The Intricacies of Angular Momentum - What Happens Near Black Holes

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

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is Space Nuts. It's a Q and A edition where

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we answer audience questions. And,

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uh, we. I think we've got our very first

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question from Yemen. Uh, Hussein

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has sent, uh, it a question asking about

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radial velocity. Uh, Martin, one of

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our regular contributors, has a dark matter

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he wants to discuss. Uh, Peter

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in Sweden is talking angular momentum.

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Uh, that is the angular momentum of matter

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falling into a black hole. And a

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real bummer of a question. We'll tell you all

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about it on this episode of space

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nuts.

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Professor Fred Watson: 15 seconds. Guidance is internal.

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10, 9.

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Ignition sequence start. Space nuts.

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Berman Gorvine: 5, 4, 3, 2.

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Professor Fred Watson: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 4, 3,

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2, 1.

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Andrew Dunkley: Space nuts.

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Professor Fred Watson: Astronauts report it feels good.

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Andrew Dunkley: And he's back again to solve all your

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riddles. It's Professor Fred Watson Watson,

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astronomer at large. Hello, Fred Watson.

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Professor Fred Watson: Hello, Andrew. Good to see you again. I

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always hoped we'd get back together again one

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day and here we've been ages.

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Andrew Dunkley: About two minutes. Uh, yeah.

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Um, anyway, I love the

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Q and A programme, I really do, because it

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gives people a chance to, um, dump on us

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and see how much we can mess it up. And

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that's always fun. Um, we might

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get straight into it. Fred Watson and

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I was very excited to see that. We've got a

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question from Yemen. I never thought we. I

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didn't even know we were heard in Yemen,

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so that's really fantastic. And,

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um, this one comes from Hussain, who says,

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I'm a huge fan of the podcast Calling in from

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Yemen. See, I was right. It was Yemen. Ah,

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First, a quick confession. I hope you're not

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offended, but Space Nuts is my absolute

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favourite show to listen to when I'm falling

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asleep.

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Your voices are incredibly soothing. Uh,

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though I promise I do actually listen to the

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science before I drift off. I

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appreciate that. Um, my wife says I keep

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her awake, um, because I snore, but

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I don't believe it. I've never heard me. Uh,

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my question is about the radial velocity

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method for detecting exoplanets. I understand

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that a star wobbles because of the

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gravitational pull of its orbiting planets.

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However, how do astronomers use this

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method to isolate individual planets? For

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example, our sun must wobble because Mercury,

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Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and the rest pull

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in different directions at the same time. If

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an alien astronomer were looking at our

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sun's wobble from across the galaxy, would

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they actually be able to untangle that

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messy combined signal to

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identify individual planets and their

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specific characteristics?

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Or does the wobble method just tell us, hey,

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there are planets here, without giving away

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the exact Details of who's who. Love

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the show. Keep up the fantastic work,

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Hussein. That's a really well crafted

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question. Thank you, Hussain.

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Professor Fred Watson: It is a great question as well. Uh, and

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the answer in a way is both.

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Um, the two alternatives that

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Hussein's put forward, uh, can you

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disentangle them or does the wobble method

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just tell us, hey, there are planets there,

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without giving away the exact details and

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what differentiates

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between them is first of

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all how bright the star is, how near it is.

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So what kind of strength of signal you get in

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terms of measuring the velocity of the star

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itself by this Doppler wobble method,

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uh, to analyse for planets. But also it

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depends on the sizes of the planets

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and on their mix, uh, as well.

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Um, so, uh, just thinking about

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the solar system, we've got the biggest

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planet, Jupiter. That's the one that has by

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far the biggest effect on the sun.

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Saturn comes next, uh, in terms of its

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size. And then the other two, uh, gas giants,

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uh, uh, Uranus and Neptune, uh,

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the terrestrial planets or rocky planets

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also have an effect. Uh,

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but because their masses are much lower, the

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effect is also much lower.

