These Space Facts Will Remind You How Small We Are

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Transcript

00:00:00 The Sun is getting ready to flip as its magnetic poles are reversing.

00:00:04 Similar to Earth, the Sun has a magnetic north and a magnetic south.

00:00:09 But unlike Earth, the reversing process of the Sun's poles is more frequent and easier

00:00:14 to predict.

00:00:15 The next flipping is expected to take place this year between April and August.

00:00:20 As apocalyptic as it might sound, you don't have to worry.

00:00:24 If you're around 30, you've already experienced this phenomenon more than once as the Sun

00:00:28 flips every 11 years.

00:00:31 You probably didn't notice any changes back then because this process doesn't impact

00:00:36 Earth's life so much.

00:00:38 But this time, things might be a little different.

00:00:43 On Earth, ocean currents are movements that play a crucial role in influencing both climate

00:00:47 and weather by distributing heat from the equator to the poles.

00:00:51 On the Sun, these currents are more like an ocean of plasma.

00:00:56 But they not only transport heat but also carry electromagnetic energy.

00:01:01 That happens because the Sun is a huge ball of hot and ionized gases that keep flowing

00:01:06 inside its core.

00:01:09 By fusing together hydrogen atoms and forming helium, our star releases a massive amount

00:01:14 of energy, leading to these very heavy flowing electric currents.

00:01:19 And whenever you have currents, you have magnetic fields.

00:01:22 It's easier to understand if you think of that classic experiment with a wire and a

00:01:27 nail that you probably conducted in elementary school.

00:01:30 When electricity flows through a wire, it creates a magnetic field around the wire.

00:01:35 So when you connect a wire to a battery and wrap it around a nail, the nail becomes a

00:01:40 magnet.

00:01:41 This is similar to how electric currents create magnetic fields on the Sun.

00:01:46 This whole process with the help of which the Sun generates its magnetic field is called

00:01:50 a dynamo.

00:01:53 We can't observe it directly, but we can see its effects on the Sun's surface.

00:01:57 When plasma and magnetism flows become unstable and intense, they manifest as sunspots.

00:02:04 You know, those dark areas on the Sun's surface.

00:02:07 Much about how the dynamo works remains a mystery.

00:02:10 But scientists have learned something important after observing these sunspots for centuries.

00:02:16 The dynamo process follows a pattern.

00:02:19 And every decade it reorganizes itself.

00:02:22 The Sun's polar magnetic fields get weakened, eventually reaching zero.

00:02:26 And then they return, but with the opposite polarity.

00:02:31 Back in the 50s, researchers figured out that when sunspots start to ramp up and become

00:02:35 more intense, it means the poles are gearing up for a reversal.

00:02:40 And over the past few years, solar activity has been off the charts.

00:02:45 We're talking about more solar flares, more electromagnetic radiation bursts, and more

00:02:49 plasma blobs being ejected into space.

00:02:53 It's like we're sitting in the front row at the solar system's most epic fireworks display.

00:02:58 In fact, the Sun hasn't been this lively in probably two decades.

00:03:03 Right now, experts think the polar fields are almost in sync and steadily weakening,

00:03:08 inching closer and closer to zero.

00:03:11 But we haven't reached the point of reversal yet.

00:03:15 Although it might sound like the Sun flips its magnetic poles like clockwork every 11

00:03:20 years, the truth is that it's not as neat as it seems.

00:03:24 This path can be bumpy, and some aspects of the phenomenon are still very hard to predict.

00:03:30 Take the last solar cycle, for example.

00:03:33 The Northern Hemisphere started its magnetic flip back in early June 2012, but then it

00:03:38 kinda hit a snag and lingered around the neutral point until late 2014.

00:03:43 Meanwhile, in the Southern Hemisphere, things were smoother, with the polarity switching

00:03:48 over in mid-2013.

00:03:50 This time around, the Sun is actually playing nice.

00:03:54 Things seem to be running way smoother this cycle, with the poles transitioning more evenly.

00:03:58 But here's the thing.

00:04:01 Reversal processes are never the same.

00:04:03 That's what makes this phenomenon so interesting to observe.

00:04:06 But at the same time, it's hard to predict how it'll affect us down here.

00:04:11 Here on Earth, we don't have to worry too much about those intense sun explosions happening

00:04:16 93 million miles away.

00:04:19 But if, and I emphasize if, a solar storm were to reach our planet, the main threat

00:04:25 it would bring would probably be the disruption of communication satellites in space.

00:04:30 However, things might be different in this cycle reversal happening in 2024 because the

00:04:36 number of satellites has skyrocketed in recent years.

00:04:40 For example, Elon Musk's Starlink system alone involves more than 4,000 of them.

00:04:46 All these satellites, along with communication and GPS satellites, could be impacted or even

00:04:51 destroyed by a powerful solar storm.

00:04:55 Although the chances of a powerful solar storm hitting Earth are low, it's not impossible.

00:05:01 Back in 1859, during the Carrington event, a storm occurred near the peak of the solar

00:05:06 cycle, causing currents to surge through telegraph lines, sparking fires and disrupting messages

00:05:12 worldwide.

00:05:13 Earth fell silent as telegraph communications failed.

00:05:17 Just imagine what a solar storm could do to our vast number of satellites today.

00:05:21 It could affect everything we rely on daily, from space-based communication and navigation

00:05:27 to weather forecasting services.

00:05:29 The ground-level power distribution could also be affected.

00:05:35 You can forget about watching YouTube or Brightside because if such an event occurred today, it

00:05:40 would cause an internet apocalypse, sending countless people and businesses offline.

00:05:46 There is a prediction that says that if a Carrington-class event happened today, it

00:05:50 would result in damages ranging from $0.6 to $2.6 trillion.

00:05:56 And I'm talking about the United States alone.

00:05:59 Fortunately for us, solar storms as intense as the Carrington event happen only once every

00:06:04 500 years or so.

00:06:08 Bad news for communication satellites, but great news for aurora watchers.

00:06:14 During the Carrington event, dazzling auroras borealis lit up the sky as polar light shows

00:06:19 stretched far beyond their usual ranges.

00:06:22 The northern lights were spotted as far south as Cuba and Honolulu, Hawaii, while the southern

00:06:27 lights were seen as far north as Santiago, Chile.

00:06:32 For many people around the world, this was their first glimpse of the aurora, leaving

00:06:35 them obsessed with the unusually bright skies.

00:06:39 Some of them thought it was the end of the world, while others began their day early,

00:06:43 thinking the sun had risen after hearing birds chirping and seeing the bright skies.

00:06:48 Today, we know there's nothing strange about it, considering that the appearance of auroras

00:06:54 at lower altitudes is one of the expected effects of the sun's magnetic pole reversal.

00:06:59 Typically, these dazzling phenomena are found between 60 and 75 degrees latitude, but during

00:07:05 the last magnetic pole reversal in 2013, intense auroras were observed below 50 degrees.

00:07:12 Eyewitnesses describe these auroras as blood or deep crimson red, shining so brightly that

00:07:18 you could read a newspaper in their light.

00:07:21 It's important to study this phenomenon and not to fear it.

00:07:24 The inversion of the magnetic poles on the sun is actually a great opportunity for scientists

00:07:28 to better understand how our star works.

00:07:32 Since many pieces are still missing in the whole dynamo situation, we're still not very

00:07:37 good at predicting why some solar cycles are more intense than others, or when exactly

00:07:42 a coronal mass ejection will erupt.

00:07:45 But being able to predict that is becoming more and more necessary as we venture ourselves

00:07:50 into space.

00:07:51 The more people are out there beyond Earth, the more exposed they are to these strong

00:07:55 solar storms.

00:07:57 That's why the scientific community wants to know more precisely when a solar storm

00:08:00 can cause damage to spacecraft and space stations.

00:08:04 Plus, it would help meteorologists make progress in predicting weather, not only on Earth,

00:08:09 but also in space.

00:08:11 The whole point is to make space travel safer as the interest in crewed missions to the

00:08:15 moon and Mars grows every year.

00:08:18 Another reason why it's important to learn more about the sun's pole inversion is to

00:08:22 better understand how the mysterious interior of the sun works.

00:08:27 That could actually help us figure out the aspects of other stars in the universe and

00:08:31 maybe get closer to answering the ultimate question.

00:08:35 Why are we here?

00:08:43 In 2017, a strange object was spotted in our solar system.

00:08:48 It had the shape of a long tube, similar to a pancake.

00:08:52 No known asteroid or comet we've seen looks like that.

00:08:56 Its exterior was also peculiar.

00:08:58 It was at least 10 times more reflective than the average stuff that flies through space,

00:09:03 with some saying it had a surface similar to polished metal.

00:09:07 When it went past the sun and left our reach, it accelerated faster than what our gravity

00:09:11 could account for.

00:09:13 At first glance, it was like this thing had a rocket strapped to its back.

00:09:17 This unusual visitor even got a special name – 'Oumuamua.

00:09:22 It comes from Hawaiian and translates to "scout" or "visitor" from a faraway land.

00:09:27 And because of its characteristics, scientists soon began to wonder if this was, at last,

00:09:32 a visit from otherworldly creatures.

00:09:37 Before they went full on with the science fiction suppositions, astronomers gathered

00:09:42 the information they were sure about.

00:09:44 Starting with the fact that Oumuamua must've come from another solar system.

00:09:48 There must've been some unfortunate event in its home system that led to its ejection.

00:09:53 What they didn't know was that this was a comet or asteroid.

00:09:57 They're both celestial objects orbiting the sun, but they have distinct compositions

00:10:01 and behaviors.

00:10:03 Comets are composed primarily of ice, dust, and rocky material, often referred to as "dirty

00:10:09 snowballs."

00:10:10 When a comet approaches the sun, the heat causes the ice to vaporize, releasing gas

00:10:15 and dust particles into space.

00:10:17 This creates a bright glowing tail that can extend for millions of miles.

00:10:22 Comets generally have elliptical orbits, often taking them from the distant reaches of our

00:10:26 solar system closer to the sun.

00:10:31 Asteroids, however, are mostly made of rock and metal.

00:10:34 In our neighborhood, they are remnants of the early formation of the solar system and

00:10:39 are typically found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

00:10:43 Unlike comets, asteroids do not develop tails when they approach the sun, as they have no

00:10:49 ice.

00:10:50 Their orbits generally follow more circular paths compared to comets.

00:10:54 By all accounts, Oumuamua should be a comet because it seems to come from a different

00:10:59 location in the universe.

00:11:01 Yet, it doesn't exhibit the typical signs of cometary activity.

00:11:06 Oumuamua lacks a tail and does not spew out gas as it passes by, not like me.

00:11:12 Even though it behaves like a comet, it looks more like an asteroid.

00:11:18 Another big question is how scientists even managed to spot Oumuamua in the first place.

00:11:24 Considering the vastness of space and time in the galaxy, it's remarkable.

00:11:28 Stars have lifetimes spanning millions or billions of years, and the formation of a

00:11:33 solar system takes hundreds of millions of years.

00:11:36 Even the fastest objects take tens of thousands of years to travel from one star to another.

00:11:42 In contrast, humans have only been observing the skies with telescopes for around 400 years,

00:11:48 a tiny fraction of cosmic time.

00:11:51 And it's only in recent decades, even years, that we've had the technology to detect

00:11:56 and track fast-moving, dim objects.

00:11:59 Either rocks like these are abundant, or we've been incredibly lucky with our detections,

00:12:04 or it simply wanted to be seen.

00:12:09 Another question that was asked was where such objects could come from.

00:12:13 It's highly unlikely that Oumuamua came from a mature, stable solar system.

00:12:19 That's because such systems don't eject enough material to fill up the galaxy.

00:12:23 Occasionally, a random rock might get flung out, but it can rarely travel so far.

00:12:30 Young systems, however, act differently.

00:12:32 In these chaotic environments, collisions, mergers, and migrations are happening everywhere.

00:12:38 Plenty of tiny rocks roam around, perfect candidates for ejection.

00:12:42 The solar system that kicked Oumuamua out must've had a planet similar to Jupiter.

00:12:48 Its massive size and gravity could influence other objects in the system, causing potential

00:12:53 ejections.

00:12:54 But not all solar systems develop Jupiter-sized planets.

00:12:58 Often massive planets end up close to their stars, becoming hotter versions of Jupiter.

00:13:04 These planets, snugly orbiting the Sun, are less likely to eject debris.

00:13:10 Neptune-like planets may play a role too.

00:13:12 While not as massive as Jupiter, they tend to call the outer regions of solar systems

00:13:16 their home.

00:13:18 Our solar system has the Kuiper belt, a reservoir of comets in its outer reaches.

00:13:23 During a solar system's early stages, interactions between Neptune-like planets and debris are

00:13:29 common.

00:13:30 Finding Neptune-like planets in other systems has been challenging, though.

00:13:34 Our methods for detecting exoplanets work better for massive objects close to their

00:13:39 stars, making it difficult to spot Neptune counterparts farther out.

00:13:46 Oumuamua was also linked to a peculiar theory about how life came to be in the universe

00:13:51 – panspermia.

00:13:52 Now, that's a hypothesis that suggests that life exists throughout the universe and can

00:13:58 be distributed between planets by various means, such as asteroids, comets, or even

00:14:04 spacecraft.

00:14:05 It says that life must have originated in one location in the universe and then spread

00:14:10 to other celestial bodies.

00:14:12 Studies of the panspermia theory have suggested that such interstellar objects could potentially

00:14:18 carry tiny microbes – those building blocks of life between star systems.

00:14:23 If such objects were to impact a planet or a moon, they could transfer these materials

00:14:28 and seed the celestial body with life.

00:14:31 For now, there is no evidence to support the theory that this comet in particular has transported

00:14:36 life between star systems.

00:14:41 After years of research, the overall consensus became that Oumuamua was indeed a comet.

00:14:47 The reason why it moved so strangely is because it might have frozen hydrogen on its surface

00:14:52 that reacts when touched by sunlight.

00:14:55 The closer it got to our Sun, the faster it became, releasing that hydrogen and also changing

00:15:00 its path to our solar system.

00:15:03 Its color also supports this theory.

00:15:05 It's red, which might mean it's been hit by cosmic rays for a long time.

00:15:10 The longer it was touched by those rays, the more hydrogen it gathered in the process.

00:15:16 But since they can't be completely sure, astronomers have a plan to follow this visitor.

00:15:21 One idea is to send a mission to check it out.

00:15:24 It's already far away from us, but it may not be too late just yet.

00:15:29 We may be able to send a probe fast enough to catch up with the comet.

00:15:33 The plan was named Project Lyra and aims to use the Earth's orbit and that of Jupiter

00:15:38 to bounce out a probe far enough to reach Oumuamua.

00:15:42 If it works, it will be the fastest space device we've sent out in the Universe.

00:15:47 One potential trajectory of the space probe involves the gravitational pull of our planet

00:15:52 and that of Jupiter as a lasso effect, but not Ted Lasso.

00:15:57 The probe will leave our planet and re-enter Earth's orbit before sending it to meet

00:16:01 with Jupiter's pull.

00:16:03 It will be sent back near our planet a second time, where it will be ejected with enough

00:16:07 force to reach the comet.

00:16:12 Project Lyra also aims to follow a second faraway visitor, named Borisov.

00:16:17 This one was discovered by an amateur astronomer and now bears his name.

00:16:21 What's interesting about it is that it's, well, spotless.

00:16:26 Similar to our experience with Oumuamua, we haven't seen anything like Borisov before

00:16:31 either.

