Your Questions Answered: The Mysteries of Jupiter and the Sun

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Andrew Dunkley: Hello again and thank you for joining us.

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This is a Q and A edition of Space Nuts. Uh,

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my name is Andrew Dunkley. Uh, this is

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the episode where we answer questions from

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our audience and sometimes our studio

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audience. We've had, uh, people asking us

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questions live in recent times. Uh,

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coming up today, uh, we have actually

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received an email from a listener,

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um, Thomas in Canberra, asking about

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Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and their

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involvement at Siding Spring. I know someone

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who might know something about.

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Generic: About that.

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Andrew Dunkley: Anyway, we'll talk about that. Um, we've got

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a young listener who's sent in a question,

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uh, about the storm on Jupiter.

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Uh, we've also got a question about a mission

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to the sun and,

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uh, the speed of gravitational waves. We'll

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try and tackle all of that on this Q A

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edition of space nuts.

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Generic: 15 seconds. Guidance is internal.

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10, 9. Ignition

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sequence start.

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Professor Fred Watson: Space nuts.

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Generic: 5, 4, 3, 2. 1, 2, 3, 4,

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

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Andrew Dunkley: Space nuts.

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Generic: Astronauts report it feels good.

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

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riddles. Professor Fred Watson Watson,

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Astronomer at large. Hello, Fred Watson.

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Professor Fred Watson: Hello, Andrew.

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Hello. Good to see you.

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Andrew Dunkley: Good to see you.

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Professor Fred Watson: Can I see you? Yes, I can see you.

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Andrew Dunkley: You can see me?

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Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, good to see you.

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Andrew Dunkley: I've got a bit of a box head at your end of

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things.

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Professor Fred Watson: You. You squashed him. But, um, you're

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looking nonetheless handsome for that. It's

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all right.

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Trent from North Georgia USA: Yeah.

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Andrew Dunkley: My wife wouldn't agree, but anyway, she

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might.

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Trent from North Georgia USA: Different.

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Andrew Dunkley: There's a different storey.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yes.

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Andrew Dunkley: Uh, shall we tackle some questions?

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Professor Fred Watson: Why not?

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Andrew Dunkley: All right.

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Our first one comes from Thomas in Canberra.

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I was down in Canberra a couple of weeks ago,

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uh, and it was bitterly cold

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as always. Some years ago we visited

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Australia's very own Acropolis, um,

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um, Pantheon and the Temple of Fred Watson I.

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E. Siding Spring Observatory. Luckily for us,

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it was an open day, so we got got to

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tour inside the telescope hall. Uh, the

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guide pointed out that we were standing on a

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trapdoor several storeys up. Suffice to say

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we all stepped aside onto solid flooring. I

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noticed a plaque on the telescope hardware

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that read Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. My

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question is, what role does Mitsubishi play

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in manufacturing modern telescope hardware,

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if any? And is the telescope mirror made

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in Ohio and polished in England,

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still, uh, one of the best? Um, or he's

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asking if it's still one of the best. So. Ah,

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that's a good question. So, yeah, plenty to

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ply through on that, Fred Watson. Uh, I've

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been exactly there with you, doing a

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television show, I believe. It was at one

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stage many moons ago, but, uh, they kicked me

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out because I had a head for radio. But,

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um. Yeah, it's a good question. Uh, and

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very observant of Thomas to pick up on all of

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that. Except for the trapdoor. He missed

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that.

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Professor Fred Watson: Um, yeah, the trapdoor's

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quite important because that's what lets you,

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um, hoist things from the ground floor, which

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is, uh, eight storeys below,

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up seven storeys below, uh, up into the dome

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area. And there's an intermediate level,

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which is where we recoat the mirror every

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year. And I'm saying we because it

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used to be we when I was the astronomer in

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charge and worked, uh, there for many, many

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years. Uh, it's now other people, but, um, I

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hope they won't mind, um, including

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myself as part of their team, because I know

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them all pretty well. Um, so, uh, that

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trapdoor, uh, actually I do remember,

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um, hearing a storey. I didn't see this

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happen myself, but the trapdoor itself weighs

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probably about three tonnes. Uh, and it's on

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a hinge and it's got a kind of crane

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mechanism to lift it up. And I do remember

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somebody once telling me that it accidentally

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got let go and it slammed shut and the

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entire building shook, as you'd

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expect. Yeah, that, uh, wasn't in my time

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there, though, so, um. Indeed, the

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Anglo Australian Telescope, a joint project

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between the two governments, the Australian

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government and the British government. Um,

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really interesting storey, uh, how it

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all started and, uh, how it emerged.

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Um, it, uh, was uh,

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the. Basically the first thing that happened

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when, when they, you know, when the

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governments decided to spend the money on

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this. And it was, I think, 16 million was

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what they had at the time. That would be more

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like 100 million now to the same thing.

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Um, but back in the late, uh,

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1960s, actually, uh, they set up a

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project office and the project office looked

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at all the contractors and all the rest of

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it. And so, um, that,

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uh, office, which for a while

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was run by a very old friend of mine, Herman

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Wehner, um, who was in Canberra. He was

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an engineer, uh, in Canberra.

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Uh, so he would have been, I think, party

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to some of these decisions, along with

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another old friend, Ben Gascoigne, one of the

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great names in Australian astronomy.

