In this enlightening episode of Space Nuts, hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson dive into a plethora of solar-themed questions submitted by their curious audience. From the intriguing arc of the sun across the sky to the search for the sun's long-lost siblings, this episode is packed with cosmic insights that will leave you pondering the mysteries of our solar system.
Episode Highlights:
- The Sun's Arc: Andrew kicks off the episode with a question about the sun's arc as observed from the French Alps. Fred explains the celestial mechanics behind this phenomenon, illustrating how our perspective from Earth creates the illusion of an arc due to the spherical nature of the celestial sphere.
- Searching for Solar Siblings: Ernie's inquiry about the sun's siblings leads to a fascinating discussion on galactic archaeology. The hosts explore ongoing research aimed at identifying stars with similar chemical compositions to the sun, potentially revealing our sun's stellar family tree.
- Close Encounters with the Sun: Mark's question about missions to the sun sparks an exploration of the Parker Solar Probe, which has been gathering invaluable data by flying close to the sun. Andrew and Fred discuss the probe's findings and the various other missions dedicated to studying our star.
- Exoplanetary Possibilities: Martin shares his sci-fi aspirations and questions the potential for breathable atmospheres on exoplanets. The hosts reflect on recent discoveries of Earth-sized exoplanets and the challenges of confirming their atmospheres, while also encouraging Martin's creative writing endeavors.
For more Space Nuts, including our continuously updating newsfeed and to listen to all our episodes, visit our website. Follow us on social media at SpaceNutsPod on Facebook, Instagram, and more. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favorite platform.
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Stay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Andrew Dunkley: Hello again. Thank you for joining us on
00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 Space Nuts. This is our weekly Q and A
00:00:05 --> 00:00:07 edition where we take questions from the
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 audience. We go and find someone who can tell
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 us the answer and then we pretend we're doing
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 it. Um, my name is Andrew Dunkley. Your
00:00:14 --> 00:00:17 host. Fred's face went, no, we don't.
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 Uh, coming up on this episode, uh, we've got
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 a lot of, uh, solar questions. We've got a
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 question from Andrew about the sun's ark.
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 Ernie wants to know about the sun's siblings.
00:00:27 --> 00:00:29 And Mark wants to know about missions to the
00:00:29 --> 00:00:32 sun. You go, Mark. I'm not setting foot on
00:00:32 --> 00:00:34 it. It's hot enough here already. And we're
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36 going to finish, uh, off with a question
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38 about Earth, like planets. That's all coming
00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 up on this episode of space nuts.
00:00:41 --> 00:00:43 Generic: 15 seconds. Guidance is internal.
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 10, 9, ignition
00:00:46 --> 00:00:47 sequence star.
00:00:47 --> 00:00:48 Andrew Dunkley: Uh, space nuts.
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 Generic: 5, 4, 3, 2. 1, 2, 3, 4,
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
00:00:53 --> 00:00:54 Berman Gorvine: Space nuts.
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 Generic: Astronauts report it feels good.
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00 Andrew Dunkley: Back again for more. His name is Professor
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 Fred Watson, astronomer at large. Hello,
00:01:02 --> 00:01:02 Fred.
00:01:03 --> 00:01:05 Professor Fred Watson: Hello. Hello, Andrew. Um, fancy seeing you
00:01:05 --> 00:01:06 here.
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 Andrew Dunkley: Yes, it's quite unusual. Quite
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 unusual. We're all decked out in blue today.
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 You've got gun barrel blue, I've got the sky
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 blue of New South Wales. On. That's
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 the official sporting color of my state.
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 Professor Fred Watson: I, uh, didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, I didn't
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 even know there was sky blue.
00:01:23 --> 00:01:26 Andrew Dunkley: M. Yeah. Oh, uh, look, um, the, the,
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 the official Australian sporting colors are
00:01:28 --> 00:01:29 green and gold.
00:01:29 --> 00:01:30 Professor Fred Watson: Green and gold, that's right.
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 Andrew Dunkley: But that, that wasn't actually official, uh,
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 until the 80s. Before that they just
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 used to wear a pair of thongs and a cut off
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 jeans and go to the Olympics.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 Professor Fred Watson: I think she'll be right.
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, mate, no worries. Yes,
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 um, we got a bunch of questions to deal with
00:01:48 --> 00:01:51 so we might as well hit the ground running in
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 our thongs. I know there's some people
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 laughing at that because thong means
00:01:55 --> 00:01:56 something else in other countries, but
00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 it's, it's a pair of flip flops or jandals or
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 whatever you call them wherever you're from.
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 Uh, first question comes from Andrew. It's
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 about the sun's arc. I'm sitting here in the
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 French Alps on Boxing Day, you lucky duck.
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 Uh, slightly hungover thanks to,
00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 uh, an excess of Apreski, uh,
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 last night and watching the sun trace
00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 an arc across the sky measured from mountain
00:02:21 --> 00:02:24 peak to mountain peak. But why an arc,
00:02:24 --> 00:02:27 the shape of which varies, uh, by the time of
00:02:27 --> 00:02:29 year, given the Earth itself is rotating
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 on only one axis I know
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 the Earth's tilted, uh, from, um, the
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 vertical. But how does that
00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 explain the arc? Uh, with only one
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 axis of rotation, shouldn't it be a straight
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 line? That comes from Andrew Jones. Hope you
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 had a nice Christmas, Andrew. Sounds like it.
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 What a horrible place to be. The French Alps
00:02:49 --> 00:02:50 for Christmas.
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah. Sounds great, doesn't it? Yeah.
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 Andrew Dunkley: But he brings up an interesting point.
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 Sitting there sipping on whatever it is he
00:02:57 --> 00:02:59 was drinking and, uh, watching the sun and
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 going, hang on a minute.
