In this captivating episode of Space Nuts, hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson dive into a range of fascinating astronomical topics. The episode kicks off with an exploration of lunar magnetism, as they discuss new findings suggesting that the Moon may have once possessed a primordial magnetic field, stemming from solidified magma beneath its surface. The duo then shifts gears to a groundbreaking discovery of radio signals originating from the exoplanet Beta Pictoris B, revealing the presence of auroras on this distant gas giant. Finally, they examine the evolution of spacecraft windows, highlighting the importance of visibility for astronauts and the advancements in window technology over the decades. Join Andrew and Fred Watson as they unravel these cosmic mysteries with their signature blend of humour and insight.
Key topics
- The Moon's magnetic history and the implications of recent research on its geological structure.
- Detection of auroras on exoplanets through radio signals and what it means for our understanding of planetary atmospheres.
- The evolution of spacecraft windows: from early designs to modern innovations and safety considerations.
Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction and overview of today's topics
01:20 - Discussion on lunar magnetism and the Moon's geological history
15:30 - Discovery of radio signals from exoplanet Beta Pictoris B and the significance of auroras
25:00 - Evolution of spacecraft windows and their importance for astronauts
35:15 - A unique photo capturing the International Space Station and a plane against the sun
45:00 - Closing thoughts and listener engagement
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:00 Professor Fred Watson: Hi there.
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Andrew Dunkley: Thanks for joining us. This is another
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 episode of Space Nuts. We talk
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 astronomy and space science and window
00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 dressing. And you name it, we will talk
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 about it. And, uh, my name. Did I
00:00:13 --> 00:00:15 say my name? My name is Andrew Dunkley, your
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 host. Good to, uh, have your company. Uh, on
00:00:17 --> 00:00:19 today's episode, we're going to look at lunar
00:00:19 --> 00:00:22 magnetism. Did the moon ever have, uh,
00:00:23 --> 00:00:26 a magnetic field? Uh, or, um,
00:00:26 --> 00:00:28 is there something else that had happened to
00:00:28 --> 00:00:30 it in the past? They think they've got it
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 figured out. Maybe, uh, we're going to talk
00:00:33 --> 00:00:36 about a not alien radio signal.
00:00:37 --> 00:00:39 Windows, uh, in spacecraft, uh, have
00:00:40 --> 00:00:42 come of age. And we'll tell you all about
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 that. I, uh, think the early astronauts
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 insisted. I want a window. I want a
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 window. And they got one.
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 Well, now it's, uh, very high tech and
00:00:51 --> 00:00:54 a very interesting photograph. A chance photo
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 that turned out to be rather special. We'll
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 tell you all about it on this episode of
00:00:59 --> 00:00:59 SpaceNarts.
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 Professor Fred Watson: 15 seconds. Guidance is internal.
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 10, 9. Ignition
00:01:05 --> 00:01:06 sequence.
00:01:06 --> 00:01:07 Professor Fred Watson: Star space nuts.
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 Professor Fred Watson: 5, 4, 3. 2. 1, 2, 3, 4,
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
00:01:12 --> 00:01:13 Andrew Dunkley: Space nuts.
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 Professor Fred Watson: Astronauts report it feels good.
00:01:16 --> 00:01:19 Andrew Dunkley: And with us again to sort out all of
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 that is Professor Fred Watson Watson,
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 astronomer at large. Hello, Fred Watson.
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 Professor Fred Watson: Hello, Andrew. Good to see you again. How's
00:01:26 --> 00:01:27 your week of golf gone?
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 Andrew Dunkley: Um, painful. My back is, uh,
00:01:30 --> 00:01:33 protesting. In fact, I played my
00:01:33 --> 00:01:36 fourth round, uh, to wrap
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 up 72 holes of golf, uh, over five days.
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 We had a rest day on Wednesday. I think, um,
00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 it should have another name like why are you
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 bothering day. And,
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 um, I tweaked my back,
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 strangely enough. I was just, um, bending
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 over to, um, adjust the ball.
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 And, uh, I wasn't quite balanced. So when I
00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 moved my leg to correct my balance, my lower
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 back went, nope, can't do that and I'm going
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 to hurt you. And yeah, I spent the rest of
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 the round fighting that. But I had a pretty
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 good week. I came second in the 36 hole
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 event, which was terrific. And I had three
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13 nearest the pins. That's the, that's the
00:02:13 --> 00:02:16 closest shot to, to the hole on a par three
00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 where the ball stays on the green. So, yeah,
00:02:20 --> 00:02:23 um, so yeah, I had a good week. I hit the
00:02:23 --> 00:02:24 ball quite well. I was very, very pleased.
00:02:26 --> 00:02:27 Not, um, as pleased as if I could have won
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 it, but, you know, that's golf. That's golf.
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 How's, um, your week been? It's been a long
00:02:35 --> 00:02:36 time since I saw you.
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 Professor Fred Watson: Well, yes, so I'm still, um, still
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 nursing the new knee. And the milestone this
00:02:42 --> 00:02:43 week was getting out on the. On the bike
00:02:43 --> 00:02:46 again, uh, for the first time. Which
00:02:46 --> 00:02:49 is great because, uh, it's a good way of
00:02:49 --> 00:02:52 extending your range of motion on the knee,
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 uh, which is all about
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 straightening it. Uh, the
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 straightening is what's called the extension,
00:03:00 --> 00:03:03 which has to be zero degrees. And,
00:03:03 --> 00:03:06 um, as it is on the knee that I had done in
00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 2020, it, uh, took a while to get there,
00:03:10 --> 00:03:10 but I did.
00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 Uh, at the moment, the new knee is standing
00:03:13 --> 00:03:16 at 2 degrees. Uh, but getting
00:03:16 --> 00:03:19 on the bike actually lets you stretch it. Uh,
00:03:19 --> 00:03:21 and so I'm hoping that will pull it down so
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 that when my physiotherapist,
00:03:23 --> 00:03:26 um, from Doncaster in Yorkshire,
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 uh, measures it next week, uh, she
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 might find there's a bit a big a difference
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 down from the 2 degrees that it was this
00:03:33 --> 00:03:34 week.
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 Andrew Dunkley: What you. What you don't want to hear when
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 you're riding a bike after knee surgery is
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 the clatter of titanium on tar.
00:03:42 --> 00:03:43 You don't want to hear that.
