Mars Oceans Unveiled, Spinning Asteroids & Crew Evacuations

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Andrew Dunkley: Hi there. Thanks for joining us on another

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episode of Space Nuts. Great to have your

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company. My name is Andrew Dunkley, your host

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and I uh, hope you can stick around because

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we've got a jam packed show. We're

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once again going to Mars because

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they've looked uh, at some new evidence that

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uh, does suggest Mars oceans may have

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been vast. That is really

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exciting news. We're also going to look at

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the fastest spinning asteroid yet discovered.

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This one's uh, really in a spin.

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It's uh, making everybody dizzy. And the

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evacuation of the International Space Station

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uh, due to ill health. We'll see if we can

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get uh, some news on that because that's

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actually happening as Fred and I are uh,

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recording today. That's all coming up

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on this edition of Space Nuts. 15

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seconds. Guidance is internal.

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Voice Over Guy: 10, 9. Ignition

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sequence start. Space Nuts. 5, 4,

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3. 2. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 4,

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3, 2, 1. Space Nuts astronauts

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report it feels good.

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Andrew Dunkley: And he's back again to furnish us with his

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knowledge. He is Professor Fred Watson,

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Astronomer at large. Hello Fred.

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Professor Fred Watson: Hello Andrew. I was just doing a quick

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calculation there for a number that I want to

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use um, later in the chat.

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Andrew Dunkley: Now I need to apologise in advance because

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ah, they're working across the road and I

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think they're using uh, dynamite because

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it's pretty noisy um, but

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hopefully it won't mess me up too much. I can

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hear it but I don't know if it's coming

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through the system. It's got all sorts of

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filters but um, some things you can't stop.

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Professor Fred Watson: Um.

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Andrew Dunkley: Now Fred, I did want to actually mention a

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couple of things before we start on our

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topics because uh, I meant to do this last

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week for our first show back of the year just

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to highlight some of the things that are

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coming up in 2026 that we can look forward to

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and that you and I will probably talk about.

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The Artemis 2 launch is

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slated. Uh, whether or not it'll be delayed

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again remains to be seen. But um, that will

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see a crew doing a lap around the moon,

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uh, and that'll be the first time humans have

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been back uh, in orbit around the moon

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since the 70s which uh, is

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exciting and probably too long but um,

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that'll be good. Um, this one I know will

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excite you. The Grace Roman Space Telescope

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is going to be launched. That one um,

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is going to um, opened so many doors for

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us I suspect, um, the

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PLATO mission, uh, which will be searching

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for rocky planets. It'll uh, be doing a lot

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more than that. But that's one of the things

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that it's being set out to do. Uh,

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China is to launch its own space

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telescope as well, um, in the hunt

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for dark matter and dark energy.

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And there's another mission that's going to

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be studying uh, the moon and Mars. Well,

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several missions, not just one. Um, more

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Chinese and Japanese missions involved there.

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And I think this is one you and I have talked

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about before. The Smile mission, uh, which

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will be studying Earth's magnetic field and

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how the sun interacts with our uh,

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atmosphere, uh, is um, due to be launched

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this year as well. I'm sure there's a lot

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more going on than that, but there's some of

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the highlights of 2026 so

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uh, we'll have a lot to talk about.

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Professor Fred Watson: Fred, could I add a couple more as well?

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Andrew Dunkley: Oh, go for it.

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Professor Fred Watson: Um, we've just uh, heard that the Pandora

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spacecraft has entered orbit, uh, which I

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think is a spacecraft, uh, again looking

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um, looking at exoplanets to try

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and sort of tell us a bit more about how

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their atmospheres might reveal stuff. Um,

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China has just filed for 200,000

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satellites constellation with the

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International Telecommunications Union which

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is. Yeah, yeah, well it's not the biggest

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yet. The biggest was back in 2020 when the

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Rwandan government filed for over

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300,000. Um, uh, since then

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they've launched one cubesat, I think. So,

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um, that looked like a filing that

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getting your foot in the door. Uh, and just

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turning to nature. We've got some interesting

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events coming up. Uh, March 3rd, total

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eclipse of the Moon visible certainly from

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our hemisphere in Australia, not sure about

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North America and Europe. Um,

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there's uh, towards the end of the year and

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this will happen twice, uh, which is great

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cause you can see it on different sides of

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the Earth. I think it's October, sometime in

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October and sometime in November there will

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be an occultation of the planet Jupiter by

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the Moon. That means the moon will pass in

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front of Jupiter and certainly for us in

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November here in Australia it will be during

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the daytime. So get your binoculars out

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during the daytime, check out the moon and

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watch for Jupiter disappearing.

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Andrew Dunkley: Oh, that'll be good. Yeah,

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that'd be a good one for a backyard

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telescope, wouldn't it?

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Professor Fred Watson: Absolutely perfect, yes.

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Andrew Dunkley: Awesome. Um, I had my

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6 year old granddaughter here uh, the other

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day and uh, the moon was, was out in the

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east and um, it was still daytime but it was

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pretty prominent. So I grabbed the telescope

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and gave her a look and uh, I tried to

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explain to her what craters were and

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she struggled with the concept. But she

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eventually I think figured it out. But uh,

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yeah, took a couple of photos of her looking

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through the telescope. She was very excited

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which she sent to me.

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Professor Fred Watson: It was uh, lovely to see them, Andrew. Yeah,

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yeah, lovely, lovely shots. A youngster

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looking through a telescop with granddad in

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the background is great. Yeah, yeah.

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Andrew Dunkley: Uh, she's got blonde hair and blue eyes and

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her brothers and sisters are all brown haired

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and brown eyed. So. Okay,

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she, she seems to have picked up Judy's side

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of the family genes because Judy's blondie,

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blonde with blue eyes. But um, she's the only

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one in the, in the family that's, that's gone

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that, that way. It happens though, doesn't

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it? It's just the way it is.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yeah.

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Andrew Dunkley: That's DNA.

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Um, okay Fred, uh,

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let's get stuck into it because uh, we're

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heading off to Mars and we're

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doing this because of a study that's just

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been published. Uh, in fact in the

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last week, uh, or two about uh,

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observations of Mars that suggest

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that its oceans were once vast. Now

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we always knew there was probably surface

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water but we didn't really know whether they

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were, you know, pockets or separate

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oceans or what. But now they're thinking

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the oceans might have been

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enormous.

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Professor Fred Watson: Uh, yes, that's right. And I mean, you know,

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we revisit this story probably on average

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once every month or two. Uh, the

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last time we covered this, and I

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wrote it up actually in um, an Australian

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Geographic article, um, not that I did the

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research, but this is other people's research

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and that was pointing in the same direction.