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 What's going on here? There's an ark.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:06 And it's not Noah's.
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 Professor Fred Watson: It's not. That's right. Uh, it's a different
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 sort of ark, uh, because it's spelled
00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 differently. It's got a C instead of a kid.
00:03:15 --> 00:03:18 Uh, it, uh. And in
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 fact, so, so, uh, you
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 know, Andrew's question is, uh. With
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 only one axis of rotation, shouldn't it be a
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 straight line? And the answer is it is a
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 straight line. Yeah, but it's a straight line
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 on a sphere. Uh, because we
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 are, uh, our vantage point, uh,
00:03:37 --> 00:03:40 from Earth, uh, uh, we look out into
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 space. We imagine something called the
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 celestial sphere. It's a great way of, uh,
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 working out the way things move in space.
00:03:47 --> 00:03:50 And, um, the motion of the sun and planets
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 all fits together. What you imagine is a
00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 sphere of infinite dimensions. And we're
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 sitting at the middle of it. We only see half
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 of it because the other half is below the
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 horizon. It's still there. The celestial
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 sphere goes on below the Earth, this
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 hypothesized sphere. Um, but,
00:04:08 --> 00:04:10 um, it's very useful, uh,
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 a useful device for understanding how things
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 move in the sky. And if you imagine
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 yourself, uh, sitting in the French Alps
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 with the celestial sphere above you,
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 uh, you, uh, would certainly in the Northern
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 Hemisphere be able to see, uh, the thing that
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 we call the north Pole star. Polar star
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 Polaris, uh, the pole star,
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 um, faint star that, um, I nearly always look
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 for whenever I'm in the Northern Hemisphere.
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 Just to, uh, reconnect with it. It's at the
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 end of the Little Bear's if you know
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 your northern constellations. But that is
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 the. With
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 us sometimes. Yeah,
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 they're great, the northern constellations.
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 They've got great charm. Anyway, that's
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 another story. So, um, that is the point
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 about which the whole celestial sphere
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 seems to rotate. And
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 so, uh, the height of the pole star above
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 your horizon, uh, is the same
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 as your latitude. So if you're
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 at latitude French alps is probably
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 45 or thereabouts, maybe a
00:05:19 --> 00:05:22 bit more than that. 45. Uh, it means your
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 pole star is going to be 45 degrees above the
00:05:24 --> 00:05:26 horizon. And this entire sphere
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 rotates around that point. And
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 so, uh, that's why, um, on a
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 sphere, the Sun's motion is a straight line.
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 It goes from the eastern side of the sky.
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 Depends on the time of year as to exactly
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 where it rises and sets. Sets, uh, but it
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 sets on the western side. And so, um,
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 uh, what looks like an arc to you
00:05:47 --> 00:05:50 is really a, ah, straight line bent by
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 the celestial sphere. This apparent,
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 um, you know, it's just
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 a great way of imagining the sky because
00:05:59 --> 00:06:00 you don't have to worry about the distances
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 of anything. You're just imagining everything
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 projected onto this infinite sphere. And
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 when you do that, as the Earth's rotating,
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 the sun rises in towards the east and
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 sets towards the west. Um, and
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 uh, it follows basically an arc
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 as we see it from our position. But
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 in terms of the sphere itself, it's just
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 going from one side to the other in a
00:06:23 --> 00:06:24 straight line.
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 Andrew Dunkley: There you go. Sounds like putting in golf.
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 Like every putt. They say every putt's a
00:06:29 --> 00:06:32 straight putt, except that,
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 um, the green isn't dead flat and straight.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 So, uh, the ball will m. Move accordingly.
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 Professor Fred Watson: Yes, that's right. Yeah. In fact,
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 um, that almost puts you into a
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 different regime, uh, because that's
00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 effectively what geodesics are, uh, which
00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 are, uh, the way light behaves,
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 uh, in general relativity. Uh,
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 so light travels in what it thinks is a
00:06:57 --> 00:07:00 straight line, but it's going through
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 different gravitational fields and
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 gravitational wells. And so like, you know,
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 like your golf ball, when you put.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 Putting, uh,
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 it's moving around, it's wandering around.
00:07:12 --> 00:07:13 Yeah.
00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 Andrew Dunkley: Um, we have a quirk at um, Dubbo Golf Club
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 where, um, if you want to figure out where
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 the putt goes, work out which direction the
00:07:21 --> 00:07:24 river is. Yes, they always
00:07:24 --> 00:07:25 fall towards the river.
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 Professor Fred Watson: Always remember, Andrew, that five irons
00:07:28 --> 00:07:29 don't float.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 Andrew Dunkley: They do not. It's a good book that. I don't
00:07:32 --> 00:07:33 know who wrote it, but it's a ripper.
00:07:34 --> 00:07:35 Professor Fred Watson: I should read this.
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 Andrew Dunkley: Well, it's got swearing in it. Don't know how
00:07:38 --> 00:07:39 that happened.
00:07:39 --> 00:07:39 Berman Gorvine: Yeah.
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 Andrew Dunkley: Gosh, Disgraceful, disgraceful. And by the
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 way, the French, uh, alps are at 455.
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 That was north, so. Very well.
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 And 6.85, uh,
00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 65 degrees east.
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 That's right, yeah. Uh, thank you for
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 the question, Andrew. Great to hear from you.
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 Hope you survived the, um, the French Alps.
00:08:02 --> 00:08:03 Um, uh, adventure.
00:08:04 --> 00:08:07 Uh, our, ah, next question comes from a,
00:08:07 --> 00:08:10 uh, a new contributor. Hello, Ernie.