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 Professor Fred Watson: That will be bad. And, um, yes,
00:03:46 --> 00:03:49 yes, the physiotherapist tells a horror story
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 that's not too far from that. Oh,
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 really? Yeah. She said, I can
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 tell you this now. I can tell you this now
00:03:56 --> 00:03:58 because your. Your wound has healed up
00:03:58 --> 00:04:01 completely. I won't relate it,
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 no, but I'm imagining. Yeah, it was a horror.
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 Yeah, yeah. Pretty horrible. Anyway, never
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 mind. Nasty.
00:04:08 --> 00:04:11 Andrew Dunkley: All right, uh, we should, uh, get down
00:04:11 --> 00:04:12 to our stories.
00:04:12 --> 00:04:15 And this first story takes us, uh, to
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 the moon. Um, the moon's been in the
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 news a lot lately for all sorts of different
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 reasons. The lack of was, I think, the last
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 thing we talked about. But, um,
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 this story is actually focusing on
00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 the, um, magnetic field. Now, Earth's got a
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 magnetic field. It's generated by all the
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 goop inside that's doing whatever the goop
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 does. Um, and that, uh,
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 magnetic field protects us from
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 being burnt alive or whatever. Um,
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 now the question is, did the moon ever have a
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 magnetic field? If it did, how was it
00:04:49 --> 00:04:52 generated? And so on and so
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 forth. Uh, what's the situation?
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 Professor Fred Watson: Uh, so, yes, the bottom line
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 is the Moon doesn't really have much of a
00:05:02 --> 00:05:05 magnetic field now. Uh, it's
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 got traces of magnetism.
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 And interestingly, those
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 traces of magnetism tend to correspond
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 with, uh, what was the buzzword back in
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 the 1960s? The Mascons. Uh, the
00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 mass concentrations underneath the surface of
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 the moon, which were discovered when, uh,
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 orbiting spacecraft were first sent to the
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 moon in advance of the Apollo
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 missions. Uh, so,
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 uh, that's a sort of pointer, the fact that
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 where you've got These mass concentrations
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 under the surface. And you detect those by
00:05:39 --> 00:05:42 the way, by the fact that they pull down on
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 an orbiting spacecraft and so its
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47 trajectory changes slightly. Uh,
00:05:47 --> 00:05:50 so that's, um, what
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 basically what lets you plot them. And in
00:05:53 --> 00:05:55 fact you can see maps of the mascons these
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 days because we've had many, uh, orbiting
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 spacecraft that have charted them. Uh, so.
00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 But the magnetism tends to concentrate there.
00:06:03 --> 00:06:06 And as I said, that's the first clue. So this
00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 is some research that's been done by
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 scientists at, um, actually Einstein's old
00:06:11 --> 00:06:13 university, ETH Zurich, uh,
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 and they have, um,
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 basically looked at, uh, some
00:06:19 --> 00:06:22 of the evidence from, perhaps more carefully,
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 the evidence from the gravitational samples,
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 the fact that, uh, these can now be mapped
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 with great accuracy.
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 Um, so, uh, what they
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 have done, uh, this is published
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 now, I think it might be still being
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 refereed, but I think it's published.
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 Uh, they've looked at a, uh, region.
00:06:42 --> 00:06:45 Um, it's, uh, actually on the far side of the
00:06:45 --> 00:06:48 Moon. It's called Duar D E W A
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 R, uh, which is the name of a very
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 famous, um, Scotch whiskey, as probably
00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 people would know, but it's also the name of
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 something on the moon. Probably came from
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 the same origin. I don't know. Anyway, it
00:07:00 --> 00:07:03 turns out that, uh, this Dewar
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 region has one of the strongest,
00:07:07 --> 00:07:08 what they call a magnetic field anomaly.
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 Which means basically there's a magnetic
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 field there, uh, because, um,
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 the Moon generally doesn't have a strong
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19 magnetic field. So, um, one of the
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 authors remarks that the Dewar region is
00:07:21 --> 00:07:24 genuine stroke of luck, one of the strongest
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 magnetic field anomalies on the far side of
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 the Moon. And a distinct gravity anomaly
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 coincides spatially there. They're in the
00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 same place. Um, so it means
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 that, uh, the region
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 of the Moon's surface, um, has
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 rocks that are both, uh,
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 more strongly magnetised and
00:07:46 --> 00:07:49 more dense, a denser concentration
00:07:49 --> 00:07:52 of mass than elsewhere. And,
00:07:52 --> 00:07:55 uh, the trick now is to
00:07:55 --> 00:07:57 sort of analyse both of these aspects, the
00:07:57 --> 00:07:59 fact that you've got a mass concentration
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03 and, um, uh, a magnetic
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 field anomaly. Uh, another comment from one
00:08:05 --> 00:08:08 of the authors. The gravity data give us
00:08:08 --> 00:08:10 insight into the density and
00:08:10 --> 00:08:13 thus into the material beneath the surface,
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 uh, where the magnetic field and gravity
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 signals coincide. It's possible to combine
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 the two and attribute the anomaly to a
00:08:20 --> 00:08:23 specific geological structure.
00:08:23 --> 00:08:25 Uh, this is precisely the opportunity that
00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 Dewar offered. Uh, and so that's what they've
00:08:28 --> 00:08:31 done. They've basically built a model that
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 um, actually mimics
00:08:35 --> 00:08:36 both, uh,
00:08:38 --> 00:08:41 the gravity concentration, the uh, increased
00:08:41 --> 00:08:44 density and the magnetic field. And
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46 so what the outcome is is that
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 somewhere below the surface of the Moon in
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 this region, there's a body of rock
00:08:52 --> 00:08:55 quite big, 60 kilometres wide, uh,
00:08:55 --> 00:08:58 going down something like nine kilometres,
00:08:59 --> 00:09:02 uh, much denser than its surrounding, uh,
00:09:02 --> 00:09:04 crustal region and
00:09:04 --> 00:09:07 also strongly magnetised. And
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 so what they have concluded is that this
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 is basically solidified
00:09:13 --> 00:09:15 magma, something that goes, uh,
00:09:16 --> 00:09:19 back to when the Moon was
00:09:19 --> 00:09:22 a much more molten object than it is
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 now, um, with a, you know, viscous mantle.
