WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.639 Hi there, thanks for joining us. 2 00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:05.599 This is Space Nuts yet again. My name is Andrew Dunkley, 3 00:00:05.719 --> 00:00:08.640 your host. It's so good to have your company. Coming 4 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:11.519 up on this episode. We've got a lot to get through. 5 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:15.439 As I tend to say, some clever work reveals where 6 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:21.800 most meteorites come from. Some space scientists have doubled down 7 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:23.640 on a brown dwarf mystery. 8 00:00:23.960 --> 00:00:26.359 What does that mean? Snow white? Snow white and white? 9 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:27.000 Know the answer? 10 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:29.559 And some good news and some bad. 11 00:00:29.399 --> 00:00:30.600 News for SpaceX. 12 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:34.479 That's all coming up on this episode of Space Nuts. 13 00:00:34.840 --> 00:00:41.799 Fifteen second is in channel ten nine ignition sequence Space 14 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:49.520 Nuts or three two Space Nurts. Can I report it? 15 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:50.240 Neils Good? 16 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:55.600 Joining me again is Professor Fred what's an astronomer? 17 00:00:55.600 --> 00:00:56.640 At La Tello? Fred? 18 00:00:57.640 --> 00:00:59.560 Hi, Andrew, how are you going? 19 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:03.799 I'm going that way? Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. At 20 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:06.719 the moment, all is well. How are you? 21 00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:08.400 I'm going that. 22 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:11.519 Way too, good thing. We're both going in the same 23 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:12.920 direction as it is. 24 00:01:13.079 --> 00:01:15.159 Yes, you don't want to be going backwards at this 25 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:19.280 stage in our lives. It's that's absolutely right, very true, 26 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:22.200 unless you could wind back time and get younger and 27 00:01:22.280 --> 00:01:25.159 yet take back all that knowledge you've got and you 28 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:27.359 know I've made the same mistakes over again. 29 00:01:27.959 --> 00:01:30.159 No, I don't want to do that. Not enough for 30 00:01:30.280 --> 00:01:31.200 making mistakes. 31 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:35.799 You just make different mistakes. I reckon, I think you do. Yeah, 32 00:01:36.359 --> 00:01:39.120 it's usually the kind of mistakes you make. Is where 33 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:41.519 did I put my glasses? I can't remember? Oh yeah, 34 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:43.439 and yeah, I've done that. I can't find mine. 35 00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:47.760 Now I give you a clue. 36 00:01:48.680 --> 00:01:51.079 Let me just adjust my glasses. And what was the answer? 37 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:54.879 Yes, Judy and I have often talked about this and 38 00:01:54.920 --> 00:01:58.200 look back at some of the mistakes we've made, mainly financial, 39 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:01.560 over the years, and we've both said, look, if we 40 00:02:01.640 --> 00:02:06.040 didn't make those mistakes, other things wouldn't have happened that 41 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:11.879 have defined our lives. So, you know, you can't sort 42 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:16.439 of dismiss the mistakes because they made other good things happen. 43 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:19.560 You've got to think of it that way. So that's 44 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:23.039 the only way I could reconcile my past history with 45 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:28.159 any kind of satisfaction. Some of the mistakes have resulted 46 00:02:28.199 --> 00:02:29.400 in some brilliant things. 47 00:02:29.800 --> 00:02:33.120 Yes, Well, you know, to Err is human and that's 48 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:36.120 you know, that's the definition of a human being. We 49 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:41.080 make mistakes and hopefully learn from them. We've got to 50 00:02:41.159 --> 00:02:45.319 learn something now, Fred from some very clever work that's 51 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:51.240 been done, and they reckon. They've nailed down around seventy 52 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:54.759 percent of the meteorites that we know of coming from 53 00:02:55.080 --> 00:03:00.520 three basic events in recent history. So that's pretty exciting, 54 00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:04.000 and I think they extrapolated some more information out they 55 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:06.400 can nearly account for ninety percent. 56 00:03:06.199 --> 00:03:12.680 Of all meteorites. This is quite an amazing story, it is, 57 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:17.639 and it starts off with a kind of analysis of 58 00:03:19.159 --> 00:03:25.000 meteorites because they're not all the same now, and you know, 59 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:28.400 the astronomers or planetary scientists, I guess classify them in 60 00:03:28.439 --> 00:03:31.439 different ways, which is all about their composition. The stony 61 00:03:31.479 --> 00:03:34.240 meteorites and metallic meteorites. 