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Um, and they elected to,

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uh, accept a bid from Mitsubishi

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Heavy Industries to build the mounting of the

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telescope. And by that I mean the part that

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actually points the thing around

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and this is, it is heavy engineering, because

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if I remember rightly, the moving parts of

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the telescope are about 60 tonnes or

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thereabouts, and yet you've got to point it

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with an accuracy of a second of

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arc, uh, which, you know, when you think of

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the number of microns, that means in terms of

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where the telescope structure is pointing,

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that's quite significant. Uh, the telescope

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floats on oil bearings. It actually floats on

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oil. Um, and so all of that

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has to come together and a company like

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Mitsubishi uh, were very, very well

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placed to deliver that.

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Now, uh, um, uh,

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Thomas's question is to an extent Mitsubishi

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M is still involved with this sort of thing.

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Uh, I think they would um, with

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having that expertise, I think they would um,

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sort of tender for contracts uh, whenever

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there was an opportunity. Now, um,

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if I'd had a bit more time and forethought

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and I could still cheque it. But um, the

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biggest telescope operated

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by Japanese astronomers is called

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Subaru. Uh, and

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Subaru is of course the Japanese word for the

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Pleiades. That's why you've got six stars on

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your Subaru car badge. Subaru, uh,

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is on the big island of Hawaii. It's an 8

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metre class telescope. It is one of the

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finest 8 metre telescopes in the world. I'm

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not sure whether Mitsubishi played

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a part in building

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Subaru but that might be the kind of thing

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that you might be able to tell me within a

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few minutes with Claude whispering into your

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ear or something. Were

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Mitsubishi involved with Subaru.

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Um, uh, the other side of the storey though

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is what we call the tube of the telescope

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which isn't a tube, it's an open structure

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for anybody standing in front of it. It's the

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white part, um, which contains all

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the optics that was built by the company

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I started my career working for. Sir Howard

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Grubb Parsons Co. Ltd. They indeed

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polished the mirrors. My uh,

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old friend and colleague David Sindon

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was the chief optician for that.

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I am privileged to have in this

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room his notebook, uh, that

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he had all the notes when he was doing that

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polishing and one of the first things it

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says in the notebook, uh, when the mirror

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blank was delivered indeed from Ohio, as

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Thomas uh, said, um, uh, it was

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then a 20 tonne block of material,

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uh 4 metres in diameter. There's a comment in

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the notebook that says this thing is bloody

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big. Um, that's

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David Sinden. So he was the optician. It made

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a fantastic job working with his colleague

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David Brown, my first boss, David Brown

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and I worked a little bit on the mirror, um,

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actually preparing the um,

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hardware for the mirror to be supported

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while it was being ground and polished, uh,

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in the works in Newcastle on Tyne in England.

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I did that just Before I left, uh, Grub

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Parsons to go back to university to further

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my career in astronomy.

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Andrew Dunkley: Did you know at the time, or you wouldn't

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have probably known at the time you were

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working on it in the UK that you'd end up

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using it?

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Professor Fred Watson: Um, no, that's right. Not only did

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I end up using it, I ended up as its

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astronomer in charge, which I was for 20

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years. Um,

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it's a really good question. Um, thinking

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back to that time, I was a bit

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fixated on getting back to university because

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I wasn't happy with my degree and I wanted to

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do a research degree in astronomy, which I

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did. That's another storey. Um,

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and so I, um. You know, this, making these

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supports for the telescope mirror was, uh,

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something that I was quite keen to get out of

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the way and I probably just never gave it a

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thought that maybe one day I would use this

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telescope. Certainly would never have given

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it a thought that one day I'd be responsible

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for its scientific output, which I was for 20

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years.

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Trent from North Georgia USA: Yeah.

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Andrew Dunkley: And in answer to your query, the Subaru

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telescope in Hawaii was

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manufactured by Mitsubishi

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Electric company.

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Professor Fred Watson: There you go. Yeah, yeah, that was a, that

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was a guess, but, um, uh, obviously a

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reasonably informed guess.

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Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, indeed. Thanks, uh, for the question,

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Thomas, but, uh, yeah, um, it's an amazing

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facility and I, I, uh, up at

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Siding Spring. And I don't think people

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realise how massive that building

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is.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yeah.

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Andrew Dunkley: Until I sort of get up the top of the

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mountain and take a look. You can see it from

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just about everywhere. Uh, you can still see

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it quite clearly. Um, uh, in the

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aftermath of those tragic fires so many years

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ago.

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Um, but, uh, yeah, it's sort of

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like a big pimple on the top of a hill.

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It is, it's amazing. Thanks,

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Thomas. Uh, we've got a few live viewers,

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Fred Watson. We've got uh, Ollie in Geelong.

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G' day, Ollie. Danny, uh, says he's added

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Outback Astronomer to his, uh, audible wish

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list. Uh, we've got Turk listening from

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Sunnyvale in California and he's 35

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miles from the Lick Observatory. You can see

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it from his bedroom. Um, and uh, Moose

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is back again. He's found us again. Hi,

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Moose. You've, you've missed pretty much half

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the whole deal today, but we're on a bit

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earlier and uh, Tommy has

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messaged us, um, uh, in the evening

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in Frederikstad in Norway.

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So welcome everybody.

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Uh, let's go to an audio question.

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Fred Watson, this is Sandy, but

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it's not Sandy's question.

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This will become self obvious.

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Sandy from Melbourne: G' Day Fred Watson and Andrew. It's Sandy

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here again from Melbourne. Um, this time my

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little listening buddy, um, Emily, my

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daughter would like to ask a question. Um,

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she, she quite enjoys listening in the car,

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um, to your show with me. So I'm going to

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hand the, the microphone over to my daughter.

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Why does Jupiter have a storm on it?

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Excellent question. Thank you. Um, thank you

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friend Andrew. I hope you get a chance to

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answer this question and we're looking

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forward to the answer.