00:09:25 --> 00:09:28 Uh, and what they're saying is that because
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 they think this structure is 4.2 billion
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 years old, it's nearly as old as the Moon is.
00:09:33 --> 00:09:36 Um, what you can
00:09:36 --> 00:09:39 do is, um. Well,
00:09:39 --> 00:09:40 I'll read again from the comments from the
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 author. Um, because we know how much iron is
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 present in such a rock body, we can estimate
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 the minimum strength the magnetic M field
00:09:48 --> 00:09:51 must have had as the magma cooled
00:09:51 --> 00:09:53 slowly. That's a very important finding.
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 Uh, we found that the magnetic field on the
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 Moon at that time was very likely
00:09:59 --> 00:10:02 stronger than 10 micro Tesla. On Earth
00:10:02 --> 00:10:04 today, the magnetic field strength is around
00:10:04 --> 00:10:07 50 micro Tesla. So what they're saying is
00:10:07 --> 00:10:10 that this supports the notion that,
00:10:10 --> 00:10:13 uh, the Moon had a primordial
00:10:13 --> 00:10:16 magnetic field, it had magnetism, uh, when it
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 was a young object, rather than an
00:10:18 --> 00:10:21 alternative explanation for the magnetism,
00:10:21 --> 00:10:24 which is, um, that, uh, it could have
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 been caused locally, you know, this
00:10:26 --> 00:10:29 magnetism being caused here and there on the
00:10:29 --> 00:10:32 Moon's surface, maybe by impact. Uh, the
00:10:32 --> 00:10:34 effect of the impact would be to increase the
00:10:34 --> 00:10:36 magnetism. And so, uh,
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 the outcome is that that's not likely to be
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 the source of the magnetism. It's likely
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 to have been a primordial magnetic field.
00:10:47 --> 00:10:50 Andrew Dunkley: Um, so they're suggesting that it's a
00:10:50 --> 00:10:53 leftover effect. So the Moon did have an
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 internally generated magne magnetic field as
00:10:55 --> 00:10:58 it's cooled down and solidified. This is just
00:10:58 --> 00:11:01 a residual leftover magnetic
00:11:01 --> 00:11:02 anomaly.
00:11:03 --> 00:11:04 Professor Fred Watson: Exactly that.
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 Uh, so they say this means, yes, the
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 Moon was magnetic at one point.
00:11:10 --> 00:11:13 There's a little sort of subsidiary study
00:11:13 --> 00:11:15 though, that I think is quite interesting.
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 Um, we haven't talked about them, I don't
00:11:17 --> 00:11:19 think, Andrew. But there are features on the
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 surface of the Moon which are called lunar
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 swirls. Uh, they're
00:11:24 --> 00:11:27 sort of regions of brighter material, uh,
00:11:27 --> 00:11:29 which form in swirls,
00:11:30 --> 00:11:33 uh, rather than, you know, the craters and
00:11:33 --> 00:11:34 mountains that we're used to seeing.
00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 But what they have noticed in their work
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 is that wherever there's a swirl,
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 there's one of these magnetic anomalies. And
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47 it turns out that the region they've been
00:11:47 --> 00:11:49 Looking at this Dewar region, uh,
00:11:49 --> 00:11:52 has a lunar swirl. Uh, and so,
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 um, you know, the struggle is
00:11:55 --> 00:11:58 now to explain this. Why would you have these
00:11:58 --> 00:12:01 curious features, uh, on the
00:12:01 --> 00:12:03 Moon's surface, um, which are
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 linked with magnetism? And
00:12:06 --> 00:12:08 they're basically suggesting
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 that you only get the
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 swirls when you are in
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 an area where the magnetic field,
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 the field lines, the light of force,
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 are actually horizontally at the surface.
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 Because that's the case with this Dewar
00:12:27 --> 00:12:30 lunar, uh, swirl. And so what
00:12:30 --> 00:12:32 they're thinking is that maybe the horizontal
00:12:32 --> 00:12:35 field actually modifies the solar
00:12:35 --> 00:12:38 wind, perhaps it deflects it, perhaps it
00:12:38 --> 00:12:40 protects the surface from weathering by the
00:12:40 --> 00:12:43 solar wind and you get this brighter, uh,
00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 region. Uh, it's a really. Yeah.
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 Isn't it an interesting piece of work? It's
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 got so many, uh, facets to it. I think this
00:12:50 --> 00:12:53 is one of the most interesting pieces of, uh,
00:12:53 --> 00:12:55 lunar research that we've seen for a while
00:12:57 --> 00:12:57 Professor Fred Watson: and.
00:12:57 --> 00:12:59 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah. Adds another, um, element to our
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02 growing knowledge of what the Moon is all
00:13:02 --> 00:13:02 about.
00:13:02 --> 00:13:05 And uh, yeah, um,
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09 I think we're kind of lucky to have it. Uh,
00:13:10 --> 00:13:13 I mean, it's good for life on Earth. I don't
00:13:13 --> 00:13:14 know if we'd exist without it, would we?
00:13:16 --> 00:13:19 Professor Fred Watson: That's right. Uh, probably not. The,
00:13:19 --> 00:13:21 um, Earth's magnetic field almost certainly
00:13:21 --> 00:13:24 is what's allowed us to evolve from microbes
00:13:24 --> 00:13:24 into the.
00:13:26 --> 00:13:29 Andrew Dunkley: When you sit down and look at all the data
00:13:29 --> 00:13:32 and start to really analyse it, um, there
00:13:32 --> 00:13:35 is so much that exists that
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 we need to exist, if that makes any
00:13:37 --> 00:13:40 sense. Um, if one or two of those things
00:13:41 --> 00:13:42 never happened, we wouldn't have happened
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 either. It just blows your mind that all of
00:13:44 --> 00:13:47 this stuff that enabled life to
00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 evolve to this level on Earth had
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 to be just right and um. Yeah, it's gotta be
00:13:53 --> 00:13:54 a rarity.
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 Professor Fred Watson: That's right. And I think that's the thinking
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 among astrobiologists. Everything,
00:14:00 --> 00:14:02 you know, uh, basically everything has come
00:14:02 --> 00:14:05 right, uh, on Earth for
00:14:05 --> 00:14:08 an intelligent species to evolve. And it's
00:14:08 --> 00:14:09 not necessarily the case elsewhere.
00:14:10 --> 00:14:11 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, interesting.
