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Hello and welcome to the
British Science Festival
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here at the University of Exeter.
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We've got a wonderful
live studio audience.
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CHEERING
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We've got some pretty difficult
questions, but an out-of-this-world
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panel that's going
to try and answer them.
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Welcome to a very special
Question Time edition
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of The Sky at Night.
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Thank you very much.
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Thank you very much, indeed.
Thank you very much for coming.
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Thank you very much
to everybody at home.
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Welcome to the show.
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It's lovely to be here in Exeter.
Lovely to be in the West Country.
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We've been digging around,
looking for West Country
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astrophysical claims to fame,
as it were.
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We've got a few good ones.
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First of all, Norman Lockyer
is a name that some people may know.
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Oh, wow! OK.
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Norman Lockyer, who established
an observatory here in,
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when was it, 1912?
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By the time he moved down
here, yeah. Yeah.
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In Sidmouth, which is just
down the road from here.
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He is famous for discovering
a new element in the Sun,
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which he called helium,
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which is named after
the Greek sun god, Helios.
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And this is his spectrograph.
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Isn't that amazing?
It's a beautiful object.
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And if you hold it up to the light,
you can actually see,
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if you're careful you can see a
beautiful spectrum, it's amazing.
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There you go.
I'm going to pass it to you.
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We have to be very careful
because the owner of that
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is somewhere in the audience
panicking right now...
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I can see it!
..and will be very cross.
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So there we go, Norman Lockyer.
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Slightly closer to home,
the Sylvania estate,
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which is on the outskirts of Exeter,
has some rather familiar road names
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which I rather like.
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We've got Armstrong Avenue,
which is very good.
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There we go.
Neil Armstrong. There we go.
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We've got Aldrin Road, which also
should be Avenue, maybe.
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And we have got Collins Road,
as in Michael Collins.
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But better than both of those facts
is our wonderful panel
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we have with you today.
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Give them a round of applause.
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We're going to introduce them.
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What a panel we have for you.
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We have got Chris Lintott,
long-term Sky at Night anchor.
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How long has it been? Too long?
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20 years or so.
It'll be 20 years?
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Yeah.
Crikey! There we go.
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Claim-to-fames?
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Too many, too many to name?
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But you've recently been made the,
what is it, the 39th...?
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Gresham Professor of Astronomy.
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So there's Christopher Wren,
back in the distant past,
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then lots of other people and,
yeah, free lectures for everybody
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going back to the 16th century.
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39, it's a bit of an annoying
number, though. Well...
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You kind of want to be 40th.
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I was thinking it's like American
presidents, so it makes me
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Jimmy Carter, which
I think I'll take.
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That's pretty good. Yeah!
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Even more impressive than that,
though, is you've got a podcast
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called Dog Stars and you've got
a rather interesting
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co-host called Mr Max.
Very quickly, tell us...
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Yeah, he's the brains
of the operation.
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This is him planning
the next episode.
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He's a rescue lurcher who likes
people and crisps and beer,
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in about that order.
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And we go on walks and talk
about what we can see...
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Well, I go on walks and talk about
what you can see in the night sky,
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and he explores in his own way,
so...
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And to my left, we've got
Maggie Aderin-Pocock.
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Another... You've been on
The Sky at Night since 2014.
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Space scientist,
Clanger aficionado.
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But, now, I think your claim
to fame is amazing.
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Tell us about your claim to fame.
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You've brought your claim to fame.
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Yes, I have, because earlier this
year I was...
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Well, I got a rather nice surprise,
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and I was actually made into a
Barbie doll.
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Come on!
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Very...
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CHEERING
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That is very, very topical.
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Very de rigueur.
Yes, it's a good year to...
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Because they do it every year.
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They choose six people
around the world.
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But this year they chose me.
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And, for me, it was very exciting,
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but I had a fear, and my fear was
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in that moment of revelation,
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because they're making it
in my likeness,
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and what if I didn't like it?
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Well, can you just send it...?
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Can you go, "No, no, no, no, no,
take it away"?
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So they lifted off the cover,
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and I looked at it and I thought,
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"Gosh, it does look like me,
on a really good day."
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LAUGHTER
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And, of course, we have
Pete Lawrence at the end there.
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Now, how on earth
are you going to top that?
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Have they made a doll,
an Oppenheimer doll, maybe...?
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Not that I'm aware of.
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They should do.
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People would pay money for that.
Do you think so? Yeah.
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You pull the thing at the back, pull
the string and it gives you wisdom.
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"It's going to be cloudy tonight."
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Yeah!
LAUGHTER
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Yeah, that would work.
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But I think you've got some
interesting claims to fame.
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I was involved with Halley's Comet.
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I was going up on flights
to go and see it.
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And my claim to fame is that
the destination on the airport
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departure board
was the furthest ever.
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It said a flight to Halley's Comet.
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Did they give you air miles?
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No.
Really?!
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You could have cleaned up there.
Never mind.
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As well as our regular
Sky at Night guests, we have two
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very special guests with us.
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We have got Claire Davies
from the University of Exeter.
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She is an expert on the formation
of stars and planets.
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And more importantly than that,
she is a football expert.
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You are a football...
Oh, totally.
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Just tell us about your...
You're a player and a watcher.
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I don't play any more.
Don't you?
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No, I got an injury
as a teenager,
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so that finished.
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But I'm an avid supporter.
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Big supporter of the England
team, particularly?
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Both men's and women's. Yeah.
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So the picture behind,
I managed to get to Wembley
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for the Euros final last year.
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So this isn't the World Cup final?
So this is watching them lift
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the trophy, although we'd waited
until after they'd lifted the trophy
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to take the photo.
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OK, well, what did you think
about the World Cup final this year?
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Were you jumping around,
going crazy?
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I had a little bit of a dilemma
this year, so my sister got married
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on exactly the same day.
See, that is just...
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And the ceremony was at
kick-off as well,
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like, you know, phone in my pocket,
listening to it on the radio
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while we're all taking the pictures.
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Did you have to do any duties?
Did you have to sort of...?
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I was an usher at the beginning,
so I missed the first half.
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But somehow, well, I heard
Mary Earps' save.
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I am amazed how that... I reckon if
you have an empty calendar
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with nothing in it
and there are two dates,
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gravitational forces will bring
those dates together
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and they will collide.
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Especially if your sister
doesn't like football. Does she not?
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Oh, no, that's a nightmare.
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Claire, welcome to the panel.
Thank you very much for coming.
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Well, if you want the excitement
of a World Cup final,
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you couldn't ask
for more than this, really.
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A Sky at Night panel show.
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We've also got Hannah Wakeford
with us.
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She is a specialist in exoplanets.
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And you have travelled a vast
distance across,
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well, almost another dimension -
the University of Bristol!
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And as well as exoplanets,
you're not just a scuba diver,
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you're a scuba diver-instructor,
aren't you?
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So you're kind of the head honcho
scuba diver. Yeah.
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So I've been scuba diving
since I was a teenager.
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And this is a video of me in Hawaii,
scuba diving with the manta rays,
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and flying right over my head
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is Big Bertha,
is her name. Nice.
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She was pregnant
at the time, and
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her wingspan is
bigger than mine is,
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so it's pretty impressive.
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See, I look at that and, you know,
someone who looks at exoplanets,
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someone who explores the night sky,
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there are links, aren't there,
between scuba diving and the
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kind of alien worlds in the oceans?
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Yeah, and I tried to take
that to the extremes.
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I decided to calculate how deep
I could scuba dive in the lakes
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of Titan, a moon of Saturn,
which has lakes
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of ethane and methane.
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The density is very different
from water, but also the gravity
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of the Moon is much less.
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So you can go much, much deeper
before things start changing the way
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that we see it here on Earth.
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And there might be some
odd things living in there.
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Well, we don't even know
how deep the lakes are.
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There may be some technical
challenges to this,
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but we'll fix it.
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Anyway, that is your panel.
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Thank you.
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OK.
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Let us begin.
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We've got some
very challenging questions.
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Right, we have got a question
from Neil Gow from Exeter,
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somewhere in the audience.
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Neil, ask your question.
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Thank you.
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Does the panel think that there
might be microbial life
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outside the Earth
but within the Solar System?
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And if the panel thinks that's
possible, do you think there's
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any biosecurity hazards
about going to try and find
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those microbes and bringing them
back to Earth to study them?
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That is a good question.
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I should point out, actually,
that Neil is a professor
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of microbiology,
so he's slightly biased.
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LAUGHTER
Slightly biased about
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the microbiology.
It's a great question.
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Chris, what do you think?
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Well, we reported on a discovery
that might be relevant to this
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a few years ago where the brilliant
Jane Greaves at Cardiff
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found a chemical called phosphine
in Venus's atmosphere.
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And we think of Venus
as this hellish, hot place,
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but up high in the atmosphere,
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if you get high enough, there's
a place where it's like a balmy
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Devon summer's day most of the time.
A lot like Devon, yeah.
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About 15, 12 degrees,
something like that.
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LAUGHTER
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And Jane found the signature, and
her team found phosphine there,
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and this was controversial,
because on Earth,
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phosphine is made by life.
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It's not made by any other process.
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And so this is possibly the
signature of some quite strange
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microbial life,
high in the atmosphere of Venus.
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It's still very acidic,
so it'd have to be acid-resistant.
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Jane got criticised
from all angles because people
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didn't believe this result,
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but I saw her a month or two ago
and the phosphine is real.
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They've got new observations
that show that it's there.
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So it's either some weird
chemistry or it's alien.
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So are we still...?
Is it still unclear?
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Is the jury still out, as it were?
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Well, I think we can be sure
that it's there, and it seems
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to change over the course
of the day.
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So, on a Venusian morning,
you see lots of phosphine
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and then it disappears. Because
it was quite a measured paper.
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It was. They didn't say,
"We've found aliens!"
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Well, exactly, yeah.
Which was very helpful.
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So that's one possibility.
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There's also places like the
interior of the moon Enceladus
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around Saturn, or some
of Jupiter's big moons
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where we've actually
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launched a spacecraft called
The Juice... Yeah.
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00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:47,520
..which is a European mission
that's going to go and visit several
243
00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:50,440
of these moons to really
characterise the environment.
244
00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,760
And once you drill through the water
ice and end up in the ocean, I think
245
00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:55,520
anything could be living down there.
246
00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:57,360
And we'll know more
when Juice gets there.
247
00:10:57,360 --> 00:10:59,240
Very quickly, Maggie,
where do you...?
248
00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:00,840
Well, you've got to look at Mars.
Yeah.
249
00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:03,280
I mean, Mars is a sort of
firm favourite.
