0:00 what would it be like to live on a
0:01 planet traveling around a star so huge
0:04 that in comparison to it our sun looks
0:07 like a tiny Speck of dust well you could
0:10 find it out if you manag to visit a
0:12 planet orbiting
0:14 wg64 it's a red super giant an enormous
0:18 star dwelling in the large melanic Cloud
0:21 which is a satellite galaxy located not
0:24 too far away from our home Milky Way
0:26 galaxy red super Giants in the large and
0:29 small melanic clouds provide an
0:31 excellent opportunity to observationally
0:34 test the current Stellar Evolution
0:36 theory for massive
0:38 stars
0:39 wg64 is likely the largest star we have
0:42 found so far it's a real heavyweight
0:45 emitting an incredibly bright light to
0:48 understand the sheer size of this Mega
0:50 star better let's put it into
0:52 perspective compared to our star the
0:55 radius of woh g64 is around 1,500
1:00 40 times bigger in other words it's like
1:03 comparing a tiny grain of sand to a
1:05 basketball if we placed double g64 at
1:09 the center of the solar system the
1:11 surface of this star would extend past
1:13 the orbit of Jupiter swallowing up
1:15 Mercury Venus Earth Mars and Jupiter
1:19 itself you see the average radius of
1:21 Jupiter's orbit is around 1,000 times
1:24 the radius of the Sun as for Saturn the
1:27 radius of its orbit is around 2,000
1:29 times time the radius of the
1:31 Sun that's why W g64 with its average
1:36 radius being 1,500 time the radius of
1:38 the Sun fits right in between oh and if
1:41 you spread out the Stars dust envelope
1:44 it would cover a distance of about one
1:46 light year or 5.88 trillion
1:50 miles the star is not only ginormous but
1:53 also immensely bright in fact it's one
1:56 of the most luminous stars we know of
1:59 lum Luminosity is the total amount of
2:01 energy a star emits per unit of time and
2:05 the light coming from woh g64 is around
2:09 282,000 times brighter than the light
2:12 from our sun but perhaps one of the most
2:15 amazing features of
2:18 wg64 is the dust envelope surrounding it
2:22 in 2007 astronomers with the help of the
2:25 very large telescope discovered that woh
2:29 G6 4 was surrounded by a Taurus shaped
2:32 cloud it's so thick that to some extent
2:36 it obscures the
2:37 star the dust envelope is made up of the
2:40 material the star has expelled and it
2:42 contains between 3 to n times the mass
2:45 of the sun the star we're talking about
2:48 was discovered in the 1970s by bank
2:51 westerland olander and Hayden that's
2:54 where the W in the name of the star
2:56 comes from it's an abbreviation made up
2:58 of the first letters of the the
3:00 discoverer names by the way westerland
3:03 also discovered another remarkable red
3:05 super giant westerland 126 it was
3:09 spotted in a massive star cluster called
3:11 westerland 1 in the constellation of ARA
3:14 but back to
3:16 wg64 scientists have noted that this
3:18 star lies very close to or even beyond
3:21 the Hayashi limit it is a theoretical
3:23 constraint upon the maximum radius of a
3:25 star for a given Mass a condition where
3:28 the inward force of gravity is matched
3:30 by the outward pressure of the gas by
3:33 now the star
3:35 wg64 has reached such an evolved state
3:38 that it can no longer hold on to its
3:39 atmosphere because of super low density
3:42 High radiation pressure and relatively
3:44 opaque products of thermonuclear Fusion
3:47 that's why its average mass loss is
3:49 among the highest known to us so far
3:51 it's unusually high even for a red super
3:53 giant
3:55 wg64 also shows an unexpected spectrum
3:58 of nebular emission
4:00 the hot gas is rich in nitrogen and has
4:02 a radial velocity more positive than
4:05 that of the star which is quite an
4:06 unusual phenomenon the star might have a
4:09 potential companion an ootype main
4:12 sequence star if it turns out to be true
4:15 then g64 will be classified as a binary
4:19 star at the same time so far there have
4:23 been no confirmations of this Theory
4:25 partly because the intervening dust
4:27 clouds make the examination of the star
4:29 very difficult ult in any case U g64 is
4:34 absolutely fascinating not only because
4:36 of its huge size but also because of its
4:39 unbelievable luminosity and mysterious
4:41 dust envelope it's a great example of
4:44 how unexpected and amazing our universe
4:46 can
4:47 get besides such outstanding large stars
4:50 are undoubtedly an important
4:53 astronomical observation the results of
4:55 studies of such objects correct the
4:57 restrictions on the properties of star
5:00 within the framework of modern models
5:02 for testing the applicability of models
5:05 the exceptions to the rules are most
5:08 valuable buckle up fellow space
5:11 enthusiasts because we're about to
5:12 uncover the celestial secrets that have
5:14 been unveiled this
5:16 year from giant stars to organic
5:19 molecules this year is going great for
5:21 astronomers so let's catch up on all the
5:24 excitement you might have missed in
5:27 2023 first of all we've discovered some
5:30 real astral monsters imagine looking up
5:32 at the night sky and seeing stars that
5:34 are not just big but absolutely
5:38 enormous scientists have been using a
5:41 special telescope called the James web
5:43 Space Telescope to explore the early
5:45 days of the
5:48 universe and during their Adventure
5:50 scientists stumbled upon ancient stars
5:52 that are 10,000 times bigger than our
5:54 son Yes you heard it right 10,000
5:58 times these Giants of the Stellar world
6:00 were some of the very first stars ever
6:02 to form in the universe billions of
6:05 years
6:06 ago imagine a globular cluster as a
6:09 massive Cosmic crew where each group
6:12 consists of a whopping 100,000 to 1
6:14 million members these clusters are like
6:17 giant family gatherings with all the
6:19 stars being born around the same
6:22 time but what makes these newly
6:24 discovered monsters so special well
6:27 their cores or their Central parts are
6:29 way hotter than what we see in Stars
6:31 today scientists think that this intense
6:34 heat might be due to a lot of hydrogen
6:36 burning at really high temperatures it's
6:39 like they're having a galactic Barbecue
6:42 Party something fascinating happens in
6:45 these globular clusters the smaller
6:48 Stars crash into the super massive ones
6:50 and gain extra energy like a power
6:53 up but here's the twist most of these
6:56 clusters are now getting old and the
6:58 super massive stars disappear he a long
7:00 time ago we can only see hints of their
7:02 existence in the Clusters we observe
7:04 today scientists study them by just the
7:07 mysterious traces of their grand
7:10 presence the discovery of these monster
7:12 stars is incredibly important for our
7:15 understanding of the universe if
7:17 scientists can gather more evidence to
7:19 confirm their existence it would be a
7:21 major breakthrough it would help us
7:23 learn more about globular clusters and
7:25 how super massive stars form in
7:28 general but that was only the first
7:30 fascinating discovery of
7:32 2023 although the next one is kind of
7:36 sad you know those beautiful rings that
7:38 make Saturn look so fancy well guess
7:41 what they might disappear in the not so
7:43 distant future astronomically
7:45 speaking NASA's Cassini Mission which
7:48 explored Saturn from 2004 to 2017
7:51 gathered some fascinating data about the
7:53 Rings during cassini's Grand Finale when
7:56 it did some cool Maneuvers between
7:58 Saturn scientists noticed something
8:00 surprising the Rings were losing a lot
8:03 of mass every second tons of it that
8:06 means This Magnificent Halo will only
8:07 stick around for a few hundred million
8:09 more years at
8:12 most that may seem like a long time for
8:15 humans but in the grand scheme of the
8:17 universe it's just a blink of an
8:19 eye the important thing is that we've
8:22 learned that huge Rings like Saturn's
8:24 don't last forever they eventually fade
8:27 away oh well at least you and I
8:29 personally won't catch this
8:32 moment scientists have a fun theory
8:34 about what will happen when Saturn's
8:36 rings disappear they think that the
8:38 other ice and gas giants in our solar
8:40 system like Uranus and Jupiter might
8:43 have once had massive rings too but over
8:46 time those Rings wore down and became
8:49 more like the thin wispy bands of
8:51 asteroids like what Uranus has
8:54 now Saturn's rings are mostly made of
8:56 ice but they also have a sprinkling of
8:58 Rocky dust
9:00 dust this dust comes from asteroids and
9:03 teeny tiny meteoroids crashing into the
9:06 celestial objects and breaking
9:08 apart it's like a snowstorm of icy
9:11 particles and space
9:13 debris the research also revealed that
9:16 Saturn's rings appeared long after the
9:18 planet itself
9:20 formed they were still forming when
9:22 dinosaurs roamed the
9:24 Earth so in terms of astronomical age
9:27 they're actually quite Young only a few
9:30 hundred million years
9:32 old this discovery has got scientists
9:34 all excited because it means something
9:36 dramatic happened in Saturn's past to
9:38 create this stunning icy disc but this
9:42 is a mystery waiting to be
9:44 solved scientists want to figure out
9:47 what exactly caused the Rings to form
9:49 and why they have such a breathtaking
9:51 structure let's hope they'll figure it
9:55 out but moving on to something more
9:57 optimistic we have another exciting
9:59 space news recently scientists have been
10:03 studying one of the most distant
10:04 galaxies in the universe and they found
10:06 something
10:08 amazing organic
10:11 molecules the Galaxy in question has a
10:14 long name spt 041 847 it's over 12
10:19 billion light years away from our little
10:20 blue planet can you even imagine that
10:24 distance it's the farthest Galaxy ever
10:27 known where complex organic molecules
10:29 have been
10:31 found that's why looking at this galaxy
10:34 is like looking at something from when
10:35 the universe was just a
10:38 baby we have no idea what this galaxy
10:40 looks like now the light that has
10:43 reached us is what it looked like when
10:44 the universe was only 1.5 billion years
10:47 old imagine being able to see things
10:50 from so far in the
10:53 past so what they found is something
10:55 with a very complicated name a
10:57 polycyclic aromatic hyd Hy carbon
11:00 molecule or simply pH molecule you might
11:03 be wondering what in the world is that
11:06 well guess what you can actually find
11:08 these molecules right here on our planet
11:11 they can be in things like the smoke
11:12 from car engines or even forest
11:15 fires phah molecules are made up of
11:18 chains of carbon atoms and here's the
11:20 super cool part they're considered the
11:22 basic building blocks for
11:25 Life imagine that life's building blocks
11:29 those tiny carbon chains being
11:32 discovered in a galaxy that's so far
11:33 away that's like finding a needle in a
11:38 haystack they also found out that gas
11:41 floating around in that Galaxy is filled
11:43 with heavy
11:44 elements that's a big deal because it
11:46 suggests that many stars have come and
11:48 gone there creating all these amazing
11:50 elements this means that this galaxy can
11:53 be potentially rich in many other
11:55 elements
11:56 too this discovery opens up a world of
11:58 possibil abilities and raises so many
12:00 exciting questions how did these
12:03 molecules form in a galaxy so
12:06 distant and since we're looking into the
12:08 past what could have happened to these
12:09 organic molecules during this time could
12:13 they have evolved into
12:15 life we're only scratching the surface
