November 7, 2025 • 22 mins
In this episode of SpaceTime, we explore remarkable discoveries and hypotheses that could redefine our understanding of planetary atmospheres and our journey back to the Moon.
Phosphine Discovery in Brian Dwarf Wolf 1130C
For the first time, astronomers have detected phosphine in the atmosphere of the brown dwarf Wolf 1130C, raising intriguing questions about its presence and the chemistry of such celestial bodies. This discovery, reported in the journal Science, highlights the significance of phosphorus as a potential biosignature for life and challenges previous theories regarding the abundance of phosphine in other brown dwarfs and gas giants. The episode delves into the implications of this finding and what it means for our understanding of phosphorus chemistry in the universe.
A New Hypothesis for Planetary Water Formation
A groundbreaking hypothesis suggests that some planets may produce water during their formation through reactions between rocks and hydrogen under extreme pressure. This new perspective, discussed in the journal Nature, could explain the presence of liquid water on exoplanets located close to their host stars, challenging traditional views of water's origins. The episode examines the laboratory experiments that led to this hypothesis and its potential impact on our understanding of planetary habitability.
Preparing for Humanity's Return to the Moon
As NASA gears up for the Artemis 2 mission, which aims to send humans around the Moon, we discuss the significance of returning to the lunar south pole. This area is believed to contain more water than any other region on the Moon, making it a crucial target for future exploration. The episode highlights the advancements in technology and international collaboration that will pave the way for a sustained human presence on the Moon, furthering our exploration of the solar system.
www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com
✍️ Episode References
Science
https://www.sciencemag.org/
Nature
https://www.nature.com/
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-your-guide-to-space-astronomy--2458531/support.
Phosphine Discovery in Brian Dwarf Wolf 1130C
A New Hypothesis for Planetary Water Formation
Preparing for Humanity's Return to the Moon
Phosphine Discovery in Brian Dwarf Wolf 1130C
For the first time, astronomers have detected phosphine in the atmosphere of the brown dwarf Wolf 1130C, raising intriguing questions about its presence and the chemistry of such celestial bodies. This discovery, reported in the journal Science, highlights the significance of phosphorus as a potential biosignature for life and challenges previous theories regarding the abundance of phosphine in other brown dwarfs and gas giants. The episode delves into the implications of this finding and what it means for our understanding of phosphorus chemistry in the universe.
A New Hypothesis for Planetary Water Formation
A groundbreaking hypothesis suggests that some planets may produce water during their formation through reactions between rocks and hydrogen under extreme pressure. This new perspective, discussed in the journal Nature, could explain the presence of liquid water on exoplanets located close to their host stars, challenging traditional views of water's origins. The episode examines the laboratory experiments that led to this hypothesis and its potential impact on our understanding of planetary habitability.
Preparing for Humanity's Return to the Moon
As NASA gears up for the Artemis 2 mission, which aims to send humans around the Moon, we discuss the significance of returning to the lunar south pole. This area is believed to contain more water than any other region on the Moon, making it a crucial target for future exploration. The episode highlights the advancements in technology and international collaboration that will pave the way for a sustained human presence on the Moon, furthering our exploration of the solar system.
www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com
✍️ Episode References
Science
https://www.sciencemag.org/
Nature
https://www.nature.com/
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-your-guide-to-space-astronomy--2458531/support.
Phosphine Discovery in Brian Dwarf Wolf 1130C
A New Hypothesis for Planetary Water Formation
Preparing for Humanity's Return to the Moon
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Spacetime Series twenty eight, episode one hundred and
thirty one, for broadcast on the seventh of November twenty
twenty five. Coming up on Space Time, the detection of
phosphoed in the brown dwarf atmosphere of raising questions, a
new hypothesis to explain how some planets get their water,
and preparing for our return to the surface of the Moon.
(00:22):
All that and more coming up on space Time.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to space Time with Stuart Gary.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Astronomers have for the first time discovered phostpheed in the
atmosphere of the brown dwarf Wolf eleven thirty C. Phosphorus
is one of the six key elements necessary for life
on Earth, and when combined with hydrogen, phosphorus forms the
molecular phosphene and explosive, highly toxic gas. But the new discovery,
(01:06):
reported in the journal Science, raises questions about why this
elusive gas isn't more prevalent in other brown dwarfs studied.