00:08:10 --> 00:08:13 Berman Gorvine: Hello, Andrew. And Fred, my name is Ernie and
00:08:13 --> 00:08:14 I'm reaching out to you from a small town
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 near Buffalo, New York. I'm, um, a longtime
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 listener and this is the first time I'm
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 submitting a question. In a recent
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 episode, a listener asked if astronomers
00:08:25 --> 00:08:27 have ever identified the star or stars
00:08:27 --> 00:08:30 that went supernova seeding the
00:08:30 --> 00:08:33 nebula our sun formed in with heavy elements.
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 This got me to thinking. Stars typically form
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 in clusters and I assume
00:08:40 --> 00:08:42 our sun isn't any different.
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 Has there ever been or is there any
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 active research that is looking for
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 any of the Sun's siblings?
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 Thank you so much, um, for doing this
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 podcast. Really enjoy it. Always look
00:08:56 --> 00:08:59 forward when new episodes drop. Wishing
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 you the best for the holidays.
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 Andrew Dunkley: Thank you. Ernie, great to hear from you. A
00:09:03 --> 00:09:06 first time caller in. And great, um,
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 question too. Great question. Sorry to hear
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 about the Buffalo Bills. I don't know if
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13 you're into the American, uh, football, um,
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 Ernie, but, um, we visited
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 Buffalo, um, late last year and they were
00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 very, very hopeful that the Bills would
00:09:21 --> 00:09:23 come through. But they've, uh, been knocked
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 out in the playoffs. So, um, very
00:09:25 --> 00:09:27 unfortunate, but maybe, maybe next year.
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 They're certainly starting to look like a
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 pretty solid outfit. So, um,
00:09:32 --> 00:09:35 yeah. Any work going into finding the son's
00:09:35 --> 00:09:37 siblings? Now I remember us talking some time
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 back about the possibility that
00:09:40 --> 00:09:41 the son had a twin
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 and they got separated at birth and they
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 can't find each other. But they're going
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 through the archives to see if there's any
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 family history that can connect. Um,
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 that. Yeah, but the sun would have
00:09:55 --> 00:09:58 been part of, um, I imagine a whole
00:09:58 --> 00:10:01 bunch of stars that were born in that,
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 um, um, supernova
00:10:04 --> 00:10:05 situation. Is that what he was talking about?
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 Professor Fred Watson: Well, that's part of the issue. Uh, the
00:10:09 --> 00:10:12 fact that the gas cloud in
00:10:12 --> 00:10:15 which the sun and the rest of the
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 cluster that was formed at the same time as
00:10:17 --> 00:10:20 the sun, um, that was, uh,
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 seeded by gases from a
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 supernova explosion, which we have no
00:10:24 --> 00:10:27 knowledge of. But it's just the background
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 interstellar medium is enriched by the
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 elements that come from a supernova
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 explosion. But, um, no, Ernie's question is
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 on the money and the answer is yes. Uh,
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 that's, um, to
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 try and find the Sun's siblings is actually,
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46 uh, ongoing research and it's part of the
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 subject that we usually call galactic
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51 archaeology. It's looking at the way our, uh,
00:10:51 --> 00:10:54 galaxy has evolved, uh, by
00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 studying in detail the chemical
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 composition of the stars within
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 the Sun's neighborhood within a few thousand
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 light years. I was involved with all that
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 with the Reif project a few years ago. And so
00:11:06 --> 00:11:09 one of the, uh, not the holy grails of that,
00:11:09 --> 00:11:12 but certainly one of the interesting aspects
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 is to find stars that have
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 identical chemical
00:11:16 --> 00:11:19 mixes to the sun. Uh,
00:11:19 --> 00:11:22 and um, if you can do that, if you can
00:11:22 --> 00:11:24 find them, uh, there's a good chance that
00:11:24 --> 00:11:27 they were born from the same dust cloud as
00:11:27 --> 00:11:30 the sun was. Uh, and so they might very well
00:11:30 --> 00:11:33 be solar siblings. Um, it may even
00:11:33 --> 00:11:36 be possible that, you know, we know that the
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 sun's four, four and a half billion years
00:11:38 --> 00:11:41 old, about 4.6, 4.7 billion years old.
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 Um, if you could look at the motion
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47 of stars that have the identical
00:11:47 --> 00:11:50 uh, constituents to the sun and you will be
00:11:50 --> 00:11:52 able to certainly m, measure their velocities
00:11:52 --> 00:11:55 quite easily, then you might be able to
00:11:55 --> 00:11:58 almost rewind back to a time,
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 uh, when you could prove that they were all
00:12:00 --> 00:12:01 in the same place at the same time.
00:12:04 --> 00:12:05 Andrew Dunkley: Okay. Yeah. All right.
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 Professor Fred Watson: Um, so the answer is yes,
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 there is certainly research on all that. Uh,
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 and yes, I had a couple of weeks in Buffalo
00:12:13 --> 00:12:16 once. I was a gas lecturer at the Kinesius
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 College, uh, there. And it's very cold.
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 Andrew Dunkley: Uh, it wasn't cold while we were there. I
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 mean it's, it's a stone's throw from Niagara
00:12:23 --> 00:12:26 Falls, which is, yeah, like you could almost
00:12:26 --> 00:12:27 walk it.
00:12:27 --> 00:12:28 Professor Fred Watson: They were pretty icy when we were there.
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, um, but I really enjoyed
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 spending some time there and learning. Like
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 they had a big exhibition on while we were
00:12:37 --> 00:12:40 there about the, um, one of the
00:12:40 --> 00:12:41 great canals that was built
00:12:41 --> 00:12:44 150 odd years ago now I
00:12:44 --> 00:12:47 think, um, and, and how it
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 changed the entire region forever,
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 um, in terms of trade and movement of
00:12:52 --> 00:12:55 materials and uh, fascinating
00:12:55 --> 00:12:57 place, really quite fascinating. Um,
00:12:58 --> 00:13:01 yeah. I suppose the problem with trying to
00:13:01 --> 00:13:04 find the sun siblings is, is the amount of
00:13:04 --> 00:13:06 time that's passed. It's not like you're
00:13:06 --> 00:13:08 looking back through your family tree a
00:13:08 --> 00:13:10 couple of generations which we're talking
00:13:10 --> 00:13:12 billions of years of movement.