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Andrew. It was um, a group that looked at the

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way um, rivers, ancient rivers on Mars, uh,

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meandered, uh, because you can learn

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something from the meandering about the

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size of the body of water that they're

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emptying into. And they came to the same

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conclusion. The river meanders tell you that

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there was a large body of water at the end of

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it at the mouth of these rivers, uh, rather

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than just a few puddles or a few lakes and

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things of that sort. Uh, and this new piece

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uh, of work, um, whilst it's a different,

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uh, you know, it's got a different emphasis,

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comes up with exactly the same answer. Uh,

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and it's scientists uh, who have looked uh,

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at the, I remember rightly there in

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uh, in Switzerland. Yeah, University of Bern,

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uh, it's scientists who've looked at the

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region around Valles, uh,

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Marineris, you know, that great huge

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chasm in the, uh, in the surface of

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Mars. Near Mars's equator. Uh, something that

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makes the Grand Canyon look like a bit of a

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scratch on the, on the surface of the Earth.

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Andrew Dunkley: Yeah. Is it right that the Grand Canyon would

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fit into one of its tributaries or something?

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Professor Fred Watson: That's right. I think that's correct, yeah.

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Andrew Dunkley: Amazing.

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Professor Fred Watson: Um, so they've been looking in that region

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and certainly on the northern side and the

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northern flanks there are valleys that

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um, sort of open out onto the plains of Mars.

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Because that uh, Valles Marineris is kind

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of right at the start of the highland areas

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of the southern hemisphere of Mars. Mars has

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got this dichotomy. The northern hemisphere

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is flat and low, southern hemisphere 3km

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higher on average, full of craters, mountains

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and all around rest of it. Uh, so um, uh,

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um, what they've done is they've looked at

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regions, uh, where, you know, where there's

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this transition from the mountainous

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highlands of the south to the

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lowlands of the north. And they've looked

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very carefully at uh, data from

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uh, several orbiting spacecraft, um, I

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guess Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is one and

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some of the other ones, um, actually even um,

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uh, um, ESO's

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ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. So, uh,

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Mars Express, another ESA, sorry, not ESO,

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ESA, uh, European Space Agency, Another

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um, uh, uh, orbiting spacecraft. They've

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taken the data from these, looked

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at the height, the

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topography and looked at the

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geomorphology. Let me get it right.

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Geomorphological, um,

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um, features that they can find.

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What have they spotted? They've spotted,

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ah, a whole succession of

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ancient river deltas, um, this

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is to say regions where a river mouth

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opened into what they're calling now

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an ocean, uh, and deposited

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um, its sediments. The sediments out of the

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river fall down to the floor, uh, of the

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ocean and build up basically

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a rock form, uh, which is preserved today.

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It's a kind of fossilized river delta.

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There's something similar going on, uh, as

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you and I have spoken about many times at

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Jezero Crater, which is why, um,

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perseverance is there, because there's a

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river delta there. But I think these are on a

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much larger scale. And um, the

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great thing is that when you look at them,

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they sort of define a shoreline,

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um, because these are all occurring

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at the same topographical height in

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Mars's geography. And so they

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basically uh, define a shoreline. And that

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shoreline tells you that um, there would have

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been a lot of water in Mars's northern

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hemisphere for the water level to reach the

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height that we find those deltas at.

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Uh, so really? Yeah, really nice piece

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of Work, uh, done with characteristic

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Swiss precision, I think. Uh, that's been

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widely reported. Um, there's several

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articles, uh, on the science news feeds,

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um, which basically support this idea.

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Very nice piece of research indeed.

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Andrew Dunkley: And they think it was as big as

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the Arctic Ocean on Earth, just by

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comparison. And how big as the Arctic Ocean?

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It's 14 million square kilometers or

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five and a half million square miles

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big, uh, in size. So that's a lot of

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water on Mars and uh, a lot of it's still

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there, Fred.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, that's right. We um, know from

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particularly, uh, the Phoenix mission that

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just scraped the surface in the Martian

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Arctic and sure enough there was permafrost

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underneath. So a lot of it's still there.

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There's still water locked up in the two ice

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caps of Mars. Um, but probably

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not. Well, I don't know. It's actually really

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interesting. I do remember reading quite some

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time ago that if you thawed out even just the

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Antarctic ice cap of Mars, you'd cover the

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whole planet to a depth of several meters.

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Um, now whether that still holds good with

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what we've discovered since then, that was

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quite an old, I think that was probably 20

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years, 15 years ago, so that that comment

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was made. It would be interesting to know how

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we evaluate that now. But I think it's still

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true, uh, that a lot of that water is still

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there.

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Andrew Dunkley: Ah, yeah, it is, uh, a

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fascinating story.

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Professor Fred Watson: Water means life.

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Andrew Dunkley: Well, yes, yes, we've said that many times.

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And you just don't know, do you?

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Professor Fred Watson: You don't. Yeah.

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Andrew Dunkley: Although the, uh, the mission to retrieve

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those um, cylinders that contain

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potential evidence of that.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yeah.

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Andrew Dunkley: Has been scotched. So it's just going to sit

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in abeyance for um, an

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indefinite period.

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Professor Fred Watson: So, yeah, I think, um,

303
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so this is news that, um, the Senate have

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um, basically agreed with the White House in

305
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saying that um, the Mars Sample Return

306
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Mission, uh, should be canceled. Uh,

307
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and so that will probably go through. It's

308
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not been voted on yet, I don't think. Um,

309
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and so that means, yes, we've got these

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canisters on Mars, uh, carefully dropped by

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perseverance, uh, but

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with a joint European Space Agency NASA

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mission to retrieve them, uh, which, whose

314
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cost has blown out. Uh, we've talked about

315
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this before, uh, and not perhaps

316
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surprising that it's now had a line drawn

317
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under it. Now that's bad

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news because we really would like to get hold

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of these samples. There's one in particular

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that may contain actually fossilized

321
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microbes. Uh, you know, um,

322
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so it's um, there's uh, every keenness to do

323
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that. Um, um, and I think it

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will. There'll certainly be a revisiting

325
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of this idea. Esa, I think, is still going

326
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ahead with their half of the bargain. Which

327
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was, I think, to build the orbiter which

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would actually bring the samples back to

329
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Mars. NASA's part was gathering them up on

330
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the surface and sending them up to orbit

331
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around Mars. Uh, so, you know,

332
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uh, it's bad news. There's a bright side to

333
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it though, in that the money that's being

334
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saved will probably go to some of the other

335
00:13:52.800 --> 00:13:54.960
missions that are being planned.