Brown dwarfs are failed stars, objects which don't have enough
mass to sustain the core hydrogen fusion process which makes
stars like our sun shine. However, some brown dwarfs do
fuse deterium or lithium under certain conditions. While many brown
(01:29):
dwarfs are born as such, others start their lives as
spectral type M red dwarf stars, which have lost most
of their mass during their evolution, thereby ceasing core fusion
and turning them from red dwarfs into brown dwarfs.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Brown dwarfs fit.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
In a category between the largest planets, which have about
thirteen times the mass of Jupiter, and the smallest, spiritual
type M red dwarf stars, which are about seventy five
to eighty times the mass of Jupiter or about zero
point zero eight solar masses. The Wolf eleven thirty ABC
stars is located some fifty four light years away in
the constellation of Signus the Swan. The brown dwarf Wolf
(02:06):
eleven thirty C follows a wide orbit arount, a tight
double star system composed of a red dwarf star Wolf
eleven thirty A and a more massive white dwarf Wolf
eleven thirty B. Wolf eleven thirty C has been a
popular source for brown dwarf astronomers due to its low
abundance of metals compared to the Sun. Astronomers call all
(02:27):
elements other than hydrogen helium metals. Phosphine had previously been
detected in the atmospheres of the gas giants Jupiter and Satin,
and it's long been recognized as a possible biosignature for
anaerobic life. That's because there are a few natural sources
of this gas in the atmospheres of terrestrial rocky planets
like the Earth. In fact, on Earth, phosphine is a
(02:49):
byproduct of decaying organic swamp matter. Phosphine was detected in
the atmosphere of Wolf eleven thirty C using observations obtained
by the web Space Telescope, the first timelescope with the
sensitivity to look at these celestial objects in detail. The mystery, however,
is not why phosphine was found, but why it's missing
in other brown dwarfs and gas giant exoplanet atmospheres. The
(03:13):
studies lead author Adam berg Asser from the University of California,
San Diego, says understanding this problem with phosphine is one
of his team's first goals. In the hydrogen rich atmospheres
of gas giant planets like Satin and Jupiter, phosphine forms naturally.
As such, scientists have long predicted that phosphine shall also
be present in the atmospheres of gas giants orbiting other
(03:35):
stars and in their more massive cousins, brown dwarfs. Yet
phosphine has largely alluded detection even prior to the WEB observations,
and that suggests problems with sciences understanding of phosphorus chemistry.
Prior to WEB, phosphine was expected to be abundant in
exoplanet and brown dwarf atmospheres following theoretical predictions based on
(03:57):
the turbulent mixing that occurs in these bodies. But every
observation obtained with WEB challenged this theoretical prediction. That was
until Wolf eleven thirty C. Unlike other brown dwarves, Bergas
Are and colleagues easily spotted phosphine in Wolf eleven thirty
SS infrared spectral data. To fully understand the implications of
their findings, the author is needed to quantify the abundances
(04:20):
of this gas in the brown dwarf's atmosphere. The authors
used a modeling technique known as atmosphere retrievals. This uses
the WEB data to determine how much of each molecular
gas species should be in the atmosphere. The models showed
that abundant phosphine was in Wolf eleven thirty C at
the predicted theoretical abundances of about one hundred parts per billion,
(04:41):
but it raises an issue why is phosphine present in
the atmosphere of this specific brown dwarf and not others.
One possibility is the low abundance of metals in Wolf
eleven thirty ce's atmosphere, which may change its underlying chemistry.
It may be that under normal conditions, phosphorus is bound
up in other molecules, such as phosphorus trioxide, but in
(05:02):
the middle of depleted atmosphere of Wolf eleven thirty C,
there isn't enough oxygen to take up the phosphorus, allowing
phosphine to form from the abundant hydrogen instead. Another possibility
is that the phosphorus was generated locally in the Wolf
eleven thirty ABC system, specifically by its white dwarf binary
Wolf eleven thirty B. A white dwarf is the leftover
(05:23):
core of a sun like star that's finished fusing hydrogen.
They're so dense that when they create material on their surface,
they can undergo runaway nuclear reactions, which astronomers detectors nervae.
While astronomers haven't seen any evidence of such events in
the Wolf eleven thirty ABC system in recent history, nerveate
typically of outburst cycles which could be thousands to tens
(05:43):
of thousands of years long. And this system has only
been known for just over a century, and so early
unseen outbursts could have left a legacy of phosphorus pollution.
Earlier studies have proposed that a significant fraction of phosphorus
in the Milky Way could have been synthesized by this
very process. Understanding why this one brown dwarf show is
(06:04):
such a clear signature for phosphine may lead to new
insights into the synthesis of phosphorus in the Milky Way
and its chemistry in planetary atmospheres. This is space time
still to come, a new hypothesis to explain how some
planets get their water, and preparing for our return of
humans to the Moon. All that and more still to
(06:24):
come on space time. A new study claims that some
planets may produce water during their formation through reactions between
(06:47):
their rocks and hydrogen under pressure. The findings, reported in
the journal Nature, offer new insights and so why some
exoplanets have water on their surfaces. The presence of water
is a key ingredient in determine a planet's habitability, and
water has been thought to form through condensation from space
as ice or snow at low temperatures. Its process has
(07:09):
typically been observed in exit planets between the size of
Earth and Neptune, which are located far away from the
host stars. However, NASA's Kepler mission It's found exit planets
between the sizes of Earth and Neptune with liquid water
that orbits close to the host stars, calling this process
into question. The new hypothesis follows laboratory experiments using pulsed
(07:30):
lasers and high pressure to heat rock samples. The authors
found that hydrogen reacted with melted silicates from the rocks,
releasing oxygen that bonded with leftover hydrogen to form water.