00:14:11 --> 00:14:14 If you'd like to read about, uh, the Moon's
00:14:14 --> 00:14:17 historical magnetic field, you can
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 do so@phys. That's
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 P-H Y-S.org or you can
00:14:22 --> 00:14:24 read the Study in Science Advances.
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 This is Space Nuts. Andrew Dunkley here with
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 Professor Fred Watson Watson.
00:14:33 --> 00:14:34 Professor Fred Watson: Space Nuts.
00:14:34 --> 00:14:37 Andrew Dunkley: Our, uh, next story, Fred Watson, uh, is
00:14:37 --> 00:14:40 a not alien signal, but it's
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 fascinating because it is a signal, a
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45 radio signal coming from, uh.
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 Yeah, they usually think it's these things
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 come from stars, but this one, they've
00:14:49 --> 00:14:52 actually been Able to say, hang on a minute,
00:14:52 --> 00:14:55 we think, in fact we are sure this one's
00:14:55 --> 00:14:56 coming from a planet. And of course that gets
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 the tongue swagging. Oh, it's a planet, it
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 must be aliens. But it's not. It's something
00:15:01 --> 00:15:02 else, something we all know about.
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 Professor Fred Watson: It is really correct. That's
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 absolutely right. Uh, and yes, the reason
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 why this is a big story is that these are ah,
00:15:11 --> 00:15:14 radio signals that come from an exoplanet,
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 uh rather than a gas cloud in space
00:15:17 --> 00:15:20 or a star or a radio galaxy, all the other
00:15:20 --> 00:15:22 things that emit radio waves. This is
00:15:22 --> 00:15:25 actually from a planet. Uh, and um,
00:15:26 --> 00:15:29 the way it's been uh, proved
00:15:29 --> 00:15:31 that it comes from a planet is really one of
00:15:31 --> 00:15:33 the most interesting parts of the story, uh
00:15:33 --> 00:15:36 as well as how we know it's there.
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 Andrew Dunkley: It was all the selfies that came in with
00:15:39 --> 00:15:40 it.
00:15:41 --> 00:15:44 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, the selfies did it. So this is
00:15:44 --> 00:15:46 um, it's a gas giant.
00:15:46 --> 00:15:49 Uh, it is called Beta Pictoris B.
00:15:49 --> 00:15:51 It's an exoplanet that has been known for
00:15:51 --> 00:15:54 many years. Uh, the fact that it's called
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 Beta Pictoris B means it's the first
00:15:56 --> 00:15:59 discovered planet around a star called Beta
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 Pictoris, which I think is about 50,
00:16:02 --> 00:16:04 54 if I remember rightly. Light years away.
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 64. There you go. Uh, so
00:16:07 --> 00:16:10 it's a uh, relatively nearby star. Um,
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 so um, the other thing that I find
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 interesting about this is uh, it uses
00:16:16 --> 00:16:19 the, the data that have led to this
00:16:19 --> 00:16:22 discovery have come from Meerkat, the um,
00:16:22 --> 00:16:25 radio telescope which is similar to the
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder,
00:16:27 --> 00:16:30 uh in Western Australia. Meerkat is its sort
00:16:30 --> 00:16:33 of equivalent in uh, the Haikaru
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 region of South Africa and a very, very
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 effective telescope doing some fantastic
00:16:38 --> 00:16:41 stuff. And it's been used uh, actually by
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 scientists at the Centre for Astrophysics,
00:16:43 --> 00:16:46 um, uh, in the Smithsonian, Havardon
00:16:46 --> 00:16:49 Smithsonian, uh, um, they've used
00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 this uh, RIP meerkat to make
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 very, very accurate measurements of the
00:16:54 --> 00:16:57 position of this radio noise.
00:16:57 --> 00:17:00 And the way they've done it is a way
00:17:00 --> 00:17:02 that uh, to some extent we've used
00:17:02 --> 00:17:04 before and I'm not sure whether you and I
00:17:04 --> 00:17:07 have ever spoken about it. Uh, when
00:17:07 --> 00:17:10 you're measuring the position of objects
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 in space, and I mean in two dimensions now
00:17:12 --> 00:17:15 I'm talking about the direction uh, that any,
00:17:16 --> 00:17:18 that the radiation comes from. Uh what you
00:17:18 --> 00:17:21 have to do is to calibrate it. You
00:17:21 --> 00:17:24 need to know where the sort of zero point is.
00:17:24 --> 00:17:27 So um, you need
00:17:27 --> 00:17:29 background objects that don't change their
00:17:29 --> 00:17:32 position, uh, to do the Relative
00:17:32 --> 00:17:35 measurements. And those background objects
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 are uh, ah, things that are far, far more
00:17:39 --> 00:17:42 distant than uh, 64 light
00:17:42 --> 00:17:44 years. Uh, their distances are measured in
00:17:44 --> 00:17:45 billions of light years. And they are
00:17:45 --> 00:17:48 quasars. Quasars are very
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 bright in radio waves and perhaps especially,
00:17:51 --> 00:17:54 and this is, you know, what allows you to do
00:17:54 --> 00:17:55 this, they are effectively point sources.
00:17:55 --> 00:17:58 They're a single point of radio waves. Very,
00:17:58 --> 00:18:01 very compact, uh, objects and they're at
00:18:01 --> 00:18:04 great distances. So that lets you build a
00:18:04 --> 00:18:06 framework, um, um,
00:18:07 --> 00:18:10 ah, almost like a map. Uh,
00:18:10 --> 00:18:13 you can map these quasars and then look at
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 your foreground object and relate its
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17 position very accurately by the fact that
00:18:17 --> 00:18:19 the, the quasars don't change their position
00:18:19 --> 00:18:22 in space because they're so far away. Um, and
00:18:22 --> 00:18:24 that's how they've done it. Uh, that's how
00:18:24 --> 00:18:27 they've uh, um, worked out
00:18:27 --> 00:18:29 that these radio signals come not from the
00:18:29 --> 00:18:32 star itself, Beta Pictoris, but from Beta
00:18:32 --> 00:18:35 Pictoris B, this uh, gas giant that's in
00:18:35 --> 00:18:36 orbit around it.
00:18:37 --> 00:18:39 And the thing you alluded to. Right, sorry,
00:18:39 --> 00:18:39 go ahead.