00:16:32 Studies of the light coming from its cloud of dust and gas show it's very clean compared

00:16:36 to other space objects.

00:16:38 After it was first noticed in August 2019, astronomers studied its path through our Solar

00:16:44 System and concluded it came from another star too.

00:16:48 But Borisov gave us more time to study it because we spotted it earlier in its journey

00:16:53 through our neighborhood.

00:16:55 Researchers used advanced telescopes to look at the dust coming off Borisov.

00:16:59 They found it's throwing off over 400 pounds of dust every second.

00:17:04 They also found Borisov has more carbon monoxide than comets from our Solar System usually

00:17:09 do.

00:17:10 But the amount isn't the same everywhere on the comet.

00:17:13 This tells us the space object probably started forming near its home star before moving away,

00:17:19 maybe because of larger planets in its system.

00:17:22 The light from Borisov is way more polarized than light from other comets we've seen,

00:17:27 and its cloud is super smooth.

00:17:30 This tells us Borisov has never interacted with another star.

00:17:39 So we might be getting closer to finding a massive icy planet beyond Neptune's orbit.

00:17:44 Sorry Pluto, still not you.

00:17:47 Recently, some universe mapping using data from a telescope in Hawaii eliminated about

00:17:52 78% of the possible locations for this mysterious Waldo from space.

00:17:58 Some people call it Planet Nine, while others prefer Planet X.

00:18:02 Either way, it's been causing controversy since its existence was first proposed.

00:18:08 And that is mainly because no study so far can answer the big question – does it really

00:18:13 exist?

00:18:14 If discovered, Planet Nine would rank as the 5th largest planet in our Solar System, with

00:18:19 a mass 10 times that of Earth.

00:18:22 It's also theorized to be gaseous, like Uranus.

00:18:26 The initial study on Planet Nine, dating back to 2016, suggests that this colossal new planet

00:18:32 orbits the Sun 29 times farther out than Neptune, which sits at about 2.8 billion miles.

00:18:40 As a result, the Planet Nine would take between 10,000 and 20,000 years to complete a single

00:18:46 orbit around the Sun.

00:18:48 If confirmed, this yet-to-be-understood world would dominate a region larger than any other

00:18:53 known planet in our cosmic neighborhood.

00:18:57 These are all intriguing hypotheses, but without a single piece of evidence or observation

00:19:02 to back them up.

00:19:04 Before dismissing this as a wild guess, it is important to note that these researchers

00:19:09 relied on complex mathematical modeling and computer simulations to speculate about the

00:19:15 planet's characteristics.

00:19:16 'Cause that's what they do.

00:19:18 The hypothetical presence of this planet would explain various mysterious features located

00:19:23 beyond Neptune.

00:19:25 We are specifically talking about the Kuiper Belt, a huge donut-shaped region filled with

00:19:31 icy debris left over from the formation of the Solar System, including comets and dwarf

00:19:36 planets like Pluto.

00:19:39 What happens is that the 6 farthest objects in the Kuiper Belt exhibit elliptical orbits

00:19:44 that are all oriented in a similar direction within physical space and tilted approximately

00:19:49 30 degrees downward relative to the orbital plane of our 8 known planets.

00:19:54 What's strange here is that despite their distinct orbital velocities around the Solar

00:19:59 System, they maintain this alignment.

00:20:02 The likelihood of such alignment occurring randomly is extremely low, around 0.007%.

00:20:10 So here comes Planet 9, a hypothetical massive celestial body that offers a plausible explanation

00:20:16 for this strange phenomenon, potentially exerting gravitational influence to shape these orbits.

00:20:25 The initial theory didn't hold up for long, facing accusations of observational bias and

00:20:30 calculation errors.

00:20:32 Then in 2017, another study popped up, sparking back the idea that maybe Planet 9 is out there

00:20:39 after all.

00:20:41 This time, Spanish astronomers tried a novel approach, focusing on observing extreme trans-Neptunian

00:20:47 objects.

00:20:48 These celestial bodies orbit the Sun in highly stretched elliptical paths, with average distances

00:20:54 exceeding 13 billion miles.

00:20:57 The research suggests that the distances between these objects' nodes and the Sun might provide

00:21:02 clues to Planet 9's location.

00:21:05 You see, these nodes are the points where a celestial body's orbit intersects the

00:21:10 Solar System's plane.

00:21:12 When these objects reach these points, they're more likely to interact with other Solar System

00:21:16 bodies, potentially causing significant changes in their orbits or even collisions.

00:21:22 So if the trajectory of these extreme trans-Neptunian objects remains stable, everything's fine.

00:21:29 But if it's not, well, that's a sign that something else, something big, is messing

00:21:34 with their path.

00:21:36 And that's exactly what the research found.

00:21:38 There is something unseen out there, throwing these objects off course.

00:21:43 And that something could be a planet, chilling at a distance between 300 to 400 times farther

00:21:49 from the Sun than Earth.

00:21:51 To this day, the study of the extreme trans-Neptunian objects is the strongest evidence we've

00:21:57 got for Planet 9's existence.

00:21:59 But if you're still not convinced by this theory, know that strange motions like these

00:22:04 have led to planetary discoveries before.

00:22:07 Neptune, for instance, was spotted because Uranus' motion didn't quite agree with

00:22:12 the predictions of Newtonian gravity.

00:22:15 But the deflection of its orbit could be explained if it was caused by a pull of an undiscovered

00:22:20 planet.

00:22:21 And just like that, we discovered Neptune.

00:22:27 The year is 2021, and there's all this buzz about Planet 9 again.

00:22:32 After correcting some old guesses, studies are now leaning towards the idea that this

00:22:36 mystery world follows an epic loop around the Sun every 7,000 years.

00:22:42 That is massive news, because it means this planet might be closer than we ever thought,

00:22:47 making it easier for our telescopes to spot it.

00:22:51 The paper also suggests there is a whopping 99% chance that the funky orbits of these

00:22:56 distant objects are all because of this unseen planet, not just some cosmic coincidence.

00:23:03 The odds of this whole situation being a fluke are down to a 1 in 250 chance, which is much

00:23:09 better than the 1 in 10,000 chance back in 2016.

00:23:15 All these optimistic numbers have brought us to where we are today, keeping our hopes

00:23:20 and working on better equipment to continue the mission of spotting Planet 9.

00:23:25 As mentioned earlier, researchers in Hawaii created some kind of treasure map, utilizing

00:23:30 the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System to eliminate 78% of its locations.

00:23:37 This is great news, considering how challenging it is to find a planet-sized needle in a cosmic

00:23:43 haystack.

00:23:44 But unfortunately, Planet 9's presence remains a ghost in the dark outer reaches of our Solar

00:23:50 System.

00:23:52 Enthusiasts are still convinced of its existence and believe it is only a matter of time before

00:23:57 we celebrate the discovery of Earth's new cosmic cousin.

00:24:00 They're putting their hopes on the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which is currently under

00:24:05 construction in Chile and is scheduled to begin science operations in late 2025.

00:24:11 Over the course of 10 years, this observatory will scan the entire Southern Hemisphere sky

00:24:17 every few nights with a 27-foot, fast-moving telescope equipped with the largest digital

00:24:23 camera in the world.

00:24:25 The idea is to catalog everything in the Solar System, reaching out to and beyond Neptune,

00:24:30 and tracking the movements of millions of celestial objects, including space junk, asteroids,

00:24:36 comets, and stars.

00:24:38 If Planet 9 is indeed out there, this next-generation telescope could be the one to find it.

00:24:46 The existence of this mysterious planet is far from being universally accepted in the

00:24:50 scientific community.

00:24:52 That is simply because Planet 9 isn't the only explanation for the strange phenomenon

00:24:58 occurring beyond Neptune.

00:25:00 One theory suggests that a group of distant objects, such as dwarf planets, comets, and

00:25:05 moons, might be collectively influencing the orbits of the extreme trans-Neptunian objects.

00:25:11 Others believe that a black hole is behind all this.

00:25:15 These compressed masses are some of the densest objects in the universe, potentially capable

00:25:19 of affecting the orbits of other masses, like how this supposed ghost Planet 9 is believed

00:25:25 to be doing.

00:25:28 Another bold perspective suggests that our current understanding of the laws of gravity

00:25:32 is flawed, actually incomplete.

00:25:35 This theory, known as Modified Newtonian Dynamics, proposes that these distant icy objects exhibit

00:25:42 strange behavior not due to influence from another planet, but rather because the immense

00:25:48 gravitational field of the Milky Way is influencing them.

00:25:52 However, even supporters of this theory acknowledge that it is too early to draw firm conclusions,

00:25:58 and much more extensive research is still required.

00:26:03 While we continue our relentless hunt for Planet 9, some astronomers have taken it a

00:26:08 step further, suggesting the existence of a hypothetical Planet 10.

00:26:13 This world has a mass and size like that of Mars or Earth, and is located on the edges

00:26:19 of the Kuiper Belt.

00:26:20 But the thing is, if this alleged Planet 10 is indeed as small as scientists believe,

00:26:26 it might not have enough gravity to clear its orbit of debris.

00:26:30 And that is pretty similar to what happens with Pluto, being one of the reasons why it

00:26:34 got into trouble back in 2006.

00:26:37 So yeah, it's better not to get too excited.

00:26:40 This supposed Planet 10 might end up classified as another dwarf planet.

00:26:46 Jupiter used to be flat and look like an M&M candy (now I'm hungry), and it wasn't the

00:26:51 only flat pattern in our solar system.

00:26:54 Turns out, there are tons of things that can go wrong during a planet's formation, like

00:26:58 locking up to the Sun or getting whooshed into open space.

00:27:02 Let's check it out!

00:27:03 The Earth isn't flat, but Jupiter might've been.

00:27:07 Instead of being a big round ball, gas giants in our system might've started more like flat

00:27:12 pancakes.

00:27:14 Jupiter is one of the oldest of our neighbors.

00:27:16 It's 4.6 billion years old, just like our Sun.

00:27:20 And when it was just a baby planet, it likely formed through a process called disk instability.

00:27:29 It all begins with stars.

00:27:30 When a star is forming, it doesn't look like a round object.

00:27:34 It's more like a big disk of stuff.

00:27:37 During this stage, really hot winds made of charged particles blow out.

00:27:41 The dust in that disk contains stuff like carbon and iron.

00:27:46 Some of them collide and stick together, forming bigger objects.

00:27:50 Dust turns into pebbles, pebbles turn into rocks, and rocks bump into each other, getting

00:27:54 bigger.

00:27:56 Gas in the disks helps all these solid bits stick together.

00:28:00 Some break apart, but others stick around, and they're the ones that become the basic

00:28:04 pieces of planets.

00:28:05 They're called planetesimals.

00:28:09 Even gas giants like Jupiter started off as tiny specks of dust, smaller than a human

00:28:14 hair.

00:28:15 Eventually, they formed their own big ring-shaped disks of gas.

00:28:18 They began to spin around our Sun, growing bigger by gathering gas and rocks like snowballs.

00:28:28 Gas giants are special.

00:28:29 They were born from the colder parts of the disk.

00:28:32 In cold areas, molecules are slower, which makes them easier to grab.

00:28:37 In these places, water could freeze, and tiny ice pieces stick together and are mixed with

00:28:42 dust.

00:28:43 These dirty snowballs gather up and then form cores of huge planets, like Jupiter, Saturn,

00:28:49 Uranus, and Neptune.

00:28:52 In the warmer areas closer to the star, rocky planets like Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars

00:28:57 start to form.

00:28:59 After the icy giants were born, there wasn't much gas left for these smaller planets.

00:29:03 It might take tens of millions of years for these rocky planets to form after the stars

00:29:08 born.

00:29:09 And our Sun was growing at the same time, sucking up nearby gas and pushing faraway

00:29:14 stuff even farther out.

00:29:17 After billions of years, the disk changed completely, turning into a round star with

00:29:21 a bunch of planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, moons, meteoroids, and comets around it.

00:29:29 Recently, simulations showed that these protoplanets, as these early dustballs are called, don't

00:29:36 start off looking like the planets we know.

00:29:38 In the case of gas giants like Jupiter, they look more like squashed balls or M&M's candies,

00:29:44 not the peanut kind.

00:29:46 When the Sun was young, the disk of gas and dust surrounding it cooled down and became

00:29:51 unstable.

00:29:52 It started breaking into big chunks.

00:29:55 These chunks dramatically collapsed together under huge gravity to create Jupiter.

00:30:00 It became a round gas giant over time.

00:30:03 There are a lot of oddities that can happen during that process of planet formation.

00:30:08 Ever wonder why Venus or Uranus spin in the opposite way compared to other planets?

00:30:13 Usually, when things form from a spinning disk of gas, they tend to spin in the same

00:30:18 direction.

00:30:19 For example, if you spin a bunch of balls on a string, they all twirl in the same way.

00:30:25 So, theoretically, all planets should spin in the same direction too.

00:30:30 But there are a lot of fast-moving objects like comets and asteroids in our Solar System.

00:30:35 When they smash into planets, especially during their early days, this collision might send

00:30:41 the planets to spin in the opposite direction.

00:30:44 Venus and Uranus probably survived a massive collision.

00:30:47 Luckily, they weren't repelled to outer space.

00:30:50 The gravity from the Sun and nearby planets pulled them back into place.

00:30:57 There are also so-called tidally locked planets.

00:31:00 These are celestial bodies that spin in a way where one side always faces their star

00:31:05 while the other side remains in perpetual darkness.

00:31:09 So one side is always very hot while the other is extremely cold.

00:31:14 If we were on a planet like that, we would only be able to live on a thin line in between.

00:31:20 These planets form when they're very close to their star.

00:31:23 The gravitational forces are extremely strong, and over time, these forces slow down the

00:31:28 planet's rotation until it matches the time it takes to orbit the star.

00:31:34 Imagine you're spinning in your chair.

00:31:36 Someone comes up to you and, holding onto your chair with their hands, starts spinning

00:31:40 with you.

00:31:41 This way, you'll always face each other.

00:31:44 Tidally locked planets kind of work like that.

00:31:47 Our Moon is tidally locked to our Earth, which is why we only see one side of it.

00:31:54 We've discovered more than 5,000 planets outside of our Solar System called exoplanets.

00:31:59 Some of them have very strange orbits.

00:32:01 For example, planets with incredibly long orbits – thousands of years to make one

00:32:06 trip around the star.

00:32:08 Or very wonky, comet-like orbits.

00:32:11 Or so-called "hot Jupiters."

00:32:12 They're super close to their star, way closer than Mercury is to our Sun.

00:32:17 But these planets couldn't have formed where they are now.

00:32:20 As their Solar System evolved, they changed their positions for some reason.

00:32:25 This rearranging is called planetary migration.

00:32:31 There are three main ways this migration happens.

00:32:33 First, because of the gas and dust spinning around the planet.

00:32:37 When a planet is bumping into this stuff, it can create spiral patterns in the gas.

00:32:42 These patterns can either push the planet closer to the center or farther away, depending

00:32:47 on how they mix together.

00:32:49 It's called a gas-driven migration.

00:32:52 This is what Jupiter experienced when it moved closer to the Sun billions of years ago.

00:32:56 I wasn't around then.

00:32:58 This also explains the existence of hot Jupiters.

00:33:01 Second, big planets can shove the smaller ones, changing their paths.

00:33:06 Third, the star's gravity can tug on the planet, making its orbit more circular.

00:33:13 Ever heard of rogue planets?

00:33:15 Imagine a lonely planet floating in the vastness of space without a star to call home.