This reaction could occur in the high pressure, high temperature
core envelope boundary of exoplanets larger than Earth, places where
the denser rocky core meets an outer envelope of gaseous
(07:51):
elements over billions of years. However, the speed of these
reactions is determined by how much hydrogen is available and
how the core envelope boundary would be this is space
time still to come preparing for humanity's return to the
surface of the Moon, and later in the Science report,
a new way to make chocolate taste even better. All
(08:14):
that and more still to come on space time. More
than half a century ago, humans stepped onto the Moon
(08:34):
for the first time in a set of sorties that
awed the world, and now they're finally preparing to go back.
NASA's Artemis two mission was sent a crew of four
around the Moon in April next year, although that could
take place as soon as February, and that will hopefully
be followed by Artemis three, which will land people at
the Luna South Pole in twenty twenty seven. Over the
(08:57):
years since those first Apollo missions, astronomers have explored our
Solar System with robotic scouts and established a permanent human
presence in space with the International Space Station. Now, Earth
space agencies are looking to return to the Moon at
a very different landing location from where the Apollo missions
touched down more than half a century ago, the Lunar
(09:18):
South Pole, Ach and Basin see. The five Apollo missions
all landed in areas that corresponded roughly with the darker
spots visible on the lunar surface. The samples of lunar
rocks the astronauts brought back to Earth are still being
investigated and analyzed by researchers all over the world, and
new discoveries are being made as lab techniques improved to
(09:39):
advance sciences understanding of the Moon's creation evolution. NASA, the
European Space Agency, and the Chinese are targeting the Moon's
southern regions because it's thought to be an area which
contains more water than any other region on the lunar surface.
Water is important because it can be broken down into
hydrogen and oxygen, used for breathing and drinking, but also
(09:59):
as rocket propellant. This report from a TV.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
The European Space Agency is working to take humans beyond
low Earth orbit and deeper into the Cosmos. Our next
destination on this journey is the Moon. The nineteen sixties
and seventies were an incredible era for space exploration. The
range of missions from the United States took close up
images of the Moon before eventually impacting the surface. NASAs
(10:25):
Surveyor missions demonstrated a controlled soft landing at the surface
of the Moon and tested the properties of lunar soil
to prepare for future human missions. A series of Soviet
landers and rovers visited a number of locations, performing scientific investigations,
driving across the surface and returning samples to Earth. But
the pinnacle of this period of exploration was Apollo and
(10:47):
the arrival of humans at the surface of another Solar
System body for the first and only time in history.
Looking back now, though, we see that only a tiny
fraction of the Moon's surface has been explored, all on
the side of the Moon that faces the Earth and
in a region close to the equator. We've also discovered
that all of the samples we have returned to Earth
(11:07):
are from an unusual region with a complex and exotic
chemistry of potassium, phosphor and rare Earth elements such as thorium.
The vast majority of the Moon has yet to be explored,
including the entire far side. One thing that we can
say for certain is that if we want to understand
the Moon, then we need to go back there. Now.
After decades of waiting and our Marder emissions from around
(11:30):
the world have returned to explore the Moon from orbit.
Looking down from above, these missions are providing a wealth
of new data, bringing a new understanding and raising new questions.
They are giving us a global insight. The next destination
will be the extreme and alien landscape of the lunar
South Pole. Here we find areas of permanent darkness and
(11:51):
extreme cold where water, ice, and other chemicals can become trapped.
And as we come up from these lowlands, we see
towering peaks basking in near constant light. On these polar mountains,
the sun rarely sets below the horizon, providing the potential
for near continuous solar power and a spectacular view over
(12:11):
the rugged and cratered landscape below. In two thousand nine,
the l Cross mission blasted water and other chemicals out
of a permanently dark crater in the south Polar region,
allowing it to be observed by nearby spacecraft for the
very first time. We also now know that there are
nearby locations with similar cold conditions. Is there water here too?
(12:35):
If so, how much is there, where did it come from?
And what can it teach us about the origins of
water and life forming chemistry on Earth. This water may
have been delivered by comets and asteroids impacting into the
surface over billions of years. It may even have been
created at the surface of the Moon. We now know
that protons thrown out by the Sun in the solar
(12:57):
wind arrive at the lunar surface. Here they react with
oxygen in minerals to create a thin layer of water.
These water molecules can be lifted by the Sun's heat
before falling again to the surface. Over time, these particles
may move to the polar regions, where they are trapped
by the cold conditions. And as we stand at the
Pole with the Earth in view, we can point our
(13:18):
antennas to the sky to search for faint signals from
deep out in space. But radio noise from the Earth
is too loud and blocks out many cosmic radio sources.
But as we move over the horizon, the Earth sets
out of view, the noise disappears, and a new kind
of radio sky emerges. We see our galaxy and the
(13:39):
planets as never before, and beyond a quiet radio hum
A signal from the cosmic dark ages more than thirteen
billion years ago, when the first cosmic structures were formed,
formed by a powerful impact around four billion years ago,
the South Pole ache in Basin. Many believe that its
formation marks the star part of a dramatic period of
(14:01):
bombardment onto the Earth and the Moon, an era called
the cataclysm. This era is recorded on the Moon's scarred surface,
and its end coincides with the appearance of the earliest
observed traces of life on Earth. In the coming years,
we will see explorers at the lunar poles exploiting the
extended sunlight for power and performing research to benefit life
(14:22):
on Earth and to understand our place and the universe.