00:18:40 --> 00:18:42 Andrew Dunkley: No, well, I was just gonna let you
00:18:43 --> 00:18:44 reveal it.
00:18:44 --> 00:18:47 Professor Fred Watson: And the source is, it's um,
00:18:47 --> 00:18:49 northern and southern lights on the planet.
00:18:49 --> 00:18:52 It's uh, the aurorae, uh, which we know,
00:18:52 --> 00:18:55 um, are not radio noisy, uh,
00:18:55 --> 00:18:57 auroral displays. They are on our own
00:18:57 --> 00:19:00 planet you can detect aurorae by radio
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 signals. Um, I prefer to go and stand
00:19:02 --> 00:19:05 underneath them in the far northern Arctic in
00:19:05 --> 00:19:07 winter. Uh, and then you see
00:19:08 --> 00:19:11 these things in all their glory. But they
00:19:11 --> 00:19:14 do emit radio signals as well. And that's
00:19:14 --> 00:19:17 basically how um, these signals came to
00:19:17 --> 00:19:17 be.
00:19:17 --> 00:19:20 So it's a big triumph. It's the first time
00:19:20 --> 00:19:23 that we've proved that aurorae exist,
00:19:24 --> 00:19:26 uh, on other planets in other solar
00:19:26 --> 00:19:29 systems. We know they exist on all the gas
00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 giants have, in our solar system. They all
00:19:31 --> 00:19:33 have Aurory, the Earth does, Mars
00:19:33 --> 00:19:36 occasionally does. But this is just saying
00:19:36 --> 00:19:38 that wherever you've got a star with a planet
00:19:38 --> 00:19:40 going around it, um, you've probably got them
00:19:40 --> 00:19:43 as well. All you need is a planet,
00:19:44 --> 00:19:47 sorry, a star that's giving out, uh, charged
00:19:47 --> 00:19:50 particles, high energy particles, subatomic
00:19:50 --> 00:19:52 particles, and a planet with an atmosphere
00:19:52 --> 00:19:54 which is. These are the ingredients you've
00:19:54 --> 00:19:56 got there because the high energy particles
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 essentially excite the atmosphere into
00:19:59 --> 00:20:02 beaming out light and beaming out radio
00:20:02 --> 00:20:02 signals.
00:20:03 --> 00:20:03 Andrew Dunkley: Simple as that.
00:20:04 --> 00:20:05 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, simple as that. Yeah.
00:20:05 --> 00:20:06 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, but because.
00:20:06 --> 00:20:08 Professor Fred Watson: Very nice work.
00:20:08 --> 00:20:10 Andrew Dunkley: Yes. It's the first time, as you said, the
00:20:10 --> 00:20:13 first time they've detected this sort of
00:20:13 --> 00:20:15 signal from an exoplanet. So, um,
00:20:15 --> 00:20:16 yeah, it's a good pickup.
00:20:16 --> 00:20:18 I love the name Beta Pictoris B.
00:20:19 --> 00:20:22 It's a good name for a planet. Um, if you
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 would like to read about that, that's on the
00:20:24 --> 00:20:26 phys.org website as well. But they have
00:20:26 --> 00:20:29 published their work uh, on the Arxiv
00:20:29 --> 00:20:32 Preprint server. This is Space
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 Nuts and you're with Andrew Dunkley and
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 Professor Fred Watson Watson.
00:20:38 --> 00:20:41 The crew of Artemis 2 now bound for the moon.
00:20:41 --> 00:20:44 Professor Fred Watson: Humanity's next great voyage begins.
00:20:44 --> 00:20:47 Andrew Dunkley: Space Nuts. Now Fred Watson, uh,
00:20:48 --> 00:20:50 from um, the extraordinary Magnetism uh
00:20:50 --> 00:20:53 on the moon and a. Ah. Rory signals from an
00:20:53 --> 00:20:56 exoplanet to Windows.
00:20:56 --> 00:20:59 Windows in spaceships. You know it
00:20:59 --> 00:21:02 doesn't sound all that exciting but uh, in
00:21:02 --> 00:21:04 the early days of the space race when the
00:21:04 --> 00:21:07 United States and uh, and uh,
00:21:07 --> 00:21:09 the Soviet Union trying to beat each
00:21:10 --> 00:21:13 senseless to get to the moon, um, the early
00:21:13 --> 00:21:15 astronauts, those very brave souls, uh,
00:21:15 --> 00:21:18 insisted, insisted that they had to have a
00:21:18 --> 00:21:21 window as far as I remember.
00:21:21 --> 00:21:24 And they got it. Ah, of course they've come
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 of age now. Um, they've done some amazing
00:21:26 --> 00:21:28 things with uh, windows in spacecraft.
00:21:28 --> 00:21:30 And it's in the news again.
00:21:31 --> 00:21:34 Professor Fred Watson: Yes, that's right. Uh, uh, and it's
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 partly in the news for the reasons that
00:21:36 --> 00:21:37 you've mentioned that astronauts uh
00:21:38 --> 00:21:41 themselves have always uh,
00:21:41 --> 00:21:43 been very keen on having windows. As you
00:21:43 --> 00:21:45 would if you're gonna sit, you know, 100
00:21:45 --> 00:21:48 kilometres above the Earth's surface, uh
00:21:48 --> 00:21:50 hurtling around at seven kilometres, seven or
00:21:50 --> 00:21:52 eight kilometres per second. You're
00:21:52 --> 00:21:54 definitely going to want to watch the view as
00:21:54 --> 00:21:55 it goes past.
00:21:55 --> 00:21:57 Andrew Dunkley: I would, I would say so. What was it like up
00:21:57 --> 00:21:59 there? I don't know. I was looking down at
00:21:59 --> 00:22:00 the plywood,
00:22:02 --> 00:22:05 Professor Fred Watson: couldn't see anything. So even certainly the
00:22:05 --> 00:22:08 first um, manned or crewed spacecraft
00:22:08 --> 00:22:10 in the um, um, NASA's human
00:22:10 --> 00:22:13 space flight programme, which was Mercury,
00:22:13 --> 00:22:16 uh, Mercury had a tiny little window. It's
00:22:16 --> 00:22:18 just a few inches in diameter, a little
00:22:18 --> 00:22:21 almost a porthole. And it
00:22:21 --> 00:22:23 wasn't much bigger in the Gemini spacecraft
00:22:23 --> 00:22:25 either. They had um, forward pointing
00:22:26 --> 00:22:28 windows which um, were sort of
00:22:28 --> 00:22:31 scalloped out of the shape of the nose
00:22:31 --> 00:22:34 cone. And Apollo had uh, forward pointing
00:22:34 --> 00:22:35 windows as well, which they needed of course
00:22:35 --> 00:22:38 by then as they did with Gemini. Uh,
00:22:38 --> 00:22:40 and the reason why they're forward pointing
00:22:40 --> 00:22:43 is that that's where the docking ports are.