00:33:21 They're like the wandering nomads of our galaxy, doomed to drift around forever.

00:33:26 And there are so many of them.

00:33:28 There might be more free-floating planets than ones that are tied to stars.

00:33:32 We're talking trillions of rogue planets hanging out in our Milky Way galaxy alone.

00:33:37 They're often as massive as our biggest planet, Jupiter.

00:33:40 But most of them might be Earth-sized.

00:33:43 Some might even have thick atmospheres that keep them warm, even though they're far from

00:33:47 any star.

00:33:48 Some of them might have wild auroras, while others could host moons with liquid water,

00:33:53 a potential haven for life.

00:33:56 There's even a chance that they might contain extraterrestrial life.

00:34:00 These planets might bump into other stars or even entire planetary systems as they journey

00:34:05 through space.

00:34:07 Sometimes they might get caught in a star's gravity for a while before getting flung back

00:34:11 out into space.

00:34:13 But how are they born?

00:34:15 Sometimes, during this chaotic process of planet formation, not all planets can manage

00:34:20 to stay close to their parent stars.

00:34:23 Some of them get kicked out of their solar systems due to powerful gravitational interactions

00:34:27 with other planets or passing stars.

00:34:30 These ejected planets become rogue planets.

00:34:35 In 2012, astronomers found a solar system from the very beginning of the Universe.

00:34:41 This system included a star and two planets.

00:34:44 We called it a fossil system.

00:34:46 The star is super old, about 13 billion years, almost as old as our entire Universe.

00:34:52 It was mostly made of just hydrogen and helium.

00:34:55 This is unusual because planets usually form from clouds of gas that contain heavier stuff.

00:35:01 That's when we figured out that the way planets formed before was different from how

00:35:06 they form now.

00:35:08 We know that stars with more metals are more likely to have planets.

00:35:12 In astronomy lingo, "metals" means any chemical element other than hydrogen and helium.

00:35:18 But in the early Universe, there weren't many metals.

00:35:21 Most of them were created inside stars and then spread out into space when those stars

00:35:26 blew up.

00:35:27 So when did the very first planets form?

00:35:31 This newly discovered system helps answer these questions.

00:35:34 Its two giant planets are orbiting a star that's incredibly low in metals and extremely

00:35:39 old.

00:35:40 This should be really rare, if not impossible, but they exist.

00:35:45 This means that maybe there are more planets in metal-poor systems than we thought.

00:35:50 Seeing them will help us learn more about the history of planet formation.

00:35:55 Traveling to space costs a fortune, but there's a way to make it affordable.

00:35:59 You step into an elevator, push the button, and voila!

00:36:02 You're flying to the stars, all thanks to nanotubes.

00:36:06 But then something hits the elevator on the way, you're stuck inside, and now you're

00:36:10 doomed to float in space forever.

00:36:13 Now if you want to travel in space, get ready to shell out around 55 million bucks.

00:36:20 But in the near future, you'll probably be able to travel to space with just the push

00:36:24 of a button without breaking the bank.

00:36:27 Because space elevators might come into play.

00:36:30 While the idea of galactic lifts seems like something out of a sci-fi movie, it is a real

00:36:35 possibility that could revolutionize space travel.

00:36:39 With an estimated cost of $8 billion, space elevators could be a one-time investment that

00:36:44 would last us forever.

00:36:49 NASA alone spends around $2.7 million on rocket fuel per minute.

00:36:55 To launch a rocket, they need to pay up to $178 million.

00:37:00 These costs could be significantly reduced with the use of elevators.

00:37:04 Most super-tall buildings on Earth have a massive foundation to help with their balance

00:37:08 and weight.

00:37:10 As you look up, they get thinner and thinner.

00:37:13 Even the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, is massive at the bottom and

00:37:17 narrow at the top.

00:37:19 If we wanted to construct something like a gigantic lift, we would need an enormous amount

00:37:24 of concrete to build a foundation for it, which goes against the point of saving some

00:37:28 cash.

00:37:29 Now, get a string, tie a ball at the end of it, and start spinning it.

00:37:34 The string in your hand will stay in one place, and the ball will revolve around your hand.

00:37:39 This is called centrifugal force, and the elevator will work in the same way.

00:37:44 The ball will be the base in space, and the rope will hang toward Earth.

00:37:51 The station from where we would enter the elevator would be in the middle of the Atlantic

00:37:55 Ocean, and the line would extend from there.

00:37:58 For this to be possible, the line must be perfectly synchronized with Earth's rotation.

00:38:03 Otherwise, it would simply break or wrap around the Earth like a scarf.

00:38:08 Also, the orbit the line would be following should be a perfect circle, because the line

00:38:13 wouldn't be able to get shorter or extend.

00:38:16 A bunch of research has been done using algebra to find the ideal solution.

00:38:20 Wait a second, there's a use for algebra?

00:38:23 Never mind.

00:38:24 Meanwhile, I won't bore you with the math.

00:38:26 We'll go straight to the point where the precise distance from the station in the Atlantic

00:38:30 to the one in space must be 22,236 miles above the Earth, where the geosynchronous orbit

00:38:38 starts.

00:38:39 There the four outward forces are much stronger than the downward force.

00:38:43 That's why the station would stay in one place.

00:38:45 When you construct a house or a building, you start from the bottom going up.

00:38:50 But to create this engineering wonder, we would need to do everything in reverse and

00:38:54 start at the top.

00:38:56 The main problem here would be the weight.

00:38:58 If the line was too heavy, it would disrupt the orbit, and the conveyor dumbwaiter host

00:39:03 would not work.

00:39:04 So we'd need to balance the station in space to ensure it worked flawlessly.

00:39:11 Steel is one of the most robust materials on Earth.

00:39:14 The cable in every lift is made from steel.

00:39:16 But when you need a 22,236-mile-long cable, things can get tricky.

00:39:23 Steel is hard to break, but it's cumbersome, and when you have to use a lot of it, problems

00:39:28 start to arise.

00:39:30 We use heavy steel a lot in construction, but we have lighter materials that might put

00:39:34 less stress on the station and eliminate this problem.

00:39:37 Also, the line would have to be tapered because, at the end point, there would be close to

00:39:42 zero stress.

00:39:43 But it would still have to be thicker than really needed due to a bunch of safety factors.

00:39:49 At the start, the rope would be around 0.5 inches.

00:39:53 After using some complicated math, we can figure out the thickness at the end, which

00:39:57 is a number so long I am unable to pronounce it.

00:40:00 But believe me, it's a big one!

00:40:03 So steel is off the list.

00:40:06 Another candidate is Kevlar, which is 5 times stronger than steel.

00:40:10 And if we added such materials as carbon and titanium into the mix, the strength would

00:40:15 increase tenfold.

00:40:17 The line would have a diameter of around 262 to 557 feet.

00:40:23 This is drastically smaller than the diameter of the steel cable could be.

00:40:27 The bad news is that doing this is too pricey.

00:40:31 So if we don't find the ideal medium to build a cable, the idea of the space elevator

00:40:36 will just be a massive waste of time.

00:40:41 If only we had some magically light material with a power of 60 gigapascals, which would

00:40:46 have a taper ratio of 1.6!

00:40:49 Oh wait, we actually do have this unique material.

00:40:52 It's called carbon nanotube.

00:40:55 It has a strength of 130 gigapascals, which is much more than we need.

00:41:01 Nanotubes are made out of carbon and are 100,000 times thinner than a human hair.

00:41:06 This material is solid and has good conductive power, which is possible thanks to its unique

00:41:11 atomic structure.

00:41:12 We use this product in many things, from batteries to optics.

00:41:16 And it can be modified entirely and adapted for more uses.

00:41:21 Bradley Edwards is the guy responsible for this crazy idea.

00:41:25 NASA was looking for new innovations, and they said, "Don't do anything too crazy

00:41:29 and start building a space hoist."

00:41:32 I guess Bradley took this as a challenge and started working on the elevator.

00:41:36 Edwards wrote a paper about a galactic conveyor.

00:41:39 When he published it, he expected many people to find flaws in his work, but surprisingly,

00:41:44 nobody did.

00:41:46 His work was spot on.

00:41:48 He came up with the idea of strapping a nanotube line to a rocket and launching it into space.

00:41:54 The other end of the rope would fall onto Earth, and robots would use this rope to climb

00:41:58 up and make it longer so we could start building an elevator space station.

00:42:03 After this, the elevator could start transporting everything, from solar panels to tourists.

00:42:09 In the future, space tourism could be totally possible.

00:42:12 Who knows, we might even go on vacations in space.

00:42:16 Hey, looking for some atmosphere for your getaway?

00:42:19 Well, don't come here, we don't have any.

00:42:22 Oops, probably not a good advertising slogan, huh?

00:42:26 Meanwhile, a couple of years ago, we could only create microscopic carbon nanotubes.

00:42:32 But as time went on, much more research was done to make them bigger.

00:42:36 Now they reach up to a few inches.

00:42:38 In 20 years, they could be miles long!

00:42:42 Carbon costs $28 per ounce.

00:42:44 If we do the math, we would see that we would need around $1 billion to build the lift.

00:42:49 Yeah, it sounds expensive, but it's a long-term solution to space travel, and it can actually

00:42:54 save us a lot of money in the long run.

00:42:57 Now everything looks perfect on paper.

00:43:00 But NASA's main reason why they chose not to go along with this project is that right

00:43:05 now there are probably more than 128 million objects floating in orbit, and they might

00:43:10 pose a real threat to the elevator.

00:43:13 The lift could be made to withstand a few hits now and then, but getting hammered non-stop

00:43:18 is not part of the plan.

00:43:20 So Bradley argues that tons of monitoring devices track space debris.

00:43:24 Thus, the elevator could avoid them all.

00:43:30 If something hit the elevator or the line somehow broke, the consequences would not

00:43:35 be too bad.

00:43:36 If there were no passengers on board, of course.

00:43:39 If the line got cut, the elevator would simply float away into space, posing no threat to

00:43:44 people on Earth.

00:43:46 In Japan, engineers are trying to build a space elevator.

00:43:50 The lift could be used for space mining too.

00:43:52 We could easily cover the cost of the entire elevator by collecting asteroids, because

00:43:57 some of them are made of expensive metals.

00:44:00 We could mine them and quickly bring them back to Earth.

00:44:04 It was 1994.

00:44:05 It was dark, so no one saw two silhouettes opening the emergency exits of a glass dome

00:44:11 complex in Arizona known as Biosphere 2.

00:44:14 They were determined to free 7 people locked inside for a month, risking their lives in

00:44:19 the name of science.

00:44:21 The mission was accomplished, but they got hit with trespassing and vandalism charges.

00:44:26 The vandals were Abigail Ehrling and Mark Van Fillo.

00:44:29 They were among the first 8 poor devils who lived in that place as guinea pigs, and they

00:44:34 didn't want anyone else to go through the same horrors they had experienced.

00:44:38 $150 million were spent to see if humans could create suitable living conditions on other

00:44:43 planets like Mars.

00:44:45 To do this, scientists built a mini-world with over 3,000 species of plants and animals.

00:44:51 Biosphere 2 was a sealed-off 3-acre habitat, complete with its own mini-rainforest, a private

00:44:57 beach with a coral reef, a grassland savanna, a marsh, and even a desert.

00:45:03 Between 1991 and 1993, nothing could enter or exit that place.

00:45:09 The group of 8 people locked inside called themselves Biospherians, rocking matching

00:45:14 Star Trek-like jumpsuits, growing their own food, and breathing their own air.

00:45:19 They began with high hopes and a 5-star hotel-style breakfast, but things took a darker turn over

00:45:25 the months.

00:45:27 The whole team was starving and turning orange.

00:45:29 In Biosphere 1, which is the real Earth, you can order a pizza in 2 minutes, but inside

00:45:35 Biosphere 2, it took them an endless 4 months to whip up a margarita-style pie.

00:45:41 They had to harvest wheat for the dough and milk goats for the cheese.

00:45:46 The goal was to be completely self-sufficient, and they became part of an atmosphere, quite

00:45:50 literally.

00:45:51 When they breathed out, their CO2 fed the sweet potatoes they were growing.

00:45:56 And those sweet potatoes became part of them since they were essentially eating the same

00:46:00 carbons over and over again.

00:46:03 They had so many sweet potato feasts that their skin actually turned orange from all

00:46:07 the excess beta-carotene.

00:46:09 It seemed like a funny situation at the time highlighted a big issue.

00:46:13 The crop yields in Biosphere 2 were a total disappointment, and the crew was starving.

00:46:19 They were going crazy from hunger, and moments of sudden anger led to doing regrettable things,

00:46:25 like stealing bananas from the basement storeroom.

00:46:28 At some point, the freezer had to be locked.

00:46:31 Over the first 6 months, each of them lost between 18 and 58 pounds of weight.

00:46:36 Every day, someone took charge of weighing out fresh food for the cook, logging the information

00:46:41 about nutrients into the computer to make sure the crew hit their recommended calorie,

00:46:46 protein, and fat goals.

00:46:48 Initially, meals were served buffet-style, but as the crew got hungrier, the cooks started

00:46:54 to meticulously divide their food into equal portions.

00:46:57 Their diet – mostly sweet potatoes, carrots, fruits, and occasional meat on Sundays – were

00:47:02 supposed to keep them going during those exhausting 80-hour work weeks of heavy physical labor.

00:47:08 Biospherians were leaving every meal still hungry, and they had recurring dreams of McDonald's

00:47:14 hamburgers, sushi, Snickers bars, and cheesecake.

00:47:19 The air was running out.

00:47:21 The entire place was completely sealed, with steel and glass at the top and a solid steel

00:47:26 floor underneath.

00:47:27 Managers made sure to check everything coming in to avoid synthetic materials emitting harmful

00:47:32 gases.

00:47:34 Living areas were furnished with wood and wool, and they couldn't use chemical deodorants

00:47:38 or blow out birthday candles.

00:47:41 Biospherians were counting on the food they grew and their many rainforests to produce

00:47:44 enough oxygen for them to survive.

00:47:47 However, they were losing oxygen very fast, drowning in their own carbon dioxide emissions,

00:47:53 and worst of all, they had no idea why.

00:47:56 With another 9 months of the experiment to go, oxygen levels had dropped from 21% to

00:48:01 around 15%, which feels like living at the top of Mount Fuji.

00:48:06 They felt awful, basically dragging themselves around the biosphere.

00:48:10 They couldn't even finish a sentence without stopping to catch a breath.

00:48:14 Then sleep apnea kicked in, with some of them waking up gasping for air.

00:48:19 To bring down the carbon levels inside Biosphere 2, they tried some desperate moves, like growing

00:48:24 plants like crazy, cutting back on watering the soil as much as possible, and even giving

00:48:29 up on tilling.

00:48:31 Nothing worked, so everyone decided they had hit a dangerously low point and asked for

00:48:36 help.

00:48:37 Refrigerated trucks showed up to pump more pure oxygen into Biosphere 2.

00:48:42 As soon as the gas started flowing in, they burst out laughing and began running around.

00:48:48 The ecosystem was a total mess.

00:48:50 Hummingbirds and honeybees vanished after a couple of months, so plants weren't getting

00:48:55 pollinated anymore.

00:48:56 Worms and broad mites attacked crops, and cockroaches just took over.

00:49:01 Four species of cockroaches were brought inside to recycle organic matter, but the regular

00:49:06 household cockroach was the ultimate survivor.

00:49:10 They somehow sneaked in and multiplied, becoming a serious threat to crops.

