What Monster Stars Are + Other Rare Space Facts

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Transcript
00:00:00 Buckle up fellow space enthusiasts, because we're about to uncover the celestial secrets that have been unveiled this year.
00:00:07 From giant stars to organic molecules, this year is going great for astronomers.
00:00:13 So, let's catch up on all the excitement you might have missed in 2023.
00:00:18 First of all, we've discovered some real astral monsters.
00:00:23 Imagine looking up at the night sky and seeing stars that are not just big, but absolutely enormous.
00:00:30 Scientists have been using a special telescope called the James Webb Space Telescope to explore the early days of the universe.
00:00:38 And during their adventure, scientists stumbled upon ancient stars that are 10,000 times bigger than our Sun.
00:00:46 Yes, you heard it right, 10,000 times.
00:00:49 These giants of the stellar world were some of the very first stars ever to form in the universe, billions of years ago.
00:00:58 Imagine a globular cluster as a massive cosmic crew, where each group consists of a whopping 100,000 to 1 million members.
00:01:06 These clusters are like giant family gatherings, with all the stars being born around the same time.
00:01:12 But what makes these newly discovered monsters so special?
00:01:17 Well, their cores, or their central parts, are way hotter than what we see in stars today.
00:01:24 Scientists think that this intense heat might be due to a lot of hydrogen burning at really high temperatures.
00:01:30 It's like they're having a galactic barbecue party.
00:01:33 Something fascinating happens in these globular clusters.
00:01:38 The smaller stars crash into the supermassive ones and gain extra energy, like a power-up.
00:01:44 But here's the twist.
00:01:46 Most of these clusters are now getting old, and the supermassive stars disappeared a long time ago.
00:01:53 We can only see hints of their existence in the clusters we observe today.
00:01:56 Scientists study them by just the mysterious traces of their grand presence.
00:02:01 The discovery of these monster stars is incredibly important for our understanding of the universe.
00:02:08 If scientists can gather more evidence to confirm their existence, it would be a major breakthrough.
00:02:14 It would help us learn more about globular clusters and how supermassive stars form in general.
00:02:21 But that was only the first fascinating discovery of 2023.
00:02:24 Although the next one is kind of sad.
00:02:27 You know those beautiful rings that make Saturn look so fancy?
00:02:31 Well, guess what? They might disappear in the not-so-distant future, astronomically speaking.
00:02:36 NASA's Cassini mission, which explored Saturn from 2004 to 2017, gathered some fascinating data about the rings.
00:02:45 During Cassini's grand finale, when it did some cool maneuvers between Saturn,
00:02:50 scientists noticed something surprising.
00:02:52 The rings were losing a lot of mass every second.
00:02:55 Tons of it. That means this magnificent halo will only stick around for a few hundred million more years, at most.
00:03:02 That may seem like a long time for humans, but in the grand scheme of the universe, it's just a blink of an eye.
00:03:10 The important thing is that we've learned that huge rings like Saturn's don't last forever.
00:03:16 They eventually fade away.
00:03:19 Oh well, at least you and I personally won't catch this moment.
00:03:22 Scientists have a fun theory about what will happen when Saturn's rings disappear.
00:03:28 They think that the other ice and gas giants in our solar system, like Uranus and Jupiter, might have once had massive rings too.
00:03:36 But over time, those rings wore down and became more like the thin, wispy bands of asteroids like what Uranus has now.
00:03:47 Saturn's rings are mostly made of ice, but they also have a sprinkling of rocky dust.
00:03:51 This dust comes from asteroids and teeny tiny meteoroids crashing into the celestial objects and breaking apart.
00:03:59 It's like a snowstorm of icy particles and space debris.
00:04:04 The research also revealed that Saturn's rings appeared long after the planet itself formed.
00:04:11 They were still forming when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
00:04:16 So, in terms of astronomical age, they're actually quite young, only a few hundred million years old.
00:04:22 This discovery has got scientists all excited because it means something dramatic happened in Saturn's past to create this stunning icy disk.
00:04:32 But this is a mystery waiting to be solved.
00:04:35 Scientists want to figure out what exactly caused the rings to form and why they have such a breathtaking structure.
00:04:43 Let's hope they'll figure it out.
00:04:46 But moving on to something more optimistic, we have another exciting space news.
00:04:51 Recently, scientists have been studying one of the most distant galaxies in the universe and they found something amazing.
00:04:58 Organic molecules.
00:05:01 The galaxy in question has a long name SPT 041847.
00:05:08 It's over 12 billion light years away from our little blue planet.
00:05:13 Can you even imagine that distance?
00:05:15 It's the farthest galaxy ever known where complex organic molecules have been found.
00:05:22 That's why looking at this galaxy is like looking at something from when the universe was just a baby.
00:05:29 We have no idea what this galaxy looks like now.
00:05:33 The light that has reached us is what it looked like when the universe was only 1.5 billion years old.
00:05:40 Imagine being able to see things from so far in the past.
00:05:43 So what they found is something with a very complicated name.
00:05:49 A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecule or simply PAH molecule.
00:05:54 You might be wondering, what in the world is that?
00:05:58 Well, guess what? You can actually find these molecules right here on our planet.
00:06:02 They can be in things like the smoke from car engines or even forest fires.
00:06:08 PAH molecules are made up of chains of carbon atoms.
00:06:11 And here's the super cool part. They're considered the basic building blocks for life.
00:06:15 Imagine that. Life's building blocks.
00:06:20 Those tiny carbon chains being discovered in a galaxy that's so far away.
00:06:25 That's like finding a needle in a haystack.
00:06:28 They also found out that gas floating around in that galaxy is filled with heavy elements.
00:06:37 That's a big deal because it suggests that many stars have come and gone there, creating all these amazing elements.
00:06:42 This means that this galaxy can be potentially rich in many other elements too.
00:06:47 This discovery opens up a world of possibilities and raises so many exciting questions.
00:06:53 How did these molecules form in a galaxy so distant?
00:06:57 And since we're looking into the past, what could have happened to these organic molecules during this time?
00:07:03 Could they have evolved into life?
00:07:06 We're only scratching the surface of the incredible things waiting to be uncovered.
00:07:11 By the way, if it's so far, how did scientists even manage to discover something like that?
00:07:19 Well, they had the instrument called the James Webb Space Telescope.
00:07:24 This fancy telescope was recently launched and has superpowers when it comes to observing the universe.
00:07:32 So when the scientists were studying this faraway galaxy, they had a little problem.
00:07:37 The light coming from those distant objects was so faint that it was hard to see or detect.
00:07:43 But guess what? They had a brilliant idea to solve this.
00:07:47 They used something called gravitational lensing, which is like a special power of nature's magnifying glass.
00:07:54 Imagine two galaxies lining up perfectly, just like in a photoshoot.
00:07:59 The light from the faraway galaxy, the background one, travels towards us.
00:08:03 But on its journey, it passes through the foreground galaxy, which is like a giant space lens.
00:08:09 And guess what? The foreground galaxy's gravity bends the light, just like a magnifying glass, making it bigger and brighter.
00:08:18 It's like having a cosmic zoom lens for our telescopes.
00:08:22 This bending of light creates a super cool shape called an Einstein ring.
00:08:28 It's like a halo or a ring of light surrounding the foreground galaxy, basically a nature's way of showing off its magical powers.
00:08:36 With gravitational lensing and these beautiful Einstein rings,
00:08:41 scientists can see distant objects more clearly and learn amazing things about the universe.
00:08:46 And thanks to all that, they managed to uncover the hidden chemical interactions from the early galaxies.
00:08:54 Isn't that incredible?
00:08:58 The scientists are beyond excited about this discovery.
00:09:02 They never expected to find such complex organic molecules in a galaxy that's incredibly distant.
00:09:08 Who knows, maybe this is just the beginning of a thrilling cosmic journey.
00:09:14 So, keep your eyes on the stars, fellow space explorers.
00:09:19 The universe is full of surprises, and who knows what other mind-blowing discoveries await us out there.
00:09:26 Let's hope we'll learn even more in the future.
00:09:29 So, we might be getting closer to finding a massive icy planet beyond Neptune's orbit.
00:09:35 Sorry, Pluto, still not you.
00:09:38 Recently, some universe mapping using data from a telescope in Hawaii
00:09:42 eliminated about 78% of the possible locations for this mysterious Waldo from space.
00:09:49 Some people call it Planet Nine, while others prefer Planet X.
00:09:55 But hey, it's been causing controversy since its existence was first proposed.
00:09:59 And that is mainly because no study so far can answer the big question – does it really exist?
00:10:05 If discovered, Planet Nine would rank as the fifth largest planet in our solar system,
00:10:11 with a mass ten times that of Earth.
00:10:14 It's also theorized to be gaseous, like Uranus.
00:10:17 The initial study on Planet Nine, dating back to 2016,
00:10:23 found that this colossal new planet orbits the Sun 29 times farther out than Neptune,
00:10:28 which sits at about 2.8 billion miles.
00:10:31 As a result, the Planet Nine would take between 10,000 and 20,000 years
00:10:36 to complete a single orbit around the Sun.
00:10:39 If confirmed, this yet-to-be-understood world would dominate a region
00:10:44 larger than any other known planet in our cosmic neighborhood.
00:10:47 These are all intriguing hypotheses,
00:10:52 but there's not a single piece of evidence or observation to back them up.
00:10:55 Before dismissing this as a wild guess,
00:10:58 it is important to note that these researchers relied on complex mathematical modeling
00:11:03 and computer simulations to speculate about the planet's characteristics.
00:11:08 'Cause that's what they do.
00:11:10 The hypothetical presence of this planet would explain various mysterious features
00:11:15 located beyond Neptune.
00:11:17 We are specifically talking about the Kuiper Belt,
00:11:21 a huge donut-shaped region filled with icy debris
00:11:23 left over from the formation of the Solar System,
00:11:26 including comets and dwarf planets like Pluto.
00:11:30 What happens is that the six farthest objects in the Kuiper Belt
00:11:34 exhibit elliptical orbits that are all oriented in a similar direction within physical space
00:11:39 and tilted approximately 30 degrees downward relative to the orbital plane of our 8 known planets.
00:11:47 What's strange here is that, despite their distinct orbital velocities around the Solar System,
00:11:52 they maintain this alignment.
00:11:54 The likelihood of such alignment occurring randomly is extremely low,
00:11:58 around 0.007%.
00:12:01 So, here comes Planet Nine,
00:12:04 a hypothetical massive celestial body that offers a plausible explanation for this strange phenomenon,
00:12:10 potentially exerting gravitational influence to shape these orbits.
00:12:16 The initial theory didn't hold up for long,
00:12:18 facing accusations of observational bias and calculation errors.
00:12:23 Then, in 2017, another study popped up,
00:12:27 sparking back the idea that maybe Planet Nine is out there after all.
00:12:32 This time, Spanish astronomers tried a novel approach,
00:12:35 focusing on observing extreme trans-Neptunian objects.
00:12:40 These celestial bodies orbit the Sun in highly stretched elliptical paths,
00:12:45 with average distances exceeding 13 billion miles.
00:12:48 The research suggests that the distances between these objects' nodes and the Sun
00:12:53 might provide clues to Planet Nine's location.
00:12:56 You see, these nodes are the points where a celestial body's orbit intersects the Solar System's plane.
00:13:03 When these objects reach these points,
00:13:05 they're more likely to interact with other Solar System bodies,
00:13:08 potentially causing significant changes in their orbits or even collisions.
00:13:14 So, if the trajectory of these extreme trans-Neptunian objects remains stable, everything's fine.
00:13:20 But if it's not, well, that's a sign that something else, something big, is messing with their path.
00:13:27 And that's exactly what the research found.
00:13:30 There is something unseen out there, throwing these objects off course.
00:13:34 And that something could be a planet,
00:13:37 chilling at a distance between 300 to 400 times farther from the Sun than Earth.
00:13:43 To this day, the study of the extreme trans-Neptunian objects
00:13:46 is the strongest evidence we've got for Planet Nine's existence.
00:13:50 And if you're still not convinced by this theory,
00:13:53 know that strange motions like these have led to planetary discoveries before.
00:13:58 Neptune, for instance, was spotted because Uranus' motion
00:14:02 didn't quite agree with the predictions of Newtonian gravity.
00:14:06 But the deflection of its orbit could be explained
00:14:10 if it was caused by a pull of an undiscovered planet.
00:14:13 And just like that, we discovered Neptune.
00:14:16 Now, the year is 2021, and there's all this buzz about Planet Nine again.
00:14:23 After correcting some old guesses, studies are now leaning towards the idea
00:14:28 that this mystery world follows an epic loop around the Sun every 7,000 years.
00:14:33 That is massive news, because it means this planet might be closer than we ever thought,
00:14:39 making it easier for our telescopes to spot it.
00:14:42 The paper also suggests there is a whopping 99% chance
00:14:46 that the funky orbits of these distant objects are all because of this unseen planet,
00:14:51 not just some cosmic coincidence.
00:14:54 Now, the odds of this whole situation being a fluke are down to a 1 in 250 chance,
00:15:00 which is much better than the 1 in 10,000 chance back in 2016.
00:15:07 All these optimistic numbers have brought us to where we are today,
00:15:10 keeping our hopes and working on better equipment
00:15:13 to continue the mission of spotting Planet Nine.
00:15:16 As mentioned earlier, researchers in Hawaii created some kind of treasure map,
00:15:21 utilizing the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System
00:15:25 to eliminate 78% of its locations.
00:15:28 This is great news, considering how challenging it is
00:15:32 to find a planet-sized needle in a cosmic haystack.
00:15:36 But, unfortunately, Planet Nine's presence remains a ghost
00:15:40 in the dark outer reaches of our Solar System.
00:15:43 Enthusiasts are still convinced of its existence
00:15:46 and believe it is only a matter of time before we celebrate the discovery of Earth's new cosmic cousin.
00:15:52 They're putting their hopes on the Vera C. Rubin Observatory,
00:15:56 which is currently under construction in Chile
00:15:58 and is scheduled to begin science operations in late 2025.
00:16:03 Over the course of 10 years, this observatory will scan the entire Southern Hemisphere sky
00:16:08 every few nights with a 27-foot, fast-moving telescope
00:16:13 equipped with the largest digital camera in the world.