250
00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:05,480
And with Percy, as I call it,
Perseverance Rover
251
00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:07,880
sort of trundling over,
it's in Jethro Crater.
252
00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:10,680
And as it trundles around,
that is an old river bank.
253
00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:12,880
But it's a great place to look
for microbial life,
254
00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:14,320
or old microbial life.
255
00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:16,040
So they've been probing that.
256
00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:19,760
But that sort of leads on to
the idea of going to Mars
257
00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:21,640
and bringing samples back to Earth.
258
00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:25,160
And that throws up a whole lot
of interesting ideas,
259
00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:27,400
which I think, Hannah...
260
00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:31,880
There's actually an office called
the Planetary Protection Office,
261
00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:36,400
which has created a policy
for what we do to protect us
262
00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:39,640
from microbial life from other
parts of our Solar System,
263
00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:41,960
but also to protect other parts of
our Solar System from
264
00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:44,080
microbial life from Earth.
265
00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:47,800
And actually, the head of
the Planetary Protection Officer
266
00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:50,240
at Nasa is also a microbiologist.
267
00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:52,840
So, perhaps, Neil,
you have a different career
268
00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:56,000
in your future. I'm not sure we have
a European Space Agency one,
269
00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:59,400
so maybe we can appoint Neil in
charge. Yeah.
270
00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:01,680
But things like not going
and prodding the water
271
00:12:01,680 --> 00:12:03,240
unless you've really sterilised...
272
00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:06,560
We decided earlier you don't get
a hat, you get a cape for that.
273
00:12:06,560 --> 00:12:10,880
In the world of, like, badass jobs,
planetary... Like, the whole planet,
274
00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:12,240
I'm going to protect...
275
00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:16,600
And other planets.
276
00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:18,960
And the moons. Don't forget the
moons. And the moons as well.
277
00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:21,360
Pete, any thoughts on this?
278
00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:26,240
Well, I don't lay awake at night
279
00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:29,640
worrying about invasions
from Mars, etc.
280
00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:32,040
And if that did happen,
I'd be prepared anyway.
281
00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:34,400
Do you have a kind of spray
by your bed? I do.
282
00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:38,880
I would be hopeful there
would be microbial life... Yeah.
283
00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:41,280
..and I think we do need to be
careful because it's
284
00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:45,200
probably fairly well
established to a harsh environment.
285
00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:47,240
Great question.
It's really fascinating.
286
00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:48,840
Right, we're going to move on.
287
00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:51,880
We've got a question from
Almudena Velez,
288
00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:56,760
who is studying astrophysics
here in Exeter.
289
00:12:56,760 --> 00:13:00,640
Why do some stars have planetary
systems around them and others not,
290
00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:02,680
and do they evolve together?
291
00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:06,960
That is a Claire question,
if ever there was.
292
00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:08,240
That's for you.
293
00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:10,640
Well, I think you know...
Isn't she a student of yours? Yeah.
294
00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:12,920
Oh, that's cheating!
295
00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:16,000
So, really, I should be asking her.
Yeah.
296
00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:18,120
No, so stars and planets
do form together.
297
00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:20,360
She's correct in her question.
298
00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:24,240
So they form in large expanses
of cool gas in the spiral arms
299
00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:27,520
of our galaxy, and
other galaxies as well.
300
00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:29,400
And these are called
molecular clouds,
301
00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:31,920
and the density in molecular clouds
is different,
302
00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:33,280
depending on where you are.
303
00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:35,480
And in some regions, that density
will be critical enough
304
00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:37,600
that you can collapse
on the gravity.
305
00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:39,840
And as that collapse is happening,
306
00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:42,160
it forms a disk around
a central core.
307
00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:44,240
That central core becomes your star,
308
00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:47,960
and the disk is... Well,
it's interesting if you study
309
00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:50,960
planet formation, less interesting
if you study star formation.
310
00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:53,720
So if you study star formation,
you're likely to say the disk
311
00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:56,480
just dissipates somehow.
312
00:13:56,480 --> 00:14:00,480
The star continues to accrete,
and at some point, fusion ignites
313
00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:05,560
in its core and it starts
burning hydrogen into helium.
314
00:14:05,560 --> 00:14:10,040
But if you're interested in studying
planet formation, then the disk
315
00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:11,360
is where it's at.
316
00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:13,600
You want to be probing the disk,
like, full-on.
317
00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:16,120
Is the planet the kind of
leftover-y bits, the kind of...?
318
00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:17,600
You could say that,
319
00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:21,080
it's one of the by-products of star
formation, really, not to knock you!
320
00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:22,840
Yeah, so that's a
star formation answer!
321
00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:26,440
I like all these wars
between astrophysicists!
322
00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:31,640
I mean, the beauty of it is, star
formation is such a wonderful
323
00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:34,520
process that is leading to
what we're studying with planets,
324
00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:37,200
and we've seen some amazing
star-forming regions.
325
00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:41,160
This is one we're looking at,
Rho Ophiuchi here.
326
00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:43,080
And this is an actual photo?
327
00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:45,600
This is an actual photo
taken with JWST.
328
00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:50,400
So this is a brand-new image of
this region in this kind of colour
329
00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:52,120
and structure that we're seeing.
330
00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:55,360
And what you can see in there
are the stars themselves being born,
331
00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:58,840
and around them those disks
and those, you know, leftover stuff
332
00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:00,760
that makes those planets
that we love.
333
00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:02,840
That's amazing.
It's a beautiful image.
334
00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:04,400
Well, thank you very much for that.
335
00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:07,240
Right, we're going to move on to
talk about, well, a subject that's
336
00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:09,120
very close to my heart, Voyager.
337
00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:11,640
We've had a few questions
about Voyager's exploration
338
00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:15,640
to the edge of the Solar System,
Voyager 1 and 2 that have now
339
00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:19,760
crossed over into interstellar
space, into the interstellar medium.
340
00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:23,000
It's been a bit of a tumultuous
year for Voyager 2.
341
00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:24,840
Voyager 2 has had a bit
of a rough time.
342
00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:26,600
Yeah, just tell us what happened.
343
00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:29,440
Yeah, well, see, I remember
when the Voyagers were launched
344
00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:33,240
and they've been sort of...
A long time ago. But I remember!
345
00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:35,320
And so they've been travelling
out in space.
346
00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:37,880
They launched in 1977,
travelling out in space.
347
00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:42,760
Voyager 2 was the first spacecraft
to sort of go past Uranus
348
00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:46,160
and Neptune and send pictures
back, sort of see the rings
349
00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:47,640
and things like that.
350
00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:49,320
So it's been a fantastic journey.
351
00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:55,080
But earlier this year, a signal
was sent which actually caused
352
00:15:55,080 --> 00:16:00,000
the spacecraft to move off axis
by two degrees.
353
00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:01,920
Now, it doesn't sound like much,
354
00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:04,120
but that two degrees
makes all the difference.
355
00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:07,600
So, unfortunately, when that
two-degree angle happened,
356
00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:10,120
they couldn't communicate
with the spacecraft any more.
357
00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:12,360
So we couldn't get signals
from the spacecraft,
358
00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:14,400
we couldn't communicate
with the spacecraft.
359
00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:18,320
But they came up with an ingenious
solution, and the solution was
360
00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:21,680
to shout at it, to send out
a really loud signal.
361
00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:24,960
So, even with the offset,
the spacecraft could hear it.
362
00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:27,880
They heard it, it went back
on angle, and communication
363
00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:29,440
was re-established.
364
00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:31,720
Yes. But we've had this
communication virtually
365
00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:33,040
all my life.
366
00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:35,920
And so the fact that we almost
lost it was quite, quite upsetting.
367
00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:38,600
It's more than just a spacecraft,
you know, it is imbued with
368
00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:40,800
kind of our, well, culture, really.
369
00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:43,520
There's so much about the Voyager
missions that are so extraordinary.
370
00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:45,440
We've kind of all grown up
with the Voyager.
371
00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:46,800
The Golden Disk. Yes.
372
00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:48,560
We're going to come
to that in a moment.
373
00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:51,160
Actually, we've got a video
question for you now.
374
00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:54,400
Up in East Yorkshire, we've got
another aspiring astrophysicist.
375
00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:59,680
It's Kyle Page, who has a question
about the usefulness of Voyager
376
00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:02,120
following this little mishap.
377
00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:03,600
Hello.
378
00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:07,480
My question is related
to the Voyagers 1 and 2.
379
00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:12,200
I'd like to know, as the power
slowly reduces on the spacecraft
380
00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:16,040
over the next couple of years,
is it possible for the Voyager
381
00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:20,960
spacecraft to use some power to turn
on their cameras, to take pictures
382
00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:23,880
again to send back to us
from a great distance?
383
00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,280
Thank you.
It's a really interesting question.
384
00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:30,240
And as well as all the science
equipment on board Voyager,
385
00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:32,960
there are the cameras
which have been turned off
386
00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:35,200
for a long time now.
Could you turn them on?
387
00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:37,320
Is there any point
in turning them on, Chris?
388
00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:39,400
It would be great to have
a postcard from out there.
389
00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:42,560
I'm not sure it'd be scientifically
that useful, but it'd be great
390
00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:45,520
just to see the inner Solar System
and the Sun from that distance,
391
00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:47,840
but we're well past the point
where we can do that.
392
00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:52,480
It's like if you've ever been out
with your mobile phone on 3%, 2%,
393
00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:55,240
you have to choose really carefully
what you're going to do
394
00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:57,880
with those, as... The people
nodding in the audience.
395
00:17:57,880 --> 00:17:59,920
I think everyone's had
this experience!
396
00:17:59,920 --> 00:18:01,440
Voyager's at that point.
397
00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:03,600
You turn the camera on and we
will drain the battery instantly.
398
00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:05,160
So we're running a few...
399
00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:08,080
They're running a few instruments,
monitoring particles, monitoring
400
00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:09,640
the magnetic fields out there.
401
00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:12,960
We think there's enough power,
and they're desperately finding
402
00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:15,760
new ways to try and save power,
403
00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:18,000
but they think it might last
another couple of years
404
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:20,240
and then it will lose even
the power to talk to us.
405
00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:21,520
We've got a picture.
406
00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:24,000
This is the most famous picture
in all of astrophotography, really.
407
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:25,840
This is the famous Pale Blue Dot.
408
00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:28,160
In that kind of band of light
you can see, there is one tiny pixel
409
00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:29,640
that is the Earth.
410
00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:33,000
And Carl Sagan had to campaign
for them to turn Voyager 2 around
411
00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:34,960
to take that picture.
412
00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:37,720
There's a cultural significance
to see that...