00:49:14 At night, the kitchen got flooded with cockroaches as soon as the lights went out.

00:49:19 To combat the infestation, the group greased coffee mugs with lubricant and put pieces

00:49:24 of papaya inside as bait.

00:49:26 Cockroaches would climb inside, but they couldn't scale the slippery sides to escape.

00:49:32 Being hungry, lacking oxygen, dealing with bug infestations – that's enough to make

00:49:36 anyone go nuts.

00:49:38 Heated arguments led to cups being thrown and people being spat at.

00:49:42 Eventually, the whole group just split into two.

00:49:45 They stopped talking and could walk right past one another in the hallways without even

00:49:49 making eye contact.

00:49:52 Half of them wanted more food and oxygen to continue the research with some dignity, while

00:49:56 the other half believed in survival without external help, no matter the costs.

00:50:01 The truth is, the sealed chamber had been breached long before that.

00:50:06 Just two weeks after they got inside, a biospherian named Jane Pointer cut off the tip of her

00:50:11 finger in a cooking accident while making rice.

00:50:14 The mission's doctor tried sewing the tip back on, but it didn't work, and her finger

00:50:18 turned black within days.

00:50:20 She went to a hospital outside for surgery, and a couple hours later, she sneaked back

00:50:25 inside, carrying a duffel bag filled with supplies like computer parts and color film.

00:50:31 Reporters would only learn of that sneaky delivery months later, and because of that,

00:50:36 many people have questioned the credibility of the entire experiment.

00:50:40 Media treated the experiment like a reality show, branding it as "trendy ecological

00:50:45 entertainment."

00:50:47 Headline news around the world made it sound as if they were on the brink of losing their

00:50:50 lives to the point where families were concerned, calling the biospherians to check if they

00:50:55 were really okay.

00:50:57 The group felt like they were in a human zoo, with tourists coming from far away to peer

00:51:02 into the glass cage.

00:51:04 In the first six months alone, more than 150,000 people visited the place.

00:51:09 Biosphere 2 ended up becoming a pop culture punchline, inspiring a comedy movie called

00:51:14 Biodome and decades of funny sketches.

00:51:18 You might be wondering why none of them quit the experiment and walked out the front door.

00:51:22 Well, none of the environmentalists wanted to be the first to admit it was too much to

00:51:27 handle.

00:51:28 Plus, they were all still hopeful they could somehow crack the puzzle of building Earth

00:51:32 Number 2.

00:51:33 By the end, they had managed to find 7 tons of missing oxygen.

00:51:37 It had been absorbed by the concrete.

00:51:40 Even though being breathless all the time might seem like the biggest challenge they

00:51:43 face, the biospherians said that learning how to deal with people in a closed environment

00:51:48 was even harder.

00:51:51 It looks like the experiment was a huge failure, but the group did learn a lot of valuable

00:51:55 lessons.

00:51:56 They proved that a sealed ecosystem could work for years.

00:52:00 They contributed to studies on reef restoration, and their farms showed that high productivity

00:52:05 and full nutrient recycling could be achieved without toxic chemicals.

00:52:10 In case you wondered, this wasn't the end of the glass complex.

00:52:13 The second mission inside Biosphere 2 took place in March 1994.

00:52:18 Now you can go back to the beginning of the video to understand how that worked out.

00:52:24 If an asteroid like Apophis hits Earth, we will be destroyed.

00:52:30 Massive earthquakes will strike, and tsunamis will flood everything.

00:52:36 Apophis is a billion-year-old celestial body that has been in the Solar System since its

00:52:41 inception.

00:52:42 So you might be thinking, "Well, how likely is it that this giant space stone will collide

00:52:47 with our planet in 2029?"

00:52:50 Well, let's find out, shall we?

00:52:53 Apophis is a big bad asteroid discovered in 2004 by the Kitt Peak National Observatory

00:52:59 in Arizona.

00:53:02 Since then, it has proudly held the title of one of the most dangerous asteroids ever

00:53:06 located.

00:53:07 It's around 1,100 ft wide, which is a bit bigger than the Empire State Building and

00:53:12 the Eiffel Tower.

00:53:15 Because of how scary it is, it was named Apophis, like the Egyptian immortal creature that was

00:53:20 considered to bring eternal darkness and destruction to Earth.

00:53:24 Oh boy!

00:53:26 In 2021, researchers had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study this floating rock when

00:53:31 it passed near our planet, and we'll come back to that in a minute.

00:53:36 Some scientists say that there is a small chance of Apophis hitting the Earth on Friday,

00:53:41 April 13, 2029.

00:53:45 The Yarkovsky effect is to blame for this since it can slightly nudge this space rock

00:53:50 towards Earth.

00:53:52 This effect originates from the uneven emission of thermal photons from a rotating celestial

00:53:57 object, resulting in a fascinating force exerted upon it in space.

00:54:02 These emitted photons possess momentum and play a pivotal role in shaping the dynamics

00:54:06 of the body.

00:54:09 The asteroid has two sides, light and dark, just like the Moon.

00:54:13 The light side faces the Sun and is warmer than the dark side.

00:54:17 But the thing also turns, so the sides constantly change direction and temperature.

00:54:22 This change could be detrimental because it slightly pushes Apophis toward Earth.

00:54:28 Unfortunately, nobody knows how the Yarkovsky effect will influence the asteroid's path.

00:54:35 On the other hand, on the asteroid's last flyby of Earth in 2021, astronomers used radar

00:54:41 to take accurate measurements of its trajectory and confidently concluded Apophis will safely

00:54:47 miss Earth in 2029 by about 20,000 miles and won't bother us again for at least 100 years.

00:54:55 Generally speaking, every 8,000 years, our planet is hit by a falling star that has similar

00:55:01 dimensions to those of Apophis.

00:55:04 The last time we were hit by a slightly smaller meteorite was in 2013.

00:55:11 A new spacecraft developed by NASA called the OSIRIS-REx was launched in 2016 to collect

00:55:17 samples from another slightly less terrifying celestial body called Bennu.

00:55:23 Four years later, it finally arrived at the thing, got some samples, quickly said goodbye

00:55:29 to Bennu, and started traveling back towards Earth.

00:55:33 The samples were safely stored in a capsule dropped in Utah.

00:55:37 So far, this has been the most significant sample ever taken from an asteroid.

00:55:42 After the delivery, the spacecraft didn't waste any time and started chasing Apophis.

00:55:48 Now OSIRIS-REx has been renamed to OSIRIS-APEX and is currently playing tag with Apophis.

00:55:55 With some luck, on the 2nd of April, 2029, when the asteroid zips close by Earth, the

00:56:02 spacecraft will reach Apophis and land on it.

00:56:06 It will stay on Apophis for 18 months, collecting valuable information and taking thousands

00:56:11 of pictures.

00:56:13 The asteroid will be monitored with the help of powerful telescopes.

00:56:17 At some point, Apophis will get too close to the Sun, and then all the monitoring work

00:56:22 will be on OSIRIS-APEX back.

00:56:26 If you live in Europe, West Asia, or Africa, you're one of those lucky people who will

00:56:31 have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Apophis with the unaided eye.

00:56:36 It will be visible in the sky in these regions in 2029, and those who have telescopes will

00:56:41 be able to spot it once again in 2036.

00:56:47 OSIRIS-APEX will experience some problems because the asteroid has a thick crust, and

00:56:51 the spacecraft won't be able to collect data as easily as it did with Bennu.

00:56:56 OSIRIS-APEX has a unique thruster that will blow all the dust from Apophis while landing.

00:57:02 This will be a perfect chance to analyze the surface of the asteroid to see what it's

00:57:06 made of.

00:57:08 The craft will spend 1.5 years mapping the asteroid, trying to detect changes in its

00:57:13 shape.

00:57:14 All this research will show how the celestial body is likely to move so we can better design

00:57:19 plans to protect Earth from such things.

00:57:23 In 2025, NASA is also going to launch the mission Apophis Pathfinder, and it will be

00:57:28 the first spaceship to ever touch this asteroid.

00:57:32 It will land approximately a year after its launch.

00:57:35 Also, NASA has proposed sending a swarm of tiny craft into space to help humanity develop

00:57:40 effective protective tactics against asteroid strikes.

00:57:45 We know that Apophis originated in the primary asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

00:57:51 In the past million years, this celestial body has changed its path because of the considerable

00:57:57 influence of Jupiter's gravitation.

00:57:59 Now it seems like it favors the Sun more, meaning this asteroid will come very close

00:58:03 to Earth.

00:58:04 That's why it's classified as a near-Earth celestial body.

00:58:09 A lot of tests and research have been done to find a way to deal with asteroids.

00:58:14 Some solutions include drilling and detonating the space body from inside, or testing new

00:58:19 technologies like attaching rockets to it and trying to steer it away from Earth.

00:58:25 We can also hit it with something moving at high speeds to make it change its course.

00:58:30 Apophis is an S-type asteroid made of rocks and minerals like iron and nickel, and is

00:58:36 shaped like a peanut.

00:58:38 It can tell us a lot about the past and possibly the future.

00:58:42 Sampling this space object could reveal how life on Earth began and how plants appeared.

00:58:48 There are many theories that suggest that water arrived on our planet on an asteroid

00:58:53 or a comet.

00:58:55 Asteroids are like priceless time capsules.

00:58:58 Unlike rocks on Earth, which have undergone thousands of changes, like erosion, most celestial

00:59:03 bodies are still intact and much easier to study.

00:59:07 When meteors fall on Earth, they get covered in debris that's impossible to clean.

00:59:11 That's why studying Apophis while it's still in space is so important.

00:59:16 Also, some asteroids are made of precious metals like platinum.

00:59:22 Right now we have a high demand for metals that we use in production, and mining metals

00:59:26 on Earth is quite tricky.

00:59:29 Just one large meteor might have iron, nickel, gold, and platinum that could last us millions

00:59:34 of years.

00:59:35 If Apophis has this amount of metals, well, we'd want to break it down and bring it

00:59:40 back to Earth.

00:59:41 One space rock could be worth quadrillions of dollars, making space mining highly profitable.

00:59:48 And still, it would cost us more to get it back to Earth than to dig up these materials

00:59:53 here.

00:59:54 As technology progresses, and new kinds of rockets are developed, this might become possible

00:59:59 at some point.

01:00:01 So, even though we're safe for the next hundred years from Apophis, you probably still want

01:00:07 to see what would happen if something like it did impact.

01:00:11 Come on, sure you do!

01:00:13 Well, first let me tell you, you'll hear the sound of the collision and know what's

01:00:18 happened even if you're miles away.

01:00:20 You should leave your house or apartment immediately.

01:00:23 Shortly after the impact, massive earthquakes will strike, and many tall buildings will

01:00:28 fall, so staying away from cities might be your best option if you have a choice.

01:00:34 But don't escape by car, there will be massive traffic jams, and everyone will panic.

01:00:41 Travelling on foot or by bike is your best option in this scenario.

01:00:45 A prime way of transportation will be travelling by plane, so if you've always wanted to

01:00:50 get that pilot license, now you've got a good excuse.

01:00:55 If you have time, take along extra snacks and water, and an extra pair of socks.

01:01:01 It's nice to live by the ocean or the sea, but in this scenario, it's the worst place

01:01:06 to be, because giant tsunami waves will hit coastlines after the impact.

01:01:11 If you live far away from the impact area, the tsunami might take 30 hours to arrive.

01:01:17 You'll have a bit of time to prepare.

01:01:22 We still can't find the source of the mysterious signal we've been receiving since 2018.

01:01:29 We receive it every 22 minutes, and nothing can explain this.

01:01:35 Some scientists even believe it could be coming from another civilization we haven't met

01:01:39 yet.

01:01:47 This strange radio signal wasn't found by a scientist on a serious mission.

01:01:51 It was actually discovered by a college student just doing a regular project for school.

01:01:57 Tyrone O'Doherty, an undergrad student at Curtin University in Australia, was sifting

01:02:02 through old data of the southern sky.

01:02:05 He was looking for any weird blinking radio signals.

01:02:08 He finally stumbled upon one from 2018 that seemed to shoot radio waves towards Earth

01:02:14 like a lighthouse beam.

01:02:17 Excited about his find, Tyrone shared it with his mentor, radio astronomer Natasha Hurley

01:02:22 Walker.

01:02:23 She dove into researching this signal, hoping for a breakthrough.

01:02:28 But despite checking different frequency data, they hit a dead end.

01:02:32 And then, Natasha spotted a pattern.

01:02:35 The signal repeated every 18 minutes.

01:02:38 This was huge!

01:02:39 But just as they were gearing up to study it further, poof, the signal vanished after

01:02:44 only 3 months, leaving them with nothing.

01:02:48 Not giving up, Natasha and her team scanned the skies again, desperate for a clue.

01:02:54 Months passed, but nothing turned up.

01:02:57 They were ready to give up, and then suddenly, a new signal popped up.

01:03:02 This one kept blinking for 5 minutes, then it disappeared.

01:03:06 And then it came back exactly 22 minutes later.

01:03:10 The main question was if that signal was related to an 18-minute one.

01:03:15 To figure it out, Natasha went back to the old radio data from that area.

01:03:20 As they dug deeper, they realized that, yes, and these signals aren't anything new.

01:03:25 They'd been beaming towards Earth for 35 years.

01:03:29 Back in 1988, Indian and American telescopes had caught them, but they got buried under

01:03:35 tons of other data.

01:03:38 This was great news for space explorers because it meant they could now calculate how far

01:03:42 away this mysterious object was.

01:03:45 After doing the math, they figured out it was incredibly far, even on the space scale

01:03:50 – 15,000 light-years from Earth.

01:03:54 The only thing left to uncover was what exactly this object was.

01:03:59 Walker and his team started comparing it to all the known radio-emitting objects out there.

01:04:04 Yet its source remains a mystery.

01:04:07 The signal still pops up every 22 minutes on NASA screens, always ending with a frustrating

01:04:13 "match not found" message.

01:04:15 The scientists called it J183910.

01:04:20 Some think that the signal might come from some extraterrestrial beings.

01:04:25 Maybe it's the signal that SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, has been

01:04:30 waiting for.

01:04:32 This project has been working for over 50 years, trying to find any evidence of life

01:04:36 beyond Earth.

01:04:38 They also scan the skies for radio waves, laser pulses, and other mysterious signals.

01:04:43 So maybe it's a way for extraterrestrial folk to communicate their location.

01:04:51 While that idea may sound exciting, we need to be careful about jumping to conclusions.

01:04:56 First, we don't have solid proof for that.

01:04:59 Before any concrete evidence, it's just speculation.

01:05:03 And also, there are other more plausible explanations.

01:05:06 Most likely, it comes from a natural phenomenon, and there are a couple of theories for that.

01:05:13 The first one is the pulsar theory.

01:05:16 Imagine a huge star in space, much bigger than our sun.

01:05:21 Sometimes these big stars finish their life journeys in a spectacular event called a supernova.

01:05:27 When this happens, the star's core collapses, becoming super compact, as if you're squeezing

01:05:33 all the stuff from that star into a tiny space.

01:05:36 That tiny, super-dense core is called a neutron star.

01:05:41 Some of these neutron stars are extra special.

01:05:44 We call them pulsars.

01:05:46 They get their name because they seem to pulse with energy, like a space lighthouse.

01:05:51 These pulsars have incredibly strong magnetic fields, much stronger than what you'd find

01:05:55 on Earth.

01:05:56 They're like enormous magnets in space.

01:05:59 Because of this, they shoot out beams of energy.

