This is Spacetime Series twenty seven, Episode twelve, for broadcast on the twenty
sixth of January twenty twenty four. Coming up on space Time, the oldest
black hole ever observed, a new satellite to study Earth's criosphere, and Boeing
Starliner moves a step closer to launch with a successful upgraded parachute test. All
that and more coming up on space Time Welcome to space Time with Stuart Gary.
Astronomers have discovered what they're describing as the earliest and oldest black hole ever
observed, a monster dating back more than thirteen billion years to a time very
near the dawn of the universe. The fine were reported in the journal Nature.
Sure the black hole was already actively feeding just four hundred million years after
the Big Bang, eating its hearst galaxy to death. The observations were made
using NASA's web Space Telescope. The studies lead author, Professor Roberto Mejelina,
from the University of Cambridge, says, the very fact that such a surprisingly
massive black hole several million times the mass of our Sun already existed so early
in the universe challenges our assumptions about how black holes foreman grow see Estronness believe
that super massive black holes, which are found at the centers of most,
if not all, galaxies, including the one at the center of our own
galaxy, the Milky Way, grew to their current size over billions of years,
but the massive size of this newly discovered black hole suggests they may well
have formed in other ways, such as being born big through the direct collapse
of massive gas clouds. Alternatively, it could simply be that they've consumed a
lot of matter in a very fast rate, at least five times faster than
was previously thought possible. Now. According to this hypothesis, super massive black
holes are formed out of the remnants of dead stars, which collapse to form
stellar mass black holes and then gradually merged over time. But growing by this
method would take at least a billion years to reach the current size observed,
and that's where the problem arises. See the universe was only four hundred million
years old when this black hole was detected. Meelina says early galaxies were extremely
gas rich, and so it would have been like a buffet for a black
hole, and that's supported by the fact that this particular black hole is devouring
material from its Hearst galaxy at a ferocious rate. In fact, the author's
calculations suggest that it's gobbling up matter much more vigorously than its siblings. At
later epochs. The young Hearst galaxy called GNZ eleven is glowing from the enormous
energetic output of the black hole at its center. Of course, black holes
can't be observed directly. Escape velocity from a black hole is greater than the
speed of light, hence their name, but they give away their location by
their actions on surrounding space. In this case, a feeding black hole would
have heaps of swirling material orbiting around it in an accretion disc, and that
material is being constantly torn and ripped apart of the subatomic level, releasing huge
amounts of energy before eventually disappearing beyond the black holes of at horizon. It's
point of no return, beyond which matter falls forever into the singularity. The
gas on the accretion disc becomes extremely hot and it glows, radiating out energy
in X rays and ultraviolet, and it's the strong glow which is how astronomers
are able to detect black holes. GNZ eleven is a compact galaxy aboute hundred
times smaller than our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and the black hole
at its center is likely harming its development. See as black holes consume material,
some of the material is forced away in powerful jets known its quasars,
sort of like an ultrafast moving wind. This wind can stop the process of
star formation, thereby slowly killing the surrounding galaxy and eventually cutting off the black
Horse fuel supply. This is space time still to come, a new satellite
to study earth changing cryosphere, and Boeing Starliner now slated to launch its first
astronauts to the International Space Station in April. All that and more still to
come on space time. The countdown is now underway for this year's launch of
the joint American Indian NISA spacecraft, which will study how climate change is affecting
the planet's ice sheet. It's glaciers and sea ice short for NASA ISRAE that's
the Indian Space Research Organization Synthetic Aperture Radar. The nicer spacecraft will use radar
to monitor changes on Earth's land and sea surfaces, including the ice sheets covering
Antarctica in Greenland, as well as on mountain glaciers. The breakup of ice
shelves, the health of wetlands, and even ground defamation caused by volcanoes.
