The Cosmic Q&A: Redshift, Dark Matter & the Shape of the Universe
Space Nuts: Exploring the CosmosJuly 27, 2026
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00:31:3228.92 MB

The Cosmic Q&A: Redshift, Dark Matter & the Shape of the Universe

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In this engaging Q&A episode of Space Nuts, join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson as they tackle a variety of intriguing questions from listeners. From the mysteries of redshift and the perplexing concept of dark photons to the vastness of deep space astronomy and the ongoing expansion of the universe, this episode is brimming with thought-provoking insights and scientific discussion.
In this episode:
- Understanding redshift: What does it mean for the energy of light from distant galaxies, and how does it relate to the universe's expansion?
- A deep dive into dark photons: What are they, and how might they help explain dark matter and dark energy?
- Clarifying deep space astronomy: Why do we observe light from distant galaxies as it was billions of years ago, and how does this relate to our understanding of cosmic history?
- Exploring the universe's expansion: What is it expanding into, and what shapes might it take?
- The implications of cosmic observations for our understanding of the universe's structure and evolution.

Resources & Links:
- [NASA's Cosmic Microwave Background](https://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_cmb.html) - Understanding the remnants of the Big Bang.
- [Large Hadron Collider](https://home.cern) - The world's largest particle physics laboratory.
- [Dark Matter and Dark Energy Overview](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/dark-energy-and-dark-matter) - Insights from NASA on these enigmatic components of the universe.

Join Andrew and Fred Watson as they navigate the complexities of space science, encouraging curiosity and exploration of the cosmos. Don't forget to send in your questions for future episodes!

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support.

(00:00) This is a Q and A edition of Space Nuts
(01:14) Question from Roger: Does red shift of galaxies contribute to universe expansion
(07:53) Roger Stern: Well, generally speaking, you do get alternative views on this
(08:33) Fred Watson uses term dark photon to describe hypothetical dark particles
(13:29) Fred: I still can't get my head around deep space astronomy
(22:03) If the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into
(28:08) If you have questions for Space Nuts, please send them via email


00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Andrew Dunkley: Hello again. Thanks for joining us on Space

00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 Nuts. This is a Q and A edition. My name is

00:00:04 --> 00:00:06 Andrew Dunkley. What's a Q and A edition?

00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 It's an edition where we get Q's and

00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 give you A's because you're so clever.

00:00:12 --> 00:00:14 Uh, something like that. Anyway, we're going

00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 to answer audience questions. That's what I'm

00:00:16 --> 00:00:17 getting at. We've got questions about

00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 redshift, We've got questions about dark

00:00:20 --> 00:00:20 photons.

00:00:20 --> 00:00:21 Professor Fred Watson: What?

00:00:21 --> 00:00:24 Andrew Dunkley: Uh, we've got questions about deep space

00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 astronomy and another one about the expansion

00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 of the universe. I think we talked about that

00:00:29 --> 00:00:31 last episode. Anyway, uh, we'll see if we can

00:00:31 --> 00:00:33 solve all of that on this episode of space

00:00:33 --> 00:00:35 nuts. 15 seconds.

00:00:35 --> 00:00:38 Professor Fred Watson: Guidance is internal. 10,

00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 9, ignition sequence. Star

00:00:41 --> 00:00:41 space nuts.

00:00:41 --> 00:00:43 Andrew Dunkley: 5, 4, 3, 2.

00:00:43 --> 00:00:43 Roger: 1.

00:00:43 --> 00:00:46 Professor Fred Watson: 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2,

00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 1. Space nuts.

00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 Andrew Dunkley: Astronauts report it feels good.

00:00:51 --> 00:00:54 And with us again to kind of

00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 try to maybe answer some of that is

00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 Professor Fred Watson Watson, astronomer at

00:00:58 --> 00:00:59 large. Hello, Fred Watson.

00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 Professor Fred Watson: Hello, Andrew. Um, kind of is probably the

00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 best description really, isn't it?

00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 Andrew Dunkley: Possibly so. Possibly so. Um,

00:01:08 --> 00:01:10 but you know, it's good to get questions.

00:01:10 --> 00:01:13 We've got a whole new batch, so, um, let's

00:01:13 --> 00:01:14 get stuck straight into it.

00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 Now. First question comes from, um. Uh,

00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 I love the way he always ends his questions.

00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 I'm not going to reveal anything, but, um,

00:01:23 --> 00:01:24 let's hear from Roger.

00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 Roger: Hey there, Space Nuts. This is Roger

00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 the truck driver. Tonight I'm in,

00:01:30 --> 00:01:33 uh, Rutland, Vermont. Got a

00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 question about the red shift of galaxies.

00:01:36 --> 00:01:38 Um, if the light that we're seeing from a far

00:01:38 --> 00:01:41 off galaxy is shifted to the red and it

00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 started out at a higher frequency,

00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 doesn't that mean energy's lost somewhere

00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 between here and there? And is that energy

00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 just transferred into space? And if it

00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 is, does that contribute to the

00:01:55 --> 00:01:57 expansion of space? And I'm not saying it's

00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 dark energy, but does it

00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 contribute to it or does that

00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 energy get dissipated in another way?

00:02:06 --> 00:02:08 All right. Always digging the show, guys.

00:02:08 --> 00:02:09 Keep on trucking.

00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 Andrew Dunkley: I love that. I love that. Uh, we've got

00:02:14 --> 00:02:15 train drivers that do that. Unfortunately,

00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 they do it at 3 o' clock in the morning.

00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 Although today he did it at 10 to 7. I was

00:02:21 --> 00:02:23 pretty annoyed. Pretty annoyed.