00:16:16 The idea is to catalog everything in the Solar System,
00:16:19 reaching out to and beyond Neptune,
00:16:22 and tracking the movements of millions of celestial objects,
00:16:25 including space junk, asteroids, comets, and stars.
00:16:30 If Planet Nine is indeed out there, this next-generation telescope could be the one to find it.
00:16:35 The existence of this mysterious planet is far from being universally accepted in the scientific community.
00:16:43 That is simply because Planet Nine isn't the only explanation
00:16:47 for the strange phenomenon occurring beyond Neptune.
00:16:51 One theory suggests that a group of distant objects,
00:16:54 such as dwarf planets, comets, and moons,
00:16:58 might be collectively influencing the orbits of the extreme trans-Neptunian objects.
00:17:02 Others believe that a black hole is behind all this.
00:17:06 These compressed masses are some of the densest objects in the Universe,
00:17:10 potentially capable of affecting the orbits of other masses,
00:17:13 like how this supposed ghost Planet Nine is believed to be doing.
00:17:17 Another bold perspective suggests that our current understanding of the laws of gravity is flawed,
00:17:25 actually incomplete.
00:17:27 This theory, known as Modified Newtonian Dynamics,
00:17:30 proposes that these distant icy objects exhibit strange behavior
00:17:35 not due to influence from another planet,
00:17:38 but rather because the immense gravitational field of the Milky Way is influencing them.
00:17:43 However, even supporters of this theory acknowledge
00:17:46 that it is too early to draw firm conclusions,
00:17:49 and much more extensive research is still required.
00:17:55 While we continue our relentless hunt for Planet Nine,
00:17:58 some astronomers have taken it a step further,
00:18:01 suggesting the existence of a hypothetical Planet Ten.
00:18:05 This world has a mass and size like that of Mars or Earth,
00:18:09 and is located on the edges of the Kuiper Belt.
00:18:12 But the thing is, if this alleged Planet Ten is indeed as small as scientists believe,
00:18:17 it might not have enough gravity to clear its orbit of debris.
00:18:21 And that is pretty similar to what happens with Pluto,
00:18:24 being one of the reasons why it got into trouble back in 2006.
00:18:28 So yeah, it's better not to get too excited.
00:18:31 This supposed Planet Ten might end up classified as another dwarf planet.
00:18:36 Jupiter used to be flat and look like an M&M candy (now I'm hungry),
00:18:41 and it wasn't the only flat pattern in our solar system.
00:18:44 Turns out, there are tons of things that can go wrong during a planet's formation,
00:18:49 like locking up to the Sun or getting whooshed into open space.
00:18:53 Let's check it out.
00:18:54 The Earth isn't flat, but Jupiter might've been.
00:18:58 Instead of being a big round ball, gas giants in our system might've started more like flat pancakes.
00:19:05 Jupiter is one of the oldest of our neighbors.
00:19:08 It's 4.6 billion years old, just like our Sun.
00:19:11 And when it was just a baby planet, it likely formed through a process called disk instability.
00:19:21 It all begins with stars.
00:19:22 When a star is forming, it doesn't look like a round object.
00:19:25 It's more like a big disk of stuff.
00:19:28 During this stage, really hot winds made of charged particles blow out.
00:19:32 The dust in that disk contains stuff like carbon and iron.
00:19:37 Some of them collide and stick together, forming bigger objects.
00:19:40 Dust turns into pebbles, pebbles turn into rocks, and rocks bump into each other, getting bigger.
00:19:47 Gas in the disks helps all these solid bits stick together.
00:19:51 Some break apart, but others stick around, and they're the ones that become the basic pieces of planets.
00:19:57 They're called planetesimals.
00:20:00 Even gas giants like Jupiter started off as tiny specks of dust, smaller than a human hair.
00:20:06 Eventually, they formed their own big ring-shaped disks of gas.
00:20:10 They began to spin around our Sun, growing bigger by gathering gas and rocks like snowballs.
00:20:17 Gas giants are special.
00:20:19 They were born from the colder parts of the disk.
00:20:22 In cold areas, molecules are slower, which makes them easier to grab.
00:20:26 In these places, water could freeze, and tiny ice pieces stick together and are mixed with dust.
00:20:33 These dirty snowballs gather up and then form cores of huge planets, like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
00:20:42 In the warmer areas, closer to the star, rocky planets like Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars start to form.
00:20:48 After the icy giants were born, there wasn't much gas left for these smaller planets.
00:20:53 It might take tens of millions of years for these rocky planets to form after the stars born.
00:20:59 And our Sun was growing at the same time, sucking up nearby gas and pushing faraway stuff even farther out.
00:21:06 After billions of years, the disks change completely, turning into a disk of dust.
00:21:11 And the planets are formed.
00:21:12 Dwarf planets, asteroids, moons, meteoroids, and comets around it.
00:21:18 Recently, simulations showed that these proto-planets, as these early dust balls are called, don't start off looking like the planets we know.
00:21:29 In the case of gas giants like Jupiter, they look more like squashed balls or M&M's candies, not the peanut kind.
00:21:38 When the Sun was young, the disk of gas and dust surrounding it cooled down and became unstable.
00:21:44 It started breaking into big chunks.
00:21:46 These chunks dramatically collapsed together under huge gravity to create Jupiter.
00:21:51 It became a round gas giant over time.
00:21:54 There are a lot of oddities that can happen during that process of planet formation.
00:21:59 Ever wonder why Venus or Uranus spin in the opposite way compared to other planets?
00:22:06 Usually, when things form from a spinning disk of gas, they tend to spin in the same direction.
00:22:11 For example, if you spin a bunch of balls on a string, they all twirl in the same way.
00:22:16 So, theoretically, all planets should spin in the same direction too.
00:22:21 But there are a lot of fast-moving objects like comets and asteroids in our Solar System.
00:22:27 When they smash into planets, especially during their early days, this collision might send the planets to spin in the opposite direction.
00:22:35 Venus and Uranus probably survived a massive collision.
00:22:38 Luckily, they weren't repelled to outer space.
00:22:41 The gravity from the Sun and nearby planets pulled them back into place.
00:22:45 There are also so-called tidally locked planets.
00:22:51 These are celestial bodies that spin in a way where one side always faces their star while the other side remains in perpetual darkness.
00:23:00 So, one side is always very hot while the other is extremely cold.
00:23:04 If we were on a planet like that, we would only be able to live on a thin line in between.
00:23:10 These planets form when they're very close to their star.
00:23:13 The gravitational forces are extremely strong, and over time, these forces slow down the planet's rotation until it matches the time it takes to orbit the star.
00:23:24 Imagine you're spinning in your chair.
00:23:27 Someone comes up to you and, holding onto your chair with their hands, starts spinning with you.
00:23:33 This way, you'll always face each other.
00:23:35 Tidally locked planets kind of work like that.
00:23:38 Our Moon is tidally locked to our Earth, which is why we only see one side of it.
00:23:43 We've discovered more than 5,000 planets outside of our Solar System called exoplanets.
00:23:50 Some of them have very strange orbits.
00:23:53 For example, planets with incredibly long orbits – thousands of years to make one trip around the star.
00:24:00 Or very wonky, comet-like orbits. Or so-called "hot Jupiters".
00:24:04 They're super close to their star, way closer than Mercury is to our Sun.
00:24:08 But these planets couldn't have formed where they are now.
00:24:12 As their Solar System evolved, they changed their positions for some reason.
00:24:16 This rearranging is called planetary migration.
00:24:20 There are three main ways this migration happens.
00:24:25 First, because of the gas and dust spinning around the planet.
00:24:29 When a planet is bumping into this stuff, it can create spiral patterns in the gas.
00:24:33 These patterns can either push the planet closer to the center or farther away, depending on how they mix together.
00:24:40 It's called a gas-driven migration.
00:24:43 This is what Jupiter experienced when it moved closer to the Sun billions of years ago.
00:24:48 I wasn't around then.
00:24:50 This also explains the existence of hot Jupiters.
00:24:53 Second, big planets can shove the smaller ones, changing their paths.
00:24:58 Third, the star's gravity can tug on the planet, making its orbit more circular.
00:25:02 Ever heard of rogue planets?
00:25:06 Imagine a lonely planet floating in the vastness of space without a star to call home.
00:25:12 They're like the wandering nomads of our galaxy, doomed to drift around forever.
00:25:17 And there are so many of them, there might be more free-floating planets than ones that are tied to stars.
00:25:24 We're talking trillions of rogue planets hanging out in our Milky Way galaxy alone.
00:25:28 They're often as massive as our biggest planet, Jupiter.
00:25:32 But most of them might be Earth-sized.
00:25:34 Some might even have thick atmospheres that keep them warm, even though they're far from any star.
00:25:39 Some of them might have wild auroras, while others could host moons with liquid water, a potential haven for life.
00:25:46 There's even a chance that they might contain extraterrestrial life.
00:25:52 These planets might bump into other stars or even entire planetary systems as they journey through space.
00:25:58 Sometimes they might get caught in a star's gravity for a while before getting flung back out into space.
00:26:04 But how are they born?
00:26:06 Sometimes, during this chaotic process of planet formation, not all planets can manage to stay close to their parent stars.
00:26:14 Some of them get kicked out of their solar systems due to powerful gravitational interactions with other planets or passing stars.
00:26:21 These ejected planets become rogue planets.
00:26:25 In 2012, astronomers found a solar system from the very beginning of the Universe.
00:26:32 This system included a star and two planets.
00:26:35 We called it a fossil system.
00:26:37 The star is super old, about 13 billion years, almost as old as our entire Universe.
00:26:43 It was mostly made of just hydrogen and helium.
00:26:47 This is unusual because planets usually form from clouds of gas that contain heavier stuff.
00:26:52 That's when we figured out that the way planets formed before was different from how they form now.
00:26:59 We know that stars with more metals are more likely to have planets.
00:27:03 In astronomy lingo, "metals" means any chemical element other than hydrogen and helium.
00:27:09 But in the early Universe, there weren't many metals.
00:27:14 Most of them were created inside stars and then spread out into space when those stars blew up.
00:27:19 So, when did the very first planets form?
00:27:22 This newly discovered system helps answer these questions.
00:27:26 Its two giant planets are orbiting a star that's incredibly low in metals and extremely old.
00:27:32 This should be really rare, if not impossible, but they exist.
00:27:36 This means that maybe there are more planets in metal-poor systems than we thought.
00:27:42 Studying them will help us learn more about the history of planet formation.
00:27:45 The Sun is getting ready to flip as its magnetic poles are reversing.
00:27:50 Similar to Earth, the Sun has a magnetic north and a magnetic south.
00:27:54 But unlike Earth, the reversing process of the Sun's poles is more frequent and easier to predict.
00:28:01 The next flipping is expected to take place this year between April and August.
00:28:06 As apocalyptic as it might sound, you don't have to worry.
00:28:11 By 2030, you've already experienced this phenomenon more than once as the Sun flips every 11 years.
00:28:16 You probably didn't notice any changes back then because this process doesn't impact Earth's life so much.
00:28:23 But this time, things might be a little different.
00:28:27 On Earth, ocean currents are movements that play a crucial role in influencing both climate and weather by distributing heat from the equator to the poles.
00:28:38 On the Sun, these currents are more like an ocean of plasma.
00:28:41 But they not only transport heat but also carry electromagnetic energy.
00:28:46 That happens because the Sun is a huge ball of hot and ionized gases that keep flowing inside its core.
00:28:54 By fusing together hydrogen atoms and forming helium, our star releases a massive amount of energy,
00:29:01 leading to these very heavy flowing electric currents.
00:29:06 Whenever you have currents, you have magnetic fields.
00:29:08 It's easier to understand if you think of that classic experiment with a wire and a nail that you probably conducted in elementary school.
00:29:16 When electricity flows through a wire, it creates a magnetic field around the wire.
00:29:21 So when you connect a wire to a battery and wrap it around a nail, the nail becomes a magnet.
00:29:27 This is similar to how electric currents create magnetic fields on the Sun.
00:29:32 This whole process with the help of which the Sun generates its magnetic field is called a dynamo.
00:29:37 We can't observe it directly, but we can see its effects on the Sun's surface.
00:29:43 When plasma and magnetism flows become unstable and intense, they manifest as sunspots.
00:29:49 You know, those dark areas on the Sun's surface.
00:29:52 Much about how the dynamo works remains a mystery.
00:29:57 But scientists have learned something important after observing these sunspots for centuries.
00:30:02 The dynamo process follows a pattern.
00:30:05 About every decade it reorganizes itself.
00:30:08 The Sun's polar magnetic fields get weakened, eventually reaching zero.
00:30:12 And then they return, but with the opposite polarity.
00:30:16 Back in the 50s, researchers figured out that when sunspots start to ramp up and become more intense,
00:30:23 it means the poles are gearing up for a reversal.
00:30:26 And over the past few years, solar activity has been off the charts.
00:30:30 We're talking about more solar flares, more electromagnetic radiation bursts,
00:30:35 and more plasma blobs being ejected into space.
00:30:38 It's like we're sitting in the front row at the solar system's most epic fireworks display.
00:30:44 In fact, the Sun hasn't been this lively in probably two decades.
00:30:48 Right now, experts think the polar fields are almost in sync and steadily weakening.
00:30:55 Inching closer and closer to zero.
00:30:57 But we haven't reached the point of reversal yet.
00:31:00 Although it might sound like the Sun flips its magnetic poles like clockwork every 11 years,
00:31:07 the truth is that it's not as neat as it seems.
00:31:10 This path can be bumpy, and some aspects of the phenomenon are still very hard to predict.
00:31:16 Take the last solar cycle for example.
00:31:19 The Northern Hemisphere started its magnetic flip back in early June 2012,
00:31:24 but then it kinda hit a snag and lingered around the neutral point until late 2014.
00:31:29 Meanwhile, in the Southern Hemisphere, things were smoother, with the polarity switching over in mid-2013.
00:31:36 This time around, the Sun is actually playing nice.
00:31:39 Things seem to be running way smoother this cycle, with the poles transitioning more evenly.
00:31:45 But here's the thing. Reversal processes are never the same.
00:31:49 That's what makes this phenomenon so interesting to observe.