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 Professor Fred Watson: That's right. Yes. But, but as I said, you,
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 you know, the way you identify them is
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 not because they're close or anything like
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 that, it's by their chemical composition,
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 uh, which we can do out to
00:13:27 --> 00:13:29 many several thousands of light years,
00:13:29 --> 00:13:31 depending how, how precise you want it to be.
00:13:32 --> 00:13:33 Um, in fact there's an instrument on the
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 Anglo Australian telescope which is called
00:13:35 --> 00:13:38 hermes, uh, which is designed exactly
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 for doing that job at very limited areas,
00:13:41 --> 00:13:44 uh, regions of the spectrum of
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 stars, uh, to look for
00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 exactly the amount of chemicals that are in
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52 those atmospheres of those stars. And that's
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 the kind of instrument that you use to try
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 and find the sun siblings. What, uh, I
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 haven't said is whether there's been any
00:13:58 --> 00:13:59 success on that.
00:13:59 --> 00:14:00 Andrew Dunkley: Uh, it's bad to ask.
00:14:00 --> 00:14:03 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah. And, um, uh, I can't remember
00:14:03 --> 00:14:06 the answer. I mean, there are certainly stars
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 which have got very similar chemical
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 compositions and ages to the sun.
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 Uh, I'm not sure just how near we are to
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 being able to identify them as definitely
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 coming from the same gas cloud and being born
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 in the same cluster as the sun was.
00:14:21 --> 00:14:24 Andrew Dunkley: Well, according to a quick search I've
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 just done. And this is an AI
00:14:26 --> 00:14:29 Response. Uh, yes, astronomers have
00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 identified several candidates. The solar
00:14:32 --> 00:14:34 siblings stars form from the same gas cloud
00:14:34 --> 00:14:37 as, uh, our Sun 4, 4.5 billion years
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 ago. But none are definitely confirmed.
00:14:40 --> 00:14:40 Professor Fred Watson: There you go.
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45 Andrew Dunkley: Um, they. Maybe they don't want to be found.
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48 Maybe, maybe our, our son was, you know, the
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50 black sheep of the family and they all went,
00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 now we're out of here. We know what's going
00:14:52 --> 00:14:53 to happen around this place.
00:14:53 --> 00:14:55 Professor Fred Watson: It's going to form planets and then where
00:14:55 --> 00:14:56 will we be?
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 Andrew Dunkley: And then there'll be humans and then.
00:14:58 --> 00:14:59 Professor Fred Watson: That's right, exactly.
00:14:59 --> 00:15:01 Andrew Dunkley: You know, they'll want us. They'll want us to
00:15:01 --> 00:15:03 pay them money or something. Yeah, I don't
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 know. Uh, um, but it was a great question,
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07 Ernie. Thanks for sending it in. And please
00:15:07 --> 00:15:10 do so again. This is Space Nuts with
00:15:10 --> 00:15:13 Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson.
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 Generic: Hey, that's one of the better sims, believe
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 me. We've had a couple of cardiac arrests
00:15:19 --> 00:15:21 down here too, Pete. There wasn't any tonnage
00:15:21 --> 00:15:22 for that up here.
00:15:22 --> 00:15:25 Andrew Dunkley: Space Nuts. I love that
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 one. No time for a cardiac arrest.
00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 Uh, let's carry, uh, on to our
00:15:31 --> 00:15:34 next question. That comes from Mark. It's
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 another story about this, uh, question about
00:15:36 --> 00:15:38 the sun. Hi, Andrew and Fred. Are there any
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 plans to send a spacecraft to the sun? And I
00:15:41 --> 00:15:44 mean up close and personal. Uh, the
00:15:44 --> 00:15:46 data they could get would be invaluable and
00:15:46 --> 00:15:49 could really tighten up some loose ends
00:15:49 --> 00:15:52 on what we think we know. Uh, keep up the
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 great work. That's Mark from Sussex.
00:15:55 --> 00:15:58 Sussex in England, I assume. England. Uh,
00:15:58 --> 00:15:59 I'm pretty sure that'd be right.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:02 Professor Fred Watson: Here's how you said I used to live in Sussex
00:16:02 --> 00:16:03 as well. Yes.
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, I think we mentioned that a week or two
00:16:05 --> 00:16:08 ago. So we've had a few from Sussex of
00:16:08 --> 00:16:08 late.
00:16:08 --> 00:16:11 Professor Fred Watson: The Royal Greenwich Observatory used to be.
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 This is a place called Hersmondsew. Yeah.
00:16:14 --> 00:16:16 Not far from where William the conqueror
00:16:16 --> 00:16:18 landed in 1066.
00:16:18 --> 00:16:19 Andrew Dunkley: Okay.
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 Professor Fred Watson: It was all very historic place. Um,
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 and the Royal Observatory was actually
00:16:23 --> 00:16:23 Defeated.
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 Andrew Dunkley: He defeated King Henry, was it
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 Harold? I knew it started with an H. Yeah,
00:16:30 --> 00:16:33 um, so yeah, look, I, I, I, I
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 know there are probes that are um,
00:16:37 --> 00:16:38 gathering information about the sun all the
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 time. And in fact we had a recent probe
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43 that's name escapes me that actually touched
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 the sun, which was a, uh, pretty
00:16:45 --> 00:16:46 extraordinary thing.