413
00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:39,600
What was it, "a mote in a sunbeam"
414
00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:41,640
he described it as,
with it just hanging there?
415
00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:45,200
And everyone who's ever
lived on that dot. Exactly.
416
00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,760
Hannah, you've got some thoughts
on this. Yes.
417
00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:51,600
So what Voyager 2 is able to
actually tell us is the bow shock
418
00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:53,680
of the Solar System itself.
419
00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:55,560
So the Solar System is not static.
420
00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:57,800
We are moving around the galaxy,
421
00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:00,440
and that motion is actually causing
422
00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:03,800
this kind of wave
to be pushed around.
423
00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:08,480
We've got our own massive,
system-sized cometary tail,
424
00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:13,320
and Voyager 1 and 2 have allowed us
to measure the edges of this
425
00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:15,800
so that we can understand more
about our position
426
00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:19,040
in our galaxy and how we, as
a solar system, are moving around.
427
00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:21,840
Presumably, at some point,
we're going to lose the Voyagers.
428
00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:24,640
They're going to go so far away,
but we'll be able to monitor
429
00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,280
where they are, but not... No,
it's more that they'll run out
430
00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:30,320
of power to send a signal that
we can detect and to listen to us,
431
00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:32,960
so they will go silent
and disappear. OK.
432
00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:35,720
They'll keep on their trajectory
and they will disappear silently
433
00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:37,240
into the distance. Forever?
434
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:38,480
Yeah. They will outlive us.
435
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:40,240
They will outlive the pyramids.
436
00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:43,040
God, that is terrifying! You can
calculate from their trajectory
437
00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,560
which is the next star
they're going to reach, though.
438
00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:47,720
So we can see whether they're going
to get anywhere.
439
00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:50,400
But...stars are very far apart.
440
00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:53,360
Well, as well as cameras
on board the Voyager spacecraft,
441
00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:56,040
and all the science equipment,
there were something else
442
00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:57,960
that were put on board
that you may have heard of.
443
00:19:57,960 --> 00:19:59,640
We've mentioned the Golden Records.
444
00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:01,880
These were these time capsules.
445
00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:05,440
On these records were coded music
from the people of planet Earth,
446
00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:09,400
and greetings and images
and all kinds of things.
447
00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:12,320
We've got a question from
Kate Morrell,
448
00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:14,160
who is in our audience.
449
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,080
There's something
she wanted to ask us.
450
00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:18,000
Where's Kate?
Hiya.
451
00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:21,000
Thank you.
Oh, there you are.
452
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:25,040
Yeah, my question is, if you were
given the opportunity today
453
00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:26,960
to put something on to the
Golden Records,
454
00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:28,720
what would you choose?
455
00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:31,600
Good question. We're going to be
very short and punchy with this,
456
00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,160
please, because we could spend
all day talking about this.
457
00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:36,360
Maggie first. What would you put
on the Golden Record?
458
00:20:36,360 --> 00:20:39,360
Earth's shadow on the VLT.
459
00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:43,120
At sunset, you can see... VLT being?
Very Large Telescopes. OK.
460
00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:45,560
Just came back and it was...
461
00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:48,560
Anyway, so you can see the sunset,
462
00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:51,040
but as the Sun is setting,
463
00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:54,800
you can see the shadow of the Earth
projected on to the sky.
464
00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:58,040
And when we were at the VLT,
you could actually see the mountain
465
00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:02,600
we were on projected on to the sky
as a lump on the sort of
466
00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:06,320
the trajectory on the sort of
topography of Earth. It was amazing.
467
00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:08,800
Hannah, what would you put
on the Golden Record, if you could?
468
00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:12,480
I'm putting things like Toy Story,
Finding Nemo, Wall-E. Nice!
469
00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:15,880
I'm putting them some series
of things that they can watch,
470
00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:19,440
but things that really showcase
the human emotion that's happening,
471
00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:21,280
and Pixar does that best.
472
00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:22,840
LAUGHTER
473
00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:25,240
Others are available!
LAUGHTER
474
00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:27,360
Claire, what would you put on?
475
00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:29,920
Because of the evolution of rights
since the '70s,
476
00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:32,680
I'd put a representation of the
LGBTQ+ community on there.
477
00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:35,520
Very good. Very good. Thank you.
478
00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:36,840
Pete?
479
00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:40,520
I would put a very large monster
on there to show them that Earth
480
00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:42,680
is not a pushover.
481
00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:44,080
LAUGHTER
Nice!
482
00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:46,800
Chris, very quickly? The thing
in the top right is a map showing
483
00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:48,760
where we are in the galaxy,
based on pulsars.
484
00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:50,120
It's quite complicated.
485
00:21:50,120 --> 00:21:52,840
So, voicemail message, "If you get
this, please call us."
486
00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:56,520
Yeah, "Your call is recorded
for training and quality purposes."
487
00:21:56,520 --> 00:22:00,680
Actually, very quickly, there
was a very famous biologist,
488
00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:02,200
Lewis Thomas was his name,
489
00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:04,680
and Carl Sagan asked him
this very same question.
490
00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:06,920
He said, "Well, if I could,
I would put the complete works
491
00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:09,680
"of Johann Sebastian Bach on,
but that would be boasting."
492
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:11,960
LAUGHTER
So they didn't do that.
493
00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:13,360
Right, we're moving on.
494
00:22:13,360 --> 00:22:16,680
We have got a question
from Steven Moss, which is...
495
00:22:23,120 --> 00:22:26,200
A little bit sci-fi,
a little bit like in 2001
496
00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:30,400
with Arthur C Clarke's rotating
spaceship-type things.
497
00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:33,320
Maggie, you build space stuff.
498
00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,040
What do you think? Stuff, yes!
499
00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:38,960
Well, it is an interesting idea
and it is a sound idea.
500
00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:43,680
So centrifugal force is an apparent
force and it's actually
501
00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:45,480
due to inertia.
502
00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:50,280
But as... If you had a disk
that was spinning
503
00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:53,280
and people were inside
this sort of annulus,
504
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:56,760
then they would feel
artificial gravity. Yeah.
505
00:22:56,760 --> 00:23:00,800
Now, there was a chap
in the '70s called O'Neill,
506
00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:03,360
and he came up with the idea
of making huge ones,
507
00:23:03,360 --> 00:23:04,800
sort of like in these pictures.
508
00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:06,280
I love it. These are...
509
00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:08,560
So this is the stuff
of science fiction. Yeah.
510
00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:15,360
But he was talking about having them
maybe sort of 8km in diameter
511
00:23:15,360 --> 00:23:19,120
and 32km long, and housing
thousands of people.
512
00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:23,680
And they could actually sort of live
on the outskirts of these sort of
513
00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:27,280
giant structures
and sort of live in space.
514
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:29,920
And you could actually put these
Lagrange points where
515
00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:31,840
the gravity
is sort of balanced out,
516
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:34,280
and they could just stay they're
in orbit around the Sun,
517
00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:36,280
and this might be the future
for humanity.
518
00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:38,520
I would totally live there, looking
at that, it looks really nice.
519
00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:39,880
Looks pretty nice!
520
00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:42,320
Can I say, when I'm prime minister,
I'm going to divert
521
00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:44,480
all our money into building
one of those, just...
522
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:46,680
Jeff Bezos is doing this.
523
00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:48,760
He's thinking about this
and he's got the money. Crikey!
524
00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:51,320
It's one of those things,
that we've been talking about that
525
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:53,520
since the 1970s,
those sorts of things.
526
00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:56,600
And maybe, maybe one day...
I think they solved it,
527
00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:59,920
actually, on one of the
Bond movies, it was Moonraker.
528
00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:02,400
Well, that's the greatest
of the Bond movies, clearly.
529
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:05,480
Roger Moore floats weightless
through one of the corridors,
530
00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:07,480
goes through a door,
shuts the door, and he's got
531
00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:08,960
gravity on the other side.
532
00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:10,520
There we go.
533
00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:12,760
I love...I love Moonraker.
534
00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:15,160
While we're on the subject
of humans living in space,
535
00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:18,920
I want to talk about the Moon
because there's been lots
536
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:21,560
of Moon news this year recently,
Hannah, just tell us, give us
537
00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:24,000
a bit of a sort of rundown
on all things lunar.
538
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,880
Yeah, the Moon's really kind of
come back into vogue, I think,
539
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:28,760
when it comes to landing...
540
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:30,520
Has it ever been out of vogue,
the Moon?
541
00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:32,840
So we hadn't gone to the Moon...
542
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:36,280
And I'm saying "we", I mean,
you know, humanity and people,
543
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:39,800
sending probes
for a really, really long time.
544
00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:42,480
There's been this big gap in lunar
exploration, and we're starting
545
00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:44,880
to see, like, a revamping of that.
546
00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:47,160
And that kind of starts
with the Artemis programme
547
00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:50,200
from Nasa, which is going to be
sending the first woman
548
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,680
to the Moon, which is going
to be excellent.
549
00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:54,240
It's me!
550
00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:56,240
It's going to be Maggie!
LAUGHTER
551
00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,200
She would absolutely love that.
552
00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:02,880
So they've actually done a flight
already which didn't have a crew
553
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:04,720
on it, but it flew around the Moon.
554
00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,640
And the next test of the Artemis
programme is to send a crewed
555
00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:11,760
mission to the Moon itself,
which would be really amazing.
556
00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:16,080
But recently we just saw the
Indian lander at the South Pole
557
00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:19,520
of the Moon. You can see it here.
The Moon is incredibly self-similar.
558
00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,280
The closer you get, the more kind of
those holes start showing up.
559
00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:26,560
It's an incredibly difficult place
to land, and there's been a number
560
00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:28,920
of failures from other people
trying to land on it.
561
00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:31,440
But we've got two more that are
heading to the Moon now.
562
00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:33,760
We've got a Chinese mission
which is planning to do
563
00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:35,080
a sample return.
564
00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:37,480
So they're going to get a sample
from the Moon and return that
565
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:39,040
to Earth in 2026.
566
00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:41,760
And then we've also got a Japanese
mission which is going to put
567
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:44,360
a lander on the Moon, and that's
going to be exploring
568
00:25:44,360 --> 00:25:46,440
some of the surface. Are they
aiming for the South Pole?
569
00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:49,880
I mean, South Pole, important
because water, we think,
570
00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:51,520
is there, is that the kind of...?
571
00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:54,040
Yeah, there's water mixed up
with the... Yeah.
572
00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:57,000
..so don't think you can go and
scoop out some lunar water.
573
00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,560
Damn it! You could go
scuba diving on the Moon!
574
00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:01,440
You can probably make
rocket fuel for it.
575
00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:04,320
I should say, there's obviously
European involvement as well.