01:06:02 They're also spinning super fast, so these beams of energy seem to pulse on and off as

01:06:07 they spin around.

01:06:09 Now, the strange signal we detected seems to have similarities with pulsars, but not

01:06:15 quite.

01:06:17 Pulsars usually have a predictable lifespan and slow down over time, eventually stopping

01:06:22 their radio signals.

01:06:24 In contrast, our mysterious signal is quite persistent and is blinking beyond what's

01:06:29 expected for pulsars.

01:06:31 So, maybe it's not a typical pulsar.

01:06:35 Or not a pulsar at all.

01:06:37 There's also a magnetar theory.

01:06:39 A magnetar is another type of neutron star.

01:06:43 They're like supercharged versions of pulsars, with even stronger magnetic fields and slightly

01:06:48 longer pulsating periods.

01:06:51 Maybe this is what causes our signal's intense persistence.

01:06:54 However, when we plotted the data, we also realized the signal didn't match the magnetar's

01:07:00 vibes either.

01:07:02 Pulsars not only send out radio waves, but also powerful X-rays because they're so energetic.

01:07:08 But the signal we received was only sending out radio waves.

01:07:14 So we figured it's not a pulsar and not a magnetar.

01:07:18 The signal's behavior is very strange and suggests an unnatural source.

01:07:24 This means there might be something in the universe that scientists haven't fully explored

01:07:28 yet.

01:07:30 And there is a space object that we don't know much about.

01:07:33 The final theory is the so-called dwarf pulsar.

01:07:36 Sounds a little dopey to me.

01:07:38 Couldn't help myself.

01:07:39 A dwarf pulsar is like a star that blinks with light flashes, similar to pulsars, but

01:07:46 it takes longer for each blink.

01:07:49 Usually white dwarfs are the leftovers from smaller stars.

01:07:53 They don't blink because their magnetic field isn't as strong as pulsars.

01:07:57 But when a white dwarf becomes pretty hefty, almost the mass of our Sun, it gets super

01:08:02 dense and starts pulsating with a strong magnetic field, just like pulsars.

01:08:07 They have a cool quirk.

01:08:09 White dwarfs are made of electrons, not neutrons like pulsars.

01:08:13 When these charged electrons start dancing with the magnetic field, they shoot out periodic

01:08:18 light flashes, which happen every 100 to 1000 seconds.

01:08:23 As you remember, our signal has a period of 22 minutes – 1320 seconds.

01:08:29 A bit longer than the usual white dwarf pulsars, but it's much closer to the truth.

01:08:34 So far, this sounds like the most plausible explanation.

01:08:38 But even this theory isn't fully confirmed yet.

01:08:41 This just shows how much there is in the universe that we're still figuring out.

01:08:48 For example, fast radio bursts – another mysterious type of signal we've been detecting.

01:08:54 They're like quick, intense bursts of energy in the form of radio waves.

01:08:59 They have a ton of energy.

01:09:01 FRBs are so powerful that sometimes they can be brighter than entire galaxies.

01:09:07 Now imagine this – they release as much energy in a few milliseconds as our Sun does

01:09:12 in 3 whole days.

01:09:15 Wow.

01:09:16 These bursts happen all over the sky with huge frequencies, although some have been

01:09:20 detected with lower frequencies.

01:09:23 Every day, we catch around 10,000 random FRBs in the sky.

01:09:28 Some of them repeat, but most happen once and disappear forever.

01:09:33 Unfortunately, most of them only last for a fraction of a second, and by the time their

01:09:39 energy reaches us, it's a thousand times weaker than a mobile phone signal from the

01:09:43 Moon.

01:09:46 This is why, despite their brightness, there's still a lot we don't understand about them.

01:09:51 We're still trying to figure out what causes these FRBs.

01:09:55 They could be coming from different sources, like already-mentioned magnetars, colliding

01:10:01 stars, or even merging galaxies or white dwarfs.

01:10:07 As these bursts travel through space, they pick up information about the cosmic environments

01:10:12 they pass through, like interstellar gas clouds.

01:10:15 It's very unlikely that FRBs are some messages from extraterrestrial beings, though.

01:10:22 Not only because there are thousands of them every day, all across the sky, but also because

01:10:27 we know that the sources of these bursts must be incredibly energetic themselves.

01:10:33 Our neighbors would have to have equipment stronger than entire galaxies for that.

01:10:37 But the bottom line is, while all these signals are fascinating, there's still a ton to

01:10:42 learn about them.

01:10:45 Now, imagine a place where a single day lasts longer than a whole year.

01:10:51 On Venus, a day (meaning one full spin on its axis) is as long as 243 Earth days.

01:10:58 But what's even weirder, despite the fact that Venus is experiencing a never-ending

01:11:03 day, it has a shorter year than Earth.

01:11:06 While Earth takes about 365 days to complete one orbit around the Sun, Venus does it in

01:11:12 just 225 days.

01:11:14 So somehow, for Venus, a day is more epic than a whole year.

01:11:19 Venus is a strange planet in general.

01:11:21 It's called Earth's twin because of how alike we are, although it's a bit smaller

01:11:26 than Earth.

01:11:27 But there are some drastic differences too.

01:11:29 For example, it spins in the opposite direction, which means the Sun there rises in the west

01:11:35 and sets in the east.

01:11:37 And Venus isn't the only one who dances to its own rhythm.

01:11:40 Uranus does that too.

01:11:42 And finally, Venus is quite crazy in terms of its atmosphere.

01:11:46 When you stand on Earth, you don't really feel the weight of the air around you.

01:11:50 While on Venus, that feeling would be like having an elephant sitting on your shoulders.

01:11:55 Venus has 90 times the atmospheric pressure of Earth.

01:11:59 The atmosphere there is a thick layer of toxic gases.

01:12:02 For example, carbon dioxide that's released by all the volcanoes.

01:12:06 It presses down with incredible force.

01:12:09 This results in very hot temperatures.

01:12:11 No wonder it'll take a long time before we'll be able to stand on this planet.

01:12:17 Meanwhile, Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, has an even more speedy orbit than

01:12:22 Venus.

01:12:23 It only completes a full journey around the Sun in just about 88 Earth days.

01:12:27 However, it has a slow spin on its axis, which means that one day on Mercury takes about

01:12:33 176 Earth days.

01:12:35 Basically, half a year.

01:12:37 Just like with Venus, a day there takes much longer than a year.

01:12:41 Since it's closest to the Sun, no wonder Mercury experiences some super-extreme temperature

01:12:46 swings.

01:12:48 Daytime temperatures can soar up to a scorching 800°F.

01:12:52 Not enough to melt lead.

01:12:54 But wait for the sunset.

01:12:56 At night, it drops to freezing -290°F. That's because Mercury doesn't have a thick atmosphere

01:13:03 like we do, so the heat doesn't distribute across the planet evenly.

01:13:07 If one side is in the dark, it'll be super cold, and the other side will be scorching

01:13:12 hot.

01:13:13 Just like if you let a regular big rock lie down under the Sun for a while.

01:13:17 In fact, it's so cold that there might even be some ice on it.

01:13:21 Look at the planet's north polar region, especially those sunlit yellow spots inside

01:13:26 craters.

01:13:27 These are indications of water ice.

01:13:30 Turns out, water is much more common in space than we thought.

01:13:34 Mars is often dubbed the "Red Planet."

01:13:37 It earns this nickname from the abundance of iron oxide, or rust, covering its surface.

01:13:42 The iron-rich minerals create a rusty red hue that paints the Martian landscape.

01:13:48 But it turns out, Mars isn't just red.

01:13:51 If you were standing on Mars, you'd witness desert-like butterscotch terrain with caramel

01:13:56 and golden glows, some brown, and even a glimpse of a slight greenish hue.

01:14:01 Mars also has the biggest mountain in the entire Solar System - Olympus Mons - standing

01:14:07 at a staggering height of about 13.6 miles tall.

01:14:11 It's even taller than Mount Everest.

01:14:14 It was formed by the volcanic eruption yielding low-viscosity lava, creating a shield-like

01:14:20 structure.

01:14:21 Since Mars is covered in sand, it's also famous for its crazy dust storms.

01:14:25 But it turns out, they're even more insane than we thought.

01:14:29 These storms can last for months.

01:14:31 While they might present challenges for future human missions, they also contribute to the

01:14:36 planet's mesmerizing appearance when observed from afar.

01:14:40 And not only storms, but even its own marsquakes.

01:14:43 Also known as seismic tremors, they were first detected by NASA in 2019.

01:14:48 Unlike earthquakes, that are often triggered by tectonic plate movements, Martian quakes

01:14:53 are thought to result from the cooling and contracting of the planet's interior.

01:14:57 It's interesting how similar, yet how different the planets are.

01:15:02 Saturn's iconic rings might hold a secret link to Earth's ancient past.

01:15:07 The rings are composed mainly of ice particles and debris, and are estimated to be relatively

01:15:12 young in space terms - perhaps just a few hundred million years old.

01:15:17 Now there are some theories that propose that they were born after some catastrophic event.

01:15:22 For example, the collision of two large moons or the breakup of a comet.

01:15:26 What's interesting is that this timeline coincides with the age of the dinosaur's

01:15:31 demise on Earth.

01:15:33 Could there be a connection?

01:15:35 Who knows?

01:15:36 By the way, while Saturn takes the crown for its rings, it's not the only planet in our

01:15:40 solar system sporting them.

01:15:43 Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune all have their own set of rings, although they might not

01:15:48 be as visible and cool as Saturn's.

01:15:51 However, there's something where Saturn truly stands out - the magnificent hexagon

01:15:56 at its north pole.

01:15:57 It's a colossal six-sided figure.

01:16:00 Each side of this incredible structure measures around 9,000 miles long, which is 1,200 miles

01:16:06 longer than the Earth's diameter.

01:16:09 Scientists aren't sure how it was formed or why.

01:16:11 They think it might be due to varying wind speeds.

01:16:14 Or maybe it's shaped by a localized, slow, meandering jet stream.

01:16:19 So far, it remains another of Saturn's mysteries.

01:16:24 Much like Saturn's hexagon, Jupiter also has its own weird spot.

01:16:28 It's called the Great Red Spot.

01:16:31 This is a storm that's been raging for at least 350 years and is larger than Earth itself.

01:16:38 Despite its name, the spot's coloration has varied over the years, ranging from brick

01:16:42 red to pale salmon.

01:16:45 Scientists continue to study this enduring storm, unlocking the mysteries of its persistence

01:16:50 and ever-changing hues.

01:16:52 Meteorologically, the Great Red Spot is a powerhouse.

01:16:56 It generates enormous pressure in Jupiter's southern hemisphere.

01:16:59 Meanwhile, Jupiter itself is a powerhouse when it comes to magnetic fields.

01:17:04 Its magnetic influence is colossal.

01:17:07 It extends far beyond the planet itself and creates one of the largest and strongest magnetic

01:17:12 fields in our solar system.

01:17:14 Because of that, Jupiter is a source of intense radiation and mesmerizing auroras.

01:17:20 While Earth's northern lights are breathtaking, Jupiter has something to offer too.

01:17:25 The magnetic field interacts with charged particles from Jupiter's moons and the solar

01:17:30 wind.

01:17:31 This creates visually striking auroras near its poles.

01:17:34 But compared to Earth, the scale of these auroras is incredible, like nothing we've

01:17:39 seen on our planet.

01:17:42 But even having a cool big spot isn't a unique feature in our solar system.

01:17:47 A stormy giant Neptune, the 8th and farthest planet from the Sun, also has its great dark

01:17:53 spot.

01:17:54 Just like Jupiter, it's a massive vortex in Neptune's atmosphere.

01:17:58 But unlike its Jupiter counterpart, this spot tends to calm and go because of Neptune's

01:18:04 dynamic and ever-changing weather patterns.

01:18:06 Neptune, together with Uranus, is known as an ice giant.

01:18:11 And just like other giants, it boasts some of the most ferocious winds in our solar system.

01:18:16 Its supersonic winds can get faster than 2,200 mph.

01:18:20 What a drama queen!

01:18:22 But this explains its thick cloud formations.

01:18:25 By the way, if you ever dreamed of a planet raining diamonds, you might want to visit

01:18:30 this planet.

01:18:31 Deep within Neptune's atmosphere, where pressures are extreme, scientists theorized

01:18:36 that carbon atoms are compressed and form diamonds.

01:18:39 And then, these diamonds might be raining down!

01:18:42 What a unique touch to stormy weather!

01:18:45 Neptune's moons got from their parent with the weird weather.

01:18:48 For example, its largest moon, Triton, has a touch of cryovolcanism.

01:18:53 Instead of spewing molten rock like Earth's volcanoes, Triton's cryovolcanoes erupt

01:18:59 with a mix of water, ammonia, and nitrogen.

01:19:02 Picture it as icy geysers shooting material into space.

01:19:07 Seems like, in our solar system alone, each planet has its own quirks and interesting

01:19:11 qualities.

01:19:12 Let's hope that we discover some more interesting things in outer space in the future!

01:19:18 "You've been training for this for years.

01:19:24 You know you're ready.

01:19:27 You're standing on the door's threshold.

01:19:29 You take a deep breath and bravely open it.

01:19:33 You jump outside the International Space Station and into the vastness of space.

01:19:38 "Ah, this never gets old," you say on the transmitter device.

01:19:44 You feel like a feather whenever moving through space.

01:19:48 Except for the suit, of course.

01:19:51 It's true what that guy told you one day.

01:19:53 Astronaut suits limit your body's movement by 20%.

01:19:57 For you, that means you've got a 20% higher chance of being clumsy in outer space, which

01:20:03 is never good odds.

01:20:04 There's not a lot of room for error during a spacewalk.

01:20:08 You finally get to the docking port.

01:20:10 You look around and see the part of the station that needs fixing.

01:20:14 This is where other space shuttles dock when they come in from Earth or other planets.

01:20:19 About a week ago, a shuttle coming from Jupiter miscalculated the landing and broke a piece

01:20:24 of the port.

01:20:26 You've attached the new shield to your suit's belt.

01:20:29 Now all you've got to do is screw it on the station.

01:20:32 You've spent hours training underwater to do this.

01:20:35 You wore a heavy, hot, uncomfortable suit inside a pool in order to get the training

01:20:40 you needed.

01:20:41 "Incoming!"

01:20:43 Sarah shouts on the transmitter.

01:20:45 You don't even have time to ask what, as an absurdly fast storm of space debris catches

01:20:49 you off guard.

01:20:51 It shakes everything around you.

01:20:53 You try to hold on tight to the strap that's keeping you safe, but oh no!

01:20:56 A piece of debris just hit your helmet shield.

01:20:58 "Come in, Bob!

01:21:00 Are you okay?"

01:21:01 Sarah asks you through the radio.

01:21:03 You got a bit shocked by the impact, but everything seems fine.

01:21:07 The meteorites are finally gone, so you can focus on your task now.

01:21:11 You pull the rope that's connecting the new docking shield closer to your body, but the

01:21:15 other part of the rope has nothing on it.

01:21:17 Zip.

01:21:18 Nada.

01:21:19 "Oh my," you think to yourself.

01:21:21 "Hmm, come in, Sarah.

01:21:23 We have a lost shield.

01:21:24 I repeat, we have a lost shield."

01:21:27 This is a pretty serious situation, and you are aware of it.

01:21:31 Anything that falls into space can go into a collision route with the International Space

01:21:34 Station or with other space vehicles.

01:21:37 You try to remember your training, but your mind goes blank.