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 Professor Fred Watson: And in fact that's the one that um, that
00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 really Mark is asking about. Uh, uh, are
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 there any plans to send a spacecraft to the
00:16:54 --> 00:16:57 sun? Uh, and I mean up close and personal. It
00:16:57 --> 00:17:00 is already there. Uh, it's called the Parker
00:17:00 --> 00:17:03 Solar Probe. Uh, it's um, flown
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 through the inner or the outer corona of the
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 sun, uh experiencing those very high
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 temperatures. It's got a heat shield. It's in
00:17:11 --> 00:17:13 an orbit that is highly elliptical, very
00:17:13 --> 00:17:16 elongated. So it
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19 spends some of its time close to the sun and
00:17:19 --> 00:17:22 some of its time quite a long way away. I'm
00:17:22 --> 00:17:24 not actually sure whether it is still active,
00:17:24 --> 00:17:27 um, but what it's done is it has
00:17:27 --> 00:17:28 enhanced our understanding,
00:17:30 --> 00:17:33 uh, of the way the corona is heated.
00:17:33 --> 00:17:36 The sun's corona is at several
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 tens of millions of degrees. Uh, and
00:17:39 --> 00:17:42 the surface of the sun, the photosphere, this
00:17:42 --> 00:17:44 bit that we see is about five and a half
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 thousand degrees. How does the outer
00:17:46 --> 00:17:48 atmosphere get so hot when you've got
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 something relatively cool inside? And
00:17:51 --> 00:17:54 the Parker Solar Probe has revealed that it's
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 almost certainly magnetism that does that.
00:17:56 --> 00:17:59 The transportation of energy via magnetic
00:17:59 --> 00:18:01 fields. You're about to tell me whether it's
00:18:01 --> 00:18:02 still going or not.
00:18:02 --> 00:18:05 Andrew Dunkley: It is, it is actually, uh, um,
00:18:05 --> 00:18:07 it is fully active, it's healthy, it's
00:18:07 --> 00:18:09 operating normally as at early uh,
00:18:09 --> 00:18:12 2026. It's done 26
00:18:12 --> 00:18:15 close approach approaches to the
00:18:15 --> 00:18:18 sun. Um, and that was up
00:18:18 --> 00:18:21 to December of last year. And it
00:18:21 --> 00:18:23 uh, will continue to orbit the Sun. It'll set
00:18:23 --> 00:18:26 speed records while it's doing it. Uh, it's
00:18:26 --> 00:18:28 been doing some extraordinary things. Uh,
00:18:28 --> 00:18:31 what I find extraordinary is that it can
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 survive temperatures around two and a half
00:18:33 --> 00:18:36 thousand degrees Fahrenheit. Um,
00:18:37 --> 00:18:38 that's mighty warm.
00:18:39 --> 00:18:42 Professor Fred Watson: Yep, with a cleverly designed heat
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 shield. I think that's what keeps uh, the
00:18:44 --> 00:18:47 spacecraft cool and lets it continue its
00:18:47 --> 00:18:49 work. It's a very successful mission.
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 Andrew Dunkley: Are there any other probes working out there?
00:18:52 --> 00:18:55 I mean there are observer probes I
00:18:55 --> 00:18:57 believe. They're not designed to go in and
00:18:57 --> 00:19:00 out of the Sun's corona, but they're sort of
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 keeping a close eye on it.
00:19:02 --> 00:19:05 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, that's right. Uh, so the sun's
00:19:05 --> 00:19:08 observed from a uh, safer distance, uh, up
00:19:08 --> 00:19:11 close and Personal uh, compared with where we
00:19:11 --> 00:19:13 are on Earth, uh there's a flotilla of uh,
00:19:14 --> 00:19:17 uh, observatories looking at the various
00:19:17 --> 00:19:19 aspects of the sun. We also now have
00:19:20 --> 00:19:22 um, a very large ground based
00:19:22 --> 00:19:25 telescope that is providing the most
00:19:25 --> 00:19:28 amazing images of the Sun's photosphere.
00:19:28 --> 00:19:30 That's the visible sphere of the sun.
00:19:31 --> 00:19:33 Uh, it's the Daniel K Enoui Solar
00:19:33 --> 00:19:36 Telescope. It's on top of Haleakala on the
00:19:36 --> 00:19:38 island of Maui, uh, in the
00:19:38 --> 00:19:41 Hawaiian uh, islands. Marnie and
00:19:41 --> 00:19:43 I got married in front of it.
00:19:43 --> 00:19:45 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, I remember. Yeah. Ah, um,
00:19:46 --> 00:19:48 they have great names for stuff in Hawaii
00:19:48 --> 00:19:49 don't they?
00:19:49 --> 00:19:50 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah they do.
00:19:52 --> 00:19:54 Andrew Dunkley: Just rolls off the tongue that one. Uh, there
00:19:54 --> 00:19:57 are plenty of probes actually um, Mark
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 that are, that are wandering around the sun.
00:19:59 --> 00:20:02 There's the Solar Orbiter which is a, an ESA
00:20:02 --> 00:20:05 NASA mission, um, taking
00:20:05 --> 00:20:08 high resolution imagery and gathering data
00:20:08 --> 00:20:09 about the Sun. There's another one that was
00:20:09 --> 00:20:12 launched in 2023, uh, an
00:20:12 --> 00:20:15 Indian mission, uh, which is dedicated to
00:20:15 --> 00:20:18 observing the solar corona and it's the
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 Aditya L1 mission
00:20:21 --> 00:20:24 and there's a whole
00:20:24 --> 00:20:26 fleet of uh, probes
00:20:27 --> 00:20:29 that are monitoring the solar winds. So the
00:20:29 --> 00:20:32 Solar Dynamics Observatory, soho, that's a
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 famous one, uh, the STEREO mission
00:20:35 --> 00:20:37 because there are twin satellites doing that.