00:22:43 --> 00:22:45 You need to be able to you know, see where
00:22:45 --> 00:22:48 your spacecraft is going if it's going to
00:22:48 --> 00:22:50 dock with another spacecraft. And the docking
00:22:50 --> 00:22:52 port is always in the narrow part in the
00:22:52 --> 00:22:55 nose. Uh, so yeah, that's
00:22:55 --> 00:22:57 that. Windows became essential at that point.
00:22:58 --> 00:23:01 Andrew Dunkley: And Yuri Gagarin had a
00:23:01 --> 00:23:01 window as well.
00:23:01 --> 00:23:04 Professor Fred Watson: I thought he did. I was going
00:23:04 --> 00:23:06 to muse on that, but I thought that was
00:23:06 --> 00:23:09 right, that he had a window too. Um,
00:23:10 --> 00:23:11 it's kind of, uh.
00:23:12 --> 00:23:15 The window to be all windows, of
00:23:15 --> 00:23:17 course, is the cupola. The, uh,
00:23:18 --> 00:23:20 cupola, I should call it, give it its proper
00:23:20 --> 00:23:23 name. Uh, it's on the International Space
00:23:23 --> 00:23:26 Station. It has, uh. I think it's
00:23:26 --> 00:23:29 seven. It might be nine,
00:23:29 --> 00:23:32 uh, panels of glass, uh, which.
00:23:33 --> 00:23:35 It's like a bay window, uh, which
00:23:35 --> 00:23:38 Andrew Dunkley: I'm looking at a photo of it now. Yes.
00:23:38 --> 00:23:40 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah. How many windows has it got? Is it
00:23:40 --> 00:23:40 seven?
00:23:40 --> 00:23:42 Andrew Dunkley: Um, one, two, three.
00:23:45 --> 00:23:47 Probably about eight. Eight or nine.
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 Because there's one directly above as well.
00:23:50 --> 00:23:50 That'd be nine.
00:23:50 --> 00:23:52 Professor Fred Watson: I think this is the front window. Nine's what
00:23:52 --> 00:23:55 I guessed as well. Um, and I think the
00:23:55 --> 00:23:57 astronauts on the International Space Station
00:23:57 --> 00:23:59 spend quite a lot of time in that enclosure.
00:24:00 --> 00:24:02 Uh, not just because it lets you
00:24:03 --> 00:24:05 see the various components of the space
00:24:05 --> 00:24:08 station, uh, and watch progress
00:24:09 --> 00:24:12 when there are, um, ext. Vehicular
00:24:12 --> 00:24:14 or when there is extra vehicular activity
00:24:14 --> 00:24:17 taking place. Uh, they're
00:24:17 --> 00:24:19 important for that point of view, but they're
00:24:19 --> 00:24:21 also important to watch the Earth going by.
00:24:21 --> 00:24:24 And we've seen so many great
00:24:24 --> 00:24:26 photos and videos that have been taken
00:24:26 --> 00:24:28 through the cupola window. Um,
00:24:28 --> 00:24:31 so that's the. Essentially,
00:24:31 --> 00:24:34 uh, the high point
00:24:34 --> 00:24:37 of window design on the spacecraft.
00:24:37 --> 00:24:39 Uh, but, uh, we've also
00:24:40 --> 00:24:42 got six windows. Is it.
00:24:43 --> 00:24:46 Andrew Dunkley: It's described as a trapezoidal
00:24:46 --> 00:24:48 arrangement, but six.
00:24:48 --> 00:24:50 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah. All right, Maybe there's some blank
00:24:50 --> 00:24:53 ports on the other side from working.
00:24:53 --> 00:24:56 Never mind. Um, I was just going to mention
00:24:56 --> 00:24:58 that both Virgin Galactic with their space
00:24:58 --> 00:25:01 plane, uh, and Blue Origin with their
00:25:01 --> 00:25:04 space plane, uh, which are now. Well,
00:25:04 --> 00:25:06 certainly Blue Origin is no longer being used
00:25:06 --> 00:25:08 because they're concentrating their efforts
00:25:08 --> 00:25:11 on Artemis. But, um, they
00:25:11 --> 00:25:13 have got big windows as well. And in fact,
00:25:13 --> 00:25:16 Blue Origin were really quite big, uh,
00:25:16 --> 00:25:18 almost like bay windows around the whole
00:25:19 --> 00:25:21 spacecraft. Uh, uh, a conical spacecraft
00:25:21 --> 00:25:23 again, carried up to suborbital
00:25:23 --> 00:25:26 heights, uh, about 100 kilometres on
00:25:26 --> 00:25:29 a rocket. So the.
00:25:29 --> 00:25:32 I mean, the story here is, yes,
00:25:32 --> 00:25:35 windows are important, uh,
00:25:35 --> 00:25:38 but, uh, are they safe? And, ah.
00:25:38 --> 00:25:41 Um. There's an
00:25:41 --> 00:25:43 analysis that window glass is a.
00:25:44 --> 00:25:46 As one of the analysts working on
00:25:46 --> 00:25:48 this, uh, says
00:25:49 --> 00:25:51 glass is a brittle material.
00:25:51 --> 00:25:53 It breaks. That's what it likes to do. But
00:25:53 --> 00:25:56 it's also beautifully transparent. Uh,
00:25:56 --> 00:25:58 and so, um.
00:25:59 --> 00:26:01 Uh, basically, I think what they're saying
00:26:01 --> 00:26:04 with all this is it is a balancing
00:26:04 --> 00:26:07 act, uh, between the glass,
00:26:07 --> 00:26:10 uh, being safe
00:26:10 --> 00:26:12 and you Wanting to have
00:26:13 --> 00:26:15 as much real estate in terms of
00:26:16 --> 00:26:18 visible or transparency as possible.