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It's mitigated slightly by by the fact that

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they're nearer to the sun, uh, but

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nevertheless they're much, much weaker than

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the gas giants. So if you were, uh,

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uh, an alien on a planet,

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uh, orbiting a star maybe eight or nine light

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years away, something like that, which is the

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distance to Sirius, uh, the brightest star in

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the sky, and you're looking back at the solar

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system, uh, the first thing you

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would see would be, uh,

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the main motion which would be due

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to Jupiter because its mass is so much

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bigger. The other planets, however,

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if you had really highly

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accurate velocity measurements and

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you'd need them almost to

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centimetres per second accuracy, uh,

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it can be done. Uh, there are ways of

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calibrating spectrographs to let you do this.

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Uh, but if you did have these really accurate

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readings and you could do

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your measurements almost 24 7,

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which you can't because, uh, certainly if

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we're anything like the Earth, you've got

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daylight coming in the way. Uh, but what

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you want to do is fill in the time domain as

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full as you can to get as many data

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points as you can, then what you would

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do, you'd build up a picture which would

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be dominated by Jupiter. But the

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graph of the speed of the star,

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the wobble of the star would have little ups

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and downs in it caused by the

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other planets. Uh, and you

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can disentangle those. There is

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a technique called Fourier analysis,

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uh, it uses, uh, things that we call fast

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Fourier transforms, which is a mathematical

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tool that um, kind of dates

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from the early days of computing, in fact,

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well before that when people did their

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calculations by hand. But for this, it's a

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way of disentangling just how many,

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what we might call periodicities, in other

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words, how many regular, um, passages

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are there, ah, caused

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by individual planets, if I can put it that

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way.

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So you can tease out the effect of

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each individual planet because they all have

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different periods of revolution, uh,

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around the sun. In the case of, if

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you're looking at the solar system. So, um,

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if you've got good enough data, you can uh,

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as Hussein suggests, uh, identify

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the individual planets and their specific

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characteristics. But if your data aren't so

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good, then you're basically just seeing the

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biggest ones of them. And that's just telling

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you that there's at least one planet there.

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Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, early on when we started discovering

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uh, exoplanets, we were only finding the big

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ones, weren't we? We assumed there were small

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ones, but it took us a long time to find the

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first one, didn't it?

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Professor Fred Watson: That's right. And in fact, um,

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it highlights the uh, the

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deficiencies of the Doppler wobble method,

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what Hussain was talking about as a way to

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discover planets, because it's really,

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that's most sensitive to the biggest ones.

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Uh, it was when the Kepler spacecraft,

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uh, and uh, Tess, the

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other, um, planet finding spacecraft, when

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they started looking in detail at the way the

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brightness of stars changed, uh, as

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planets passed in front of their parent

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stars. Uh, that's when we

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started discovering the smaller ones because

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the smaller ones are actually, uh, easier

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to discover that way.

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Andrew Dunkley: Um, here's a dumb question.

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Can we, can,

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can we look with accuracy at

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the wobble of our own sun because of

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the planets surrounding it, including our

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own?

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Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, uh, you can, yes.

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Um, and um, you

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can actually find, um, uh,

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diagrams showing the way.

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It's what we call the barycenter. The

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barycenter of the solar system is its

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centre of gravity, which takes into account

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not just the sun, uh, but the planets

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as well. And the barycenter does wander

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around. Uh, mostly it's inside

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the sun. It does come outside the sun

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from time to time. Uh, but uh, you can

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find charts showing exactly how that happens.

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Uh, you know, little maps of the way the

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barycentra of the solar system wanders around

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relative to the sun.

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Berman Gorvine: Okay.

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Andrew Dunkley: I wondered, I didn't know if we

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could do it within our own sphere. So to

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speak.

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Professor Fred Watson: Not a dumb question at all. Absolutely.

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Andrew Dunkley: There you go. I occasionally ask one that's

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adequate. Uh, and uh, thank you

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to Hussain for sending that question in from

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Yemen. Lovely to hear from you. And you're

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listening to SpaceNuts with Andrew Dunkley

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and Professor Fred Watson Watson.

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Let's take a quick break from the show to

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spacenuts a special URL for space nuts

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listener, uh, listeners. To find out more,

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that's nordvpn.com

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spacenuts and don't forget the code word

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Space Nuts.

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Professor Fred Watson: I'm going to step off the land now.

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That's one small step for man.

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Berman Gorvine: One

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Berman Gorvine: Space Nuts.