62 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:35.960 They are the two sort of basic. 63 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:42.560 Ones, but within those definitions there are different, you know, 64 00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:46.319 different levels of how stoney they are or how not. 65 00:03:46.840 --> 00:03:48.520 And I should just say at the outset that the 66 00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:52.039 metallic ones are actually quite rare, so that the most 67 00:03:52.199 --> 00:03:58.319 common meteorites that we found are something called well ordinary 68 00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:01.680 chondrites chondrites C H O, N, D R I T 69 00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:02.240 e S. 70 00:04:02.439 --> 00:04:05.080 Looks like chong drites, but it's chondrites usually. 71 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:09.840 And they are what make up most of the it's 72 00:04:10.599 --> 00:04:13.840 tens of thousands of meteorites that are in collections around 73 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:14.240 the world. 74 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:16.759 I can't remember the exact number, but it's a lot. 75 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:20.839 Which have you know, they've been collected by meteorites hunters, 76 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:23.120 and of course they're free gifts from the universe, so 77 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:25.480 they're always valuable to have because they tell us about 78 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:30.199 the makeup of things. Anyway, the most common are these chondrites, 79 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:36.360 which are sort of carbonaceous. They're stony objects. But the 80 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:42.399 the conundrum is that the when you look at the asteroids, 81 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:47.079 and they sit in the asteroid belt principally, and we 82 00:04:47.319 --> 00:04:49.879 believe that they are the main source of meteorites. So 83 00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:52.560 there are one or two meteorites actually it's several hundred, 84 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:55.199 but a few that come that are known to come 85 00:04:55.240 --> 00:04:58.759 from the Moon or Mars, or in fact the asteroid Vestor, 86 00:04:59.720 --> 00:05:03.399 which is actually quite a large member of the asteroid belt, 87 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:06.399 the fourth one to be discovered. I think. I think 88 00:05:06.439 --> 00:05:09.360 six percent of all meteorites come from either the Moon, 89 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:14.560 Mars or Vesta. However, as I said, most of them 90 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:20.000 are just chondrites. But here's the thing. The asteroid population, 91 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:25.360 the chondrites are actually quite rare. They don't dominate the 92 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:31.680 asteroid population, and so there is a puzzle there, why 93 00:05:31.720 --> 00:05:36.040 should all ours be commoner garden chondrites whereas condracts are 94 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:39.360 relatively rare when you look at the asteroid belt in general. 95 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:43.639 And so what this team it's actually I think three 96 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:48.560 different teams of scientists who have produced I think there 97 00:05:48.600 --> 00:05:52.319 are three papers involved here. And what they've done is 98 00:05:52.959 --> 00:05:57.000 they've basically looked at the motion of the asteroids in 99 00:05:57.040 --> 00:06:00.000 the asteroid belt. And you know, one of the wonderful 100 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:01.879 things that you and I talk about a lot is 101 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:06.199 how predicted predictable gravity is the fact that we can 102 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:08.879 we can actually get a really good idea of the 103 00:06:08.920 --> 00:06:12.319 motions of objects through space tens of thousands or even 104 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:15.560 millions of years in the past and the future, because 105 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:20.199 gravitation is such a well understood phenomenon, at least at 106 00:06:20.199 --> 00:06:23.439 the level of objects in the Solar System. And so 107 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:26.600 what they've done is they've studied the asteroid belt and 108 00:06:26.759 --> 00:06:31.839 looked for events in the past that would have brought 109 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:37.000 asteroids together, that would have been collisions, and they've essentially 110 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:43.600 found some and there are collisions between chondrite asteroids. Ah. 111 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:46.279 You know, so it's making sense here that you've got 112 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:51.399 a relatively rare population within the asteroid belt, but they're 113 00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:54.519 the ones that have collided, and they identify I think 114 00:06:54.600 --> 00:07:01.800 three collisions over the last Actually they go back quite 115 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:04.959 a long way. There's one, the most distant one in 116 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:08.240 the past, a collision which I think we've talked about already. 