Turning Starship into 9m Telescope, Lunar Gravitational Lens, Robotic Exploration | Q&A 190 | Summary and Q&A

TL;DR

Fraser Kane announces the last episode of Q&A before the summer hiatus but assures viewers of upcoming special stories and news segments during the break.

Key Insights

• 🤪 The Q&A show is going on a summer hiatus but will continue with news segments and special stories.
• 👾 The theoretical possibility of using a hollow starship as a large space telescope is discussed.
• ❓ James Webb's capabilities, including its magnification compared to Hubble, are explored.
• 🤩 Giant elliptical galaxies are considered "dead" with minimal chances of restarting star formation.
• 💁 The future understanding of the universe by civilizations and the potential missing information are contemplated.
• 👾 The lunar gateway's impact on robotic space exploration is discussed, focusing on tele-operation capabilities.
• 💪 The feasibility of using the moon as a gravitational lens is explained, emphasizing the need for stronger gravitational sources.
• 👀 The limitations of current telescopes in looking back in time and alternative methods for observing Earth's past are examined.

Transcript

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Questions & Answers

Q: Could we use a hollow starship as a large space telescope?

Theoretically, a telescope could fit inside a starship, but the true size would be smaller due to spacecraft requirements. A nine-meter telescope inside starship could achieve 22,500 times magnification, three times better than Hubble.

Q: Can James Webb see Hubble?

No, James Webb is designed to always look away from Earth, Moon, and Sun for protection. However, Hubble can be visually observed from Earth and even resolved with powerful telescopes.

Q: Will giant elliptical galaxies eventually go through gravitational collapse and restart star formation?

No, giant elliptical galaxies are mostly dead, formed through mergers of spiral galaxies. Their star-forming material is depleted, resulting in a period of extreme star formation and subsequent depletion of reserves.

Q: If future civilizations can't see other galaxies due to universe expansion, could we also be missing information about the universe?

While future civilizations may lose historical information, our ability to look backward in time through telescopes allows us to observe the universe's past. However, there are interesting speculations about civilizations impacting the fundamental nature of the cosmos.

Q: How will the lunar gateway change robotic space exploration?

The lunar gateway will serve as a base for astronauts to travel to and from the moon. It may also enable tele-operated robotics, allowing humans to control rovers remotely and safely.

Q: Can we use the moon as a gravitational lens to observe Earth from Mars?

The moon's gravity would not create an effective gravitational lens. Effective lenses require stronger gravitational sources such as black holes.

Q: How can we use science to look back in time?

Current telescopes allow us to see the universe as it existed in the past, but it is not possible to observe Earth's history directly. Looking back in time requires being farther away, and telescopes located on Earth can only observe present time objects.

Q: What could we discover by getting close to a black hole?

Close proximity to a black hole would allow detailed observations of phenomena such as accretion disks, photon rings, and material falling into the black hole. Unfortunately, the current distance to the nearest black hole makes it impractical to send a spacecraft.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Fraser Kane announces the end of the season for the Q&A show due to summer hiatus.

• During the break, there will still be news segments and special stories, but no live streams or interviews.

• The winner of the previous week's favorite question is announced, and the topic of a hollow starship as a large space telescope is discussed.

• Fraser Kane answers questions about James Webb telescope, giant elliptical galaxies, future civilizations' understanding of the universe, lunar gateway's impact on robotic space exploration, and artificial gravity.