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Andrew Dunkley: Let's hit uh, you with an audio question from

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one of our regular contributors.

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Berman Gorvine: Hello, Space Nuts.

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Martin Berman Gorvine here from

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Potomac, Maryland, usa,

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writer extraordinaire in many

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genres. With a

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slightly less silly, though

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still highly

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speculative question.

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Since dark energy is

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thought to pervade the entire

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universe, would it

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be possible, at least in

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theory, to harness that energy

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to drive space flight? And

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if so, uh, could you make

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a spacecraft go arbitrarily

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fast? By that means, you

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know, 99 point a whole bunch of

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nines percent of

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uh, the Speed of light for

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that extra relativistic

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Philip. So that when you

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step out at your destination,

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the uh, universe has aged

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significantly, but you,

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the traveller, have not.

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Can't wait for the

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answer. Which will probably involve

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Professor Watson shooting me down in

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flames as usual. Berman

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Gorvine, over and

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out.

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Andrew Dunkley: Thanks, Martin. Martin sent me a couple

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copy, uh, of uh, two of his latest books

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which I haven't had a chance to, to read and

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I did promise I would but um, uh, I was too

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busy writing my own. So, uh,

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um, but I will get to the.

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Martin, thanks for sending those in. Uh, fire

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away, Fred Watson.

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Professor Fred Watson: To shoot him down. Uh, I have to say these

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um, these questions do sound like the making

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of another of Martin's books.

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Uh, so, uh, you know, putting

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the ingredients uh, of um,

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science into the books. It's a great idea if

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you're going to write science fiction. It's

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nice to have some science in it as well.

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Um, yes you do. Um,

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what Martin's question made me think about

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was, um, the number of

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joules of energy contained,

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represented by dark energy per

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cubic metre of space.

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And I've no idea what that is, but I bet per

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cubic metre it's actually quite small,

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uh, because um, we only

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see the effect of dark energy when we look at

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the universe on a very large scale. When we

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look, you know, billions of light years out,

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we start to see its effects. We can

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tell that the universe has been expanding

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more rapidly, uh, since the universe was

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about half its present age. Uh,

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so I guess, you know, if you imagine

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a tank full of dark energy,

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uh, on any kind of human scale,

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whether it's the size of a, I don't know, you

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know, the size of the fuel tank on your car

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or the size of the average supertanker,

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um, my guess is that the amount of energy

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that, that would cont would actually be

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quite small. Um, I'm um, happy to be

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shot down on that, but I think it would

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simply because you're looking at uh,

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um, almost an infinitesimally small

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volume compared with the volumes that we

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think about when we're talking about the

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expansion of the universe and the accelerated

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expansion of the universe. So,

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um, how do you bottle it? Well, good

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question. Uh, that's the first thing

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you've got to do is find a way of extracting

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dark energy from space, putting it in a tank.

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But you might that if you do that on any kind

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of conceivable scale, you don't have enough

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to make any difference whatsoever to your

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spacecraft, let alone accelerate it to

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99.99999999% of the

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speed of light. So, um, I hope

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that's, uh, suitably satisfactory. Shooting

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down, Martin.

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Uh, I don't always shoot your theories down.

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I think your, uh, ideas are uh, lovely and

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well worth listening to.

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Andrew Dunkley: Yes, he's got a way, he's got a way of asking

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questions that he does. Lots of, Lots of fun.

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Lots of fun.

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Professor Fred Watson: He does.

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Andrew Dunkley: Uh, thank you, Martin. Um, we've got some

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live listeners, uh, uh, or viewers,

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um, who messaged us. And remember, uh,

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James from Cincinnati. Haven't heard from

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James in ages. Well, he's just popped up to

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say hello.

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Professor Fred Watson: So.

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Andrew Dunkley: Hi James. And uh, a question without

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notice, um, which sort of goes back to our

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radial velocity message method of searching

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for exoplanets. Um, I'm wondering,

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um, so we already know other suns have

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planets, so why the extensive investigation

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to keep searching for more? What's the point?