00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 Professor Fred Watson: This is, uh, the one going past your place?

00:02:25 --> 00:02:27 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, behind our place there's a rail line.

00:02:27 --> 00:02:29 It doesn't get used a heck of a lot, but when

00:02:29 --> 00:02:30 it does, um.

00:02:30 --> 00:02:30 Eli: Yes?

00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 Andrew Dunkley: The glasses rattle. Uh, the ones on my face,

00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 I mean. Uh, thanks, Roger. Great question.

00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 Uh, so, um, yeah, the change

00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 in frequency with the, um,

00:02:43 --> 00:02:46 energy loss, um, where does the energy go and

00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 does it contribute to the expansion of the

00:02:48 --> 00:02:51 universe? And could it possibly be.

00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 Maybe, maybe not dark matter

00:02:54 --> 00:02:56 or dark energy or something?

00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, yeah. Um, there's a lot.

00:02:58 --> 00:02:59 Andrew Dunkley: He packed a lot into that question.

00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 Professor Fred Watson: He did. And it's a great question too. Uh,

00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 and, you know, I mean, it's a,

00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 uh, project, um, Absolutely right. The

00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 conservation of energy. Uh, energy

00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 can't be created or destroyed. That's the

00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 fundamental rule. Its

00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 energy is always conserved.

00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 But, uh, the universe doesn't play

00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 by the ordinary rules.

00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 Uh, and, um,

00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 it's an interesting answer here.

00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 Um, and I have to say it's changed

00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 my view of what this, you know, what

00:03:37 --> 00:03:40 the answer to this problem was because,

00:03:40 --> 00:03:43 um, when we've been asked this before,

00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 we haven't been asked it for a long time.

00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 I just assumed that the energy, uh,

00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 basically was absorbed by the universe by

00:03:51 --> 00:03:54 space time, uh, and

00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 maybe contributed to the expansion.

00:03:57 --> 00:03:58 Although,

00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 uh, you can't have it both ways because it's

00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 the expansion that's causing the photon's

00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 energy to be lost. Uh,

00:04:08 --> 00:04:11 and just stepping back, exactly as

00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 Roger said, uh, you've got light going

00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 through the universe. It's,

00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 uh, its wavelength is being stretched by

00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 the expansion of the universe. Therefore the

00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 light is losing energy. Because the energy

00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 of a beam of light is all about the

00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 frequency of the light, in other words, or

00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 the wavelength. Putting it another way. So

00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 if you increase the wavelength, you lose

00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 energy. And that's, um,

00:04:37 --> 00:04:40 a given already. Uh, so what I

00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 used to say was, yes, it kind of goes into

00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 the universe. But I've done a bit more

00:04:44 --> 00:04:46 reading on this and I was wrong.

00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 Um, because when

00:04:51 --> 00:04:54 you apply general relativity to

00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 the universe as a whole, and that's the.

00:04:57 --> 00:04:59 As we've talked about, and we've talked about

00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 it at length in the last episode, it's, uh,

00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 the kind of fundamental rule that governs

00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 everything that we understand in the

00:05:06 --> 00:05:09 universe. Um, when you

00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 apply general relativity,

00:05:12 --> 00:05:12 Andrew Dunkley: uh,

00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 Professor Fred Watson: that conservation of energy

00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 that we expect to happen in the

00:05:19 --> 00:05:22 everyday world, it

00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 doesn't hold good. So energy, uh,

00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 is not conserved in an expanding

00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 universe. Uh, and so

00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 basically the energy

00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 simply disappears. It's

00:05:36 --> 00:05:39 just not there anymore because of the

00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 expansion of the universe. It's not causing

00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 the expansion of the universe. It's not

00:05:43 --> 00:05:45 create contributing to dark energy or dark

00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 matter, the energy loss, it just vanishes.

00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 Wow. So work that one out.

00:05:51 --> 00:05:52 Andrew Dunkley: I can't.

00:05:53 --> 00:05:54 Professor Fred Watson: No, I can't either.

00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 Um, I kind of really

00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 need to look at the equations on this.

00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 Andrew Dunkley: Um, don't show them to me. I mean,

00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 Professor Fred Watson: yeah, I'M not that keen on looking at them

00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 myself either. Too much else to do. But, uh,

00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 um, uh, but yes, that is

00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 the thinking on this.

00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 Uh, and I think the conservation

00:06:19 --> 00:06:22 rule does not work, uh,

00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 um, when it comes to

00:06:28 --> 00:06:29 the universe on a whole.

00:06:30 --> 00:06:30 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah.

00:06:30 --> 00:06:30 Professor Fred Watson: Wow.

00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 Andrew Dunkley: Gee, um, that's quite a

00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 revelation. Who figured that out?

00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 Professor Fred Watson: Uh, uh, it's on a number of

00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 different, uh, physics, uh, related websites.

00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 Andrew Dunkley: There's the reason no one knows about it

00:06:45 --> 00:06:47 because it's physics and

00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 who reads that stuff?

00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, I think the relativistic bit of

00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 it, uh, comes from the fact

00:06:57 --> 00:07:00 that the energy of a particle,

00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 which is what we're talking about, it's an

00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 observer dependent quantity.

00:07:05 --> 00:07:08 And so that's why relativity plays a part in

00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 this because you're the observer

00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 and you're talking about something that's

00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 relative to another observer, that is the

00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 photon. Uh, and that's why you've got,

00:07:18 --> 00:07:21 uh, a relativistic

00:07:22 --> 00:07:23 access. Ah, to it.

