Cosmic Mysteries, Lost Civilizations & Solar Probes: #482

Space Nuts is taking a bit of a break at the moment, Fred and I'll be back in the not too distant future with fresh episodes. In the meantime, enjoy some of the key episodes that we have presented over the years, major events in astronomy and space science, and we'll see you real soon. Fifteen seconds Gaden the in Channel ten nine ignition Squench Space Nuts or three two more renew one Space notes as actually bought it Bills Good and on the program today, we will be discussing some work that's been done through the University of Cambridge where they may have may have accidentally stumbled across evidence of dark energy. Now we know it exists, we know it makes up a substantial part of the universe. We've just never been able to actually identify it directly. So have they found dark energy? Have they found evidence of it? I mean, we know it's there because of the influence it has, so we'll look into that. We're also going to talk about ay two hundred year old observatory in Peru. It was only recently discovered around two thousand and five and it still works. It still works quite extraordinary. I'm your host Andrew Dunkley, and joining me as always is Professor Fred What's an astronomer at large? Hello Fred, good Andrew, how you do I am quite well. How are you? Yes, very well, indeed, thank you. Now let's move on to our first topic, Fred, and that is dark energy. We get so many questions about dark matter and dark energy, all because of the mystery surrounding this stuff. Dark energy. We talked about how it's probably not well named, but they've been doing some experiments through the University of Cambridge and it looks like they might have stumbled across the detection of dark energy. It's not being absolutely confirmed, but they might have you know, tripped over it by accident, because I would try to do something. Else there were that's right. So this is an experiment at the Xenon one T the facility which is at Grand Sasso in Italy, and it's a bit like a you know, an astronomical telescope. It's built as a facility that can be used by many astronomers and they all come and get there two or three nights or whatever it is on the telescope and then go away and work out the results. And a facility like this is similar in the sense that it has accessed by various different researchers, and in this case, as you've said that these researchers are from the University of Cambridge and they've got basically the bottom line, Andrew, is that there are some unexplained results that have come from this experiment. What these scientists were looking for was evidence of extremely rare interaction between particles of dark matter, which makes up about twenty seven percent of the mass energy budget of the universe compared with about five percent for all the stuff we can see. So they were looking for so we think that dark matter is some species of a subatomic particle which we haven't yet identified, but that it may on very rare occasions interact i e. Bash into. A normal matter particle hydrogen or carbon or whatever. And the idea of this xenon one T experiment was to try and detect such such collisions. But what they found was a background signal that wasn't didn't match any of the predictions for dark matter, but actually was more like the kind of signals that you might expect from dark energy. And that's intrus because dark energy has always been seen as the harder problem to solve it's what is it sixty eight percent of the universe's dark energy, and it's basically an energy of space itself. That's what we believe that's causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate. But subatomic physicists, they think in terms of dark energy is being carried by particles, for example, gravity, which is in some ways the opposite of dark energy because it's a bulling together of matter and we do understand gravity that we don't have a subatomic model for it properly yet, but people speculate that it's carried by gravitons, sub astomic particles that carry the effect of gravity, and there may be particles that carry the effect of dark energy, and that's what they think they've detected. You know, it's really funny because when I was reading the article, I thought popped into my head and I thought, is it possible that dark energy is simply anti gravity? No, it's not, okay, And the reason for that is dark energy is everywhere, and the effect of gravity is well understood. It follows the square or so that you know, as you move away from it, the gravity drops off with the square of the distance. Dark energy is not like that it's everywhere, so it is different, but its properties are similar in the sense that if gravity is an attractive force, if I put it that way, dark dark energy isn't. It's a repulsive force. And in that way, Yeah, they seem to be opposites to each other. Yeah, it's great, that's the thing, but it's not anti gravity because to have gravity you need matter, and we don't seem to need matter for dark energy. It's just yeah, okay, wow, And they get to do some tweaking of the experiment, as I understand it, to see if they can now hone in on this because it's not absolutely certain that this is what they've discovered, is it. No, that's right, and these things never are there. You know what you have to do. You get something that looks suspicious and then you, exactly as you've said, home in on it to try and really kind of tease it to death to find out what's actually lurking there, whether it is a real observation or something different. And the classic example of that was a couple of years ago there were two experiments at Cerne that gave results that suggested that a sub atomic particle had been discovered that might lead to the proof of supersymmetry, which is another theory that doesn't have any any physical observation behind it at the moment. But both of those observations, even