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Professor Fred Watson: Oh, it's a good question. Um, so it's all

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about, it's surveying. Um, basically,

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uh, astronomers are, uh, inveterate

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surveyors. It's how we discover

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the large scale characteristics of the

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universe. And it's also how we find the

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outliers, the things that are really

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peculiar, uh, and that need

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explanation and that sometimes defy science

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as we know it and um, often result in

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physics being rewritten. Uh, so,

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uh, it's

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like doing population census studies. It's.

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Why do you want to know how many people, uh,

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live in a country? And it's all about,

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um. Well, in the case of humans, it's all

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about providing the right resources for them.

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But in the case of.

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Why do you want to know how many different

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kinds of exoplanets there are? It's uh,

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because we might find exactly what we've just

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been talking about. The water worlds. Uh, we

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might find habitable worlds. We might even

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find a SETI signal from one of them. So,

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uh, this is very much an important part of

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the astronomers understanding of the

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universe. To explore and

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investigate as many of these things as we

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can.

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Andrew Dunkley: Yeah. And of course, the most important

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reason, if we do a planetary census,

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we can then introduce an international tax

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system system or intergalactic tax system,

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more to the point. Yes.

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Okay. Uh, you are listening to a Q and A

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edition of Space Nuts with Andrew Dunkley and

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Professor Fred Watson Watson.

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Professor Fred Watson: Three, two, one.

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Andrew Dunkley: Space Nuts. Our next question comes from

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Svedon. Uh, can matter

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that falls into a black hole keep its angular

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momentum and sort of add it to

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the black hole's angular momentum? Uh,

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or does matter Fall into a black hole.

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Um, or does matter falling into a

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black hole need to shed its angular momentum,

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or part of it through radiating, uh, energy

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out into space before it can fall down the

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hole? If so, why can't a black

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hole that can retain light and

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spaghettify things pull things in despite

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their angular momentum and just add the

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incoming momentum to itself? That comes from

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Peter in Sweden.

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Uh, it's one of those complicated questions

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that would have wiped me out at school

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based on some form of geometry.

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Professor Fred Watson: Uh, I am, um. So I

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don't know the answer to this question. Um,

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but thinking what little I do know

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about black holes, I would guess. Um,

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and I'll need to cheque this, Peter. So I

437
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apologise that this is an off the cuff

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answer. But I would guess that the angular

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momentum does. That it is

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additive. Uh, that you would add the

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angular momentum of incoming accreted

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material which will have it because it's

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whizzing around the black hole at very high

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speeds. Um, uh, as the black

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hole collapse, as the stuff crosses the event

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horizon and is subsumed into the black hole,

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uh, I would guess that actually adds to the,

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to the black hole's angular momentum. But

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I'll need to cheque. Uh, and I will do that

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because that's a really good question.

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Andrew Dunkley: Okay. Well, that was easy.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, well, it wasn't because I don't know

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the answer, but. But I'm guessing I,

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uh, I think it probably would. Yeah.

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Andrew Dunkley: Actually reminds me, we had one we had to do

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some homework on recently and I think we've.

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I don't know if we did it. Anyway, I'll go.

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Professor Fred Watson: I usually make it. Yeah, I usually make notes

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on things like that as well. I think you're

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right too.

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Andrew Dunkley: Yeah. I might do a whole show on

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Professor Fred Watson: things we've forgotten.

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Andrew Dunkley: Things we've forgotten to look up.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, yeah.

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Andrew Dunkley: Um, we might get back to you, Peter.

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Uh, thanks for the question. Um, this

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question. This question needs

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setting up because, uh, it's a question,

469
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but it's not a question. Uh, and it comes

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from, uh, Dave. Now, I know people have

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accidentally called me Dave from time to

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time. It's nice to have a real Dave. And

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when I read your question, Dave, I thought, I

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can't just let you go. I've got

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to, um, preempt it with something that I

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thought was appropriate.

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Professor Fred Watson: Hello, Dave. You're looking well

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today.

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Andrew Dunkley: Um, this is Dave.