Its high resolution radar data will provide the most comprehensive picture so far of motion
and defamation of frozen surfaces in Earth's ice and snow covered environments, collectively known
as the cryosphere. Glaciologist Alex Gardner from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Passing into
California says the planet's thermostat is set on the high and Earth's ice is responding
by speeding up its motion and melting faster. Gardner says, we need to
better understand the processes at play, and NISA will provide us with the measurements
to do that. Set to be launched by the Indian Space Research Organization from
Southern India NICE that will observe nearly all the planet's land and ice surfaces twice
every twelve days. The satellite's unique insights into its criosphere will come from the
combination of two separate radar units. There's an lband system with a twenty five
centimeter wavelength and an S band system operating on a ten centimeter wavelength. The
old bands designed to see through snow, helping scientists better tract the motion of
ice underneath, while the s bad is more sensitive to snow moisture, which
indicates smelting. Both signals penetrate clouds and darkness, thereby enabling observations during months
long polar winter nights and nicas orientation in orbits also important. It'll enable a
spacecraft to collect data from Antarctic as far interior close to the South Pole.
That's something other large radar imaging satellites don't too. They're usually on orbits,
which more extensively cover the Arctic. But it's the Antarctic's ice sheets which hold
the planet's largest reserve of frozen fresh water, and the rate at which it
may lose ice represents the greatest uncertainty when it comes to sea level rice projections.
So NIC's increase courage of the Antarctic will be crucial for studying the motion
of ice flowing down from the central Antarctic highlands down towards the sea, and
the measurements will also enable scientists to closely study what happens where the ice and
oceans meet. For example, when parts of an ice sheet sit on ground
that's below sea level, salt water can seep under the ice, increasing melting
and instability. Both Antarctic and Greenland have ice shelves, masses of ice that
extend from land and float out on the ocean, and these are thinning and
crumbling as icebergs break off. Ice shells are important because they help keep glacial
ice on land from slipping into the ocean. If they diminish, glaciers can
flow and calve faster. And the problem is ice losses on both Antarctica and
Greenland have been accelerating since the nineteen ninety and so there's uncertainty about how quickly
each will continue to recede. Nicer will monitor the movement and extent of sea
level ice in both hemispheres. Sea level ice is important because it insulates the
ocean from the air, thereby reducing evaporation and heat loss to the atmosphere.
It also reflects sunlight, thereby keeping the planet cooler through the albedo effect.
We know that Arctic c ice has been diminishing for decades now as rising water
and air temperatures have increased melting. With more of its surface exposed to sunlight,
the Arctic ocean gains and holds more heat in summer. It therefore takes
longer to cool. This means that less ice formation happens in winter and faster
melting happens next summer. With greater courage of the Southern Ocean than any other
mission to day, NICER will open new insights around Antarctica, where c ice
has been thought to be mostly stable until the past few years. Of course,
that's all changed recently, with the latest reading showing it's reached a record
low in twenty twenty three. But it's not just the polar regions. The
satellite will also track changes in Earths mountain glaciers. See the melting of the
glaciers has already contributed about a third of the sea level rise that's been seen
since the nineteen sixties, and climate driven changes to freezing and thawing patterns affect
water supplies to downstream populations. And this is important for India because in the
Himalays, nice As all weather capabilities will at researches monitor how much water is
stored in glacial lakes, and that's essential for assessing the risks of future catastrophic
floods. This report from NASA TV with NISSAR, we're attracting the changes of
the solid Earth and how it's moving, ecosystem's ice cover, and any other
thing that's changing at the scale of a centimeter on the Earth in a way
that we've never been able to see before. Because of these very subtle motions
we can measure, we're able to understand what's happening below the surface of the
Earth a great precision. We can see subsidence and that allows us then to
manage resources of what's happening below the Earth. Scientists want to study the movements
of the Earth's surface to understand the processes that could trigger earthquakes, volcanoes,
and landslides, and that allows us then to understand risks associated with natural hazards,
which in turn can help in mitigation measures and early response. Other changes
over the Earth's surface include melting of glaciers and ice sheets, changes in fortest
biomass, soil moisture, and shoreline changes. It's based on radar, so