576
00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:08,080
So ISA is involved in the Artemis
programme and maybe putting a clone
577
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:11,520
of the International Space Station
in orbit around the Moon,
578
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:13,080
to act as a base.
579
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:16,080
We're also doing GPS for the Moon
because all of these landers
580
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:17,960
need to know where they are
and how to navigate.
581
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:20,160
But there's a whole host of things
because the Moon is not
582
00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:21,640
a nice, smooth surface.
583
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,520
There are caves on the Moon,
there are ancient lava tubes
584
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:28,120
that people are planning to send
rovers to explore the old lava tubes
585
00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:29,360
on the Moon.
586
00:26:29,360 --> 00:26:32,360
So there is a whole
under-surface world up there
587
00:26:32,360 --> 00:26:34,280
that we need to explore.
588
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:36,600
This is you and your
scuba diving again!
589
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:38,040
They're building...
590
00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:40,480
They're getting...
I can't even get GPS on Earth,
591
00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:41,880
or get Wi-Fi signal here.
592
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:43,800
Different budget. Yes.
593
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:45,560
Right, we're going to move on.
594
00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:47,880
Actually, we'll stick with the Moon
for the moment.
595
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:50,480
We've got a question that's
been sent in from Ray Milton,
596
00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:54,320
who lives in Matlock. Hi, Ray,
in lovely rural Derbyshire.
597
00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:55,680
He asked...
598
00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:09,200
So, Pete, this is obviously
a Pete question.
599
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,800
If you were standing
on the Moon's surface,
600
00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:14,520
looking up in the sky where the
Earth was there, during
601
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:17,320
a total eclipse of the Sun,
the Earth would appear full
602
00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:20,320
and it's really bright
and larger than the Moon.
603
00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:25,200
And you'd see the shadow of the Moon
crossing the Earth's disk.
604
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:29,320
It's... The central part of that
shadow is about 100 miles across
605
00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:34,120
on an average eclipse, and you'd see
a sort of area around...
606
00:27:34,120 --> 00:27:35,800
You've got it up there, actually.
Yeah.
607
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,760
You've got an area around it
which is shaded and that's where
608
00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:42,200
you'd see a partial eclipse
of the Sun if you were on the Earth.
609
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:44,880
So the Earth would look...
There we go.
610
00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:46,200
That looks fantastic.
611
00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:47,880
So this is from the
DSCOVR satellite.
612
00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:49,320
It looks like it, yeah, yeah.
613
00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:52,120
The astronauts on the space station
have reported seeing this as well.
614
00:27:52,120 --> 00:27:54,360
So it's not as spectacular
as our view from Earth,
615
00:27:54,360 --> 00:27:56,280
but it's pretty good.
It's quite impressive.
616
00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:59,520
So, basically, if Ray was standing
on the Moon, he'd kind of see that?
617
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:02,160
Yes, he would.
Yeah, great. OK.
618
00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:04,040
Supplementary question about this,
619
00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:06,120
and this is what
I've been thinking about.
620
00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:09,080
I mentioned Norman Lockyer
at the beginning and his discovery
621
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:12,160
of helium, looking at the Sun,
but I forgot to mention
622
00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:14,640
that he did it when he was
looking at an eclipse,
623
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:18,680
and as well as eclipses being
dramatic and wonderful things for us
624
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:23,080
to look at, what interest do
scientists get from eclipses?
625
00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:26,160
So, total eclipses, total
solar eclipses like the one
626
00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:27,440
shown on screen,
627
00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:29,320
those are one of the very few
opportunities we get
628
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:31,120
to look at the Sun's corona.
629
00:28:31,120 --> 00:28:33,680
And that's what this white, wispy
area is that you're seeing
630
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:36,880
around that solar disk,
and that corona is a result
631
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:39,480
of the high magnetic field
of the Sun.
632
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:44,200
And so by looking at how the shape
of the corona changes year on year,
633
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:47,040
you can kind of study the
solar cycle through that as well.
634
00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:50,680
And it was back in... I think
there's an eclipse in 1860s,
635
00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:54,160
something like that, that they
finally realised that this corona
636
00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:56,920
was associated with the Sun and
not with the Moon, because prior
637
00:28:56,920 --> 00:28:59,880
to that there had been different
arguments for whether it was
638
00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:02,120
an atmosphere of the Moon,
rather than the Sun.
639
00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:05,080
And what about...? Hannah,
what about in the exoplanet world?
640
00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:09,360
Are eclipses useful? Eclipses are
incredibly important for exoplanets,
641
00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:12,720
and it's not total eclipses,
like we saw there,
642
00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:17,040
but we're seeing here a video of
Venus passing in front of the Sun.
643
00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:18,440
You can see the light dipping. Yeah.
644
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:21,400
If you look at that little graph
there on the right, it dips.
645
00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:23,640
And as it gets to the edge,
the kind of light comes...
646
00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:26,520
And the important thing is,
with that, what the amount
647
00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:30,400
of light that we lose is the ratio
of the area of Venus
648
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:32,720
that is covering up the area
of the star.
649
00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,680
So we can use that in exoplanets
to discover different worlds
650
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:37,240
around other distant stars.
651
00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:40,320
We look at the stars themselves,
we measure the light from them,
652
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:43,360
and if a planet passes in front,
it causes this dip.
653
00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:46,520
And from that dip we can work out
the size of that planet.
654
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:48,520
And if it happens again and again,
655
00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:50,320
we can work out the orbit
of that planet.
656
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:52,560
So we're already starting
to learn huge amounts
657
00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:54,160
about these alien systems.
658
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:55,840
And it is the most prolific way
659
00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:58,200
of us discovering worlds
beyond our own.
660
00:29:58,200 --> 00:29:59,720
Gosh, exoplanets.
661
00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:01,960
It's this new frontier
of discovery, isn't it?
662
00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,160
It's very, very exciting.
663
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:06,720
While we're on the subject
of exoplanets,
664
00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:09,440
Matthew Stokes from
Worcestershire...
665
00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:13,680
From Worcester, sorry!
..is also eagerly awaiting
666
00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:15,480
exoplanet development.
667
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:17,360
He's got a very, very good question.
668
00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:31,360
Or is it just ever going to be
kind of blobs in the distance?
669
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:33,600
Pete, what do you think?
Pete can do that.
670
00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:38,520
Well, from the amateur perspective,
they're a bit out of reach
671
00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:44,280
at the moment, but amateurs do
measure the drop in light
672
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:48,840
as an exoplanet goes
in front of its host star.
673
00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:53,040
But there is a flight of fantasy
if you are an amateur astronomer,
674
00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:56,120
because there are various stars
you can look at.
675
00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:59,000
One, for example, is 55 Cancri,
676
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:01,200
which is indicated there.
Looks just like...
677
00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:03,800
That's a massive spaceship
next to it!
678
00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:06,160
Just like one of those
Star Wars...
679
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:07,760
A massive arrow next to it.
680
00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:09,760
Surprising they didn't find
Pluto earlier
681
00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:13,000
because it's always got
an arrow pointing to it.
682
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:14,800
It's massive, look!
683
00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:17,680
Yeah, but 55 Cancri has got
five planets in orbit around it.
684
00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:21,200
So when you look at this,
that sort of ordinary-looking star,
685
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:24,800
your imagination takes you
away to that solar system.
686
00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:27,200
Hannah, you're the obvious
person to talk...
687
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:29,640
Come on, we need to see
features, we want to see...
688
00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:32,600
We can actually get
images of exoplanets. Can we?
689
00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:35,320
It's called "direct imaging",
because we have no imagination.
690
00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:38,320
LAUGHTER
But what we're seeing here
691
00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:41,320
is four giant Jupiter planets
692
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:43,160
orbiting around a star.
693
00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:46,040
Now, their orbits are being measured
over the course of seven years here
694
00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:48,600
with a telescope in Hawaii.
695
00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:51,680
But their orbits actually take
hundreds of years
696
00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:52,960
to get around their star.
697
00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:56,240
They're very, very distant compared
to what we know in our solar system.
698
00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:59,080
So, a bit fuzzy,
that's kind of what you're saying?
699
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:00,640
A little bit unclear.
700
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,320
If little fuzzy blobs is your
thing... You love fuzzy blobs!
701
00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:05,760
..I can beat you with the fuzzy
blobs. Well, tell us.
702
00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:08,160
So we've also got images
of planets forming as well.
703
00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:10,480
So, hopefully, we're going to get
a picture up of a disk.
704
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:11,720
Here we go.
705
00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:14,520
So this is a disk called PDS 70.
Even better than your name.
706
00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:16,680
That's right.
LAUGHTER
707
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:19,480
So what are we looking at here with
this kind of doughnut ring?
708
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:21,800
This is a star with its inner disk
at the centre,
709
00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,480
and then you have an outer disk
around the outside.
710
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:27,600
And between the inner disk
and the outer disk, that little blob
711
00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:31,480
that you can see, the fuzzy blob,
is an orbiting protoplanet.
712
00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:33,680
So it still has a disk
around itself,
713
00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:37,880
just as we have circumstellar disk,
we also have circumplanetary disks,
714
00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:40,680
and it's kind of turtles all the way
down, just to put a Terry Pratchett
715
00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:43,600
reference in there. Nice. Very good.
We got there.
716
00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:45,480
They're, like, nodding over there,
717
00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:47,560
"Oh, yes, we got that,
we understood that reference."
718
00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:50,040
But just, OK,
fuzzy blobs aside,
719
00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:52,040
are we ever going to be
"Oh, look, there's a mountain."
720
00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:53,600
Are we going to get to that?
721
00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:57,240
We haven't got to the point where
our telescopes are good enough,
722
00:32:57,240 --> 00:33:00,120
high enough resolution, or able
to get rid of the starlight.
723
00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:01,920
Stars are so much brighter
than planets are,
724
00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:03,320
and they get in the way.
725
00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:05,640
If we could just get rid of them,
we'd be fine.
726
00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:09,240
So we can't get surface features
just yet, but that is something
727
00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:11,400
that is being planned right now.
What can we do?
728
00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:14,320
What telescopes do we need to get
those surface features?
729
00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:15,880
But we can see clouds.
730
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,080
So the question was asking
about clouds, and we can see
731
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:19,920
the clouds through the rotation
of the planet.
732
00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:22,320
And if you've got patches
where you don't have clouds,
733
00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:24,240
you can see deeper
into the atmosphere.
734
00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:26,680
Then when you've got the clouds
there, and we can see that
735
00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:29,400
from these worlds,
so they are fully three-dimensional
736
00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:31,720
things that exist, that we can see.
Wow! That's amazing.