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Berman Gorvine: Greetings. This is Dave from Gilbert,

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Arizona, with apologies in advance for my

482
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question. So anyway, I don't know if you, uh,

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heard about this, but, um, it's been reported

484
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that there's something strange in the region

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of our solar system somewhere between Saturn

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and Neptune. And I wanted to hear your

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opinion on the notion that it could be a

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black hole or a brown dwarf, or possibly a

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black dwarf or a brown hole out near the

490
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orbit of Uranus. So, by

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the way, uh, some people in the US Government

492
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have pooh, poohed this idea, while others

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from the US Military, such as Colin Powell

494
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and several rear admirals, are calling for a

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probe so we can get to the bottom of this.

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Now, I was wondering if you can get behind

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this notion or if you care to rebut it.

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In either case, I'm looking forward to

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hearing your posterior analysis.

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Uh, I also have a question about. Dang

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it, I gotta go. That's my landlord calling. I

502
00:21:49.820 --> 00:21:52.180
must be in arrears again on my rent. I'll

503
00:21:52.180 --> 00:21:53.700
have to call you back later with my question,

504
00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:57.000
super massive dark matter. Although that

505
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may actually be more of a medical question.

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Anyway, I wanted to say that your podcast is

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a real asset to the astronomical community.

508
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No ifs, ifs, ands, or buts about that. So

509
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cheers to you. Slash. Bottoms up.

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Andrew Dunkley: Ah, that's very clever, Dave. Um, I

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don't think we've ever had. You ready for

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this one, Fred Watson? I don't think we've

513
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ever had such an asinine

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question.

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Professor Fred Watson: Uh, yeah, it's, um. It's got

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every buzzword in the dictionary in there,

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hasn't it?

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Andrew Dunkley: It sure has.

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Professor Fred Watson: Especially the no if so. But I like that. I

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loved it. I loved it.

521
00:22:34.520 --> 00:22:37.400
Andrew Dunkley: Well done, Dave. I like that he spent

522
00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:39.680
time thinking about that and. And come up

523
00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:42.560
with. Yeah, all those

524
00:22:42.560 --> 00:22:43.560
superlatives.

525
00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:46.760
Professor Fred Watson: It's very, very well done. Um, my

526
00:22:46.760 --> 00:22:48.840
answer to it is, uh, yes,

527
00:22:49.080 --> 00:22:51.880
accreted material does add to the

528
00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:53.880
angular momentum of a black hole.

529
00:22:53.880 --> 00:22:54.800
Andrew Dunkley: Oh, you looked it up?

530
00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:57.760
Professor Fred Watson: I looked it up well, while I was enjoying

531
00:22:57.760 --> 00:23:00.280
Dave's question, because I know, having heard

532
00:23:00.280 --> 00:23:02.120
it before, that I didn't have to provide an

533
00:23:02.120 --> 00:23:02.960
answer to that.

534
00:23:04.800 --> 00:23:06.800
Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, actually, the live audience thought

535
00:23:06.800 --> 00:23:08.840
that was brilliant, too. We've got some very

536
00:23:08.840 --> 00:23:10.040
good remarks about it.

537
00:23:10.040 --> 00:23:10.720
Professor Fred Watson: So. Yeah.

538
00:23:10.800 --> 00:23:12.880
Andrew Dunkley: And another question, without notice,

539
00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:13.280
Fred Watson,

540
00:23:15.600 --> 00:23:17.680
when AI first came along,

541
00:23:19.110 --> 00:23:21.870
um, the. The questioner can

542
00:23:21.870 --> 00:23:23.630
remember that, and. Well, I think we all can.

543
00:23:23.630 --> 00:23:26.190
But can Professor Watson

544
00:23:26.590 --> 00:23:29.550
say, um, whether or not

545
00:23:29.550 --> 00:23:32.390
AI is being used by seti? Didn't

546
00:23:32.390 --> 00:23:35.270
we get that question the other day? Or

547
00:23:35.270 --> 00:23:38.270
a similar question about the use of AI in,

548
00:23:38.310 --> 00:23:38.710
um.

549
00:23:38.710 --> 00:23:41.510
In, uh, in astronomy? I don't know if we did

550
00:23:41.510 --> 00:23:43.030
it in regard to the search for

551
00:23:43.030 --> 00:23:45.100
extraterrestrials yeah.