00:20:37 --> 00:20:40 I think we talked about that one, uh, Hinade,
00:20:40 --> 00:20:42 which is a JAXA mission, the GOES
00:20:42 --> 00:20:45 Solar Ultraviolet Imager and the Advanced
00:20:45 --> 00:20:48 Composition Explorer or ace, um, which
00:20:48 --> 00:20:51 is looking at the solar winds which have been
00:20:51 --> 00:20:53 very busy of late. We've seen some
00:20:54 --> 00:20:56 incredible uh, activity. The Sun's sort of
00:20:56 --> 00:20:59 reaching the end of its most active phase.
00:20:59 --> 00:21:00 Isn't it pretty?
00:21:01 --> 00:21:03 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, it's uh, sort of still at solar maximum
00:21:03 --> 00:21:06 but it gradually uh, dies away uh, to
00:21:06 --> 00:21:07 solar minimum.
00:21:07 --> 00:21:09 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, and from what I understand
00:21:10 --> 00:21:12 you've really only got a short period of time
00:21:12 --> 00:21:15 to enjoy the current
00:21:15 --> 00:21:17 level of activity before things start to ease
00:21:17 --> 00:21:20 off and we um, see less
00:21:21 --> 00:21:23 um, spectacular
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 light shows. Would that be the way to
00:21:26 --> 00:21:26 describe.
00:21:26 --> 00:21:28 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, and certainly as the Sun's activity
00:21:28 --> 00:21:31 declines, the aurora that we see get
00:21:31 --> 00:21:34 further and further away from the equator. If
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 I put it that way, uh, the more active the
00:21:36 --> 00:21:39 sun is, the lower latitude
00:21:39 --> 00:21:40 you can see it at.
00:21:41 --> 00:21:44 Andrew Dunkley: Well um, it's certainly uh, been
00:21:44 --> 00:21:47 spectacular lately. Thanks for the question
00:21:47 --> 00:21:47 mark. M.
00:21:52 --> 00:21:53 Space Nuts.
00:21:53 --> 00:21:55 Uh, our final question, or is it a sermon,
00:21:55 --> 00:21:58 comes from Martin, Sit back, relax,
00:21:58 --> 00:22:00 grab a cup of tea. This is going to take a
00:22:00 --> 00:22:00 while.
00:22:01 --> 00:22:03 Berman Gorvine: Hello, Space Nuts.
00:22:04 --> 00:22:07 Martin Berman Gorvine here, writer
00:22:07 --> 00:22:10 extraordinaire in many genres
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13 with a question for
00:22:13 --> 00:22:16 my m. Work in progress. Um,
00:22:16 --> 00:22:18 my science Fiction novel
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 involving a certain
00:22:21 --> 00:22:24 unpleasant, very rich dude
00:22:24 --> 00:22:26 called Egon Rusk,
00:22:27 --> 00:22:30 who wishes to see
00:22:30 --> 00:22:33 the stars with what he imagines
00:22:33 --> 00:22:36 is the master race, and comes
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38 to a rather unfortunate end.
00:22:39 --> 00:22:39 Andrew Dunkley: Um.
00:22:41 --> 00:22:43 Berman Gorvine: As I've been writing this,
00:22:45 --> 00:22:47 uh, their supposed
00:22:47 --> 00:22:49 destination is Trappist
00:22:50 --> 00:22:52 1E. Now,
00:22:54 --> 00:22:57 Professor John T. Horner mentioned on a
00:22:57 --> 00:22:59 recent podcast that
00:23:00 --> 00:23:03 all the planets in the Trappist 1
00:23:03 --> 00:23:06 system lack an atmosphere.
00:23:07 --> 00:23:10 So I was very concerned about that because,
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13 uh, I don't want my characters all choking
00:23:13 --> 00:23:16 and dying. So I
00:23:16 --> 00:23:19 had a look, and it seems, according
00:23:19 --> 00:23:21 to NASA, that it's
00:23:21 --> 00:23:23 Trappist1d,
00:23:24 --> 00:23:27 uh, as in David, that has been
00:23:27 --> 00:23:30 shown to lack an atmosphere. But they're
00:23:30 --> 00:23:32 still trying to figure out whether
00:23:32 --> 00:23:35 Trappist1e has one or
00:23:35 --> 00:23:38 not. Um, in any case,
00:23:39 --> 00:23:41 I was just wondering if there are any
00:23:41 --> 00:23:42 other.
00:23:44 --> 00:23:44 Professor Fred Watson: Uh.
00:23:44 --> 00:23:47 Berman Gorvine: Stars with
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 exoplanets within, say,
00:23:50 --> 00:23:53 20, 30, 40 light years of Earth
00:23:53 --> 00:23:56 that might conceivably be
00:23:56 --> 00:23:59 roughly the mass of Earth and might
00:23:59 --> 00:24:02 conceivably have a breathable
00:24:02 --> 00:24:04 atmosphere. I mean, this is all
00:24:06 --> 00:24:08 kind of off the wall satirical, uh,
00:24:09 --> 00:24:12 sci fi, so it doesn't matter that much. But I
00:24:12 --> 00:24:15 was just wondering about your thoughts. And
00:24:15 --> 00:24:16 I don't mean to,
00:24:18 --> 00:24:20 uh, disparage Professor
00:24:20 --> 00:24:22 Horner, um,
00:24:23 --> 00:24:26 but I just suspect that he did
00:24:26 --> 00:24:29 see that Trappist1d
00:24:29 --> 00:24:32 lacks an atmosphere and sort of thought,
00:24:32 --> 00:24:35 well, maybe that's all the planets in
00:24:35 --> 00:24:37 that system. And also
00:24:38 --> 00:24:41 I, um, would like to conclude by
00:24:41 --> 00:24:44 reading a poem that I've
00:24:44 --> 00:24:46 just written that is a riff on,
00:24:49 --> 00:24:52 uh, Robert Frost's famous, uh, Fire
00:24:52 --> 00:24:55 and Ice about the back and
00:24:55 --> 00:24:58 forth debate over the Big Bang
00:24:58 --> 00:25:01 versus the Big Crunch, also known as
00:25:01 --> 00:25:03 the Gnab Gib, although I don't love that
00:25:03 --> 00:25:06 term because it sort of sounds like a lost
00:25:06 --> 00:25:09 Bee Gee. So,
00:25:09 --> 00:25:12 um, swell or
00:25:12 --> 00:25:14 crunch, Some think
00:25:14 --> 00:25:16 the cosmos swells for I.