12:17 of the incredible things waiting to be
12:21 uncovered by the way if it's so far how
12:25 did scientists even manage to discover
12:27 something like that
12:29 well they had the instrument called the
12:31 James web Space
12:33 Telescope this fancy telescope was
12:35 recently launched and has superpowers
12:37 when it comes to observing the
12:40 universe so when the scientists were
12:42 studying this far away Galaxy they had a
12:44 little problem the light coming from
12:47 Those Distant objects was so faint that
12:49 it was hard to see or
12:52 detect but guess what they had a
12:54 brilliant idea to solve this they used
12:57 something called gravitational lensing
12:59 which is like a special power of
13:00 Nature's magnifying
13:02 glass imagine two galaxies lining up
13:05 perfectly just like in a photo shoot the
13:07 light from the farway Galaxy the
13:09 background one travels towards us but on
13:12 its Journey it passes through the
13:13 foreground Galaxy which is like a giant
13:16 space
13:18 lens and guess what the foreground
13:21 Galaxy's gravity bends the light just
13:23 like a magnifying glass making it bigger
13:25 and brighter it's like having a cosmic
13:28 zoom lens for our
13:31 telescopes this bending of light creates
13:33 a super cool shape called an Einstein
13:36 ring it's like a Halo or a ring of light
13:39 surrounding the foreground Galaxy
13:41 basically a Nature's way of showing off
13:43 its magical
13:44 powers with gravitational lensing and
13:47 these beautiful Einstein
13:49 Rings scientists can see distant objects
13:52 more clearly and learn amazing things
13:53 about the
13:56 universe and thanks to all that they
13:59 managed to uncover the hidden chemical
14:00 interactions from the early
14:02 galaxies isn't that
14:07 incredible the scientists are Beyond
14:09 excited about this discovery they never
14:12 expected to find such complex organic
14:14 molecules in a galaxy that's incredibly
14:17 distant who knows maybe this is just the
14:20 beginning of a thrilling Cosmic
14:23 Journey so keep your eyes on the Stars
14:26 fellow Space Explorers the universe is
14:29 full of surprises and who knows what
14:31 other mind-blowing discoveries await us
14:33 out there let's hope we'll learn even
14:36 more in the
14:38 future stargazers come up here cuz I
14:41 have exciting news astronomers have just
14:45 completed the full mapping of two pairs
14:47 of stars outside our miliky way Galaxy
14:50 that are chowing down on their Stellar
14:52 neighbors not only does it give us a
14:55 better understanding of stars in general
14:57 but it can also help us measure distance
15:00 in the night
15:02 sky did you know that more than half of
15:04 the stars in our Milky Way are paired
15:08 and while it's unlikely that other
15:10 galaxies have a significant number of
15:12 binary Stars too they're usually too
15:14 faint to see but these so-called
15:17 symbiotic Stars where one star consumes
15:20 the other are extremely bright and
15:23 easier to observe and according to
15:26 scientists measuring the orbits of these
15:28 simp symbiotic star systems is an
15:31 essential step towards learning whether
15:33 other galaxies create binary stars like
15:36 those in our Milky
15:38 Way now let's get down to the
15:40 nitty-gritty a pair of stars may be born
15:43 together but do to their masses they age
15:47 differently the more massive One Burns
15:50 through its material faster reaching the
15:52 end of its lifetime first and leaves
15:54 behind a compact white dwarf white
15:57 dwarfs are small and dim but can pack
16:00 the mass of the Sun into an object the
16:03 size of Earth if close enough their
16:06 gravity can pull material from their
16:08 companion creating a signal that
16:10 astronomers can identify from far
16:13 away Draco C1 and Lyn 358 are the
16:18 symbiotic stars that have been fully
16:20 mapped the stars in Draco C1 take
16:24 roughly three Earth years to orbit one
16:26 another while ly 358 component take just
16:30 over two these are the First full
16:33 orbital measurements of any symbiotic
16:35 star system outside the Milky Way the
16:38 new measurements will help astronomers
16:40 better understand star formations in
16:42 other
16:44 galaxies in some symbiotic Stars the
16:47 white dwarf can slurp enough material
16:49 from its companion that it explodes in a
16:52 supernova these Supernova are incredibly
16:56 bright and can be seen across the
16:58 universe
16:59 they all start out with the same
17:01 brightness for a nearby Observer making
17:03 them like a sort of standard candle for
17:05 measuring the universe while Draco C1
17:09 and Lin 358 are unlikely to explode as
17:12 Supernova anytime soon understanding how
17:15 they work can provide us with a better
17:18 understanding of how these standard
17:20 candles
17:22 evolve if you're here to complete your
17:25 knowledge of weird stars in the universe
17:27 don't be disappointed we're not finished
17:29 just yet have you ever wondered about
17:32 the biggest stars in the
17:34 universe scientists have recently
17:37 discovered a gigantic star called UI
17:40 scoote this bad boy is located about
17:44 9,500 light years away from Earth and is
17:46 truly out of this world it's about 1,700
17:50 times larger than our sun which means if
17:53 it were in our solar system it would
17:55 reach past Jupiter's orbit there's more
17:58 UI scutty isn't just massive it's also
18:02 super bright it's what scientists call a
18:05 red super giant and it shines with a
18:08 brightness of about 340,000 times that
18:11 of our sun if you're thinking about
18:14 getting a tan from this star think again
18:16 though it's way too far away for that
18:20 how does a star like u i Scotty even
18:23 form you might wonder well it starts out
18:26 like any other star a cloud of gas and
18:28 dust collapses under its gravity and
18:31 starts to heat up eventually the
18:34 temperature becomes hot enough in the
18:36 core of the cloud to ignite nuclear
18:38 fusion and A Star is Born but UI scutty
18:43 didn't stop there it kept devouring more
18:46 and more gas and dust growing larger and
18:49 larger this process continued until it
18:52 became the giant we know today as
18:55 fascinating as UI scutty is it's not the
18:58 only big star out there there are others
19:01 like VY Kanis Majoris which was once
19:04 thought to be the biggest star until UI
19:06 Scotty stole the show VY Kanis Majoris
19:10 is still a force to be reckoned with
19:12 though it's about 1,400 times larger
19:14 than our son and located about 5,000
19:18 Lighty years away from us but here's the
19:21 kicker stars like uy scutty and V Kanis
19:25 Majoris aren't even the biggest things
19:27 in the universe not by a long shot there
19:30 are objects called hyper Giants that
19:33 make these stars look like ants in
19:35 comparison one such hyper giant is
19:38 Stevenson 218 located about 20,000
19:42 Lighty years away it's about 2, 150
19:45 times larger than our sun and shines
19:48 with the brightness of 7 million Suns
19:51 and just when you thought things
19:53 couldn't get any crazier there's a
19:55 mysterious object called the Great
19:57 attractor that's pulling everything in
20:00 our local group of galaxies towards it
20:03 we don't know what it is or what's
20:05 causing it but one theory is that it's a
20:08 massive cluster of hyper Giants we'd be
20:11 minuscule in
20:13 comparison the next star is so metal
20:16 it's practically headbanging all the
20:18 time Jokes Aside scientists have
20:21 discovered a star that's called a heavy
20:23 metal subdwarf now that's a band name
20:26 it's a type of star that's serious heavy
20:29 metal this star has more metal in its
20:31 composition than any other star we've
20:34 seen before such stars are said to
20:36 contain metal elements like iron nickel
20:39 and chromium this heavy metal subdwarf
20:42 has about 10,000 times more iron than
20:45 our
20:47 sun in their Discovery astronomers used
20:50 a technique called spectroscopy which
20:53 involves analyzing the light that comes
20:55 from the Star to determine what elements
20:57 it's made of by looking at the spectrum
21:00 of light scientists were able to see
21:02 that this star had an unusual amount of
21:05 metal in its
21:06 composition there's more this heavy
21:08 metal subdwarf isn't just a regular star
21:11 with a lot of metal it's also really
21:14 weird in other ways for one thing it's
21:17 smaller and cooler than our sun and for
21:20 another it's really old we're talking
21:22 about a star that's been around for
21:24 almost as long as the universe itself
21:27 [Music]
21:28 what does this all mean well scientists
21:31 are hoping that by studying this heavy
21:33 metal subdwarf they can learn more about
21:36 the early Universe since this star is so
21:39 old that it was around when the universe
21:41 was just beginning to form it's seen a
21:44 lot of stuff by studying its composition
21:48 and characteristics scientists can get a
21:50 better understanding of what the
21:52 universe was like in its early
21:55 days this next star is one of the
21:57 coolest things in outer space her name
22:00 is Vega and it's one of the brightest
22:02 stars in the night sky some recognize it
22:05 as the shiny point of light in the
22:07 constellation Lyra and get this it's
22:10 only about 25 light years away from us
22:13 which in astronomical terms is
22:15 practically next
22:17 door scientists have been studying Vega
22:19 for a long time and they've learned some
22:22 pretty interesting things for starters
22:24 Vega is a young star only a few hundred
22:27 million years old old that might sound
22:29 like a long time but compared to our sun
22:32 which is around 4.6 billion years old
22:35 Vega is practically a newborn Vega is
22:38 also a very hot star with a surface
22:41 temperature of around 177,000 de F to
22:45 put that into perspective the surface of
22:47 our sun is only about 10,000 de F so if
22:51 you think it's hot outside today just be
22:54 glad you're not hanging out on
22:56 Vega another interesting thing thing
22:58 about this star is that it's surrounded
23:00 by a disc of dust and gas this disc is
23:04 called a debris disc because it's made
23:06 up of leftover material from when the
23:08 star formed scientists think that this
23:11 debris disc is similar to the one that
23:13 surrounded our solar system when it was
23:15 young Vega is also a source of cosmic
23:19 rays these rays are high energy
23:21 particles that zip around space at
23:24 incredible speeds they're made up of
23:26 protons electrons and other particles
23:29 and scientists aren't exactly sure where
23:31 they come from but they do know that
23:33 Vega is one of the places where cosmic
23:36 rays originate but wait there's more
23:40 Vega is also a famous star in pop
23:43 culture it's been used in a lot of
23:45 movies and books as a source of
23:47 inspiration mostly because of its
23:49 brightness and cool
23:52 features hop on board hurry we don't
23:55 have much time we're on a cosmic journey
23:58 to to find the biggest star in the
24:03 universe the first star we pass is our
24:06 own Sun by far not the biggest one out
24:08 there but it's still massive you could
24:11 fit 1 million Earths inside it that
24:14 means if you think of the sun like a
24:15 basketball Earth would be half the size
24:18 of a pencil eraser if we put all the
24:22 planets on one side of a scale and the
24:24 sun on the other the planets wouldn't
24:26 stand a chance the sun makes up
24:30 99.9% of all the mass in the entire
24:33 solar system mass is basically how much