552
00:23:45.180 --> 00:23:48.060
Professor Fred Watson: Yes, we did, we did. About the way it can be

553
00:23:48.060 --> 00:23:50.140
used to really tease out

554
00:23:50.780 --> 00:23:53.020
information that might otherwise,

555
00:23:53.570 --> 00:23:55.660
uh, go unnoticed because of the

556
00:23:56.380 --> 00:23:58.950
statistical methods that we use. So,

557
00:23:58.950 --> 00:24:01.900
um, uh, it's an

558
00:24:01.900 --> 00:24:03.980
intriguing thought though,

559
00:24:04.550 --> 00:24:06.620
uh, when you turn it the other way around in

560
00:24:06.620 --> 00:24:07.900
regard to seti, whether

561
00:24:09.500 --> 00:24:12.220
the putative extraterrestrial intelligence

562
00:24:12.380 --> 00:24:15.180
itself is using AI and may even be

563
00:24:15.260 --> 00:24:17.440
AI, um, how would we

564
00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:20.310
disentangle that from, um,

565
00:24:20.310 --> 00:24:22.670
a non AI, um,

566
00:24:22.730 --> 00:24:25.720
uh, extraterrestrial entity?

567
00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:27.840
It leads us into all kinds of uncharted

568
00:24:27.840 --> 00:24:29.320
waters. Does. That's quite an interesting

569
00:24:29.320 --> 00:24:29.640
question.

570
00:24:30.360 --> 00:24:32.200
Andrew Dunkley: It does indeed.

571
00:24:32.570 --> 00:24:34.920
Um, and back to

572
00:24:34.920 --> 00:24:37.640
Dave's, uh, tongue in cheek question.

573
00:24:38.690 --> 00:24:41.600
Uh, of course there is an

574
00:24:41.600 --> 00:24:44.320
object that they think is out there somewhere

575
00:24:44.320 --> 00:24:46.040
that we haven't yet found, and that's called

576
00:24:46.040 --> 00:24:48.300
Planet Nine. So

577
00:24:48.940 --> 00:24:51.140
even though I know, I know where he was

578
00:24:51.140 --> 00:24:54.100
coming from, he was, he was being extra

579
00:24:54.100 --> 00:24:56.460
funny and the comments are still coming from

580
00:24:56.460 --> 00:24:59.100
people who thought it was. Um, but in

581
00:24:59.100 --> 00:25:01.540
reality there, there is

582
00:25:01.540 --> 00:25:04.260
definitely a possibility of something out

583
00:25:04.260 --> 00:25:06.980
there that they haven't found, but they, they

584
00:25:06.980 --> 00:25:09.900
know it exists, whether

585
00:25:09.900 --> 00:25:12.620
it's a planet or a bunch of stuff,

586
00:25:13.900 --> 00:25:15.900
um, that's affecting

587
00:25:17.020 --> 00:25:19.020
the outer solar system, I suppose.

588
00:25:19.740 --> 00:25:21.820
Professor Fred Watson: Correct. And it's been in the news again

589
00:25:21.820 --> 00:25:23.900
recently. Actually. I almost, uh, put it up

590
00:25:23.900 --> 00:25:25.980
as one of the topics we should cover that,

591
00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:28.700
um, there have been more comments on

592
00:25:28.779 --> 00:25:31.740
the possibility of Planet Nine. The original

593
00:25:31.740 --> 00:25:34.300
researchers who highlighted this,

594
00:25:34.970 --> 00:25:37.670
um, Mike Brown and uh,

595
00:25:38.060 --> 00:25:40.060
one of his colleagues, they have

596
00:25:41.160 --> 00:25:42.520
basically said that

597
00:25:44.040 --> 00:25:46.640
if it's not Planet Nine, there is still

598
00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:49.080
something that needs explained, which is more

599
00:25:49.080 --> 00:25:51.790
or less what you've just said. Ah, but, um,

600
00:25:51.790 --> 00:25:53.800
they are still very confident that we will,

601
00:25:53.930 --> 00:25:56.839
uh, unearth a very distant planet, quite

602
00:25:56.839 --> 00:25:59.400
a massive one, that is affecting the orbits

603
00:25:59.400 --> 00:26:02.320
of these, um, trans neptunian objects,

604
00:26:02.320 --> 00:26:04.680
which are, ah, in very elongated orbits.