This will begin with small robotic missions to understand the
environment and prove new technologies to pave the way for
the future. We will then move on to increasing the
ambitious missions, with humans and robots working together, learning to
live and work at the surface, and performing new and
important scientific research. Eventually, we will see a sustained infrastructure
(14:46):
for research and exploration where humans will live and work
for prolonged periods. Here we will put into practice the
lessons of years on the International Space Station to establish
a facility akin to those that we see in anti
Arctica today, a place where we can learn to move
onwards into the Solar System, and perhaps in the future,
(15:06):
at a sun bathed peak at the lunar South Pole,
at the edge of a crater we will learn to
access and utilize resources from deep below in the dark
water ice molecules trapped in the cold, a source of
hydrogen and oxygen essential for sustaining human life and for
rocket fuel fuel to propel us further into the Solar
(15:30):
System and onto the next destination of our journey into
the cosmos.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
This is space time, and time out to take another
brief look at some of the other stories making using
(15:55):
science this week with a science report. A year Steady
is that teens who start using cannabis before the age
of fifteen and continue to use it frequently during their
teen years are more likely to need medical care for
both mental and physical health problems well into their early adulthood.
The findings were reported in the Journal of the American
Medical Association. Compared health records of one thy five hundred
(16:18):
ninety one teens that were surveyed at ages twelve, thirteen, fifteen,
and seventeen about their cannabis use in order to see
what care they needed for mental disorders and physical health
problems until they turned twenty three. Compared to teens who
reported no cannabis use, authors found that early and frequent
cannabis users at fifty one percent higher rods of seeking
(16:39):
care for a mental disorder and eighty six percent high
rods of seeking care for a physical problem. Teenagers who
started using cannabis after the age of fifteen did not
see the same mental health risks, but they still had
increased physical health risks compared to non users and you
study wards at the Ward's major electric car manufacturers were
(17:00):
need to rely on lithium imports as soon as twenty
twenty nine, even if their countries start digging up as
much of the metal as they can. A study in
the journal Cell Reports Sustainability says that to stop this
lithium shortfall, threating the world's climate goals and straining international
trade relations, manufacturers need to start using low and non
lithium batteries, or governments need to shift their focus from
(17:21):
evs to public transport. Australia is one of the few
exporters of lithium, which is used to make EV batteries,
making it as important today as gasoline was during the
Industrial Revolution. We all know that some chocolates taste better
than others simply because of where their coca beans are grown.
Now scientists have figure out how to recreate the same
(17:44):
test in the lab. A report of the journal Nature
Microbiology claims the difference in chocolate quality is due to
the types of microorganisms involved in the natural fermentation process
of coca beans, with some farms simply developing better microbial communities.
Performing DNA segmencing analysis of fermenting coca beans from three
Columbian farms suggests the best tasting chocolate came from one
(18:06):
of them, which had a unique microbial community. Designing their
own microbial community in the lab has now allowed scientists
to reproduce that fine chocolate flavor when sampled by professional tasters.
It's been claimed that the late Queen Elizabeth I may
have sanctioned an exorcism. The banisher goes from Sandringham at State,
(18:26):
thought to be that of Princess Diana, but to mendum
from a strands Skeptics says, the whole thing sounds pretty
sass and if there was any truth to the claim,
it's more likely it to have been a cleansing rather
than an exorcism.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Two aspects of story your set off with one royal
family not exactly known to be the cutting edge of science,
discovery and things, so that's the one issue too. We
assume it actually happened, as it has been reported, but
we don't know that for sure. Story goes that some
time ago the Queen organized for a quote exorcism close
quote of Sandraingham House where a ghost was appearing or
(19:01):
emanating or whatever you like to say, scaring the staff
and perhaps other people. Now people jumped to the assumption
that that was Princess Diana's ghost and that the royal
family at the time would be very happy to get
rid of every trace of it. But what actually happens that,
if it happened, was that it wasn't an exorcism with
a priest splicing water around and people wailing and turning
the spitting their heads around, et cetera. It was basically
(19:25):
what you might call it cleansing. Whether they have a
clergyman comes in and goes begone, ghosts clean this place out,
and that's about it. So suggesting it's the Queen sitting
down with her weedy board and the crystal ball and
ectoplas and going everywhere, et cetera, might be a tad
clickbait for this story, but it's interesting. It was also
suggested by the way that it wasn't for the queen.
(19:46):
She didn't care that much. Apparently, according to some version,
it was mainly for the staff who were a bit scared,
so they did something to make them feel better. Whether
there was a ghost, whether that even cleared the ghost
didn't make the staff feel better, probably, And it was
a little ceremony like that. Actually, you could all have
an affidentity with it. So no one's spitting vial anywhere,
no one sort of crawling out the devil and all
that sort of stuff, throwing the crucifix on people, et cetera.
(20:09):
Nothing like that at all.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
The royal family. Do you have a bit of a
history when it comes to this sort of thing. I
believe crop circles were once a big thing.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Crop circle youre fose obviously homeopathy at a bunch form
of quote medicine. So yeah, there are various areas where
they're a past prince child. As you was then talking
to plants. Opposedly, there is a history there of royal family.