737
00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:34,240
We've only been looking at
exoplanets for, like, 20 years
738
00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:37,040
or something, 25 years,
something like... It's amazing.
739
00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:38,840
Let's talk to someone
in our audience.
740
00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:40,640
We've got Dani Rowan,
who's got a question.
741
00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:42,320
Where's Dani? There she is.
742
00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:46,120
Yeah, so given that we that we know
that there's CO2 in the Earth's
743
00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:50,840
atmosphere, and that warms the
planet, does it indicate that CO2
744
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:54,080
on exoplanets are compatible
with life?
745
00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:55,680
Crikey!
746
00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:58,360
Hannah, again. Sorry!
This is your...
747
00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:01,040
CO2 is the thing that we're just
really interested in at the moment,
748
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:04,080
but we've known that CO2 warms
the planet since the 1850s,
749
00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:06,320
when Eunice Foote did experiments
750
00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:09,720
using jars of CO2 gas
and normal air.
751
00:34:09,720 --> 00:34:14,600
And she heated up these different
tubes and saw that CO2 absorbs
752
00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:17,840
the heat better and it also releases
it slower than normal air does.
753
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:20,040
So it's a double whammy
in the heating, and that's
754
00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:22,800
because it's such a large molecule
in the way that it's built.
755
00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:25,000
It absorbs that infrared radiation.
756
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:29,920
So with JWST, which is an infrared
telescope, we've been able
757
00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:34,400
to measure CO2 in the atmosphere
of an exoplanet.
758
00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:37,280
This is WASP-39b....
That's an artist's...
759
00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:39,920
An artist's impression of WASP-39b.
760
00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:43,840
But we can see the spectrum
that we got, which is real data
761
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:47,760
of that planet's atmosphere,
and that massive bump that you see
762
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:49,160
there, in the yellow,
763
00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:51,480
that's the carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere
764
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:52,920
absorbing that light.
765
00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:54,680
But this is a gas giant.
766
00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:56,680
It is 1,000 Kelvin.
767
00:34:56,680 --> 00:35:00,000
It is a horrible place to go
for your holidays.
768
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:03,920
So when it comes to looking at
smaller and smaller planets,
769
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:08,320
we're looking for CO2 because it
has this big absorption signature,
770
00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:10,960
but it doesn't mean life.
771
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:13,600
We can look at our own
solar system for that.
772
00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:17,320
So Mars and Venus both have
atmospheres that are dominated
773
00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:21,360
by CO2, but we would see them
very differently in their spectrum
774
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:23,640
because Mars has a very thin
atmosphere, whereas Venus
775
00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:25,320
has a very thick atmosphere.
776
00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:28,680
So the CO2 measurements
we're trying to make are to tell us
777
00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:31,920
how thick the atmosphere
around rocky planets is.
778
00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:33,400
And this stuff's really important
779
00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:35,720
because people get obsessed
with planets that
780
00:35:35,720 --> 00:35:37,960
could be homes for our kind of life.
Exactly.
781
00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:40,880
People talk about the habitable
zone, the region around a star,
782
00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:43,200
and we used to call it
"the Goldilocks Zone" before people
783
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:45,600
got too serious, because it's not
too hot and not too cold.
784
00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:47,040
We still call it
the Goldilocks Zone!
785
00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:50,000
The Goldilocks Zone. OK, on this
stage, it's the Goldilocks Zone.
786
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:53,120
But the thing is, not all planets
are equal. The atmosphere matters.
787
00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:56,320
If the Earth didn't have
our atmosphere,
788
00:35:56,320 --> 00:35:58,480
the place would be freezing, right?
789
00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:01,040
And so we'd no longer be
in our Goldilocks Zone.
790
00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:03,960
And so you have to really understand
the planet to be able to say
791
00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:05,560
anything about conditions there.
792
00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:08,360
And so the measurements that
Hannah and co are doing are vital
793
00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:10,920
when we start to ask questions
like where could life exist,
794
00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:14,240
how common are planets
that could support life,
795
00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:15,760
and what's going on in these worlds?
796
00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:17,720
Great. Dani, does that
answer your question?
797
00:36:17,720 --> 00:36:20,320
Say yes! Thank you. Great, good.
798
00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:22,600
This is one... We could talk
for hours about this,
799
00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:24,240
but we have to move on.
800
00:36:24,240 --> 00:36:27,320
I want to move on because I want to
talk about what an incredible year
801
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:29,680
it's been for the JWST.
802
00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:33,840
Maggie, you have worked
on this great telescope.
803
00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:37,320
From your point of view,
because it was expensive,
804
00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:39,480
it went over budget,
it took a long time to build.
805
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:41,000
Has it paid off?
806
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:43,520
Are you are you kind of like,
"It was worth it"? Yes.
807
00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:45,400
So it was horribly over budget,
808
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:47,040
it was horribly late,
809
00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:51,680
and I was there in December 2021,
biting my fingernails
810
00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:53,200
as it was launched.
811
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:56,240
But I think it has definitely
paid off because I think
812
00:36:56,240 --> 00:36:58,600
JWST does the works.
813
00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:01,680
It sort of looks at
sort of gases on Titan.
814
00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:04,000
It looks at the age of the universe.
815
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:06,440
It just... It gets out there
and it just does a whole
816
00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:08,040
multiplicity of things.
817
00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:10,040
And just in terms of images,
do you have a highlight
818
00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:12,240
of something that you've
kind of seen and you've gone,
819
00:37:12,240 --> 00:37:15,200
"Wow, that's amazing!" Well,
actually, I think one of the things
820
00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:17,320
that I'm really interested in
is NIRSpec, because that's
821
00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:21,600
the instrument I worked on. OK.
And NIRSpec gave us...
822
00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:26,560
NIRSpec is a complicated
instrument because it has this
823
00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:29,880
microshutter array, so it has about
quarter of a million shutters.
824
00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:33,120
So what it means is you could
actually sort of have a starfield
825
00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:36,200
and look at multiple objects
at the same time and get multiple
826
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:37,880
spectra at the same time. OK.
827
00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:40,920
And this gives us a better
understanding of galaxies,
828
00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:42,600
star formation, all these things.
829
00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:44,480
But it's also giving us an
understanding of
830
00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:46,600
the age of the universe,
looking at cosmic dust.
831
00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:49,320
It's giving us, just... Oh, yes,
yeah, it's just very exciting.
832
00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:52,400
Basically, we like... It's good.
833
00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:54,120
We think that's pretty good.
834
00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:58,280
Yeah. Hannah, what...?
Do you have a JWST highlight?
835
00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:00,640
I've got many...
Oh, here we go!
836
00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:03,640
It is a fantastic telescope
for exoplanet science.
837
00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:06,280
We're looking at the atmospheres
of these planets,
838
00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:10,520
and one of the first data sets
that was shown to the world was,
839
00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:12,000
in fact, a spectrum.
840
00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:14,160
Rather than these beautiful
images, we take them,
841
00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:16,160
we turn it into a squiggle for you.
842
00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:17,960
And we put nice, big error bars
843
00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:19,080
on that squiggle.
844
00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:20,720
But what you're seeing here is
845
00:38:20,720 --> 00:38:22,640
the atmosphere of an alien planet.
846
00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:24,800
And we are looking at the evidence
847
00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:26,960
for water vapour in the gas form -
848
00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:28,880
this is a very hot world -
849
00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:31,400
and also evidence for clouds
in that atmosphere.
850
00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:32,880
And I love clouds.
851
00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:35,280
This is going to be the way
we discover life beyond Earth,
852
00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:37,760
a bit like Norman Lockyer
with his spectroscope,
853
00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:40,040
looking at the atmosphere. If you
can find the right chemicals...
854
00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:42,520
Exactly. ..and understand the
atmospheres. And understand them.
855
00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:45,000
Yeah. It's all of these things
that play together that's
856
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:46,760
really important for these spectra.
857
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:48,480
Yeah, exciting stuff.
858
00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:51,280
Claire, exciting world for you
in the JWST?
859
00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:53,920
I've just been excited
by the star formation photos.
860
00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:56,160
I mean, they're bigger scales
than I kind of look at. Yeah.
861
00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:58,080
So I'm not directly involved
in JWST or anything,
862
00:38:58,080 --> 00:39:00,400
but this is like the pillars
of creation. Yeah.
863
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:03,800
So on the left we have the
Hubble image, and on the right
864
00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:06,160
we have the new JWST images.
865
00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:09,520
And, like, the advancement in that,
the clarity and the fact
866
00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:13,200
that we can probe now into the dark
features, which are containing dust,
867
00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:15,880
so that's what obscures
the view.
868
00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:18,400
It's a bit like having
night-vision goggles, you know,
869
00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:21,000
to kind of peer
through something.
870
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:24,080
It's the same kind of effect
and it's just a wonderful kind of
871
00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:26,680
demonstration of the advancement
in the technology, really.
872
00:39:26,680 --> 00:39:30,200
I spent years telling people that
JWST would do interesting science,
873
00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:32,960
but we shouldn't expect
the pictures to be spectacular.
874
00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:34,440
How wrong you were. So I... Yeah.
875
00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:36,520
I remember having that conversation
with you.
876
00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:38,960
Yeah. Exactly, yeah. Sorry.
877
00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:43,040
Pete, as our telescope expert,
what do you think?
878
00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:46,200
I think the images are...
They're inspiring.
879
00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:48,000
They're awesome and stunning.
880
00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:53,040
And they must be inspiring the next
generation of space scientists
881
00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:56,200
as well, surely, because
they are just incredible.
882
00:39:56,200 --> 00:40:00,360
And, for me, one of the highlight
images is the shot
883
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:04,600
of the supernova recently, 1987A,
884
00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:07,680
where, I mean, that went off in 1987
885
00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:10,880
in the Large Magellanic Cloud,
886
00:40:10,880 --> 00:40:14,720
which is 168,000 light years away.
887
00:40:14,720 --> 00:40:19,680
And we've been studying how
that supernova, or after-supernova
888
00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:21,160
region has been developing.
889
00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:24,840
But now JWST is sending back
this amazing picture,
890
00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:28,840
showing us the central region
where you've got interaction
891
00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:32,200
between material, creating
these hot spots in a ring,
892
00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:34,440
equatorial ring
around the explosion.
893
00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:36,640
It's just stunning.
894
00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:38,240
We like it.
895
00:40:38,240 --> 00:40:41,960
Now, then, JWST, we have got
a question from our audience,
896
00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:43,880
and it is from Hugh Taylor.
897
00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:45,640
Where's Hugh? What's your question?
898
00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:47,920
Hello and good evening.