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Andrew Dunkley: Thank you, Sandy. Thank you, Emily. Hi Emily.

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Um, that's a great question and

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we've talked about the storm on Jupiter uh

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many times in the past and in fact I think

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there's more than one storm on Jupiter. But

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there's one big one that

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um, that's famously known as the Red

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Spot.

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Professor Fred Watson: It is in fact because it's big,

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it's called the Great Red Spot. Um,

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and um, I think there's another one sometimes

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called Little Red as well,

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Andrew Dunkley: which is uh, not far away

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from the big one.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, um, Emily, your question's a great

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one. Uh, and so in

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the last episode we were talking about some

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of the patterns that we get in the cloud

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belts of Saturn. This

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hexagon pattern and the decagon pattern.

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And they are caused by um, the

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way atmospheres behave. So this is

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movements of air. Basically it's not air like

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we breathe here on Earth, but it's wind,

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uh, that give rise to these various patterns.

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And the same thing happens on Jupiter.

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Jupiter's got um, what we call the cloud

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belt. So a, uh, lot of um, you

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know, I don't know how many there are

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altogether, how many are recognised. It used

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to be eight or nine when I was a youngster.

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Uh, these are different belts of cloud on the

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planet, all of which are moving east to west

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or west to east but at ah, different

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speeds. And it's

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those um, winds, if you like,

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these mass movements of

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atmospheric gas that cause

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what we call turbulence on the edge. It's

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where you find um,

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um, air swirling around in a circle.

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Um, many of us know about turbulence if we

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fly on aeroplanes because you run into it

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and it shakes the aircraft. And what you're

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talking about there is the same sort of

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thing. It's swirls of air that are not

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behaving in a nice smooth, uh, manner.

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And so uh, that's what happens at the

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boundaries of these cloud belts. And uh,

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sometime in the past, and it's

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certainly more than 300 years ago, uh, that

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was enough to form a storm,

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uh, between two of these cloud belts, uh and

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we still see that as the Great Red Spot. Uh,

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you might know Emily, and maybe Sandy

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will too. Your dad, um, that

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uh, the Great Red Spot seems to be changing.

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It's sort of grown and shrunk a bit a few

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times recently. So it's

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like uh, because this is, you know,

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when we look at Jupiter we're seeing the top

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of the cloud belts. We're not seeing a

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surface that doesn't change. We're seeing

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something that's very dynamic and active,

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always uh, in motion. And so maybe one day

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the Great Red Spot will just fizzle out and

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we won't have that beauty spot on the

355
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face of Jupiter anymore.

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Andrew Dunkley: No, uh, when you talk about

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storms on Earth, they come and go in minutes,

358
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hours, sometimes occasionally days.

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This one has been active for at least

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190 years. It was uh, first

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tracked in 1831 I think.

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Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, it may have been spotted before that as

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well. Some people think

364
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um, possibly um, even ah, Cassini or

365
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Huygens, one of these great observers of

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Saturn might have seen it.

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Andrew Dunkley: Maybe so, or he was just having a

368
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migraine but

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you just never know. But um, it's a

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fascinating thing that uh, is displayed on

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that planet. Uh, it's not the only gas giant

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that has a storm like that. Does Saturn have

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something similar?

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Professor Fred Watson: Well Saturn does have storms but they

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tend to be much more short lived. And that's

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where young Trevor Barry that we were talking

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about last episode, he monitored

378
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those storms so that the Cassini mission

379
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could home in on them uh, uh,

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when they were at their most active.

381
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Andrew Dunkley: So yeah, in fact it was Giovanni uh,

382
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Cassini who suggested that there was a

383
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permanent spot on Jupiter. And that was back

384
00:15:52.450 --> 00:15:55.310
in 1665. There you go. Yeah, so yeah,

385
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they've known about it for a long, it's been

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around for a very long time Emily, this

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particular storm.

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Um, and uh, Fred Watson started his career

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00:16:03.830 --> 00:16:05.430
before the storm began

390
00:16:08.630 --> 00:16:10.710
Professor Fred Watson: when it was just a wisp of wind.

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Andrew Dunkley: Uh, thanks Emily, Lovely to hear from you.

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This is Space Nuts Andrew Dunkley here with

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00:16:17.990 --> 00:16:19.510
Professor Fred Watson Watson.

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Okay, we checked all four systems and

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00:16:23.940 --> 00:16:25.580
Professor Fred Watson: being with a girl, space nats.

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00:16:25.740 --> 00:16:28.380
Andrew Dunkley: Our next question, uh, comes from

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00:16:29.260 --> 00:16:32.020
Butch, I think. Yes. In Suffolk in the

398
00:16:32.020 --> 00:16:33.660
uk. Hey Andrew, Professor Fred Watson,

399
00:16:33.660 --> 00:16:36.340
possibly Jonty and Huw in the studio, not Huw

400
00:16:36.340 --> 00:16:38.460
in the studio, I can tell you that now. Love

401
00:16:38.460 --> 00:16:41.260
the show, uh, been with you for over two

402
00:16:41.260 --> 00:16:44.220
years now. I went to a planetarium show in

403
00:16:44.220 --> 00:16:46.540
Greenwich in the UK six years ago for my

404
00:16:46.540 --> 00:16:49.420
46th birthday. Uh, this was hosted by

405
00:16:49.500 --> 00:16:52.260
impressionist John Kulshaw. He was

406
00:16:52.260 --> 00:16:54.600
amazing and One of the scientists with him

407
00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:57.560
was working on the mission satellite to

408
00:16:57.560 --> 00:17:00.280
the sun and explained how they can

409
00:17:00.280 --> 00:17:03.000
film and track and circle the sun,

410
00:17:03.640 --> 00:17:04.920
uh, and the heat involved.