00:31:53 But at the same time, it's hard to predict how it'll affect us down here.
00:31:56 Here on Earth, we don't have to worry too much about those intense Sun explosions happening 93 million miles away.
00:32:04 But if, and I emphasize if, a solar storm were to reach our planet,
00:32:10 the main threat it would bring would probably be the disruption of communication satellites in space.
00:32:16 However, things might be different in this cycle reversal happening in 2024,
00:32:22 because the number of satellites has skyrocketed in recent years.
00:32:25 For example, Elon Musk's Starlink system alone involves more than 4,000 of them.
00:32:31 All these satellites, along with communication and GPS satellites,
00:32:35 could be impacted or even destroyed by a powerful solar storm.
00:32:40 Although the chances of a powerful solar storm hitting Earth are low, it's not impossible.
00:32:47 Back in 1859, during the Carrington event, a storm occurred near the peak of the solar cycle,
00:32:52 causing currents to surge through telegraph lines, sparking fires and disrupting messages worldwide.
00:32:58 Earth fell silent as telegraph communications failed.
00:33:02 Just imagine what a solar storm could do to our vast number of satellites today.
00:33:07 It could affect everything we rely on daily, from space-based communication and navigation to weather forecasting services.
00:33:16 The ground-level power distribution could also be affected.
00:33:19 You can forget about watching YouTube or Brightside,
00:33:24 because if such an event occurred today, it would cause an Internet apocalypse,
00:33:28 sending countless people and businesses offline.
00:33:31 There's a prediction that says that if a Carrington-class event happened today,
00:33:36 it would result in damages ranging from $0.6 to $2.6 trillion.
00:33:41 And I'm talking about the United States alone.
00:33:45 Fortunately for us, solar storms as intense as the Carrington event happen only once every 500 years or so.
00:33:52 Bad news for communication satellites, but great news for aurora watchers.
00:33:58 During the Carrington event, dazzling auroras borealis lit up the sky
00:34:03 as polar light shows stretched far beyond their usual ranges.
00:34:07 The northern lights were spotted as far south as Cuba and Honolulu, Hawaii,
00:34:13 while the southern lights were seen as far north as Santiago, Chile.
00:34:17 For many people around the world, this was their first glimpse of the aurora,
00:34:21 leaving them obsessed with the unusually bright skies.
00:34:24 Some of them thought it was the end of the world, while others began their day early,
00:34:29 thinking the sun had risen after hearing birds chirping and seeing the bright skies.
00:34:34 Today, we know there's nothing strange about it,
00:34:39 considering that the appearance of auroras at lower altitudes is one of the expected effects of the sun's magnetic pole reversal.
00:34:45 Typically, these dazzling phenomena are found between 60 and 75 degrees latitude,
00:34:51 but during the last magnetic pole reversal in 2013, intense auroras were observed below 50 degrees.
00:34:58 Eyewitnesses describe these auroras as blood or deep crimson red,
00:35:03 shining so brightly that you could read a newspaper in their light.
00:35:08 It's important to study this phenomenon and not to fear it.
00:35:10 The inversion of the magnetic poles on the sun is actually a great opportunity
00:35:14 for scientists to better understand how our star works.
00:35:18 Since many pieces are still missing in the whole dynamo situation,
00:35:22 we're still not very good at predicting why some solar cycles are more intense than others,
00:35:27 or when exactly a coronal mass ejection will erupt.
00:35:31 But being able to predict that is becoming more and more necessary as we venture ourselves into space.
00:35:37 The more people are out there beyond Earth, the more exposed they are to these strong solar storms.
00:35:42 That's why the scientific community wants to know more precisely
00:35:46 when a solar storm can cause damage to spacecraft and space stations.
00:35:50 Plus, it would help meteorologists make progress in predicting weather,
00:35:54 not only on Earth, but also in space.
00:35:57 The whole point is to make space travel safer as the interest in crewed missions to the Moon and Mars grows every year.
00:36:05 Another reason why it's important to learn more about the sun's pole inversion
00:36:08 is to better understand how the mysterious interior of the sun works.
00:36:12 That could actually help us figure out the aspects of other stars in the universe
00:36:17 and maybe get closer to answering the ultimate question.
00:36:21 Why are we here?
00:36:25 Why are we here?
00:36:28 Traveling to space costs a fortune, but there's a way to make it affordable.
00:36:32 You step into an elevator, push the button, and voila!
00:36:36 You're flying to the stars, all thanks to nanotubes.
00:36:39 But then something hits the elevator on the way, you're stuck inside,
00:36:43 and now you're doomed to float in space forever.
00:36:46 Now, if you want to travel in space, get ready to shell out around 55 million bucks.
00:36:53 But in the near future, you'll probably be able to travel to space
00:36:57 with just the push of a button without breaking the bank.
00:37:00 Because space elevators might come into play.
00:37:03 While the idea of galactic lifts seems like something out of a sci-fi movie,
00:37:08 it is a real possibility that could revolutionize space travel.
00:37:12 With an estimated cost of $8 billion,
00:37:15 space elevators could be a one-time investment that would last us forever.
00:37:22 NASA alone spends around $2.7 million on rocket fuel per minute.
00:37:28 To launch a rocket, they need to pay up to $178 million.
00:37:33 These costs could be significantly reduced with the use of elevators.
00:37:37 Most super-tall buildings on Earth have a massive foundation
00:37:41 to help with their balance and weight.
00:37:43 As you look up, they get thinner and thinner.
00:37:46 Even the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa,
00:37:50 is massive at the bottom and narrow at the top.
00:37:52 If we wanted to construct something like a gigantic lift,
00:37:56 we would need an enormous amount of concrete to build a foundation for it,
00:38:00 which goes against the point of saving some cash.
00:38:02 Now get a string, tie a ball at the end of it, and start spinning it.
00:38:07 The string in your hand will stay in one place,
00:38:10 and the ball will revolve around your hand.
00:38:12 This is called centrifugal force,
00:38:15 and the elevator will work in the same way.
00:38:18 The ball will be the base in space, and the rope will hang toward Earth.
00:38:22 The station from where we would enter the elevator
00:38:27 would be in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean,
00:38:29 and the line would extend from there.
00:38:31 For this to be possible,
00:38:33 the line must be perfectly synchronized with Earth's rotation.
00:38:36 Otherwise, it would simply break or wrap around the Earth like a scarf.
00:38:41 Also, the orbit the line would be following should be a perfect circle,
00:38:46 because the line wouldn't be able to get shorter or extend.
00:38:49 A bunch of research has been done using algebra to find the ideal solution.
00:38:54 Wait a second, there's a use for algebra? Never mind.
00:38:57 Meanwhile, I won't bore you with the math.
00:39:00 We'll go straight to the point where the precise distance
00:39:03 from the station in the Atlantic to the one in space
00:39:05 must be 22,236 miles above the Earth,
00:39:09 where the geosynchronous orbit starts.
00:39:13 Here, the four outward forces are much stronger than the downward force.
00:39:16 That's why the station would stay in one place.
00:39:19 When you construct a house or a building,
00:39:21 you start from the bottom going up.
00:39:23 But to create this engineering wonder,
00:39:26 we would need to do everything in reverse and start at the top.
00:39:29 The main problem here would be the weight.
00:39:31 If the line was too heavy, it would disrupt the orbit,
00:39:34 and the conveyor dumbwaiter host would not work.
00:39:37 So, we'd need to balance the station in space
00:39:41 to ensure it worked flawlessly.
00:39:43 Steel is one of the most robust materials on Earth.
00:39:47 The cable in every lift is made from steel.
00:39:50 But when you need a 22,236-mile-long cable,
00:39:54 things can get tricky.
00:39:56 Steel is hard to break, but it's cumbersome,
00:39:59 and when you have to use a lot of it, problems start to arise.
00:40:03 We use heavy steel a lot in construction,
00:40:05 but we have lighter materials that might put less stress on the station
00:40:10 and eliminate this problem.
00:40:11 Also, the line would have to be tapered
00:40:13 because, at the end point, there would be close to zero stress.
00:40:17 But it would still have to be thicker than really needed
00:40:20 due to a bunch of safety factors.
00:40:22 At the start, the rope would be around 0.5 inches.
00:40:26 After using some complicated math,
00:40:28 we can figure out the thickness at the end,
00:40:30 which is a number so long I am unable to pronounce it.
00:40:34 But believe me, it's a big one.
00:40:37 So, steel is off the list.
00:40:39 Another candidate is Kevlar,
00:40:40 which is 5 times stronger than steel.
00:40:43 And if we added such materials as carbon and titanium into the mix,
00:40:47 the strength would increase tenfold.
00:40:50 The line would have a diameter of around 262 to 557 feet.
00:40:56 This is drastically smaller than the diameter of the steel cable could be.
00:41:00 The bad news is that doing this is too pricey.
00:41:04 So, if we don't find the ideal medium to build a cable,
00:41:08 the idea of the space elevator will just be a massive waste of time.
00:41:12 If only we had some magically light material with a power of 60 gigapascals,
00:41:19 which would have a taper ratio of 1.6.
00:41:22 Oh wait, we actually do have this unique material.
00:41:26 It's called carbon nanotube.
00:41:28 It has a strength of 130 gigapascals,
00:41:31 which is much more than we need.
00:41:34 Nanotubes are made out of carbon and are 100,000 times thinner than a human hair.
00:41:39 This material is solid and has good conductive power,
00:41:42 which is possible thanks to its unique atomic structure.
00:41:45 We use this product in many things, from batteries to optics.
00:41:49 And it can be modified entirely and adapted for more uses.
00:41:53 Bradley Edwards is the guy responsible for this crazy idea.
00:41:58 NASA was looking for new innovations, and they said,
00:42:02 "Don't do anything too crazy and start building a space hoist."
00:42:05 I guess Bradley took this as a challenge and started working on the elevator.
00:42:09 Edwards wrote a paper about a galactic conveyor.
00:42:12 When he published it, he expected many people to find flaws in his work.
00:42:16 But surprisingly, nobody did.
00:42:19 His work was spot on.
00:42:21 He came up with the idea of strapping a nanotube line to a rocket
00:42:25 and launching it into space.
00:42:27 The other end of the rope would fall onto Earth,
00:42:30 and robots would use this rope to climb up and make it longer
00:42:33 so we could start building an elevator space station.
00:42:36 After this, the elevator could start transporting everything,
00:42:40 from solar panels to tourists.
00:42:42 In the future, space tourism could be totally possible.
00:42:46 Who knows, we might even go on vacations in space.
00:42:49 Hey, looking for some atmosphere for your getaway?
00:42:53 Well, don't come here, we don't have any.
00:42:56 Oops, probably not a good advertising slogan, huh?
00:43:00 Meanwhile, a couple of years ago,
00:43:02 we could only create microscopic carbon nanotubes.
00:43:05 But as time went on, much more research was done to make them bigger.
00:43:09 Now they reach up to a few inches.
00:43:12 In 20 years, they could be miles long.
00:43:15 Carbon costs $28 per ounce.
00:43:17 If we do the math, we would see that we would need
00:43:20 around $1 billion to build the lift.
00:43:23 Yeah, it sounds expensive, but it's a long-term solution to space travel,
00:43:28 and it can actually save us a lot of money in the long run.
00:43:30 Now, everything looks perfect on paper.
00:43:33 But NASA's main reason why they chose not to go along with this project
00:43:37 is that right now, there are probably more than 128 million objects floating in orbit,
00:43:43 and they might pose a real threat to the elevator.
00:43:46 The lift could be made to withstand a few hits now and then,
00:43:49 but getting hammered non-stop is not part of the plan.
00:43:54 Still, Bradley argues that tons of monitoring devices track space debris.
00:43:58 Thus, the elevator could avoid them all.
00:44:01 Now, if something hit the elevator or the line somehow broke,
00:44:07 the consequences would not be too bad.
00:44:10 If there were no passengers on board, of course.
00:44:13 If the line got cut, the elevator would simply float away into space,
00:44:17 posing no threat to people on Earth.
00:44:19 In Japan, engineers are trying to build a space elevator.
00:44:23 The lift could be used for space mining, too.
00:44:26 We could easily cover the cost of the entire elevator by collecting asteroids,
00:44:30 because some of them are made of expensive metals.
00:44:33 We could mine them and quickly bring them back to Earth.
00:44:37 If one of the many apocalyptic scenarios come true,
00:44:42 and humanity is wiped out completely,
00:44:45 a black box will tell whoever comes after us about what has led to that scary day.
00:44:52 The 33-foot long vault in a remote part of western Tasmania
00:44:56 is supposed to document all the mistakes humanity has made that led to an apocalypse.
00:45:02 The artists, architects and researchers behind the Earth's black box
00:45:07 hope that the art installation made of thick reinforced steel
00:45:11 will withstand fire, water and any other natural disasters,
00:45:15 except probably for total planetary destruction.
00:45:20 Just like the black box you can find in planes,
00:45:23 this time capsule is supposed to help the next civilization do better
00:45:27 and avoid the probable sad and tragic fate of our humanity.
00:45:31 The project is fully non-commercial and has an important message.
00:45:36 The box will be full of storage drives and have access to the Internet.
00:45:41 Solar panels on the roof will power it,
00:45:44 and batteries will take care of backup power storage.
00:45:48 Whenever the sun's out, the black box will be updating itself with new scientific data.
00:45:53 A special algorithm will sort it only to save the information relevant to the project.
00:45:58 It will be measurements of land and sea temperatures,
00:46:01 ocean acidification, species extinction,
00:46:04 land use changes, as well as data on human population and energy consumption.
00:46:10 The second type of data for the box will be newspaper headlines,
00:46:15 social media posts and news from the key global events focusing on the environment.
00:46:20 The creators of the box decided to encode and store data for it in several formats,
00:46:26 including binary code.
00:46:28 The instructions on how to retrieve all that priceless knowledge
00:46:33 would be etched into the outside of the box.
00:46:36 Some of the big brains involved in the project are afraid
00:46:41 that they will inspire some curious bad guys to break into the box long before it's time to do it.
00:46:46 The solar-powered hard drive will have enough space to collect data over 50 years.
00:46:52 Even the most pessimistic scientific models don't predict the end of the world any sooner anyway.