24:36 stuff or matter something is made from
24:39 and it's what you can thank for stars
24:41 shining you see the more matter in a
24:44 star the thicker and hotter its core
24:46 becomes this starts a chain of chemical
24:49 reactions hydrogen atoms get smashed
24:52 into each other to form helium releasing
24:54 an incredible amount of energy that's
24:57 the Stars light and heat
24:58 so bigger Stars also equal brighter ones
25:03 but with all those reactions going on
25:05 this shortens a star's lifespan when it
25:07 starts to run out of fuel the star will
25:09 enter the giant phase it'll expand and
25:12 turn red which brings us back to the
25:15 task at hand the biggest star we'll find
25:18 is likely to be on the edge of its
25:22 [Music]
25:25 life switching on our hyper light
25:28 engines we soon arrive at the Lumen 16
25:31 system here we'll find one of the
25:33 smallest stars out there a brown dwarf
25:37 small here means about the size of
25:39 Jupiter but they're small for
25:44 stars Brown dwarfs are also called
25:46 failed stars because they don't have
25:48 enough mass for those chemical reactions
25:51 that means they're not as bright but
25:53 they're super dense all the matter in
25:55 them is packed together so tightly they
25:58 weigh 80 times more than Jupiter even
26:01 being the same size huh and if you think
26:04 that's something just look at a white
26:05 dwarf even more tightly packed this one
26:09 here is serious B it's also about the
26:12 size of Jupiter but ited weigh as much
26:14 as the sun it emits a dim white light
26:18 once it runs out of gas it'll turn red
26:20 and cool down now let's fly closer to
26:23 its giant neighbor Sirius a you easily
26:27 see this star from Earth no telescope
26:29 needed twice heavier and more than 1 and
26:32 1/2 times wider than our sun it's the
26:35 brightest star in our night sky now we
26:38 fly 550 light years away from Earth to
26:41 the constellation copia almost 100 years
26:45 ago a cosmic explosion happened here it
26:48 expanded the atmosphere of the star
26:50 gamma copia and some gases were thrown
26:53 into space after that it became the
26:56 brightest star in the constellation it's
26:58 10 times wider than our sun on to the
27:02 famous North Star funny enough different
27:05 stars have had this title over the years
27:07 and more will take it in the future
27:09 that's because Earth's pole star changes
27:12 every 26,000 years imagine our planet
27:16 like a spinning top the northern pole
27:18 will shift around in a little circle
27:21 pointing at different stars to the true
27:23 north the current one is a super giant
27:26 37 times wider and five times heavier
27:29 than our sun it's easy to find in the
27:32 night sky it's on the very tip of the
27:34 little Dipper's handle get ready now
27:38 we're setting off for the eye of the
27:39 storm the center of our Milky Way galaxy
27:43 to see the next star we need to switch
27:45 to infrared mode this pistol star is
27:48 hiding from us in space dust in just 20
27:51 seconds it emits as much light as our
27:54 home star does in an entire year and it
27:57 size is jaw-dropping it's 420 times
28:01 wider than the Sun but it's still not
28:03 the most luminous star known to humanity
28:06 that would be a blue super giant in the
28:09 constellation triangulum meet
28:13 b416 it's almost 10 million times
28:15 brighter than the sun but the brighter a
28:18 star the faster it burns up all its Fuel
28:21 and the shorter its life compared with a
28:23 red dwarf that barely glows and burns
28:25 fuel much more slowly its life will will
28:28 be hundreds of thousands of times
28:30 shorter 3,400 Lighty years from Earth
28:33 there's one of the rarest celestial
28:35 bodies in the universe it's a yellow
28:37 hyper giant called Ro copia among the
28:41 countless stars in our galaxy there are
28:43 only a couple dozen of these and even
28:45 though this star is extremely far away
28:47 from our planet you can still see it in
28:49 the sky without needing a telescope
28:52 that's because it's 300,000 times
28:55 brighter than our sun it also helps that
28:57 the thing is 900 times wider than our
29:00 hom star too and its color tells us that
29:03 its fuel reserves will last for a long
29:05 time when Ro copia starts to turn red
29:08 and expand it'll be one of the biggest
29:11 stars in the entire
29:13 universe Now we move to the
29:15 constellation Orion the star is in our
29:17 sights Beetle Juice one of the largest
29:20 ones visible to the uned eye 700 times
29:23 the size of our sun if it took our
29:26 star's Place its surface would touch the
29:28 asteroid belt that's between the orbits
29:31 of Jupiter and Mars it would engulf the
29:33 four inner planets Earth
29:36 included but this star has astronomers
29:39 very excited they predict Beetlejuice
29:41 will explode in a fantastic Celestial
29:44 show in the next 10,000 Years it'll be
29:47 the greatest astronomical event of all
29:49 time because we'll be able to observe a
29:51 supernova at a close but safe enough
29:54 distance the exploding star will shine
29:57 as bright as a half Half Moon it'll be
29:59 visible in the daytime sky for a year
30:02 and at night for several more now we
30:05 venture to stars that exceed the sun's
30:07 width 1,000 times mu sephi is a hyper
30:11 giant boasting the title of the reddest
30:13 known star its color tells us that the
30:16 fuel gauge is getting closer and closer
30:18 to empty but it's still so big that it
30:21 could hold a billion suns in it and
30:23 because of its mass this star will
30:25 eventually become a supernova or even a
30:28 black hole let's take a trip of almost
30:31 4,000 Lighty years from home here it is
30:34 a red super giant called VY Canis
30:37 Majoris it's one of the biggest and
30:39 brightest stars of the Milky Way it
30:41 could fit three billion Suns and even
30:44 though it's so huge this thing is
30:46 surprisingly light only 17 weights of
30:49 the Sun in the context of celestial
30:51 bodies you could call this star an
30:53 inflated balloon in the next 100,000
30:56 years V Canis Majoris will explode in a
31:00 hypernova gamma radiation will destroy
31:03 all life in the local part of the
31:05 universe but this star is so far from
31:07 our solar system that it wouldn't mean
31:09 any harm to us if we placed my sephi in
31:13 the center of our solar system it would
31:15 bulge all the way out to Saturn's orbit
31:18 to remind you just how far away Saturn
31:20 is think of it this way it takes the
31:23 Sun's light 8 minutes to reach Earth to
31:25 get to Saturn it takes well over an hour
31:28 compared to this massive star the sun is
31:31 just a grain of sand it's one of the
31:33 most luminous and reddest stars in our
31:36 universe the bigger and redder the star
31:38 the closer it is to its end so we're not
31:41 looking at just a Titan of the universe
31:44 but also one of the oldest celestial
31:46 bodies out there the second biggest star
31:49 in the universe is UI scai it's about
31:53 1.5 billion miles wide 16 times the
31:56 distance from the Earth to the sun this
31:59 is a pulsating variable star its
32:01 brightness changes about every 2 years
32:04 UI scai is a recordbreaker in fuel
32:07 combustion per year scientists expect it
32:10 to evolve back to hotter temperatures
32:12 like a yellow giant our journey is
32:15 coming to an end before us we behold
32:18 Stevenson 218 it takes 20,000 years for
32:22 light from this star to reach Earth it's
32:24 hard not to see this red super giant on
32:26 our tiny terrestrial home it's
32:29 2,150 times wider than our sun we'd need
32:33 10 billion Suns to fill its volume for
32:36 comparison the average Beach contains
32:39 only about 5 billion grains of
32:42 sand imagine a being so powerful it can
32:45 suck in entire galaxies so mysterious
32:48 it's invisible to the naked eye and so
32:51 impressive it bends the very fabric of
32:53 space and time to its will yes meet my
32:56 mother and just kidding actually meet
32:59 the ultimate superhero of the universe
33:02 the black hole star when is it and how
33:04 does it work well let's find out the
33:07 universe is full of Marvels and the
33:10 black hole star is one of the most
33:11 impressive ones it's a super massive
33:14 force that can bend the laws of physics
33:16 and a true Enigma for scientists to
33:18 unravel no wonder science fiction
33:21 writers find them so
33:23 captivating a black hole star also known
33:25 as a quasi star is a hypothetical type
33:28 of extremely massive and luminous star
33:31 that may have existed early in the
33:33 history of the Galaxy they're predicted
33:35 to be as luminous as a small Galaxy but
33:38 unlike modern Stars they were empowered
33:40 by nuclear fusion in their CES a quasi
33:43 star's energy would come from Material
33:45 falling into a black hole at its core
33:48 and yes just like a normal black hole
33:51 these stars have the power to suck in
33:53 anything and everything that gets too
33:54 close including Stars dust and even in
33:57 entire
33:58 galaxies but how is it possible that the
34:01 star is born from a black hole and
34:03 what's more how do they continue to
34:05 coexist together well first let's
34:08 discuss how black holes are born in
34:10 general it all starts with a super
34:12 massive star one that is at least a few
34:15 times more massive than our own Sun this
34:18 giant of a star Burns bright and hot
34:21 shining with the light of a Million Suns
34:23 but eventually it runs out of fuel and
34:26 its fade is sealed
34:28 as its lifespan comes to an end it makes
34:31 one final massive boom a blast so
34:34 powerful it can outshine an entire
34:37 galaxy this blast is called Supernova
34:41 during this Boom the outer layers of the
34:43 star fly away while the core gets
34:45 squished together by its own gravity if
34:48 the squished core is heavy enough it can
34:50 keep squishing until it becomes a black
34:53 hole and just like that a black hole is
34:56 born don't even try to put diapers on
34:58 this thing now this Cosmic monster baby
35:01 can continue to grow by swallowing up
35:03 anything that comes too close including
35:06 Stars dust and even entire galaxies this
35:09 is basically what's happening now in our
35:11 universe with super massive stars but
35:14 what about quasi
35:16 Stars the formation of a quasi star
35:19 could only happen early in the
35:20 development of the universe before
35:22 hydrogen and helium were contaminated by
35:25 heavier elements and because of that
35:27 quasi stars have one important feature
35:30 they are gigantic so enormous that it's
35:33 literally impossible to imagine they may
35:36 have been dwarfing even the largest
35:38 known modern stars like VY Kanis Majoris
35:41 and Stevenson 218 no wonder they're so
35:44 scary they were born from Proto Stars
35:47 one of the first stars in the universe
35:49 the great great grandfathers of you know
35:52 everything so now imagine a protostar so
35:55 massive that its core collapses into a
35:57 black hole just like we described before
36:00 but the key difference is that in a
36:03 regular Supernova the outer layers of
36:05 the star are blown away by the energy
36:08 released during the boom meanwhile in a
36:11 quasi star these outer layers are
36:13 massive enough to absorb the energy
36:15 without being blown away what do we get
36:18 in the end a star with a black hole in
36:21 its core that weighs from 1,000 to
36:23 10,000 solar masses this quasi star is
36:27 about 4 18,000 times bigger than our sun
36:30 which makes them bigger than any Star we
36:32 know today these Celestial Titans have
36:35 some pretty crazy properties once a