899
00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:50,240
Is it true that images
from James Webb
900
00:40:50,240 --> 00:40:54,160
are making astronomers reassess
the age of the universe?
901
00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:57,960
And if that is true, what is in
those images, and how old or young
902
00:40:57,960 --> 00:40:59,760
might the universe be?
Good que...
903
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:02,160
There's been a bit of that
in the news recently, about the age
904
00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:03,560
of the universe.
905
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:06,880
Yeah, JWST is surprising us in the
best way, which is that the early
906
00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:10,840
universe is more interesting than
we thought it was going to be.
907
00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:15,000
We've been finding, when JWST
just stares at random patches
908
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:19,440
of the sky like this, we find these
red blobs, which friends of mine
909
00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:22,160
who call themselves "blobologists"
spend their lives studying,
910
00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:24,240
and these are really
distant galaxies.
911
00:41:24,240 --> 00:41:26,960
So the light from this one,
for example, has been travelling
912
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:29,960
towards us for something
like 95% of the time
913
00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:32,120
that the universe has existed.
914
00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:34,840
And so we're finding the early
universe is filled with more
915
00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:36,840
young galaxies than we expected.
916
00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:38,720
They're more massive
than we thought.
917
00:41:38,720 --> 00:41:41,400
They have more star formation
than we thought. They may even...
918
00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:44,120
There are hints that they have
bigger black holes at their centre
919
00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:47,280
than we thought, and we're not
quite sure how this is happening.
920
00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:49,160
So maybe we don't understand
how galaxies form.
921
00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:51,800
Maybe there's something fundamental
that we don't understand.
922
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:53,480
Now, there was one news story...
923
00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:55,880
There's a researcher in Canada
who said that he could solve
924
00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:58,800
all of these problems if you doubled
the age of the universe.
925
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:01,320
But what his theory doesn't explain
is that all the stars
926
00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:03,200
in these things are really young.
927
00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:05,800
So he doesn't explain
the whole picture.
928
00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:09,360
So I think the age of the universe
is still 13.8 billion years,
929
00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:12,760
but it got going with a bang,
and not just the Big Bang.
930
00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:15,160
Things started happening pretty
quickly. Is that going to change,
931
00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:17,680
or do we think that's it?
We're not going to...?
932
00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:20,840
So maybe these red things
are some bizarre nearby source.
933
00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:23,680
So we're going through and tracking
them, but it's beginning to look
934
00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:26,240
like there really are...there
really is too much activity
935
00:42:26,240 --> 00:42:28,040
for our taste in the early universe,
936
00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:30,480
and we're going to have
to change something in our theories
937
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:32,600
to fix it. Great. Thank you
very much for your question.
938
00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:34,360
We've got another audience question.
939
00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:37,040
We've got Peter Bishop.
Where's Peter?
940
00:42:37,040 --> 00:42:39,680
Hello there. Hi.
Hi, Peter.
941
00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:43,640
My question is, if you had to fund
one outer space research project,
942
00:42:43,640 --> 00:42:45,600
what would it be and why?
943
00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:48,360
Funding. Well, as your future
prime minister,
944
00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:49,960
I've got a lot to say.
LAUGHTER
945
00:42:49,960 --> 00:42:51,960
Big rotating space stations.
946
00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:54,000
That's what I'm going to do.
947
00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:55,560
Hannah, what do you think,
948
00:42:55,560 --> 00:42:58,080
if you've got the strings
to the purse?
949
00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:00,120
I want a mega
Hubble Space Telescope.
950
00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:03,760
Hubble has been in orbit
for over 30 years now.
951
00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:07,120
It has done amazing things
for science and it critically looks
952
00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:10,720
in the ultraviolet and optical,
which JWST just does not do.
953
00:43:10,720 --> 00:43:16,240
So when Hubble goes, I want
Mega Hubble, so that we can collect
954
00:43:16,240 --> 00:43:19,720
all of the photons and understand
the whole comprehensive picture.
955
00:43:19,720 --> 00:43:21,800
Perfect. Pete?
956
00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:25,240
A huge telescope, I think,
on the far side of the Moon,
957
00:43:25,240 --> 00:43:29,600
not in the central bit because you'd
have two weeks off every month,
958
00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:33,000
but in one of the permanently
shadowed craters, and have it
959
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:34,960
remotely accessible from Earth
960
00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:38,360
so we can all join in and
look to see what it can see.
961
00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:40,160
Claire, money is no object.
962
00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:42,760
If we're talking pipe dreams,
I'll go with space interferometry.
963
00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:46,560
So, up your Hubble and go with
a series of them. Interferometry?
964
00:43:46,560 --> 00:43:49,080
Interferometry. So it's when
you build telescopes in arrays.
965
00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:51,400
So this image that
you're showing on screen,
966
00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:53,680
so it's two different times
that you've taken a photo
967
00:43:53,680 --> 00:43:57,800
of the same object, and this
is an inner disk of a star,
968
00:43:57,800 --> 00:43:59,960
and we're seeing a possible
rotating feature.
969
00:43:59,960 --> 00:44:03,040
Now, it's not sure whether this
is a planet at the moment.
970
00:44:03,040 --> 00:44:06,400
It might be, but we're going
to have to follow it up.
971
00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:09,400
But if we were to have a look at
sun-like stars,
972
00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:12,440
we'd need much better,
bigger telescopes.
973
00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:16,440
And that's only really possible
if we launch them up into space.
974
00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:18,600
A lot of orange doughnut rings
have been...
975
00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:19,960
There's a theme here.
976
00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:22,760
It's just a nice colour scale
to be able to analyse the image
977
00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:25,680
for the human eye, because if you
used, like, a rainbow colour scheme
978
00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:28,160
or something,
then you pick up false things.
979
00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:30,400
So it's just nice
to kind of use the orange.
980
00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:33,120
I like it, I wasn't
complaining about it!
981
00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:35,040
Chris, money no object,
what would you do?
982
00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:36,440
Hannah's sorted Mega Hubble,
983
00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:39,560
but we learned from the Hubble
generation that you need to fly
984
00:44:39,560 --> 00:44:41,240
telescopes at different wavelengths.
985
00:44:41,240 --> 00:44:44,360
So I will have, in addition
to a mega Hubble, let's have
986
00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:47,440
a big version of Chandra, the X-ray
telescope, and let's have...
987
00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:50,280
Actually JWST is only going to last
another 19 years.
988
00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:51,960
20 years is not enough!
989
00:44:51,960 --> 00:44:54,400
Yeah, let's have another
JWST, but bigger, please, Maggie!
990
00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:57,200
LAUGHTER
OK, I'm on it, I'm on it!
991
00:44:57,200 --> 00:44:58,280
Maggie?
992
00:44:58,280 --> 00:45:00,560
Well, you see, I'm a lunatic...
993
00:45:00,560 --> 00:45:03,160
You are a lunatic.
In the best possible sense. Yes!
994
00:45:03,160 --> 00:45:05,960
In the best possible sense. Because
I'm totally in love with lunar,
995
00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:08,800
and so Pete has got a telescope
on the Moon, but you want
996
00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:11,400
to run it remotely, I want to go and
live on the Moon.
997
00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:13,360
I want a moon base. I'll be next to
the telescope,
998
00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:16,040
making sure it's working. You can
clean mine, then. Exactly!
999
00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:18,080
I'll make it happen
as your prime minister.
1000
00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:19,320
This is all going to happen.
1001
00:45:19,320 --> 00:45:21,400
Right, we're going to move on,
our regular feature.
1002
00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:23,440
It is Pete's Star Guide.
1003
00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:28,960
What have we got to look forward to
in the coming months?
1004
00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:33,040
Right, well, I think let's start off
with the Orionid meteor shower,
1005
00:45:33,040 --> 00:45:36,720
which peaks on the night
of the 21st to the morning
1006
00:45:36,720 --> 00:45:39,560
of the 22nd of October.
1007
00:45:39,560 --> 00:45:44,640
And we've got an early-setting
first-quarter moon which will leave
1008
00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:46,760
the sky nice and dark for that.
1009
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:48,400
The Orionids,
1010
00:45:48,400 --> 00:45:51,480
they appear to emanate from an area
very close to the star
1011
00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:53,200
Betelgeuse in Orion.
1012
00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:56,160
And if you see one, you're seeing
a tiny bit of Halley's Comet
1013
00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:57,800
vaporising in the atmosphere.
1014
00:45:57,800 --> 00:46:00,560
And so a week after that,
presumably, we have the full moon?
1015
00:46:00,560 --> 00:46:02,320
We do indeed, yes.
1016
00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:04,640
On the 28th, we've got a full moon.
1017
00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:09,240
And this particular full moon will
clip the Earth's shadow in space,
1018
00:46:09,240 --> 00:46:11,320
creating a partial eclipse.
1019
00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:13,360
Now, that peaks at
1020
00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:16,240
around 21.15, 21.14 BST,
1021
00:46:16,240 --> 00:46:20,080
and you'll get about 12%
of the Moon's diameter covered
1022
00:46:20,080 --> 00:46:21,360
by the Earth's shadow.
1023
00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:23,880
So it's not a massive one, but
it's still worth looking out for.
1024
00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:26,680
And, of course, you've got Jupiter
nearby when that's happening,
1025
00:46:26,680 --> 00:46:30,160
and Jupiter will reach opposition
when it's in the opposite part
1026
00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:32,960
of the sky to the Sun
on the 3rd of November,
1027
00:46:32,960 --> 00:46:35,160
and it's an amazing planet.
1028
00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:38,240
At that time, that's when it will
be at its brightest and best.
1029
00:46:38,240 --> 00:46:42,160
But if you have a telescope
in the UK, Jupiter is getting
1030
00:46:42,160 --> 00:46:46,600
really high up, so you'll get
exceptional views of it from now,
1031
00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:48,880
through to the end of the year.
1032
00:46:48,880 --> 00:46:51,680
And as we get close to the end of
the year, actually, I want to give
1033
00:46:51,680 --> 00:46:55,320
a shoutout to the Geminid meteor
shower, which is arguably...
1034
00:46:55,320 --> 00:46:56,800
No, it's not arguably, it is
1035
00:46:56,800 --> 00:46:58,800
the best meteor shower of the year!
1036
00:46:58,800 --> 00:47:01,680
He's committed. Yes.
He's committed to this.
1037
00:47:01,680 --> 00:47:03,360
And that peaks on the night
1038
00:47:03,360 --> 00:47:04,920
of the 13th of December,
1039
00:47:04,920 --> 00:47:06,160
into the morning of
1040
00:47:06,160 --> 00:47:07,560
the 14th of December.