411
00:17:05.080 --> 00:17:07.080
Just wondering if you were aware of this

412
00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:10.480
or had more information or opinions on it.

413
00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:12.720
Quite an incredible mission really. There was

414
00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:15.080
also a quiz after prizes were

415
00:17:15.160 --> 00:17:18.040
astronaut food. I won nothing.

416
00:17:18.840 --> 00:17:20.680
He says, uh, thanks for the excellent

417
00:17:20.680 --> 00:17:23.520
podcast, love listening to you and uh, the

418
00:17:23.520 --> 00:17:26.499
listener question. Thanks Butch. Uh, I

419
00:17:26.499 --> 00:17:29.160
bought some astronaut food when I was in um,

420
00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:31.410
NASA in Florida. Um,

421
00:17:32.099 --> 00:17:34.739
it's not all that palatable

422
00:17:35.059 --> 00:17:37.779
in my opinion. Probably

423
00:17:37.859 --> 00:17:40.499
more designed for sustaining life than

424
00:17:41.379 --> 00:17:43.899
enjoying food. Would that be, that'd be fair

425
00:17:43.899 --> 00:17:44.339
remark?

426
00:17:44.339 --> 00:17:45.739
Professor Fred Watson: Well, I think that's right. Although I

427
00:17:45.739 --> 00:17:48.339
suspect things have moved on quite a bit. I

428
00:17:48.339 --> 00:17:51.219
think, um, the International Space Station

429
00:17:51.219 --> 00:17:54.200
has some, some quite nice gourmet meals

430
00:17:54.200 --> 00:17:56.440
now. Seems to be, particularly when there are

431
00:17:56.440 --> 00:17:58.520
Italian astronauts on board. They get great

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00:17:58.520 --> 00:18:00.040
coffee, you know.

433
00:18:00.040 --> 00:18:00.920
Great, great.

434
00:18:01.320 --> 00:18:04.320
Andrew Dunkley: Why am I not surprised? Yes. Um, because

435
00:18:04.320 --> 00:18:05.800
they're gearing up for the restaurant at the

436
00:18:05.800 --> 00:18:07.599
end of the universe probably.

437
00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:10.400
Professor Fred Watson: Right? Yeah, yeah. Um, so

438
00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:13.240
I'm, I'm guessing, uh, from what Butch

439
00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:15.720
said that um, I mean there are, there are

440
00:18:16.280 --> 00:18:18.970
several solar, ah, spacecraft

441
00:18:18.970 --> 00:18:21.010
or spacecraft observing the sun.

442
00:18:21.560 --> 00:18:24.290
Um, soho, the Solar Heliospheric

443
00:18:24.290 --> 00:18:26.330
Observatory was one of the first. There's a

444
00:18:26.330 --> 00:18:28.930
pair of spacecraft called stereo, uh, that

445
00:18:28.930 --> 00:18:31.330
are in orbit around the sun

446
00:18:31.810 --> 00:18:33.449
at uh, slightly different positions so they

447
00:18:33.449 --> 00:18:36.050
get a stereo view of the sun. Um, I'm

448
00:18:36.050 --> 00:18:37.610
wondering if the one that he's thinking of

449
00:18:37.610 --> 00:18:39.810
though is the Parker solar probe.

450
00:18:39.810 --> 00:18:42.610
And that's because that one of all

451
00:18:42.610 --> 00:18:45.610
those uh, solar spacecraft is the one

452
00:18:45.610 --> 00:18:48.610
that goes closest to the sun. And

453
00:18:48.610 --> 00:18:51.310
indeed as that mission has evolved, I think

454
00:18:52.670 --> 00:18:55.230
they've thrown caution to the

455
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winds and got closer and closer to the sun.

456
00:18:58.110 --> 00:19:00.390
It's got a very, very robust heat shield on

457
00:19:00.390 --> 00:19:03.270
it, uh, which they point sunwards when

458
00:19:03.270 --> 00:19:06.230
it's near the sun, uh, to protect the

459
00:19:06.230 --> 00:19:08.870
spacecraft from the heat. Uh, its mission is

460
00:19:08.870 --> 00:19:11.790
all about trying to sample the

461
00:19:11.950 --> 00:19:14.750
solar corona, the outer atmosphere of the

462
00:19:14.750 --> 00:19:17.390
sun, which as many of our listeners will

463
00:19:17.390 --> 00:19:20.110
know, is heated to very, very high

464
00:19:20.110 --> 00:19:22.810
temper, uh, in the region of

465
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15 million degrees Celsius,

466
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whereas that's right, the surface

