#454: Universe's Speed Limits, Triple Star Systems & CME Mysteries

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Hi there, thanks for joining us on a Q&A edition of Space Nuts. My name is Andrew Dunkley, your host always good to have your company and that was Fred's chair.

[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_03]: Coming up in this episode...

[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_03]: Wow!

[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, it's supposed to be on yet?

[00:00:15] [SPEAKER_03]: Do it yet.

[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_03]: Cover you up in this episode.

[00:00:19] [SPEAKER_03]: What if the expansion of the universe slowed down?

[00:00:23] [SPEAKER_03]: Somebody wants to know.

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_03]: We've also got a triple header question from Chris about three sun systems, merging black holes and attraction.

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_03]: And we'll be answering a question about whether or not we've collected matter from the coronal mass ejection, not the A-coronal mass ejection because they happen a lot.

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_03]: And if we've got time we'll throw in another one but we'll work with what we've got in this Q&A edition of Space Nuts.

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_01]: 15 seconds guidance is in general.

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_01]: 10, 9, Ignition, 6, 1, 5, Space Nuts.

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm three, two, one, these are four, five, four, these are one.

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Space Nuts.

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_03]: As an attribute for it, Neil's good.

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_03]: I didn't realize he was here, he's so quiet, he's Professor Fred, what's on, hello Fred.

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_04]: I have troops. I apologize for my creaking chair.

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_04]: Thanks playing the chair was here but I wasn't well, yes.

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_04]: No, there it is.

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_03]: Mine doesn't do that but the microphone does.

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_03]: Don't think I'm hope.

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_03]: No, it's not doing it then.

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_03]: It's like taking a card of the mechanic.

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, I've got this noise.

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_03]: No you haven't.

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_03]: I think maybe I'll try better WD-40 or something.

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_03]: Yes.

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_03]: It's good stuff that.

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_03]: I've put it on my breakfast.

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_03]: Now let's get into some questions.

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_03]: We've got a few here.

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_03]: I think we'll start off with Dave from the beautiful town of Inverrell in northwest New South Wales,

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_03]: which is known for it's gems.

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_03]: Gemfossic, very popular up there.

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Hi Andrew and Fred.

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_03]: Previously on the show you've discussed how the universe is expanding faster than the speed of light.

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_03]: Some theories propose this expansion may continue

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_03]: while others suggest the expansion might eventually slow down.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_03]: If the latter is correct, could the expansion of the universe slow down to less than the speed of light?

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_03]: Therefore allowing light to overtake the edge of the universe.

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_03]: Is this possible and could light exist outside the universe?

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_03]: Dave from Inverrell.

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_03]: I've got a feeling you're going to talk about the speed of the expansion of the universe

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_03]: because it was faster than the speed of light initially

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_03]: but then it did slow down, didn't it?

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it's a difficult one to discuss this because when you talk about the expansion of the universe being faster than the speed of light, what do you mean?

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_04]: What you might mean is that two objects, a certain distance apart,

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_04]: moving away from each other faster than the speed of light, so that one will never see the other.

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_04]: And that's the best ways to think of it.

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_04]: You quite right, though we think that during the first 10 to the minus 33 of a second or thereabouts,

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_04]: a tiny, tiny length of time at the beginning of the universe.

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_04]: After the immediate after the big bang, we think the expansion was colossal,

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_04]: that the universe changed shape by a change size by 10 to the power 50 and 10 to the minus 33 of a second.

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_04]: What we call the inflation period?

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_04]: The way it always under the name things here.

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_04]: And certainly, the universe, the universe would have separated from other bits,

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_04]: have faster than the speed of light, which doesn't contribute special relativity as we've said before

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_04]: because the universe can do anything it likes, or is that things travel through the universe,

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_04]: a faster than the speed of light.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_04]: So that theory that the universe might collapse in on itself was really not on the head in 1998

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_04]: with the discovery of the ex-summer accelerated expansion of the universe by a colleague branch bit here in Australia and others are overseas in the United States.

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_04]: So that basically said no, we don't think the universe is going to collapse anymore.

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_04]: But in a way, we're already in the situation that Chris describes because the most distant thing we can see,

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_04]: which is the cosmic microwave background radiation.

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_04]: And that is a distance, you know, effectively a 13.8 billion by years or a look back time of 30.8 billion years.

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_04]: That is not receding from us fast in the speed of light and in fact it's receding from us at the speed of light and we can still see it.

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_04]: And of course, everything between us and that is stuff that is nearer than the cosmic microwave background radiation.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_04]: So by definition all that stuff is not moving at the speed of light, we can see it all.

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_04]: So it's all about horizons, what you can see, what you can't see, and the horizon that really limits our visibility now is the flash of the big bang.