00:46:58 It might even take centuries before the worst happens.
00:47:02 The idea of a box that would record everything that happened before an accident in aviation
00:47:09 was born in the middle of the 20th century.
00:47:11 Back then, the world's first jetliner, de Havilland's Comet,
00:47:16 crashed seven times over two years, taking the lives of 110 people.
00:47:22 The Department of Civil Aviation in Australia wanted to find the possible cause of all these crashes.
00:47:29 One of these experts was Dr. David Warren, a chemist specializing in aviation fuels.
00:47:37 He realized that there was simply not enough data to make any conclusions.
00:47:41 There was no one to tell what had really happened before the crash.
00:47:45 He remembered seeing a dictaphone that recorded sound on steel wire at a trade fair.
00:47:51 Soon, Dr. Warren wrote a memo to his manager offering to design a voice recorder
00:47:57 to follow what was going on in the cockpit.
00:47:59 It would also record flight data and be stored in a crash-proof container.
00:48:05 Flying wasn't a huge thing in Australia back then, so the manager didn't appreciate the idea.
00:48:11 Dr. Warren then started working on a prototype in his own garage.
00:48:16 He showed the ready device to the secretary of the British Air Registration Board when he was in Australia.
00:48:23 He absolutely loved the idea, so later, Dr. Warren got a whole team to help him develop a pre-production prototype.
00:48:33 The correct way to call his invention is actually not "black box" but "flight data recorder" and it's orange, not black.
00:48:41 We probably call it black because those gadgets get charred black after a crash.
00:48:47 Or maybe because the first boxes were painted that color to prevent reflection.
00:48:52 Or because that's the general name scientists use for devices with in and output of data with complex internal workings.
00:49:02 So, the flight data recorder consists of two parts.
00:49:05 The data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.
00:49:09 Historically, they were two boxes, but now they're just two cylinders.
00:49:13 The data recorder keeps track of such important flight data as engine exhaust, temperature, fuel flow, aircraft velocity, altitude, and rate of descent.
00:49:23 The second part records sound in the cockpit to analyze communication with air traffic control in case of an accident.
00:49:31 The device only records data for up to two hours and then overwrites the previous sounds.
00:49:36 Sometimes, the two parts are combined and they look like a box.
00:49:42 The devices record data and voices from the cockpit, but they are actually located in the tail end of the aircraft where the structure of the plane will protect them best in case of a crash.
00:49:54 The black box has a locator beacon, which is activated when water gets on it, but it will send out a pulse for 30 days.
00:50:02 Search parties use the bright orange color of the recorder as a visual beacon.
00:50:07 Sometimes, it takes a long time to find the box, and in some cases, they don't find it at all.
00:50:13 Long before the first plane was invented, there was an original black box of planetary meaning, the ancient library of Alexandria.
00:50:23 Back in the ancient days, people in places like Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece were no strangers to libraries and archives.
00:50:31 But these early institutions were more about preserving local traditions and heritage.
00:50:36 The whole concept of a universal library only became a thing when the Greeks started thinking big.
00:50:43 They were so impressed by what their neighbors in Egypt were doing that they arranged expeditions to acquire knowledge.
00:50:52 Alexander the Great, the king of Macedonia, seeing that hunger for knowledge required his companions, generals, and scholars to report to him in detail on regions that were previously unmet.
00:51:02 It helped collect plenty of information on geography and contributed to the creation of a great library.
00:51:09 Most of the information it had was written in Greek.
00:51:13 It had the books of Aristotle as part of the whole corpus of Greek literature.
00:51:19 Some sources say that in the hunt for new books, the library's founders would stop every ship sailing into the harbor of Alexandria.
00:51:26 If they found books, they would take them to the library.
00:51:30 If they decided it was valuable, they'd make a quick copy and return it to the owner with some compensation, leaving the original at the library.
00:51:39 Another story tells us that Ptolemy III, grandson of the founder of the library, offered the governors of Athens a huge compensation to copy the original texts of the greatest poets.
00:51:51 He then kept the originals and sent them back copies.
00:51:55 Once the Roman Empire arrived, they burnt all that knowledge, not thinking that it might lead to their own collapse.
00:52:04 There was no easy way of spreading information across the world, so one source had most of the knowledge humanity had accumulated by then.
00:52:12 The great minds of those times didn't just fill it with knowledge, but also made important connections, trying to make the best use of that information.
00:52:22 If the library of Alexandria hadn't burnt, we could have gotten some priceless knowledge about the people who had lived before the current era.
00:52:32 Some scientists believe that big data could have saved the Vikings that had settled in Greenland many centuries ago.
00:52:39 It might have also helped the Easter Island civilization to identify and address problems caused by volcanic activity, latitude, and rainfall patterns, and restore soil fertility.
00:52:53 They say that a typical person living today is exposed to as much data in one day as someone in the 15th century would learn in their entire lifetime.
00:53:03 And there's a theory that every papyrus scroll on the whole library of Alexandria could probably fit onto an ordinary flash drive you have in your pocket.
00:53:13 There's so much big data generated every day that it might do us more harm than good because of a huge information overload.
00:53:23 We're moving towards a global civilization, so if all that knowledge disappears, we'd lose not one empire, but the entire world.
00:53:31 Ah, consider the rogue planet, the cosmic wanderer that nobody wants to take home.
00:53:38 Basically, a rogue planet is a planet that has been ejected from its own star system and is now floating aimlessly through space like a cosmic loner.
00:53:49 These planets aren't just a theory. Scientists have actually detected some in our galaxy.
00:53:54 In fact, estimates suggest that there may be lots of these cosmic nomads floating around the Milky Way.
00:54:00 And they aren't just small rocky worlds like Earth. Some of them are actually massive gas giants, many times larger than Jupiter.
00:54:09 These behemoths could potentially have their own moons, and even their own mini-systems orbiting around them.
00:54:17 For example, one of the most famous rogue planets we know of has a complicated name. Here, you read it for yourself.
00:54:23 It's located about 80 light-years away from Earth, and it was discovered in 2013.
00:54:29 This rogue planet is estimated to be around 6 times the mass of Jupiter and is believed to be around 12 million years old.
00:54:37 And yes, just because these cosmic loners don't have a star, it doesn't mean they're super cold.
00:54:44 They can still generate heat and light from their own internal processes.
00:54:47 Some may even have magnetic fields and auroras just like Earth.
00:54:52 In other words, rogue planets could potentially be habitable, if they have the right conditions.
00:54:58 So, what would life on such a planet look like? And could we potentially live in such a world?
00:55:04 Well, living on a rogue planet can be a lonely existence.
00:55:10 We'd have no warm sun to bask in, no cozy atmosphere to cuddle up in, and no cosmic neighbors to have barbecue with.
00:55:17 That's why we'd have to get creative.
00:55:20 Let's start with the most obvious problem. We'd have a hard time without light and heat.
00:55:25 So, how do we fix this? Well, we'd probably have to invest in some really fancy space heaters and wear fashionable super-warm spacesuits.
00:55:35 Or we could invent a whole new way to generate electricity without relying on solar power.
00:55:40 For example, how about using geothermal energy? Now that's hot stuff!
00:55:45 Each planet has an internal source of heat.
00:55:48 Without it, they would all be nothing more than cold, lifeless rocks floating through space.
00:55:54 This internal heat can be harnessed and used to power everything, from homes to factories to spaceships.
00:56:02 It's like having a hot tub big enough to power an entire city.
00:56:05 And that city, most likely, will be located underground, closer to the heat source.
00:56:11 And as for light, well, we'd probably have to build some really bright flashlights.
00:56:16 Or maybe even learn to genetically engineer some bioluminescent organisms to light up our homes.
00:56:22 Just imagine, space-space is overgrown with neon mushrooms and plants.
00:56:28 By the way, speaking of plants, plant life would be pretty hard to come by without a star.
00:56:33 So what would we eat? Well, we could use the same geothermal vents that we talked about, or some chemical reactions to sustain ourselves.
00:56:42 And hey, maybe we'd develop a taste for sulfur-rich foods.
00:56:46 Or we'd start fermenting our own drinks from the bubbling volcanic mud. Yum!
00:56:52 But besides food, we'd have a more important problem.
00:56:57 A rogue planet would be breathtaking, literally. We'd have no air.
00:57:01 You see, not all rogue planets have good stable atmospheres.
00:57:05 It all depends on their size, composition, and other things.
00:57:09 But even if our new home does have an atmosphere, it may be incredibly thin and unstable.
00:57:15 We'd have no pretty blue skies or dramatic sunsets to admire.
00:57:20 Instead, we'd be staring out into the infinite void of space, where the stars would be brighter than ever before.
00:57:27 And forget about weather patterns. Without an atmosphere to create them, we'd have no rain, no snow, and no thunderstorms.
00:57:34 And that's just some minor problems.
00:57:37 What's worse, the temperature on the planet would be wildly fluctuating, swinging from unbearable heat to unbearable cold.
00:57:44 It would be like living in an oven that's always being turned on and off.
00:57:49 And finally, we'd be exposed to all kinds of space debris and cosmic radiation.
00:57:54 So, if you don't want to get crispy, you might want to invest in some serious SPF.
00:58:00 So, how do we fix it?
00:58:02 Well, we'd have to find a way to generate our own oxygen and probably create something like a space-age biosphere.
00:58:09 For example, we could grow some plants that could produce oxygen.
00:58:13 Or we'd learn to filter the air like a high-tech air purifier.
00:58:18 Finally, we have the last, most important problem – finding water.
00:58:22 And here's where the underwater oceans come to our aid.
00:58:25 Now we're really diving deep into the possibilities.
00:58:29 But seriously, scientists suggest that some of these planets may indeed have underwater oceans.
00:58:36 It would be like living on a giant water balloon that's been buried underground, with the ground beneath your feet made of ice and rock.
00:58:45 In other words, we could just tap into these underground oceans.
00:58:48 They could provide us with a source of water for drinking, farming, and manufacturing.
00:58:52 Maybe even with some other resources and materials we've never seen before.
00:58:57 And, by the way, who knows what kind of strange creatures might be lurking in those underground seas?
00:59:03 But don't worry.
00:59:05 Even if we don't have any underground oasis, there are also other options.
00:59:11 We could get some water from comets, ice mining, and even from the atmosphere – the one we just created before.
00:59:17 Finally, we need to find and mine some resources to build our homes and other stuff.
00:59:22 And a rogue planet might not have the same kinds of resources as a planet that orbits a star.
00:59:28 It's like trying to find some treasures in a desert – not exactly a sure thing.
00:59:33 We may have to rely on resources from nearby asteroids and things like that.
00:59:39 And if we want to extract resources from the planet itself, we might need to drill down through miles of ice and rock.
00:59:46 But hey, if you're up for the challenge, there'll always be a chance you'll strike it rich on a rogue planet.
00:59:52 And who knows, maybe you'll discover some new resources that are even more valuable than gold or diamonds.
00:59:59 Great, looks like we've solved the most important problems.
01:00:02 Now, there may be other small difficulties.
01:00:06 For example, we'd also have to deal with some seriously long days and nights, depending on how fast our planet was rotating.
01:00:12 And we wouldn't have a normal regular day-night cycle.
01:00:16 The rotation of our planet could be wildly unpredictable.
01:00:19 Maybe we'd have weeks-long nights, followed by weeks-long days, which could really mess with our sleep schedules.
01:00:26 We might have to develop some really strong coffee to keep us going through those long dark nights.
01:00:33 Hypothetically, we can adapt to all these things and overcome all the challenges.
01:00:38 And now, finally, welcome to the rogue planet, where the sun never rises, but the adventures never end.
01:00:45 Thanks to our advanced technology, we've managed to create a comfortable and habitable environment in this once barren world.
01:00:52 The sky above us is now a beautiful shade of blue, filled with fluffy white clouds and the occasional flock of flying creatures.
01:01:02 As we venture out from our underground habitats, we're greeted by a world that's full of surprises.
01:01:08 Strange plants and animals have adapted to the unique conditions of this planet, some with bioluminescent features that glow in the dark.
01:01:16 And be careful if you want to go swimming in the underground ocean.
01:01:20 They might be home to some bizarre creatures who want to feast on… well, we'll come back to that. Maybe.
01:01:28 As you can see, we've created sprawling cities and thriving communities, powered by the planet's geothermal energy.
01:01:35 We also created a bunch of artificial light sources that keep things bright throughout the dark, chilly nights.
01:01:41 Of course, we still have some problems with navigation and timekeeping, but things aren't as dull as they used to be, are they?
01:01:48 Overall, living on a rogue planet would definitely have its challenges, but it could also be a pretty exciting way to experience the universe.
01:01:57 And who knows? Maybe someday we'll find such a planet and actually turn it into a bustling intergalactic metropolis someday.
01:02:05 But until then, let's enjoy and tidy up our dear Earth.
01:02:10 For thousands of years, people knew only about the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn,
01:02:18 which they could see using simple telescopes or even by the naked eye if conditions were good.
01:02:25 But in the late 18th century, a famous astronomer named Sir William Herschel discovered a new planet that was icy blue in color.
01:02:33 At first, people thought it was a star, but later they realized it was a planet.
01:02:38 Today, we know it as Uranus, a planet that's more than 19 times farther away from the Sun than Earth.
01:02:45 It's so far away that it takes Uranus 84 years to complete one trip around the Sun.
01:02:53 This astronomer also discovered many other interesting things in space, like double stars and nebulae.
01:02:59 In the mid-1800s, scientists noticed something pulled Uranus and strangely tugged its orbit.
01:03:06 They thought there must be another planet out there, and they used math to predict where it would be.
01:03:12 Finally, in 1846, they found Neptune using a telescope.
01:03:19 It was too faint to see with the naked eye because it was too far away from the Sun.
01:03:23 It was all so exciting! Who knows how many other planets could be there lurking in the darkness of our solar system.
01:03:31 Back in the mid-1800s, astronomers noticed something unusual was happening in the sky.
01:03:37 A small rocky planet named Mercury was behaving strangely.
01:03:42 It didn't follow the predictable orbit that was expected of it.
01:03:47 One of the astronomers was a brilliant French scientist named Urbain Le Verrier.