467
00:19:28.930 --> 00:19:31.930
is at about five, five and a half thousand

468
00:19:32.010 --> 00:19:34.010
Celsius. And yet you've got this

469
00:19:34.650 --> 00:19:37.609
region above, uh, and

470
00:19:37.610 --> 00:19:39.610
we tend to think of heat rising by

471
00:19:39.610 --> 00:19:42.450
convection. Uh, why is the surface so

472
00:19:42.450 --> 00:19:45.210
cool compared with the heat of the

473
00:19:45.210 --> 00:19:47.330
corona? And the clues that come from the

474
00:19:47.330 --> 00:19:49.330
Parker solar probe and other spacecraft seem

475
00:19:49.330 --> 00:19:51.770
to relate it directly to the magnetic

476
00:19:51.770 --> 00:19:54.350
activity of the Sun. The sun is a hotbed of

477
00:19:54.350 --> 00:19:57.350
magnetism, which is only really

478
00:19:57.590 --> 00:20:00.510
becoming, uh, better understood. I might

479
00:20:00.510 --> 00:20:03.310
just throw in a bit of advice though, for

480
00:20:03.310 --> 00:20:05.830
Butch, because there's just lately, within

481
00:20:05.830 --> 00:20:08.310
the last couple of weeks, we've seen some

482
00:20:08.310 --> 00:20:10.530
extraordinary images of the solar, uh,

483
00:20:10.790 --> 00:20:13.750
surface. It's not really a surface, it's

484
00:20:13.910 --> 00:20:16.030
the gas region that we can see. It's called

485
00:20:16.030 --> 00:20:18.550
the photosphere. They've come from the Daniel

486
00:20:18.550 --> 00:20:21.310
K Inouye Solar Telescope, which is

487
00:20:21.310 --> 00:20:24.230
on top of a mountain, uh, on the

488
00:20:24.230 --> 00:20:26.410
island of Maui in Hawaii. It's, uh, the

489
00:20:26.410 --> 00:20:29.410
summit of Haleakala. And that's the biggest

490
00:20:29.410 --> 00:20:32.060
telescope, uh, in the world, able, uh,

491
00:20:32.290 --> 00:20:34.850
to look at the sun and the images. The detail

492
00:20:34.850 --> 00:20:37.330
that's coming back is quite

493
00:20:37.330 --> 00:20:38.130
extraordinary.

494
00:20:38.560 --> 00:20:40.450
Um, and what,

495
00:20:41.780 --> 00:20:44.610
uh, has come from these latest images, and

496
00:20:44.610 --> 00:20:46.530
this is a little bit off the track, but it's

497
00:20:46.530 --> 00:20:48.850
interesting, uh, something that's fascinated

498
00:20:48.850 --> 00:20:50.560
me for a long time. Things called, uh,

499
00:20:50.560 --> 00:20:53.330
Kelvin. Hello. Well, let me get it

500
00:20:53.330 --> 00:20:56.250
out. Kelvin Helmholtz instabilities,

501
00:20:56.970 --> 00:20:59.740
if you want to look that up. Uh,

502
00:20:59.850 --> 00:21:01.570
they're a little bit like what we were

503
00:21:01.570 --> 00:21:03.250
talking about with Emily's question, where

504
00:21:03.250 --> 00:21:05.850
you've got two masses of

505
00:21:06.090 --> 00:21:08.730
atmosphere shearing against one another,

506
00:21:08.730 --> 00:21:11.370
they're moving at different speeds and you,

507
00:21:11.540 --> 00:21:14.250
uh, sometimes get these regular patterns

508
00:21:14.490 --> 00:21:16.810
which are called Calvin Helmholtz

509
00:21:16.810 --> 00:21:19.770
instabilities. They're quite striking. Um,

510
00:21:20.230 --> 00:21:23.200
we saw some in Japan last year which, uh,

511
00:21:23.390 --> 00:21:25.750
I took a photograph of. Um, this was with

512
00:21:25.750 --> 00:21:28.030
clouds because clouds kind of reveal where

513
00:21:28.030 --> 00:21:30.070
they're taking place. But these have now been

514
00:21:30.070 --> 00:21:32.070
seen in the atmosphere of the sun.

515
00:21:32.500 --> 00:21:34.270
Uh, people have thought they would find them,

516
00:21:34.270 --> 00:21:36.470
but, yes, they have now been revealed.

517
00:21:36.870 --> 00:21:38.790
Andrew Dunkley: Wow, that's exciting, isn't it?

518
00:21:38.950 --> 00:21:39.320
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah.

519
00:21:39.320 --> 00:21:42.150
Andrew Dunkley: Um, and you mentioned the Parker solar

520
00:21:42.150 --> 00:21:44.310
probe, which may well be the mission that

521
00:21:44.310 --> 00:21:46.820
Butcher, uh, is referring to. But, um,

522
00:21:47.190 --> 00:21:49.670
it's become famous because of,

523
00:21:49.860 --> 00:21:52.690
uh, the speed, speeds that it's achieved.

524
00:21:52.690 --> 00:21:53.490
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, that's right.

525
00:21:53.810 --> 00:21:56.370
Andrew Dunkley: In fact, it's the fastest object

526
00:21:56.530 --> 00:21:59.480
ever made by human beings. It, uh,

527
00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:01.570
reached a top speed on 24 December 2024, of

528
00:22:01.570 --> 00:22:05.090
692,000

529
00:22:05.170 --> 00:22:07.890
kilometres per hour. That's 430,000

530
00:22:07.890 --> 00:22:10.810
miles an hour, skimming about 3.8

531
00:22:10.810 --> 00:22:13.250
million miles above the solar surface.

532
00:22:13.890 --> 00:22:15.170
That's extraordinary.

533
00:22:15.250 --> 00:22:17.950
Extraordinary. Fastest object ever are

534
00:22:18.350 --> 00:22:21.070
made by humans. Uh, although

535
00:22:21.310 --> 00:22:23.150
you turn a torch on and you're making light,

536
00:22:23.630 --> 00:22:26.550
I think that should count. We've all achieved

537
00:22:26.550 --> 00:22:29.310
light speed. Um, but,

538
00:22:29.310 --> 00:22:31.470
yeah, uh, that's pretty impressive stuff.

539
00:22:31.550 --> 00:22:33.749
And while we're talking about missions to the

540
00:22:33.749 --> 00:22:36.590
sun, um, they've got a few coming up.