00:26:19 --> 00:26:22 Um, so, uh, uh, the
00:26:22 --> 00:26:25 bottom line I think is that windows
00:26:25 --> 00:26:26 are a worry.
00:26:28 --> 00:26:29 You would need to have,
00:26:30 --> 00:26:32 um, some way of
00:26:32 --> 00:26:34 evacuating or
00:26:35 --> 00:26:37 isolating the region where there's a window,
00:26:38 --> 00:26:40 uh, in order to protect astronauts. I mean in
00:26:40 --> 00:26:43 the early days, the Apollo, sorry, the Gemini
00:26:43 --> 00:26:46 and the um, Mercury capsules, uh, if
00:26:46 --> 00:26:48 there'd been a fracture, they'd have been
00:26:48 --> 00:26:51 into their spacesuits pretty damn quick.
00:26:51 --> 00:26:53 Uh, whereas now, uh, you all
00:26:53 --> 00:26:56 evacuate that chamber and shut the door.
00:26:56 --> 00:26:58 Uh, that would be what would happen. I don't
00:26:58 --> 00:27:01 think it ever has happened. I uh, don't think
00:27:01 --> 00:27:03 there's ever been a broken window. I might be
00:27:03 --> 00:27:06 wrong with that. But, um, that might be one
00:27:06 --> 00:27:08 we can check with A.I. uh, but
00:27:09 --> 00:27:11 the bottom line here is, uh,
00:27:12 --> 00:27:15 our acrylics a better choice
00:27:15 --> 00:27:17 than glass because it's a more
00:27:18 --> 00:27:19 stable material.
00:27:20 --> 00:27:21 Something like Perspex.
00:27:22 --> 00:27:24 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah. Um, not
00:27:24 --> 00:27:26 as good to look through though.
00:27:26 --> 00:27:29 Professor Fred Watson: Uh, probably not. That's right. And there
00:27:29 --> 00:27:31 might be other issues with acrylics,
00:27:32 --> 00:27:33 uh, in that regard.
00:27:34 --> 00:27:34 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah.
00:27:34 --> 00:27:36 Andrew Dunkley: Okay, well, watch this space. Boom.
00:27:36 --> 00:27:37 Professor Fred Watson: Boom.
00:27:37 --> 00:27:40 Andrew Dunkley: Um, but it's through the window. Yeah. It's
00:27:40 --> 00:27:43 an interesting problem. Uh, this wouldn't be
00:27:43 --> 00:27:45 the same kind of glass you'd use at a house.
00:27:45 --> 00:27:47 In a house or an office block though, would
00:27:47 --> 00:27:50 it? It'd be pretty highly specialised.
00:27:50 --> 00:27:53 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah. It might be more like what you. Might
00:27:53 --> 00:27:55 be more like what you've got in your car. Um,
00:27:55 --> 00:27:58 you know, toughened somehow in.
00:27:58 --> 00:28:01 In a way that would, would um. If they were
00:28:01 --> 00:28:03 going to fracture, they'd do it safely rather
00:28:03 --> 00:28:05 than. The last thing you'd want is shards of
00:28:05 --> 00:28:08 glass, uh, floating around in
00:28:09 --> 00:28:12 ah, zero gravity. Um, you know, imagine a
00:28:12 --> 00:28:14 sharp bit of glass going in front of your
00:28:14 --> 00:28:17 face if you're um, in
00:28:17 --> 00:28:19 orbit with uh, with microgravity.
00:28:20 --> 00:28:22 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, indeed. Well,
00:28:22 --> 00:28:25 uh, you can read that story@space.com
00:28:25 --> 00:28:28 and uh, maybe you're a glazier and you've got
00:28:28 --> 00:28:31 their window problems sorted out. Maybe you
00:28:31 --> 00:28:33 know that NASA doesn't um, drop them a line,
00:28:33 --> 00:28:36 send them a bill M. And good
00:28:36 --> 00:28:37 luck getting your money.
00:28:37 --> 00:28:39 No, I'm kidding. Uh, but uh, yeah, space.
00:28:39 --> 00:28:42 Space.com is the uh, place
00:28:42 --> 00:28:45 to uh, learn about windows in spacecraft.
00:28:45 --> 00:28:47 Uh, one little thing before we go,
00:28:47 --> 00:28:49 Fred Watson. And this, this is a fascinating
00:28:49 --> 00:28:52 story in that uh. It was an opportunistic,
00:28:53 --> 00:28:54 um, photo that was taken
00:28:55 --> 00:28:58 and um, you know,
00:28:58 --> 00:29:01 right place, right time, exact right
00:29:01 --> 00:29:04 moment to create, uh, this little
00:29:04 --> 00:29:06 picture. I'll try and get Huw to put it um,
00:29:06 --> 00:29:09 on our website as the COVID photo for this
00:29:09 --> 00:29:12 Week's episode, episode 669, just
00:29:12 --> 00:29:14 in case you're wondering. And, um, see if you
00:29:14 --> 00:29:16 can take a look at it or you can look it up
00:29:16 --> 00:29:18 at the NASA website. But, uh, yeah, tell us
00:29:18 --> 00:29:19 about this photo, Fred Watson.
00:29:20 --> 00:29:22 Professor Fred Watson: So, um, it's one of, uh,
00:29:23 --> 00:29:25 NASA's astronomy pictures of the day, the
00:29:25 --> 00:29:28 APOD. Uh, and it's for the 22nd
00:29:28 --> 00:29:31 of September, 2026. So just a few
00:29:31 --> 00:29:34 days ago as we're recording, um, and
00:29:34 --> 00:29:37 it's um, a photo by, uh,
00:29:37 --> 00:29:40 an astronomer from the Czech Republic,
00:29:40 --> 00:29:43 uh, who was aiming to get a nice
00:29:43 --> 00:29:46 silhouette of the International Space
00:29:46 --> 00:29:49 Station against the sun. And
00:29:49 --> 00:29:52 that's something that's been done before. Um,
00:29:52 --> 00:29:53 there's a French astronomer who's kind of
00:29:53 --> 00:29:56 made an art of it. Uh, but this is, uh,
00:29:56 --> 00:29:59 somebody who's got a big enough telescope to
00:29:59 --> 00:30:01 give you a great view of the sun, uh, aiming
00:30:01 --> 00:30:03 to get. Get, uh, the International Space
00:30:03 --> 00:30:05 Station silhouetted on the sun's disc. It's
00:30:05 --> 00:30:07 tiny compared with the disc of the sun, of
00:30:07 --> 00:30:10 course. Uh, and he indeed
00:30:10 --> 00:30:12 succeeded in doing that. But he also got a
00:30:12 --> 00:30:15 bonus because one of the exposures, and I'm
00:30:15 --> 00:30:17 sure he took several. The International Space
00:30:17 --> 00:30:19 Station does not dwell. Uh, it goes very
00:30:19 --> 00:30:21 quickly across the disc of the sun.