though they were done on two different instruments, they just they disappeared. They when they looked more closely, the signals weren't there. And I should explain that this is all measured in terms of probability. You know what the probability is of this being real, and for it to be reported as a real effect, it needs a very high probability. Indeed, well, they're going to try and replicate this. And the part of the story that really made my eyes pop out was you know, we think we might be able to get an answer within a decade. That's pretty soon for this sort of thing, I guess. So, all right, something to watch with interest and may slowly down the number of questions we get about it. Well, it will be Yeah, wouldn't it be great if we could pin down dark energy? And what will be even greater is that that really that really will be physics. So it's beyond the theory of relativity. That could open up all kinds of possibilities. Yeah, couldn't it just wow. Okay, now let's talk about this Peruvian observatory that was discovered in two thousand and five and has hit the news again. What's the story with this one? Forrad? Yeah, this is something very very close to my heart, Andrew, And the reason is that Marni and I led i think the first tourist expedition to this site back in two thousand and seven. It was our first first science tour and we had one of the archaeologists who is responsible for the discovery, Ivan Getzi, Peruvian scientist. He came with us, so we got a first time to look at it, and honestly, it is such a haunting place that it's stayed with me ever since. If anybody is interested in following up my experience in that, I think it's chapter three of Starkreing Mad, my book about Astronomy Travels, is devoted to this place and what it was, what it was all about. So what we're talking about is this is about three hundred and seventy kilometers north of Lima's It's in the Cosma Valley is the river valley name, and this is a place where a river flows down from the Andes and of course it comes and goes very strongly with the snow melt in the andes right and huddled around the river, fertile areas with little villages in them. But also so you only have to walk through four hundred meters away from the river and you're in desert, and it's proper sandy desert. Yeah, I thought from the video it looked really desolate. It is utterly desolate. But at the same time, two three hundred years ago, and in fact at least a thousand years before that, because there are other artifacts there, it was a thriving center of population and with a probably a religion that demanded huge constructions, and there's evidence of plazas on a mammoth scale half a kilometer across, you know, and another structures having been there. But in the middle of all this there's a hill which runs north south pretty well exactly north south, almost like a hog's back type hill with a curved top. It's two three hundred meters long, and on top of that are thirteen towers built to very exact proportions their damage. Now, earthquake damage tends to knock the corners off structures like this, so most of them have got some earthquake damage. But those towers haven't actually been known for many decades. But it was only in two thousand and five, as he said, and actually published in two thousand and six, that Yvan Getzi and another well known archaeo astronomer, that's the ancient astronomy who's at the University of Leicester, Clive Ruggles. And I was actually talking to Clive last week because if it had a talk for us, a great speaker and a great scientist as well. So Yvanne and Clive figured out that what these towers were for was a calendar essentially, And so what you've got is they identified two places, one to the east of the row of towers, one to the west of it, where if you observe the sun rising on one side and setting on the other side, those towers act as a kind of calibration of the horizon. So the sun comes up slightly differently every day, yep. And by looking at those where it crosses those towers, you can see exactly what the day was. So an enormous amount of effort went into understanding that and building it, and we're left with this, you know, this record of a civilization about which we know very little. They're well pre incur the Incas were in the fourteen fifteen centuries fifteen sixty, I think, culturally, but this is a different civilization. What is really striking, though, is that you could, if you make your observations carefully, you could work out what day it was within a year. Now, they didn't have a modern calendar then, but they would have perhaps worked out the dates by when the sun crossed this, you know, they cross the different towers. And what it seems to have been all about, Andrew and this is a slightly gruesome. Part of this was ritual warfare. It was about the gods telling them that they had to go and beat up the neighbors because they'd get the water if they didn't, and they had these ritual wars which were absolutely scathing. They were ghastly gruesome. And there's another temple not very far from chang Killo which we also visited, that's full of murals, carved murals that look as though they've been made yesterday. This is more than three thousand years old, but it shows dismembered bodies and it's just very accurate and really grim to look at. So that was what it was all about, which is bizarre to our understanding. But it's an extraordinary thing. The reason why it's in the news again, Andrew, to get to the point, is that it's just been given World Heritage listing. Yeah, thanks to Clive and other people. It really needs protection. It is such an iconic. Site, magnificent. It must have been a thrill to get to say it. Unbelievable, Yeah, unbelievable, amazing. All right, you can learn more about it by jumping online. There's lots of articles and yeah, yeah, it's easy to find. I think the University of Leicester has published a story