01:21:41 This is worse than that one time you broke your girlfriend's favorite ceramic jar.

01:21:45 Sarah, the other astronaut who's with you on the ship, is shouting words on the transmitter.

01:21:50 "Oh no, Bob!

01:21:51 Tell me you didn't do this!

01:21:53 This is a total catastrophe!

01:21:54 I'm coming outside!"

01:21:57 You spot the shield under the ISS.

01:21:59 It's the size of a medium-sized car door, and it's moving quite fast.

01:22:04 Here's what can happen in this scenario.

01:22:06 The shield could head back down to Earth and break into the atmosphere.

01:22:10 It would probably catch fire and disintegrate on the way down, but anyways, it would make

01:22:14 NASA and you look pretty bad.

01:22:17 The other option is the car door-sized shield gains momentum, and it orbits all the way

01:22:22 to hit the ISS, and you for that matter, or some satellite that happens to be in a similar

01:22:27 orbit.

01:22:28 Here's the thing.

01:22:30 If you ever thought that space was an infinite void, you got that part wrong.

01:22:35 Since different countries started to build equipment strong enough to travel in space,

01:22:39 space has been more crowded than ever.

01:22:41 Not with people, but with satellites, asteroids, and space debris.

01:22:45 You were surprised when you learned that Earth receives meteorite showers every single day,

01:22:49 but they're so small that no one on the surface of the planet notices it.

01:22:53 They usually turn to ashes before hitting the ground, but that's not all.

01:22:58 What just happened to you on this mission has happened on several other missions before.

01:23:02 Astronauts keep losing stuff in outer space.

01:23:05 So much so that NASA had to create a division to track down and monitor the orbit of all

01:23:09 debris that is just floating carelessly around.

01:23:13 You couldn't believe it when someone told you that there are over 23,000 softball-sized

01:23:17 pieces of debris roaming around in space.

01:23:20 And if we're talking about smaller objects, then that number goes up to half a million.

01:23:25 As you were about to unstrap yourself and dangerously venture through outer space without

01:23:29 any protection, you noticed Sarah has beat you to it.

01:23:33 You can't let her do this alone, so you decide to tag along.

01:23:37 FYI, this is against every NASA handbook and training you ever received in your life.

01:23:43 But you think, "If this works in sci-fi movies, it must work for us."

01:23:48 Even though we all know that's very far from the truth.

01:23:51 Sarah is close to the debris shield, but her body weight makes her orbit in a completely

01:23:55 different direction.

01:23:57 "Okay," you think to yourself, "this is your turn to shine and be a hero."

01:24:02 You try moving your arms like you would do underwater, but there's no friction in space.

01:24:07 Duh.

01:24:08 You can't butterfly swim your way to rescue the rogue equipment.

01:24:11 You try to contact Sarah, but she doesn't come in.

01:24:14 I guess you're on your own now.

01:24:18 For some reason, you start to orbit in a similar route as the floating car door shield.

01:24:22 It must be the amount of stuff you've got strapped onto yourself.

01:24:25 Or maybe it was the breakfast burrito you had that morning.

01:24:28 You feel like you're George Clooney in the movie Gravity.

01:24:31 No, better yet, you feel like Obi-Wan Kenobi.

01:24:35 Yes, you're feeling as strong and powerful as a Jedi right now.

01:24:39 You keep your hands stretched before your body, hoping you'll gently collide with the

01:24:43 space debris.

01:24:44 And three, two, one, and the landing was successful.

01:24:47 Just joking, but yes, you manage to dock onto the debris.

01:24:50 Hooray.

01:24:52 Now what, you think?

01:24:54 Guess you needed to have gone through that plan of yours a little bit more, huh?

01:24:58 You still have no way of steering the debris.

01:25:00 And now, you have no way to contact mission control and tell them the object, and yourself,

01:25:06 are en route to somewhere.

01:25:09 Don't get scared.

01:25:10 You didn't come this far to get scared.

01:25:12 What's the best thing you can do?

01:25:14 First, take a mental picture of the Earth.

01:25:17 It never disappoints, from up here.

01:25:19 Then, you try to play out the possible scenarios that could happen in the situation ship you're

01:25:23 in.

01:25:25 Your normal body weight would not be enough to get you out of Earth's orbit.

01:25:29 In the hypothetical scenario in which this did happen, you'd probably be vacuumed into

01:25:33 Venus's orbit, and spend a quite unpleasant period of your life around immense heat.

01:25:38 Even though in Greek mythology, Venus represents love, there is nothing lovely about orbiting

01:25:43 close to this planet, and you know this.

01:25:47 If you got too close, your spacesuit would never be able to take on the heat.

01:25:51 It's only made to sustain temperatures of around 250 degrees Fahrenheit tops, and Venus's

01:25:56 atmosphere can heat up to 700 degrees Fahrenheit.

01:25:59 But honestly, the worst case scenario is much simpler than that.

01:26:03 Your spacesuit could decide to drown your ears, nose, and mouth in water.

01:26:07 Yup, this has happened on spacewalks before yours.

01:26:11 You see, in order to keep your spacesuit chill and cool, the suit relies on a gallon's worth

01:26:16 of water that makes up for a cooling system.

01:26:20 This system, which is supposed to send recycled air into the back of your helmet, does leak

01:26:24 sometimes.

01:26:25 And since you're stranded in the middle of the big nowhere, you'd have only that nowhere

01:26:29 to run.

01:26:30 But wait, what's that popping up on the horizon?

01:26:34 It's a modular space shuttle.

01:26:37 You try shouting, but nobody can hear you outside your helmet.

01:26:40 You wave with your hands, but it's coming straight at you.

01:26:45 "Finally, it took longer than I wished to find you," Sarah said.

01:26:50 Apparently, she made it back to the space station just in time to catch you before you

01:26:54 went definitely rogue.

01:26:55 "Guess I'll be losing some astronaut points for this little misadventure, huh?"

01:27:00 You say.

01:27:01 And yes, you definitely will.

01:27:06 Buckle up, fellow space enthusiasts, because we're about to uncover the celestial secrets

01:27:11 that have been unveiled this year.

01:27:14 From giant stars to organic molecules, this year is going great for astronomers.

01:27:19 So let's catch up on all the excitement you might have missed in 2023.

01:27:25 First of all, we've discovered some real astral monsters.

01:27:29 Imagine looking up at the night sky and seeing stars that are not just big, but absolutely

01:27:34 enormous.

01:27:37 Scientists have been using a special telescope called the James Webb Space Telescope to explore

01:27:41 the early days of the universe.

01:27:46 And during their adventure, scientists stumbled upon ancient stars that are 10,000 times bigger

01:27:50 than our sun.

01:27:52 Yes, you heard it right, 10,000 times.

01:27:56 These giants of the stellar world were some of the very first stars ever to form in the

01:28:00 universe billions of years ago.

01:28:04 Imagine a globular cluster as a massive cosmic crew, where each group consists of a whopping

01:28:10 100,000 to 1 million members.

01:28:13 These clusters are like giant family gatherings, with all the stars being born around the same

01:28:17 time.

01:28:20 But what makes these newly discovered monsters so special?

01:28:23 Well, their cores, or their central parts, are way hotter than what we see in stars today.

01:28:30 Scientists think that this intense heat might be due to a lot of hydrogen burning at really

01:28:34 high temperatures.

01:28:36 It's like they're having a galactic barbecue party.

01:28:41 Something fascinating happens in these globular clusters.

01:28:44 The smaller stars crash into the supermassive ones and gain extra energy, like a power up.

01:28:51 But here's the twist.

01:28:52 Most of these clusters are now getting old, and the supermassive stars disappeared a long

01:28:57 time ago.

01:28:58 We can only see hints of their existence in the clusters we observe today.

01:29:02 Scientists study them by just the mysterious traces of their grand presence.

01:29:08 The discovery of these monster stars is incredibly important for our understanding of the universe.

01:29:14 If scientists can gather more evidence to confirm their existence, it would be a major

01:29:18 breakthrough.

01:29:19 It would help us learn more about globular clusters and how supermassive stars form in

01:29:24 general.

01:29:26 But that was only the first fascinating discovery of 2023.

01:29:30 Although the next one is kind of sad.

01:29:34 You know those beautiful rings that make Saturn look so fancy?

01:29:37 Well, guess what?

01:29:38 They might disappear in the not-so-distant future, astronomically speaking.

01:29:42 NASA's Cassini mission, which explored Saturn from 2004 to 2017, gathered some fascinating

01:29:50 data about the rings.

01:29:52 During Cassini's grand finale, when it did some cool maneuvers between Saturn, scientists

01:29:57 noticed something surprising.

01:29:59 The rings were losing a lot of mass every second.

01:30:02 Tons of it.

01:30:03 That means this magnificent halo will only stick around for a few hundred million more

01:30:06 years at most.

01:30:10 That may seem like a long time for humans, but in the grand scheme of the universe, it's

01:30:15 just a blink of an eye.

01:30:17 The important thing is that we've learned that huge rings like Saturn's don't last forever.

01:30:22 They eventually fade away.

01:30:24 Oh well, at least you and I personally won't catch this moment.

01:30:30 Scientists have a fun theory about what will happen when Saturn's rings disappear.

01:30:34 They think that the other ice and gas giants in our solar system, like Uranus and Jupiter,

01:30:40 might have once had massive rings too.

01:30:42 But over time, those rings wore down and became more like the thin, wispy bands of asteroids

01:30:48 like what Uranus has now.

01:30:52 Saturn's rings are mostly made of ice, but they also have a sprinkling of rocky dust.

01:30:58 This dust comes from asteroids and teeny tiny meteoroids crashing into the celestial objects

01:31:03 and breaking apart.

01:31:07 It's like a snowstorm of icy particles and space debris.

01:31:11 The research also revealed that Saturn's rings appeared long after the planet itself formed.

01:31:17 They were still forming when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

01:31:21 So, in terms of astronomical age, they're actually quite young, only a few hundred million

01:31:27 years old.

01:31:30 This discovery has got scientists all excited because it means something dramatic happened

01:31:34 in Saturn's past to create this stunning icy disk.

01:31:38 But this is a mystery waiting to be solved.

01:31:43 Scientists want to figure out what exactly caused the rings to form and why they have

01:31:47 such a breathtaking structure.

01:31:49 Let's hope they'll figure it out.

01:31:53 But moving on to something more optimistic, we have another exciting space news.

01:31:58 Recently, scientists have been studying one of the most distant galaxies in the universe

01:32:03 and they've found something amazing.

01:32:06 Organic molecules.

01:32:09 The galaxy in question has a long name SPT 041847.

01:32:15 It's over 12 billion light years away from our little blue planet.

01:32:19 Can you even imagine that distance?

01:32:22 It's the farthest galaxy ever known where complex organic molecules have been found.

01:32:29 That's why looking at this galaxy is like looking at something from when the universe

01:32:33 was just a baby.

01:32:36 We have no idea what this galaxy looks like now.

01:32:39 The light that has reached us is what it looked like when the universe was only 1.5 billion

01:32:44 years old.

01:32:46 Imagine being able to see things from so far in the past.

01:32:51 So what they've found is something with a very complicated name.

01:32:54 A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecule or simply PAH molecule.

01:33:00 You might be wondering, what in the world is that?

01:33:03 Well guess what?

01:33:04 You can actually find these molecules right here on our planet.

01:33:08 They can be in things like the smoke from car engines or even forest fires.

01:33:12 PAH molecules are made up of chains of carbon atoms.

01:33:17 And here's the super cool part.

01:33:18 They're considered the basic building blocks for life.

01:33:24 Imagine that.

01:33:25 Life's building blocks.

01:33:26 Those tiny carbon chains being discovered in a galaxy that's so far away.

01:33:32 That's like finding a needle in a haystack.

01:33:36 They also found out that gas floating around in that galaxy is filled with heavy elements.

01:33:42 That's a big deal because it suggests that many stars have come and gone there, creating

01:33:46 all these amazing elements.

01:33:49 This means that this galaxy can be potentially rich in many other elements too.

01:33:54 This discovery opens up a world of possibilities and raises so many exciting questions.

01:33:59 How did these molecules form in a galaxy so distant?

01:34:04 And since we're looking into the past, what could have happened to these organic molecules

01:34:07 during this time?

01:34:10 Could they have evolved into life?

01:34:13 We're only scratching the surface of the incredible things waiting to be uncovered.

01:34:19 By the way, if it's so far, how did scientists even manage to discover something like that?

01:34:26 Well, they had the instrument called the James Webb Space Telescope.

01:34:31 This fancy telescope was recently launched and has superpowers when it comes to observing

01:34:35 the universe.

01:34:38 So when the scientists were studying this faraway galaxy, they had a little problem.

01:34:43 The light coming from those distant objects was so faint that it was hard to see or detect.

01:34:50 But guess what?

01:34:51 They had a brilliant idea to solve this.

01:34:54 They used something called gravitational lensing, which is like a special power of nature's

01:34:58 magnifying glass.

01:35:00 Imagine two galaxies lining up perfectly, just like in a photo shoot.

01:35:04 The light from the faraway galaxy, the background one, travels towards us.

01:35:09 But on its journey, it passes through the foreground galaxy, which is like a giant space

01:35:13 lens.

01:35:16 And guess what?

01:35:17 The foreground galaxy's gravity bends the light, just like a magnifying glass, making

01:35:22 it bigger and brighter.

01:35:24 It's like having a cosmic zoom lens for our telescopes.

01:35:29 This bending of light creates a super cool shape called an Einstein ring.

01:35:34 It's like a halo or a ring of light surrounding the foreground galaxy, basically a nature's

01:35:39 way of showing off its magical powers.

01:35:42 With gravitational lensing and these beautiful Einstein rings, scientists can see distant

01:35:48 objects more clearly and learn amazing things about the universe.

01:35:54 And thanks to all that, they managed to uncover the hidden chemical interactions from the

01:35:58 early galaxies.

01:36:01 Isn't that incredible?

01:36:05 The scientists are beyond excited about this discovery.

01:36:08 They never expected to find such complex organic molecules in a galaxy that's incredibly distant.

01:36:15 Who knows, maybe this is just the beginning of a thrilling cosmic journey.

01:36:21 So keep your eyes on the stars, fellow space explorers.

01:36:25 The universe is full of surprises, and who knows what other mind-blowing discoveries

01:36:29 await us out there.

01:36:32 Let's hope we'll learn even more in the future.

01:36:37 When you think of astronauts going to space, you probably imagine those cool things they

01:36:40 can do up there.

01:36:42 First of all, it's flying like a superhero all the time.

01:36:45 Astronauts hold onto rails and use their arm strength to move among modules.

01:36:49 It probably takes some time to get used to this way of moving around, but in a couple

01:36:52 of months in space, they can become real acrobats.

01:36:56 They also read books, watch movies, or take awesome pictures of Earth through the cupola

01:37:00 windows which is a special viewing area on the space station.

01:37:03 They also invent new games, like the one where they try to hit a target, or where they race

01:37:08 one another from one end of the station to the other as fast as they can.

01:37:12 And zero gravity sports must be so cool.

01:37:15 Imagine playing soccer up there, it's the only way I'd ever be able to do a bicycle

01:37:18 kick properly.

01:37:19 It's cool how they eat or try to catch a bite from a floating spoon.

01:37:24 But besides all these fun things, they need to sleep too.

01:37:27 And that's not so easy in space.

01:37:29 Not having gravity can be cool when you fool around and fly across your chamber, but it's

01:37:34 definitely not that great when you're tired and can't wait for your head to hit the pillow.