00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 Andrew Dunkley: Wow. Okay. Um, great question,

00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 Roger. I'm not sure you were expecting that

00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 answer, but, uh, there it is. Uh, the energy

00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 just gone,

00:07:35 --> 00:07:38 goes, vanishes, ceases to

00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 exist. It's a dead poly.

00:07:41 --> 00:07:44 So anyway, um,

00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 no one got that joke. I was, um,

00:07:48 --> 00:07:50 doing a Monty Python skit for some reason.

00:07:50 --> 00:07:52 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, you were. That's right.

00:07:53 --> 00:07:55 Look, I'm pursuing this in a little bit more

00:07:55 --> 00:07:58 detail and, uh, just trying to, you know, see

00:07:58 --> 00:08:00 whether we've got alternative. Alternative

00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 views of this.

00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 Andrew Dunkley: Well, generally speaking, you do get

00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 alternative views when it comes to this kind

00:08:06 --> 00:08:06 of stuff.

00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 Professor Fred Watson: That's right. Um, yes,

00:08:09 --> 00:08:10 so

00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 that's right. Uh, uh,

00:08:15 --> 00:08:18 I think the standard explanation today is

00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 that energy is not conserved.

00:08:21 --> 00:08:22 Okay.

00:08:23 --> 00:08:24 Andrew Dunkley: We'll leave it at that until somebody throws

00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 another spanner into the.

00:08:26 --> 00:08:27 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, uh, we might be giving a different

00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 answer next week. It could be.

00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 Andrew Dunkley: Thanks, Roger. Great to hear from you. Toot,

00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 toot. Uh, we'll catch you next time.

00:08:33 --> 00:08:36 Our next question comes from

00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 Peter. He's from San Diego, California.

00:08:39 --> 00:08:40 While listening to another astrophysics

00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 podcast, I heard the term dark

00:08:43 --> 00:08:46 photon for the first time. Apparently this is

00:08:46 --> 00:08:48 a particle astrophysicists are, uh, seeking

00:08:49 --> 00:08:51 in order to explain dark matter and, or dark

00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 energy. Could you please elaborate on what a

00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 dark photon could be?

00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 Um, dad, joke for Andrew. A photon

00:08:59 --> 00:09:02 travels at the speed of light. Does that mean

00:09:02 --> 00:09:04 a dark photon travels at the speed of

00:09:04 --> 00:09:07 dark. I like that.

00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 That's good. Yeah, that's really good. Uh,

00:09:09 --> 00:09:12 keep up the great work, he says. Uh, thank

00:09:12 --> 00:09:12 you, Peter.

00:09:13 --> 00:09:13 Professor Fred Watson: All as well.

00:09:13 --> 00:09:15 Andrew Dunkley: In San Diego, California.

00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 Uh, have you ever heard of a dark photon,

00:09:18 --> 00:09:18 Fred Watson?

00:09:19 --> 00:09:21 Professor Fred Watson: Um, yes, I'VE probably got a few in this box

00:09:21 --> 00:09:24 here. The

00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 speed of dark. Just, just going back to that,

00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 that quip, uh, there was

00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 a storey I read, uh, probably

00:09:32 --> 00:09:35 a fortnight ago, uh, about

00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 exactly this. In that dark

00:09:39 --> 00:09:42 ness can move faster than the speed

00:09:42 --> 00:09:42 of light.

00:09:43 --> 00:09:43 Andrew Dunkley: No,

00:09:46 --> 00:09:49 Professor Fred Watson: but it's ah, an illusory darkness. It's when

00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 you've got um, light beams

00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 interfering with one another so that

00:09:55 --> 00:09:57 you've uh, interference

00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 light beams can cancel out. So if you've got

00:10:00 --> 00:10:03 two light waves and you add them up out of

00:10:03 --> 00:10:04 phase, they can cancel out and you get

00:10:04 --> 00:10:07 darkness. That's a well known principle

00:10:07 --> 00:10:09 of interferometry. I used to play with that

00:10:09 --> 00:10:12 when I was a student a lot. Uh,

00:10:12 --> 00:10:14 but there are certain circumstances that

00:10:14 --> 00:10:17 those patterns of darkness can actually

00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 exceed the speed of light

00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 because they're not actually real, they're

00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 not real entities. They're not a thing that's

00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 carrying any sort of information or energy.

00:10:26 --> 00:10:29 They're just patterns in an

00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 interference pattern. They're just dark

00:10:31 --> 00:10:32 patches in it. And I think under certain

00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 circumstances they could go faster than the

00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 speed of light. Darkness might

00:10:38 --> 00:10:41 be not quite as uh, you know, as twee as

00:10:41 --> 00:10:43 you thought it was. I guess so

00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 anyway, anyway, uh, that's not the

00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 question, uh, because dark photons are

00:10:49 --> 00:10:52 definitely something different and they're

00:10:52 --> 00:10:55 basically uh, hypothetical.

00:10:55 --> 00:10:58 They've been hypothesised by

00:10:58 --> 00:11:01 physicists and cosmologists as uh,

00:11:01 --> 00:11:03 being a uh, force carrier

00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 similar to the ordinary photon

00:11:07 --> 00:11:10 but related to dark

00:11:10 --> 00:11:13 matter. In other

00:11:13 --> 00:11:15 words, you might have. Sorry, somebody's

00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 trying to phone me. I'm just gonna kill that

00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 call. Yeah, um,

00:11:21 --> 00:11:21 that was me.

00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 Andrew Dunkley: That was me. No it wasn't.

00:11:26 --> 00:11:29 Professor Fred Watson: You know, they're part of the. There may be.

00:11:29 --> 00:11:32 When we discover finally what dark matter is,

00:11:33 --> 00:11:35 there may be a suite of

00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 dark particles which could include

00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 dark photons. That's the bottom line.