541
00:22:36.660 --> 00:22:39.550
Uh, the sun coronal Ejection Tracker,

542
00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:42.910
uh, which is supposedly

543
00:22:43.870 --> 00:22:46.190
about to happen. Designed to track coronal

544
00:22:46.190 --> 00:22:48.270
mass ejections and improve space weather

545
00:22:48.270 --> 00:22:50.850
forecasting. There's the Multi slit

546
00:22:50.850 --> 00:22:53.810
Solar Explorer which is due to launch in

547
00:22:53.810 --> 00:22:56.730
2027. That's a NASA uh, mission

548
00:22:56.730 --> 00:22:58.690
targeting fine detail of the solar

549
00:22:58.690 --> 00:23:01.650
atmosphere. Um, I

550
00:23:01.650 --> 00:23:04.570
don't know how to pronounce this. TSIS 2, uh,

551
00:23:04.730 --> 00:23:07.370
is set to launch in 2027. And

552
00:23:08.040 --> 00:23:10.490
um, they'll measure spectral

553
00:23:10.570 --> 00:23:13.450
solar energy input into Earth's atmosphere.

554
00:23:14.250 --> 00:23:17.050
And this one uh, is

555
00:23:17.050 --> 00:23:19.410
already up there was uh, 2025, the

556
00:23:19.410 --> 00:23:21.370
Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe

557
00:23:21.370 --> 00:23:24.210
IMAP, um, which uh,

558
00:23:24.210 --> 00:23:25.610
is looking at the boundary where the

559
00:23:25.610 --> 00:23:28.210
heliosphere meets interstellar space. So

560
00:23:28.830 --> 00:23:31.250
uh, lots and lots of work going on around the

561
00:23:31.250 --> 00:23:34.050
sun and I uh, don't think they'll stop there.

562
00:23:34.370 --> 00:23:36.610
They'll keep going back to figure out more

563
00:23:36.610 --> 00:23:39.330
about it. Um, I mean it's the easiest star

564
00:23:39.330 --> 00:23:41.170
for us to study really.

565
00:23:41.390 --> 00:23:44.370
Um, it's just

566
00:23:44.370 --> 00:23:46.660
over there all the time. It's shining very

567
00:23:46.660 --> 00:23:48.340
brightly today. I'm actually going to go

568
00:23:48.340 --> 00:23:50.580
outside later because we're at the beginning

569
00:23:50.580 --> 00:23:53.460
of the pollen season and see if I can

570
00:23:53.460 --> 00:23:56.020
get myself another um, photo of the

571
00:23:56.070 --> 00:23:58.980
um, pollen, pollen, pollen corona,

572
00:23:58.980 --> 00:23:59.940
pollen corona.

573
00:23:59.940 --> 00:24:02.180
Professor Fred Watson: Which, that would be great. Yeah, yeah.

574
00:24:02.180 --> 00:24:04.060
Andrew Dunkley: I took one many years ago but I haven't been

575
00:24:04.060 --> 00:24:07.020
able to get one uh, since. So I must have got

576
00:24:07.020 --> 00:24:09.980
lucky that day. But I think

577
00:24:09.980 --> 00:24:12.060
those photos work out better with an iPhone

578
00:24:12.060 --> 00:24:14.900
than they do a ah, camera, uh, or

579
00:24:15.060 --> 00:24:17.460
a telescope for that matter. But um, yeah,

580
00:24:17.620 --> 00:24:19.560
anyway, I'll give it a go later. Thanks uh,

581
00:24:19.940 --> 00:24:21.140
Butch, for your question.

582
00:24:23.780 --> 00:24:26.580
The crew of Artemis 2 now bound for the moon.

583
00:24:26.820 --> 00:24:29.380
Professor Fred Watson: Humanity's next great voyage begins.

584
00:24:29.940 --> 00:24:32.700
Andrew Dunkley: Space Nuts. Our final question, an

585
00:24:32.700 --> 00:24:34.260
audio uh, question comes from

586
00:24:35.540 --> 00:24:38.460
somebody else who I've lost. I've found him

587
00:24:38.460 --> 00:24:39.110
again. It's Trent.

588
00:24:40.060 --> 00:24:42.140
Trent from North Georgia USA: Hello Andrew and Dr. Fred Watson.

589
00:24:42.860 --> 00:24:45.420
This is Trent from North Georgia

590
00:24:45.420 --> 00:24:48.260
USA. I had a

591
00:24:48.260 --> 00:24:50.860
question. I know that gravitational

592
00:24:50.860 --> 00:24:53.740
waves move at the universal

593
00:24:53.740 --> 00:24:56.580
speed limit, the same as light in a

594
00:24:56.580 --> 00:24:58.780
vacuum, but are

595
00:24:58.860 --> 00:25:01.500
gravitational waves slowed down

596
00:25:02.060 --> 00:25:04.660
as they pass through atmosphere and

597
00:25:04.660 --> 00:25:05.180
planets?

598
00:25:05.260 --> 00:25:08.260
You and water and things

599
00:25:08.260 --> 00:25:10.060
like that, like light waves are

600
00:25:11.340 --> 00:25:14.060
just curious. Love your show.

601
00:25:15.100 --> 00:25:17.500
Been a long time listener and thoroughly

602
00:25:17.500 --> 00:25:19.980
enjoy asking questions here. Y' all have a

603
00:25:20.300 --> 00:25:22.340
wonderful day and I look forward to hearing

604
00:25:22.340 --> 00:25:22.780
Matt.

605
00:25:23.740 --> 00:25:25.900
Andrew Dunkley: Thank you Trent. Um, really good question.

