:23.000
the biggest stories of the year, they were probably the

364
00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:27.160
most published from what I've gleaned. Anything stand out.

365
00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:31.720
For you, Well, yeah, several things actually. On the I mean, yes,

366
00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:37.119
the eclipse was fantastic on the was it the I

367
00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:38.799
can't remember. It was in April sixth I.

368
00:22:38.839 --> 00:22:44.240
Think fourth fourth four let me check the from the

369
00:22:44.279 --> 00:22:45.279
eighth was.

370
00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:48.720
The eighth of April, so that was that was fantastic.

371
00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:54.720
But you know, eclipses every year or so, so you

372
00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:57.839
can see a good eclipse. This particular particular one was

373
00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:01.119
particularly good. It was a four minute eclipse, which is long.

374
00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:05.000
But a couple of months before that, the one in

375
00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:08.039
twenty year event was the auroral display on the twentieth

376
00:23:08.039 --> 00:23:11.559
of May. Was no ten to May. Ten to May

377
00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:14.319
a twenty four year event. And I saw the one

378
00:23:14.359 --> 00:23:16.519
twenty years ago because I could see that from the

379
00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:19.279
center of Edinburgh, but unfortunately the one this year I

380
00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:22.039
didn't see because, like you, we were under cloud for

381
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:26.079
weeks out of time. The discovery of the year though,

382
00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:28.359
I think it could be something we talked about in

383
00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:31.799
the last episode, the fact that it's beginning to look

384
00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:35.200
as though dark energy is not constant. That could be

385
00:23:35.720 --> 00:23:41.039
a Nobel Prize winning discovery eventually. So yes, that's a big,

386
00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:42.000
big news story.

387
00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:47.160
Yeah, it's huge. It is a huge story, all right. Fred.

388
00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:49.440
That brings us to the end of the year. I'll

389
00:23:49.480 --> 00:23:52.079
just tell people what we're doing over the next few weeks.

390
00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:56.359
While we're away. We'll be digging up stories from the archives. Yes,

391
00:23:56.480 --> 00:23:59.440
we've been around long enough to have archives, so we'll

392
00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:03.519
be talking about the first James Web images, the first

393
00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:08.279
image of Sagittaris a star, those moon samples that they

394
00:24:08.279 --> 00:24:12.680
took fifty years to open, Remember that story, exoplanets, that

395
00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:16.400
rain gems. There's a story in there about dark energy,

396
00:24:16.440 --> 00:24:22.519

Dyson Spheres, Dark Matter Mysteries & Time Twists: #480 Q&A

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