00:11:41 --> 00:11:42 Andrew Dunkley: Right?

00:11:42 --> 00:11:45 Professor Fred Watson: Um, and so you know we mentioned last

00:11:45 --> 00:11:48 week the, or in the last episode the uh, the

00:11:48 --> 00:11:50 Large Hadron Collider being upgraded to the

00:11:50 --> 00:11:53 High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider. Um,

00:11:53 --> 00:11:56 that's one of the things they'd be looking

00:11:56 --> 00:11:57 for, will be dark photons.

00:11:58 --> 00:11:59 Okay.

00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 Andrew Dunkley: You know, I tried to do

00:12:02 --> 00:12:04 um, an AI search for an

00:12:04 --> 00:12:06 explanation on it and um,

00:12:07 --> 00:12:10 it sort of gave me all this gobbledygook. But

00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 um, you know, what would a dark

00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 proton, a photon do? It says it would

00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 carry a force within the dark sector.

00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 We call that the government. It might allow

00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 dark matter particles to interact with each

00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 other and it could very weakly mix with

00:12:25 --> 00:12:28 normal photons, giving us a way to Detect it.

00:12:28 --> 00:12:31 And the reason they reckon that scientists

00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 care about this, as you said, could explain

00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 what dark matter is made of. So

00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 therefore solving some of those gaps in our

00:12:39 --> 00:12:40 current physics theories.

00:12:43 --> 00:12:45 That's why people are interested in this and

00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 that's why they're upgrading the Large Hadron

00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 Collider. And hopefully we will

00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 learn more in years to come.

00:12:54 --> 00:12:55 That's the hope.

00:12:55 --> 00:12:58 Professor Fred Watson: That's the hope, yeah. So we might be talking

00:12:58 --> 00:13:01 one day about dark photons, um, having been

00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 detected, which would be a coup

00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 for space newts.

00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 Andrew Dunkley: Yes, it will. Uh, but at this stage they

00:13:08 --> 00:13:11 are not proven. It's just a theory. So

00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 that's about as much as we know at this point

00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 in time. But, uh, very good question. Uh,

00:13:16 --> 00:13:19 and, uh, thank you, Peter, for sending it in.

00:13:19 --> 00:13:22 This is Space Nuts with Andrew Dunkley and

00:13:22 --> 00:13:23 Professor Fred Watson Watson.

00:13:26 --> 00:13:29 0G and I feel fine. Space Nuts.

00:13:29 --> 00:13:31 Okay, Fred Watson, we'll move straight on to

00:13:31 --> 00:13:33 our next question, which is, uh, another

00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 audio question from Eli.

00:13:36 --> 00:13:39 Eli: Hello, this is Eli from

00:13:39 --> 00:13:42 sunny Coachella Valley in

00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 California. I'm embarrassed to

00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 admit it, but I still can't get my head

00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 around deep space astronomy. I get that

00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 the light from, say, a distant galaxy is a

00:13:53 --> 00:13:56 billion years old, but why

00:13:56 --> 00:13:59 that particular point in its time? Is

00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 it just a matter of whatever light is hitting

00:14:01 --> 00:14:03 us is the time we get to see.

00:14:05 --> 00:14:06 But for really early light,

00:14:07 --> 00:14:10 the JWST, early universe stuff

00:14:10 --> 00:14:13 that's been travelling for 13 billion years

00:14:13 --> 00:14:15 and just hitting us now,

00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 are we looking for the light that hasn't

00:14:19 --> 00:14:21 passed us by or hasn't made it here yet,

00:14:22 --> 00:14:24 but is from that one precise

00:14:24 --> 00:14:25 location long ago?

00:14:27 --> 00:14:30 This stuff is so difficult to get my head

00:14:30 --> 00:14:33 around. Love the show and hope

00:14:33 --> 00:14:34 you guys can clear this up for me.

00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 Andrew Dunkley: Uh, no, we can't. We just thought we'd, um,

00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 put the question in there. Thanks,

00:14:41 --> 00:14:44 Eli. Uh, this is a deep, um, I'm, um.

00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 Not only in deep space astronomy terms, but

00:14:46 --> 00:14:48 it is a deep, deep topic.

00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 Um, I mean, when we look up into the sky

00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 at night and we see all those beautiful

00:14:53 --> 00:14:56 coloured dots, we are looking at history.

00:14:56 --> 00:14:59 And it's variable history because some of

00:14:59 --> 00:15:01 it's 4.41 light years away and

00:15:01 --> 00:15:04 some of it's 400 light

00:15:04 --> 00:15:07 years away, some of it's further than that.

00:15:07 --> 00:15:09 Um, but then you've got the cosmic

00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 microwave background radiation, which is kind

00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 of a leftover of,

00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 um, what happened after the

00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 Big Bang and that,

00:15:20 --> 00:15:23 that's a different kettle of fish. And I can

00:15:23 --> 00:15:25 understand why you've got a headache. Eli,

00:15:25 --> 00:15:26 over to you, Fred Watson.

00:15:27 --> 00:15:30 Professor Fred Watson: Thanks. Um, so I

00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 guess uh, you know,

00:15:33 --> 00:15:36 I understand Eli's issue as well.

00:15:36 --> 00:15:36 Um,

00:15:38 --> 00:15:40 you've got to be in the right place at the

00:15:40 --> 00:15:43 right time to see a photon from a distant

00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 galaxy. But I guess the way

00:15:46 --> 00:15:48 to envisage this is if you think

00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 of the universe, um,

00:15:51 --> 00:15:54 and you've got to perhaps think of it as if

00:15:54 --> 00:15:55 you were looking at it from the outside,

00:15:55 --> 00:15:58 which we never can. But, uh, if you can think

00:15:58 --> 00:16:00 of it that way, then it's full of

00:16:01 --> 00:16:03 objects which are radiating light.