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_04]: You're looking so far back in time that you're seeing that that wall of radiation, it's now microwave radiation.

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_04]: And so they the cosmic microwave background radiation and it's traveling away from us at the speed of light.

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_03]: There you go.

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_03]: And he also wanted to know if light could exist outside our universe.

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_03]: That's a, you know, I guess that's a speculator.

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, yeah, we don't really don't know much about the outside of the universe because universe by definition is everything that we can perceive or or think about.

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_04]: But yes, there are people who think that I was might be just one of many universities, maybe wearing most in a higher dimensional void, which would perhaps would have light.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_04]: It might be more appropriate to think though that outside the universe might not have light but might have gravity.

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_04]: Because I think you and I've talked about this before, the force of gravity compared with the other fundamental forces in the universe.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_04]: And that's the electromagnetic force and the strong and weak nuclear forces.

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_04]: It's hundreds of billions of times weaker, the force of gravity is much, much, much weaker.

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_04]: And some people speculate that that's because it leaks out of our universe.

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_04]: Ah, space between the right gosh.

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_03]: Wouldn't you love to figure out what's out there? Go out there and it would, would answer so many questions I think.

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_03]: But all we can do is speculate and wonder, and you know, we can't even see past certain parts of the universe.

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_03]: So, no, we've got no idea really could be just, you know, some kind of void or could be use car sales what for all we know.

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_03]: Yes, there's just something else.

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_03]: Is it called a void in Dr. Who? I can't remember.

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, Michael.

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, maybe that's what's snapped into my brain.

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, scientists call it the bulk. Actually, right.

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_04]: Cosmology, physics name is the bulk, at least the void for Dr. Who?

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_04]: Dr. Who? Yes indeed.

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, Dave, thanks for your question. How we managed to help you out there. Let's go to our next question.

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_03]: This is a big question. Chris has never asked us a question before.

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_03]: So he's asked basically eight years worth of questions in one eat.

[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_03]: Take it away, Chris.

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Andrew, hey professor Watson and when he was Christopher Blue, I'm coming from coming to you from Dave,

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_00]: North Carolina United States of America.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Love you guys podcast. I work as an infectious disease technology. So I'm not allowed to touch my phone.

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: So what I do is I listen to your podcast for eight hours a day.

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm days a week and I love it. I'm not going to change anything.

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Actually, speaking to you from the past, I'm on episode 37.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And I held off on asking questions this entire time because as you all say,

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_00]: it could be question I was already answered, but I just defined, you know, to heck with that.

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I come and ask a question. Anyway, moving on don't have a lot of time.

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to take up your time either. But if there was a planetary system that

[00:08:46] [SPEAKER_00]: or if there was a planet that, or if there was a planet that, or if there was a three

[00:08:50] [SPEAKER_00]: sun, you know, how some systems have binary systems. And as a password has three

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_00]: three suns and if that was the case, is it possible for those funds to go into

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_00]: the system to go into the system? And it's something like the gravity from all three of those

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_00]: suns added up would lift them off the planet. I actually saw that in this show called

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_00]: three body problems. If you haven't seen it, it's on Netflix. Great show you will love it.

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Also, this is all based on my very small understanding of your guys favorite subject, black holes,

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_00]: but black holes are singularity, infinitely small point in space. And black holes converge

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_00]: with those singularities, because one singularity or do they collide? And if they collide

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_00]: would that be like the big pink? Okay, but now I just want to know that

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_00]: it last question, I promise for now. If everything has an attraction, all planets have an

[00:10:05] [SPEAKER_00]: attraction, would everything in space be attracted towards, if nothing else in space had

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00]: that attraction besides Earth, would all the planets and everything out there just come

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_00]: to Earth? I almost like a holding beacon and crash into it, but that's all my questions

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_00]: from now. Like I said, love your guys' podcasts. I really appreciate it actually. I actually

[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_00]: urge me to get back into college. I told myself I was never going back by you guys. It's

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_00]: fire in the go back and I do appreciate it. So you guys take it easy and have a great day.

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_03]: You say son and off? Thank you Chris. Wow, that was a lot. I was

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_03]: gobsmacked that you went back to college because of us. I'm humbled by that Fred, what do you think?

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it's great. It's just great to hear Chris and good luck with the way it's going, all the

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_04]: studies and everything. And keep up the good work with infectious disease technology. That's very

[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_03]: yes. So you can't touch his phone while he's well there. So he listens to us. Yeah, well,

[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_03]: oh look, there's a terrible disease. Oh no, that was just Fred. I think you're the,

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_03]: I think you're the one with the terrible things that I've got. Yes, super pollination.

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_03]: That's what it's called super pollination. Yeah, that could be a thing.

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_03]: Now, Chris has questions. Three different questions. The first one's a triple header in itself.