01:37:38 Because in space, that won't happen.

01:37:42 Instead, astronauts have to sleep in small sleeping bags attached to the wall.

01:37:46 This way they won't float around or potentially bump into things while they're sleeping.

01:37:50 No sleepwalkers up there, only sleep floaters.

01:37:53 Astronauts orbited our home planet a whopping 17 times in a spacecraft, proving humans could

01:37:58 live, work, and sleep in space.

01:38:01 But just because it's possible doesn't mean it's easy.

01:38:04 Some astronauts describe their space capsule as a small "garbage can," and the cabin

01:38:08 itself is about the size of the front seat of a Volkswagen Beetle.

01:38:13 Sleeping in space is very different from sleeping on Earth, to say the least.

01:38:16 There is no up or down in space, so astronauts can choose any position they find comfortable.

01:38:21 On the International Space Station, sleeping quarters are about the size of a phone booth.

01:38:26 It's a tight space, and it doesn't look as cool as the rest of the things up there, but

01:38:30 they make it work.

01:38:32 Astronauts have to sleep near an air vent to make sure they have good ventilation.

01:38:37 Breathing is trickier in space because the carbon dioxide they breathe out can form a

01:38:41 bubble around their heads, which can be problematic since they may not get enough oxygen.

01:38:48 Astronauts cover up windows to block out sunlight and may wear sleep masks, just like some people

01:38:52 on Earth do to block out light.

01:38:54 The sun in space can be really bright even with window shades, because there's no atmosphere

01:38:58 to filter sunlight.

01:38:59 Oh, those things we take for granted down here.

01:39:02 Also, the space station orbits Earth every 90 minutes, so astronauts get to see a new

01:39:07 sunrise every hour and a half.

01:39:09 The station can be noisy too, since they have all those fans and other equipment, so astronauts

01:39:13 sometimes wear earplugs to help them sleep.

01:39:16 We all become grumpy if we don't get enough sleep, with or without gravity.

01:39:20 Not just that, a lack of sleep can affect our blood pressure, immune system, balance,

01:39:25 and health in general, and it's way trickier when you're not feeling well up there than

01:39:29 on Earth.

01:39:30 NASA schedules its astronauts for about 8 to 8.5 hours of sleep per day, but those who

01:39:35 work on the ISS, on average, go with 6 hours of sleep, because the space environment can

01:39:40 disrupt their natural sleep patterns.

01:39:43 That's why it's not so unusual to have insomnia and sleep deprivation when in space.

01:39:48 Astronauts sometimes have changes in their schedules.

01:39:51 They have to work long shifts or finish tasks assigned at night.

01:39:55 All this works against good sleep.

01:39:57 That's why NASA has sleep education, and promotes special relaxation techniques to help crew

01:40:01 members sleep better.

01:40:04 Dreams and nightmares are as common in space as they are on Earth.

01:40:07 You just can't get away from your mind making up different scenarios while you're sleeping.

01:40:12 And you know that feeling when you first wake up all groggy and sluggish?

01:40:15 It's like your body and brain are still trying to catch up and fully wake up.

01:40:19 You might feel a little bit disoriented, plus it might be hard for you to think clearly

01:40:23 or move quickly.

01:40:24 It's called sleep inertia.

01:40:26 This feeling usually goes away after a little while, but it's probably way harder to get

01:40:30 rid of it in space because many astronauts have issues with it.

01:40:34 And even if you had perfect conditions for sleep, just being in space would probably

01:40:38 disrupt your body's natural sleep-wake cycle.

01:40:41 Two things regulate this cycle, the S-process and circadian rhythms.

01:40:46 The S-process controls whether we are asleep or awake throughout the day.

01:40:50 In space, your body gets less deep sleep, which means it goes through some changes in

01:40:54 the S-process.

01:40:57 Circadian rhythms help regulate our internal body clock as well.

01:41:00 In space, where such cues as exposure to light and darkness are a complete mess, you can't

01:41:06 simply set your alarm clock at 7am every morning.

01:41:09 Hmm, at least up there I'd have a good excuse for not doing this.

01:41:14 To help astronauts adjust, NASA has added special lighting inside the space station,

01:41:18 which mimics a regular day on Earth.

01:41:21 They try to block out outside light at night and provide enough light during the day to

01:41:24 help astronauts stay awake and sleep at the right times as much as possible.

01:41:29 Astronauts need to be careful not to get exposed to blue light from electronic devices because

01:41:32 that disrupts sleep too.

01:41:34 Hmm, that tip sounds familiar.

01:41:37 We need to figure out as many tricks as possible to get better sleep because we don't want

01:41:41 to go on a mission to Mars and come to our potential new home all grumpy and moody.

01:41:45 Plus, people who will go on these special space missions won't have as much space as

01:41:49 astronauts on the ISS.

01:41:52 Their quarters may not be like the comfortable bedrooms they have back on Earth, but they

01:41:56 will still be dark, quiet, and best of all, private.

01:42:01 At the same time, say goodbye to privacy on your way to the moon.

01:42:05 On such missions, there will be less space for crew members to sleep.

01:42:08 It will be like camping with your friends, but with not enough tents.

01:42:13 And imagine jet lag in space.

01:42:16 It usually hits astronauts even before they get to the space station.

01:42:19 To help with this, they start adjusting their sleep schedules a few days before they launch

01:42:23 into space.

01:42:24 They change their sleeping and waking times to match the time of day and time zone of

01:42:28 their launch location.

01:42:30 Once they reach the space station, where astronauts from different countries work together, they

01:42:34 all switch to using a common time called Greenwich Mean Time, GMT.

01:42:40 This helps everyone synchronize their schedules because it's a middle ground time that can

01:42:43 be easily understood by people from different parts of the world.

01:42:47 So to help crew members have better sleep, scientists have simulated space missions on

01:42:51 Earth.

01:42:52 They have a special habitat called HERA at Johnson Space Center, which is almost the

01:42:57 same size as a lunar base or spacecraft.

01:43:00 Crews live there for certain periods and researchers study their sleep patterns and performance.

01:43:04 NASA is planning a cool experiment called the Crew Health and Performance Exploration

01:43:10 Analog, CHPEA.

01:43:12 The first mission is supposed to start soon with four crew members, a commander, a medical

01:43:17 officer, a flight engineer, and a science officer, living in a habitat called Mars Dune

01:43:23 Alpha at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

01:43:26 They will live in the 3D printed habitat and exercise, cook, clean, do other things, and

01:43:32 collect data just like they would on the Red Planet.

01:43:34 I mean, we still have a decade or two till the first human missions on Mars, but we better

01:43:38 hurry and prepare well.

01:43:41 So what comes to your mind when you hear the words "Green Monster"?

01:43:45 The Hulk?

01:43:46 Shrek?

01:43:47 Probably.

01:43:48 But definitely not a young supernova in the Milky Way Galaxy.

01:43:52 Oh, and if you have forgotten what our home galaxy looks like, here have a look.

01:43:58 So anyway, is that supernova indeed green and, you know, scary?

01:44:03 Not really.

01:44:05 But let's start from the very beginning.

01:44:08 Cassiopeia A, aka Cas A, is the remnant of a stellar explosion astronomers spotted in

01:44:14 the sky 340 years ago.

01:44:17 This supernova is 11,000 light-years away from us in the constellation Cassiopeia, and

01:44:23 its remains span about 10 light-years.

01:44:26 Recently, scientists have managed to capture the sharpest image of these leftovers yet,

01:44:31 all thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest optical telescope in space.

01:44:37 The image is full of bright colors – brilliant green, orange, and pink.

01:44:42 Maybe if you printed it out, it would make a great painting for your living room.

01:44:46 Just like this canvas.

01:44:48 Each hue represents a different wavelength of infrared light, which is normally invisible

01:44:53 to the human eye.

01:44:55 The image can help astronomers figure out what happened to the poor star before its

01:44:59 demise.

01:45:00 Cassiopeia A is the youngest known remnant of a massive star that once exploded in our

01:45:06 galaxy.

01:45:07 On its exterior, at the top and left, you can see curtains of material that seem red

01:45:13 and orange because of the emission of warm dust.

01:45:16 That's where the ejected material from the exploded star collides with the surrounding

01:45:20 gas and dust.

01:45:23 Inside this outer shell, there are chunks of bright pink bubble-shaped material that

01:45:28 form clumps and knots.

01:45:31 It comes from the star itself.

01:45:33 This material is shining because of the mix of heavy elements like neon, argon, and oxygen.

01:45:39 Astronomers have spotted some dust emissions in that region too, but they haven't located

01:45:43 the sources of these emissions yet.

01:45:46 There's also a prominent green loop extending across the right side of the supernova's

01:45:53 central cavity.

01:45:54 And if you look closely, you'll notice that a big region of Cass A is pockmarked with

01:46:00 something that looks like small bubbles, which makes the thing even more complex and hard

01:46:04 to understand.

01:46:06 The first X-rays from Cass A appeared in the 60s, but light from the supernova probably

01:46:11 reached Earth in the 1600s.

01:46:14 Unfortunately, there are no confirmed written observations of the supernova from those times.

01:46:19 It must have looked like an extremely bright star, and historians still doubt whether any

01:46:24 observers noticed it.

01:46:26 Oh, and I bet you've been wondering about the nickname, right?

01:46:30 This space phenomenon was called the Green Monster in honor of Fenway Park in Boston.

01:46:36 Its large green left-field wall has the same name.

01:46:41 One of the main questions Cass A might help us answer is, where does all that cosmic dust

01:46:46 come from?

01:46:48 Astronomers have discovered that even very young galaxies at the early stages of their

01:46:52 lives are filled with massive amounts of dust.

01:46:56 So does the universe need vacuum cleaning, or is the problem more complicated?

01:47:03 One of the crucial components in the appearance of this dust seems to be supernovae.

01:47:08 They spew truly terrifying amounts of heavy elements, which are basically building blocks

01:47:13 of dust across the cosmos.

01:47:17 So let's try to figure out what these supernovae are and how they occur.

01:47:22 Good old stars keep their spherical shape because their gigantic mass creates a powerful

01:47:27 gravitational field that pulls gas toward the center.

01:47:31 And at the same time, their cores produce enough energy to prevent gas from gathering

01:47:36 too close to the center.

01:47:38 All this creates a nice balance and a beautiful ball-like shape.

01:47:43 But once a star becomes too old and massive, about 4-8 times as big as our Sun, it doesn't

01:47:49 have any more fuel left.

01:47:52 That's why all the reactions in its core stop.

01:47:55 The star's outer layers instantly try to collapse inward, but they bounce off the core,

01:48:00 which remains incredibly dense.

01:48:03 That's when everything but the star's core blasts out all over the universe in a bright

01:48:08 supernova explosion.

01:48:11 Now as you may know, our solar system itself can be a pretty scorching place.

01:48:16 For example, the temperature of Earth's core almost reaches a whopping 10,800 degrees

01:48:21 Fahrenheit, which is about as hot as the temperature on the surface of the Sun.

01:48:27 As for the Sun's super-hot center, it's heated up to 27 million degrees Fahrenheit.

01:48:32 Okay, that's hot.

01:48:34 But if we talk about the universe, such temperatures are nowhere near hot in comparison with a

01:48:39 supernova.

01:48:41 As you now know, it's the very last stage of a star's life, which ends in a gigantic

01:48:47 explosion.

01:48:48 This explosion is one of the largest in space, and it unleashes enormous amounts of energy.

01:48:53 Therefore, the temperature at the core of a supernova is an incredible 6,000 times higher

01:48:59 than that of the Sun's core.

01:49:01 And it means it can reach several billion degrees Fahrenheit within microseconds, which

01:49:06 is almost impossible to imagine.

01:49:09 After that, atoms get crammed together so infinitely closely that the squeezed core

01:49:15 recoils and a star explodes, creating a superheated shockwave.

01:49:20 Anyway, let's get back to our Cass A. By studying it with the help of the James Webb

01:49:26 telescope, astronomers hope to get a better understanding of its dust content.

01:49:32 This in turn will help them figure out where the building blocks of stars, planets, satellites,

01:49:38 and us humans come from.

01:49:40 Experts can locate regions with different gas composition and look at the types of dust

01:49:44 that form there.

01:49:45 Oh, by the way, if you're interested in space too, but don't have your access to

01:49:50 the James Webb telescope, you can get yourself a telescope of your own and enjoy amazing

01:49:56 views.

01:49:58 Supernovae as the one which created Cass A are very important for life as we know it.

01:50:04 They spread such elements as, for example, calcium that we have in our bones, or iron

01:50:11 our blood contains, literally seeding new stars and planets.

01:50:15 You, my friend, are made from star stuff.

01:50:20 Supernovae don't always mean the end of stars.

01:50:23 Even though a star loses its outer layer, it might still survive the explosion.

01:50:28 Then it either becomes a black hole or a new kind of star.

01:50:32 See for yourself.

01:50:34 Even without the outer layers, a star's core keeps collapsing.

01:50:38 At one moment, the pressure inside becomes so high that electrons and protons virtually

01:50:44 melt into each other and form neutrons.

01:50:47 The result of this crazy fusion is a neutron star, whose mass consists of 90% of neutrons.

01:50:54 It means that the thing just can't get squashed any tighter.

01:50:58 Then energy starts to leave the fading star, transforming it into a neutron star.

01:51:04 And the amount of this energy is so great that it can be compared with the combined

01:51:08 light emitted by all the stars in the observable universe.

01:51:13 Energy is leaving the star in the form of neutrinos, subatomic particles that are similar

01:51:18 to electrons but with no electric charge and a very small mass.

01:51:24 And during a supernova explosion, the star emits almost 10 times more neutrinos than

01:51:29 the number of protons, electrons, and neutrons in the Sun.

01:51:33 No wonder that in such conditions, something truly scary gets born.

01:51:39 A neutron star, which is basically a monster nucleus, the central part of an atom, is relatively

01:51:45 small.

01:51:46 Even though scientists don't know for sure how big neutron stars are, they suppose that

01:51:51 these space bodies shouldn't be bigger than 12 miles across.

01:51:56 For comparison, our Sun is almost 865,000 miles across, which is 109 Earths put side

01:52:03 to side.

01:52:05 But even with such a modest size, any neutron star will be at least 1.5 times heavier than

01:52:10 the Sun.

01:52:11 Think about this.

01:52:13 If you scoop just a teaspoon of neutron star in size, this stuff would weigh no less than

01:52:18 a billion tons.

01:52:20 That's very dense, so dense that the next stop is the black hole itself.

01:52:25 Well, what can I say?

01:52:28 Space is an endless source of mystery and inspiration for me.

01:52:31 I'm even considering adding some space fives to my home, and I know just the thing to do

01:52:37 it.

01:52:38 Hey, don't thank me!

01:52:40 Hey MythBusters, today we're debunking some classic space myths!

01:52:45 Hop on the next space shuttle and let's get to the bottom of these tales once and for

01:52:49 all!

01:52:52 Picture this.

01:52:53 You're floating weightlessly in space, sipping on a cup of delicious hot chocolate, when

01:52:58 a peculiar thought pops into your head.

01:53:01 Can you scream in outer space?

01:53:03 And if yes, would anyone hear that scream?

01:53:06 If you've watched the movie Alien, then you know the answer to this one.

01:53:13 You can't hear sounds in outer space.

01:53:16 It's not that sounds don't exist.

01:53:18 It's just that you can't hear them.

01:53:21 There's no one better to clarify this myth than Chris Hadfield.

01:53:25 He's been on a couple of space walks during his life as an astronaut.