117 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:10.160 Actually I think we talked about it in a different 118 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:13.519 context a few weeks ago. It's about four hundred and 119 00:07:13.560 --> 00:07:18.240 sixty six million years ago, and we think that would 120 00:07:18.279 --> 00:07:21.480 have that was a collision that absolutely showered the Earth 121 00:07:21.560 --> 00:07:25.879 with meteorites and may even have formed a ring around 122 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:27.720 the Earth. And I think that's what we've talked about, 123 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:31.920 because there's a Massex, you know, there's an ice age 124 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:35.439 not long after that, and the thinking is that the 125 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:39.240 ring of asteroids around the Earth might have shaded in 126 00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:43.279 the sun the planet a little bit to reduce the temperature. 127 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:47.480 So that's that's the furthest one. But there are other 128 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:52.759 collisions that have been identified which are more recently than that. 129 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:55.959 And I might read a paragraph, if I may, from 130 00:07:56.800 --> 00:07:59.160 a very nice piece on this from Sky and Telescope, 131 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:02.120 one of the it is astronomy magazines in the world. 132 00:08:02.199 --> 00:08:04.319 I was addicted to Sky of telescope when I was 133 00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:10.120 a youngster, and what it says is two collisions involving 134 00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:13.399 H chondrites. These are two different sorts of condrits H 135 00:08:13.480 --> 00:08:16.800 and L chondrites, but they're all sort of common garden meteorites. 136 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:21.199 Two collisions involving H chondrites occurred so recently that the 137 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:24.120 researchers could trace their orbits well enough to date the 138 00:08:24.199 --> 00:08:27.240 family's origin. This is the family of asteroids that resulted 139 00:08:27.240 --> 00:08:31.120 from that collision. The older collision occurred seven point six 140 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:34.240 million years ago and yielded the family of objects with 141 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:37.639 orbits similar to one five eight Coronis. Now one five 142 00:08:37.639 --> 00:08:41.200 eight Coronis is an asteroid. You remember that asteroids have 143 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:45.600 a number, which is the number in the order of discovery, 144 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:49.200 and Coronis is the name given by the discoverer, So 145 00:08:49.360 --> 00:08:53.519 one five eight Coronis. They seem to have come from 146 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:57.960 a collision Coronis and it's similar family, a collision seven 147 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:00.759 point six million years ago. Reading back again from the 148 00:09:00.759 --> 00:09:04.039 sky telescope, artic called a younger family dates back to 149 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:07.279 an event five point eight million years ago in which 150 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:12.360 Coronis underwent another major collision, splitting off the smaller asteroid 151 00:09:12.440 --> 00:09:15.919 eight three two. Karen and its family, and so you know, 152 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:24.000 this is lovely detective work that gives you a picture 153 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:27.120 of the dynamics of the asteroid belt that we just 154 00:09:27.159 --> 00:09:30.240 didn't have before, and gives us a really good understanding 155 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:33.600 that that some of this, you know, some of this 156 00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:38.200 debris that we receive from space really comes from a 157 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:41.000 very small number of collisions in the asteroid belt. 158 00:09:41.320 --> 00:09:45.840 Yeah, it's fascinating, and I'm guessing after reading through the 159 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:48.720 article of this, this still has to be peer reviewed. 160 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:51.600 The paper is out there to be analyzed and chopped 161 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:56.879 up and debated, and uh, you know, others will probably 162 00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:01.360 study the claims and say, well, hang on, men, but 163 00:10:02.039 --> 00:10:03.480 they seem pretty confident. 164 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:05.000 Yeah they do. 165 00:10:05.080 --> 00:10:06.799 I think these are pretty Yeah. 166 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:11.519 There are two Nature papers involved, so obviously one of 167 00:10:11.559 --> 00:10:15.200 the leading scientific journals in the world. There's a lot 168 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:18.080 of detail to this. It's a story with many twists 169 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:20.919 and ins and outs, and what I've told you is 170 00:10:21.240 --> 00:10:22.919 the you know, cod of the bottom line. 171 00:10:22.919 --> 00:10:23.840 But it is worth a read. 172 00:10:23.879 --> 00:10:28.559 It. It's very nicely put for astronomy enthusiasts in perhaps 173 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:33.879 one of the principal magazines for astronomy enthusiasts, going Telescope. 