01:03:51 He came up with a theory that there could be another planet in our solar system no one had yet discovered.
01:03:57 It would be located somewhere between Mercury and the Sun.
01:04:01 This hypothetical planet, which he named Vulcan after the Roman god of fire, would have an incredibly hot surface.
01:04:08 And it could be a potential explanation for Mercury's strange behavior.
01:04:14 He never surely claimed Vulcan was really the one thing disturbing the orbit of Mercury.
01:04:19 But, excited by the possibility of discovering a new planet, astronomers all over the world took the idea of Vulcan.
01:04:27 For a planet that didn't exist, people committed to developing ideas and getting information about it.
01:04:33 Some scientists didn't think it was likely that they had missed another planet as big as Mercury.
01:04:39 It would have been hard not to see it by then.
01:04:43 They said there was a tiny chance of a smaller planet existing inside Mercury's orbit that was too close to the Sun so no one could see it.
01:04:50 One theory said it was about 13 million miles away from the Sun.
01:04:55 Mercury is the planet with the most eccentric orbit in our solar system, but the closest point it gets to the Sun is about 28.5 million miles.
01:05:05 This means Vulcan would be under half of that distance.
01:05:10 The theory moved on, saying that if Vulcan existed, it would orbit the Sun every 19 days and 18 hours,
01:05:16 and its path would be tilted about 12 degrees relative to the path of other planets in our solar system.
01:05:23 Vulcan's position at its furthest point from the Sun would still be too close to the Sun to be seen with the naked eye, even during twilight.
01:05:32 The only chance of seeing Vulcan would be during a solar eclipse or when it passed in front of the Sun,
01:05:39 which, as the theory said, would be 2-4 times a year.
01:05:43 They had a theory that this mysterious planet was so close to the Sun that it could only be seen during a total solar eclipse when the Moon blocked out the Sun's blinding glare.
01:05:53 So, every time there was an eclipse, scientists would peer at the Sun, hoping to catch a glimpse of Vulcan.
01:06:00 They were trying really hard, but no matter what, they couldn't find this mysterious planet.
01:06:07 Some astronomers claim to have spotted it during eclipses, but no one could ever confirm or find evidence for that.
01:06:14 The theory of Vulcan was left waiting for some better times.
01:06:18 Einstein had a different idea. You know about his theory of general relativity, right?
01:06:24 That's where he claimed gravity wasn't some sort of natural force, but a result of space-time curved because of the presence of giant space objects, like planets and stars.
01:06:36 Planets circle around the Sun in their usual orbit because space-time is curved.
01:06:41 That means the planets are kind of falling towards the central star of our solar system.
01:06:47 And Einstein tried to explain Mercury's unusual orbit using his own theory of relativity.
01:06:55 Unlike the other planets in our solar system, Mercury's orbit wasn't that circular.
01:07:01 Instead, it seemed to wobble slightly, as if there was an invisible force pulling it away.
01:07:06 Einstein said this could be happening because the massive gravity of our Sun was actually curving the fabric of space-time around it.
01:07:16 He claimed it's possible this changed Mercury's orbit a little bit.
01:07:21 It took the scientific community a while to test this theory, but it eventually seemed like the most plausible explanation.
01:07:30 Even though Einstein's theory gave us a more elegant explanation for Mercury's strange orbit, some scientists were still holding out hope for Vulcan.
01:07:38 It was especially hard to let go of the idea of Vulcan because Mercury is also the planet that's really hard to see from where we're standing.
01:07:47 But later, more and more scientists started accepting Einstein's theory above their imagination.
01:07:54 And they would observe a total solar eclipse specifically to test Einstein's theory of relativity, not because of Vulcan.
01:08:01 And Vulcan is not the only hypothetical planet everyone was talking about.
01:08:06 In the newer age, some believe there could be a mysterious planet lurking in the outer part of our solar system.
01:08:13 But this one is more likely to exist.
01:08:17 No one has seen it directly yet, but computer simulations show this so-called Planet 9, or Planet X, is probably somewhere there beyond Neptune.
01:08:27 Neptune and Planet X could be similar in size.
01:08:31 Planet X could be 10 times more massive than Earth and circles around our Sun in an elongated shape, which is on average 20 times farther from the Sun than Neptune.
01:08:43 A year there may last between 10,000 to 20,000 Earth years.
01:08:47 By comparison, a year on Neptune lasts 165 Earth years.
01:08:53 Something this big moving out there beyond Neptune could explain the unusual orbits of smaller objects in the Kuiper Belt.
01:09:01 The Kuiper Belt is the area of our solar system beyond Neptune and where it orbits.
01:09:08 There are most likely many asteroids, comets, and some other smaller bodies there, mostly made of ice.
01:09:14 There was another hypothetical planet called Nibiru.
01:09:18 Remember those rumors that the world could end back in 2012?
01:09:22 One of the popular scenarios was Nibiru, which some claimed would hit our home planet at the end of the year.
01:09:29 Of course, nothing happened.
01:09:31 We're still here all set and good, but the idea of Nibiru seemed interesting.
01:09:37 Stories started in the 1970s when a man named Zachariah Sitchin mentioned Nibiru in his book "The Twelfth Planet," claiming it orbits the Sun every 3,600 years.
01:09:49 But there's no chance a planet with such an eccentric orbit wouldn't disrupt other planets in our solar system with its gravity.
01:09:57 And if it was really coming that close to Earth in 2012, we were supposed to be able to see it with the naked eye.
01:10:05 Some simple calculations showed Nibiru would have been nearly as bright as Mars at its dimmest and brighter than the faintest stars you see from a city.
01:10:13 Oh well, maybe we'll have more luck in the next 3,500 and something years.
01:10:19 In 2011, a comet named Elenin appeared that many people thought could be Nibiru.
01:10:26 But when you're looking at comets and planets through a telescope, you see they appear differently.
01:10:33 A comet has a coma, which is a gas atmosphere, together with a tail, something a planet doesn't have.
01:10:40 Plus, this comet didn't slam into the Earth. It came too close to our Sun and fell apart.
01:10:47 The leftover pieces will continue moving on their way to the outer solar system for the next 12,000 years.
01:10:58 The infinite vastness of the universe holds endless possibilities and secrets.
01:11:03 And here's one of the intriguing questions. How life and we as humans would look like on other planets?
01:11:10 Imagine a world where the laws of physics, the environment, and the conditions are vastly different from what we're used to.
01:11:17 How would we adapt and evolve to survive in these strange new lands? Let's see.
01:11:25 Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and has a thin atmosphere.
01:11:29 The temperatures there are extreme, with the day side reaching over 800 degrees Fahrenheit and the night side dropping to -290 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:11:39 So, what can we do to survive these crazy temperatures and constant solar radiation?
01:11:45 Maybe we can magically turn into metal. For example, titanium and platinum can perfectly tolerate high temperatures.
01:11:54 But seriously though, there is an option. We could settle underground, where the temperatures aren't so frenzied.
01:12:00 If we lived underground, we might evolve with large eyes to better capture light.
01:12:05 We might also evolve thicker skin to protect ourselves from the intense radiation.
01:12:10 Basically, we have two options. Become metal or become moles.
01:12:15 Let's move on to Venus. This planet is extremely hostile.
01:12:21 First of all, Venus is known for its thick, more toxic than your ex type of atmosphere.
01:12:25 The whole planet is covered with carbon dioxide and its surface is absolutely dry, making it incredibly hot.
01:12:33 The average temperature is around 847 degrees Fahrenheit, making it one of the hottest planets in our solar system.
01:12:41 Also, don't forget about the crazy pressure.
01:12:44 Standing on Venus would be like standing 3000 feet underwater.
01:12:49 Only particular hardy microbes from Earth could survive in such conditions.
01:12:53 So, if you want to live on Venus, you might have to become a microbe.
01:12:57 But unfortunately, since we're not microbes, we have to wear special gear and equipment to survive there.
01:13:04 Maybe we'd have to develop a heat-resistant exoskeleton to protect ourselves,
01:13:09 as well as get some new lungs that can filter out the toxic elements in the atmosphere.
01:13:14 Let's talk about our favorite red sibling, Mars.
01:13:18 The first noticeable change after a few hundred years would be your new skeleton.
01:13:22 The gravity on Mars is much weaker than on Earth, so your muscles and bones would shrink.
01:13:28 To make up for this difference, you'd have to eat more and probably start going to the gym.
01:13:33 Also, you'd have to adapt to the low atmospheric pressure and colder temperatures.
01:13:38 You need to retain heat, right?
01:13:40 That means you'd need a thicker layer of body fat.
01:13:43 Sorry folks, but on Mars, we might become fatter.
01:13:47 Another reason to start working out.
01:13:49 Another big change would occur in your skin.
01:13:52 Your skin is like a big barrier that protects you from harmful things such as bacteria, UV light, looking totally creepy, and so on.
01:14:01 So what would happen to it?
01:14:03 Most likely, you would turn orange, due to the carotenoids.
01:14:07 Carotenoids are a type of nutrient that you get from foods such as carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, and so on.
01:14:15 They protect very well against ultraviolet radiation on Mars.
01:14:18 They only have one downside.
01:14:20 By eating a lot of pumpkins from the Martian farmer's market, you'll gradually start to turn orange.
01:14:25 But maybe it's not so bad.
01:14:27 Maybe life on Jupiter would be easier.
01:14:30 Yeah, no. It has no solid land.
01:14:33 This planet is made up of hydrogen and helium and is referred to as a gas giant.
01:14:39 You would simply float there, like in a huge cloud.
01:14:43 Even if you managed to land and try to walk, it would be like moving through a super thick fog.
01:14:47 So how would we evolve there?
01:14:49 Firstly, we might become much larger in size to withstand the immense pressures.
01:14:54 Secondly, the temperature fluctuations on Jupiter are enormous.
01:14:59 The surface is terrifyingly cold and the temperature rises significantly under the outer layers of the atmosphere.
01:15:06 Thirdly, if you lived on Jupiter, there would be no verbal language.
01:15:11 This gas giant absorbs radio waves, so even if you were speaking, no one would hear you.
01:15:16 There would be no music either, so no parties.
01:15:18 And what's the point then?
01:15:20 Hey, maybe we could communicate with sign language, but that's not so simple either.
01:15:25 Jupiter is full of wild winds and storm clouds, so it's unlikely you would be able to see anything.
01:15:31 So even if we evolved there in some way, our lives would still not be easy.
01:15:37 Before landing on Saturn, you would probably want to check out its iconic rings.
01:15:41 But you wouldn't be able to do that because Saturn's rings consist of a bunch of ice particles flying in space, so it would be extremely hard to land.
01:15:49 So let's go straight to Saturn itself.
01:15:53 At first, it may seem that Saturn is not bad for us.
01:15:56 Some layers of this gas giant have quite pleasant temperatures.
01:15:59 If we dive deeper into Saturn, it gets surprisingly warm.
01:16:04 Up to 26 degrees Fahrenheit in its second layer.
01:16:07 This is an average temperature in countries like Sweden and Canada.
01:16:11 But unfortunately, this is only one such layer.
01:16:15 The rest of the planet is incredibly cold, so in order to survive on Saturn, we'd have to do a lot of work.
01:16:21 In addition to the cold, we'd have to deal with the planet's harsh environment, including its intense storms, strong winds, and radiation.
01:16:30 To protect ourselves from these conditions, we'd need to evolve tough skin, again, find some insulation, and so on.
01:16:37 Next planet is Uranus.
01:16:40 Uranus has a very different environment from Earth, with much colder temperatures, a lack of a solid surface, and a much different atmosphere.
01:16:48 It's like another Jupiter, but with blue vibes.
01:16:51 It's not that bad, though. There's even water on Uranus.
01:16:54 The only problem is, the planet is full of ammonia, that nasty stuff we use for cleaning.
01:16:59 So don't be surprised if you feel the gross smell.
01:17:01 Also, it's incredibly cold out there, almost like a never-ending winter.
01:17:06 So what would it be like to survive in such a dark and harsh environment?
01:17:10 We'd need thicker skin, again, to cope with extreme temperatures.
01:17:14 And again, we'd need larger eyes to see better in all this darkness.
01:17:18 We might even have to develop a new hearing system, like that of dolphins.
01:17:22 Wouldn't that be fun?
01:17:24 Let's move on to Neptune.
01:17:27 If human beings were to evolve on Neptune, they would need to adapt to its harsh conditions.
01:17:31 Neptune, the eighth and farthest planet from our sun, is another gas giant.
01:17:37 The only difference is, this planet may have a solid core.
01:17:40 If we were to live on Neptune, we'd need to float or swim in its methane-rich atmosphere.
01:17:46 We'd also need to develop gills or something like that in order to breathe.
01:17:50 Basically, we'd turn into space reptiles or cosmic fishes.
01:17:55 The gravity on Neptune is slightly stronger than Earth's,
01:17:58 but strong winds make it difficult to stand in one place.
01:18:01 To withstand the wind, we'd need to be much heavier.
01:18:05 Once again, you'd need to eat a lot and pump up some muscles.
01:18:09 Yeah, yeah, technically it's not a planet, but we still love it and can't forget it.
01:18:14 A small, distant and incredibly cold world,
01:18:17 Pluto's even smaller than our moon, and because of that, there's almost no gravity there.
01:18:23 It would be extremely difficult to stand on it.
01:18:25 To avoid accidentally flying into outer space while playing football,
01:18:29 we'd need to create a fake gravity machine.
01:18:32 And if we don't want to feel dizzy, we'd need to evolve a brand new nervous system.
01:18:36 But Pluto isn't all that bad.
01:18:38 For example, there's liquid water under the surface, and even some icy mountains.
01:18:43 Maybe it would be possible to survive there if we had some serious equipment.
01:18:47 Clothes, supplies and… nah, too much hassle.
01:18:52 Anyway, from the scorching heat of Mercury to the freezing temperatures of Neptune,
01:18:55 each planet has a unique set of environmental challenges and opportunities for evolution.
01:19:01 While we may never truly know what humans would look like on these other worlds,
01:19:05 it's exciting to consider the endless possibilities.
01:19:08 Never stop looking at the stars and asking these questions!
01:19:12 As scientists continue to explore the vast expanse of the universe,
01:19:16 they've made some incredible discoveries that have left them with more questions than answers.