Fame of any family. Really believing in a lot of
strange things does not make them true, although it's everything
that people use them as an authority, and I don't
(20:37):
know why. If it's like musing a film star as
an authority, a scientific expert, etcetera.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Would you accept a celebrity as having some sort of
divine knowledge of anything.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Because they're celebrity? To go, as Joe blowed the assistant
butcher down at your local shop, you ask him, what's
your view of the world situation on spiritualism. You probably
might not believe.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Them, but the butcher shop probably has a better grasp
on reality your average Hollywood movie start.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Quite possibly, actually yes, especially if movies does seem to
pretend to be someone else. That's what they rely on.
I don't know, Yeah, why movies are Why a royal
rather than a politician or something? Issue? Politicians A lot
of them believe it too.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Politicians the best, But I mean it is this issue
that when you mention royal family and sort of see
their signs of the paranormal.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
People get excited. Then you look at the reality of
the story in this case, assuming it's true, and it's
pretty low key if there's nothing particularly spatial. It's what
a lot of people might do in any case, just
to make people feel better.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
That's timendum from Australian skeptics, and that's the show for now.
(21:57):
Space time is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through
bytes dot com, SoundCloud, YouTube, your favorite podcast download provider,
and from space Time with Stuart Gary dot com. Space
Time's also broadcast through the National Science Foundation on Science
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(22:17):
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(22:40):
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Speaker 2 (22:41):
You've been listening to Spacetime with Stuart Gary. This has
been another quality podcast production from bytes dot com.
This is Spacetime Series twenty eight, episode one hundred and
thirty one, for broadcast on the seventh of November twenty
twenty five. Coming up on Space Time, the detection of
phosphoed in the brown dwarf atmosphere of raising questions, a
new hypothesis to explain how some planets get their water,
and preparing for our return to the surface of the Moon.
(00:22):
All that and more coming up on space Time.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to space Time with Stuart Gary.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Astronomers have for the first time discovered phostpheed in the
atmosphere of the brown dwarf Wolf eleven thirty C. Phosphorus
is one of the six key elements necessary for life
on Earth, and when combined with hydrogen, phosphorus forms the
molecular phosphene and explosive, highly toxic gas. But the new discovery,
(01:06):
reported in the journal Science, raises questions about why this
elusive gas isn't more prevalent in other brown dwarfs studied.
Brown dwarfs are failed stars, objects which don't have enough
mass to sustain the core hydrogen fusion process which makes
stars like our sun shine. However, some brown dwarfs do
fuse deterium or lithium under certain conditions. While many brown
(01:29):
dwarfs are born as such, others start their lives as
spectral type M red dwarf stars, which have lost most
of their mass during their evolution, thereby ceasing core fusion
and turning them from red dwarfs into brown dwarfs.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Brown dwarfs fit.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
In a category between the largest planets, which have about
thirteen times the mass of Jupiter, and the smallest, spiritual
type M red dwarf stars, which are about seventy five
to eighty times the mass of Jupiter or about zero
point zero eight solar masses. The Wolf eleven thirty ABC
stars is located some fifty four light years away in
the constellation of Signus the Swan. The brown dwarf Wolf
(02:06):
eleven thirty C follows a wide orbit arount, a tight
double star system composed of a red dwarf star Wolf
eleven thirty A and a more massive white dwarf Wolf
eleven thirty B. Wolf eleven thirty C has been a
popular source for brown dwarf astronomers due to its low
abundance of metals compared to the Sun. Astronomers call all
(02:27):
elements other than hydrogen helium metals. Phosphine had previously been
detected in the atmospheres of the gas giants Jupiter and Satin,
and it's long been recognized as a possible biosignature for
anaerobic life. That's because there are a few natural sources
of this gas in the atmospheres of terrestrial rocky planets
like the Earth. In fact, on Earth, phosphine is a
(02:49):
byproduct of decaying organic swamp matter. Phosphine was detected in
the atmosphere of Wolf eleven thirty C using observations obtained
by the web Space Telescope, the first timelescope with the
sensitivity to look at these celestial objects in detail. The mystery, however,
is not why phosphine was found, but why it's missing
in other brown dwarfs and gas giant exoplanet atmospheres. The
(03:13):
studies lead author Adam berg Asser from the University of California,
San Diego, says understanding this problem with phosphine is one
of his team's first goals. In the hydrogen rich atmospheres
of gas giant planets like Satin and Jupiter, phosphine forms naturally.
As such, scientists have long predicted that phosphine shall also
be present in the atmospheres of gas giants orbiting other
(03:35):
stars and in their more massive cousins, brown dwarfs. Yet
phosphine has largely alluded detection even prior to the WEB observations,
and that suggests problems with sciences understanding of phosphorus chemistry.