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_03]: A three sun system, what sort of a problem would a planet have? Or, but in a three sun system? And

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_03]: yes, he mentioned the TV series, three body problem, which is based on a book by a Chinese writer.

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_03]: I still haven't finished the first book. It's a trilogy. And yeah, I'm struggling with it because

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_03]: is really, it's a difficult read. They've turned it into a fabulous TV show, which is very

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_03]: accurate compared to the book, which I'm pleased to see so far. But yeah, the problem in the TV series

[00:12:09] [SPEAKER_03]: is you've got a planet that's trying to evolve and intelligent life keeps developing but then being

[00:12:16] [SPEAKER_03]: destroyed by the problem of trying to survive in a three sun system. It just can't maintain

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_03]: equilibrium. I suppose would be the way to describe it. Is that a real thing or are they just

[00:12:32] [SPEAKER_04]: making it up? No, I was going to say when because I, as you know, I haven't watched the three

[00:12:38] [SPEAKER_04]: body problem but as I was listening to Chris's question there, I thought this would not be stable.

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_04]: A planet orbiting three stars, which were themselves orbiting their common center of mass,

[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_04]: almost certainly would be very destructive from a gravitational point of view that it wouldn't

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_04]: be a stable situation. And so I think Chris's question is first question, what if they all

[00:13:08] [SPEAKER_04]: lined up in what we call Cisidri? Yeah, that would certainly provide an interesting bit of gravitational

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_04]: force on the, on the poor planet. If that was also in Cisidri with these three stars,

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_04]: you might expect very, very intense gravitational effects which it occurs by one side of the

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_04]: planet getting pulled more than the other. Yeah, so, so Matt, you know if it was nearing, I think

[00:13:33] [SPEAKER_04]: my aim gets forgetified like you get when you get to a neary black hole. So yes, really quite

[00:13:39] [SPEAKER_04]: quite damaging, I think. But it possibly could happen. We've covered stories before of

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_04]: planets, both orbiting the individual members of a binary star system, a pair of stars, or

[00:13:53] [SPEAKER_04]: the whole thing. And we've commented before I think on how unstable those some of those

[00:13:58] [SPEAKER_04]: orbit must be just because the conflicting gravitational pools. Yeah, well they do portray the

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_03]: issues very well in that TV series three body problem. And yes, they do actually have seen

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_03]: to people being lifted off the ground because of the gravitational effects of stars that are

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_03]: controlling this planet's fate. Unfortunately, it's very mad for the people. Very bad.

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_04]: That would be a good idea. If you were going to be lifted off the ground,

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_03]: do you almost certainly get spigotified? Yeah, yeah, it's pretty messed up.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_03]: Chris's next question was about merging black holes. What basically happens? Do they become one?

[00:14:38] [SPEAKER_03]: Do they collide? Yes, well they do. Is it like a mini big bang? Well, we know it causes

[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_03]: gravitational waves. So yeah, it doesn't make a hell of a bang that makes this sound.

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, but just now I'm filling the blacks for us. But yeah, you're quite right. That's

[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_04]: the fairly good impersonation of the sound of a or of a black hole merger captured by

[00:15:12] [SPEAKER_04]: ego, which is looking at audio frequency, gravitational waves. And then playing them through

[00:15:17] [SPEAKER_04]: a loud speaker and you do you get the warp? Wait, so the merges together. And that bit at the end

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_04]: is where the black hole's actually merged. So they do combine into one single black hole of

[00:15:30] [SPEAKER_04]: actually a bit less than twice the mass of the individual ones because some of that mass is lost as

[00:15:35] [SPEAKER_04]: energy going into the gravitational waves, which are very energy hungry and that's because space is

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER_04]: a like space text. Yes, yeah, that's right. You got a kind of a merger with their paying the

[00:15:48] [SPEAKER_04]: text about. And being the text, yeah, the gravitational text. So what happens is not a mini big bang.

[00:15:57] [SPEAKER_04]: It's quite today, actually. It is the there's a explain. The frequency of the gravitational waves

[00:16:04] [SPEAKER_04]: goes up because these things are spinning, have a closer together. And then they merge and

[00:16:09] [SPEAKER_04]: there is something called the ring down that occurs afterwards. And I think that's just the sort of

[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_04]: vibration of the space around it as it settles back down to not having any kind of gravitational

[00:16:21] [SPEAKER_04]: waves passing through it. So the ring down is the end of the end of the process, the end of the

[00:16:28] [SPEAKER_04]: collision. But it's a it's a downward energy thing rather than an upward energy thing, which

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_03]: you know, a big bang would be. And yeah, finally, I just sort of metaphorically described that

[00:16:43] [SPEAKER_03]: then. So emerging black two merging black holes would be more like Fred and Ginger rather than

[00:16:49] [SPEAKER_04]: Donald and Camilla. Yeah, probably. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_04]: there's a lot of spinning involved. Yeah, it's done to take to take. Yes attraction.