01:19:21 From a scorching super-Earth to a football-shaped world,
01:19:25 the exoplanet discoveries of 2022 are truly out of this world.
01:19:30 So hold on tight, the future of exoplanet discoveries is looking brighter than ever!
01:19:35 1. New type of exoplanets
01:19:39 Red dwarfs make up over 70% of all stars in space.
01:19:43 So, in September of 2022, scientists decided to take a closer look at the small worlds orbiting them.
01:19:50 What they found was amazing!
01:19:53 New type of exoplanets that were made of half rock and half water, either in liquid or ice form.
01:19:59 The researchers suggested that these planets likely arose from icy material
01:20:04 and were born far away from their stars, past the ice line where surface temperatures are freezing.
01:20:10 But they later migrated closer in, to where the astronomers detected them.
01:20:16 This discovery could have huge implications in the search for life in the cosmos.
01:20:20 Though these planets are loaded with water, they might not be covered in oceans.
01:20:25 Who knows, maybe one of them will be the next Earth 2.0.
01:20:29 2. Jupiter-size world
01:20:32 Imagine a planet so massive and mysterious, it's like a hidden Jupiter in our galaxy.
01:20:39 Well, we just discovered one of those orbiting a star just 379 light-years away. Just.
01:20:46 We've named it the TOI 2180 b, and it's got everyone talking. Why?
01:20:52 Well, for starters, this planet takes a whopping 261 days to orbit its star,
01:20:57 which is much longer than most distant gas giants we've come across so far.
01:21:02 But that's not all. The temperature on this world is surprisingly mild,
01:21:07 averaging at a balmy 170 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:21:10 For comparison, the temperature on Jupiter and Saturn is around -280 degrees.
01:21:15 It's like a bridge between the giant exoplanets we've found and our Jupiter.
01:21:20 But the question remains, how did this planet get to be so different?
01:21:25 Scientists are still trying to figure that out. Let's hope that we get some answers soon.
01:21:30 3. The Hulk Planet
01:21:34 This is a place where the surface is covered in molten magma, and the year lasts just half a day.
01:21:39 Welcome to TOI 1075 b, an exoplanet that's been dubbed the "Planet Hulk" by scientists.
01:21:47 Located 200 light-years away, this super-Earth is one of the most massive ever discovered.
01:21:53 Its proximity to its parent star causes its surface to reach scorching temperatures of 1922 degrees.
01:22:02 It's thought that any form of water would evaporate instantly, and the air would be filled with vaporized rock.
01:22:08 But it's not just the heat that's impressive, it's also its size.
01:22:12 TOI 1075 b is nearly 10 times the mass of Earth, making it one of the most massive super-Earths ever discovered.
01:22:20 But the mystery doesn't stop there.
01:22:23 The planet's orbit takes just 14 and a half hours,
01:22:26 making it one of the shortest orbital periods ever recorded for a planet of its size.
01:22:31 What an exciting addition to our catalog!
01:22:34 Number 4. Three doomed planets
01:22:37 Astronomers made a shocking discovery of three planets that are circling in a dangerous dance next to the slowly fading stars.
01:22:46 Just a decade ago, scientists never even imagined such planets could exist.
01:22:51 These gas giant planets, similar in size to Jupiter, orbit way too close to their slowly fading stars.
01:22:59 They're basically walking on the edge.
01:23:01 Take one of them, for example, dubbed TOI 2337 b.
01:23:05 Its orbit will likely send it hurtling straight into the fiery arms of its host star in less than a million years.
01:23:12 Well, I won't be around then.
01:23:14 As these stars enter their final days, they're pulling in nearby planets like a black hole,
01:23:20 altering their orbits and potentially causing catastrophic collisions.
01:23:25 And as these planets get closer to their stars, their atmospheres heat up and swell,
01:23:30 leading to some mind-boggling differences in density.
01:23:33 But despite the doom and gloom, studying these worlds could give us valuable insights into the evolution of our own solar system.
01:23:41 Number 5. Planet with a barium's atmosphere
01:23:45 These are two hot, blazing planets, each with an atmosphere made of the heaviest element ever found in an exoplanet – barium.
01:23:54 These planets, known as WASP-76b and WASP-121b, are ultra-hot gas giants called super-Jupiters that orbit incredibly close to their stars.
01:24:05 These planets are basically like giant balls of fire, with one side facing the star,
01:24:10 cooking at temperatures hot enough to vaporize iron and other metals.
01:24:14 But as the hot iron vapor is blown into the planet's cooler night side, it turns into liquid and falls as iron rain.
01:24:23 And these planets held a special surprise for us.
01:24:26 Barium is a heavy metal, about 2.5 times as heavy as iron.
01:24:30 And yet, scientists were able to detect it in the upper layers of these planets' atmospheres.
01:24:35 This is truly a mystery, and a puzzle we're still trying to solve.
01:24:40 Imagine landing on a planet like this and looking at this rain of iron and the heavy barium in its skies.
01:24:46 That would be awesomely horrifying.
01:24:49 Number 6. The football planet
01:24:52 Get ready to have your mind blown, space enthusiasts, because we've just discovered the ultimate football-shaped planet.
01:24:59 And it's unlike anything we've ever seen before.
01:25:02 Meet WASP-103b, the ultra-hot exoplanet that's more than a thousand light-years away from Earth.
01:25:09 This gas giant is so close to its parent star that its shape is being stretched by the intense gravitational forces.
01:25:18 But this isn't just a fun shapeshifter. It's also a valuable scientific discovery.
01:25:23 By studying the planet's passes across its star, we were able to measure its deformation for the first time ever.
01:25:30 It's like taking a snapshot of a planet in motion, and it's giving us insights into the extreme conditions that these planets can endure.
01:25:38 This is truly a great discovery.
01:25:41 Number 7. A zodiacal light
01:25:44 Are you ready for a cosmic ghost story?
01:25:47 Scientists and high school students in China have uncovered a spooky phenomenon on three distant exoplanets.
01:25:54 It's called zodiacal light, a glow that's similar to the one seen here on Earth during sunset.
01:26:00 But this isn't just some eerie light show. It could hold clues about the makeup of these potentially habitable worlds.
01:26:07 Imagine watching the sunset from a dark spot on Earth, and instead of darkness, a triangle of light appears.
01:26:15 That's zodiacal light. It's caused by sunlight reflecting off dust particles that fill the solar system, the remains of asteroids and comets.
01:26:23 A team of researchers analyzed 47 potential habitable exoplanets named Kepler-69c, Kepler-1229b, and Kepler-395c, all super-Earths, had signs of this light.
01:26:38 This discovery is more than just a spooky phenomenon. It could reveal information about the presence of asteroids and comets in these exoplanet systems, which could be difficult to detect otherwise. So, that's pretty neat.
01:26:51 Number 8. A planet with silicate clouds
01:26:55 Introducing VHS-1259b, not a home video recording system, but a strange and exotic world shrouded in mystery and wonder.
01:27:06 A space where the clouds are made of sand, and the sky is forever red. This isn't the stuff of science fiction, but a real-life discovery made by the brilliant minds at NASA.
01:27:16 This is a brown dwarf exoplanet that's making waves in the astronomical community. It's way too massive for a planet, nearly 20 times the size of Jupiter, but it's not quite a star.
01:27:29 It's something in between, a cosmic enigma that defies definition. But what's really crazy about VHS-1256b is its atmosphere.
01:27:38 Scientists have discovered that this strange world is cloaked in thick clouds of silicate grains, similar to sand.
01:27:45 It's the first time this kind of cloud has ever been detected on an exoplanet. And it's a discovery that's sure to change the way we think about the Universe and the possibilities of life beyond our world.
01:27:58 And there you have it folks, the year 2022 was filled with incredible discoveries and groundbreaking findings in the world of exoplanets.
01:28:07 But this is just the beginning, as scientists and researchers continue to explore the vast expanse of space. We can only imagine what other wonders await us.
01:28:17 So let's keep looking. Who knows what secrets the stars hold for us next?
01:28:23 In a star system far, far away, to be more precise, 2600 light years away, there's an exoplanet called Kepler-1658b.
01:28:33 It's a gas giant that resembles our Jupiter, but what differentiates it from Jupiter is that this poor planet is doomed.
01:28:41 It's spiraling toward its parent star, which will eventually end in a fiery collision.
01:28:48 But the most interesting thing? Astronomers would have remained totally ignorant of this fact if not for a tiny clue.
01:28:54 It was a really minuscule change in the planet's orbit. It wouldn't have been noticed if astronomers hadn't compared more than a decade of data received by different telescopes.
01:29:04 More precisely, scientists have been watching the exo-Jupiter pass between our planet and its parent star once every two weeks for the last 13 years.
01:29:15 And they've noticed that the orbit of the planet is getting smaller and smaller.
01:29:19 Every year, Kepler-1658b needs 131 milliseconds less to complete a lap around its star.
01:29:28 If this tendency continues, the planet is bound to collide with its star in 2.5 million years.
01:29:34 Even before this discovery, computer models predicted that some planets could meet their end by crashing into their stars.
01:29:43 But this is the first time when astronomers have some real proof of such an outcome by measuring almost imperceptible changes in a planet's orbit.
01:29:51 They now know for sure what happens when a planet is going to crash into its star, even though we probably won't be around to witness it.
01:29:59 But let me tell you a bit more about the doomed planet.
01:30:03 It was discovered by NASA's now-retired Kepler Space Telescope.
01:30:08 It was launched in 2009, and its mission was to find planets orbiting other stars, aka exoplanets.
01:30:15 And the very first exoplanet the telescope spotted was the very gas giant we've been talking about.
01:30:21 But it took astronomers about a decade to confirm that this space object was indeed an exoplanet.
01:30:27 This world is like a denser version of Jupiter.
01:30:31 You can take 6 Jupiters worth of material, roll it into a ball about 1.1 times its width, and voila!
01:30:38 The planet is tidally locked to its parent star, which means that it makes one complete turn every time it finishes a lap around the star.
01:30:46 As a result, the same side of the gas giant is always facing the star.
01:30:51 It's the same as what happens to the Moon.
01:30:53 Our natural satellite is tidally locked to Earth.
01:30:56 That's why we only see half its surface.
01:31:00 Now, what is making the exo-Jupiter fall into its star?
01:31:03 The same process that is pushing the Moon away from Earth.
01:31:07 When a Moon orbits a planet, or a planet orbits a star, their gravity forces interact and tug on the other's mass.
01:31:15 That's what causes tides on Earth.
01:31:17 This tugging releases some energy.
01:31:19 It can make an object speed up and slow down.
01:31:22 In the first case, a space body will move higher.
01:31:26 In the second, it will start moving lower.
01:31:29 And this is exactly what's happening to the gas giant.
01:31:32 Its parent star is 1.5 times the mass of the Sun.
01:31:36 So, no wonder its tidal forces are gradually slowing down the planet's movement, making it fall inward.
01:31:43 This all sounds kind of tragic, but this potential collision is by far not the weirdest thing happening in space.
01:31:51 Let's look at some others.
01:31:54 Betelgeuse, a red giant in the Orion constellation, started to dim in 2019.
01:31:59 This confused astronomers.
01:32:01 By that time, the star had already swollen to enormous proportions.
01:32:06 If it was to replace our Sun, its outer surface would spread far beyond Jupiter's orbit.
01:32:12 And then, Betelgeuse became dimmer in the fall of 2019.
01:32:16 This process continued through February 2020.
01:32:20 The changes could be seen with the unaided eye.
01:32:23 No wonder, the star's brightness had dipped by two-thirds.
01:32:27 At that time, astronomers were sure Betelgeuse was about to explode into a supernova.
01:32:33 They continued to observe the star.
01:32:35 But, unexpectedly, it returned to its regular brightness.
01:32:39 Thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists figured out that the star had ejected some of its material.
01:32:45 And this partially blocked its light.
01:32:50 How about cotton candy exoplanets?
01:32:52 Those are particular planets outside of our solar system.
01:32:56 Also called superpuffs, they have the lowest density ever discovered.
01:33:01 This gives them an airy, fluffy appearance.
01:33:04 But, despite looking like the most popular amusement park treat, such planets are enormous.
01:33:09 Come to think of it, scientists often discover strange things in space.
01:33:14 Some of them look like blurry blobs.
01:33:17 But there's one type of these blobs that doesn't look like any other known space body.
01:33:21 The odd radio circles are only visible in radio telescopes.
01:33:26 They might be the remains of supernovae.
01:33:29 But some astronomers go as far as to claim that they might be the throats of wormholes.
01:33:34 Those are hypothetical tunnels between two very distant points in space.
01:33:39 The Juno mission noticed something weird in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter.
01:33:45 The unusual phenomenon was blue sprites and elves twirling above the planet's surface.
01:33:50 These are two kinds of bright flashes of light that appear for short periods of time, mere milliseconds.
01:33:56 They extend up and down toward the surface of the planet.
01:34:00 On Earth, such flashes usually happen at the height of 60 miles above massive thunderstorms.
01:34:06 Rogue planets don't orbit their stars.
01:34:09 Maybe because they don't have any.
01:34:13 But some space bodies travel across the universe and can end up literally anywhere.
01:34:17 They're also pretty hard to find.
01:34:19 Rogue planets produce only weak emissions.
01:34:22 But not so long ago, astronomers spotted the smallest rogue planet in the Milky Way.
01:34:27 It's smaller than Earth, but a bit bigger than Mars.
01:34:31 Fast radio bursts are blindingly bright bursts of radio waves.
01:34:36 They pack as much energy as our sun produces in days, but last mere milliseconds.
01:34:42 Most of these fast radio bursts come from far, far beyond the Milky Way.
01:34:46 But recently, astronomers have detected some originating in our home galaxy.
01:34:51 And their source is a magnetar just 30,000 light years away from our planet.
01:34:56 If it does exist, nuclear pasta is the strongest material in the entire universe.
01:35:03 Formed from the leftovers of extinguished stars, this substance gets squeezed into spaghetti-like tangles of material.
01:35:11 It can break, but only if you apply 10 billion times the pressure needed to shatter steel.
01:35:17 Not so long ago, scientists discovered that one of the most massive stars in the neighborhood had just... disappeared.
