Latest / Space Nuts: Astronomy Insights & Cosmic Discoveries / Solar Secrets, Cosmic Siblings & the Quest for Breathable Exoplanets

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Solar Secrets, Cosmic Siblings & the Quest for Breathable Exoplanets · Space Nuts: Astronomy Insights & Cosmic Discoveries

0:00
Andrew Dunkley: Hello again. Thank you for joining us on
0:02
Space Nuts. This is our weekly Q and A
0:05
edition where we take questions from the
0:07
audience. We go and find someone who can tell
0:09
us the answer and then we pretend we're doing
0:11
it. Um, my name is Andrew Dunkley. Your
0:14
host. Fred's face went, no, we don't.
0:18
Uh, coming up on this episode, uh, we've got
0:21
a lot of, uh, solar questions. We've got a
0:23
question from Andrew about the sun's ark.
0:25
Ernie wants to know about the sun's siblings.
0:27
And Mark wants to know about missions to the
0:29
sun. You go, Mark. I'm not setting foot on
0:32
it. It's hot enough here already. And we're
0:34
going to finish, uh, off with a question
0:36
about Earth, like planets. That's all coming
0:38
up on this episode of space nuts.
0:41
Generic: 15 seconds. Guidance is internal.
0:44
10, 9, ignition
0:46
sequence star.
0:47
Andrew Dunkley: Uh, space nuts.
0:48
Generic: 5, 4, 3, 2. 1, 2, 3, 4,
0:51
5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
0:53
Berman Gorvine: Space nuts.
0:54
Generic: Astronauts report it feels good.
0:57
Andrew Dunkley: Back again for more. His name is Professor
1:00
Fred Watson, astronomer at large. Hello,
1:02
Fred.
1:03
Professor Fred Watson: Hello. Hello, Andrew. Um, fancy seeing you
1:05
here.
1:06
Andrew Dunkley: Yes, it's quite unusual. Quite
1:08
unusual. We're all decked out in blue today.
1:11
You've got gun barrel blue, I've got the sky
1:13
blue of New South Wales. On. That's
1:16
the official sporting color of my state.
1:19
Professor Fred Watson: I, uh, didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, I didn't
1:21
even know there was sky blue.
1:23
Andrew Dunkley: M. Yeah. Oh, uh, look, um, the, the,
1:26
the official Australian sporting colors are
1:28
green and gold.
1:29
Professor Fred Watson: Green and gold, that's right.
1:30
Andrew Dunkley: But that, that wasn't actually official, uh,
1:32
until the 80s. Before that they just
1:35
used to wear a pair of thongs and a cut off
1:38
jeans and go to the Olympics.
1:40
Professor Fred Watson: I think she'll be right.
1:43
Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, mate, no worries. Yes,
1:46
um, we got a bunch of questions to deal with
1:48
so we might as well hit the ground running in
1:51
our thongs. I know there's some people
1:53
laughing at that because thong means
1:55
something else in other countries, but
1:57
it's, it's a pair of flip flops or jandals or
2:00
whatever you call them wherever you're from.
2:03
Uh, first question comes from Andrew. It's
2:05
about the sun's arc. I'm sitting here in the
2:07
French Alps on Boxing Day, you lucky duck.
2:10
Uh, slightly hungover thanks to,
2:12
uh, an excess of Apreski, uh,
2:15
last night and watching the sun trace
2:18
an arc across the sky measured from mountain
2:21
peak to mountain peak. But why an arc,
2:24
the shape of which varies, uh, by the time of
2:27
year, given the Earth itself is rotating
2:30
on only one axis I know
2:33
the Earth's tilted, uh, from, um, the
2:36
vertical. But how does that
2:38
explain the arc? Uh, with only one
2:41
axis of rotation, shouldn't it be a straight
2:43
line? That comes from Andrew Jones. Hope you
2:45
had a nice Christmas, Andrew. Sounds like it.
2:47
What a horrible place to be. The French Alps
2:49
for Christmas.
2:50
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah. Sounds great, doesn't it? Yeah.
2:52
Andrew Dunkley: But he brings up an interesting point.
2:54
Sitting there sipping on whatever it is he
2:57
was drinking and, uh, watching the sun and
2:59
going, hang on a minute.
3:02
What's going on here? There's an ark.