36:37 black hole is formed at the center of a
36:39 giant protostar it starts to give off a
36:42 ton of energy this energy helps to
36:44 balance out the force of gravity making
36:47 it kind of a giant Fusion based star
36:50 they would be so bright that each one
36:52 would look like a small
36:53 Galaxy quasi Stars would have a pretty
36:56 short lifespan around 7 million years
36:59 just for comparison our sun is about 4.5
37:02 billion years old and it's only halfway
37:04 through its lifetime but either way
37:07 during this short period the black hole
37:09 at the center would grow to be about a
37:11 th000 to 10,000 times the size of our
37:13 sun quasi stars are also thought to be
37:16 super hot with temperatures reaching
37:19 over
37:20 17,500 de but as a quas star gets older
37:24 it starts to cool down and its outer
37:26 layers become SE see through eventually
37:29 it cools down to a temperature of
37:31 6,740 De and at that point its curtains
37:35 for the Quasi star it can't survive at
37:37 that temperature so it just dissipates
37:40 leaving behind an intermediate Mass
37:43 black hole unfortunately right now
37:46 there's no observational evidence for
37:48 the existence of Quasi Stars this is
37:51 because they're thought to have only
37:52 existed a very very long time ago they
37:56 may have been very massive population
37:57 three stars which are extremely rare and
38:00 difficult to detect it's also very
38:03 unlikely that any of them would still
38:05 exist today because of their super short
38:07 lifespan only 7 million years so why do
38:12 scientists believe that quasi Stars
38:14 could have existed because they're
38:16 looking for ways to explain how super
38:18 massive black holes formed so early in
38:20 the history of the universe they're
38:22 found at the center of most galaxies but
38:25 how could these monsters have form so
38:27 quickly after all it takes a really long
38:30 time for small black holes to grow into
38:32 super massive ones this is where the
38:35 idea of Quasi stars come in these Stars
38:38 aren't just destructive forces of nature
38:40 they're like the black belts in the
38:42 martial art of gravity they can bend and
38:44 twist anything to its will that's why
38:48 these Stars if they really existed had
38:50 to play a crucial role in the evolution
38:52 of galaxies they must have been
38:54 instrumental in shaping the universe as
38:56 we know it so those intermediate Siz
38:59 black holes that they left behind could
39:02 eventually turned into super massive
39:03 black holes in the center of galaxies
39:06 but we're still yet to solve this Cosmic
39:09 mystery detection and study of black
39:11 hole stars is like trying to find a
39:13 needle in a hay stack only instead of a
39:15 needle it's an invisible and mysterious
39:18 object and instead of a hay stack it's
39:20 the vast expanse of space but with the
39:24 help of some pretty cool technology and
39:26 a lot of brain power scientists are
39:28 getting closer to uncovering the secrets
39:30 of these Celestial Giants here are some
39:33 things that can help us in this research
39:35 first of all gravitational waves they're
39:38 like ripples in the fabric of SpaceTime
39:40 caused by the movement of massive
39:42 objects Albert Einstein predicted them
39:44 way back in the 20th century but they
39:46 were finally detected only in 2015 we
39:50 caught them by observing the Collision
39:52 of two black holes this discovery
39:54 confirmed that black holes can merge and
39:56 that there powerful source of
39:58 gravitational waves scientists think
40:01 that by studying these waves they can
40:03 learn more about how black holes form
40:05 and grow we can also try to detect quasi
40:08 Stars by observing the effects of their
40:10 gravity on nearby objects it's like
40:13 trying to spot a Criminal by their
40:14 fingerprints for example if a black hole
40:17 is located near a star scientists can
40:20 observe the Stars light being distorted
40:23 as it's pulled toward the black hole and
40:26 of course we can use our Tech
40:27 Technologies such as x-ray infrared and
40:30 radio telescopes this allows us to study
40:33 black holes in various ways and at
40:35 different stages of their lives in other
40:37 words scientists are working hard to
40:39 uncover the secrets of these Celestial
40:41 Giants we develop new telescopes search
40:44 for primordial black holes and try to
40:47 understand the connection between black
40:49 hole stars and dark matter and we're
40:51 making some pretty incredible
40:53 discoveries just like with gravitational
40:55 waves all these things will will bring
40:57 us closer to uncovering the secrets of
40:59 Quasi stars and when we find out the
41:02 truth about them it will become a new
41:04 page in our scientific
41:09 history recently the James web Space
41:12 Telescope has spotted something no one
41:14 expected to see it might be a new kind
41:17 of star that was born in the early
41:18 universe and the most shocking thing
41:20 about this star is that it's likely to
41:22 be powered by dark
41:24 matter the thing is around 80 4% of
41:27 matter in the universe doesn't emit or
41:30 absorb light astronomers call this stuff
41:33 which can neither be seen directly nor
41:34 detected by indirect means Dark
41:37 Matter it supposedly affects visible
41:40 matter radiation and the Very structure
41:42 of the
41:43 universe these days we have several
41:46 detectors looking for weakly interacting
41:48 massive particles that's what Dark
41:50 Matter might be composed of but so far
41:53 researchers have found nothing of the
41:55 kind one of the most recent studies
41:58 claims that dark matter might produce
42:00 long fine grain streams radiating out
42:02 from Earth like hairs and streaming
42:04 throughout the Universe but it hasn't
42:06 been proven
42:08 yet now returning to dark stars that
42:11 might be powered by this mysterious Dark
42:13 Matter the very concept of such Stars
42:16 Still Remains hypothetical astronomers
42:19 aren't sure that the images received by
42:21 James web show exactly them but even if
42:24 one of the three candidates spotted by
42:26 scientists turn turns out to be this new
42:28 kind of star it could offer us a glimpse
42:30 of how stars formed in the early
42:32 Universe plus we would probably be able
42:35 to find out something new about dark
42:36 matter and even explain how super
42:38 massive black holes appeared out
42:41 there the first time someone mentioned
42:43 the term Dark Star was in 2007 these
42:47 space objects could have been some of
42:48 the first types of stars to form in the
42:50 universe they haven't been observed yet
42:54 but astronomers think they might be
42:55 powered by heat that is generating
42:57 during Dark Matter interactions rather
42:59 than by nuclear fusion reactions like it
43:02 happens with our
43:03 sun experts believe dark stars would
43:06 probably look extremely weird they could
43:08 have appeared from clouds of hydrogen
43:10 and helium that Drew in excess dark
43:12 matter we still don't know the nature of
43:15 dark matter but there's a theory that
43:17 particles of Dark Matter might be able
43:19 to interact with themselves annihilating
43:21 one another during collisions and thus
43:24 producing huge amounts of light and heat
43:27 then this heat could have prevented The
43:29 Cloud of hydrogen and helium from
43:31 condensing it means these gases wouldn't
43:33 have been able to create dense hot cores
43:36 similar to those the Stars existing
43:37 today have and if this gas cloud
43:40 wouldn't have condensed dark stars could
43:42 have grown to truly enormous size in
43:45 theory a dark star could be around 10
43:47 times as wide as our planet's orbit
43:49 around the sun imagine the sheer size of
43:52 such a space
43:54 monster these Stars would also be
43:56 millions of times as massive as our star
43:59 and their light could be billions of
44:00 times brighter it might be the reason
44:03 why James web managed to spot
44:06 them to check for dark stars that might
44:09 be lurking out there scientists
44:11 thoroughly examined the images from a
44:13 jww USP survey of early galaxies they
44:16 spotted more than 700 objects that could
44:19 have appeared in the first 100 million
44:21 years after the universe appeared that's
44:23 exactly the time when dark stars were
44:25 probably born
44:27 [Music]
44:29 light from objects that appeared so
44:31 unimaginably long ago is stretched or as
44:34 astronomers call it red shifted so the
44:38 team examining the images picked four
44:40 objects that had already been confirmed
44:42 to be extremely red shifted it meant
44:44 that the researchers were looking at
44:46 some of the oldest space objects
44:47 observed so far these objects might be
44:50 tiny galaxies from the times when our
44:52 universe was just a
44:54 baby unfortunately since they're so far
44:57 far away the resolution of James web
44:59 isn't enough to figure out whether
45:00 they're indeed galaxies or just large
45:02 super bright
45:04 [Music]
45:09 stars for a few decades scientists have
45:12 been debating whether there's a mass gap
45:14 between the heaviest neutron stars and
45:16 the lightest black holes and finally for
45:19 the first time ever researchers have
45:22 discovered an object with a mass falling
45:25 right into this Gap
45:27 it started on the 29th of May 2023 the
45:31 ligo Livingston detector in Louisiana
45:33 recorded a mysterious signal it was
45:35 produced in the process of a merger of a
45:38 neutron star with an unknown compact
45:40 object it was most likely an
45:42 unexpectedly lightweight black hole its
45:46 mass could be just a few times that of
45:48 our sun that's why this object falls
45:50 into the lower Mass gap between the
45:53 lightest black holes and the most
45:54 massive neutron stars according to
45:56 Einstein's theory of general relativity
45:58 neutron stars are likely to be lighter
46:01 than three times the mass of our sun but
46:04 the exact Mass after which a neutron
46:06 star will collapse into a black hole is
46:08 still unknown and considering our
46:10 previous electromagnetic observations we
46:13 can expect to find very few black holes
46:15 or neutron stars within the range of 3
46:18 to five solar masses and still the mass
46:21 of one of the newly discovered objects
46:23 perfectly aligns with this range but
46:25 let's have a better look at at how the
46:27 situation with the ligo detector
46:29 unfolded just 5 days after the launch of
46:32 the fourth observing run things became
46:34 really exciting as the detector recorded
46:36 a gravitational wave that was classified
46:39 as signal candidate s230
46:43 529a the online analysis was performed
46:46 almost in real time as the signal
46:48 arrived and the conclusion was
46:50 astounding a neutron star and a black
46:53 hole most likely merged around 650
46:56 million light years away from our
46:59 planet unfortunately it's impossible to
47:02 say exactly where the merger had
47:03 occurred since only one gravitational
47:05 wave detector was recording scientific
47:07 data when the signal arrived that's why
47:09 the direction from which the
47:10 gravitational waves came wasn't
47:12 determined and still the researchers
47:14 were sure that the signal wasn't some
47:17 local disturbance in the ligo Livingston
47:19 detector it actually came from deep
47:21 space to figure out the properties of
47:23 the space bodies that orbited each other
47:25 before merging and producing the
47:27 gravitational wave signal astronomers
47:29 compared data from the ligo Livingston
47:31 detector with two waveform models the