01:53:29 And once you're out there in the darkness of space, you can't hear anything.

01:53:34 All you hear is silence.

01:53:37 Complete silence.

01:53:38 But hey, just around the corner is a massive ball of explosion, aka the sun.

01:53:44 We just can't hear the explosions happening because there's no medium for sound to travel

01:53:49 through.

01:53:50 It would be quite uncomfortable for an astronaut though if they could hear all the noises going

01:53:54 on in outer space.

01:53:57 Now imagine you're zipping through space, feeling like a futuristic superhero, when

01:54:02 a shooting star passes by your side.

01:54:04 But wait, is it really a star?

01:54:07 Unfortunately, shooting stars are not stars at all.

01:54:11 They are small space rocks known as meteoroids, entering Earth's atmosphere and creating a

01:54:17 stunning light show.

01:54:19 Oh, and since we're debunking myths, let's head straight for another one.

01:54:24 You've probably heard that meteors only crash into Earth on extremely rare occasions, like

01:54:30 once every dinosaur extinguishing apocalypse.

01:54:33 That's not true.

01:54:35 It's estimated that about 48 tons of meteoritic material fall on Earth each day.

01:54:42 But almost all of this material is vaporized in Earth's atmosphere.

01:54:46 The bright trail we see in the night sky is what we popularly call a shooting star.

01:54:51 Next time you make a wish upon a shooting star, remember you're actually hoping on a

01:54:55 tiny piece of space debris.

01:54:57 It's not so romantic after all.

01:55:02 Can we or can we not fly into the stratosphere on air balloons?

01:55:06 Apparently, we can!

01:55:08 The Earth's stratosphere starts relatively close to the ground, about 7 or 8 miles up

01:55:13 from the Earth's surface, but it continues a long way up.

01:55:17 If you were to fly yourself all the way into the stratosphere with some type of air balloon,

01:55:23 just make sure you have really good equipment at hand.

01:55:26 You'll need a special suit and some breathing devices, because air starts to get pretty

01:55:30 thin the higher you get.

01:55:32 Of course, if you do go all the way up, you need to get a picture of the Earth's curvature.

01:55:38 So take a chest harness with you where you can put a special camera or something like

01:55:42 that.

01:55:43 And how about you live stream the whole thing?

01:55:45 That would be a first!

01:55:48 Imagine it's been 102 days since you left Earth.

01:55:52 You've adapted well to life in outer space, but something weird is happening to your body.

01:55:58 You're getting taller.

01:55:59 How is that even possible?

01:56:01 Don't stress about it, it's completely normal!

01:56:04 The truth of the matter is, you're not getting taller.

01:56:07 This is what happens to your body when it's not under the effect of gravity.

01:56:12 Our body has natural space between vertebrae and joints.

01:56:16 On Earth, this space is almost completely squeezed due to the force of gravity.

01:56:21 But in space, your body gets some time off of the pushing force of gravity and begins

01:56:25 to stretch more and more.

01:56:28 So yes, astronauts can grow up to 3% taller when they're on long missions.

01:56:33 And here's a curiosity, NASA has that all covered when they're tailor-making spacesuits

01:56:38 of course.

01:56:39 This way, astronauts will always have extra space in their suits.

01:56:43 Once astronauts are back on Earth, the anti-gravity effect will wear off.

01:56:48 So maybe they'll spend a few days wearing capri pants before it fits perfectly on their

01:56:52 bodies again.

01:56:55 Never have I ever pictured an airplane door bursting open mid-flight and a bunch of passengers

01:57:00 being sucked into the atmosphere like flying feathers.

01:57:03 Well, I'm betting most of you have had similar thoughts when getting inside a plane.

01:57:08 Now imagine if this were to happen in outer space.

01:57:12 Common knowledge says that if an astronaut is sucked out of an airlock, this person would

01:57:16 be burnt to a crisp.

01:57:18 Brace yourselves, because this is not only true, but the reality of it is way worse.

01:57:23 According to astronaut Chris Hadfield, this is what would happen.

01:57:27 The part of your body in the shade of the sun would experience temperatures of -418

01:57:33 degrees Fahrenheit, while the part of you getting sunlight would burn at around 480

01:57:38 degrees Fahrenheit.

01:57:41 Your lungs would collapse, and your blood would start to boil like tea water.

01:57:45 So you would burn, freeze, lose your ability to breathe, and boil.

01:57:51 Yikes!

01:57:53 How many times have you heard that astronauts have to work out every second of every day,

01:57:58 otherwise they'll pass out?

01:58:00 This is a complete myth!

01:58:02 Remember we talked about gravity earlier?

01:58:04 Due to the lack of gravity in outer space, our bodies don't have to do any heavy work,

01:58:10 our torsos don't have to sustain the weight of our heads, and we don't have to make

01:58:14 any effort to move our legs because, essentially, there's no walking in outer space.

01:58:20 Now imagine living like that for 6 months, or even a year of your life.

01:58:26 Your muscles could turn into jello!

01:58:29 That's why astronauts work out.

01:58:31 They'll strap themselves and run on a treadmill, or they'll do some weightlifting in a special

01:58:36 machine.

01:58:37 This way their muscles won't feel the lack of gravity too much.

01:58:41 They do need to keep hydrated though!

01:58:45 You know what?

01:58:46 If I was an astronaut, I'd ask NASA if I could take my super soft water flask up into

01:58:51 space with me.

01:58:53 You've probably heard that space smells like burnt steak, or barbecue sauce.

01:58:58 Now as much as this sounds absurd, this myth is more true than it is false.

01:59:04 Astronauts obviously can't smell space when they're in it because they can't take off

01:59:08 their helmets.

01:59:09 They usually smell it once a space vehicle docks and they open up a hatch.

01:59:14 Apparently, what causes this smell is the presence of hydrocarbons that float around

01:59:19 in space.

01:59:20 Who would have thought, huh?

01:59:22 Hey smart people, let me ask you a question.

01:59:25 Do you really think that if astronauts fly at the speed of light, they won't age a single

01:59:30 second?

01:59:31 I knew you'd say no!

01:59:33 Let's get a few things straight.

01:59:35 First of all, we haven't figured out how to operate vehicles at the speed of light.

01:59:40 This would require an immense amount of energy and we don't have the technology to do that.

01:59:45 Second, even if we managed to send a human inside a spacecraft that traveled at the speed

01:59:50 of light, this person would still age.

01:59:53 They would age differently than the people who remained on Earth, that's a fact, but

01:59:57 they would still age.

01:59:59 Do you lot really think there's such a thing as immortality?

02:00:02 Nah!

02:00:04 If you've seen the first Avatar, then you certainly remember that humans only managed

02:00:08 to get to Pandora because they traveled in cryosleep.

02:00:12 In other words, they froze their bodies, put them in a cryo-bed and traveled for years

02:00:16 without aging.

02:00:18 Yes, this sounds amazing, but we still don't have the technology to do that.

02:00:23 Our bodies are mainly made out of water, right?

02:00:26 And when you freeze water, it expands.

02:00:29 That's why you should never leave soda cans unattended in your freezer.

02:00:33 Right now, if we froze a person's body, the water inside of it would expand, harming tissue

02:00:38 and organs.

02:00:39 So no, we can't cryosleep our way into interstellar travel.

02:00:44 Not yet at least.

02:00:46 Here's a crazy thought.

02:00:48 What would happen if an astronaut took a drone with him on one of their spacewalks?

02:00:53 Unless it's a NASA-designed drone, maybe the thing would freeze and burn like humans would

02:00:57 if they went into space without a suit.

02:01:00 But hey, a person can dream, can't they?

02:01:05 Ah, space, the final frontier.

02:01:08 It's a vast and mysterious expanse that has fascinated us for centuries.

02:01:13 But as much as we've learned about it, there are still plenty of things that we've been

02:01:18 lied to about when it comes to space.

02:01:21 Let's take a look at some of the biggest lies we've been told about this topic.

02:01:26 First off, we have the idea that space is just this pristine, untouched wilderness.

02:01:31 But that's not exactly true.

02:01:33 We've been littering space with our debris for decades.

02:01:37 Everything from old satellites to rocket parts.

02:01:40 In fact, there are over 20,000 pieces of debris orbiting Earth right now, and they're causing

02:01:46 all sorts of problems for future space missions.

02:01:49 So if you're planning on visiting space anytime soon, watch where you go.

02:01:53 You never know what kind of garbage might be floating around.

02:01:58 Did you know that the sun is not actually yellow?

02:02:01 It's green.

02:02:02 Well, kind of.

02:02:03 You see, scientists measure the temperature of a star by the color spectrum it emits.

02:02:09 Cooler stars appear red, while the hottest of stars look blue.

02:02:14 Our sun emits most of its energy at a wavelength that's close to green.

02:02:19 But because it emits other wavelengths too, all these colors mix together, and your eyes

02:02:24 see this vibrant mixture as white.

02:02:27 From Earth, however, the sun looks yellow because our atmosphere is really good at scattering

02:02:33 blue light.

02:02:34 If our star was actually yellow, Earth would become a frozen rock, and we'd all be polar

02:02:39 bears.

02:02:40 Plus, the sun isn't on fire for real.

02:02:44 It's a big ball of gas, mostly made of hydrogen and helium, and it works more like a gigantic

02:02:50 nuclear reactor, constantly fusing hydrogen atoms to create helium inside its core.

02:02:56 This process releases enormous amounts of energy.

02:02:59 That's why the sun is so hot!

02:03:01 Oh, and speaking of setting things on fire, explosions in space aren't real.

02:03:07 Sorry, Star Wars fans, a spaceship can't go down in a violent blast, because there

02:03:13 is no air out there in space.

02:03:15 No air means no oxygen, and no oxygen means no fire.

02:03:20 Now, you might also think that there are too many stars in the night sky for you to count,

02:03:26 but in fact, you can do that!

02:03:29 According to the Yale Bright Star Catalog, there are 9,110 stars that you can see from

02:03:35 Earth with the unaided eye.

02:03:37 So technically, you can count them, but I wouldn't be surprised if you lost count.

02:03:45 And if you're worried about flying through an asteroid belt, don't be.

02:03:48 Although it does have trillions of space rocks that range in size from space dust to a quarter

02:03:54 of the size of the moon.

02:03:56 They're very spread out.

02:03:58 The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is 140 million miles across, which is one

02:04:04 and a half times the distance between Earth and the sun.

02:04:07 This spreads space rocks thousands of miles apart, making it almost impossible for a spacecraft

02:04:13 to collide with one.

02:04:16 You'll instantly freeze in space without a suit.

02:04:19 Nope, you won't turn into a popsicle right away.

02:04:22 It's gonna take a bit longer than that because heat and cold don't really move very quickly

02:04:27 in the vacuum of space.

02:04:29 But unfortunately for you, there's a bigger problem at hand.

02:04:33 You won't be able to breathe.

02:04:35 After just 15 seconds, your brain won't be getting enough oxygen from your blood, and

02:04:40 you'll pass out.

02:04:41 And then after just 2 minutes, it's curtains for the rest of your organs.

02:04:46 So in short, if you find yourself playing astronaut without a space suit, it's game

02:04:50 over pretty quickly.

02:04:53 Did you know that space doesn't have any temperature at all?

02:04:58 That's because the temperature is defined by the speed at which particles move and the

02:05:02 amount of energy they have.

02:05:04 In the true vacuum of space, there are no particles to move around, making it temperatureless.

02:05:11 Of course, some parts of space are really hot, like areas around stars.

02:05:16 But the further away you get from stars, the more spread out particles are, making those

02:05:20 areas of space pretty chilly.

02:05:25 Number 9 is our planet's shape.

02:05:27 No, it's not flat, but it's not a perfect sphere either.

02:05:30 Yeah, it bulges at the equator because of our planet's wild spin.

02:05:35 It's like Earth is doing its own little dance.

02:05:38 And because of this bulging, launching spaceships from the equator is much easier than from

02:05:44 the poles.

02:05:46 Now when it comes to sound in space, it's a bit of a tricky situation.

02:05:51 You might think that no one can hear you scream, but that's not entirely accurate.

02:05:56 The thing is, sound needs something to travel through, like air or water.

02:06:01 In space, things are super spread out, so all those epic space battles and galactic

02:06:07 explosions would be completely silent.

02:06:10 Yet there are some places in space with enough particles for sound to travel through.

02:06:15 For example, you can hear the black hole at the center of the Perseus galaxy cluster.

02:06:23 Another myth is about zero gravity.

02:06:25 That's not a thing.

02:06:27 There's still some gravity hanging around the International Space Station, about 90%

02:06:31 of what we feel on good old Earth.

02:06:34 But astronauts get to float around because they're basically free-falling around the

02:06:38 planet.

02:06:39 And let's be real, Hollywood's version of space travel is not factual.

02:06:44 Sure, orbits are a thing, but different altitudes mean different speeds, so moving from one

02:06:50 orbit to another isn't exactly a walk in the park.

02:06:53 You can't just push yourself in the right direction and hope for the best, you gotta

02:06:57 take those orbital velocities into account.

02:07:01 This reminded me of the 2013 movie Gravity and how Sandra Bullock tried to survive in

02:07:05 space.

02:07:07 Hollywood sure added some fuel to these myths.

02:07:10 Yet again, who can blame 'em?

02:07:13 Back in 1976, NASA's Viking 1 spacecraft snapped a photo of a curious rock formation on Mars

02:07:20 that looked suspiciously like a face.

02:07:23 Some folks out there claimed that it must have been proof of extraterrestrial life on

02:07:28 the red planet, but NASA had a different take.

02:07:32 According to the space agency, the "face" was nothing more than a bunch of rocks piled

02:07:37 up in such a way that the shadows they cast created an illusion of facial features.

02:07:43 It turns out it was just a regular hill that got a little too much credit for being photogenic!

02:07:50 The solar system stays in place.

02:07:53 LIE!

02:07:54 It's zooming through space at a speed of 140 miles per second, which means that it's

02:08:00 whizzing through the cosmos faster than a cheetah chasing its prey!

02:08:04 It takes us 230 million years for the solar system to complete a full orbit around the

02:08:10 Milky Way.

02:08:11 It's a good thing it isn't getting a speeding ticket because that would be one astronomical

02:08:16 fine, eh?

02:08:19 Without the Sun, planets would be pretty chilly.

02:08:22 We're talking about temperatures as low as -455 degrees Fahrenheit!

02:08:29 But with the Sun around, the planets get to enjoy much more livable temperatures.

02:08:34 Of course, not all planets are created equal.

02:08:37 Mercury, for example, is the closest to the Sun.

02:08:40 Venus, on the other hand, is farther away but somehow manages to be even hotter than

02:08:45 Mercury!

02:08:46 The distance from the Sun isn't the only factor that affects a planet's temperature.

02:08:51 Other things like the planet's size and reflectivity also come into play, so Mercury

02:08:56 being the hottest planet in our solar system is a false proposition.

02:09:00 No, just because it's the closest one to the Sun doesn't mean it's the hottest.

02:09:05 Even though we've been deceived in some ways, that doesn't make space any less amazing.

02:09:10 It's still a vast, beautiful, and utterly fascinating part of our universe.

02:09:15 And there's still so much we have yet to discover.

02:09:18 Who knows, maybe one day we'll really discover little green people out there.

02:09:22 Or maybe we'll find out something even more incredible.

02:09:26 Until then, we'll just have to keep dreaming and exploring!

02:09:29 There, you got 14 things on our list.

02:09:32 Do you have any other space myths to debunk?

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