3:05
And it's not Noah's.
3:07
Professor Fred Watson: It's not. That's right. Uh, it's a different
3:09
sort of ark, uh, because it's spelled
3:11
differently. It's got a C instead of a kid.
3:15
Uh, it, uh. And in
3:18
fact, so, so, uh, you
3:21
know, Andrew's question is, uh. With
3:24
only one axis of rotation, shouldn't it be a
3:26
straight line? And the answer is it is a
3:29
straight line. Yeah, but it's a straight line
3:31
on a sphere. Uh, because we
3:34
are, uh, our vantage point, uh,
3:37
from Earth, uh, uh, we look out into
3:40
space. We imagine something called the
3:42
celestial sphere. It's a great way of, uh,
3:45
working out the way things move in space.
3:47
And, um, the motion of the sun and planets
3:50
all fits together. What you imagine is a
3:52
sphere of infinite dimensions. And we're
3:55
sitting at the middle of it. We only see half
3:57
of it because the other half is below the
3:59
horizon. It's still there. The celestial
4:02
sphere goes on below the Earth, this
4:05
hypothesized sphere. Um, but,
4:08
um, it's very useful, uh,
4:11
a useful device for understanding how things
4:13
move in the sky. And if you imagine
4:16
yourself, uh, sitting in the French Alps
4:19
with the celestial sphere above you,
4:22
uh, you, uh, would certainly in the Northern
4:25
Hemisphere be able to see, uh, the thing that
4:28
we call the north Pole star. Polar star
4:31
Polaris, uh, the pole star,
4:33
um, faint star that, um, I nearly always look
4:36
for whenever I'm in the Northern Hemisphere.
4:38
Just to, uh, reconnect with it. It's at the
4:40
end of the Little Bear's if you know
4:43
your northern constellations. But that is
4:45
the. With
4:48
us sometimes. Yeah,
4:51
they're great, the northern constellations.
4:54
They've got great charm. Anyway, that's
4:56
another story. So, um, that is the point
4:59
about which the whole celestial sphere
5:01
seems to rotate. And
5:04
so, uh, the height of the pole star above
5:07
your horizon, uh, is the same
5:10
as your latitude. So if you're
5:13
at latitude French alps is probably
5:16
45 or thereabouts, maybe a
5:19
bit more than that. 45. Uh, it means your
5:22
pole star is going to be 45 degrees above the
5:24
horizon. And this entire sphere
5:27
rotates around that point. And
5:29
so, uh, that's why, um, on a
5:32
sphere, the Sun's motion is a straight line.
5:34
It goes from the eastern side of the sky.
5:37
Depends on the time of year as to exactly
5:39
where it rises and sets. Sets, uh, but it
5:41
sets on the western side. And so, um,
5:44
uh, what looks like an arc to you
5:47
is really a, ah, straight line bent by
5:50
the celestial sphere. This apparent,
5:53
um, you know, it's just
5:56
a great way of imagining the sky because
5:59
you don't have to worry about the distances
6:00
of anything. You're just imagining everything
6:02
projected onto this infinite sphere. And
6:05
when you do that, as the Earth's rotating,
6:08
the sun rises in towards the east and
6:10
sets towards the west. Um, and
6:13
uh, it follows basically an arc
6:16
as we see it from our position. But
6:19
in terms of the sphere itself, it's just
6:21
going from one side to the other in a
6:23
straight line.
6:24
Andrew Dunkley: There you go. Sounds like putting in golf.
6:27
Like every putt. They say every putt's a
6:29
straight putt, except that,
6:33
um, the green isn't dead flat and straight.
6:35
So, uh, the ball will m. Move accordingly.
6:38
Professor Fred Watson: Yes, that's right. Yeah. In fact,
6:41
um, that almost puts you into a
6:44
different regime, uh, because that's
6:46
effectively what geodesics are, uh, which
6:49
are, uh, the way light behaves,
6:52
uh, in general relativity. Uh,
6:55
so light travels in what it thinks is a
6:57
straight line, but it's going through
7:00
different gravitational fields and
7:02
gravitational wells. And so like, you know,
7:04
like your golf ball, when you put.
7:07
Putting, uh,
7:10
it's moving around, it's wandering around.
7:12
Yeah.