336
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Name your favorite planet. You might get some

337
00:13:57.960 --> 00:13:59.800
good news out of this. I know your favorite

338
00:13:59.800 --> 00:14:02.480
and probably mine too, is Mars. Uh, but,

339
00:14:02.500 --> 00:14:05.480
um, anyway, we'll see what happens. I

340
00:14:05.480 --> 00:14:07.760
wouldn't write, uh, the Mars sample return

341
00:14:08.060 --> 00:14:10.580
off altogether in my flights of

342
00:14:10.580 --> 00:14:12.780
fantasy. Last night, while my,

343
00:14:12.900 --> 00:14:15.740
uh, respiratory tract infection was

344
00:14:15.820 --> 00:14:18.220
making me cough all night, I was thinking

345
00:14:18.460 --> 00:14:20.860
maybe the Chinese could bring them back

346
00:14:21.740 --> 00:14:23.180
because I think they're planning a sample

347
00:14:23.180 --> 00:14:26.100
return mission as well. So maybe we do a deal

348
00:14:26.100 --> 00:14:28.220
there. Which would be fabulous international

349
00:14:28.380 --> 00:14:29.100
cooperation.

350
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Andrew Dunkley: It would. It would indeed. Of course, we

351
00:14:31.180 --> 00:14:33.460
could always start the conspiracy and say,

352
00:14:33.460 --> 00:14:35.140
what does NASA and the US Government know

353
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that they're not telling us?

354
00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:39.920
Hence no return. Yeah, yeah.

355
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Professor Fred Watson: Be careful what you, what you say, Andrew.

356
00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:45.430
Andrew Dunkley: No, look, I'm just kidding around, but, uh,

357
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it's just money, isn't it? That's, that's the

358
00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:48.560
thing.

359
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Professor Fred Watson: It's all about money. That's right. It's not

360
00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:52.320
about finding something with legs that you

361
00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:54.080
don't want anybody to know about.

362
00:14:55.520 --> 00:14:57.280
Andrew Dunkley: Yes, that's been done in a lot of science

363
00:14:57.280 --> 00:14:57.920
fiction films.

364
00:14:57.920 --> 00:14:59.340
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, it has. And um.

365
00:14:59.340 --> 00:15:02.280
Andrew Dunkley: Yes, all right. Great story about

366
00:15:02.280 --> 00:15:04.280
the oceans of Mars though. If you'd like to

367
00:15:04.280 --> 00:15:06.440
check it out, it's on the Phys p h y

368
00:15:06.440 --> 00:15:09.380
s.org website. Or you can read the

369
00:15:09.380 --> 00:15:11.100
paper that's been published in the journal

370
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NPJ Space Exploration.

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This is Space Nuts with Andrew Dunkley and

372
00:15:16.300 --> 00:15:17.660
Professor Fred Watson.

373
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Roger, in your labs right here.

374
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Also Space Nuts to our

375
00:15:24.540 --> 00:15:27.500
next story, Fred. And this

376
00:15:27.580 --> 00:15:29.940
is, uh, a really good one for a couple of

377
00:15:29.940 --> 00:15:31.740
reasons. It's something we haven't seen

378
00:15:31.740 --> 00:15:34.560
before, but it also involves the, uh,

379
00:15:34.560 --> 00:15:36.600
Rubin Observatory, which, um,

380
00:15:37.580 --> 00:15:40.400
has already, uh, done things that,

381
00:15:40.400 --> 00:15:43.270
uh, other observatories have not been able

382
00:15:43.270 --> 00:15:45.630
to do and promises to do so much more.

383
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This is the fastest spinning asteroid yet

384
00:15:48.670 --> 00:15:50.990
discovered. And a couple of headlines I've

385
00:15:50.990 --> 00:15:53.630
read suggested why hasn't it thrown itself

386
00:15:54.030 --> 00:15:56.870
to pieces because of the speed at which it's

387
00:15:56.870 --> 00:15:59.870
rotating and

388
00:15:59.870 --> 00:16:02.270
the rate is rather high when you look at what

389
00:16:02.270 --> 00:16:04.110
the average asteroid does.

390
00:16:04.910 --> 00:16:07.870
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, so it is a record breaker.

391
00:16:07.950 --> 00:16:10.750
It's the fastest spinning asteroid

392
00:16:10.970 --> 00:16:13.770
for its size. Uh, because I think

393
00:16:13.770 --> 00:16:16.090
smaller things can spin faster than this.

394
00:16:16.090 --> 00:16:19.090
It's uh, 710 meters long, nearly

395
00:16:19.090 --> 00:16:22.050
three quarters of a kilometer. Uh, so

396
00:16:22.050 --> 00:16:24.930
it's not a small asteroid at all. This

397
00:16:24.930 --> 00:16:27.770
is quite a large one. Uh, and

398
00:16:27.930 --> 00:16:30.730
it spins at the rate of one rotation

399
00:16:30.890 --> 00:16:33.290
every one minute 53

400
00:16:33.290 --> 00:16:36.290
seconds. So that

401
00:16:36.290 --> 00:16:38.930
is one heck of a spin. So that's its day

402
00:16:38.930 --> 00:16:41.170
length, Andrew. If you were standing on it,

403
00:16:41.170 --> 00:16:43.590
your day will be 1 minute 53 seconds. Seconds

404
00:16:43.990 --> 00:16:46.980
night and day, not 24 hours. Um,

405
00:16:47.430 --> 00:16:49.990
but uh, you're absolutely right. I think it's

406
00:16:49.990 --> 00:16:52.110
interesting for two reasons. One is exactly

407
00:16:52.110 --> 00:16:55.110
as you've said. It underlines, uh, just

408
00:16:55.110 --> 00:16:57.870
how powerful the Rubin Observatory is going

409
00:16:57.870 --> 00:17:00.630
to be. The observations of

410
00:17:00.630 --> 00:17:03.550
this object were made during the

411
00:17:03.550 --> 00:17:05.230
sort of commissioning period for the

412
00:17:05.230 --> 00:17:07.350
telescope's instruments, which was earlier

413
00:17:07.750 --> 00:17:10.750
last year, April and May 2025. Uh,

414
00:17:10.950 --> 00:17:13.630
and um, that you know, that um,

415
00:17:13.930 --> 00:17:15.490
as you probably remember, I think they

416
00:17:15.490 --> 00:17:18.170
released uh, uh, information saying they got.

417
00:17:18.170 --> 00:17:19.730
They discovered more than a thousand

418
00:17:19.730 --> 00:17:22.650
asteroids in 10 hours of observing, which is

419
00:17:22.650 --> 00:17:25.130
pretty fantastic. Uh, the telescope's

420
00:17:25.130 --> 00:17:27.290
capabilities will allow it to survey the

421
00:17:27.290 --> 00:17:29.930
entire southern sky every three

422
00:17:29.930 --> 00:17:32.370
nights, uh, with an eight meter class

423
00:17:32.370 --> 00:17:34.890
telescope. That is an astonishing achievement

424
00:17:34.890 --> 00:17:37.570
and we.

425
00:17:37.570 --> 00:17:39.690
Andrew Dunkley: Must find something incredible.