01:35:25 It was a star 75 million light years away from Earth.
01:35:29 Normally, it'd be too far away for astronomers to clearly see individual stars.
01:35:34 But only unless they're huge.
01:35:36 And the star we're talking about was enormous.
01:35:40 It was shining 2.5 million times brighter than the sun.
01:35:44 For the last time, astronomers saw the star in 2011.
01:35:48 They decided to examine it more closely several years later, but it was already too late.
01:35:54 The star had vanished.
01:35:56 Such massive stars usually go out in extremely bright supernovae.
01:36:00 But astronomers noticed nothing like that in this case.
01:36:03 There's a theory that the star collapsed into a black hole without triggering a supernova first.
01:36:09 It does occur among stars approaching the end of their lives, but very, very rarely.
01:36:14 There are black holes, and there might be mini black holes, even though their existence hasn't been proven yet.
01:36:22 Unlike their massive siblings, hypothetical mini black holes could be really tiny, not bigger than an atom.
01:36:30 Their mass can vary, but just one minuscule thing might have the mass of a thousand sedans.
01:36:38 One theory claims that tons of micro black holes could have been created right after the Big Bang and the beginning of the universe.
01:36:45 Some scientists even go as far as to say that a couple of mini black holes pass through our planet every day.
01:36:52 More than 7,000 light-years away from Earth, there is the Eagle Nebula, a young cluster of stars just 5.5 million years old.
01:37:04 The Hubble Space Telescope managed to take an image of several dark silhouettes near the nebula's center.
01:37:09 Those are the so-called "Pillars of Creation," an active star-forming region.
01:37:15 Look, how cool is that?
01:37:17 1.5 feet with the Earth's gravity. Verification complete.
01:37:32 Go to the simulation room where we create Mercury.
01:37:34 Ugh, it's so hot in here.
01:37:38 Yes, it's like standing next to a volcano.
01:37:42 Your jump is 4 feet high. Now switch to Venus.
01:37:51 Wow, this place looks scary.
01:37:54 On the real Venus, everything is toxic.
01:37:58 I feel no difference.
01:38:00 Yes, the gravity here is almost the same as on Earth. Switch to the Moon.
01:38:05 Gravity on the Moon is 10 times lighter than Earth's. 9 feet.
01:38:14 The next one is Mars.
01:38:17 Huh? It's pretty comfortable here.
01:38:21 The gravity here is the same as on Mercury.
01:38:25 4 feet. Now prepare for the struggle.
01:38:27 Huh? What do you...
01:38:29 There is no solid surface on Jupiter.
01:38:32 Although Jupiter is a great deal larger in size, its surface gravity is just 2.4 times that of the surface gravity of Earth.
01:38:40 Ugh, it's hard to even stand here.
01:38:43 Only half a foot.
01:38:50 Got it. Switch to Saturn.
01:38:52 There is no solid surface here either, but Saturn's gravity is almost the same as Earth's. Now Uranus.
01:38:59 Ugh, it's so cold.
01:39:04 It's 5 times warmer here than on the real Uranus.
01:39:08 Seriously? Ah, my legs are numb.
01:39:11 1.7 feet. Gravity is slightly weaker than Earth's.
01:39:16 That's Neptune for you. Your jumps are 1.3 feet high. Gravity is slightly stronger than Earth's.
01:39:22 Get me out of here.
01:39:24 Turn off the simulation.
01:39:26 We've discovered Kepler-22b, a small exoplanet in the Cygnus constellation.
01:39:31 Seems like nothing important, right? But it's actually a big deal.
01:39:36 This is the first planet located in the habitable zone that was found by the Kepler telescope.
01:39:43 In other words, there may be water on this planet, and if there's water, there may be life.
01:39:48 Kepler-22b can become our new potential home. So let's take a closer look at it.
01:39:54 Actually, discovering new planets is not easy at all.
01:39:59 Not all of them can be seen through our super cool telescopes, even the almighty Hubble.
01:40:04 Sometimes the stars are so small and dim that it's really hard to find them on a map.
01:40:11 The same thing happened with Kepler-22. In such cases, scientists have to use a special method.
01:40:17 First, they take a bunch of photos of the star in different periods of time.
01:40:22 Then, they look at them and think, "Hmm, are there any dark dots on this star somewhere?"
01:40:28 And if they find one, that might be a planet.
01:40:32 These photos actually help us to discover some very important stuff, like the existence of life on this planet.
01:40:40 Secondly, here is its size, radius, and proximity to the star.
01:40:45 And finally, will we be able to live there?
01:40:49 Now, we know that Kepler-22b is very similar to our planet and could potentially become a second Earth.
01:40:57 It's also very close to us, only 635 light-years away.
01:41:01 Yeah, it's about 3 quadrillion miles, but this is one of the closest options.
01:41:08 Kepler-22, the star of Kepler-22b, is a yellow dwarf.
01:41:12 It's very, very similar to our Sun.
01:41:15 The same size, the same radius, even the age is almost the same, 4 billion years.
01:41:21 The difference is only in luminosity. It's about 20% dimmer than the Sun.
01:41:26 So, no matter how much you strain your eyes, you won't see this star in the night sky.
01:41:33 The planet Kepler-22b is about 2.4 times larger than our Earth, and that's pretty good.
01:41:40 More radius means more potential water and space to live.
01:41:44 Although, going from one city to another would take a while.
01:41:48 It's scary to even imagine a three-day long plane flight.
01:41:52 We don't know the exact mass of this planet, but scientists think it's bigger than Earth's.
01:41:59 Actually, the mass of Kepler-22b can be up to 36 times greater than that of our planet.
01:42:04 What does it mean? Vigorous gravity.
01:42:07 If the planet is 36 times heavier than Earth, then gravity there will be about 6 times stronger.
01:42:14 Can you barely lift 20 pounds of potatoes? Try 120.
01:42:19 Not to mention that you yourself can become much heavier on that planet.
01:42:26 You'll have to get incredibly pumped up just to walk there.
01:42:29 You have to literally turn yourself into a bodybuilder just to get to work.
01:42:33 The worst thing is that, with such gravity, it'd be incredibly difficult for plants to survive there.
01:42:40 They'd need at least a little freedom to rise up from the ground.
01:42:44 And animals. Our dogs and cats would have to turn into little balls of muscle to survive there.
01:42:52 But if this planet has its own animals or other inhabitants, we can roughly imagine what they may look like.
01:42:58 They probably have a lot of legs to make moving easier.
01:43:01 They aren't really tall, but they're very massive and extremely strong.
01:43:06 Hmm, muscular giant spiders? Could be worse, I guess.
01:43:11 The good news is that this is all unconfirmed information.
01:43:17 If we're very lucky, and gravity there turns out to be just a bit stronger than Earth's,
01:43:22 then, of course, it'll be much easier to live there.
01:43:25 The next thing we know about Kepler-22b is that it's about 15% closer to its star than we are to the Sun.
01:43:33 If Kepler-22b existed in our solar system, it would be located somewhere between Earth and Venus.
01:43:40 Does that mean we're all going to burn? No, silly.
01:43:45 As I mentioned before, the star Kepler-22 is pretty cold, just some 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:43:51 And that's why we can assume that the temperatures on Kepler-22b will be about the same as we have on Earth.
01:43:58 If the planet orbits its star the same way Earth orbits the Sun, which we don't actually know,
01:44:03 Kepler-22b can rotate around its star on its side, like, for example, Uranus.
01:44:11 What? Didn't you know Uranus is actually lying on its side? Also, look at its rings.
01:44:16 Yes, Uranus also has rings, like Saturn, but they're vertical. The universe is truly a mysterious place.
01:44:24 So, if Kepler-22b is really something like that, then the weather on the planet will be, to put it mildly, not very good.
01:44:34 Incredibly cold winters will be regularly followed by hot summers.
01:44:39 And, just like with tidally locked planets, we'd be able to live more or less comfortably only on the narrow piece of land between these two crazy sides.
01:44:48 Let's hope that this is not the case and the planet rotates normally.
01:44:52 But it's not all that bad. Studies show that there may be an ocean on Kepler-22b.
01:45:00 You already know that water means life.
01:45:04 In this case, it's also a big plus because a planet covered by an ocean always has more stable temperatures.
01:45:10 The water absorbs some of the heat and distributes it evenly across the planet.
01:45:15 The hot parts cool down and the icy ones warm up.
01:45:18 By the way, that's exactly what happened to Earth billions of years ago.
01:45:23 When our planet started getting its first little puddles, our beloved moon helped these puddles to spread all over the planet.
01:45:32 And this, a burning horror that used to be our Earth, turned into a cute little ball full of life.
01:45:37 So, if Kepler-22b has water but no atmosphere, scientists think that the average temperature there could be around 12 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:45:47 But if there's also an Earth-like atmosphere, then the temperature can reach 72 degrees Fahrenheit. That would be nice.
01:45:56 And finally, one year there is equal to 290 Earth days, about 9 months.
01:46:02 The planet has no natural satellites, so unfortunately, we'd have to say goodbye to a beautiful view of the moon.
01:46:08 On the bright side, we'd probably be able to see the sun as a distant little star.
01:46:13 We could admire it in the night sky, remembering our home, while not hiding from giant spiders.
01:46:20 And this is all that we know at the moment.
01:46:24 Unfortunately, it's quite difficult to explore such planets, so there's a lot of very important data that we don't know.
01:46:30 For example, what kind of planet is this anyway?
01:46:34 Yep, we're missing the most important information about Kepler-22b.
01:46:39 We don't know if it's a rocky planet or not.
01:46:42 And if not, then all the previously mentioned information means nothing.
01:46:48 It may turn out to be a gas planet, or a planet covered with gas but with a solid core, like Neptune.
01:46:55 Or a water world covered with a giant ocean.
01:46:58 In this case, it better be a water planet.
01:47:02 Then at least we could build some kind of underwater city there.
01:47:06 We could filter the water and eat fish, until we evolve into an amphibious species.
01:47:11 Does it even count as evolution if we go back to our roots?
01:47:16 Scientists, however, think that Kepler-22b may turn out to be a Neptune-like planet.
01:47:21 Some astronomers have even assigned the planet to a category of "mini-Neptunes".
01:47:26 Yes, this is a real planetary category.
01:47:29 But this hasn't been proven yet.
01:47:32 But even if, fortunately for us, Kepler-22b turns out to be a rocky planet, we still don't know what the atmosphere is like there.
01:47:41 Does it exist at all?
01:47:44 It turns out to be something like the atmosphere of Venus, which is more toxic than your ex.
01:47:48 Then we'd have to dig deep underground to somehow survive on this planet.
01:47:52 And then we'd have to come up with a heat source, because it's pretty cold underground.
01:47:57 Yeah, let's hope this won't be the case.
01:48:00 There are many possibilities with Kepler-22b.
01:48:04 So far, we don't have a clear answer.
01:48:08 Let's hope that scientists will find it before we load the first people into shuttles and send them to conquer Kepler-22b.
01:48:14 That would be awkward if it turns out to be a gas planet, or something like that.
01:48:19 Picture this. You've won a membership to a space gym.
01:48:24 You get to travel around the solar system and work out.
01:48:27 But gravity changes on different space bodies.
01:48:30 So let's find out if you can get stronger elsewhere, or if you should keep practicing on Earth.
01:48:37 Your spaceship is approaching dwarf planet Pluto.
01:48:39 It's getting chillier by the second.
01:48:42 No wonder! The Sun is over 3.7 billion miles away.
01:48:46 You must be glad you brought your thermal spacesuit along, right?
01:48:50 To leave the spacecraft, Earthlings would need the help of a gravity machine,
01:48:54 since gravity on Pluto is a mere 1/15th of that on Earth.
01:48:58 Gravity is the force that pulls you toward the ground.
01:49:01 The smaller the mass of a space body is, the weaker its gravity.
01:49:06 So, on Pluto, you can't do any sports that involve running.
01:49:09 If you did, you'd most likely fly away.
01:49:12 You can try out elephant lifting, though.
01:49:15 After all, you can't do it back on Earth.
01:49:18 On Pluto, picking up an elephant weighing 2,000 pounds feels like lifting 120 pounds.
01:49:24 The next stop is Neptune.
01:49:27 It's over 30 times farther away from the Sun than Earth.
01:49:30 The atmosphere there is dark and cold.
01:49:34 You might get overwhelmed by the planet's gigantic size.
01:49:36 It's called a nice giant for a reason.
01:49:39 Maybe today you'll feel like doing some winter sports?
01:49:42 To say Neptune exists in perpetual winter is an understatement.
01:49:46 The average temperature on this planet is around -373 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:49:51 But gravity here is only 10% stronger than that on Earth,
01:49:55 so you don't feel much difference.
01:49:58 This world doesn't have a solid surface, so you won't be able to leave the spacecraft.
01:50:03 Is that an ice hockey rink I see?
01:50:05 Grab your ice skates and your stick and get ready to outplay your fellow passengers!
01:50:11 How about a quick pit stop on Uranus?
01:50:14 This is another ice giant, and gravity here is 90% of that on Earth.
01:50:19 You can do a few push-ups inside the spacecraft, as you won't be stepping outside.
01:50:24 The slushy surface of the planet is made up of water, methane, and ammonia in its liquid form.
01:50:31 There's no solid ground to walk on.
01:50:33 But if you somehow found a way to go outside, you'd feel lighter than on Earth.
01:50:39 If you weighed 100 pounds back home, it would be 90 pounds here.
01:50:43 Can we call this a Uranian diet?
01:50:46 When approaching Saturn, please mind its rings.
01:50:49 Which aren't actually rings.
01:50:51 They consist of pieces of asteroids and meteors flying around the planet.
01:50:55 Saturn's mass is so big that it attracts many other space bodies to its orbit.
01:51:00 And right now, you're one of them!
01:51:03 Time to get creative with your workout!
01:51:05 You've scheduled a skydiving experience here.
01:51:08 If you free-fall in Saturn's atmosphere, you'll reach the speed of 30 miles per second!
01:51:14 Don't forget to open your parachute!
01:51:17 On second thought, though, you won't be able to touch the ground anyway.
01:51:20 Saturn's surface is pure gas.
01:51:23 Quick fun fact.