605
00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:07.120
So the jury's still out on it. It's one of

606
00:26:07.120 --> 00:26:08.800
these, I think it's one of these questions

607
00:26:08.800 --> 00:26:10.520
that we'll talk about for some time to come,

608
00:26:10.520 --> 00:26:10.850
Andrew.

609
00:26:12.440 --> 00:26:14.720
Andrew Dunkley: And like, the questions are coming, but we

610
00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:17.200
can't keep. We can't. Like, we'll be here all

611
00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:20.120
day if we go. But, um, back to the AI

612
00:26:20.120 --> 00:26:20.440
question.

613
00:26:20.440 --> 00:26:22.880
How else has AI been used in

614
00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:25.850
astronomy? Uh, I think the possibilities,

615
00:26:25.850 --> 00:26:27.480
uh, are endless, aren't they?

616
00:26:28.040 --> 00:26:30.640
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, pretty. Well, um, uh, it's,

617
00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:32.920
it's, you know, I mean, people,

618
00:26:33.640 --> 00:26:36.240
the main ways, the way I've just described in

619
00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:38.780
terms of actually using it to advance

620
00:26:38.780 --> 00:26:41.100
astronomy, people use AI, I'm sure, for

621
00:26:41.500 --> 00:26:43.820
writing their papers. And I do know one of my

622
00:26:43.820 --> 00:26:46.660
colleagues in Arizona uses, uh, AI to

623
00:26:46.660 --> 00:26:48.940
mark the papers as well. Oh, uh, wow.

624
00:26:50.380 --> 00:26:53.060
Andrew Dunkley: Looking for patterns of people who didn't

625
00:26:53.060 --> 00:26:53.900
think for themselves.

626
00:26:55.820 --> 00:26:58.340
Professor Fred Watson: I think looking for the whole hug. Um, he

627
00:26:58.340 --> 00:27:00.100
presented a paper. This was at a conference.

628
00:27:00.100 --> 00:27:01.620
Was it last year or the year before? I think

629
00:27:01.620 --> 00:27:04.160
it was the year before last. Uh, which, um,

630
00:27:04.860 --> 00:27:06.920
he was very impressed with, um, the,

631
00:27:07.740 --> 00:27:10.470
uh, I don't know which breed of AI he was

632
00:27:10.470 --> 00:27:11.910
using, but he was very impressed with the

633
00:27:11.910 --> 00:27:14.350
outcomes from that and said they actually

634
00:27:14.510 --> 00:27:17.230
matched the human marking results,

635
00:27:17.700 --> 00:27:20.350
uh, very well. But just

636
00:27:20.350 --> 00:27:23.229
aside from that, I think, um, the main use

637
00:27:23.229 --> 00:27:25.390
in advancing astronomy is very much in

638
00:27:25.390 --> 00:27:27.790
applying it to these very large data sets.

639
00:27:28.190 --> 00:27:31.070
Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, I have used it quite a

640
00:27:31.070 --> 00:27:33.950
bit, uh, in researching elements of my

641
00:27:34.780 --> 00:27:37.740
books when I write. Um, I've already

642
00:27:37.740 --> 00:27:40.660
started a prequel to my latest to

643
00:27:40.660 --> 00:27:42.220
my new trilogy, which is,

644
00:27:43.200 --> 00:27:45.620
um, going well and thanks to everyone who's,

645
00:27:45.620 --> 00:27:48.400
who's bought a copy. Uh,

646
00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:51.340
and it's lots of fun. I actually, uh,

647
00:27:51.340 --> 00:27:53.180
have found a way of using AI,

648
00:27:53.640 --> 00:27:56.540
um, that I, uh, really

649
00:27:56.540 --> 00:27:58.620
enjoy. It's not just about doing a search,

650
00:27:58.700 --> 00:28:00.580
but you can sit there and literally have a

651
00:28:00.580 --> 00:28:03.560
conversation and, and weed out information as

652
00:28:03.560 --> 00:28:06.090
you go. It's, It's a lot of fun. Um,

653
00:28:06.320 --> 00:28:08.560
my wife thought I was, you know,

654
00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:12.320
a bit, um, beyond my station using AI

