I positively love the thinking that made this mission possible. I have so many questions for Professor Tuthill. You're looking for oscillations in the transversal plane -- could you use a kind of time-based interferometry to single out modes that aren't shared in common between the A and B components of the system? If you're using a cubesat form factor, could you improve your resolution or data quality by fusing the signals from multiple instances of the telescope? Also can I work for him? I am a computer scientist and systems engineer and I would love to work on a piece of software that could perform the signal analysis on that fascinating aperture masking interferometer. Satellite control systems for swarms of telescopes! Maybe I should go back to school for astronomy. I can't get enough of this news.
Incredible news, and seems like they got the right man for the job. As a life-long sci-fi fan myself- i just wanted to recommend "Space Paw" by Gordon R. Dickson- if you can find it and have not read it yet. It's a really fun read with a very heart-warming conclusion. (I would say "happy ending"- but this is not a nail salon that specializes in "discounts for University Professors and US Air Force pilots..."- lol. Keep up the good work!
Creating a lot of mini cube sat telescopes and put them in to orbit around the moon and earth, then create a data link and photograph the target with all of them at the same time ! with an atomic clock in each ? the photos can be stacked on top of each other to get a better photo !
An Ultraviolet Telescope might work better, as it would have a higher resolution as the wave length is narrower and should allow You to see smaller object, providing there is not to much dust or gas in the way.
Question: Does the fact that black holes don't have magnetic fields, prove that the magnetic force is transmitted by an actual particle, not a virtual particle? Also, neutrinos pass through everything, what about blackholes? Can they pass through blackholes?
@@MountainFisher I believe it's been the years of seeing politicians answer with deflective answers that I tuned in to his response. Perhaps an insight into the world of the Scientist/Bureaucrat skillset that many of these type of professionals develop as their careers progress and they take on the hats of fund raisers, spokesmen, YT Commenter etc. That response did not diminish the feeling of excitement Professor Tuthill communicated about his field.
would something akin to a geostationary orbit about the sun be a viable orbit for such a thing, it'd give a more accurate reading as to the difference between our sun's pathing and another solar mass. as they all sort of jiggle about. wouldn't a photo negative type dealio be helpful for longevity of measurement as the star is quite bright so identifying the specific band width it kicks out perhaps the shadows the orbiting bodies in that system might be a viable option of viewing oblique angles of the planets and such. it'd take a bit of imagination to get a high degree of clarity. but by segments and monitoring orbitals some high res planets could be viable. a sun and it's orbitals is like a light bulb and a lamp fixture
Ground base does allow for longterm upgrades, expansion and repairs as technology advances. Hopefully, some day in the near future that will also be achievable in space. ;O)-
@@gebali We need a better starship. Ideally one with a warpdrive. That’s a few starship generations away. It’s already in the name and the 200t version will carry a 1st gen warpdrive.
I think if we go to another star we would be extremely unlikely that we will find a planet anything even close to what we need. The ark spaceship we would use to get there would serve as a huge space station in orbit around the new planet. Possibly for hundreds of years while we are terraforming the planet. However if you look instead for asteroid belts around stars then we could build habitats with perfect artificial gravity, atmosphere, food production, living space. Without worry about the availability of a suitable planet. The asteroid belt in our own system could provide living space for trillions of people. The vast majority of stars will not have a planet we can use. Artificial habitats will be the norm rather then living on a planet out there will be rare. Also very important: There was 2 morons sitting on a bench. The giant orange haired moron fell off. The little white haired moron did not fall......cause he was a little more on.
When I was a child, Alpha Centauri was never referred to as 'right next door'. We may not be properly out there quite yet, but the universe is already shrinking and that's a very encouraging thought.