47:35 detected signal appeared as a result of
47:36 the merger of a compact object with 1.3
47:39 to 2.1 times the mass of the Sun and
47:42 another compact object with 2.6 to 4.7
47:46 times the Sun's mass were these compact
47:49 objects a neutron star and a black hole
47:51 we can't tell for sure using
47:53 gravitational wave analysis alone but
47:55 based on everything we've learned
47:56 learned about the properties of this
47:58 binary astronomers think that the
48:00 lighter object is a neutron star and the
48:02 heavier is a black hole of all the
48:05 neutron star black hole mergers we've
48:07 detected so far the most recent one is
48:10 also the one in which the masses of the
48:12 two participating objects are the least
48:15 different experts explain that if a
48:17 black hole is way heavier than a neutron
48:20 star no matter will be left outside the
48:22 black hole after the merger no
48:25 electromagnetic radiation will be
48:27 emitted either as for lighter black
48:29 holes they can rip neutron stars apart
48:31 with their strong tidal forces in the
48:34 process they eject matter that might
48:36 glow as a kilonova or a gamma ray burst
48:40 the detection of this interesting
48:42 phenomenon became possible due to
48:43 several improvements made to the
48:45 detectors which increased the
48:47 sensitivity of the equipment the highly
48:50 successful third observing round
48:51 finished in Spring 2020 and brought the
48:54 number of known gravitational wave
48:55 events to 90 the fourth observing round
48:59 started in May 2023 researchers at an
49:02 Institute in Hanover together with their
49:04 ligo colleagues have improved the laser
49:06 sources of the ligo detectors located at
49:09 the heart of the instruments along with
49:11 Hardware experts have also worked on
49:14 other features of the detector and now
49:17 these space exploration tools can figure
49:19 out the properties of black holes within
49:21 mere days
49:27 check out this Interstellar showstopper
49:29 Shadows doing a little dance in space
49:31 have spilled the beans on a mindboggling
49:34 secret about our solar systems Origins
49:37 there's a star called tww hydre that's
49:40 playing host to some mischievous discs
49:42 that are out of sink spinning at
49:44 slightly wonky angles but what's causing
49:47 this Celestial chaos well it seems like
49:50 a bunch of baby planets are misbehaving
49:52 tugging at the discs with their gravity
49:54 and throwing everything off balance
49:57 hold on tight because things are about
49:59 to get even more interesting this star
50:01 is a real newbie in the cosmic
50:02 neighborhood at just 8 million years old
50:05 yep that's practically a cosmic toddler
50:07 compared to the ancient sun which has
50:09 been around for a whopping 4.6 billion
50:12 years this new start hasn't even started
50:15 its hydrogen burning season yet it's
50:17 still in the process of growing and
50:19 compacting under its own gravitational
50:22 pull think of it as the sun's younger
50:24 doppelganger
50:27 here's the lowdown on how stars like tww
50:29 hydre get their groove on they gather
50:31 Cosmic dust and gas from their
50:33 surroundings which forms a swirling disc
50:35 around them this disc is like a cosmic
50:38 buffet for Planet formation little
50:40 specks of matter come together forming
50:43 bigger and bigger clumps that eventually
50:44 Collide and grow into full-fledged
50:47 planets since they're born from a flat
50:49 dis these planets usually end up
50:51 orbiting their star in a neat flat plane
50:54 now our new star has struck gold with
50:56 its it unique orientation we're lucky
50:58 enough to have a front row seat to this
51:00 Cosmic construction site because we can
51:02 see the disc face on and guess what it
51:05 looks a lot like our solar system this
51:08 gives us a chance to uncover some juicy
51:10 secrets about our own planetary
51:12 Origins back in 2017 eagle-eyed
51:15 astronomers noticed a shadow making its
51:17 way around this new stars disc it
51:20 completed a full rotation every 16 years
51:23 initially they thought this Shadow might
51:25 be evidence of a sneaky young Planet
51:27 forming within the disc causing parts of
51:29 it to wobble in different directions
51:32 fast forward to 2021 and things took an
51:34 unexpected twist the shadow did
51:36 something totally unexpected leaving
51:38 everyone scratching their heads hold
51:41 your horses though The Savvy team of
51:44 astronomers didn't give up easily they
51:46 put their thinking caps on and came up
51:48 with a few possible explanations after
51:51 extensive modeling they hit the jackpot
51:54 it turns out not just one but two wobbly
51:56 discs were at play Casting Shadows on a
51:59 third outer disc this suggests the
52:01 existence of a second young Planet
52:03 making it a cosmic double
52:05 feature imagine these two planets
52:07 zooming around one trying to outpace the
52:10 other like a pair of racing cars the
52:12 data suggests that the first disc is
52:14 about 5 to six astronomical units from
52:16 the Star while the second disc is around
52:18 6 to S astronomical units away for
52:21 reference our Mighty Jupiter orbits the
52:23 Sun at a distance of 5.2 astronomical
52:25 units
52:27 so it's like a cosmic game of tag with
52:29 the planets influencing each other's
52:30 orbits as these planetary Misfits go
52:33 about their orbits their gravitational
52:35 interplay causes the discs to tilt
52:37 slightly with respect to one another
52:39 this creates Shadows that dim the outer
52:41 regions of the
52:43 disc oh and by the way this totally
52:46 matches our own solar system Vibe why
52:49 because some of the planets in our own
52:50 solar system are Rebels too and have
52:52 orbital inclinations that vary by up to
52:55 7° I'm looking at you Mercury or a
52:58 whopping 17° if you count our dear
53:00 friend Pluto who knows if we continue
53:03 researching this new star it might just
53:04 spill the beans on how our own solar
53:06 systems got its funky orbital
53:09 inclinations how exactly do we Define
53:11 our solar system though it's like a
53:13 Celestial neighborhood with eight funky
53:15 planets happily orbiting our sun in
53:17 order of proximity to the sun we have
53:19 Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn
53:23 Uranus and Neptune oh and we can't
53:26 forget Pluto our little dwarf planet
53:28 friend who used to be part of the planet
53:30 Club our solar system is way more than
53:32 just the sum of its planets it's like a
53:34 Fantastical mashup of asteroids comets
53:36 Stars moons and a whole bunch of other
53:38 Spacey stuff that makes our Cosmic home
53:40 truly
53:41 enchanting contrary to popular belief
53:44 the hottest planet isn't the one getting
53:45 all cozy next to the sun nope it's Venus
53:49 the second closest planet how come you
53:52 might ask well Venus is scorching
53:55 because it has an Ultra thick atmosphere
53:57 it's basically like it's wearing a 100
53:59 layers of sweaters when sunlight pierces
54:01 through this super dense atmosphere it
54:03 turns Venus into a fiery furnace we've
54:07 also got some rocks on Earth that are
54:08 like interplanetary tourists from Mars
54:11 can you believe it scientists have found
54:13 these rocks here and they're chock full
54:15 of the same gassy goodness found on the
54:17 red planet how did they get here the
54:20 most plausible scenario is that Mars
54:21 sent a souvenir package through an
54:23 asteroid crash or volcanic fireworks
54:25 show
54:27 our planet is also the ultimate
54:28 chemistry whiz sure other planets have
54:31 bits and pieces of the elements we have
54:33 but we've got the whole shebang iron
54:36 oxygen silicon sulfur magnesium sodium
54:39 nickel calcium aluminum if you can name
54:42 it we most likely have it here somewhere
54:44 other planets are like Hey we're mostly
54:46 rock with helium and hydrogen but we're
54:49 here with our unique blend of
54:50 interstellar
54:52 awesomeness Jupiter however the
54:54 heavyweight champ of our solar system
54:56 has a never-ending party happening in
54:57 its atmosphere it's called the Great Red
55:00 Spot and it's been swirling with
55:01 hurricane-like intensity for more than
55:03 300 years this stormy event boasts
55:06 extremely powerful winds reaching a
55:08 blazing 270 mph oh and by the way this
55:12 colossal storm is more than twice the
55:14 size of our entire
55:16 Earth Neptune on the other hand knows
55:19 how to make an entrance it's got the
55:21 fastest wind speeds in the solar system
55:23 zipping around at more than 1200 mph
55:26 just like Jupiter and Saturn Neptune
55:29 actually produces more energy than it
55:30 gets from the Sun as it turns out
55:33 Neptune's energy comes from its core and
55:35 that's what powers its super duper
55:37 strong winds on the surface now you
55:39 might be wondering how does Neptune
55:41 manage to keep all that energy to itself
55:43 well it's all thanks to a special
55:45 blanket of methane gas which acts like a
55:47 cosmic Snuggie this Snuggie or rather
55:50 greenhouse gas traps the Heat and keeps
55:53 it cozy on the planet if Neptune were a
55:55 bit more like Rus which is a bit of a
55:57 slacker in the energy Department all
55:59 that heat would have gone on a space
56:01 vacation ages ago despite the chilly
56:04 temperatures Neptune doesn't let it
56:06 bring down its funky style it radiates a
56:08 whopping 2.7 times more heat than it
56:11 receives from the sun it's like Neptune
56:14 saying hey Sun you're cool but I've got
56:16 enough heat to make my winds wild and
56:19 crazy space isn't as far away as you
56:22 might imagine the Carmen line which is
56:24 approximately 62 Mi above Earth Earth is
56:27 like the official starting point of
56:28 space if you could drive your car
56:30 straight up into the sky you'd actually
56:32 reach that Mark in less than an hour
56:35 that's even quicker than some people's
56:36 daily commute as it turns out our solar
56:39 system is actually already halfway
56:41 through its estimated life cycle
56:43 scientists estimate that our solar
56:45 system is around 4.6 billion years old
56:48 and it's expected to keep going strong
56:49 for another 5 billion years we've still
56:52 got a lot of time left in this Celestial
56:55 ride in the meantime the sun our fiery
56:58 Superstar will keep trying to pull the
57:00 planets towards it talk about being
57:02 clingy gravity on the sun is so powerful
57:05 that it's constantly exerting its pull
57:07 but don't worry the planets are not just
57:10 passive participants they're like
57:11 determin tug-of war players pulling in
57:13 the opposite direction and keeping a
57:15 fine balance as a result the planets end
57:18 up kind of floating in the middle it's
57:20 no wonder the sun has so much power
57:21 around here the mass of the Sun is
57:24 mind-blowingly huge in fact the Sun's
57:27 mass is around 330,000 times that of our
57:30 beloved Earth and get this it accounts
57:32 for over 99% of the total mass in our
57:35 solar
57:38 system stars are beautiful colorful
57:40 things there are red giants those are
57:43 nearing the end of their lives and are
57:45 on the verge of explosions blue stars
57:48 shine in the belt of the constellation
57:49 Oran as well as other places yellow ones
57:53 like our sun are pretty ordinary they're
57:55 usually warm war and stable enough to
57:57 support life but look at the night sky
58:00 attentively do you see any green or
58:02 purple stars nope they're kind of
58:05 invisible because of the way we humans
58:06 perceive visible light the color of a
58:09 star mostly depends on its surface