426
00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:42.800
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, we will. Yeah, there's going to be all

427
00:17:42.800 --> 00:17:44.560
kinds of things that come out of the

428
00:17:44.560 --> 00:17:46.670
woodwork. Uh, it's what we call, um,

429
00:17:47.570 --> 00:17:50.000
uh, sort of time sensitive astronomy or

430
00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:51.360
transient astronomy. You're looking for

431
00:17:51.360 --> 00:17:54.120
things that either move or change in the sky

432
00:17:54.120 --> 00:17:56.400
and it's going to be so good at finding them.

433
00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:59.480
And um. Yeah. So the real

434
00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:01.800
observing, uh, campaign, the Large

435
00:18:01.800 --> 00:18:04.400
Synoptic Survey, uh, will start

436
00:18:04.790 --> 00:18:07.560
uh, sometime this year, uh, sort of when

437
00:18:07.560 --> 00:18:10.240
they're ready to hit the go button. Uh, but I

438
00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:12.060
think everybody at the Rubin is pretty happy

439
00:18:12.060 --> 00:18:14.460
with the way things are going. Um, and just

440
00:18:14.460 --> 00:18:17.340
to sort of highlight that, you know,

441
00:18:18.300 --> 00:18:21.020
it's a telescope with this kind of capability

442
00:18:21.100 --> 00:18:24.020
to make many observations over a short period

443
00:18:24.020 --> 00:18:26.860
of time of the same area of sky. That has

444
00:18:26.860 --> 00:18:29.780
allowed uh, the scientists to

445
00:18:29.780 --> 00:18:32.540
discover the very rapid rotation

446
00:18:32.700 --> 00:18:34.980
of this asteroid. Because what you have to

447
00:18:34.980 --> 00:18:37.620
produce, uh, to look at the way an asteroid

448
00:18:37.620 --> 00:18:39.300
rotates is what's called a light curve. You

449
00:18:39.300 --> 00:18:41.700
look at the way its brightness changes. Uh,

450
00:18:41.700 --> 00:18:44.280
because most asteroids, asteroids are quite

451
00:18:44.280 --> 00:18:46.000
asymmetric. They're either shaped like a

452
00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:48.840
potato or a dumbbell. Very, uh, few are

453
00:18:48.840 --> 00:18:51.560
anything remotely spherical. Um, uh,

454
00:18:51.560 --> 00:18:53.760
this particular one is I think Quite

455
00:18:53.760 --> 00:18:56.520
elongated. And so as it rotates,

456
00:18:56.980 --> 00:18:59.800
uh, different sides of it catch the

457
00:18:59.800 --> 00:19:01.680
sunlight and you get a variation in the light

458
00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:04.540
that we see from it. Uh, and so that uh,

459
00:19:04.540 --> 00:19:06.600
has allowed, because it's, you know, it's

460
00:19:06.600 --> 00:19:08.920
only 1 minute 53 seconds for one

461
00:19:09.080 --> 00:19:11.600
complete revolution that has allowed the

462
00:19:11.600 --> 00:19:14.360
scientists to determine that fact,

463
00:19:14.800 --> 00:19:17.180
um, to the asteroid itself. You're right,

464
00:19:17.180 --> 00:19:19.700
it's interesting. It rejoices in the name of

465
00:19:19.700 --> 00:19:22.220
2025 MN45, a

466
00:19:22.220 --> 00:19:25.060
classic asteroid name. Um, and

467
00:19:25.220 --> 00:19:27.780
it's in the main asteroid belt. That's

468
00:19:28.100 --> 00:19:31.020
a good place for it to be between uh, Jupiter

469
00:19:31.020 --> 00:19:33.220
and Mars, where most of the asteroids are.

470
00:19:33.700 --> 00:19:36.540
Uh, but um, its rotation

471
00:19:36.540 --> 00:19:39.060
is what highlights um,

472
00:19:39.300 --> 00:19:42.140
the unusual nature of it. Because as you and

473
00:19:42.140 --> 00:19:44.340
I have spoken about before, many asteroids

474
00:19:44.340 --> 00:19:46.980
are uh, basically what we call rubble piles.

475
00:19:46.980 --> 00:19:49.380
They're just piles of debris which stick

476
00:19:49.380 --> 00:19:52.300
together loosely under their own,

477
00:19:52.520 --> 00:19:55.020
uh, gravity. Um, little

478
00:19:55.160 --> 00:19:57.940
uh, Dimorphos and Didymos, the

479
00:19:57.940 --> 00:20:00.700
two, uh, objects that NASA did the

480
00:20:00.700 --> 00:20:02.780
DART test on a few years ago, they are

481
00:20:02.780 --> 00:20:04.580
probably rubber piles. They've got the

482
00:20:04.580 --> 00:20:06.460
characteristic rubber pile shape, which is

483
00:20:06.460 --> 00:20:09.260
like two cones, um, uh, back to

484
00:20:09.260 --> 00:20:11.940
back. Uh, if it was a rubber

485
00:20:11.940 --> 00:20:13.620
pile, it would have flown apart

486
00:20:14.490 --> 00:20:17.450
gazillions of years ago, uh, with

487
00:20:17.450 --> 00:20:19.930
that short period of rotation, 1 minute

488
00:20:20.090 --> 00:20:23.090
53 seconds. So, um, uh, and when

489
00:20:23.090 --> 00:20:25.370
you look at the size of it and

490
00:20:25.880 --> 00:20:28.210
uh, interpret what the rotation means, it

491
00:20:28.210 --> 00:20:30.130
tells you it's probably made of absolutely

492
00:20:30.130 --> 00:20:32.570
solid rock. This is something that is

493
00:20:33.040 --> 00:20:35.570
um, going to be hard to pull apart, to

494
00:20:35.570 --> 00:20:38.450
rotate. For it to be that big rotate at that

495
00:20:38.450 --> 00:20:41.400
speed, it's got to be solid rock, um,

496
00:20:41.460 --> 00:20:43.800
um, making it uh, you know, in some ways even

497
00:20:43.800 --> 00:20:45.360
more interesting because we think the rubber

498
00:20:45.360 --> 00:20:47.340
piles are perhaps the more common uh,

499
00:20:47.480 --> 00:20:48.680
asteroids that we see.

500
00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:51.840
Andrew Dunkley: Do we, do we have any idea what would make it

501
00:20:51.840 --> 00:20:53.680
different, why it would be different? Is it a

502
00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:56.200
piece of a destroyed planet Theia?

503
00:20:57.400 --> 00:20:59.920
Professor Fred Watson: Well, yeah, could be, uh, might be part of

504
00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:02.790
Theia, the one that created the moon, uh,

505
00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:05.400
after, after it collided with the ah, Earth.