00:25:17 --> 00:25:20 Some see a crunch of aging
00:25:20 --> 00:25:23 bones, I know and sigh. So might
00:25:23 --> 00:25:26 the cold get worse for I. But
00:25:26 --> 00:25:29 pressure hits you like a punch. You feel
00:25:29 --> 00:25:32 your skin begin to burn. And
00:25:32 --> 00:25:35 so I have a dreadful hunch
00:25:35 --> 00:25:38 we may all learn we must all
00:25:38 --> 00:25:40 bunch. Berman
00:25:40 --> 00:25:43 Gourvine over and out.
00:25:44 --> 00:25:47 Andrew Dunkley: Never leaves you wondering. Martin,
00:25:48 --> 00:25:49 thanks for the question.
00:25:50 --> 00:25:52 Um, I'm going to go first here, Fred, because
00:25:52 --> 00:25:55 only this morning, by coincidence, did I read
00:25:55 --> 00:25:57 a story. And it's a little bit of an eye
00:25:57 --> 00:25:59 irony in this because it comes from the
00:25:59 --> 00:26:01 University of Southern Queensland where
00:26:01 --> 00:26:03 Professor Jonti Horner works.
00:26:04 --> 00:26:07 And it's. This has been published on the
00:26:07 --> 00:26:09 abc, uh, science website. Uh,
00:26:10 --> 00:26:12 so it basically says that the, that
00:26:12 --> 00:26:14 astronomers at the University of Southern
00:26:14 --> 00:26:17 Queensland have discovered a
00:26:17 --> 00:26:19 potential candidate for an Earth sized
00:26:19 --> 00:26:21 planet. It's planet um, HD
00:26:21 --> 00:26:24 137030 b.
00:26:25 --> 00:26:26 It's a bit further away than Martin would
00:26:26 --> 00:26:29 like, 150 light years from Earth, but it
00:26:29 --> 00:26:32 orbits a sun like star and
00:26:32 --> 00:26:34 they're referring to it as a planet
00:26:34 --> 00:26:37 candidate. Um, the paper
00:26:37 --> 00:26:40 needs uh, one more observation to
00:26:40 --> 00:26:42 confirm the uh, status of planet.
00:26:43 --> 00:26:45 But this one is only
00:26:45 --> 00:26:47 slightly bigger than Earth. If it is
00:26:48 --> 00:26:51 indeed um, a planet. I
00:26:51 --> 00:26:54 think they think so. Uh,
00:26:55 --> 00:26:57 almost Earth sized planet orbiting
00:26:58 --> 00:27:00 a sun like star. Sounds like it's got
00:27:00 --> 00:27:03 some potential there. Coming out of the
00:27:03 --> 00:27:04 University of Southern Queensland. So that's
00:27:04 --> 00:27:07 ah, interesting news. Very interesting timing
00:27:07 --> 00:27:10 based on um, receiving Martin's question
00:27:10 --> 00:27:13 um, just before the publication of that
00:27:13 --> 00:27:13 story.
00:27:14 --> 00:27:17 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, um, and uh, Luke Martin's as
00:27:17 --> 00:27:20 capable as I am of looking all these up.
00:27:20 --> 00:27:23 Uh, the Wikipedia list of nearest terrestrial
00:27:23 --> 00:27:26 exoplanet candidates is probably the neatest
00:27:26 --> 00:27:28 source to go to because it gives references
00:27:28 --> 00:27:30 to a lot of the original papers of these
00:27:32 --> 00:27:35 in which the planets are described. Uh, um,
00:27:35 --> 00:27:37 it's uh, ah currently got,
00:27:38 --> 00:27:41 this is uh ones uh, within
00:27:41 --> 00:27:44 50 light years, uh, I put in when
00:27:44 --> 00:27:46 I went through the search, 34
00:27:46 --> 00:27:49 exoplanets, 11 of which probably lie
00:27:49 --> 00:27:52 inside the star's habitable zone. It's a bit
00:27:52 --> 00:27:55 more difficult to ah, as Martin was
00:27:55 --> 00:27:58 um, kind of hinting there, it's a bit more
00:27:58 --> 00:28:01 difficult to confirm the atmosphere
00:28:01 --> 00:28:04 uh, of an exoplanet
00:28:04 --> 00:28:06 because what you're trying to do
00:28:07 --> 00:28:10 is um, most of these are discovered by the
00:28:10 --> 00:28:12 transit method. You know planets that go in
00:28:12 --> 00:28:14 front of their parent star, they dim the
00:28:14 --> 00:28:17 light slightly uh, as they pass in
00:28:17 --> 00:28:18 front of the parent star and you can measure
00:28:18 --> 00:28:21 that dimming. Uh but you can also um,
00:28:22 --> 00:28:25 if you've got very top line equipment
00:28:25 --> 00:28:28 like the Webb telescope, uh, you can also
00:28:28 --> 00:28:31 look at the spectrum uh change in the star as
00:28:31 --> 00:28:33 the planet passes in front of it. And if that
00:28:33 --> 00:28:35 spectrum changes then uh, you can
00:28:35 --> 00:28:38 be sure that the planet has an atmosphere and
00:28:38 --> 00:28:41 you can actually see what gases are ah,
00:28:41 --> 00:28:44 actually present in the atmosphere. So um,
00:28:44 --> 00:28:46 that's a much more difficult observation and
00:28:46 --> 00:28:48 I think that's why uh, it's a bit of a
00:28:48 --> 00:28:50 struggle for Martin to find, to apply,
00:28:50 --> 00:28:53 identify with certainty uh, which of these
00:28:53 --> 00:28:56 exoplanets might have an atmosphere. I might
00:28:56 --> 00:28:58 leave him to that and remind him that since
00:28:58 --> 00:29:00 he's writing fiction he can do anything like
00:29:00 --> 00:29:03 with these planets, anything he wants.