58:11 temperature the hotter it is the shorter
58:13 wavelengths the lighted demits will have
58:16 the hottest stars are blue or white blue
58:19 those are some of the shortest
58:21 wavelengths of light cooler stars are
58:23 normally red and red Brown which are
58:25 longer w wavelengths at the same time
58:28 Stars never send out their light in just
58:30 one wavelength it's more of a range of
58:33 light the wavelengths of light from a
58:35 star peak in just one color in a
58:38 bell-shaped curve but the star emits
58:41 other colors too human eyes have evolved
58:44 to see yellow and green radiation
58:46 probably because our sun emits it mainly
58:48 in these wavelengths but a green star
58:51 emits radiation right in the center of
58:53 the visible light spectrum in all
58:55 possible colors
58:56 that's why such stars appear white which
58:58 is a combination of all Hues actually
59:02 our sun emits quite a lot of green light
59:04 but we perceive it as white purple stars
59:07 though are something our eyes won't ever
59:08 see because they're sensitive to Blue
59:10 Light and since Stars emitting purple
59:12 light send out a lot of blue light too
59:15 because these shades are next to each
59:16 other on the visible light spectrum the
59:19 human eye picks up only the blue light
59:21 when it comes to other objects in the
59:23 solar system many planets seem to have
59:25 no obvious Hue look at Venus Saturn or
59:28 Jupiter they look kind of bland probably
59:31 whitish at best but there are several
59:33 planets that boast very decisive colors
59:35 for example Mars looks orange red
59:38 Neptune is blue and Uranus has a
59:40 beautiful blue green Hue the planet gets
59:43 it from all that methane gas in its
59:45 atmosphere meteors sometimes display a
59:47 vivid green too and look at breathtaking
59:49 bright auroras green is the most common
59:52 color of the northern lights but not
59:54 Stars never ever Stars the brightest
59:57 star in the sky besides our sun of
60:00 course is sirious it's twice as bright
60:02 as its competitor canopus located in the
60:05 southern constellation Karina being the
60:08 most brilliant Sirius is very easy to
60:11 identify probably the coolest thing
60:13 about this star is that it seems to be
60:15 changing its color but we'll get to it a
60:17 bit later this star is whiter and hotter
60:20 than the sun its surface temperature is
60:23 17,300 De F while the Sun surface
60:26 temperature only reaches 10,000 de F
60:29 when you combine the immense heat Sirius
60:31 emits with its girth 1.75 times the size
60:35 of the sun you'll understand why the
60:37 star looks so bright in the night sky
60:40 Sirius has a companion star it's called
60:42 the pup it's a tiny but incredibly dense
60:45 white dwarf with a diameter of a mere
60:47 7,000 Mi this makes it smaller than
60:50 Earth at the same time its mass reaches
60:54 98% of that of the Sun
60:56 it means that the matter inside this
60:58 tiny star is squeezed very very tightly
61:01 that's why its gravitational pull is
61:03 350,000 times greater than Earth's a
61:06 person weighing 150 lb would weigh 50
61:08 million PB on the
61:10 star now Sirius is famous for its
61:13 twinkling and since it is also the
61:15 brightest star we can observe the
61:17 everpresent turbulence in its atmosphere
61:19 quite well as for the star changing its
61:21 color it has to do with the atmosphere
61:24 of our planet Rockets of air at
61:27 different temperatures Focus Starlight
61:30 this way and that like small lenses we
61:33 see it as twinkling but since white
61:35 light is made of different colors one
61:37 pocket might send some red our way
61:39 another will send blue or yellow and
61:41 totally random order that's why it seems
61:44 that serious twinkles in
61:51 color castles were cold places in times
61:55 past the stone seemed to radiate the
61:57 Winter Chill this is one practical
61:59 reason why tapestries were hung upon
62:02 castle walls to help keep the cold out
62:05 and the warmth in but you just can't
62:07 hang any old thing on castle walls it
62:10 should be beautiful heroic with a heavy
62:12 wow factor the ancient Greeks hung
62:15 tapestries on the walls of their castle
62:17 of the sky glorious tapestries woven of
62:20 stars all 48 constellations of the
62:23 northern hemisphere were designed and
62:25 named by the Greeks the story of
62:28 Andromeda is one such tapestry woven of
62:31 seven constellations spread across the
62:33 entire Autumn Sky the story contains
62:36 detailed astronomical observations
62:39 preserved as highlights in the sky
62:41 tapestry it begins with the
62:43 constellation copia Queen of the oldest
62:46 realm in Africa Ethiopia when the
62:49 constellation copia is on the horizon it
62:52 looks like a staircase going up to the
62:54 Milky Way step pyramids around the world
62:57 are often thought to have been inspired
62:59 by the constellation copia in any case
63:03 copia is a beautiful constellation
63:05 indicating that Queen copia was also a
63:08 beautiful woman she was good-looking but
63:11 equally vain which sets off all the
63:13 dramatic action copia can be found in
63:16 the night sky opposite Ursa Major from
63:19 the North Star like Ursa Major copia
63:23 circles the North Star and is a
63:24 circumpolar constellation a supernova
63:27 was observed in copia around 1680 Earth
63:31 time copia a having occurred about
63:34 11,000 years earlier the Chandra x-ray
63:37 satellite recently recorded an
63:39 extraordinary photograph of this
63:41 Supernova Remnant showing the elements
63:43 sulfur calcium silicon and iron amid the
63:46 expanding clouds high-intensity x-rays
63:50 cassop Pia's husband is also a
63:52 circumpolar constellation a minor dim
63:55 one named sephus he had his own kingdom
63:58 a merger of Empires by way of marriage
64:00 is something common throughout history
64:03 sephus was a king of Phoenicia there
64:05 were many kings of Phoenicia back in the
64:07 days when Phoenicia was just a
64:09 collection of city states along the
64:11 western shore of the Mediterranean Sea
64:14 cus can be found in the area between
64:16 copia and the Northstar the
64:19 constellation of sephus is important to
64:21 astronomers it's where Henrietta Swan
64:24 leovit discovered VAR able stars that
64:26 pulsed at regular intervals the rate of
64:29 pulsation of the star indicates the true
64:31 brightness of the star and enables a
64:34 sure measurement of the distance to the
64:35 star the discovery of sea FID variable
64:38 Stars was a major breakthrough for early
64:41 20th century astronomy cus and copia had
64:45 a daughter Andromeda also a noted Beauty
64:48 about whom all the fuss is it seems that
64:51 one day copia was boasting about the
64:54 beauty of her and and her daughter
64:56 Andromeda we are more beautiful than any
64:59 other women in the whole wide world well
65:02 such pretension can be forgiven for a
65:04 queen but then copia went further and
65:07 stepped beyond all natural bounds in
65:10 fact we are more beautiful than any of
65:13 the nads well the nads were Greek
65:16 mythological sea nymphs Daughters of the
65:18 ocean noted for their beauty and
65:20 kindness to Sailors the nits all 50 of
65:24 them took offense at being diminished
65:26 dissed by a mere mortal woman copia had
65:30 to be punished for exceeding the bounds
65:32 of the Civil order by her excessive
65:34 vanity copia transgressed beyond the
65:37 bounds of nature for which an unnatural
65:40 punishment was inflicted upon the entire
65:42 Kingdom of Ethiopia a monster from the
65:45 bottom of the ocean the constellation
65:47 cus began to devastate the coastal
65:49 Villages of Ethiopia as well as
65:52 Ethiopia's fishing ships fittingly cetus
65:55 is a a constellation of the Southern
65:57 Celestial hemisphere the fourth largest
65:59 by area of all the constellations cedus
66:02 swims in a dark part of the sky called
66:04 the ocean with only its head Rising
66:07 above the celestial Equator this part of
66:09 the sky contains several water themed
66:12 constellations Pisces the fishes
66:14 Aquarius the water Bearer and idenus the
66:17 river over 50 exoplanets have been
66:20 discovered in cedus you can bet the
66:23 James web Space Telescope will have a
66:25 feel day analyzing the Spectra of these
66:27 planets atmospheres looking for signs of
66:30 Life meanwhile queen copia and king seus
66:33 must do something about the monster
66:35 devastating the shores of Ethiopia they
66:38 consult an Oracle and make another
66:40 trespass beyond the realm of reason and
66:42 nature tell us Oracle what can we do to
66:46 stop the monster from ravaging our
66:48 kingdom this monster is not a normal
66:50 Affliction of nature an offense was
66:53 committed against the higher Realms and
66:55 this this is the punishment the monster
66:57 cannot be stopped by any normal means
67:00 only a human sacrifice of the noblest
67:03 being May plate the Beast one error
67:06 compounds another the noblest person in
67:09 the Kingdom of course is Princess
67:11 Andromeda according to the command of
67:13 her father and the consent or perhaps a
67:16 suggestion of her mother Andromeda is
67:19 chained to a rock offshore she is the
67:22 human sacrifice that her parents hope
67:24 will save the kingdom
67:27 wow here comes the Greek hero to save
67:30 the day stop the human sacrifice and
67:32 Turn cedus to Stone Perseus now where is
67:36 Perseus coming from according to Legend
67:39 the herdes Perseus went to the hdes in
67:42 pursuit of the Gorgon Medusa the
67:44 geological scope of this tapestry is
67:47 incredible from the Hees to the Red Sea
67:50 the herdes are an archipelago of mostly
67:53 Rocky islands off the western coast of
67:55 Scot
67:56 it was impossible to sail any further
67:58 the Hees were the absolute end of the
68:00 world Perseus didn't have to sail to the
68:03 Hees however he flew on a pair of winged
68:06 sandals hey way to go pereus now Medusa
68:10 was one of the all-time baddies one look
68:12 at Medusa was so terrifying it would
68:14 petrify you literally turn you to Stone
68:17 pereus was in great danger so what did
68:20 our hero do instead of looking at Medusa
68:23 Perseus used the scientific principle of
68:26 reflection he slew Medusa by seeing her
68:29 reflected in his polished shield in our
68:32 Sky tapestry percus is portrayed holding
68:34 up the severed head of Medusa in the
68:37 night sky one eye in Medusa's head opens
68:40 and closes and opens again Arabic
68:43 astronomers name the star alol the ghoul
68:46 alol is an eclipsing double star when
68:49 Star is bright the other one not that
68:51 much as the dimmer star orbits the
68:54 bright star it passes in front of the
68:56 bright star eclipsing it and the eye
68:58 closes since the dim star takes 2 days
69:01 20 hours and 49 minutes to orbit the
69:04 bright star the eye in Medusa's head
69:06 opens every day and a half or so the
69:09 constellation of Perseus is immediately
69:11 below copia and skywatchers quickly look
69:14 to see if alol is eclipsed if Medusa's
69:17 eye is open or closed Perseus flew back
69:20 from the Hees accompanied by Pegasus the
69:23 winged horse the central part of Pegasus
69:26 is the great Square made up of four
69:28 stars as earth goes around the Sun the
69:31 great square is right in the center of
69:33 the night sky in autumn in the summer
69:36 the summer triangle of Vega denb and
69:38 alter are in the middle of the night sky
69:41 in Spring it's Leo the Lion and in
69:43 winter it's Orion the hunter these are
69:46 the walls of the Castle in the Sky and
69:48 all have marvelous tapestries adorning