7:14
Andrew Dunkley: Um, we have a quirk at um, Dubbo Golf Club
7:17
where, um, if you want to figure out where
7:19
the putt goes, work out which direction the
7:21
river is. Yes, they always
7:24
fall towards the river.
7:26
Professor Fred Watson: Always remember, Andrew, that five irons
7:28
don't float.
7:29
Andrew Dunkley: They do not. It's a good book that. I don't
7:32
know who wrote it, but it's a ripper.
7:34
Professor Fred Watson: I should read this.
7:36
Andrew Dunkley: Well, it's got swearing in it. Don't know how
7:38
that happened.
7:39
Berman Gorvine: Yeah.
7:39
Andrew Dunkley: Gosh, Disgraceful, disgraceful. And by the
7:42
way, the French, uh, alps are at 45.8345.
7:45
That was north, so. Very well.
7:49
And 6.85, uh,
7:51
6.8655 degrees east.
7:53
That's right, yeah. Uh, thank you for
7:56
the question, Andrew. Great to hear from you.
7:59
Hope you survived the, um, the French Alps.
8:02
Um, uh, adventure.
8:04
Uh, our, ah, next question comes from a,
8:07
uh, a new contributor. Hello, Ernie.
8:10
Berman Gorvine: Hello, Andrew. And Fred, my name is Ernie and
8:13
I'm reaching out to you from a small town
8:15
near Buffalo, New York. I'm, um, a longtime
8:17
listener and this is the first time I'm
8:19
submitting a question. In a recent
8:22
episode, a listener asked if astronomers
8:25
have ever identified the star or stars
8:27
that went supernova seeding the
8:30
nebula our sun formed in with heavy elements.
8:34
This got me to thinking. Stars typically form
8:36
in clusters and I assume
8:40
our sun isn't any different.
8:42
Has there ever been or is there any
8:45
active research that is looking for
8:48
any of the Sun's siblings?
8:51
Thank you so much, um, for doing this
8:54
podcast. Really enjoy it. Always look
8:56
forward when new episodes drop. Wishing
8:59
you the best for the holidays.
9:01
Andrew Dunkley: Thank you. Ernie, great to hear from you. A
9:03
first time caller in. And great, um,
9:06
question too. Great question. Sorry to hear
9:08
about the Buffalo Bills. I don't know if
9:10
you're into the American, uh, football, um,
9:13
Ernie, but, um, we visited
9:16
Buffalo, um, late last year and they were
9:18
very, very hopeful that the Bills would
9:21
come through. But they've, uh, been knocked
9:23
out in the playoffs. So, um, very
9:25
unfortunate, but maybe, maybe next year.
9:27
They're certainly starting to look like a
9:29
pretty solid outfit. So, um,
9:32
yeah. Any work going into finding the son's
9:35
siblings? Now I remember us talking some time
9:37
back about the possibility that
9:40
the son had a twin
9:43
and they got separated at birth and they
9:45
can't find each other. But they're going
9:47
through the archives to see if there's any
9:49
family history that can connect. Um,
9:52
that. Yeah, but the sun would have
9:55
been part of, um, I imagine a whole
9:58
bunch of stars that were born in that,
10:01
um, um, supernova
10:04
situation. Is that what he was talking about?
10:06
Professor Fred Watson: Well, that's part of the issue. Uh, the
10:09
fact that the gas cloud in
10:12
which the sun and the rest of the
10:15
cluster that was formed at the same time as
10:17
the sun, um, that was, uh,
10:20
seeded by gases from a
10:22
supernova explosion, which we have no
10:24
knowledge of. But it's just the background
10:27
interstellar medium is enriched by the
10:30
elements that come from a supernova
10:32
explosion. But, um, no, Ernie's question is
10:35
on the money and the answer is yes. Uh,
10:37
that's, um, to
10:40
try and find the Sun's siblings is actually,
10:44
uh, ongoing research and it's part of the
10:47
subject that we usually call galactic
10:49
archaeology. It's looking at the way our, uh,
10:51
galaxy has evolved, uh, by
10:54
studying in detail the chemical
10:57
composition of the stars within
11:00
the Sun's neighborhood within a few thousand
11:02
light years. I was involved with all that
11:04
with the Reif project a few years ago. And so
11:06
one of the, uh, not the holy grails of that,
11:09
but certainly one of the interesting aspects
11:12
is to find stars that have
11:14
identical chemical
11:16
mixes to the sun. Uh,
11:19
and um, if you can do that, if you can
11:22
find them, uh, there's a good chance that
11:24
they were born from the same dust cloud as
11:27
the sun was. Uh, and so they might very well
11:30
be solar siblings. Um, it may even
11:33
be possible that, you know, we know that the
11:36
sun's four, four and a half billion years
11:38
old, about 4.6, 4.7 billion years old.