00:30:22 --> 00:30:22 Andrew Dunkley: Oh, yeah, it would.
00:30:22 --> 00:30:25 Professor Fred Watson: I think it's less than a second. Um, but he
00:30:25 --> 00:30:27 managed to catch a plane as well going across
00:30:27 --> 00:30:28 the disc.
00:30:28 --> 00:30:30 Andrew Dunkley: So what we're looking at at in the foreground
00:30:30 --> 00:30:33 is the silhouette of a plane and
00:30:34 --> 00:30:36 behind it the sun. And in between, or kind of
00:30:36 --> 00:30:38 hanging off the back of the plane is the
00:30:38 --> 00:30:40 International Space Station. And just to make
00:30:40 --> 00:30:42 it even more interesting, there's a few
00:30:42 --> 00:30:44 sunspots as well. It's a really great photo.
00:30:44 --> 00:30:45 Very, very.
00:30:45 --> 00:30:46 Professor Fred Watson: Yes, indeed.
00:30:46 --> 00:30:48 Andrew Dunkley: Isn't it just a piece of luck,
00:30:49 --> 00:30:51 uh, a chance opportunity that, um. Yeah,
00:30:52 --> 00:30:53 turned out rather well.
00:30:54 --> 00:30:56 Professor Fred Watson: Indeed it did. Yes. Very nice. And
00:30:56 --> 00:30:59 congratulations to, to Peter who
00:30:59 --> 00:31:01 did that. Uh,
00:31:02 --> 00:31:04 I think some of our listeners will probably
00:31:04 --> 00:31:07 be able to identify the aircraft. It
00:31:07 --> 00:31:09 looks to me like a military aircraft.
00:31:09 --> 00:31:10 Andrew Dunkley: Uh, yeah, it does, doesn't it?
00:31:11 --> 00:31:14 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah. I wouldn't like to hazard a guess as
00:31:14 --> 00:31:16 to what it was though, but yeah, well done,
00:31:16 --> 00:31:18 Peter. It's actually Peter, not Peter P E T
00:31:18 --> 00:31:21 R. Um, he's, uh, from the Czech
00:31:21 --> 00:31:21 Republic.
00:31:22 --> 00:31:25 Andrew Dunkley: Lovely. Uh, yes, go to the NASA website
00:31:25 --> 00:31:27 and just do a search for APOD
00:31:27 --> 00:31:30 22nd of September, 2026. If you want to have
00:31:30 --> 00:31:32 a look at it. You should be able to find it
00:31:32 --> 00:31:34 there, but I'll try and put it on our website
00:31:34 --> 00:31:37 as well as the COVID shot for this
00:31:37 --> 00:31:39 episode. And that brings us to the end.
00:31:39 --> 00:31:40 Fred Watson, thank you so much.
00:31:41 --> 00:31:43 Professor Fred Watson: Oh, it's a, uh, pleasure, Andrew. Haven't we
00:31:43 --> 00:31:44 got to the end already?
00:31:44 --> 00:31:46 Well, we have time. Goes fast when you're
00:31:46 --> 00:31:47 enjoying yourself.
00:31:47 --> 00:31:50 Andrew Dunkley: It does indeed, yes. Um, we'll catch you next
00:31:50 --> 00:31:51 time, Fred Watson. Thank you.
00:31:51 --> 00:31:52 Professor Fred Watson: Sounds good.
00:31:52 --> 00:31:54 Andrew Dunkley: Professor Fred Watson Watson, astronomer at
00:31:54 --> 00:31:56 large. Visit our website in between episodes,
00:31:56 --> 00:31:58 of course, spacenutspodcast, uh, dot com.
00:31:59 --> 00:32:01 And, uh, you can send us messages through the
00:32:01 --> 00:32:04 Ask me Anything link. At the top it's marked
00:32:04 --> 00:32:06 ama. You can visit the shop, you can sign up
00:32:06 --> 00:32:08 for the astronomy newsletter. Don't forget to
00:32:08 --> 00:32:10 leave reviews wherever you listen to us.
00:32:11 --> 00:32:12 Apparently they help with something.
00:32:14 --> 00:32:16 Don't know what. I guess it depends what kind
00:32:16 --> 00:32:19 of review you leave us. Yes, uh, and
00:32:19 --> 00:32:21 thanks to Huw in the studio. Couldn't be with
00:32:21 --> 00:32:23 us today. Um, he was actually quite lucky.
00:32:23 --> 00:32:26 Uh, he, um, took an
00:32:26 --> 00:32:29 opportunist photo. When I say lucky. Uh,
00:32:29 --> 00:32:31 yeah, the photo was, um, was a. Was a bonus.
00:32:31 --> 00:32:34 But, um, was woman's husband was not
00:32:34 --> 00:32:36 thrilled and he's on the run anyway, he might
00:32:36 --> 00:32:38 be back next week if he's not in hospital.
00:32:39 --> 00:32:41 And from me, Andrew Dunkley. Thanks for your
00:32:41 --> 00:32:42 company. We'll catch you on the next episode
00:32:42 --> 00:32:44 of Space Nuts.
00:32:44 --> 00:32:44 Professor Fred Watson: Bye. Bye.
00:32:45 --> 00:32:48 Andrew Dunkley: You've been listening to the Space Nuts
00:32:48 --> 00:32:50 podcast, Mission complete Eastern of the
00:32:50 --> 00:32:53 available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
00:32:53 --> 00:32:56 iHeartRadio or your favourite podcast
00:32:56 --> 00:32:57 player. You can also stream on
00:32:57 --> 00:32:59 demand@bytes.com.
00:32:59 --> 00:33:01 Professor Fred Watson: this has been another quality podcast
00:33:01 --> 00:33:03 production from bytes.com.