174 00:10:34.200 --> 00:10:37.440 Yeah, I'm just amazed that you can look at a 175 00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:40.279 situation and go okay, how did that happen and then 176 00:10:40.440 --> 00:10:44.639 sort of work backwards to a source billions of years ago. 177 00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:48.039 That just fascinates me. I think it's very clever, as 178 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:51.200 you said, very clever detective work. Yeah, and that's in 179 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:54.840 Sky and Telescope magazine if you want to read up. 180 00:10:55.120 --> 00:10:59.639 While we're talking about meteorites, Fred, I read an article 181 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:03.600 or the other day which I think the BBC Science 182 00:11:03.799 --> 00:11:09.639 website ran about Earth getting bombarded by micro meteorites, which 183 00:11:09.639 --> 00:11:16.559 are tiny pieces of asteroid and they reckon. Between twenty 184 00:11:16.600 --> 00:11:20.000 and sixty million kilograms falls on Earth every year in 185 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:24.320 micro meteorites. And if you were to I don't know 186 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:26.360 who worked this out, but if you were to stand 187 00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:31.000 in the same spot for almost thirteen years, you would 188 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:36.759 get a micro meteorite caught in your hair. There you are, 189 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:41.399 there's a factoid if you like. 190 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:44.799 But of course, assuming that you have fard. 191 00:11:45.320 --> 00:11:46.080 Well that's right. 192 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:48.399 If you don't, it would probably bounce off and land 193 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:51.159 in someone else's hair maybe the case. 194 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:58.120 That's an interesting article in it. It kind of sparks 195 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:03.480 memories for me of well, when I was in Edinburgh 196 00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:07.480 decades ago. There are things called brown lea particles. Did 197 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:10.279 that crop up in the in the article you remember? 198 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:12.320 I can't see the word there. 199 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:16.480 I can see a couple of other interesting little tidbits, 200 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:19.559 like there's one in four thy six hundred chances of 201 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:22.360 being hit by a micro meteorite. If you stand in 202 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:24.840 the same spot for twenty four hours. 203 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:30.039 You probably you wouldn't know it. No, well, if you 204 00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:32.200 stood in the same spot for twenty four hours, I 205 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:36.639 think you probably need therapy. Anyway, you're probably in line 206 00:12:36.679 --> 00:12:39.080 for Taylor Swift tickets. That's probably where you'd be. 207 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:41.720 Oh, that could be it. That could yes, that could 208 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:42.120 be right. 209 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:46.759 Great, it's an interesting factoid. We should put that in 210 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:48.720 Friends Flip the Right. 211 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:52.240 Fled Fred's flippant Factoids, which we started doing on our 212 00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:53.960 TikTok if you want to look at us and look 213 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:55.720 us up on TikTok when we do. 214 00:12:55.720 --> 00:13:00.679 Little previews of the shows. So, yes, that's an interesting story, 215 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:04.840 as is this one. Fred. They've been studying a. 216 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:08.919 Brown dwarf for the last thirty years, but there's something 217 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:12.000 about it was off. So they've taken a closer look 218 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:15.519 and when bam, thank you ma'am, it's not one but 219 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:18.679 two brown dwarfs. They've only got five more defined. 220 00:13:21.879 --> 00:13:25.519 Yeah, essentially this a good question what the population of 221 00:13:25.559 --> 00:13:27.480 brown dwarf brown dwarf stars is. 222 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:29.759 It's very high. 223 00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:35.120 It's subject that we haven't really talked about, no, Andrew, 224 00:13:36.200 --> 00:13:40.120 and it's probably not a very good thing that we 225 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:42.320 haven't talked about it much because certainly one of my 226 00:13:42.519 --> 00:13:48.320 former colleagues at the Australian Astronomical Observatory, Professor Christiny of 227 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:51.360 the University of New South Wales, he began his career 228 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:54.879 as one of the world's leading experts on brown dwarf stars. 