1041
00:47:07,560 --> 00:47:09,000
And the mortal enemy of the
1042
00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:10,880
Geminid meteor shower is the Moon,
1043
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:12,440
and the Moon will be out of the way.
1044
00:47:12,440 --> 00:47:14,640
I think those are your pictures,
aren't they? Yes, they are.
1045
00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:16,320
You took those. So you'll get...
1046
00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:18,280
This is what you've got
to look forward to.
1047
00:47:18,280 --> 00:47:21,560
You'll have up to 12 hours
of total darkness
1048
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:25,640
to lie outside in the garden,
on a cold December night.
1049
00:47:25,640 --> 00:47:28,200
Heaven! And that sounds like heaven.
Oh, I can't wait for that.
1050
00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:29,680
CHUCKLING
I can't wait for that.
1051
00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:32,280
Right, we're going to move on
from things we CAN see
1052
00:47:32,280 --> 00:47:35,720
to things that, well,
until recently, we couldn't see,
1053
00:47:35,720 --> 00:47:37,640
and that is black holes.
1054
00:47:37,640 --> 00:47:41,280
The first image we saw was this -
it's the centre of the galaxy,
1055
00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:44,360
M87, which, of course,
it's another orange doughnut!
1056
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:47,800
Yeah, we like them. But it caused
an absolute sensation, this one.
1057
00:47:47,800 --> 00:47:51,840
And then the second was the centre
of our own galaxy,
1058
00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:54,440
Sagittarius A star,
which was this one.
1059
00:47:54,440 --> 00:47:57,720
Actually, funnily enough, I read a
really good book about black holes,
1060
00:47:57,720 --> 00:48:00,360
it really pulled me in!
GROANING, CHUCKLING
1061
00:48:00,360 --> 00:48:02,680
Well, this excited everyone.
1062
00:48:02,680 --> 00:48:06,120
I mean, Krispy Kreme doughnuts
in the States gave everyone
1063
00:48:06,120 --> 00:48:08,720
in America a free orange-glazed
doughnut on the day
1064
00:48:08,720 --> 00:48:10,680
this was released.
Yeah. But only in America!
1065
00:48:10,680 --> 00:48:12,680
Like, why didn't we get...?
I know, I know!
1066
00:48:12,680 --> 00:48:15,480
And also, they didn't get the lumps
quite right, so theirs was smooth,
1067
00:48:15,480 --> 00:48:17,560
which is just wrong. Yuck!
1068
00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:20,440
We have a video question
all about black holes
1069
00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:24,520
from Jeffrey Sultoon,
who's in Cobham in Surrey.
1070
00:48:24,520 --> 00:48:26,320
Jeffrey.
1071
00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:30,240
What are the latest theories
on the behaviour of time
1072
00:48:30,240 --> 00:48:32,720
inside a black hole?
1073
00:48:32,720 --> 00:48:36,600
For example, could it be
almost stationary,
1074
00:48:36,600 --> 00:48:39,480
or might it even
be going backwards?
1075
00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:41,960
Well, finally, an easy question!
LAUGHTER
1076
00:48:41,960 --> 00:48:43,520
OK, here's the thing.
1077
00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:45,760
I've never understood black holes,
1078
00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:48,320
and I certainly don't understand
what happens to time in black...
1079
00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:51,480
You just hear kind of, like, weird
stuff. So, tell us, what's going to
1080
00:48:51,480 --> 00:48:53,920
happen to my watch...? Let's throw
you into a black hole, Dallas,
1081
00:48:53,920 --> 00:48:57,320
and... OK, yes. ..magically, you're
going to survive somehow. Right.
1082
00:48:57,320 --> 00:49:00,560
And so Einstein told us
that gravity changes time,
1083
00:49:00,560 --> 00:49:02,360
or your perception of time.
1084
00:49:02,360 --> 00:49:04,960
So as you fall into the black hole,
you can still see us.
1085
00:49:04,960 --> 00:49:08,360
Even though, once you disappear
over the event horizon, we can't see
1086
00:49:08,360 --> 00:49:11,280
you, you can still see light
from the rest of the universe.
1087
00:49:11,280 --> 00:49:13,360
So you can be watching
what's happening in the rest
1088
00:49:13,360 --> 00:49:14,680
of the universe.
1089
00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:16,960
But as you get deeper into
the gravitational field,
1090
00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:20,120
compared to time on the outside,
for you, it will run slower.
1091
00:49:20,120 --> 00:49:23,560
And so you will see the rest
of the universe slowly speed up
1092
00:49:23,560 --> 00:49:25,880
and get faster and faster and
faster, compared to
1093
00:49:25,880 --> 00:49:28,720
your perception of time. Will there
be lots of kind of cartoon clocks
1094
00:49:28,720 --> 00:49:31,560
whizzing past...? That's right, yes.
Yes, we know that.
1095
00:49:31,560 --> 00:49:34,400
And those strange green lines
will appear... Yes, exactly.
1096
00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:36,040
..as in The Simpsons.
1097
00:49:36,040 --> 00:49:39,280
But, yeah, so your perception of
time slows down when you compare
1098
00:49:39,280 --> 00:49:40,640
to the outside world.
1099
00:49:40,640 --> 00:49:42,880
From our point of view,
of course, you will have vanished
1100
00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:45,040
over the event horizon
and we'll cease to see you.
1101
00:49:45,040 --> 00:49:47,320
You know, the question was right.
1102
00:49:47,320 --> 00:49:50,520
At some point, time essentially,
for you, will feel like
1103
00:49:50,520 --> 00:49:52,120
it's completely stopped.
1104
00:49:52,120 --> 00:49:56,080
So once you hit the very centre
of the black hole, the singularity,
1105
00:49:56,080 --> 00:49:59,640
you will both be
inside the black hole
1106
00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:02,400
but also outside the black hole,
so... I can feel it.
1107
00:50:02,400 --> 00:50:05,320
..we can call this Schrodinger's
black hole, and... Keep with us.
1108
00:50:05,320 --> 00:50:08,680
Keep talking. If you're looking at
it, you would...
1109
00:50:08,680 --> 00:50:10,520
Everything would have just
completely stopped.
1110
00:50:10,520 --> 00:50:12,440
Sh. Time has stopped.
1111
00:50:12,440 --> 00:50:16,080
I can feel it. Wow, that was
amazing! There you go. Simple.
1112
00:50:16,080 --> 00:50:18,520
I still don't understand it, though.
1113
00:50:18,520 --> 00:50:21,120
The thing about time is,
the way that we perceive time,
1114
00:50:21,120 --> 00:50:23,320
it feels like this kind of
background river
1115
00:50:23,320 --> 00:50:24,960
that's kind of always there.
1116
00:50:24,960 --> 00:50:28,240
The idea of it behaving differently
is so counterintuitive.
1117
00:50:28,240 --> 00:50:30,800
I mean, one of the reasons
this is a hard question is that time
1118
00:50:30,800 --> 00:50:32,400
is the big mystery in physics.
1119
00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:34,320
We know that we can't jam...
1120
00:50:34,320 --> 00:50:38,240
We don't know how to jam Einstein's
relativity and quantum physics,
1121
00:50:38,240 --> 00:50:41,000
the theory of the small, together.
And one of the reasons is
1122
00:50:41,000 --> 00:50:42,840
they disagree about how
to think about time.
1123
00:50:42,840 --> 00:50:45,320
And a black hole is a place
where you care about relativity
1124
00:50:45,320 --> 00:50:47,040
AND quantum physics.
1125
00:50:47,040 --> 00:50:49,680
And so, you know, our theories
start to creak and it becomes
1126
00:50:49,680 --> 00:50:51,840
very difficult to understand
this stuff.
1127
00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:53,720
Can I just check,
where are we with that?
1128
00:50:53,720 --> 00:50:56,600
Are we kind of close
to kind of unifying those two?
1129
00:50:56,600 --> 00:50:59,240
I think we need the right person
to have the right idea
1130
00:50:59,240 --> 00:51:01,600
at the right time and stand up
and say, "It's this!"
1131
00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:03,920
And that person is Maggie.
LAUGHTER
1132
00:51:03,920 --> 00:51:06,720
Actually, what I was going to say
is that although it seems like
1133
00:51:06,720 --> 00:51:10,760
sort of an extrapolation, you see it
in black holes and things like that,
1134
00:51:10,760 --> 00:51:13,440
this is sort of real life
because our GPS systems
1135
00:51:13,440 --> 00:51:15,560
and our satellite systems
have to be corrected
1136
00:51:15,560 --> 00:51:18,040
because they are next to
the large mass of Earth.
1137
00:51:18,040 --> 00:51:21,800
So the fact that gravity affects
time is part of our everyday lives
1138
00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:24,520
and we have to work with that.
The thing I still don't understand
1139
00:51:24,520 --> 00:51:27,920
about black holes is people always
talk about singularities and sort of
1140
00:51:27,920 --> 00:51:30,960
stretching spacetime
in a sort of infinite way,
1141
00:51:30,960 --> 00:51:32,720
but a black hole is dense,
1142
00:51:32,720 --> 00:51:35,760
but it's still finite
in terms of its density.
1143
00:51:35,760 --> 00:51:38,600
Like, could you...? Well, we don't
know. The equations break down.
1144
00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:40,840
So people... I think
there's a physicist's trick
1145
00:51:40,840 --> 00:51:44,560
where we start muttering mystical
things about infinity and, you know,
1146
00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:48,240
how can we comprehend that
the singularity is infinite?
1147
00:51:48,240 --> 00:51:50,480
And actually what that means
is we're broken
1148
00:51:50,480 --> 00:51:54,040
and our equations don't work any
more. So the truth is, we don't know
1149
00:51:54,040 --> 00:51:56,920
what the middle of a black hole
is or how it works. All right,
1150
00:51:56,920 --> 00:51:59,760
talking about time,
time is fast running out,
1151
00:51:59,760 --> 00:52:02,040
so I'm going to move on to...
It's a video question.
1152
00:52:02,040 --> 00:52:06,040
It's our final question.
It's from Chris Langfield in Kent.
1153
00:52:06,040 --> 00:52:07,840
Chris, let's have your question.
1154
00:52:07,840 --> 00:52:11,240
Over the years, advances
in technology and understanding
1155
00:52:11,240 --> 00:52:13,840
mean that many widely-held
and well-established beliefs
1156
00:52:13,840 --> 00:52:15,720
have turned out not to be true.
1157
00:52:15,720 --> 00:52:19,320
One thinks of the Martian canals,
entries in the Messier catalogue,
1158
00:52:19,320 --> 00:52:23,040
or even the geocentric nature
of the universe. So my question is,
1159
00:52:23,040 --> 00:52:27,280
what do you think is most likely to
be the next theory to be debunked,
1160
00:52:27,280 --> 00:52:30,800
and, given the choice,
which would you want to turn out
1161
00:52:30,800 --> 00:52:33,240
to have an alternative explanation?