00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 Even in its infancy, when the universe was

00:16:06 --> 00:16:09 very young, the stuff in it was basically

00:16:09 --> 00:16:12 shining. Um, once we got past the Dark Ages,

00:16:12 --> 00:16:14 where no stars were shining, uh,

00:16:15 --> 00:16:18 um, and those are the galaxies that we now

00:16:18 --> 00:16:20 see. So they constantly radiate, creating

00:16:20 --> 00:16:23 light. And that's just like a river of

00:16:23 --> 00:16:26 light that's flowing down time,

00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 if I can put it that way. Uh, and

00:16:30 --> 00:16:33 a long time in the future it

00:16:33 --> 00:16:35 reaches us. But it's not just

00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 an individual photon or something that's

00:16:38 --> 00:16:41 reaching us. It's this stream of stuff that

00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 is being radiated throughout the

00:16:43 --> 00:16:46 universe by these galaxies. So we,

00:16:46 --> 00:16:49 um. And we pick it up. We

00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 pick it up sometimes exactly as you've said.

00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 Well, up to 10 billion years after it's been

00:16:54 --> 00:16:57 radiated. I think 12 billion years,

00:16:58 --> 00:17:00 uh, are the oldest or the earliest galaxies

00:17:00 --> 00:17:02 that we now see. We're looking back in time

00:17:02 --> 00:17:05 12 billion years and seeing them as they were

00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 perhaps a billion and a half years after the

00:17:08 --> 00:17:11 Big Bang. Um, and they are shining,

00:17:11 --> 00:17:13 they're radiating light, uh, in the early

00:17:13 --> 00:17:16 universe and down the track that reaches us

00:17:16 --> 00:17:18 because that light's going in all directions.

00:17:18 --> 00:17:20 So it wouldn't matter where in the universe

00:17:20 --> 00:17:22 we were, we would still see them.

00:17:23 --> 00:17:25 Uh, we'd just see them in a, you know, in a

00:17:25 --> 00:17:27 different position in the sky. If we're a

00:17:27 --> 00:17:30 long way from where we are now. Yeah, but,

00:17:30 --> 00:17:33 yeah, so I guess it's, you

00:17:33 --> 00:17:35 know, in a way, one way of thinking about

00:17:35 --> 00:17:38 this is if you imagine us on planet

00:17:38 --> 00:17:41 Earth here and imagine us being

00:17:41 --> 00:17:44 surrounded by a whole series of

00:17:44 --> 00:17:47 shells which, uh, we're at the centre

00:17:47 --> 00:17:49 of. And this is a bit like the crystalline

00:17:49 --> 00:17:51 spheres that people used to think, uh, the

00:17:51 --> 00:17:54 universe was made of. Uh, but

00:17:54 --> 00:17:57 these shells, uh, spherical shells,

00:17:57 --> 00:17:59 all centred on the Earth, but each one

00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 clicks over to a time

00:18:02 --> 00:18:05 further in the past, uh, because the

00:18:05 --> 00:18:08 light's coming to us from the whole cosmos,

00:18:08 --> 00:18:11 which is full of stuff. Uh, and that's why

00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 we, these shells sort of being

00:18:13 --> 00:18:16 illuminated in a way by the objects that, uh,

00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 radiated them at that time. Uh,

00:18:20 --> 00:18:22 um, that we see them because of

00:18:23 --> 00:18:25 the distance that they are away from us means

00:18:25 --> 00:18:28 that the light has taken that long to get to

00:18:28 --> 00:18:31 us, whether that helps or not. In fact, I

00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 think I've just confused it completely. But,

00:18:35 --> 00:18:36 Andrew Dunkley: um, I

00:18:38 --> 00:18:41 just doing a little experimental search here

00:18:41 --> 00:18:41 for a sec.

00:18:44 --> 00:18:46 What I agree

00:18:46 --> 00:18:49 with in terms of Eli's question and getting

00:18:49 --> 00:18:52 your head around it is, um, if

00:18:52 --> 00:18:54 Betelgeuse, or however you want to pronounce

00:18:54 --> 00:18:57 it, went supernova right now as we

00:18:57 --> 00:18:58 were speaking,

00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 we wouldn't see it for

00:19:03 --> 00:19:05 640 years.

00:19:05 --> 00:19:06 Roger: Yeah.

00:19:07 --> 00:19:09 Andrew Dunkley: So for it to have gone

00:19:09 --> 00:19:12 supernova in the past and us to witness

00:19:12 --> 00:19:14 it, it has to have happened

00:19:15 --> 00:19:18 pretty close to 640 years ago.

00:19:19 --> 00:19:20 Does that make sense?