11:41
Um, if you could look at the motion
11:44
of stars that have the identical
11:47
uh, constituents to the sun and you will be
11:50
able to certainly m, measure their velocities
11:52
quite easily, then you might be able to
11:55
almost rewind back to a time,
11:58
uh, when you could prove that they were all
12:00
in the same place at the same time.
12:04
Andrew Dunkley: Okay. Yeah. All right.
12:05
Professor Fred Watson: Um, so the answer is yes,
12:09
there is certainly research on all that. Uh,
12:11
and yes, I had a couple of weeks in Buffalo
12:13
once. I was a gas lecturer at the Kinesius
12:16
College, uh, there. And it's very cold.
12:19
Andrew Dunkley: Uh, it wasn't cold while we were there. I
12:21
mean it's, it's a stone's throw from Niagara
12:23
Falls, which is, yeah, like you could almost
12:26
walk it.
12:27
Professor Fred Watson: They were pretty icy when we were there.
12:29
Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, um, but I really enjoyed
12:31
spending some time there and learning. Like
12:34
they had a big exhibition on while we were
12:37
there about the, um, one of the
12:40
great canals that was built
12:41
150 odd years ago now I
12:44
think, um, and, and how it
12:47
changed the entire region forever,
12:50
um, in terms of trade and movement of
12:52
materials and uh, fascinating
12:55
place, really quite fascinating. Um,
12:58
yeah. I suppose the problem with trying to
13:01
find the sun siblings is, is the amount of
13:04
time that's passed. It's not like you're
13:06
looking back through your family tree a
13:08
couple of generations which we're talking
13:10
billions of years of movement.
13:13
Professor Fred Watson: That's right. Yes. But, but as I said, you,
13:15
you know, the way you identify them is
13:18
not because they're close or anything like
13:20
that, it's by their chemical composition,
13:23
uh, which we can do out to
13:27
many several thousands of light years,
13:29
depending how, how precise you want it to be.
13:32
Um, in fact there's an instrument on the
13:33
Anglo Australian telescope which is called
13:35
hermes, uh, which is designed exactly
13:38
for doing that job at very limited areas,
13:41
uh, regions of the spectrum of
13:44
stars, uh, to look for
13:47
exactly the amount of chemicals that are in
13:49
those atmospheres of those stars. And that's
13:52
the kind of instrument that you use to try
13:54
and find the sun siblings. What, uh, I
13:56
haven't said is whether there's been any
13:58
success on that.
13:59
Andrew Dunkley: Uh, it's bad to ask.
14:00
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah. And, um, uh, I can't remember
14:03
the answer. I mean, there are certainly stars
14:06
which have got very similar chemical
14:08
compositions and ages to the sun.
14:11
Uh, I'm not sure just how near we are to
14:13
being able to identify them as definitely
14:16
coming from the same gas cloud and being born
14:18
in the same cluster as the sun was.
14:21
Andrew Dunkley: Well, according to a quick search I've
14:24
just done. And this is an AI
14:26
Response. Uh, yes, astronomers have
14:29
identified several candidates. The solar
14:32
siblings stars form from the same gas cloud
14:34
as, uh, our Sun 4, 4.5 billion years
14:37
ago. But none are definitely confirmed.
14:40
Professor Fred Watson: There you go.
14:42
Andrew Dunkley: Um, they. Maybe they don't want to be found.
14:45
Maybe, maybe our, our son was, you know, the
14:48
black sheep of the family and they all went,
14:50
now we're out of here. We know what's going
14:52
to happen around this place.
14:53
Professor Fred Watson: It's going to form planets and then where
14:55
will we be?
14:56
Andrew Dunkley: And then there'll be humans and then.
14:58
Professor Fred Watson: That's right, exactly.