01:51:25 Once Saturn got in the way of the 10th planet forming in the Solar System,
01:51:29 the planet's debris, which partially makes up Saturn's rings now,
01:51:33 could have blended into a planet.
01:51:35 But it was pulled into Saturn's orbit instead.
01:51:38 You're nearing Europa, one of Jupiter's moons.
01:51:42 Gravity here is so weak, you feel weightless.
01:51:45 Let's say there's a rock-climbing wall there.
01:51:48 How about you give it a try?
01:51:50 Usually, this sport requires a lot of physical strength.
01:51:53 But here, you'll only have to carry 13% of your weight.
01:51:58 Your climb to the top will be easy-peasy in these conditions.
01:52:01 Entering Jupiter's atmosphere will feel like being inside a cloud.
01:52:05 See that red spot in the bottom left corner?
01:52:08 That's a storm twice the size of Earth that's been raging for hundreds of years.
01:52:13 To have some fun here, why don't you do some jumping jacks?
01:52:17 I'll count to 100. Ready, set, go!
01:52:20 Gravity here is super strong.
01:52:22 It's 2.5 times as powerful as gravity on Earth.
01:52:27 So you'll probably get exhausted at the count of 30.
01:52:29 Too bad.
01:52:31 Uh-oh! Passengers aboard the spacecraft, fasten your seatbelts.
01:52:35 You might experience some heavy turbulence.
01:52:38 To travel from Jupiter to Mars, you'll have to move through an asteroid belt.
01:52:43 Just in case you're worried your ship will bump into something,
01:52:46 relax, there's a distance of 300,000 miles between asteroids.
01:52:51 Let's stop at Ceres, the only dwarf planet in the asteroid belt.
01:52:56 Gravity here will make you feel pretty strong.
01:52:58 How about practicing some caber tossing?
01:53:01 Cabers are heavy logs that can measure up to 20 feet long.
01:53:05 The goal is to throw them as far as possible.
01:53:08 Here, a 180-pound pole feels as if it weighs 5 pounds,
01:53:12 which is, basically, the weight of a melon.
01:53:15 Ready for the Ceres caber competition? Woo-hoo!
01:53:19 Finally, Mars.
01:53:21 Remember all those handstands you've always wanted to try?
01:53:25 Well, here's the place to do them.
01:53:26 Mars' gravity is about 2.5 times weaker than that on Earth,
01:53:30 which means you'll probably be able to lift your own body weight without any difficulty.
01:53:35 Since people keep trying to terraform Mars,
01:53:38 opening a gym here doesn't sound like a bad idea, does it?
01:53:41 Passengers and crew members, we're now beginning our descent to Phobos.
01:53:46 It's one of Mars' moons.
01:53:48 Gravity here is incredibly weak.
01:53:50 If you've always dreamed of having superhuman strength,
01:53:54 this is the place for you.
01:53:55 You can work out here by, say, doing some artistic gymnastics.
01:53:59 Start off with a cartwheel,
01:54:01 then move on to tricks performed in the air.
01:54:04 On Phobos, you can start doing triple back handsprings in no time.
01:54:08 Ah, look, Earth is about to appear on the horizon.
01:54:12 It sure looks majestic from here.
01:54:15 But we won't stop there now.
01:54:17 Instead, let's visit Earth's sister, Venus.
01:54:20 It has almost the same mass as Earth,
01:54:23 which means these planets have similar gravities.
01:54:25 Now, Earthlings can't survive on Venus' surface
01:54:28 because of the large amount of ammonia in its atmosphere.
01:54:31 But let's imagine you could practice some outdoor sports there.
01:54:35 Do you feel like trying bumper bubble soccer?
01:54:38 That's when you dress yourself in a giant bubble ball vest
01:54:41 and keep bumping into other players.
01:54:43 People play this game on Earth.
01:54:45 On Venus, with its slightly weaker gravity,
01:54:48 it might be a little bit easier.
01:54:51 Still, you have to consider you'll be wearing a 25-pound ball as a vest,
01:54:55 kind of like a hamster back on Earth.
01:54:57 Not to mention your outfit will restrict your arms and legs.
01:55:01 It's a challenge, but it sounds fun to me.
01:55:04 Moving on, if you land on the sunny side of Mercury,
01:55:08 you'll experience scalding hot temperatures of 800 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:55:12 If you're feeling tired after your space workout,
01:55:15 a relaxing steamy sauna will be just the thing.
01:55:19 You'll feel like a brand new person by the time you arrive on the next planet.
01:55:23 We'll fly as close to the Sun as we can,
01:55:26 so that you can have a taste of its gravity.
01:55:28 The Sun's mass is huge.
01:55:30 It's over 333,000 times the mass of Earth.
01:55:34 And gravity here is extremely powerful.
01:55:36 You'd have trouble lifting something as light as a bottle of water
01:55:40 if you managed to step on the surface of the Sun.
01:55:42 Too hot, you say?
01:55:44 Well, I imagine it's a whole lot cooler if you come back at night.
01:55:48 Haha, just kidding!
01:55:49 On our way back home, we'll stop by the Moon.
01:55:52 I mean, our Earth's natural satellite.
01:55:54 Walking on the surface of the Moon will feel like jumping.
01:55:57 You'll be able to jump as far as 33 feet.
01:56:00 So, why not try some parkour?
01:56:02 If you play basketball, scoring a point will be very difficult.
01:56:06 But then, you can jump higher than the hoop and do an epic slam dunk.
01:56:10 And how about baseball?
01:56:12 If you throw the ball upward, you'll probably never see it again.
01:56:17 Finally, we land on Earth.
01:56:18 Sorry to disappoint you, but you're not coming back with any superhuman strength.
01:56:23 Even when you were lifting an elephant, gravity was helping you out a lot.
01:56:27 It was a good trip, though, don't you think so?
01:56:30 Our Universe is full of both amazing and terrifying things.
01:56:35 You already know about quasars, black holes, dark matter, and so on.
01:56:39 But how about the horrors of space that you haven't even heard of?
01:56:45 Would you like to visit the most bizarre worlds in the Universe?
01:56:47 And it's not me who made this list, but NASA themselves.
01:56:51 Welcome to the Galaxy of Horrors, NASA's awesome Halloween collection.
01:56:57 Please join me on a journey to some planets and tell me which ones you would consider the most horrible.
01:57:02 Buckle up!
01:57:04 Our first destination is a gas giant called TRES-2B.
01:57:10 It's located 750 light-years away from us.
01:57:14 If we used a regular spaceship, it would take us about 10 million years to get there.
01:57:18 TRES-2B orbits a yellow dwarf, a star similar to our Sun.
01:57:23 It also weighs about 1.5 times more than Jupiter.
01:57:26 So, what's so special about it?
01:57:29 Well, if you're afraid of the dark, you definitely don't want to visit this place.
01:57:34 It's the planet of Eternal Night, the darkest one of all the planets known to us.
01:57:39 But it's not that far from its star, so why is that?
01:57:43 The thing is, the surface of TRES-2B reflects light even worse than coal does.
01:57:49 Because of this, it seems that there's no light at all.
01:57:53 If you were flying across the surface of this planet, it would be like walking with a blindfold on your eyes.
01:57:58 Oh, wait. Actually, there is some light.
01:58:02 An eerie deep red glow surrounds the surface of the planet.
01:58:06 This glow is created by the burning atmosphere, which makes TRES-2B a scorching planet.
01:58:12 The air there is even hotter than lava.
01:58:15 Oh, but if you think that was bad, let me show you the next place of our horror journey.
01:58:20 NASA wasn't beating about the bush while nicknaming this one.
01:58:24 Now, we're not just talking about one planet, but three at once.
01:58:29 They're also located quite far away, 2,300 light-years from the Sun.
01:58:34 We would have reached them by ship in about 35 million years.
01:58:39 All the planets are in the constellation Virgo, and each is extremely light, much lighter than the Earth.
01:58:44 These three exoplanets are called Poltergeist, Drager, and Phobetor.
01:58:50 Cool names, huh? It's because each of these planets is about to become a ghost soon.
01:58:56 The thing is, they don't revolve around a star, but around a pulsar.
01:59:01 Pulsars are rotating neutron stars with an extremely powerful magnetic field.
01:59:06 In simple words, these are the stars that exploded one day.
01:59:09 After the explosion, they usually emit such a powerful pulse that it causes the star to rotate at an unimaginable speed.
01:59:17 Several thousand rotations per second!
01:59:20 At the same time, they constantly emit electromagnetic pulses that affect everything around them.
01:59:26 So, you've probably already guessed what's happening with our zombie planets.
01:59:32 They're slowly, gradually being destroyed under the gigantic influence of radiation.
01:59:37 One day, they'll disappear without a trace.
01:59:40 Ghost-like planets orbiting an undead star? Yeah, "Zombie World" is a fitting name.
01:59:46 It's also not surprising that scientists nicknamed this pulsar "Lich", despite the long official name.
01:59:52 Well, at least these guys stick together on their final dance.
01:59:56 This planet has a long name, so bear with me.
02:00:01 HD 189733 b.
02:00:04 This gas giant is 65 light-years away from us.
02:00:07 It would have taken around 1 million years to get there on a spaceship.
02:00:11 HD... well, this planet is slightly more massive than Jupiter and orbits its star, an orange dwarf, all alone.
02:00:20 At first glance, it may seem friendly.
02:00:23 A pleasant blue color and curls on the surface.
02:00:27 Kinda resembles a summer sky or foam on sea waves, right?
02:00:31 Oh, looks are very deceptive, my friend.
02:00:34 This planet has a pleasant cobalt blue color due to the hazy, blow-torched atmosphere.
02:00:39 This atmosphere contains silicates that condense when heated.
02:00:43 In other words, the clouds on this planet have rain made of glass.
02:00:47 Yes, it rains hot glass shards here.
02:00:52 And if that's not enough, there's a raging wind on the surface, which is moving at a speed of 5400 mph.
02:00:58 Just to compare, the fastest wind on Earth had a speed of 254 mph, about 20 times weaker.
02:01:05 And because of this, hundreds of thousands of glass shards rush horizontally across the planet's surface at breakneck speed.
02:01:13 I really don't envy anyone who would want to try to land there.
02:01:16 By the way, this isn't the only example of strange rains in our universe.
02:01:21 For example, it rains molten iron on the planet Domitian.
02:01:25 Or let's take so-called carbon planets.
02:01:28 Their existence hasn't yet been proven, but if they do exist, there would be tons of black poisonous clouds,
02:01:35 and it would rain pure gasoline and hot liquid asphalt.
02:01:39 Oh, and also, raindrops would explode upon touching the surface.
02:01:43 Eh, nothing special.
02:01:45 The next planet, though, is actually really strange.
02:01:49 It didn't just revolve around its star, it lived inside the star.
02:01:53 This cosmic miracle is called Koi 55b, or Kepler-70b.
02:02:00 This planet is very far away from us, 4000 light-years.
02:02:05 It would take about 70 million years on a spaceship.
02:02:08 It's twice as light as Earth, and fully rotates around its star in just a couple of hours.
02:02:13 A long time ago, it was an ordinary Earth-like planet, about the size of Jupiter.
02:02:18 It was peacefully and calmly orbiting its red dwarf star, Koi 55.
02:02:23 But, everything changed about 700 million years ago.
02:02:27 Perhaps you've heard that in a couple billion years, our sun will begin to expand into a huge star, absorbing everything in its path.
02:02:34 Well, this is the fate of red dwarfs.
02:02:37 Sooner or later, they increase, turning into incredibly hot blue giants.
02:02:42 The same thing happened with Koi 55.
02:02:46 This star began to increase in size and heat up in temperature, gradually turning into a blue-white giant.
02:02:52 It was ready to devour its nearest planets, but Koi 55b didn't care about it.
02:02:57 When the star reached it, this planet just settled inside.
02:03:01 And moreover, after some time, it left its star, simply returning to the new orbit.
02:03:07 How is that even possible?
02:03:09 Life inside its star turned Koi 55b into a red-hot round stone.
02:03:15 It's one of the hottest planets we've discovered so far.
02:03:17 The temperature on it reaches 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
02:03:21 It's hotter than the sun, which is, let me remind you, an actual star.
02:03:26 And for some reason, it's still alive and lives as if nothing happened.
02:03:31 Unfortunately, sooner or later, the planet will disappear anyway.
02:03:35 It's slowly evaporating itself due to the incandescent atmosphere.
02:03:39 But still, it somehow managed to survive the journey through the star.
02:03:44 Which isn't typical for regular planets, to put it mildly.
02:03:47 I envy this willpower.
02:03:49 However, not all planets are so lucky.
02:03:52 Some are gradually being destroyed by their stars.
02:03:55 And there is even an entire system among them.
02:03:58 This last planet is a sad loner.
02:04:02 It's located 870 light-years away from us.
02:04:05 The journey by ship to it would take about 25 million years.
02:04:09 This planet is about 1.5 times more massive than Jupiter.
02:04:14 This is a very sad, dark planet.
02:04:16 A doomed gas giant, which is very similar to hot Jupiter, orbits its star all alone.
02:04:22 At the same time, it's located so close to its star that its orbital period takes just one day.
02:04:28 Of course, because of this proximity, the star gradually absorbs WASP-12b.
02:04:34 The scorching heat of the star is slowly destroying and devouring the planet's atmosphere.
02:04:39 The planet has only around 10 million years left.
02:04:43 But what's more interesting, because of this stretching, WASP-12b acquired the shape of an egg.
02:04:49 It doesn't even resemble an actual planet anymore.
02:04:52 It's also very hot.
02:04:54 The surface temperature of the gas giant reaches 4000 degrees Fahrenheit.
02:04:58 Also, a spectrograph of Cosmic Origin, or COS for short, found that the planet exchanges matter with its star.
02:05:06 They're located so close that they give each other part of their chemical elements.
02:05:11 This is a common phenomenon in closely spaced binary star systems.
02:05:14 But this is the first time scientists have seen this in a star-planet relationship.
02:05:19 What a unique system!
02:05:21 To be honest, if I was guaranteed complete security, I'd be excited to visit at least some of them.
02:05:28 What about you? Please let me know in the comments.
02:05:31 That's it for today.
02:05:33 So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
02:05:39 Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!

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