1162
00:52:33,240 --> 00:52:37,160
I love that question.
Basically, what is nonsense?
1163
00:52:37,160 --> 00:52:39,880
What do we think is right now
that is actually a load of old...
1164
00:52:39,880 --> 00:52:43,760
..you-know-what? OK, let's go
Pete, first, with this one.
1165
00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:47,080
Well, I would like to think
1166
00:52:47,080 --> 00:52:51,360
that the theory that we are alone
in the universe is wrong.
1167
00:52:51,360 --> 00:52:55,280
And in my lifetime, I'd like to
find other civilisations there.
1168
00:52:55,280 --> 00:52:57,880
But as an aside to that,
1169
00:52:57,880 --> 00:53:02,680
we'd study stars which vary in
their output a lot, variable stars,
1170
00:53:02,680 --> 00:53:06,320
and it would be great if there was
a subset of those variable stars
1171
00:53:06,320 --> 00:53:09,360
which was due to advanced
civilisations thinking,
1172
00:53:09,360 --> 00:53:11,360
"Easiest
way to signal everybody else
1173
00:53:11,360 --> 00:53:14,240
"is to put a shield around the star
and put it in orbit."
1174
00:53:14,240 --> 00:53:16,360
So the star is just blinking
1175
00:53:16,360 --> 00:53:19,480
because it's trying to communicate
and saying, "Hello!" So, genuinely,
1176
00:53:19,480 --> 00:53:22,480
I don't know that you were joking,
but there's a group of people
1177
00:53:22,480 --> 00:53:25,280
who are planning to look
for that sort of signal. Really?
1178
00:53:25,280 --> 00:53:28,240
Yeah, we've even been talking about
looking whether perhaps it would
1179
00:53:28,240 --> 00:53:30,000
please hyper-intelligent aliens
1180
00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:33,240
to make stars in different
bits of the galaxy blink together.
1181
00:53:33,240 --> 00:53:35,360
So we should be able
to check for this. Fantastic.
1182
00:53:35,360 --> 00:53:38,920
So this is actually cutting-edge
research. There you go. Perfect.
1183
00:53:38,920 --> 00:53:41,760
Claire, what's nonsense? And what
would you like to be nonsense?
1184
00:53:41,760 --> 00:53:44,120
I kind of want to pick up on
something that's recently
1185
00:53:44,120 --> 00:53:47,400
been debunked, rather than kind of,
like, something that I want
1186
00:53:47,400 --> 00:53:50,720
to be debunked,
cos that feels unkind.
1187
00:53:50,720 --> 00:53:52,840
You're wrong!
LAUGHTER
1188
00:53:52,840 --> 00:53:57,160
So, following the Juno mission
to Jupiter,
1189
00:53:57,160 --> 00:54:01,720
using the kind of, like, gravity
detectors that that spacecraft
1190
00:54:01,720 --> 00:54:06,000
had on board, we were able to see
that Jupiter's core was not solid.
1191
00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:09,000
And we'd all kind of just assumed
that it was solid
1192
00:54:09,000 --> 00:54:11,200
because of how we assume
that planets form.
1193
00:54:11,200 --> 00:54:13,640
So they form a core
and then they accrete the gas.
1194
00:54:13,640 --> 00:54:17,800
So finding that out means that
our theories of planet formation,
1195
00:54:17,800 --> 00:54:20,280
particularly Jupiter's formation,
or maybe its evolution
1196
00:54:20,280 --> 00:54:23,240
after it formed, have got to change.
Great. Well, thank you for that.
1197
00:54:23,240 --> 00:54:26,600
Maggie, what's on your mind?
Well, I think one of the things
1198
00:54:26,600 --> 00:54:27,960
that comes across for me
1199
00:54:27,960 --> 00:54:31,040
is that I really, really, really
want to get out there into space.
1200
00:54:31,040 --> 00:54:34,320
And I don't want to just go locally.
I want to... I want to travel far.
1201
00:54:34,320 --> 00:54:36,280
But the speed of light
is a bit of...
1202
00:54:36,280 --> 00:54:38,360
LAUGHTER
1203
00:54:38,360 --> 00:54:42,160
Could you travel in Barbie form?
Actually, well, yeah,
1204
00:54:42,160 --> 00:54:44,920
for the trip to the Moon, I think
I'm going to send Barbie. Yeah.
1205
00:54:44,920 --> 00:54:47,680
And so what I would like
is Einstein's idea
1206
00:54:47,680 --> 00:54:50,040
that you can't travel faster
than the speed of light,
1207
00:54:50,040 --> 00:54:53,600
I'd like that to be debunked,
but I'm not optimistic.
1208
00:54:53,600 --> 00:54:55,880
Well, every kind of five minutes
or so, someone comes up
1209
00:54:55,880 --> 00:54:58,840
with this new theory. "Oh, we've
found some particle that travels
1210
00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:00,600
"faster than the speed of light..."
1211
00:55:00,600 --> 00:55:03,600
But there's an opt-out, because...
Here it comes.
1212
00:55:03,600 --> 00:55:05,560
LAUGHTER
1213
00:55:05,560 --> 00:55:09,040
The Aderin-Pocock drive. Yes!
LAUGHTER
1214
00:55:09,040 --> 00:55:11,440
Cos there's the Alcubierre drive.
1215
00:55:11,440 --> 00:55:16,000
So a Mexican physicist
came up with this idea
1216
00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:17,680
that rather than travelling...
1217
00:55:17,680 --> 00:55:20,120
..rather than trying to travel
faster than the speed of light,
1218
00:55:20,120 --> 00:55:22,720
what you can do is
you can take spacetime,
1219
00:55:22,720 --> 00:55:24,320
and if you want to get from A to B,
1220
00:55:24,320 --> 00:55:28,280
you scrunch up spacetime in front
of you, elongate it behind you,
1221
00:55:28,280 --> 00:55:31,120
therefore you haven't travelled
faster than the speed of light,
1222
00:55:31,120 --> 00:55:33,840
but you get to your destination
super quick.
1223
00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:36,840
Is that like a kind of wormhole? So
rather than go from there to there,
1224
00:55:36,840 --> 00:55:39,640
you kind of bend it round? Well,
see, that's bending space and time.
1225
00:55:39,640 --> 00:55:42,000
This is actually concertinaing it up
and elongating it.
1226
00:55:42,000 --> 00:55:44,360
So instead of, like, a worm
going through an apple,
1227
00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:48,040
it's the worm actually just...
Chomping its way... Too much!
1228
00:55:48,040 --> 00:55:51,560
Actually, yeah... Melted my brain!
Gosh, actually... Sorry!
1229
00:55:51,560 --> 00:55:55,400
Suddenly that analogy...
It's not working so well, is it?
1230
00:55:55,400 --> 00:55:58,520
But the problem is... Actually, the
mathematics has been done for this,
1231
00:55:58,520 --> 00:56:01,240
and it can... Well,
theoretically, it is possible,
1232
00:56:01,240 --> 00:56:04,720
but the problem is you need
humongous amounts of energy
1233
00:56:04,720 --> 00:56:07,040
to actually sort of scrunch up
spacetime in front of you
1234
00:56:07,040 --> 00:56:09,760
and elongate it behind you. OK.
But I'm holding my breath.
1235
00:56:09,760 --> 00:56:11,600
As your prime minister.
1236
00:56:11,600 --> 00:56:14,320
Chris, finally, what's...?
1237
00:56:14,320 --> 00:56:16,760
Well... What do you think?
..we've got this idea that
1238
00:56:16,760 --> 00:56:19,440
most of the matter in the universe
is in the form of dark matter,
1239
00:56:19,440 --> 00:56:21,240
which we haven't seen,
1240
00:56:21,240 --> 00:56:24,040
but we're pretty convinced
it's there. I would love it
1241
00:56:24,040 --> 00:56:26,440
if that wasn't true,
because the alternative is
1242
00:56:26,440 --> 00:56:29,840
that we change gravity,
we learn some new physics,
1243
00:56:29,840 --> 00:56:31,240
we prove Einstein's wrong.
1244
00:56:31,240 --> 00:56:35,040
We open a hole for Maggie to break
Einstein's rules and go faster
1245
00:56:35,040 --> 00:56:37,920
than the speed of light. So I'm
pretty convinced dark matter exists.
1246
00:56:37,920 --> 00:56:41,400
I'd love it if that wasn't true.
That would be awesome. There'd be...
1247
00:56:41,400 --> 00:56:44,440
There'd be some scratching heads.
Hannah, to round things off.
1248
00:56:44,440 --> 00:56:48,600
I'm frustrated by the fact that
we can't see the entire universe
1249
00:56:48,600 --> 00:56:52,080
all the way back, so I'm going
to get rid of the expansion
1250
00:56:52,080 --> 00:56:55,560
of the universe so that we can
see... Our observable universe
1251
00:56:55,560 --> 00:56:57,480
becomes the entire thing.
1252
00:56:57,480 --> 00:57:01,440
I like a solid, static universe
that doesn't move. I like it.
1253
00:57:01,440 --> 00:57:04,120
That's right. I think that's
very good. Well, that is it.
1254
00:57:04,120 --> 00:57:06,600
Time is weird, as we have
established, and sadly
1255
00:57:06,600 --> 00:57:08,080
we've run out of it.
1256
00:57:08,080 --> 00:57:11,120
Just, first of all, a huge round
of applause to our wonderful panel
1257
00:57:11,120 --> 00:57:13,720
who've answered some really
tough questions, I think.
1258
00:57:13,720 --> 00:57:16,320
A round of applause to our panel.
Thank you very much, indeed.
1259
00:57:16,320 --> 00:57:18,160
APPLAUSE
1260
00:57:23,600 --> 00:57:26,640
Thank you. And, of course,
for our wonderful audience,
1261
00:57:26,640 --> 00:57:29,040
and for our question askers
in the audience,
1262
00:57:29,040 --> 00:57:31,000
give yourselves
a round of applause.
1263
00:57:36,760 --> 00:57:38,480
Thank you.
1264
00:57:38,480 --> 00:57:41,760
Thank you to the British Science
Festival for having us yet again.
1265
00:57:47,560 --> 00:57:50,600
And thank you to you at home. Thank
you very much for your company.
1266
00:57:50,600 --> 00:57:52,800
It's been an absolute pleasure,
as ever.
1267
00:57:52,800 --> 00:57:56,120
It just remains for me
to say goodnight.
103953
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