00:29:04 --> 00:29:07 Andrew Dunkley: I'm um, well into my trilogy Fred. I've
00:29:07 --> 00:29:09 written uh, the first book and I'm six
00:29:09 --> 00:29:12 chapters into the second book. And still,
00:29:12 --> 00:29:15 the ideas are still coming. I'm wondering
00:29:15 --> 00:29:17 when I'll hit the brick wall. But yeah, it's,
00:29:17 --> 00:29:19 it's going well at the moment. I'm enjoying
00:29:19 --> 00:29:21 it. So I'm not going to give anything.
00:29:21 --> 00:29:23 Professor Fred Watson: Away, but m. You're making it up as you go
00:29:23 --> 00:29:23 along.
00:29:23 --> 00:29:26 Andrew Dunkley: Um, that's exactly how I'm doing it.
00:29:27 --> 00:29:28 I'll get to the next chapter and go, okay,
00:29:28 --> 00:29:30 where do I want this to go? And I just let my
00:29:30 --> 00:29:33 imagination run wild. So, um, that's
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35 how I've always written. I don't, you know,
00:29:35 --> 00:29:38 started at school doing it that way when I
00:29:38 --> 00:29:39 won a composition contest.
00:29:39 --> 00:29:40 Professor Fred Watson: Very good.
00:29:40 --> 00:29:43 Andrew Dunkley: And that was that. Um, so,
00:29:43 --> 00:29:45 yeah, we, we covered Martin's question. Great
00:29:45 --> 00:29:48 poetry, by the way. The Big Crunch. Yeah,
00:29:48 --> 00:29:50 nice work. Thanks, Martin. Good to hear from
00:29:50 --> 00:29:52 you, as always. If you'd like to send
00:29:52 --> 00:29:54 questions into us, you can do so on our
00:29:54 --> 00:29:57 website, spacenutspodcast.com spacenuts
00:29:57 --> 00:30:00 IO choose your URL wisely
00:30:01 --> 00:30:03 and just click the, uh, AMA button,
00:30:03 --> 00:30:06 which stands for Ask me anything.
00:30:06 --> 00:30:08 And that's what we're all about. And don't
00:30:08 --> 00:30:10 forget to tell us who you are or where you're
00:30:10 --> 00:30:12 from. You can send text or audio questions,
00:30:13 --> 00:30:14 uh, and plenty of other things to see and do
00:30:14 --> 00:30:16 on our website as well. Well, uh, one thing
00:30:16 --> 00:30:18 we do ask is if you, um. It doesn't matter
00:30:18 --> 00:30:20 what platform you're on, whether it's
00:30:20 --> 00:30:23 YouTube Music or Spreaker or, uh, Apple
00:30:23 --> 00:30:25 Podcasts, please leave a review.
00:30:26 --> 00:30:28 Uh, the more the merrier. Uh, they do help,
00:30:28 --> 00:30:31 apparently, to, um, find more
00:30:31 --> 00:30:33 listeners, and that's what we'd like to do.
00:30:33 --> 00:30:36 So if you could leave a review for us, we
00:30:36 --> 00:30:39 would, uh, appreciate it greatly. And thank
00:30:39 --> 00:30:41 you, Fred, as always. It's been great fun.
00:30:41 --> 00:30:44 Professor Fred Watson: Um, it's good fun or else we wouldn't do it.
00:30:44 --> 00:30:46 Andrew Dunkley: That's absolutely true. We're not doing it
00:30:46 --> 00:30:49 for the money. Um, no.
00:30:49 --> 00:30:51 Thanks, Fred. We'll see you next week.
00:30:52 --> 00:30:54 Professor, uh, Fred Watson, astronomer at
00:30:54 --> 00:30:56 large. And thanks to Huw in the studio, who
00:30:56 --> 00:30:58 couldn't be with us today because he's
00:30:58 --> 00:31:00 actually put his hand up from Mission to the
00:31:00 --> 00:31:03 sun because it's a lot cooler there than it
00:31:03 --> 00:31:05 is in Australia at the moment. Can't blame
00:31:05 --> 00:31:07 him for that. And from me, Andrew Dunkley.
00:31:07 --> 00:31:08 Thanks for your company. We'll catch you on
00:31:08 --> 00:31:10 the next episode of Space Nuts.
00:31:10 --> 00:31:10 Berman Gorvine: Bye.
00:31:10 --> 00:31:13 Andrew Dunkley: Bye. You'll be listening to the
00:31:13 --> 00:31:14 Space Nuts podcast,
00:31:16 --> 00:31:19 available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
00:31:19 --> 00:31:22 iHeartRadio or your favorite podcast
00:31:22 --> 00:31:24 player. You can also stream On Demand at
00:31:24 --> 00:31:25 Bytes.
00:31:25 --> 00:31:25 Professor Fred Watson: Com.
00:31:25 --> 00:31:27 Andrew Dunkley: This has been another quality podcast
00:31:27 --> 00:31:29 production from Bytes.
00:31:29 --> 00:31:29 Professor Fred Watson: Com.
00:31:29 --> 00:31:31 Berman Gorvine: Um.