it has two different frequency radars and it basically looks through clouds and sees the
surface of the Earth. These beams coming down from the antenna and coming back
then that's where it collects the data and when it combines them all together,
you get what we need for the science. We can see day and night
through clouds and recovering all of the land and all of the ice covered surfaces
of Earth every week. NISAR is quite unique in that it has two radars,
one provided by NASA, one provided by ISRO, the Indian Space Research
Organization. NASA and NISRO have collaborated in this mission till last year. We
were there at JPL NASA where the radars got integrated and tested and were shipped
back to India. And now the spacecraft is getting integrated with the instruments and
they are being tested together in NISA is going to be launched from Shriharrikota which
is a ESRO launch pad and it is going to be launched by AGSLV Mark
two. So we are just looking forward for the launch of NISAR in the
forthcoming GIA. NISIR is measuring the changes on the Earth surface which are either
factors or indicators of climate change. The society will also immensely benefit due to
its contribution towards disaster management and providing food and water security. These things are
global problems that the global community needs to come together to resolve. Now it
looks like we are no more belonging to two different worlds and we all belong
to the space community. That's it. There's the excitement about what we are
going to learn that we didn't even anticipate we're going to learn. And in
that report from n's a TV, we had from NICEA Project scientist Paul Rosen
from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, nice AS science co lead the PACPUT review from
the Indian Space Research Organization, nice AD Deputy Project Manager Windy Eddleston also from
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and nice AD Deputy Project Manager Chatrau, also from
the Indian Space Research Organization. This space time, still, the Camp Stalin
passes an important parachute test, thereby helping clear the way for its first man
fly to the International Space Station later this year. And later in the science
report, any study looks at the microbes responsible for the lovely flavors cheese as
all that and more coming up on space time. Okay, let's take a
break from our show or a word from our sponsor, NordVPN. If you're
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Global Sports Arena with Nord VPN and now it's back to our show. You're
listening to Springstime with Stuart Gary. Engineers have tested a modified new parachute system
for Boeing's troubled Starliner spacecraft in the skies above Arizona. The plimbery data analysis
from the parachute deployment and soft landing test suggest the primary test objectives were all
met. Now many years behind schedule, sixty one hundred, star Liner is
slated to undertake its first man test flight to the International Space Station sometime around
mid April what will be a ten day mission. The drop test used the
new star Liner parachute system attached to a dart shaped slid about the same mass
as the Starliner capsule. It was designed to confirm the functioning of a redesigned
and strengthen soft link joint that's part of a network of lines connecting the parachutes
to the spacecraft. The test involved dropping the test out the rear of a
C one thirty hercules transport from NASA's Wallop Stylan flight facility in Virginia. Starliner
has already undertaken two unmanned orbital test flights to the International Space Station, the
second of which successfully docked with the orbiting outpost in May twenty twenty two.
However, the first orbital test flight, back in December twenty nineteen, was
a complete failure. Firstly, there was a faulty mission clock which caused the
orbital insertion engines to fire too early. That resulted in Styliner achieving orbit two
load to reach the space station. Mission managers then discovered two faulty computer programs,
one of which would have prevented the plan docking with the space station anyway,
and the other would have caused star Liner to collide with its service module
after it was jettisoned prior to atmospheric reentry that would have destroyed the spacecraft completely.
NASA conducted a major review of Boeing star Liner program, and they identified
no less than eighty corrective actions which Boeing needed to take before Starline I could
turn to flight. Right now, the only way for astronauts to reach the
International Space Station is either aboard SpaceX's Dragon capsules or the Russian Soyuz system,
which has its own problems. This is space time, and time that I'd
take another brief look at some of the other stories making use in science this
week. With a Science report, Researchers have identified a two hundred and eighty
eight million year old fragment of ancient fossilized skin. The ancient epidermis described in
the General Current Biology is at least one hundred and thirty million years older than
any previously described skin fossils. The skin, which belonged to an early species
of Palaeozoic reptile, was discovered in the Richard Spur Limestone cave system in Oklahoma.