14:59
Andrew Dunkley: You know, they'll want us. They'll want us to
15:01
pay them money or something. Yeah, I don't
15:03
know. Uh, um, but it was a great question,
15:05
Ernie. Thanks for sending it in. And please
15:07
do so again. This is Space Nuts with
15:10
Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson.
15:15
Generic: Hey, that's one of the better sims, believe
15:17
me. We've had a couple of cardiac arrests
15:19
down here too, Pete. There wasn't any tonnage
15:21
for that up here.
15:22
Andrew Dunkley: Space Nuts. I love that
15:25
one. No time for a cardiac arrest.
15:28
Uh, let's carry, uh, on to our
15:31
next question. That comes from Mark. It's
15:34
another story about this, uh, question about
15:36
the sun. Hi, Andrew and Fred. Are there any
15:38
plans to send a spacecraft to the sun? And I
15:41
mean up close and personal. Uh, the
15:44
data they could get would be invaluable and
15:46
could really tighten up some loose ends
15:49
on what we think we know. Uh, keep up the
15:52
great work. That's Mark from Sussex.
15:55
Sussex in England, I assume. England. Uh,
15:58
I'm pretty sure that'd be right.
15:59
Professor Fred Watson: Here's how you said I used to live in Sussex
16:02
as well. Yes.
16:03
Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, I think we mentioned that a week or two
16:05
ago. So we've had a few from Sussex of
16:08
late.
16:08
Professor Fred Watson: The Royal Greenwich Observatory used to be.
16:11
This is a place called Hersmondsew. Yeah.
16:14
Not far from where William the conqueror
16:16
landed in 1066.
16:18
Andrew Dunkley: Okay.
16:19
Professor Fred Watson: It was all very historic place. Um,
16:21
and the Royal Observatory was actually
16:23
Defeated.
16:24
Andrew Dunkley: He defeated King Henry, was it
16:27
Harold? I knew it started with an H. Yeah,
16:30
um, so yeah, look, I, I, I, I
16:33
know there are probes that are um,
16:37
gathering information about the sun all the
16:38
time. And in fact we had a recent probe
16:40
that's name escapes me that actually touched
16:43
the sun, which was a, uh, pretty
16:45
extraordinary thing.
16:47
Professor Fred Watson: And in fact that's the one that um, that
16:49
really Mark is asking about. Uh, uh, are
16:52
there any plans to send a spacecraft to the
16:54
sun? Uh, and I mean up close and personal. It
16:57
is already there. Uh, it's called the Parker
17:00
Solar Probe. Uh, it's um, flown
17:03
through the inner or the outer corona of the
17:05
sun, uh experiencing those very high
17:08
temperatures. It's got a heat shield. It's in
17:11
an orbit that is highly elliptical, very
17:13
elongated. So it
17:16
spends some of its time close to the sun and
17:19
some of its time quite a long way away. I'm
17:22
not actually sure whether it is still active,
17:24
um, but what it's done is it has
17:27
enhanced our understanding,
17:30
uh, of the way the corona is heated.
17:33
The sun's corona is at several
17:36
tens of millions of degrees. Uh, and
17:39
the surface of the sun, the photosphere, this
17:42
bit that we see is about five and a half
17:44
thousand degrees. How does the outer
17:46
atmosphere get so hot when you've got
17:48
something relatively cool inside? And
17:51
the Parker Solar Probe has revealed that it's
17:54
almost certainly magnetism that does that.
17:56
The transportation of energy via magnetic
17:59
fields. You're about to tell me whether it's
18:01
still going or not.
18:02
Andrew Dunkley: It is, it is actually, uh, um,
18:05
it is fully active, it's healthy, it's
18:07
operating normally as at early uh,
18:09
2026. It's done 26
18:12
close approach approaches to the
18:15
sun. Um, and that was up
18:18
to December of last year. And it
18:21
uh, will continue to orbit the Sun. It'll set
18:23
speed records while it's doing it. Uh, it's
18:26
been doing some extraordinary things. Uh,
18:28
what I find extraordinary is that it can
18:31
survive temperatures around two and a half
18:33
thousand degrees Fahrenheit. Um,
18:37
that's mighty warm.
18:39
Professor Fred Watson: Yep, with a cleverly designed heat
18:42
shield. I think that's what keeps uh, the
18:44
spacecraft cool and lets it continue its
18:47
work. It's a very successful mission.