506
00:21:05.560 --> 00:21:08.240
It's more likely you're right. It's

507
00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:11.150
probably, um, you know, maybe part of the

508
00:21:11.470 --> 00:21:14.350
outer mantle of what would have been

509
00:21:14.350 --> 00:21:17.270
a protoplanet. In the early solar

510
00:21:17.270 --> 00:21:19.390
system, these things were the building blocks

511
00:21:19.390 --> 00:21:21.310
of planets. They collided and sometimes they

512
00:21:21.310 --> 00:21:23.230
blasted each other apart, sometimes

513
00:21:24.190 --> 00:21:26.990
they stuck together to form what we see

514
00:21:26.990 --> 00:21:29.510
in the solar system today. Um,

515
00:21:29.630 --> 00:21:31.990
and I, uh, think some of the collisions that

516
00:21:31.990 --> 00:21:33.510
would have happened in the early solar

517
00:21:33.510 --> 00:21:36.470
system, uh, may well have set an

518
00:21:36.470 --> 00:21:38.510
object like this spinning very rapidly. In

519
00:21:38.510 --> 00:21:41.140
fact, it might have initially been

520
00:21:41.290 --> 00:21:43.130
spinning even more rapidly. Than it is now.

521
00:21:43.290 --> 00:21:45.250
Because we're looking at probably several

522
00:21:45.250 --> 00:21:47.930
billion years ago. When whatever

523
00:21:47.930 --> 00:21:50.690
happened to it happened. So, uh, an

524
00:21:50.690 --> 00:21:53.690
object of some interest. And, um, one

525
00:21:53.690 --> 00:21:56.530
that I'm sure will be studied, uh, in

526
00:21:56.530 --> 00:21:58.770
greater detail. We might want to know things

527
00:21:58.770 --> 00:22:01.410
like, um, the infrared signature of its

528
00:22:01.410 --> 00:22:03.890
surface. Which gives you an idea of what the

529
00:22:03.890 --> 00:22:05.610
surface is like, how rough it is, whether

530
00:22:05.610 --> 00:22:08.140
it's a. Whether it's a smooth

531
00:22:08.140 --> 00:22:10.740
surface. What materials are likely to be,

532
00:22:11.090 --> 00:22:12.860
uh, found on its surface. That can all come

533
00:22:12.860 --> 00:22:15.260
from spectroscopy and also the science of

534
00:22:15.260 --> 00:22:17.500
polarimetry, which is what you look at to

535
00:22:17.500 --> 00:22:19.260
know whether something's highly reflective.

536
00:22:19.260 --> 00:22:22.020
Or rather rough and diffuse. So,

537
00:22:22.020 --> 00:22:24.340
yeah, m. I think there's lots to learn about,

538
00:22:24.530 --> 00:22:26.820
uh, 2025 MN45.

539
00:22:27.380 --> 00:22:30.380
Andrew Dunkley: Indeed. So it's in the asteroid

540
00:22:30.380 --> 00:22:32.500
belt between Mars and Jupiter.

541
00:22:32.670 --> 00:22:35.500
Um, people probably imagine

542
00:22:35.500 --> 00:22:38.020
that to be just a wall of roc.

543
00:22:38.800 --> 00:22:40.640
How do we get through it? But it's quite

544
00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:41.680
sparse, isn't it?

545
00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:44.840
Professor Fred Watson: It is, yeah. Yeah. Uh, it's

546
00:22:44.840 --> 00:22:46.880
sparse enough that, um, uh, several

547
00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:48.440
spacecraft have actually gone through it

548
00:22:48.440 --> 00:22:51.320
unscathed. Um, so,

549
00:22:51.320 --> 00:22:52.000
yes, it's.

550
00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:53.920
Andrew Dunkley: Well, I've never heard of a spacecraft

551
00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:55.600
actually running into anything out there.

552
00:22:56.720 --> 00:22:58.360
Not that there have been that many that have

553
00:22:58.360 --> 00:22:59.040
gone through, but.

554
00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:01.850
Professor Fred Watson: That's right. But, you know, as, um.

555
00:23:02.230 --> 00:23:05.040
Uh. Was it Douglas Adams. Space

556
00:23:05.040 --> 00:23:05.920
is big. Yes.

557
00:23:06.160 --> 00:23:06.560
Andrew Dunkley: Yes.

558
00:23:06.560 --> 00:23:08.440
Professor Fred Watson: You might think it's a long way down to the

559
00:23:08.440 --> 00:23:10.500
chemist at the corner of the street. But

560
00:23:10.980 --> 00:23:13.180
that's nothing compared with space. I think

561
00:23:13.180 --> 00:23:14.180
that was what he said.

562
00:23:16.100 --> 00:23:18.700
Andrew Dunkley: Yes, indeed. Uh, so if you would like to

563
00:23:18.700 --> 00:23:21.660
learn more about what the Vera C. Rubin

564
00:23:21.660 --> 00:23:23.820
Observatory has discovered, you can do

565
00:23:23.820 --> 00:23:26.620
that@the universitytoday.com website.

566
00:23:26.620 --> 00:23:28.300
Or you can read the paper in the

567
00:23:28.300 --> 00:23:31.220
Astrophysical Journal Letters. Which was,

568
00:23:31.340 --> 00:23:34.100
uh, only published on January 7th. So they're

569
00:23:34.100 --> 00:23:35.620
getting down to business early this year,

570
00:23:35.620 --> 00:23:36.100
aren't they?

571
00:23:36.260 --> 00:23:39.180
Professor Fred Watson: This is space nuts. Sorry. I was

572
00:23:39.180 --> 00:23:41.620
going to say, um, we always get a really

573
00:23:42.020 --> 00:23:44.300
good, um, crop of news stories at this time

574
00:23:44.300 --> 00:23:46.100
of year. Because it's right at the beginning

575
00:23:46.100 --> 00:23:48.700
of January that the American Astronomical

576
00:23:48.700 --> 00:23:51.060
Society has its annual meeting.

577
00:23:52.260 --> 00:23:55.060
And, um, so there's always some great

578
00:23:55.060 --> 00:23:58.020
stories. So, you know, that's why it was,

579
00:23:58.020 --> 00:23:59.540
uh. You know, it was published last week. I'm

580
00:23:59.540 --> 00:24:00.460
sure that's actually.

581
00:24:00.460 --> 00:24:02.980
Andrew Dunkley: It's actually very clever because as someone

582
00:24:02.980 --> 00:24:05.940
who worked in the media for 40 years. And

583
00:24:07.140 --> 00:24:09.380
had, um, to work a lot of Christmases and New

584
00:24:09.600 --> 00:24:12.280
Years, you quite often find you're

585
00:24:12.280 --> 00:24:14.640
struggling for stories because

586
00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:16.880
everything's shut down. So you're not getting

587
00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:19.200
the information that you normally get. So

588
00:24:19.600 --> 00:24:22.080
to actually be in a position to do stories

589
00:24:22.320 --> 00:24:25.030
like this at this time of year is

590
00:24:25.030 --> 00:24:28.000
um. Yeah, it's well

591
00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:30.830
positioned, as we would say. M. Uh,

592
00:24:30.830 --> 00:24:33.730
you can read all about it, of course. And uh,

593
00:24:33.730 --> 00:24:36.360
we uh, will certainly be keeping a very close

594
00:24:36.360 --> 00:24:38.920
eye on what the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is

595
00:24:38.920 --> 00:24:39.920
going to be doing

596
00:24:40.770 --> 00:24:43.710
um, from now on because it's uh,

597
00:24:43.710 --> 00:24:46.200
it's, it's, it's all up and running and uh,

598
00:24:46.430 --> 00:24:49.430
already doing some remarkable things. This

599
00:24:49.430 --> 00:24:51.230
is Space Nuts with Andrew Dunkley and Fred

600
00:24:51.230 --> 00:24:51.790
Watson.