Prior to WEB, phosphine was expected to be abundant in
exoplanet and brown dwarf atmospheres following theoretical predictions based on
(03:57):
the turbulent mixing that occurs in these bodies. But every
observation obtained with WEB challenged this theoretical prediction. That was
until Wolf eleven thirty C. Unlike other brown dwarves, Bergas
Are and colleagues easily spotted phosphine in Wolf eleven thirty
SS infrared spectral data. To fully understand the implications of
their findings, the author is needed to quantify the abundances
(04:20):
of this gas in the brown dwarf's atmosphere. The authors
used a modeling technique known as atmosphere retrievals. This uses
the WEB data to determine how much of each molecular
gas species should be in the atmosphere. The models showed
that abundant phosphine was in Wolf eleven thirty C at
the predicted theoretical abundances of about one hundred parts per billion,
(04:41):
but it raises an issue why is phosphine present in
the atmosphere of this specific brown dwarf and not others.
One possibility is the low abundance of metals in Wolf
eleven thirty ce's atmosphere, which may change its underlying chemistry.
It may be that under normal conditions, phosphorus is bound
up in other molecules, such as phosphorus trioxide, but in
(05:02):
the middle of depleted atmosphere of Wolf eleven thirty C,
there isn't enough oxygen to take up the phosphorus, allowing
phosphine to form from the abundant hydrogen instead. Another possibility
is that the phosphorus was generated locally in the Wolf
eleven thirty ABC system, specifically by its white dwarf binary
Wolf eleven thirty B. A white dwarf is the leftover
(05:23):
core of a sun like star that's finished fusing hydrogen.
They're so dense that when they create material on their surface,
they can undergo runaway nuclear reactions, which astronomers detectors nervae.
While astronomers haven't seen any evidence of such events in
the Wolf eleven thirty ABC system in recent history, nerveate
typically of outburst cycles which could be thousands to tens
(05:43):
of thousands of years long. And this system has only
been known for just over a century, and so early
unseen outbursts could have left a legacy of phosphorus pollution.
Earlier studies have proposed that a significant fraction of phosphorus
in the Milky Way could have been synthesized by this
very process. Understanding why this one brown dwarf show is
(06:04):
such a clear signature for phosphine may lead to new
insights into the synthesis of phosphorus in the Milky Way
and its chemistry in planetary atmospheres. This is space time
still to come, a new hypothesis to explain how some
planets get their water, and preparing for our return of
humans to the Moon. All that and more still to
(06:24):
come on space time. A new study claims that some
planets may produce water during their formation through reactions between
(06:47):
their rocks and hydrogen under pressure. The findings, reported in
the journal Nature, offer new insights and so why some
exoplanets have water on their surfaces. The presence of water
is a key ingredient in determine a planet's habitability, and
water has been thought to form through condensation from space
as ice or snow at low temperatures. Its process has
(07:09):
typically been observed in exit planets between the size of
Earth and Neptune, which are located far away from the
host stars. However, NASA's Kepler mission It's found exit planets
between the sizes of Earth and Neptune with liquid water
that orbits close to the host stars, calling this process
into question. The new hypothesis follows laboratory experiments using pulsed
(07:30):
lasers and high pressure to heat rock samples. The authors
found that hydrogen reacted with melted silicates from the rocks,
releasing oxygen that bonded with leftover hydrogen to form water.
This reaction could occur in the high pressure, high temperature
core envelope boundary of exoplanets larger than Earth, places where
the denser rocky core meets an outer envelope of gaseous
(07:51):
elements over billions of years. However, the speed of these
reactions is determined by how much hydrogen is available and
how the core envelope boundary would be this is space
time still to come preparing for humanity's return to the
surface of the Moon, and later in the Science report,
a new way to make chocolate taste even better. All
(08:14):
that and more still to come on space time. More
than half a century ago, humans stepped onto the Moon
(08:34):
for the first time in a set of sorties that
awed the world, and now they're finally preparing to go back.
NASA's Artemis two mission was sent a crew of four
around the Moon in April next year, although that could
take place as soon as February, and that will hopefully
be followed by Artemis three, which will land people at
the Luna South Pole in twenty twenty seven. Over the
(08:57):
years since those first Apollo missions, astronomers have explored our
Solar System with robotic scouts and established a permanent human
presence in space with the International Space Station. Now, Earth
space agencies are looking to return to the Moon at
a very different landing location from where the Apollo missions
touched down more than half a century ago, the Lunar
(09:18):
South Pole, Ach and Basin see. The five Apollo missions
all landed in areas that corresponded roughly with the darker
spots visible on the lunar surface. The samples of lunar
rocks the astronauts brought back to Earth are still being
investigated and analyzed by researchers all over the world, and
new discoveries are being made as lab techniques improved to
(09:39):
advance sciences understanding of the Moon's creation evolution. NASA, the
European Space Agency, and the Chinese are targeting the Moon's
southern regions because it's thought to be an area which
contains more water than any other region on the lunar surface.