This was one of your best in terms of the structure and how you went about it. Asking the right questions and pushing back (gently) when needed. And for the record guys, FC was not interrupting, it was the poor connection, as stated near the beginning 🙂😉
"we've got three here, in the habitable zone, so I like those odds." Except there are perhaps _more_ habitable planets/moons outside the habitable zone of our solar system than either Mars or Venus. Of course even then, the almost planets and moons around Saturn or Jupiter are no more habitable than the moon. So maybe not such great odds. Something in the "habitable zone" merely means most likely to be Venus or Mars like rather than Earth like, not habitable at all. However, all that aside. What would be useful for the expansion of humanity or life if you prefer. Would be lots of gravel lumps or piles that could be turned into country sized habitats and/or harvested for whatever things are needed to keep going. Any Earth like planet, is already taken, it already has life on it. Either we will take it over, or keep it like a zoo. We have four or more planets here we can play with to try to bring to life: Venus, The Moon, Mars, Some of the largest asteroids in the belt. Maybe even Mercury could be. If we can't do it here, it won't happen there either. It will mean inoculating these planets with life on purpose. Yes it will take a long time but really, a trip to other systems will take as long or longer anyway. Even if the people on board don't feel all of that time, humanity here will wait all of that time for the results... and some sort of pay back for the resources put into the trip in the first place. So any large chunks of rock, even if like Venus, at least point to smaller gravel piles that are more suitable for life... as we (will?) know it. A messy system is good.
Absolutely fascinating interview! I really loved his peek into the (Hopefully) near future potential of smaller. distributed, linked telescopes. Really exciting!
Did all the Alpha Centauri stars develop together, or did they come together afterwards? If a star with planets subsequently becomes paired in a binary, will the planets get thrown away, destroyed, etc?
It ages since I did any telecope maths but doesn't a longer focal length give you a higher resolution? If so why not make a cubesat with a 'smaller' primary mirror but have a secondary mirror at a longer distance than is practicable on Earth? This way we could detect the wobble of stars far easier.
Fraser - Does this exist? It occurs to me there ought to be a term in the exoplanetology field for not just the habitable zone, but the 1AU-equivalent distance from a star. So you could say that one Goldilocks Unit at Sol is 1AU, 150 million km. But then around an M, 1GU would be much less. And the difference in AU Equivalent or Goldilocks Unit would serve as a quick way of thinking about the biologically meaningful difference among stars. It would also, probably most helpfully, enable you to say that you found a planet at 1.1GU (or 1.1AUE) around another star, and you'd have some sense of its relationship to the Habitable Zone with a very simple, single number.
This is the type of science that I can get behind. It is very well explained. Taken with an open mind this may show more than hoped for. However it is my opinion all 3 stars should be looked at in this way, not just A&B. But, who am I. Thank you both. Be safe.
Back in college I interviewed Geoff Marcy (turned out to be a real piece of work) about his team's discovery of some of the first extrasolar planets in 1998-ish. They were using the "wobble" method back then to identify supermassive Jupiter-like planets. Pretty neat.
Since Alpha Centauri A and B orbit each other in elliptical orbits, seen from an angle to appear even more elliptical, is there a preferred time to watch their orbits around each other?
Well the ELT is not online yet. but once it comes on line with that absolutely colossal sized mirror its gonna see things JWST can't even dream about. its only issue is gonna be view time because its earth based.
Question, is it possible to estimate how many other elements might be out in the universe? Maybe some of them are prefect for fueling interstellar travel.
Hi, what are your thoughts on, electric universe theory and the theory of variable speed of light theory. They are said to explain dark matter and dark energy without the need of exotic particles.
Intriguing and fascinating, great to hear some of the more detailed considerations such as questions over the gravitational stability of a binary star environment and the possible consequences for planet formation.. thank you.
Fantastic! I am very pleased that we are finally looking at reachable goals. Don't get me wrong. Looking at galaxies 13 billion lightyears away is fine but photons are all we are ever likely to get from such distant objects.
I can't help but see a similarity to the DART mission. It was chosen because it was easier to measure the wobble with 2 masses near each other. Seems like we are doing the same with Alpha Cens binary system. I'm also excited by the idea of making a smaller, cheaper mission that is perfectly adapted to a specific task and it can perform this one task better than any of the larger more expensive general missions.
If Venus were a bit larger so that it had plate tectonic and had a thinner atmosphere.... If Venus were smaller and had less atmosphere to improve heat loss and maybe a big moon and a day night cycle... If Mars were larger say 1.3 of Earth such that it has a thicker insulating atmosphere, a large moon for a stable axis.....