601
00:24:55.869 --> 00:24:58.510
Space Nuts. Now Fred, uh, by the time

602
00:24:58.750 --> 00:25:00.670
people hear us talking about this story,

603
00:25:00.670 --> 00:25:03.630
things will have uh, changed a bit. But

604
00:25:03.630 --> 00:25:06.510
as we speak, uh, we understand that

605
00:25:06.510 --> 00:25:08.910
the Crew Dragon spacecraft

606
00:25:09.760 --> 00:25:12.520
is docking at the International Space Station

607
00:25:12.520 --> 00:25:15.160
to do the first ever crew

608
00:25:15.160 --> 00:25:17.680
evacuation. Now, after 25 years,

609
00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:20.480
I'm surprised this is the first time this has

610
00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:22.280
happened. But uh, there's been a medical

611
00:25:22.280 --> 00:25:24.560
issue. They won't elaborate on who or what,

612
00:25:25.300 --> 00:25:27.440
uh, but it's gotta be serious if somebody's

613
00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:29.440
um, if they're bringing the whole crew back.

614
00:25:29.600 --> 00:25:32.040
It's uh, a crew of four. There's seven on

615
00:25:32.040 --> 00:25:33.600
board at the moment. But they're bringing

616
00:25:33.600 --> 00:25:35.040
four back, correct?

617
00:25:35.040 --> 00:25:37.680
Professor Fred Watson: That's right. So, uh, there is a crew of

618
00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:40.680
three uh, now. So as we speak, um, I

619
00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:43.340
think they've probably undocked the crew

620
00:25:43.340 --> 00:25:45.180
Dragon spacecraft from the International

621
00:25:45.260 --> 00:25:46.980
Space Station. I think that happened an hour

622
00:25:46.980 --> 00:25:49.700
ago. And um, they

623
00:25:49.700 --> 00:25:52.700
will then re. Enter and bring the crew

624
00:25:52.700 --> 00:25:55.260
back in a pretty routine fashion,

625
00:25:55.600 --> 00:25:58.540
uh, landing in a few hours from now. Um, so

626
00:25:58.540 --> 00:26:01.460
you're right, it's Crew 11, uh,

627
00:26:01.460 --> 00:26:03.750
the SpaceX, um,

628
00:26:04.300 --> 00:26:06.140
what's called the SpaceX Crew 11 because

629
00:26:06.140 --> 00:26:07.700
they're the ones that go up and down in the

630
00:26:07.700 --> 00:26:10.460
crew Dragon, uh, rather than the Soyuts,

631
00:26:10.460 --> 00:26:12.180
which is the space vehicle that will bring

632
00:26:12.180 --> 00:26:14.720
the other uh, the remaining three astronauts

633
00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:17.720
down when their time comes to an end. Uh,

634
00:26:17.720 --> 00:26:19.840
you're right. It's a medical evacuation that

635
00:26:19.840 --> 00:26:22.640
Crew, Crew 11 consists of, um, if I

636
00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:25.490
remember rightly, two NASA, uh, uh,

637
00:26:25.490 --> 00:26:27.920
astronauts, one Russian

638
00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:30.520
cosmonaut and uh, a Japanese

639
00:26:31.070 --> 00:26:33.680
uh, astronaut as well. Uh, so they're coming

640
00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:36.440
home, uh, they're coming home something like

641
00:26:36.440 --> 00:26:39.120
a month early. And we are told as

642
00:26:39.120 --> 00:26:41.000
exactly as you've said that this is because

643
00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:43.710
of a medical issue which apparently is not

644
00:26:43.810 --> 00:26:46.710
uh, an emergency. It's not urgent, but it's

645
00:26:46.710 --> 00:26:48.630
thought to be something that is going to be

646
00:26:48.630 --> 00:26:51.630
much better dealt with on Earth. Uh, we don't

647
00:26:51.630 --> 00:26:54.030
know which of the astronauts has the issue.

648
00:26:54.650 --> 00:26:57.030
Um, I saw a picture of them posed just before

649
00:26:57.030 --> 00:26:58.990
they evacuated the spacecraft,

650
00:26:59.430 --> 00:27:02.350
uh, um, last night and they all looked

651
00:27:02.350 --> 00:27:05.230
fairly cheerful, uh, but um, so

652
00:27:05.230 --> 00:27:07.070
you know, uh, you can't really read

653
00:27:09.630 --> 00:27:11.510
from people's faces how they're feeling. Um,

654
00:27:12.410 --> 00:27:13.970
which is just as well because I feel pretty

655
00:27:13.970 --> 00:27:16.730
crook at the moment. So

656
00:27:16.970 --> 00:27:19.210
that's uh, because of my uh, uh, upper

657
00:27:19.690 --> 00:27:21.730
respiratory tract infection. Sorry to keep

658
00:27:21.730 --> 00:27:23.570
harping on about it. Anyway, going back to

659
00:27:23.570 --> 00:27:26.530
the more important story, Andrew. Well it's

660
00:27:26.530 --> 00:27:27.170
a good thing you're not.

661
00:27:27.170 --> 00:27:29.010
Andrew Dunkley: In the International Space Station feeling

662
00:27:29.010 --> 00:27:29.450
like that.

663
00:27:29.450 --> 00:27:31.290
Professor Fred Watson: Well, that's right, I, you'd have the same

664
00:27:31.290 --> 00:27:33.760
thing too. Uh, so, yeah, so,

665
00:27:33.760 --> 00:27:36.290
um, interesting. Uh, but your comment's well

666
00:27:36.290 --> 00:27:38.330
made. You know the fact that it's the first

667
00:27:38.330 --> 00:27:40.730
time in the 25 year history

668
00:27:41.290 --> 00:27:44.000
of the ISS, of the

669
00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:46.880
ISS being permanently occupied,

670
00:27:47.360 --> 00:27:49.960
um, the first time this has happened. And I

671
00:27:49.960 --> 00:27:52.360
think it was Jared Isaacman, the newly

672
00:27:52.360 --> 00:27:55.360
appointed NASA administrator, the boss of

673
00:27:55.600 --> 00:27:58.520
NASA, who made the comment. It might

674
00:27:58.520 --> 00:28:01.120
be somebody else but it is one of the

675
00:28:01.520 --> 00:28:04.240
high ups in NASA made the comment that

676
00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:06.760
when they planned the ISS and they were

677
00:28:06.760 --> 00:28:09.240
working towards it, they expected that there

678
00:28:09.240 --> 00:28:10.960
would be something like this happening every

679
00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:13.840
three years. So they've done pretty well

680
00:28:13.840 --> 00:28:16.110
to get through 2015, five years without um,

681
00:28:16.110 --> 00:28:17.820
needing to bring people home because of a

682
00:28:17.820 --> 00:28:19.580
medical issue. Yeah.