Water is important because it can be broken down into
hydrogen and oxygen, used for breathing and drinking, but also
(09:59):
as rocket propellant. This report from a TV.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
The European Space Agency is working to take humans beyond
low Earth orbit and deeper into the Cosmos. Our next
destination on this journey is the Moon. The nineteen sixties
and seventies were an incredible era for space exploration. The
range of missions from the United States took close up
images of the Moon before eventually impacting the surface. NASAs
(10:25):
Surveyor missions demonstrated a controlled soft landing at the surface
of the Moon and tested the properties of lunar soil
to prepare for future human missions. A series of Soviet
landers and rovers visited a number of locations, performing scientific investigations,
driving across the surface and returning samples to Earth. But
the pinnacle of this period of exploration was Apollo and
(10:47):
the arrival of humans at the surface of another Solar
System body for the first and only time in history.
Looking back now, though, we see that only a tiny
fraction of the Moon's surface has been explored, all on
the side of the Moon that faces the Earth and
in a region close to the equator. We've also discovered
that all of the samples we have returned to Earth
(11:07):
are from an unusual region with a complex and exotic
chemistry of potassium, phosphor and rare Earth elements such as thorium.
The vast majority of the Moon has yet to be explored,
including the entire far side. One thing that we can
say for certain is that if we want to understand
the Moon, then we need to go back there. Now.
After decades of waiting and our Marder emissions from around
(11:30):
the world have returned to explore the Moon from orbit.
Looking down from above, these missions are providing a wealth
of new data, bringing a new understanding and raising new questions.
They are giving us a global insight. The next destination
will be the extreme and alien landscape of the lunar
South Pole. Here we find areas of permanent darkness and
(11:51):
extreme cold where water, ice, and other chemicals can become trapped.
And as we come up from these lowlands, we see
towering peaks basking in near constant light. On these polar mountains,
the sun rarely sets below the horizon, providing the potential
for near continuous solar power and a spectacular view over
(12:11):
the rugged and cratered landscape below. In two thousand nine,
the l Cross mission blasted water and other chemicals out
of a permanently dark crater in the south Polar region,
allowing it to be observed by nearby spacecraft for the
very first time. We also now know that there are
nearby locations with similar cold conditions. Is there water here too?
(12:35):
If so, how much is there, where did it come from?
And what can it teach us about the origins of
water and life forming chemistry on Earth. This water may
have been delivered by comets and asteroids impacting into the
surface over billions of years. It may even have been
created at the surface of the Moon. We now know
that protons thrown out by the Sun in the solar
(12:57):
wind arrive at the lunar surface. Here they react with
oxygen in minerals to create a thin layer of water.
These water molecules can be lifted by the Sun's heat
before falling again to the surface. Over time, these particles
may move to the polar regions, where they are trapped
by the cold conditions. And as we stand at the
Pole with the Earth in view, we can point our
(13:18):
antennas to the sky to search for faint signals from
deep out in space. But radio noise from the Earth
is too loud and blocks out many cosmic radio sources.
But as we move over the horizon, the Earth sets
out of view, the noise disappears, and a new kind
of radio sky emerges. We see our galaxy and the
(13:39):
planets as never before, and beyond a quiet radio hum
A signal from the cosmic dark ages more than thirteen
billion years ago, when the first cosmic structures were formed,
formed by a powerful impact around four billion years ago,
the South Pole ache in Basin. Many believe that its
formation marks the star part of a dramatic period of
(14:01):
bombardment onto the Earth and the Moon, an era called
the cataclysm. This era is recorded on the Moon's scarred surface,
and its end coincides with the appearance of the earliest
observed traces of life on Earth. In the coming years,
we will see explorers at the lunar poles exploiting the
extended sunlight for power and performing research to benefit life
(14:22):
on Earth and to understand our place and the universe.
This will begin with small robotic missions to understand the
environment and prove new technologies to pave the way for
the future. We will then move on to increasing the
ambitious missions, with humans and robots working together, learning to
live and work at the surface, and performing new and
important scientific research. Eventually, we will see a sustained infrastructure
(14:46):
for research and exploration where humans will live and work
for prolonged periods. Here we will put into practice the
lessons of years on the International Space Station to establish
a facility akin to those that we see in anti
Arctica today, a place where we can learn to move
onwards into the Solar System, and perhaps in the future,
(15:06):
at a sun bathed peak at the lunar South Pole,
at the edge of a crater we will learn to
access and utilize resources from deep below in the dark
water ice molecules trapped in the cold, a source of
hydrogen and oxygen essential for sustaining human life and for
rocket fuel fuel to propel us further into the Solar
(15:30):
System and onto the next destination of our journey into
the cosmos.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
This is space time, and time out to take another
brief look at some of the other stories making using
(15:55):
science this week with a science report. A year Steady
is that teens who start using cannabis before the age
of fifteen and continue to use it frequently during their
teen years are more likely to need medical care for
both mental and physical health problems well into their early adulthood.