00:19:20 --> 00:19:23 Professor Fred Watson: Yes. Um, so you could think of that in

00:19:23 --> 00:19:25 another way. Um, you know,

00:19:26 --> 00:19:29 um, anywhere between us and 640

00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 light years away, there could be this pulse

00:19:31 --> 00:19:33 of light that's on its way to us

00:19:34 --> 00:19:37 from Betelgeuse. Uh, it would spread

00:19:37 --> 00:19:39 out in a sphere, and as that sphere

00:19:39 --> 00:19:42 expanded, eventually it would wash over the

00:19:42 --> 00:19:44 Earth and we'd see it, um, and perhaps

00:19:44 --> 00:19:46 see it during the day as well, because it

00:19:46 --> 00:19:49 might get bright enough to do that. Uh, and

00:19:49 --> 00:19:51 I think that's a really good way of putting

00:19:51 --> 00:19:53 it, Andrew, because thinking, um, about the

00:19:53 --> 00:19:55 galaxies, they're just streaming light out

00:19:55 --> 00:19:58 all the time, but something like a, uh,

00:19:58 --> 00:20:01 supernova explosion, which gives a big pulse

00:20:01 --> 00:20:04 of light, um, that's perhaps easier to get

00:20:04 --> 00:20:06 your head around because that's. That's just

00:20:06 --> 00:20:08 gotta, um. It'll

00:20:08 --> 00:20:11 take whatever time is

00:20:11 --> 00:20:14 represented by the distance away. So 640

00:20:14 --> 00:20:17 light years away. It'll take 640 years

00:20:17 --> 00:20:19 to get here for that pulse to get here. But

00:20:19 --> 00:20:22 then it will sweep over us and we'll see the

00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 light. The light fading away.

00:20:24 --> 00:20:25 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah. And, um,

00:20:27 --> 00:20:29 the reason I chose that target is because

00:20:29 --> 00:20:32 there's a lot of conjecture about

00:20:32 --> 00:20:35 its future and the possibility that it's

00:20:35 --> 00:20:36 reaching that critical mass point.

00:20:37 --> 00:20:37 Professor Fred Watson: Yes.

00:20:38 --> 00:20:39 Andrew Dunkley: Um, but it could have already happened.

00:20:39 --> 00:20:41 That's the other thing.

00:20:42 --> 00:20:45 Professor Fred Watson: But that's something we can have no knowledge

00:20:45 --> 00:20:47 of. That's the key thing, because, um,

00:20:47 --> 00:20:50 we are limited by the speed of light. That's

00:20:50 --> 00:20:52 the thing that always limits our view of the

00:20:52 --> 00:20:52 universe.

00:20:52 --> 00:20:55 Andrew Dunkley: And just to confuse Eli a little bit more,

00:20:56 --> 00:20:59 there are, ah, probably things in the

00:20:59 --> 00:21:01 universe we will never witness because the

00:21:01 --> 00:21:04 light is just too far away to reach us in any

00:21:04 --> 00:21:05 reasonable amount of time. Even

00:21:06 --> 00:21:09 beyond the life of the Earth itself or

00:21:09 --> 00:21:12 our sun. Uh,

00:21:13 --> 00:21:15 there are things we will never, ever know

00:21:15 --> 00:21:16 about.

00:21:16 --> 00:21:17 Professor Fred Watson: Correct.

00:21:18 --> 00:21:21 Andrew Dunkley: Um, and that's where it just gives you, um,

00:21:22 --> 00:21:24 one of those Headaches that requires, uh, you

00:21:24 --> 00:21:27 to take paracetamol and ibuprofen at the same

00:21:27 --> 00:21:27 time.

00:21:32 --> 00:21:34 Um, deep, deep headaches. But Eli, great

00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 question. I'm not sure we solved your

00:21:36 --> 00:21:39 problem, but, um, anyway, uh,

00:21:40 --> 00:21:42 I try to explain this sort of stuff to my

00:21:42 --> 00:21:45 grandson, uh, and, uh, my granddaughters.

00:21:45 --> 00:21:48 And, you know, how do you

00:21:48 --> 00:21:50 explain time and distance

00:21:51 --> 00:21:53 to a young child? And, um,

00:21:53 --> 00:21:55 when you're trying to get through traffic,

00:21:57 --> 00:21:58 Professor Fred Watson: that might not be the best time to do it.

00:21:58 --> 00:22:00 Andrew Dunkley: Probably not, but they're very interested.

00:22:01 --> 00:22:03 Very interested. Thanks, Eli.

00:22:03 --> 00:22:03 Great question.

00:22:06 --> 00:22:09 Professor Fred Watson: The crew of Artemis 2 now bound for the moon,

00:22:09 --> 00:22:11 humanity's next great voyage begins.

00:22:12 --> 00:22:13 Space nuts.

00:22:14 --> 00:22:16 Andrew Dunkley: Our final question comes, uh,

00:22:16 --> 00:22:19 from Nova Scotia. It's from Ken.

00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 Uh, look, this is an old chestnut. We've,

00:22:21 --> 00:22:24 we've probably spoken about this many times,

00:22:24 --> 00:22:27 but it's always good to, um, to revisit. If

00:22:27 --> 00:22:30 the universe is expanding, what is it

00:22:30 --> 00:22:32 expanding into? And also,

00:22:33 --> 00:22:35 is the universe spherical?

00:22:36 --> 00:22:39 Professor Fred Watson: So, um, yes. What's it expanding into?

00:22:39 --> 00:22:41 Andrew Dunkley: Well, we don't know.

00:22:41 --> 00:22:43 Professor Fred Watson: And yes, that's.

00:22:43 --> 00:22:45 Yes. Uh, it's actually, we don't know. And

00:22:45 --> 00:22:48 maybe, maybe, maybe. So,

00:22:49 --> 00:22:51 um, the universe

00:22:52 --> 00:22:55 is everything that we can detect. That's

00:22:55 --> 00:22:56 the definition of the universe. Everything we

00:22:56 --> 00:22:59 can measure or detect. And that means,

00:23:00 --> 00:23:02 and we observe the expansion,

00:23:03 --> 00:23:06 but we don't know whether there's an edge

00:23:06 --> 00:23:08 to the universe. We don't know whether it's

00:23:08 --> 00:23:10 infinite. We don't know anything beyond the

00:23:10 --> 00:23:13 horizons that we see. And um, the most

00:23:13 --> 00:23:14 obvious one is the cosmic microwave

00:23:14 --> 00:23:16 background radiation, um,

00:23:17 --> 00:23:19 beyond which we can't see. But the universe

00:23:19 --> 00:23:21 almost certainly goes on beyond that,

00:23:22 --> 00:23:24 probably for a very long way, maybe very big.