655
00:28:12.320 --> 00:28:15.040
because I'm, I'm not a young person. Um,

656
00:28:16.080 --> 00:28:17.720
she went to the hairdresser the other day

657
00:28:17.720 --> 00:28:19.760
and, um, the hairdresser said, I'm going to

658
00:28:19.760 --> 00:28:22.560
redesign my salon. I asked Chat GPT

659
00:28:22.560 --> 00:28:25.400
to design it for me. Well, now she's using

660
00:28:25.400 --> 00:28:27.920
AI, isn't she? Yeah. Okay. Wouldn't, wouldn't

661
00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:30.920
do it if I suggested a it. But

662
00:28:30.920 --> 00:28:32.480
the hairdresser, they know everything.

663
00:28:33.560 --> 00:28:36.280
Um, okay, thanks to everybody who's

664
00:28:36.280 --> 00:28:38.320
sending questions and, uh, our live audience

665
00:28:38.320 --> 00:28:40.200
for contributing as well. It's been a lot of

666
00:28:40.200 --> 00:28:42.080
fun and thank you, Fred Watson.

667
00:28:42.220 --> 00:28:44.120
Uh, that brings us to the end of yet another

668
00:28:44.120 --> 00:28:44.800
episode.

669
00:28:46.080 --> 00:28:48.960
Professor Fred Watson: It does, doesn't it? Yeah, well, I've learned

670
00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:51.760
something in that one. Um, that, uh, yes,

671
00:28:51.760 --> 00:28:54.440
angular momentum does, ah, add from

672
00:28:54.440 --> 00:28:56.400
accretive material. So there you go.

673
00:28:56.960 --> 00:28:58.800
Andrew Dunkley: All right, uh, we'll see you soon,

674
00:28:58.800 --> 00:28:59.450
Fred Watson. Thank you.

675
00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:00.360
Professor Fred Watson: Cheers.

676
00:29:00.360 --> 00:29:02.680
Andrew Dunkley: For now, Professor Fred Watson Watson,

677
00:29:02.680 --> 00:29:04.480
astronomer at large. And if you've got

678
00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:06.560
questions for us, please jump on our website,

679
00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:09.520
spacenutspodcast.com or spacenuts

680
00:29:09.600 --> 00:29:12.320
IO if you're a lazy typist. And

681
00:29:12.320 --> 00:29:14.840
click on the AMA tab at the top and send us

682
00:29:14.840 --> 00:29:16.880
your text or audio questions. Don't forget to

683
00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:18.440
tell us who you are and where you're from. We

684
00:29:18.440 --> 00:29:21.160
just like to know so that we can spam

685
00:29:21.160 --> 00:29:24.160
you later. Uh, and, uh, thanks to

686
00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:26.720
Huw in the studio. Um, although Huw couldn't

687
00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:29.580
be with us today. Uh, you know, we've

688
00:29:29.580 --> 00:29:31.860
been, um, searching for. For Planet nine,

689
00:29:31.860 --> 00:29:33.780
which is difficult to find, but I reckon

690
00:29:33.780 --> 00:29:36.060
we'll probably find it before we find Huw.

691
00:29:36.300 --> 00:29:38.500
And from me, Andrew Dunkley, thanks for your

692
00:29:38.500 --> 00:29:40.900
company. We'll see you on the next episode of

693
00:29:40.900 --> 00:29:42.060
Space Nuts. Bye.

694
00:29:42.060 --> 00:29:42.380
Professor Fred Watson: Bye.

695
00:29:43.580 --> 00:29:45.780
Andrew Dunkley: You've been listening to the Space Nuts

696
00:29:45.780 --> 00:29:48.740
podcast, available at

697
00:29:48.740 --> 00:29:50.700
Apple Podcasts, Spotify,

698
00:29:50.860 --> 00:29:53.390
iHeartRadio or your favourite podcast

699
00:29:53.780 --> 00:29:55.380
player. You can also stream on

700
00:29:55.380 --> 00:29:56.980
demand@bytes.com.

701
00:29:57.380 --> 00:29:59.460
Professor Fred Watson: this has been another quality podcast

702
00:29:59.460 --> 00:30:01.260
production from bytes.com.

703
00:30:01.260 --> 00:30:02.880
Berman Gorvine: um,