The findings were reported in the Journal of the American
Medical Association. Compared health records of one thy five hundred
(16:18):
ninety one teens that were surveyed at ages twelve, thirteen, fifteen,
and seventeen about their cannabis use in order to see
what care they needed for mental disorders and physical health
problems until they turned twenty three. Compared to teens who
reported no cannabis use, authors found that early and frequent
cannabis users at fifty one percent higher rods of seeking
(16:39):
care for a mental disorder and eighty six percent high
rods of seeking care for a physical problem. Teenagers who
started using cannabis after the age of fifteen did not
see the same mental health risks, but they still had
increased physical health risks compared to non users and you
study wards at the Ward's major electric car manufacturers were
(17:00):
need to rely on lithium imports as soon as twenty
twenty nine, even if their countries start digging up as
much of the metal as they can. A study in
the journal Cell Reports Sustainability says that to stop this
lithium shortfall, threating the world's climate goals and straining international
trade relations, manufacturers need to start using low and non
lithium batteries, or governments need to shift their focus from
(17:21):
evs to public transport. Australia is one of the few
exporters of lithium, which is used to make EV batteries,
making it as important today as gasoline was during the
Industrial Revolution. We all know that some chocolates taste better
than others simply because of where their coca beans are grown.
Now scientists have figure out how to recreate the same
(17:44):
test in the lab. A report of the journal Nature
Microbiology claims the difference in chocolate quality is due to
the types of microorganisms involved in the natural fermentation process
of coca beans, with some farms simply developing better microbial communities.
Performing DNA segmencing analysis of fermenting coca beans from three
Columbian farms suggests the best tasting chocolate came from one
(18:06):
of them, which had a unique microbial community. Designing their
own microbial community in the lab has now allowed scientists
to reproduce that fine chocolate flavor when sampled by professional tasters.
It's been claimed that the late Queen Elizabeth I may
have sanctioned an exorcism. The banisher goes from Sandringham at State,
(18:26):
thought to be that of Princess Diana, but to mendum
from a strands Skeptics says, the whole thing sounds pretty
sass and if there was any truth to the claim,
it's more likely it to have been a cleansing rather
than an exorcism.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Two aspects of story your set off with one royal
family not exactly known to be the cutting edge of science,
discovery and things, so that's the one issue too. We
assume it actually happened, as it has been reported, but
we don't know that for sure. Story goes that some
time ago the Queen organized for a quote exorcism close
quote of Sandraingham House where a ghost was appearing or
(19:01):
emanating or whatever you like to say, scaring the staff
and perhaps other people. Now people jumped to the assumption
that that was Princess Diana's ghost and that the royal
family at the time would be very happy to get
rid of every trace of it. But what actually happens that,
if it happened, was that it wasn't an exorcism with
a priest splicing water around and people wailing and turning
the spitting their heads around, et cetera. It was basically
(19:25):
what you might call it cleansing. Whether they have a
clergyman comes in and goes begone, ghosts clean this place out,
and that's about it. So suggesting it's the Queen sitting
down with her weedy board and the crystal ball and
ectoplas and going everywhere, et cetera, might be a tad
clickbait for this story, but it's interesting. It was also
suggested by the way that it wasn't for the queen.
(19:46):
She didn't care that much. Apparently, according to some version,
it was mainly for the staff who were a bit scared,
so they did something to make them feel better. Whether
there was a ghost, whether that even cleared the ghost
didn't make the staff feel better, probably, And it was
a little ceremony like that. Actually, you could all have
an affidentity with it. So no one's spitting vial anywhere,
no one sort of crawling out the devil and all
that sort of stuff, throwing the crucifix on people, et cetera.
(20:09):
Nothing like that at all.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
The royal family. Do you have a bit of a
history when it comes to this sort of thing. I
believe crop circles were once a big thing.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Crop circle youre fose obviously homeopathy at a bunch form
of quote medicine. So yeah, there are various areas where
they're a past prince child. As you was then talking
to plants. Opposedly, there is a history there of royal family.
Fame of any family. Really believing in a lot of
strange things does not make them true, although it's everything
that people use them as an authority, and I don't
(20:37):
know why. If it's like musing a film star as
an authority, a scientific expert, etcetera.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Would you accept a celebrity as having some sort of
divine knowledge of anything.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Because they're celebrity? To go, as Joe blowed the assistant
butcher down at your local shop, you ask him, what's
your view of the world situation on spiritualism. You probably
might not believe.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Them, but the butcher shop probably has a better grasp
on reality your average Hollywood movie start.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Quite possibly, actually yes, especially if movies does seem to
pretend to be someone else. That's what they rely on.
I don't know, Yeah, why movies are Why a royal
rather than a politician or something? Issue? Politicians A lot
of them believe it too.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Politicians the best, But I mean it is this issue
that when you mention royal family and sort of see
their signs of the paranormal.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
People get excited. Then you look at the reality of
the story in this case, assuming it's true, and it's
pretty low key if there's nothing particularly spatial. It's what
a lot of people might do in any case, just
to make people feel better.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
That's timendum from Australian skeptics, and that's the show for now.
(21:57):
Space time is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through
bytes dot com, SoundCloud, YouTube, your favorite podcast download provider,
and from space Time with Stuart Gary dot com. Space
Time's also broadcast through the National Science Foundation on Science
Own Radio and on both iHeartRadio and tune In Radio.
(22:17):
And you can help to support our show by visiting
the Spacetime Store for a range of promotional merchandising goodies,
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Just go to space Time with Stewart Gary dot com
(22:40):
for full details.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
You've been listening to Spacetime with Stuart Gary. This has
been another quality podcast production from bytes dot com.
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