606
00:25:25.900 --> 00:25:28.530
Gravitational waves have been um,

607
00:25:28.700 --> 00:25:31.540
a very popular topic of late. Uh, not

608
00:25:31.540 --> 00:25:33.100
only with space nuts and listeners, but

609
00:25:33.100 --> 00:25:34.970
scientists around the world trying to detect,

610
00:25:34.970 --> 00:25:37.340
uh, them and figure them out and learn from

611
00:25:37.560 --> 00:25:39.760
them because they can tell us about things

612
00:25:39.760 --> 00:25:40.880
that have happened that we have not

613
00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:43.800
witnessed. But uh, we know what they are and

614
00:25:43.800 --> 00:25:46.280
why. Um, because

615
00:25:46.760 --> 00:25:49.400
they vary according to, uh, the source.

616
00:25:50.150 --> 00:25:53.120
Um, so, um, how fast do they

617
00:25:53.120 --> 00:25:55.000
go and can something slow them down?

618
00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:55.480
Fred Watson?

619
00:25:56.280 --> 00:25:58.360
Professor Fred Watson: Yes, they go at the speed of light, exactly

620
00:25:58.360 --> 00:26:01.160
as, uh, Trent says, but they don't slow

621
00:26:01.160 --> 00:26:04.010
down. Oh, yeah. So they're not like

622
00:26:04.170 --> 00:26:07.010
light. Um, they're not like photons of light,

623
00:26:07.010 --> 00:26:09.850
which are, uh, subatomic particles that

624
00:26:10.090 --> 00:26:12.690
interact with, you know, the electrons and

625
00:26:12.690 --> 00:26:15.530
atoms, um, of, uh, of

626
00:26:15.690 --> 00:26:17.490
a medium that they're pla. That they're

627
00:26:17.490 --> 00:26:18.890
passing through, and that's what slows them

628
00:26:18.890 --> 00:26:21.850
down. But gravitational waves are actually

629
00:26:22.570 --> 00:26:25.570
in, well, we sometimes call it the fabric

630
00:26:25.570 --> 00:26:28.450
of space time. They're basically. They're

631
00:26:28.450 --> 00:26:31.040
waves in space. Um, and so,

632
00:26:31.130 --> 00:26:34.080
um, matter, the kind of stuff that

633
00:26:34.080 --> 00:26:36.160
I think Trent's thinking of, doesn't block

634
00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:38.560
them, doesn't absorb them, doesn't impede

635
00:26:38.560 --> 00:26:40.680
them, doesn't slow them down. They just go

636
00:26:40.680 --> 00:26:43.560
right through it. Uh, uh, they go through

637
00:26:43.560 --> 00:26:46.000
planets, stars,

638
00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:48.880
humans, anything, as though they were

639
00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:51.800
just empty space. So they

640
00:26:51.800 --> 00:26:52.240
don't.

641
00:26:52.320 --> 00:26:53.040
Andrew Dunkley: They don't.

642
00:26:53.040 --> 00:26:53.640
Trent from North Georgia USA: All right.

643
00:26:53.640 --> 00:26:54.800
Andrew Dunkley: That was easy. That was quick.

644
00:26:55.290 --> 00:26:56.170
Professor Fred Watson: It was, wasn't it?

645
00:26:56.490 --> 00:26:57.970
Andrew Dunkley: So I'm going to give you a question without

646
00:26:57.970 --> 00:26:59.770
notice that's come from our live audience.

647
00:26:59.770 --> 00:27:02.690
This comes from Tommy. He says artificial

648
00:27:02.690 --> 00:27:05.370
intelligence, uh, is great for pattern

649
00:27:05.370 --> 00:27:07.090
recognition. Any comments about the

650
00:27:07.090 --> 00:27:08.890
advancements in computer science?

651
00:27:10.140 --> 00:27:13.020
Professor Fred Watson: Um, certainly AI is used a lot in, um,

652
00:27:13.050 --> 00:27:15.530
astrophysics, um, because

653
00:27:16.170 --> 00:27:18.970
a lot of what we study in astronomy and

654
00:27:18.970 --> 00:27:21.050
astrophysics relies on very

655
00:27:22.010 --> 00:27:24.730
complex statistical methodologies.

656
00:27:25.040 --> 00:27:27.610
Um, you know, Bayesian statistics and all

657
00:27:27.610 --> 00:27:30.610
kinds of stuff that I never knew about when I

658
00:27:30.610 --> 00:27:33.410
was a student. Uh, and AI

659
00:27:33.410 --> 00:27:35.370
is great at dealing with that kind of thing

660
00:27:35.370 --> 00:27:37.970
and teasing out some of the nuances

661
00:27:38.850 --> 00:27:41.449
from, uh, you know, from the work that's

662
00:27:41.449 --> 00:27:42.770
going on. So,

663
00:27:45.480 --> 00:27:47.450
um, and that's just one example of the way

664
00:27:47.450 --> 00:27:49.890
that perhaps AI is being used in astronomy

665
00:27:49.890 --> 00:27:51.390
and astrophysics. Yes.

666
00:27:51.870 --> 00:27:54.750
Andrew Dunkley: Yeah. Um, it's making inroads into

667
00:27:54.750 --> 00:27:57.190
just about every facet of life and business,

668
00:27:57.190 --> 00:28:00.070
isn't it, Fred Watson? Um, and

669
00:28:00.070 --> 00:28:01.910
there's a lot of debate over whether or not

670
00:28:01.910 --> 00:28:04.910
this is a good thing. I actually

671
00:28:04.910 --> 00:28:07.790
read a report today, not, uh, that it's

672
00:28:07.790 --> 00:28:10.390
suggesting AI is the problem, but, uh, it's

673
00:28:10.390 --> 00:28:12.430
suggesting that screen time is the problem.