229 00:13:56.039 --> 00:13:58.519 He's now moved on to exoplanets, which I guess of 230 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:02.799 the next step down the series, because brown dwarfs in 231 00:14:02.840 --> 00:14:06.679 a way they sit in size between the giant planets 232 00:14:06.759 --> 00:14:09.840 of the Solar System, for example, or any other Solar 233 00:14:09.879 --> 00:14:17.039 System and stars themselves. They're defined as having a mass 234 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:20.960 a lower mass limit of thirteen times the mass of Jupiter, 235 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:24.879 and that means that if Jupiter had grown to be 236 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:28.519 thirteen times its present size, it would have not been 237 00:14:28.519 --> 00:14:31.639 a planet, it would have been a brown dwarf. And 238 00:14:31.960 --> 00:14:35.879 the difference is that brown dwarfs have low level nuclear 239 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:39.519 processes going on in their interior, something called deuterium burning, 240 00:14:40.360 --> 00:14:44.080 which gives them enough of a temperature that they're visible 241 00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:47.720 in the infrared the redder than red waveband. So that's 242 00:14:47.720 --> 00:14:54.639 how brown dwarfs are found using infrared telescopes. And back 243 00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:57.440 in the day, it would be in the nineteen eighties 244 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:01.519 and nineties when brown dwarfs first started to be being discovered. 245 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:05.080 This new population of stars that didn't quite make it 246 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:06.799 because they're not big enough. I think they need to 247 00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:09.759 be about ninety times one hundred times the mass in 248 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:14.279 Jupiter in order for you know, what we call hydrogen 249 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:18.519 fusion to take place and normal processes that make styles shine. Anyway, 250 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:23.120 that's the background. So this is a brown dwarf which 251 00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:26.480 is called Gliza two to nine B. Gliza was an 252 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:30.039 astronomer who made a catalog of these things, and in 253 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:32.559 fact the discovery exactly as you said thirty years ago, 254 00:15:32.639 --> 00:15:38.080 nearly discovered in nineteen ninety five and is one that 255 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:43.120 there is puzzle astronomers because they couldn't really work out 256 00:15:43.559 --> 00:15:48.639 why it was so massive and so dim. It should 257 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:50.759 if it was the mass that we thought it was, 258 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:54.399 it should be a lot brighter. Now, school with a 259 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:56.519 couple of kids that fit that description. 260 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:03.759 Massive button dim Yeah, okay. 261 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:05.600 He didn't argue with them. He didn't argue with them, 262 00:16:06.679 --> 00:16:09.679 so yeah, yeah, I can well imagine. I don't just 263 00:16:10.360 --> 00:16:13.639 we probably shouldn't name them now that might get us 264 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:20.559 in talk. Never mentioned Paul's name. All right, let's move 265 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:26.399 on the brown dwarf gleaser to two nine B should 266 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:28.960 be more, should be brighter than it is given its 267 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:33.840 mass until now, and now we have had a paper 268 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:38.799 that's been lead authored by actually a graduate student, which 269 00:16:38.840 --> 00:16:44.039 is you know, it's nice to see these post graduate 270 00:16:44.039 --> 00:16:49.679 students doing their graduate students doing their basically cutting edge research. 271 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:54.159 And this gentleman Jerry Clan who is at the California 272 00:16:54.200 --> 00:16:58.639 Institute of Technology, and Jerry can be either. 273 00:16:58.919 --> 00:17:00.399 So I should just. 274 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:06.799 Qualify that by seeing saying this person, Jerry quann is 275 00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:10.039 a graduate student at Caltech, the California Institute of Technology, 276 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:12.640 one of the leading organizations in the world for this 277 00:17:12.759 --> 00:17:16.079 kind of work, and lots of other fields of studying too. Anyway, 278 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:21.640 he or she they have written a paper in Nature 279 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:26.240 which explains what the issue is and it's that Lisa 280 00:17:26.279 --> 00:17:28.839 two to nine B isn't one, but is actually two 281 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:32.559 brown dwarfs thirty eight and thirty four times the US 282 00:17:32.599 --> 00:17:36.119 of Jupiter, and they have a twelve day orbit around 283 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:40.960 each other and something close to our hearts here in Australia. 