683
00:28:20.620 --> 00:28:22.460
Andrew Dunkley: While you've been talking Fred, I've just

684
00:28:22.460 --> 00:28:24.740
been looking online to see where things are

685
00:28:24.740 --> 00:28:27.660
up to and I've found a um, they did a live

686
00:28:27.740 --> 00:28:30.580
stream of the crew uh, Dragon docking at the

687
00:28:30.580 --> 00:28:32.620
International Space Station through

688
00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:35.540
uh, I think it's NASA's YouTube Music

689
00:28:35.540 --> 00:28:38.420
channel and you can, you can

690
00:28:38.420 --> 00:28:40.620
actually log on and, and watch what happens

691
00:28:40.850 --> 00:28:43.850
and see the whole process. It's quite

692
00:28:43.850 --> 00:28:45.890
incredible what we can do now isn't it with

693
00:28:45.900 --> 00:28:48.570
um, live coverage from space as ah, things

694
00:28:48.570 --> 00:28:51.410
unfold. It's uh, a far cry

695
00:28:51.410 --> 00:28:54.010
from those times back in the 60s and 70s when

696
00:28:54.010 --> 00:28:55.850
we were looking at those really fuzzy black

697
00:28:55.850 --> 00:28:57.250
and white pictures off the moon.

698
00:28:59.090 --> 00:29:00.850
Professor Fred Watson: Which was miraculous in its day.

699
00:29:00.850 --> 00:29:02.850
Andrew Dunkley: Oh it was in itself, yes. Yes.

700
00:29:03.170 --> 00:29:03.650
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah.

701
00:29:04.530 --> 00:29:07.130
Andrew Dunkley: Actually I am watching Crew Dragon detach as

702
00:29:07.130 --> 00:29:07.570
we speak.

703
00:29:07.570 --> 00:29:08.010
Professor Fred Watson: Yes, that's right.

704
00:29:08.010 --> 00:29:10.720
Andrew Dunkley: So that happened probably 30 minutes ago,

705
00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:13.640
give or take our time. Yeah,

706
00:29:13.760 --> 00:29:16.200
um, it's, it's like a slow motion ballet

707
00:29:16.200 --> 00:29:18.360
isn't it? When they uh, things in

708
00:29:18.360 --> 00:29:19.720
spacecraft.

709
00:29:19.720 --> 00:29:22.040
Professor Fred Watson: Ah, yeah, well you don't want to bang into

710
00:29:22.040 --> 00:29:22.520
anything.

711
00:29:23.080 --> 00:29:25.640
Andrew Dunkley: Yeah. Anyway, I hope all is well with

712
00:29:25.800 --> 00:29:27.910
the uh, individual involved. I'm uh,

713
00:29:28.520 --> 00:29:30.840
I'm not sure we'll ever find out what exactly

714
00:29:31.400 --> 00:29:33.480
the issue is. That's, that's subject to

715
00:29:33.480 --> 00:29:35.800
privacy from what I understand. But the fact

716
00:29:35.800 --> 00:29:38.800
that they've been able to go

717
00:29:38.800 --> 00:29:40.920
up there, get them, bring them back and deal

718
00:29:40.920 --> 00:29:43.760
with the problem is extraordinary

719
00:29:43.760 --> 00:29:46.480
because go back to the 70s when

720
00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:49.400
Skylab was in orbit. If someone got sick

721
00:29:49.400 --> 00:29:52.080
or injured in that situation,

722
00:29:52.800 --> 00:29:55.160
I don't know if we would have been able to do

723
00:29:55.160 --> 00:29:56.000
much in a hurry.

724
00:29:58.450 --> 00:30:00.640
Professor Fred Watson: Um, yeah, maybe not. I mean, there would have

725
00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:03.440
been contingency plans in place.

726
00:30:04.560 --> 00:30:07.470
It's, um. I think

727
00:30:07.710 --> 00:30:09.150
some of the things that might have brought

728
00:30:09.150 --> 00:30:11.470
somebody home from Skylab might be things

729
00:30:11.470 --> 00:30:12.710
that could have been fixed on the

730
00:30:12.710 --> 00:30:14.590
International Space Station because there is

731
00:30:14.590 --> 00:30:17.310
quite a, you know, a fair, Fair amount of

732
00:30:17.310 --> 00:30:19.670
medical expertise up there and some of the

733
00:30:19.670 --> 00:30:21.069
kit. But you don't want people taking

734
00:30:21.069 --> 00:30:23.190
appendices out and things like that in space.

735
00:30:23.190 --> 00:30:25.590
Andrew Dunkley: No, not really. You just have to wipe down

736
00:30:25.590 --> 00:30:27.710
the walls afterwards, and that's not fun.

737
00:30:28.510 --> 00:30:31.390
Although I should, um, counter it by saying

738
00:30:31.470 --> 00:30:33.910
we did recently have a situation where. Where

739
00:30:34.070 --> 00:30:36.190
a crew got stuck on the International Space

740
00:30:36.190 --> 00:30:39.030
Station for very unusual reasons due to,

741
00:30:39.190 --> 00:30:41.390
uh, incompatible spacesuits because of a

742
00:30:41.390 --> 00:30:43.830
failure in the Boeing Starliner.

743
00:30:44.230 --> 00:30:47.230
So, you know, that wasn't a quick

744
00:30:47.230 --> 00:30:49.150
rescue, that one, but it didn't involve

745
00:30:49.150 --> 00:30:51.630
illness or injury, so it wasn't as urgent.

746
00:30:51.630 --> 00:30:54.510
But, uh, sometimes it. It can be a

747
00:30:54.510 --> 00:30:57.310
slow process, but, um. Uh, yeah, but

748
00:30:57.310 --> 00:30:59.470
NASA's been very quick to point out that this

749
00:30:59.470 --> 00:31:01.590
has got nothing to do with an operational

750
00:31:01.670 --> 00:31:03.990
issue. It's, um. It's a personal issue.

751
00:31:03.990 --> 00:31:06.530
Nothing to do with an injury or accident on

752
00:31:06.530 --> 00:31:08.690
board. They want to make that pretty clear.