69:51 them the constellation of Andromeda
69:53 shares a star named alpharet with with
69:55 Pegasus it's one of the corners of the
69:57 great Square so it appears Andromeda may
70:00 be riding on Pegasus her crown remember
70:03 she is a princess is floating nearby M31
70:07 the Andromeda galaxy to see M31 cross
70:11 the corners of the great Square from the
70:13 lowest star to the uppermost star and
70:15 then go a little further to see the
70:17 Andromeda galaxy be sure to peek at it
70:20 from the corner of your eyes it's called
70:22 averted Vision the corners of your eyes
70:25 are more sensitive to light so you'll be
70:27 able to see the huge spiral galaxy 2.5
70:31 million light years away as a smudge of
70:33 light one and 1 half times wider than
70:36 the full moon now pereus doesn't go in
70:38 for Human Sacrifice so he stops IT and
70:41 saves Andromeda by exposing cedus to
70:44 Medusa's gaze and here we encounter the
70:47 second eclipsing variable in our Sky
70:49 tapestry mirror the heart Star of cedus
70:52 the Sea Monster mirror from which we get
70:55 the English word mirror so fitting in
70:57 the story about Bane beauty is an
70:59 eclipsing double star the dim star
71:01 orbiting the bright star is a white
71:03 dwarf not bright enough to see with the
71:06 uned eye the effect is that cetus is
71:09 heart shuts off mirror is eclipsed and
71:12 disappears this cycle repeats itself
71:14 every 332 days our fabulous star
71:18 tapestry has the only two eclipsing
71:20 binary Stars visible to uned eyes the
71:23 nearest spiral galaxy and a hero that
71:26 doesn't like human sacrifice and uses
71:28 the scientific principle of reflection
71:30 to thwart mythological monsters wow I
71:33 would hang that in my castle too just
71:37 saying a powerful burst of gamma
71:39 radiation lasted a mere half second but
71:42 it released an enormous amount of energy
71:44 it was more than our sun would produce
71:46 in 10 billion years this brief flash lit
71:49 up the whole Sky afterward a much softer
71:52 and more long lasting glow replaced it
71:55 astronomers examined the Phenomenon with
71:57 x-ray radio Optical and infrared waves
72:01 it turned out that people had finally
72:03 seen a newborn magnetar for the first
72:06 time ever it was likely formed after two
72:09 neutron stars had merged it resulted in
72:12 a kilan NOA one of the brightest and
72:14 largest Stellar blasts its light finally
72:17 reached our planet on May 22nd 2020
72:21 imagine a massive star at least five
72:23 times the mass of our sun reaching the
72:25 end of its life it might be because it's
72:28 run out of its nuclear fuel if it
72:30 happens the star starts to cool off the
72:33 pressure inside drops and the gravity
72:35 starts to squeeze Inward and then more
72:38 than a million times the mass of our
72:40 planet collapses within 15 seconds it
72:43 happens so fast that an enormous shock
72:46 wave causes the outer part of the star
72:48 to blow up it produces a blinding burst
72:51 of light this powerful blast is called a
72:54 supernova
72:55 What's Left Behind is an incredibly
72:57 dense core with a huge cloud of hot gas
73:00 called a nebula expanding around it if
73:03 the star has been massive enough more
73:05 than 10 times the size of the sun it's
73:08 likely to turn into a black hole if not
73:11 it turns into a neutron star it's
73:13 basically a giant nucleus the central
73:16 part of an atom these stars are mostly
73:19 made up of neutrons and are rarely
73:20 larger than 20 M across for comparison
73:24 our son is almost 865,000 M across which
73:28 is 109 Earths put side by side but don't
73:31 let this relatively tiny size fool you
73:34 any neutron star is at least 1 and 1/2
73:37 times heavier than our sun and has an
73:39 intense magnetic field if you scooped
73:42 just a teaspoon of this star's insides
73:44 this matter would weigh more than a
73:46 billion tons it's so dense that it makes
73:49 neutron stars some of the most extreme
73:52 objects people know about the next stop
73:54 is the black hole itself when two
73:57 neutron stars merge they most often
73:59 create a new much heavier one within
74:02 milliseconds or even less this star
74:05 collapses into a black hole but the
74:07 astronomers who examined the flash of
74:09 light recorded in March think there
74:11 might be another outcome they're almost
74:14 sure they saw something never observed
74:16 before the birth of a magnetar that's a
74:20 rare form of a neutron star with an
74:22 ultra strong magnetic field it's one
74:25 thousand trillion times stronger than
74:27 our planets this field is also so
74:29 powerful it heats the star surface up to
74:32 18 million de F to put it simply
74:36 magnetars are the most powerful magnets
74:39 in the universe their magnetic fields
74:41 can seriously mess with the neighborhood
74:43 Adams unlucky enough to get close to
74:46 such a star get stretched into Pencil
74:48 Thin lines if you somehow found yourself
74:51 several hundred miles away from a
74:52 magnetar it would end badly for for you
74:55 the magnetic field would first disrupt
74:57 your bioelectricity it means that your
75:00 nerve impulses wouldn't work anymore
75:02 even your molecules would change under
75:04 the influence of the star's field in the
75:07 end you'd pretty much vanish if a
75:09 magnetar flew within 100,000 mil from
75:12 our planet it would wipe out all the
75:14 data on every single credit card in the
75:17 world locating the North Star is quite
75:20 easy on a clear night the only thing you
75:22 need to do is find the Big Dipper those
75:25 two stars on the end of the Dipper's Cup
75:27 point the way to the North Star see it's
75:31 the tip of the handle of the Little
75:32 Dipper or the tail of the little bear
75:35 it's in the constellation Ura minor over
75:37 there people have been watching the
75:39 North Star for centuries this bright
75:42 star is also known as Polaris it's
75:45 situated almost directly over our
75:47 planet's North Pole which makes it a
75:49 great Landmark for a traveler without a
75:51 compass or a GPS on their smartphone
75:55 it's also Earth's closest seid that's
75:58 what we call a star that pulses
76:00 regularly in brightness and diameter
76:02 Polaris is also part of a binary system
76:05 of two stars it's got a dimmer sister
76:08 it's known as Polaris B you can actually
76:11 see it circling the North Stars from
76:13 Earth but the more astronomers watch
76:16 Polaris the less they understand the
76:19 problem is no one can agree on how big
76:22 or distant the star is scientist have
76:25 several ways to estimate the mass age
76:27 and distance of a star like Polaris one
76:31 method is called the Stellar Evolution
76:33 method after studying the brightness
76:35 color and rate of pulsation of a star
76:38 experts use this data to figure out how
76:41 big or bright it is as well as what
76:44 stage of life it's in once these details
76:46 are clear it's not hard to find out how
76:49 far a star actually is it's simple math
76:51 once you know the Luminosity of a star
76:53 in real life and how dim it looks from
76:56 our
76:56 planet such models are especially
76:59 precise for stars like Polaris because
77:01 the rate of their pulsing is directly
77:03 related to their brightness this makes
77:05 it easy to figure out the distance to
77:07 any of those Stars astronomers trust
77:10 this method so much that seates have
77:13 become an important tool for measuring
77:15 distances all across the universe at the
77:18 same time there are other ways to study
77:20 the North Star and they don't agree with
77:22 the Stellar Evolution models Polaris is
77:25 a so-called astrometric binary it means
77:29 you can see its companion going around
77:31 it it looks as if a circle is being
77:33 drawn around the bigger star to complete
77:36 one orbit the smaller star needs around
77:39 26 years even though astronomers haven't
77:42 made detailed observations of Polaris
77:44 B's full circuit they've seen enough to
77:47 know what its orbit looks like using
77:50 this information one can apply Newton's
77:52 laws of gravity to calculate the masses
77:54 of the two Stars combined with the
77:56 hobble space telescope's new
77:58 measurements these calculations lead to
78:00 very precise numbers Polaris is supposed
78:03 to be around 3.45 times the mass of the
78:06 Sun but that's much less than the mass
78:09 you get from Stellar Evolution models
78:11 they suggest a value of almost seven
78:14 times the mass of the Sun but there's
78:16 another reason why this star system is
78:18 weird after calculating the ages of the
78:21 Stars researchers concluded that Polaris
78:24 B is much older than its bigger sibling
78:26 but it's extremely unusual for a binary
78:29 system normally both stars are of the
78:32 same
78:33 age one explanation might be that at
78:35 least one of the measurements is simply
78:37 wrong after all Polaris is a difficult
78:40 star to study since it's positioned
78:42 above our planet's North Pole it's
78:44 outside the field of view of most
78:46 telescopes as for those telescopes that
78:49 do have the needed equipment for
78:51 measuring the star's properties
78:52 precisely they're typically used for
78:54 studying much more distant and fainter
78:56 Stars Polaris is simply too bright for
78:59 such instruments it blinds them there's
79:02 a theory that the main star of the
79:04 Polaris system was once two stars but
79:07 they collided a few million years ago
79:09 such a binary Collision could rejuvenate
79:12 Stars by pulling in extra material and
79:14 making the stars look as if they went
79:16 through the Fountain of Youth it would
79:18 also explain some other Oddities since
79:21 stars that appear as a result of binary
79:23 collisions don't fit Stellar Evolution
79:25 models unfortunately so far none of the
79:29 theories have been
79:30 confirmed the North Star is actually a
79:33 big deal Earth is spinning non-stop
79:36 which causes the sun to rise and set and
79:38 stars to travel across the sky our
79:41 planet is also tilted that's why we have
79:44 seasons if we drew a line through the
79:47 axis Earth spins around and extended it
79:49 over 300 Lighty years past the North
79:52 Pole at the end of that imaginary line
79:54 there would be the North Star it stays
79:57 almost exactly at the same spot in the
79:59 sky at all times and always points The
80:02 Way North it's really important for
80:04 navigation people heavily relied on it
80:06 in the days before GPS if you were
80:09 standing on the equator Polaris would be
80:11 right at the Horizon at the North Pole
80:14 it would seem to be right over your head
80:16 in other words using the Stars height in
80:19 the sky you can not only figure out the
80:21 needed Direction but also understand
80:23 where you are on Earth Earth curiously
80:26 there's no South Star there isn't a
80:29 bright enough Star right above the South
80:30 Pole but one day we might get such a
80:33 star when you spin a Tob on the table
80:35 its end Moves In A Circle we know this
80:38 phenomenon as
80:40 procession Earth behaves in the same way
80:43 and the North and South Poles won't
80:45 always Point towards the same spots in
80:46 the sky in the next 26,000 years it may
80:50 cause the North Star to change from
80:52 Polaris to a few other stars and back
80:55 again one day the title of the North
80:57 Star will go to Vega it's the fifth
81:00 brightest star in the night sky and the
81:02 second brightest in the northern
81:03 Celestial hemisphere Vega has another
81:07 name Alpha ler that's because it's the
81:09 main star of the lra constellation Vega
81:12 has been one of the most crucial stars