18:50
Andrew Dunkley: Are there any other probes working out there?
18:52
I mean there are observer probes I
18:55
believe. They're not designed to go in and
18:57
out of the Sun's corona, but they're sort of
19:00
keeping a close eye on it.
19:02
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, that's right. Uh, so the sun's
19:05
observed from a uh, safer distance, uh, up
19:08
close and Personal uh, compared with where we
19:11
are on Earth, uh there's a flotilla of uh,
19:14
uh, observatories looking at the various
19:17
aspects of the sun. We also now have
19:20
um, a very large ground based
19:22
telescope that is providing the most
19:25
amazing images of the Sun's photosphere.
19:28
That's the visible sphere of the sun.
19:31
Uh, it's the Daniel K Enoui Solar
19:33
Telescope. It's on top of Haleakala on the
19:36
island of Maui, uh, in the
19:38
Hawaiian uh, islands. Marnie and
19:41
I got married in front of it.
19:43
Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, I remember. Yeah. Ah, um,
19:46
they have great names for stuff in Hawaii
19:48
don't they?
19:49
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah they do.
19:52
Andrew Dunkley: Just rolls off the tongue that one. Uh, there
19:54
are plenty of probes actually um, Mark
19:57
that are, that are wandering around the sun.
19:59
There's the Solar Orbiter which is a, an ESA
20:02
NASA mission, um, taking
20:05
high resolution imagery and gathering data
20:08
about the Sun. There's another one that was
20:09
launched in 2023, uh, an
20:12
Indian mission, uh, which is dedicated to
20:15
observing the solar corona and it's the
20:18
Aditya L1 mission
20:21
and there's a whole
20:24
fleet of uh, probes
20:27
that are monitoring the solar winds. So the
20:29
Solar Dynamics Observatory, soho, that's a
20:32
famous one, uh, the STEREO mission
20:35
because there are twin satellites doing that.
20:37
I think we talked about that one, uh, Hinade,
20:40
which is a JAXA mission, the GOES
20:42
Solar Ultraviolet Imager and the Advanced
20:45
Composition Explorer or ace, um, which
20:48
is looking at the solar winds which have been
20:51
very busy of late. We've seen some
20:54
incredible uh, activity. The Sun's sort of
20:56
reaching the end of its most active phase.
20:59
Isn't it pretty?
21:01
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, it's uh, sort of still at solar maximum
21:03
but it gradually uh, dies away uh, to
21:06
solar minimum.
21:07
Andrew Dunkley: Yeah, and from what I understand
21:10
you've really only got a short period of time
21:12
to enjoy the current
21:15
level of activity before things start to ease
21:17
off and we um, see less
21:21
um, spectacular
21:24
light shows. Would that be the way to
21:26
describe.
21:26
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, and certainly as the Sun's activity
21:28
declines, the aurora that we see get
21:31
further and further away from the equator. If
21:34
I put it that way, uh, the more active the
21:36
sun is, the lower latitude
21:39
you can see it at.
21:41
Andrew Dunkley: Well um, it's certainly uh, been
21:44
spectacular lately. Thanks for the question
21:47
mark. M.
21:52
Space Nuts.
21:53
Uh, our final question, or is it a sermon,
21:55
comes from Martin, Sit back, relax,
21:58
grab a cup of tea. This is going to take a
22:00
while.
22:01
Berman Gorvine: Hello, Space Nuts.
22:04
Martin Berman Gorvine here, writer
22:07
extraordinaire in many genres
22:11
with a question for
22:13
my m. Work in progress. Um,
22:16
my science Fiction novel
22:19
involving a certain
22:21
unpleasant, very rich dude
22:24
called Egon Rusk,
22:27
who wishes to see
22:30
the stars with what he imagines
22:33
is the master race, and comes
22:36
to a rather unfortunate end.
22:39
Andrew Dunkley: Um.
22:41
Berman Gorvine: As I've been writing this,
22:45
uh, their supposed
22:47
destination is Trappist
22:50
1E. Now,
22:54
Professor John T. Horner mentioned on a
22:57
recent podcast that
23:00
all the planets in the Trappist 1
23:03
system lack an atmosphere.