The preserve fragments are tiny, smaller than a fingernail, but they still
contain features which are shared with lots of ancient and extinct reptiles, such as
the pebbled surface similar to crocodile skin and hinged regions between epidermal scales that resemble
the skin structures of snakes and worm lizards. The find is amazing because skin
and other soft tissues rarely fossilize. The authors think this skin was preserved because
of the cave conditions in which it was found. The cave system included fine
clay sediments that would have slowed decomposition. Also, there was oil seepage which
would have acted as a preservative, and it was all in an oxygen free
cave environment. The tatters of fossilized skin, as well as various skin impression
also found in the cave, come from the earliest known amniotes, lizard like
animals that are among the first creatures to live their entire lives on dry land
away from the water's edge. Scientists have created what is the largest ever catalog
marine microbes based on scanning environmental DNA in thousands of water samples from the world's
oceans. The findings, reported in the General Fronties of Science, links to
microbes with their biological function, location, and habitat type, and is available
for use by scientists around the world. The authors say the work was possible
thanks to major advances in DNA sequencing computing technology which identified some three hundred and
seventeen and a half million groups of genes in sample types. As well as
aiding an ocean conservation, the authors hope it will enable scientists to scan for
genes which could be used in future for drug development, energy production, and
agriculture. European researchers say a combination of teeny tiny bugs are responsible for the
lovely flavors found in the Cheddar cheese on your toast. Their findings, reported
in the journal Nature Communications, follows a year of research doing what most of
us dream about, making and then eating, especially made cheese. They added
different combination a certain starter bacteria to their cheese and found which ones created Cheddar's
buttery, nutty, fluffy, and creamy flavors. Well, in case you
had any doubt, let me state categorically that your favorite color does not provide
a definitive statement about your personality. It's becoming increasingly trendy amongst some employers who
really don't know what they're talking about to use a person's favorite color as a
determining factor in whether or not to give the perspective employee a job. But
while it's an unreliable gauge of potential employees personality. Asking the question probably tells
you all you really need to know about the pseudo scientific galibility of the employer.
Tremendum from Astrans Skeptics says there's simply no scientific evidence that favorite color based
personality tests can offer any sort of profound insight. And your character color is
one of those sort of personality assessment tricks. I should say. There are
so many of these things around to test your personality based on one criterion,
and this one is based on what's your favorite color. Most people say that
you choose blue because you're happy, and red good you're dynamic or a regressive
or something like that. So the problem with this is it's designed to help
people decide who to actually employ based onwhat their favorite com It's crazy. There
are so many of these things around personally sort of fort graphology has been around
for a long time to sort of test people's handwriting and therefore get a character
assessment on that. It doesn't work right, that's just good, not at
all, not at all. It's not the same as comparing handwriting deceive if
it's the same person that's different different. Yeah, that's legit, But this
is about sort of testing your personality based on your handwriting. This is even
worse. Actually, this is basically a complete character assessment based on a color.
There's the more complicated personality assessment things like with the Maya Briggs whatever.
That one's pretty shunky too. Actually it's a bit more complicated, but it's
pretty much that summing up people based on a couple of criteria is probably not
a good idea. It certainly doesn't told me that in the room I'm in
right now is basically purple in color. It's called hyacinth, but it's a
purple. And someone tell me that means you're frustrated. Really, yes,
apparently, there you go. But anyway, personality tests, there's a lot
of them around. Some of them do better than others. A lot of
them, though, are always based on let's look at one criterion and apply
that to everything else about your personality. And this one about color is just
I don't know why someone sort of wants to make this up. I didn't
know once. We're just to work with a graphic designer who had his little
color charet worked out for every emotion, every tiny tonal difference between thirty five
versions of blue had a different emotional reaction. I don't know how placebo based
it was, but when I first start out in radio, I would bring
a colored light into the studio with me, and depending on the color,
that would change the way that I performed the program on that particular day.
It was really interesting. If I had the thing on red, then it
would be more dynamic and blue was more laid back. I think that's the
sort of thing you would say, is a suggestibility test that you are so
you put it on blue, and then you are so it's going around the
wrong way almost and sort of the correlation calisation thing you're putting on blue means
you want to have a sublime day or something. You put it on red,
more dynamic, so you're reacting to the life that you put in,
reacting emotionally rather than physically. That's timendum from Austriaian Skeptics, and that's the
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