81:14 to people since ancient times it's very
81:17 bright and blue hence very IR
81:19 recognizable Vega was the North Star
81:22 several thousand years ago and it'll
81:24 regain this status in 12,000 years or so
81:28 this star is located a mere 25 Lighty
81:30 years from Earth it's just 450 million
81:33 years old which makes it way younger
81:35 than our own 4.6 billion year old star
81:38 system astronomers study Vega to learn
81:41 more about star systems in the early
81:43 stages of their formation Vega is almost
81:46 directly overhead at midn Northern
81:48 latitudes on a summer night it hides
81:50 behind the Horizon for only 7 hours a
81:53 day you can see it on any night of the
81:55 year if you travel farther south you'll
81:58 find out that Vega lies below the
82:00 Horizon for longer periods of time but
82:03 in Alaska Northern Canada and some parts
82:05 of Europe Vega never sets Vega's blue
82:09 white light is bright enough to be
82:11 featured a lot in ancient cultures from
82:13 the Chinese to the Polynesians to the
82:15 Hindus Vega's name can also be
82:18 translated as falling or swooping this
82:21 is a reference to the times when people
82:23 regarded this constellation as a
82:25 swooping vulture not a Lear Vega was
82:29 also the first star to get photographed
82:31 other than the son of course to do it
82:34 astronomers at Harvard College
82:35 Observatory used a 15in refractor and it
82:38 happened again in 1850 around two
82:41 decades later an amateur astronomer
82:44 broke down Vega's light to reveal
82:46 various elements making up the star in
82:48 2006 thanks to telescopic observations
82:51 scientists found out that Vega was
82:53 whipping around so fast that its poles
82:56 were several thousand de warmer than its
82:58 Equator the star rotates every 12.5
83:01 hours and is at 90% of its critical
83:04 rotation speed that's the velocity at
83:07 which an object can tear itself apart in
83:10 2013 researchers announced that they had
83:13 discovered an asteroid belt around Vega
83:16 it means there might be planets
83:17 somewhere out there among space rocks
83:20 there are two areas an outer region that
83:23 contains icy a asids and an inner region
83:26 with warmer space
83:28 rocks scientists can examine bright
83:30 stars like Vega using NASA's mission
83:33 called Tess which stands for transiting
83:36 exoplanet survey satellite it was
83:38 launched in 2018 to conduct an all Sky
83:41 survey the main goal of this mission is
83:44 to search for exoplanets but the
83:46 satellite can also look for Star
83:49 variability by examining such stars as
83:52 Vega Tess can help scientists learn
83:54 learn more about the early stages of
83:56 star Evolution hey look at this blazing
83:59 monster it's a white dwarf these stars
84:02 are known for gobbling up passing
84:04 objects and one day these objects might
84:07 be the planets of our own solar system
84:09 according to a new study parts of the
84:11 solar system will be pulled into a white
84:13 dwarf star crushed up and eventually
84:16 ground into a fine dust like coffee
84:18 beans in a blade grinder hey you like
84:21 that analogy now white dwarfs are a
84:23 final stage of a star's life it's a
84:26 small but very Dense Star that's
84:28 typically the size of a planet the
84:30 result of a low mass star exhausting all
84:32 the nuclear fuel in its Center and
84:34 losing its outer layers as a planetary
84:38 nebula when our sun turns into a white
84:41 dwarf and it is bound to happen sometime
84:44 it'll destroy the asteroids and moons
84:46 around Mars and Jupiter they will be
84:48 pulverized by its gravity Earth though
84:51 will be swallowed up even before the sun
84:53 turns into a white dwarf
84:55 but it won't happen for another 6
84:57 billion years researchers working on
85:00 this topic have come to such conclusions
85:02 by observing what happened to space
85:04 bodies asteroids moons and planets that
85:06 were passing close to three white dwarfs
85:09 for 17 years they observed and analyzed
85:12 transits that's when the brightness of a
85:14 white dwarf dips because of an object in
85:17 a stable orbit passing in front of it in
85:19 the case of white dwarfs we can predict
85:22 such transits and use them to study the
85:24 Stars themselves and celestial objects
85:26 passing by
85:28 them so when something gets too close to
85:31 a white dwarf star the star's immense
85:34 gravity rips it into smaller and smaller
85:36 pieces of debris the team also found out
85:39 that transits of such debris are chaotic
85:42 plus this debris is oddly shaped which
85:45 means that it is being devoured further
85:48 the first white dwarf used for studying
85:50 the transit process this here guy seems
85:53 steady and well behaved over the last
85:55 few years well until scientists found
85:58 some evidence of a massive catastrophic
86:00 event that occurred in 2010 or so the
86:03 next star dims irregularly every couple
86:05 of months before brightening again and
86:08 the third dwarf star used to behave
86:10 close to theoretical predictions it had
86:12 transits that varied in number shapes
86:14 and depths but the latest study has
86:17 shown that the transits are now
86:19 completely gone and this indicates the
86:21 unpredicted nature of transits when
86:24 minute you see them the next poof the
86:27 reason might be the chaotic environment
86:29 they have to exist in as for our own
86:31 solar system and our planet in general
86:34 its fate looks pretty sad Earth will be
86:37 swallowed by the expanding Sun even
86:39 before our star turns into a white dwarf
86:42 as for the rest of the solar system
86:44 located further from the Sun some of the
86:46 asteroids between Mars and Jupiter as
86:48 well as some of Jupiter's moons will be
86:50 destroyed later oh well they're likely
86:53 to get disl Ed and travel too close to
86:55 the white
86:58 dwarf now at the same time astronomers
87:01 aren't 100% sure that it's exactly what
87:04 will happen with our solar system so I
87:07 guess we'll just have to wait and see
87:09 for like 6 billion years speaking of
87:12 white dwarfs scientists have recently
87:14 found one that has a bizarre metallic
87:16 scar on its surface this blemish could
87:18 have formed after the star ripped up and
87:21 ate a tiny planet orbiting it why dwarf
87:24 with traces of metal in their
87:25 atmospheres aren't rare these traces are
87:28 left by planets falling into Stars
87:30 affected by their gravity experts have
87:32 long thought that such metal should be
87:34 distributed evenly across the surface of
87:36 such polluted white dwarves but a new
87:39 study has discovered a white dwarf with
87:41 a weird concentrated patch of metal the
87:44 star was monitored over a period of 2
87:47 months with the help of the very large
87:49 telescope in Chile the researchers found
87:52 an opaque patch of metal it was is
87:54 located over one of the Stars magnetic
87:56 poles and block some of the Stars light
87:58 as it rotated based on this position
88:01 astronomers concluded that the material
88:03 could have been funneled into the Star
88:05 by its powerful magnetic field this
88:08 process is similar to one causing Aurora
88:10 on Earth where charged particles follow
88:12 the magnetic field to the
88:16 surface now the planet destroyed by the
88:18 white dwarf was most likely very small
88:21 around the same size as asteroid Vesta
88:23 in our our solar system which is a mere
88:26 326 M across its debris is now
88:29 prominently displayed on the host star
88:31 surface it makes it easier for
88:33 researchers to examine what the planet's
88:35 geochemistry was before it was devoured
88:38 such a study might even turn out to be
88:40 one of the best ways to observe small
88:42 worlds beyond the solar system even if
88:45 such a world has already met its demands
88:48 there might be many more scarred stars
88:50 like this one the one in question was
88:52 the first but probably not the last even
88:55 better astronomers have already
88:57 discovered two white dwarfs that seem to
88:59 have similar scars making repeat
89:02 observations of such Stars might help us
89:04 unearth pardon the pun no I meant to do
89:07 that unearth even more secrets and make
89:09 more discoveries another bizarre white
89:12 dwarf discovered not long ago seems to
89:15 have stopped cooling due to the
89:16 formation of internal crystals it
89:19 challenges existing theories on Star
89:21 aging and also questions the method of
89:23 Stellar AG estimation but scientists
89:26 might have understood why it may be
89:30 happening white dwarfs are believed to
89:32 be dead stars they keep cooling down
89:34 over time and normally this process
89:37 can't be reversed or paused but in 2019
89:40 the European space agency's GAA
89:43 satellite discovered a number of white
89:45 dwarf stars that had stopped cooling for
89:47 more than 8 billion years it might mean
89:50 that some white dwarfs can generate a
89:52 lot of extra energy which is at odds
89:54 with the classical dead star Theory at
89:57 first astronomers couldn't figure out
89:58 how it might happen but in the end more
90:01 than 97% of stars in the Milky Way
90:04 galaxy turn into white dwarfs
90:06 astronomers have long thought that such
90:08 stars are at the end of their lives
90:11 after depleting their nuclear energy
90:13 source they stop producing heat and cool
90:15 down eventually the dense Plasma in
90:18 their insides freezes into a solid state
90:21 and the star solidifies from inside out
90:24 the whole process can take billions of
90:27 years but the new research claims that
90:29 in some white dwarfs this dense plasma
90:32 doesn't simply freeze instead its solid
90:35 crystals forming upon freezing become
90:38 less dense than the liquid and start
90:40 floating around they displace the
90:42 heavier liquid downward the movement of
90:45 heavier material toward the center of a
90:46 white dwarf releases gravitational
90:49 energy and this energy is enough to
90:51 interrupt the star's cooling process and
90:54 called it for billions of years now this
90:56 explanation actually matches all of the
90:58 properties of the unusual white dwarf
91:01 population but this is the first time
91:03 such a transport mechanism has been seen
91:06 in any type of star and that's
91:08 incredibly exciting a totally new
91:10 astrophysical phenomenon but why does it
91:13 happen in some stars but not in others
91:16 it most likely depends on the
91:18 composition of the star you see some
91:20 white dwarf stars are formed by the
91:22 merger of two different Stars when they
91:24 Collide and form a white dwarf it
91:26 changes the composition of the star
91:28 which allows the formation of floating
91:32 crystals so this discovery might mean
91:35 that astronomers will have to review the
91:36 ways they use to determine the age of
91:39 stars at the moment white dwarfs are
91:42 often used as age indicators the cooler
91:44 a white dwarf is the older it's believed
91:47 to be but now we already know about
91:49 possible delays in the cooling process
91:51 of some dwarves it makes the popular age
91:54 determination method more unreliable
91:57 some stars of a given temperature may be
92:00 billions of years older than we
92:01 previously thought the recently
92:04 uncovered transport mechanism within
92:06 white dwarfs means that some of these
92:08 Stars can be shining as bright as normal
92:10 for billions of years this complicates
92:13 age dating and the use of white dwarfs
92:15 to reconstruct the formation of our
92:17 galaxy hey stay tuned
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