23:07
So I was very concerned about that because,
23:11
uh, I don't want my characters all choking
23:13
and dying. So I
23:16
had a look, and it seems, according
23:19
to NASA, that it's
23:21
Trappist1d,
23:24
uh, as in David, that has been
23:27
shown to lack an atmosphere. But they're
23:30
still trying to figure out whether
23:32
Trappist1e has one or
23:35
not. Um, in any case,
23:39
I was just wondering if there are any
23:41
other.
23:44
Professor Fred Watson: Uh.
23:44
Berman Gorvine: Stars with
23:47
exoplanets within, say,
23:50
20, 30, 40 light years of Earth
23:53
that might conceivably be
23:56
roughly the mass of Earth and might
23:59
conceivably have a breathable
24:02
atmosphere. I mean, this is all
24:06
kind of off the wall satirical, uh,
24:09
sci fi, so it doesn't matter that much. But I
24:12
was just wondering about your thoughts. And
24:15
I don't mean to,
24:18
uh, disparage Professor
24:20
Horner, um,
24:23
but I just suspect that he did
24:26
see that Trappist1d
24:29
lacks an atmosphere and sort of thought,
24:32
well, maybe that's all the planets in
24:35
that system. And also
24:38
I, um, would like to conclude by
24:41
reading a poem that I've
24:44
just written that is a riff on,
24:49
uh, Robert Frost's famous, uh, Fire
24:52
and Ice about the back and
24:55
forth debate over the Big Bang
24:58
versus the Big Crunch, also known as
25:01
the Gnab Gib, although I don't love that
25:03
term because it sort of sounds like a lost
25:06
Bee Gee. So,
25:09
um, swell or
25:12
crunch, Some think
25:14
the cosmos swells for I.
25:17
Some see a crunch of aging
25:20
bones, I know and sigh. So might
25:23
the cold get worse for I. But
25:26
pressure hits you like a punch. You feel
25:29
your skin begin to burn. And
25:32
so I have a dreadful hunch
25:35
we may all learn we must all
25:38
bunch. Berman
25:40
Gourvine over and out.
25:44
Andrew Dunkley: Never leaves you wondering. Martin,
25:48
thanks for the question.
25:50
Um, I'm going to go first here, Fred, because
25:52
only this morning, by coincidence, did I read
25:55
a story. And it's a little bit of an eye
25:57
irony in this because it comes from the
25:59
University of Southern Queensland where
26:01
Professor Jonti Horner works.
26:04
And it's. This has been published on the
26:07
abc, uh, science website. Uh,
26:10
so it basically says that the, that
26:12
astronomers at the University of Southern
26:14
Queensland have discovered a
26:17
potential candidate for an Earth sized
26:19
planet. It's planet um, HD
26:21
137030 b.
26:25
It's a bit further away than Martin would
26:26
like, 150 light years from Earth, but it
26:29
orbits a sun like star and
26:32
they're referring to it as a planet
26:34
candidate. Um, the paper
26:37
needs uh, one more observation to
26:40
confirm the uh, status of planet.
26:43
But this one is only
26:45
slightly bigger than Earth. If it is
26:48
indeed um, a planet. I
26:51
think they think so. Uh,
26:55
almost Earth sized planet orbiting
26:58
a sun like star. Sounds like it's got
27:00
some potential there. Coming out of the
27:03
University of Southern Queensland. So that's
27:04
ah, interesting news. Very interesting timing
27:07
based on um, receiving Martin's question
27:10
um, just before the publication of that
27:13
story.
27:14
Professor Fred Watson: Yeah, um, and uh, Luke Martin's as
27:17
capable as I am of looking all these up.