about it as well. No, yeah, and dig that one up. Listening to Space Nuts. My name's Andrew Dunkley with Professor Fred Watson Space Nuts. Hello again, Space Nutters. This is Anna from Astronomy Daily, the podcast, stopping by again with a couple of the important stories we've been following over the past week. Today, we've got some exciting updates about NASA's Parker Solar Probe and the Mars sample return mission. Let's start with some history making. In an incredible feat of engineering and scientific achievement, NASA's Parker Solar Probe has just shattered its own records by making its closest ever approach to the Sun. On December twenty fourth, twenty twenty four, this remarkable spacecraft soared through the solar atmosphere at a mind boggling speed of four hundred and thirty thousand miles per hour, making it the fastest human made object in history. To put that in perspective, you could circle Earth seventeen times in just one hour at that speed. The probe flew just three point eight million miles above the Sun's surface, which might sound like a safe distance, but consider this, it's flying through temperatures that could melt steel. The spacecraft's specially designed carbon foam shield protects its sensitive instruments while enduring temperatures of up to two thousand, six hundred degrees fahrenheit that's about a quarter as hot as the Sun's surface itself. The mission team received confirmation late on December twenty sixth, when the probe phoned home, so to speak, to report that the spacecraft had survived this daring encounter and is operating perfectly normally. This success marks the beginning of a new phase in solar exploration, as the probe will continue to make similar passes every three months, giving scientists unprecedented access to study our star's most mysterious processes up close. This groundbreaking proximity to the Sun is giving scientists an unprecedented opportunity to unlock some of our star's greatest mysteries. By flying directly through the solar corona, the Sun's superheated outer atmosphere, the Parker Solar Probe is collecting data that's revolutionizing our understanding of solar physics. Previous passes have already challenged what we thought we knew about the Sun. Scientists were surprised to discover that the outer boundary of the corona isn't smooth as previously believed, but actually wrinkled with spikes and valleys. The probe also solved a long standing mystery about strange zigzag patterns in the solar wind called switchbacks, tracing their origin to the Sun's visible surface. The spacecraft is helping us better understand how the corona reaches its puzzling temperature of over a million degrees fahrenheit, far hotter than the Sun's surface. It's also revealing new details about how the solar wind accelerates to incredible speeds as it flows outward through our solar system. These discoveries aren't just academically interesting, they're crucial for understanding how solar activity affects our technologlogy on Earth and our future space exploration efforts. And we're just getting started. Each close pass through the corona gives scientists more time to study these critical processes where they actually happen. The data being collected now will take us closer than ever to understanding the fundamental physics that drive our stars behavior, potentially revolutionizing our ability to predict and prepare for solar events that could impact life on Earth. Next up, big changes are coming for NASA's ambitious Mars sample return mission. The Space Agency is getting ready to announce a major overhaul of the project in early January, and it's all about making the mission more practical and cost effective. The original plan, which would have cost around eleven billion dollars and wouldn't have brought samples back until twenty forty, was deemed too expensive and too slow by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. That timeline was particularly problematic since NASA aims to have astronauts on Mars by the twenty forties and scientists want to study these samples before sending humans to the Red planet. NASA has been exploring alternative approaches, reaching out to various industry partners, including big names like Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Northrop Grumman. By involving private companies rather than relying solely on NASA centers, they're hoping to significantly speed up the timeline and reduce costs. The mission is crucial because it would be the first time we've ever returned samples from Mars to Earth for detailed study. The stakes are high for this project. The Perseverance Rover is already on Mars collecting samples and special tubes, but getting them back to Earth requires a complex series of steps involving multiple spacecraft and launches. The challenge now is finding a way to complete this ambitious goal without breaking the bank or waiting until twenty forty. With major briefings already underway, we should know soon what this reimagined Mars sample return mission will look like. And that's it for me for this episode of Space Nuts. I'm Anna, and I've thoroughly enjoyed sharing these incredible developments with you today, from record breaking solar encounters to the evolving plans for bringing pieces of Mars back to Earth. It's an exciting time for space science. Don't forget to visit Astronomy Daily dot io for your daily fix of space and astronomy news updates. We're constantly updating the site with the latest discoveries, mission updates, and cosmic wonders until our next adventure through the Cosmos. Keep looking up and stay curious about the mysteries that surround us in space a space sis. You'll be listening to the Spice Nuts podcast available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, oh your favorite podcast player. You can also stream on demand at bides dot com. This has been another quantity podcast production from the Darts dot com