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_04]: I guess well, there we're just what we've been talking about. And so it's hard to imagine how

[00:17:13] [SPEAKER_04]: the Earth could attract things without the other things attracting us because it's a mutual process

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_04]: is gravitation. You can't switch it off just for one objects and not the others. But yes,

[00:17:24] [SPEAKER_04]: if the Earth was the only gravitating body in the solar system and everything else,

[00:17:29] [SPEAKER_04]: I'd no gravity at all. It probably would collect everything else. Yeah, it's sort of a

[00:17:33] [SPEAKER_03]: situation that's emerging like we just end up with one giant planet of some kind.

[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_03]: It would be a bit of a mess too. Yes, I think he would. Yes. So yes, Chris, that would happen.

[00:17:46] [SPEAKER_03]: That would happen. All right. Great to hear from you, Chris, enjoy your infectious diseases

[00:17:51] [SPEAKER_03]: and college. Just don't put the two together. Wouldn't be pretty. But thanks for sending

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_03]: a question in thanks for supporting Space Nuts. I'd like to hear a lot of your all-bum.

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Space Nuts. One final question, Fred. This one comes from Lee who is in Canada.

[00:18:11] [SPEAKER_03]: Hello Space Nuts. I'm curious if we have ever been able to collect CME samples from the

[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_03]: Sun's orbit. I expect it would cool down significantly and possibly arrive at Earth as

[00:18:30] [SPEAKER_03]: any other asteroid. Have we ever collected this and what can we learn? Thanks and keep up the

[00:18:37] [SPEAKER_03]: good work Lee from Canada. Okay, I look these things hit us all the time, don't they, Fred?

[00:18:47] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I'll do them. Yeah, not so much direct hit type of stuff but the after effects

[00:18:54] [SPEAKER_04]: with the soil and soil. It is in climate. Yeah, and it is the so it's coronal mass ejection

[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_04]: is exactly what it sounds like. It's gasping, it's actually a plasma coming off the Sun,

[00:19:06] [SPEAKER_04]: a plasma is an electrified gas. It comes off the Sun at high velocity, a million kilometers an hour

[00:19:13] [SPEAKER_04]: thereabouts, probably actually quite a lot of fuzz on that when I think about it. It takes a

[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_04]: few days to reach the Earth and when it does, we're shoured with the subatomic particles. So

[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_04]: in that sense the Earth has collected CMEs. They don't solidify in any way. They're still

[00:19:30] [SPEAKER_04]: subatomic particles that remain in that state electrified and traveling at high velocity.

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_04]: And it's when they interact with the upper atmosphere of the Earth that we see the

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER_04]: roaring than northern and southern lights. As these high-end agetic particles, you know,

[00:19:47] [SPEAKER_04]: sort of energize the atoms of the Earth so that when they become de-energized, they actually

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_04]: radiate at light. And we see the northern lights. So the northern lights, I guess, are the best

[00:19:58] [SPEAKER_04]: thing we've got for collecting CMEs. It also interferes with the electronics of satellites and

[00:20:04] [SPEAKER_04]: things of that sort. Sure does. But once again, it's on a subatomic level rather solid lumps

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_03]: so in terms of collecting them physically, not on because they are subatomic particles.

[00:20:16] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that's right. They just go through whatever it was you tried. It made a really good net to be

[00:20:20] [SPEAKER_03]: able to do that. Yeah. Well, the nets are a rare magnetic field, I suppose.

[00:20:29] [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, but that's right. The net is what you know, diverse and round the poles of the Earth,

[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_04]: which is why we see the aurora is so strong with the end-eaten. All right.

[00:20:39] [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you, Lee. Hope that helped you with your question. If you've got a question for us,

[00:20:43] [SPEAKER_03]: go to our website. It's a new look website. I didn't realise that until Hugh told me.

[00:20:49] [SPEAKER_03]: But yeah, it's just slightly changed in design so you can visit SpaceNutsPodcast.com or spaceNuts.io

[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_03]: send us text or your questions through the AMA link. Don't forget the leave reviews about the

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER_03]: SpaceNutsPodcast. We always love to hear about what you think,

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_03]: reviews through whatever platform you use. And Fred, thank you very much. Show is a pleasure.

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_03]: So it was a pleasure talking to you, too, Andrew. Thank you. The first person that's ever said that.

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you, Fred. I'll see you next time. Yeah, sounds good. And thanks to Hugh and the studio

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_03]: for being quite not bothering us. And from me, Andrew, Dr. Lee, thanks to your company.

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_03]: We'll see you very soon on another episode of SpaceNuts. Bye bye.