674
00:28:12.590 --> 00:28:15.220
But, um, the, um,

675
00:28:15.550 --> 00:28:17.970
academic decline in the

676
00:28:18.760 --> 00:28:21.480
school students, um, that they're

677
00:28:21.480 --> 00:28:23.880
witnessing now, the exam results,

678
00:28:24.420 --> 00:28:27.320
uh, globally, uh, on standard

679
00:28:27.320 --> 00:28:29.860
tests, is showing that, um,

680
00:28:30.120 --> 00:28:32.680
there's a, you know, the curve is falling.

681
00:28:33.560 --> 00:28:36.440
Um, we're seeing a decline in scholastic

682
00:28:36.440 --> 00:28:38.680
ability. And they're blaming screen time,

683
00:28:38.680 --> 00:28:41.520
they're blaming access to easy data

684
00:28:41.520 --> 00:28:43.480
without using your brain to figure it out.

685
00:28:43.760 --> 00:28:46.500
Um, it's, uh, something that

686
00:28:46.660 --> 00:28:49.100
governments and institutions around the world

687
00:28:49.100 --> 00:28:51.180
are going to have to tackle, if they haven't

688
00:28:51.180 --> 00:28:53.040
started already. And I'm sure they have. But,

689
00:28:53.040 --> 00:28:54.740
uh, yeah, ah, it's, it's a growing, it's a

690
00:28:54.740 --> 00:28:57.500
growing problem. But, um, I don't think we're

691
00:28:57.500 --> 00:28:59.980
going to stop, um, using AI and

692
00:28:59.980 --> 00:29:02.180
computers and tablets and

693
00:29:02.660 --> 00:29:05.660
smartphones anytime soon. So we've got

694
00:29:05.660 --> 00:29:08.340
to find a way for everything to work together

695
00:29:08.580 --> 00:29:10.830
in unison to the benefit of

696
00:29:11.390 --> 00:29:12.070
humanity.

697
00:29:12.070 --> 00:29:14.990
And, uh, um, maybe

698
00:29:15.470 --> 00:29:17.390
doing what we've done in New South Wales and

699
00:29:17.390 --> 00:29:20.190
banning phones in classrooms, uh, might be

700
00:29:20.190 --> 00:29:20.750
a start.

701
00:29:20.830 --> 00:29:21.550
Professor Fred Watson: Who knows?

702
00:29:22.300 --> 00:29:24.310
Andrew Dunkley: Uh, thanks, Trent. Great question. Great to

703
00:29:24.310 --> 00:29:24.830
hear from you.

704
00:29:24.830 --> 00:29:26.990
Great to hear from everybody who contributed.

705
00:29:26.990 --> 00:29:28.710
Thank you so much. And don't forget to send

706
00:29:28.710 --> 00:29:30.510
your questions through to us on our website,

707
00:29:30.510 --> 00:29:33.430
spacenutspodcast.com or

708
00:29:33.430 --> 00:29:36.350
spacenuts IO. Click on the little AMA

709
00:29:36.350 --> 00:29:38.350
link at the top. That means ask me anything.

710
00:29:38.350 --> 00:29:40.070
And don't forget to tell us who you are or

711
00:29:40.070 --> 00:29:42.650
where you're from, uh, in text or audio form.

712
00:29:42.650 --> 00:29:44.090
And while you're there, have a look around,

713
00:29:44.170 --> 00:29:46.690
visit our shop, sign up for the astronomy

714
00:29:46.690 --> 00:29:49.690
newsletter and, um, yeah, whatever

715
00:29:49.690 --> 00:29:51.650
you like. And please leave reviews wherever

716
00:29:51.650 --> 00:29:54.570
you listen to us. Uh, and thank you,

717
00:29:54.570 --> 00:29:56.490
Fred Watson, as always. It's been great fun.

718
00:29:56.890 --> 00:29:58.570
Professor Fred Watson: It's been good, doesn't it? Yep. And we'll do

719
00:29:58.570 --> 00:29:59.810
it again soon. We will.

720
00:29:59.810 --> 00:30:01.410
Andrew Dunkley: Professor Fred Watson Watson, astronomer at

721
00:30:01.410 --> 00:30:02.770
large, and thanks to Huw in the studio,

722
00:30:02.770 --> 00:30:04.410
couldn't be with us today, did a mission to

723
00:30:04.410 --> 00:30:07.010
the sun, forgot his sunscreen back in

724
00:30:07.010 --> 00:30:07.290
hospital.

725
00:30:07.770 --> 00:30:09.810
And from me, Andrew Dunkley. Thanks for your

726
00:30:09.810 --> 00:30:12.330
company. We'll see you in the next episode of

727
00:30:12.490 --> 00:30:14.950
Space Nuts. Until then, bye bye.

728
00:30:15.540 --> 00:30:18.270
Uh, you'll be listening to the Space Nuts

729
00:30:18.270 --> 00:30:20.870
podcast, available

730
00:30:20.950 --> 00:30:23.270
at Apple Podcasts, Spotify,

731
00:30:23.430 --> 00:30:26.190
iHeartRadio or your favourite podcast

732
00:30:26.190 --> 00:30:27.910
player. You can also stream on

733
00:30:27.910 --> 00:30:30.870
demand@bytes.com. this has been another

734
00:30:30.870 --> 00:30:32.950
quality podcast production from

735
00:30:32.950 --> 00:30:34.070
bytes.com.