284 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:46.279 They were observed by using instruments at the very large 285 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:50.640 telescope in Chile run by the European Southern Observatory, which 286 00:17:50.680 --> 00:17:53.920 we in Australia have a strategic partnership with. Now, so 287 00:17:54.039 --> 00:17:56.480 the fact that this star is actually not a single star, 288 00:17:56.559 --> 00:17:59.079 it's a binary, which is what we call two styles 289 00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:04.759 orbiting around another is a great discoverer. Yeah, great discovery 290 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:08.359 and pushes forward our understanding of brown dwarfs. In fact, 291 00:18:08.359 --> 00:18:11.720 it clearly solves a problem if this thing was more 292 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:15.319 massive than it should be for the amount of radiation 293 00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:16.160 that it gives out. 294 00:18:17.720 --> 00:18:20.200 So yes, really really. 295 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:24.039 Very nice, a very nice study. There's a nice quote 296 00:18:24.119 --> 00:18:29.319 from one of the people who actually discovered Gleezer two 297 00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:33.799 to nine B back in nineteen ninety five, Rebecca Oppenheimer, 298 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:36.839 who says, these two worlds whipping around each other are 299 00:18:36.839 --> 00:18:40.480 actually smaller in radius than Jupiter. They look quite strange 300 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:42.319 in our night sky. If we had something like them 301 00:18:42.359 --> 00:18:45.440 in our own solar system, they would indeed yeah. 302 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:48.519 Wow, No, that's a great discovery and it sorts out 303 00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:52.079 a problem about this thing they've been looking at for 304 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:53.720 thirty years not being bright enough. 305 00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:56.559 And yeah they've they've figured it out. 306 00:18:56.680 --> 00:19:04.359 And Jerry is a bloke, so and look forgive me Fred, 307 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:09.200 but I think the Chinese pronounced their exes as ship 308 00:19:09.880 --> 00:19:16.359 so Shun I would suggest his surname Jerry chu Anne 309 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:24.799 from the cultake yep, yes, originally from China and ultimately 310 00:19:24.839 --> 00:19:32.079 in Canada. Yeah, yeah, very very good pick up by 311 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:38.079 him about the brown dwarf situation. How close is the 312 00:19:38.119 --> 00:19:38.960 nearest one to us? 313 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:41.720 Have we ever figured that out? Yes, we probably do 314 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:44.559 know that, and it's probably not that far, but I 315 00:19:44.599 --> 00:19:48.680 don't know the answer to it. I'm sure while we're 316 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:51.279 talking about the next story, you can google closest. 317 00:19:50.839 --> 00:19:55.759 Brown draft you know, I will, and. 318 00:19:55.720 --> 00:19:59.079 I'm glad you do it, because, like, as we've just discovered, 319 00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:03.440 it's very nice that, yeah, you can chill in these gaps. 320 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:08.599 The nearest Brown dwarfs are located in the Lumen sixteen system, 321 00:20:09.079 --> 00:20:12.839 which is about six and a half light years away. 322 00:20:13.319 --> 00:20:15.160 Yeah, I thought they would be quite close. 323 00:20:16.279 --> 00:20:20.559 I mean, it's because we have a relatively nearby population 324 00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:24.680 of brown dwarfs. So they're probably very common in the galaxy. 325 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:28.640 It's because they're not great distances that we know about 326 00:20:28.680 --> 00:20:32.160 them at all, because they are so dim, they're kind 327 00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:32.599 of broiled. 328 00:20:32.680 --> 00:20:34.480 That's why they got that. Yeah. 329 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:38.359 Yeah, not weak enough to be plants, not strong enough 330 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:42.640 to be stars. They're just somewhere in between, wondering about 331 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:43.480 their identities. 332 00:20:44.839 --> 00:20:47.960 Normally, they're probably very confused and very. 333 00:20:47.799 --> 00:20:49.960 Confused spatial objects. 334 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:52.519 Yeah, if you want to read all about that, it's 335 00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:56.839 in the Cosmos magazine website. This is Space Nuts with 336 00:20:56.880 --> 00:20:58.920 Andrew Dunkley and Professor. 337 00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:04.200 Fred Broad space Buds. 338 00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:08.680 Okay, Fred, we've got a couple of stories involving SpaceX. 339 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:12.559 We've been talking about them a lot lately, and in 340 00:21:12.599 --> 00:21:16.319 this case there's some good news and some not so 341 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:18.920 good news. Let's start off with the good news about 342 00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:24.799 SpaceX making so many inroads in rocket technology. 