00:23:24 --> 00:23:27 But we've got no knowledge of a boundary or

00:23:28 --> 00:23:30 any other medium that it might be expanding

00:23:30 --> 00:23:33 into. So, um,

00:23:33 --> 00:23:36 uh, one possibility is the idea of multiple

00:23:36 --> 00:23:38 universes. And they might

00:23:38 --> 00:23:40 exist maybe

00:23:41 --> 00:23:44 in a higher dimensional, uh,

00:23:45 --> 00:23:48 arena, if I can put it that way. You know,

00:23:48 --> 00:23:51 if you can, um, find that

00:23:51 --> 00:23:54 there are extra dimensions, we know the

00:23:54 --> 00:23:56 three dimensions of space and one of time.

00:23:56 --> 00:23:58 That's what we've got now.

00:23:59 --> 00:24:02 But, uh, if there are hidden

00:24:02 --> 00:24:04 extra dimensions, maybe they provide

00:24:05 --> 00:24:08 a venue for the universe to expand into.

00:24:08 --> 00:24:11 Uh, and there are various theories

00:24:11 --> 00:24:14 that accept that, um, M. M theory is one of

00:24:14 --> 00:24:17 them, where M is probably an abbreviation

00:24:17 --> 00:24:19 for membrane. The idea is that the universe

00:24:20 --> 00:24:22 can be collapsed onto a two dimensional

00:24:22 --> 00:24:24 membrane, and there are lots of these

00:24:24 --> 00:24:27 membranes in the kind

00:24:27 --> 00:24:29 of higher dimensional universe. But that's

00:24:29 --> 00:24:31 just conjecture and we've got no

00:24:32 --> 00:24:34 mechanism for proving that at the moment. The

00:24:34 --> 00:24:36 only thing we know with certainty with

00:24:36 --> 00:24:38 absolute certainty is that the universe is

00:24:38 --> 00:24:39 expanding.

00:24:39 --> 00:24:41 Andrew Dunkley: Yes. Uh, at an accelerating rate. Although

00:24:41 --> 00:24:43 the accelerating rate's not as accelerating

00:24:43 --> 00:24:45 as it once was. Possibly.

00:24:45 --> 00:24:46 Professor Fred Watson: Possibly.

00:24:46 --> 00:24:49 Andrew Dunkley: Um, yeah. There's three possible

00:24:49 --> 00:24:52 shapes of the universe. He asks if it's

00:24:52 --> 00:24:55 a sphere. Um, there's, uh, the flat

00:24:55 --> 00:24:58 universe theory. Do we have to go there? Uh,

00:24:58 --> 00:25:00 there's the closed universe

00:25:01 --> 00:25:04 theory, which is the positive curvature, so a

00:25:04 --> 00:25:06 sphere. Or the open universe theory,

00:25:06 --> 00:25:09 which is negative curvature. Huh. So it's

00:25:09 --> 00:25:11 more like the shape of a saddle. From what

00:25:11 --> 00:25:13 I'm reading, the most popular,

00:25:15 --> 00:25:17 uh, likelihood is the flat universe theory.

00:25:18 --> 00:25:21 Professor Fred Watson: But it's only flat in a Euclidean sense.

00:25:21 --> 00:25:23 It doesn't mean it's shaped like a

00:25:23 --> 00:25:26 tabletop. Uh, it means that parallel

00:25:26 --> 00:25:29 lines never meet. Basically, that's what we

00:25:29 --> 00:25:31 mean by flat. It's the shape of the geometry.

00:25:32 --> 00:25:35 Andrew Dunkley: And the other thing that they suggest is

00:25:35 --> 00:25:37 that, um, it can be flat and still

00:25:37 --> 00:25:39 expanding. As you said, uh, it might be

00:25:39 --> 00:25:42 infinite. We've talked about that before.

00:25:42 --> 00:25:45 And there is likely no centre and no edge.

00:25:46 --> 00:25:48 Professor Fred Watson: Correct. That's what we believe

00:25:49 --> 00:25:51 now, um, to its shape.

00:25:52 --> 00:25:54 So, uh, so

00:25:56 --> 00:25:58 basically, I think Ken's question is, is it

00:25:58 --> 00:26:00 spherical? And

00:26:01 --> 00:26:03 we don't know the answer to that. We know

00:26:03 --> 00:26:06 that the volume within which we can

00:26:06 --> 00:26:08 detect is spherical because

00:26:09 --> 00:26:12 the cosmic microwave background radiation

00:26:12 --> 00:26:15 forms an imaginary shell,

00:26:16 --> 00:26:19 uh, all around our galaxy. And it's

00:26:19 --> 00:26:21 the same distance in every direction. So in

00:26:21 --> 00:26:24 that regard, it's what we call isotropic, the

00:26:24 --> 00:26:26 same in all directions. Uh, and

00:26:26 --> 00:26:28 that's really the only thing we can

00:26:29 --> 00:26:32 lay it down to. But there are ideas that if

00:26:32 --> 00:26:34 you looked at the universe on a bigger scale

00:26:34 --> 00:26:36 than we could see, it wouldn't be. That it

00:26:36 --> 00:26:38 might be different in different directions.