27:20
Uh, the Wikipedia list of nearest terrestrial
27:23
exoplanet candidates is probably the neatest
27:26
source to go to because it gives references
27:28
to a lot of the original papers of these
27:32
in which the planets are described. Uh, um,
27:35
it's uh, ah currently got,
27:38
this is uh ones uh, within
27:41
50 light years, uh, I put in when
27:44
I went through the search, 34
27:46
exoplanets, 11 of which probably lie
27:49
inside the star's habitable zone. It's a bit
27:52
more difficult to ah, as Martin was
27:55
um, kind of hinting there, it's a bit more
27:58
difficult to confirm the atmosphere
28:01
uh, of an exoplanet
28:04
because what you're trying to do
28:07
is um, most of these are discovered by the
28:10
transit method. You know planets that go in
28:12
front of their parent star, they dim the
28:14
light slightly uh, as they pass in
28:17
front of the parent star and you can measure
28:18
that dimming. Uh but you can also um,
28:22
if you've got very top line equipment
28:25
like the Webb telescope, uh, you can also
28:28
look at the spectrum uh change in the star as
28:31
the planet passes in front of it. And if that
28:33
spectrum changes then uh, you can
28:35
be sure that the planet has an atmosphere and
28:38
you can actually see what gases are ah,
28:41
actually present in the atmosphere. So um,
28:44
that's a much more difficult observation and
28:46
I think that's why uh, it's a bit of a
28:48
struggle for Martin to find, to apply,
28:50
identify with certainty uh, which of these
28:53
exoplanets might have an atmosphere. I might
28:56
leave him to that and remind him that since
28:58
he's writing fiction he can do anything like
29:00
with these planets, anything he wants.
29:04
Andrew Dunkley: I'm um, well into my trilogy Fred. I've
29:07
written uh, the first book and I'm six
29:09
chapters into the second book. And still,
29:12
the ideas are still coming. I'm wondering
29:15
when I'll hit the brick wall. But yeah, it's,
29:17
it's going well at the moment. I'm enjoying
29:19
it. So I'm not going to give anything.
29:21
Professor Fred Watson: Away, but m. You're making it up as you go
29:23
along.
29:23
Andrew Dunkley: Um, that's exactly how I'm doing it.
29:27
I'll get to the next chapter and go, okay,
29:28
where do I want this to go? And I just let my
29:30
imagination run wild. So, um, that's
29:33
how I've always written. I don't, you know,
29:35
started at school doing it that way when I
29:38
won a composition contest.
29:39
Professor Fred Watson: Very good.
29:40
Andrew Dunkley: And that was that. Um, so,
29:43
yeah, we, we covered Martin's question. Great
29:45
poetry, by the way. The Big Crunch. Yeah,
29:48
nice work. Thanks, Martin. Good to hear from
29:50
you, as always. If you'd like to send
29:52
questions into us, you can do so on our
29:54
website, spacenutspodcast.com spacenuts
29:57
IO choose your URL wisely
30:01
and just click the, uh, AMA button,
30:03
which stands for Ask me anything.
30:06
And that's what we're all about. And don't
30:08
forget to tell us who you are or where you're
30:10
from. You can send text or audio questions,
30:13
uh, and plenty of other things to see and do
30:14
on our website as well. Well, uh, one thing
30:16
we do ask is if you, um. It doesn't matter
30:18
what platform you're on, whether it's
30:20
YouTube Music or Spreaker or, uh, Apple
30:23
Podcasts, please leave a review.
30:26
Uh, the more the merrier. Uh, they do help,
30:28
apparently, to, um, find more
30:31
listeners, and that's what we'd like to do.
30:33
So if you could leave a review for us, we
30:36
would, uh, appreciate it greatly. And thank
30:39
you, Fred, as always. It's been great fun.
30:41
Professor Fred Watson: Um, it's good fun or else we wouldn't do it.
30:44
Andrew Dunkley: That's absolutely true. We're not doing it
30:46
for the money. Um, no.
30:49
Thanks, Fred. We'll see you next week.
30:52
Professor, uh, Fred Watson, astronomer at
30:54
large. And thanks to Huw in the studio, who
30:56
couldn't be with us today because he's
30:58
actually put his hand up from Mission to the
31:00
sun because it's a lot cooler there than it
31:03
is in Australia at the moment. Can't blame
31:05
him for that. And from me, Andrew Dunkley.
31:07
Thanks for your company. We'll catch you on
31:08
the next episode of Space Nuts.
31:10
Berman Gorvine: Bye.
31:10
Andrew Dunkley: Bye. You'll be listening to the
31:13
Space Nuts podcast,
31:16
available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
31:19
iHeartRadio or your favorite podcast
31:22
player. You can also stream On Demand at
31:24
Bytes.
31:25
Professor Fred Watson: Com.
31:25
Andrew Dunkley: This has been another quality podcast
31:27
production from Bytes.
31:29
Professor Fred Watson: Com.
31:29
Berman Gorvine: Um.