343 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:26.440 It is. 344 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:33.720 It's really quite amazing what SpaceX has achieved so last 345 00:21:33.799 --> 00:21:37.720 week as we stand at the moment. In late October, 346 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:43.400 SpaceX carried out it's ninety ninth operational flight of the year, 347 00:21:44.680 --> 00:21:49.880 and that was styling another Starlink launch, So twenty Starlink 348 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:57.480 satellites launchtrom Cape Canaveral and basically a successful mission. The 349 00:21:57.480 --> 00:22:03.440 booster had already flown sixteen lames beforehand and made after 350 00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:08.319 the seventeenth flight, made a good recovery on the drone hip, 351 00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:13.359 which is called just read the instructions. Yeah, that this great, 352 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:20.000 isn't it? So? You know, it's it's really quite remarkable. 353 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:25.200 So the Space Coast as it's called where Canaveral is 354 00:22:27.319 --> 00:22:35.880 seventy one so far this year. Because SpaceX also launches 355 00:22:36.279 --> 00:22:41.759 from other places as well, so seventy one from the 356 00:22:41.799 --> 00:22:47.119 Space Coast, of which all but five of them have 357 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:50.799 been flown by SpaceX. It's quite an extraordinary track record. 358 00:22:50.839 --> 00:22:53.519 In fact, one of them was one we saw where 359 00:22:53.559 --> 00:22:57.559 we were in Florida back in May. 360 00:22:59.640 --> 00:23:00.640 The others and. 361 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:03.559 The other five were flown by the United Launch Alliance. 362 00:23:04.279 --> 00:23:08.480 But you know, that statistic in itself tells you how 363 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:11.680 much of a game changer being able to recover your 364 00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:15.079 booster rocket is and that because that's what gives space 365 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:18.319 X the edge on this, that they can pull the 366 00:23:18.440 --> 00:23:23.839 booster rocket back and launch it again. Yes, so, and 367 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:28.880 of course there's been other, you know, other other missions 368 00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:32.599 that the breakdown is of the ninety nine launches is 369 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:37.440 ninety one Falcon and five Falcon Heavy missions. And I 370 00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:43.240 don't think that includes the theybeating does the Starling Sorry 371 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:46.920 Starship launches? I can't remember how that fits into the 372 00:23:48.440 --> 00:23:52.720 into the statistics the Starling launches, which of course culminated 373 00:23:52.759 --> 00:23:56.720 in that extraordinary event a couple of weeks ago when 374 00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:01.640 when the Starling Sorryes Starship boost of the Falcon Super 375 00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:05.000 Heavy which are grabbed by the chopsticks. Yeah. Down there 376 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:07.960 a book a Chica in Texas. So, yes, that's the 377 00:24:07.960 --> 00:24:09.599 good news. A lot of activity. 378 00:24:10.119 --> 00:24:15.640 Yeah, they reckon Fred that they could reach around one 379 00:24:15.720 --> 00:24:17.920 hundred and forty four launches by the end of this 380 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:21.119 calendar year, which would be an all time record. 381 00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:25.440 That would, Yeah, an amazing achievement. I think they're launching 382 00:24:25.480 --> 00:24:31.640 on average once every couple of weeks. 383 00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:36.359 Well, yes, it's more than that. It's more than twice. 384 00:24:35.799 --> 00:24:41.039 It's three times a week, basically three times a little. Yeah, 385 00:24:41.079 --> 00:24:44.480 it's a lot. Yeah, it's kind of almost every day, 386 00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:46.480 which is sort of what you know, what we It's 387 00:24:46.519 --> 00:24:50.319 not quite that, but it's it's what we expected would 388 00:24:50.359 --> 00:24:52.400 happen with all this. Now. Of course, most of those 389 00:24:52.920 --> 00:25:01.079 launches were for styling satellites space butts. 390 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:05.160 Therein though, lies a problem, and this is where we 391 00:25:05.240 --> 00:25:08.319 get onto the not so good news for SpaceX because 392 00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:12.279 people have been analyzing their activity, and it's not just them, 393 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:18.839 there's a lot of organizations that use similar technology. And 394 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:23.599 the concerns have been raised about pollution in our atmosphere. 395 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:30.319 That's right, and this is something that's been growing in 396 00:25:30.599 --> 00:25:34.680 I guess attention over the past well a few months 397 00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:38.960 perhaps the past year. Is what happens when the spacecraft 398 00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:46.079 re enters the atmosphere, so it burns up if you know, 399 00:25:46.759 --> 00:25:48.759 less bits of it actually get down to the Earth, 400 00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:50.480 which we do know happens from time to time. 401 00:25:50.519 --> 00:25:51.759