00:26:39 --> 00:26:42 Um, and that, in fact, has been

00:26:42 --> 00:26:44 hypothesised as one of the sources of dark

00:26:44 --> 00:26:47 energy, that we're just seeing a local bit of

00:26:47 --> 00:26:49 the universe that's expanding, whose, uh,

00:26:49 --> 00:26:51 expansion is increasing, whereas somewhere

00:26:51 --> 00:26:54 else it might be slowing down

00:26:54 --> 00:26:56 the expansion of the universe. Um,

00:26:58 --> 00:27:00 Andrew Dunkley: yeah, sorry, go on.

00:27:00 --> 00:27:02 Professor Fred Watson: No, that would be a universe that's not

00:27:02 --> 00:27:04 isotropic. It's not the same in all

00:27:04 --> 00:27:06 directions, but we assume it's isotropic. So,

00:27:06 --> 00:27:09 uh, that's all we can do in our assumptions

00:27:09 --> 00:27:10 in cosmology.

00:27:10 --> 00:27:13 Andrew Dunkley: We just can't see beyond

00:27:13 --> 00:27:15 what we can see. Which sounds stupid, but

00:27:15 --> 00:27:18 that's the way the universe is. Um,

00:27:18 --> 00:27:20 we've got the known universe and then the

00:27:20 --> 00:27:20 rest of the.

00:27:21 --> 00:27:24 Professor Fred Watson: That's right, basically. And the rest might

00:27:24 --> 00:27:25 be a lot bigger than the known universe.

00:27:25 --> 00:27:27 Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, but we just don't know. Um,

00:27:29 --> 00:27:30 the only thing I thought of is, like, you

00:27:30 --> 00:27:32 look at Earth's atmosphere and as you go out,

00:27:32 --> 00:27:35 it fins. And so there's no defined

00:27:35 --> 00:27:38 line between space and

00:27:38 --> 00:27:41 the Earth proper. Could the

00:27:41 --> 00:27:43 universe be of the same ilk?

00:27:44 --> 00:27:47 Professor Fred Watson: Yes, but that would imply that space time

00:27:47 --> 00:27:49 just sort of keeps. Just keeps on going. It

00:27:49 --> 00:27:50 just might be empty.

00:27:51 --> 00:27:53 Uh, yeah,

00:27:53 --> 00:27:56 uh, we don't know.

00:27:56 --> 00:27:57 Andrew Dunkley: We don't know.

00:27:57 --> 00:27:59 Professor Fred Watson: Why are you asking us? We don't know.

00:28:02 --> 00:28:05 Andrew Dunkley: Uh, um, thank you, Ken. Uh, very

00:28:05 --> 00:28:07 thought provoking question and thanks for

00:28:07 --> 00:28:08 sending it in.

00:28:08 --> 00:28:10 If you have questions for us, please send

00:28:10 --> 00:28:11 them to us via our website,

00:28:12 --> 00:28:14 spacenutspodcast.com spacenuts

00:28:14 --> 00:28:16 IO there's a little button at the top called

00:28:16 --> 00:28:19 AMA M and that's what you click on to

00:28:20 --> 00:28:22 send us text and audio questions. If you've

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00:28:32 --> 00:28:34 send us a text question. Just fill in the

00:28:34 --> 00:28:37 blanks. And while you're there, have a look

00:28:37 --> 00:28:39 around, visit the shop, get something from

00:28:39 --> 00:28:42 yourself. Um, you know, whatever you like.

00:28:42 --> 00:28:44 And we're done. Fred Watson, thank you so

00:28:44 --> 00:28:45 much. That was a tough one.

00:28:47 --> 00:28:50 Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, well, we, you know, uh, Space

00:28:50 --> 00:28:52 Nuts always probes the limits of knowledge.

00:28:52 --> 00:28:54 We. It does. Ah, that's what we.

00:28:54 --> 00:28:56 Andrew Dunkley: Unfortunately, I have such limited knowledge,

00:28:56 --> 00:28:58 I'm not very helpful. But I'm glad you're

00:28:58 --> 00:28:58 here.

00:28:59 --> 00:29:01 Professor Fred Watson: No, you are very helpful and, um, so are our

00:29:01 --> 00:29:04 listeners because they keep on probing, which

00:29:04 --> 00:29:04 is great.

00:29:04 --> 00:29:06 Andrew Dunkley: They do indeed. All right, Fred Watson,

00:29:06 --> 00:29:07 thanks very much. We'll catch you on the next

00:29:07 --> 00:29:08 episode.

00:29:08 --> 00:29:10 Professor Fred Watson: Sounds great. Thanks, Andrew.

00:29:10 --> 00:29:11 Andrew Dunkley: Professor Fred Watson Watson, astronomer at

00:29:11 --> 00:29:13 large. And thanks to Huw in the studio, who

00:29:13 --> 00:29:15 couldn't be with us today because he's been

00:29:15 --> 00:29:17 expanding at an accelerating rate. So he was.

00:29:17 --> 00:29:19 Enter the gym. And from me, Andrew Dunkley.

00:29:19 --> 00:29:21 Thanks for your company. We'll see you on the

00:29:21 --> 00:29:23 next episode of Space Nuts.

00:29:23 --> 00:29:23 Professor Fred Watson: Bye. Bye.

00:29:24 --> 00:29:27 Andrew Dunkley: Uh, you'll be listening to the Space Nuts

00:29:27 --> 00:29:30 podcast, available at

00:29:30 --> 00:29:32 Apple Podcasts, Spotify,

00:29:32 --> 00:29:34 iHeartRadio or your favourite podcast

00:29:34 --> 00:29:36 player. You can also stream on

00:29:36 --> 00:29:38 demand@bytes.comm this

00:29:38 --> 00:29:41 Professor Fred Watson: has been another quality podcast production

00:29:41 --> 00:29:42 from bytes.um.com.