753
00:31:09.690 --> 00:31:11.810
Um, so, uh, yeah, we wish them well. They're

754
00:31:11.810 --> 00:31:13.530
on their way back as we speak. And by the

755
00:31:13.530 --> 00:31:16.450
time you hear this podcast, they will have

756
00:31:16.450 --> 00:31:17.650
returned, no doubt.

757
00:31:18.630 --> 00:31:21.330
Um, that's it, Fred. Gosh, we got through

758
00:31:21.330 --> 00:31:22.850
that in a mighty hurry, didn't we?

759
00:31:23.610 --> 00:31:26.530
Professor Fred Watson: Um, yes, I think

760
00:31:26.530 --> 00:31:29.170
we. We gave it due, due

761
00:31:29.170 --> 00:31:32.170
recognition. We've been talking for well over

762
00:31:32.170 --> 00:31:33.170
an hour, Andrew.

763
00:31:35.090 --> 00:31:35.730
Andrew Dunkley: Oh, have we?

764
00:31:37.810 --> 00:31:40.570
Doesn't feel like it, but no. Um.

765
00:31:42.290 --> 00:31:45.010
Professor Fred Watson: 38 minutes. I'm sorry. I'm misreading my

766
00:31:45.170 --> 00:31:46.130
clock. You're right.

767
00:31:46.130 --> 00:31:46.930
Andrew Dunkley: That's okay.

768
00:31:47.010 --> 00:31:48.530
Professor Fred Watson: Well, we got through that in a hurry.

769
00:31:49.010 --> 00:31:51.130
Andrew Dunkley: You're probably reading a Mars clock because

770
00:31:51.130 --> 00:31:53.890
we talked about it. It's going a bit

771
00:31:53.890 --> 00:31:56.810
faster. Um, now

772
00:31:56.810 --> 00:31:59.090
if you were to follow, uh, up those stories,

773
00:31:59.250 --> 00:32:00.850
I've told you where to go and look for them.

774
00:32:00.850 --> 00:32:03.770
But you, uh, can also read the show notes on

775
00:32:03.770 --> 00:32:06.430
our website, spacenutspodcast.more space

776
00:32:06.430 --> 00:32:09.230
nuts IO and while you're

777
00:32:09.230 --> 00:32:12.070
there, uh, you might like to, um, check out

778
00:32:12.070 --> 00:32:14.750
all the. All the tabs and,

779
00:32:15.050 --> 00:32:17.250
uh, links on our. On our website, the, uh,

780
00:32:17.350 --> 00:32:19.630
Astronomy Daily feed. You can subscribe for

781
00:32:19.630 --> 00:32:21.510
your daily dose of astronomy and space

782
00:32:21.510 --> 00:32:24.270
Science news. Uh, don't forget reviews.

783
00:32:24.270 --> 00:32:26.630
We really do appreciate your reviews. The

784
00:32:26.630 --> 00:32:29.630
more reviews, the more we get noticed. And

785
00:32:29.630 --> 00:32:31.150
the more we get noticed, the more people

786
00:32:31.150 --> 00:32:33.830
listen. And then, you know, we can buy

787
00:32:33.830 --> 00:32:35.550
ourselves an ice cream at the end of the day.

788
00:32:35.970 --> 00:32:38.730
Um, you can also send questions

789
00:32:38.730 --> 00:32:41.690
or comments in through the AMA link and

790
00:32:41.770 --> 00:32:43.610
so on and so forth. And don't forget to visit

791
00:32:43.610 --> 00:32:45.890
the Space Nuts shop. Uh, that's one thing

792
00:32:45.890 --> 00:32:48.810
that Huw, um, did some years ago

793
00:32:48.810 --> 00:32:51.110
and it's been very popular. All the, uh,

794
00:32:51.110 --> 00:32:53.370
Space Nuts memorabilia, if you, if you want

795
00:32:53.370 --> 00:32:54.930
to get hold of it. I've got, I've got my

796
00:32:54.930 --> 00:32:56.450
Space Nuts cup here somewhere.

797
00:32:56.450 --> 00:32:58.250
Professor Fred Watson: Here it is. Look. Look at this.

798
00:32:59.210 --> 00:32:59.850
Andrew Dunkley: There it is.

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00:32:59.850 --> 00:33:01.530
Professor Fred Watson: I never got, I never got one of those.

800
00:33:02.650 --> 00:33:03.650
Andrew Dunkley: I, I'd buy.

801
00:33:03.650 --> 00:33:06.810
It's

802
00:33:06.810 --> 00:33:07.610
good. That's good.

803
00:33:07.850 --> 00:33:08.970
Professor Fred Watson: I'm too stingy.

804
00:33:09.830 --> 00:33:12.710
Andrew Dunkley: Got shirts. We've got hoodies, we've got, uh,

805
00:33:12.710 --> 00:33:15.230
all sorts of bits and bobs at the Space Nuts

806
00:33:15.230 --> 00:33:17.890
Shop, uh, at our website. Thank, uh,

807
00:33:18.150 --> 00:33:19.430
you, Fred. We'll leave it there. We'll catch

808
00:33:19.430 --> 00:33:20.550
you on the next episode.

809
00:33:21.030 --> 00:33:22.950
Professor Fred Watson: Look forward to it, Andrew. See you soon.

810
00:33:23.430 --> 00:33:25.669
Andrew Dunkley: Professor Fred Watson, astronomer at large.

811
00:33:25.669 --> 00:33:28.030
And thanks to Huw in the studio, who couldn't

812
00:33:28.030 --> 00:33:30.830
be with us today, had to be evacuated

813
00:33:30.830 --> 00:33:33.030
after attempting, uh, a Michael Jackson

814
00:33:33.030 --> 00:33:35.310
moonwalk. Not good at his age.

815
00:33:35.310 --> 00:33:35.670
Professor Fred Watson: No.

816
00:33:35.910 --> 00:33:37.630
Andrew Dunkley: And from me, Andrew Dunkley, thanks for your

817
00:33:37.630 --> 00:33:39.670
company. We'll catch you on the next episode

818
00:33:39.960 --> 00:33:41.160
of Space Nuts.

819
00:33:41.240 --> 00:33:41.600
Professor Fred Watson: Bye.

820
00:33:41.600 --> 00:33:44.520
Voice Over Guy: Bye. You've been listening to the

821
00:33:44.520 --> 00:33:45.880
Space Nuts podcast,

822
00:33:47.400 --> 00:33:50.280
available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify,

823
00:33:50.440 --> 00:33:53.200
iHeartRadio or your favorite podcast

824
00:33:53.200 --> 00:33:54.920
player. You can also stream on

825
00:33:54.920 --> 00:33:57.880
demand at bitesz.com. This has been another

826
00:33:57.880 --> 00:33:59.960
quality podcast production from

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00:33:59.960 --> 00:34:01.040
bitesz.com