What If You Fell Into an O-Type Main Sequence Star?

Mind Astray

Transcript

00:00leave our mild sun behind forget the scorching hot f-type and b-type stars too when it comes

00:17to the stars that dominate the universe o-type stars sit at the very top these giants are the

00:23biggest brightest and hottest among main sequence stars untamed power in its purest form imagine

00:32somehow a catastrophe flinging you straight into the core of one of these fiery monsters

00:39this isn't a slow journey you'd vanish turn to pure energy it's total destruction on an unimaginable

00:47level o-type main sequence stars rule the stellar universe with their immense size and power they

00:59have masses between 15 and a staggering 90 times greater than the Sun and surface temperatures

01:06that rise from 30,000 to 50,000 Kelvin o-type main sequence star Wikipedia these stars burn far hotter

01:15than our Sun and shine up to a million times brighter their intense blue light comes from

01:22powerful nuclear reactions deep inside that burn so they would destroy anything coming too close

01:33falling towards an o-type star would throw you into a fast plunge speeding up in ways that feel

01:39impossible to even imagine its massive size creates a gravitational pull so powerful that escape becomes

01:47impossible trapping anything in its grip University of Oregon stellar evolution in just seconds you'd be

01:54moving at speeds close to a large portion of the speed of light racing towards a point where nothing

02:00not signals not particles not any trace can ever escape the stars intense blue-white light would be the

02:09final thing your mind could take in and then there's simply nothing left the first thing you'd

02:20encounter is the stars scorching and unstable outer atmosphere for an o-type star temperatures in the

02:27corona can reach tens of millions of Kelvin according to the astrophysical journal in 2019 discussing B star

02:35coronis and applying it to O stars this plasma is sparse but powerful and full of activity any shielding

02:42on your imaginary spacecraft or even your own body would disintegrate it wouldn't just turn into gas but

02:49would get reduced to a fog of stripped atomic nuclei and free electrons solid materials cannot survive here

02:57they would break apart and get destroyed on a basic level

03:00coming near the dense outer layers of an o-type star would spell instant destruction the sheer blast of

03:12intense electromagnetic radiation would annihilate you extreme ultraviolet rays x-rays and relentless gamma

03:21rays would strike with such force that your very atoms would unravel into energy this isn't just damage

03:28at a cellular level both your molecules and atoms would fall apart the forces that hold matter together

03:35wouldn't stand a chance leaving you as a brief flash of light and energy in a fraction of a second

03:41according to national institute of standards and technology atomic spectra database

03:47beneath the corona sits the chromosphere a chaotic and wild section of a star if you looked at this area

04:00in an o-type star you'd see flares erupting with strength that vastly outmatches anything from our Sun

04:07towering jets of plasma scorch upward to unthinkable altitudes powerful magnetic forces churn through this

04:16fiery chaos making it a relentless storm of searing gas you wouldn't stand a chance the plasma's violent

04:24speed would tear you apart leaving no trace of what you once were the photosphere acts as the stars visible

04:36surface it shines with an intense blue white light that's almost too bright to look at temperatures

04:43here reach between thirty thousand and fifty thousand Kelvin this layer holds chaotic plasma burning with

04:49incredible energy if your body fell into it you wouldn't stand a chance you'd turn into ionized particles

04:56heated to these unimaginable temperatures at that moment you'd become part of the stars glowing surface

05:04vanishing while giving off light as your final trace according to University of Chicago Department

05:10of Astronomy and Astrophysics in smaller stars convection happens in the outer layers massive o-type stars

05:24though have a convective core because of the extreme energy being produced there their outer layers rely on

05:31radiation radiation for energy transportation according to University of Arizona stellar interiors as you go

05:40deeper passing the outer radiative envelope and initial ionization the temperature and density rise this takes

05:47you into the heart of the intense energy transfer process as you move deeper into the huge body of an o-type

05:58star the pressure rises to levels that are impossible to imagine the star which weighs tens of times more

06:06than the Sun applies forces that are millions or even billions of times stronger than what we feel on

06:13Earth the gravity is so intense that even the most basic parts of your matter would be pressed and packed to

06:20unimaginable densities they would lose all trace of their form under the crushing power of the star

06:26according to California Institute of Technology stellar physics beneath any thin outer convective layers is the

06:39vast radiative zone inside this region energy from the stars core moves outward as photons these photons scatter and

06:48get absorbed by the dense plasma in an o-type star this movement happens very for you though stepping into it would

06:58mean instant and total exposure to an overwhelming dense energy field every tiny part of your body would

07:05collide with countless photons all heated to mind-blowing temperatures according to NASA living with a star program

07:14eventually you arrive at the star's core this is the heart of it all where nuclear fusion happens at unmatched speeds

07:27the process transforms hydrogen into helium releasing immense energy that fuels the o-type star temperatures in

07:36the core climb climb to hundreds of millions of Kelvin and pressures soar billions of times higher than those on

07:43Earth according to Los Alamos National Laboratory stellar structure

07:53inside the o-type core anything we recognize as you would cease to exist your particles would lose their electrons

08:02and meld into the chaotic super hot plasma made of bare nuclei these nuclei would enter thermonuclear reactions

08:10producing not helium but elements like carbon oxygen or even neon everything that once made you would dissolve

08:19with your atoms merging into the stars process of creation and destruction you would become a permanent part

08:26of the stars core reshaped into the materials that will one day form new parts of the universe

08:38falling into an o-type star would happen so fast and with such violence that it goes beyond what we think

08:44of as death it would mean complete destruction leaving nothing behind the stars intense radiation and crushing

08:52pressure would break down everything at its core in less than a blink you would become just light and energy

09:04o-type stars shine but burn through their lives in just a few million years at most on the main sequence

09:12according to o-type main sequence star wikipedia they use up their hydrogen fuel fast

09:19this rapid consumption leads to an explosive burst of energy before they transform into blue supergiants

09:26they collapse into neutron stars or black holes often marked by the dramatic event of a supernova

09:38because o-type stars shine so their supposed habitable zone would lie far away

09:44this distance could stretch from hundreds to thousands of astronomical units as noted by the planetary

09:50habitability laboratory at the university of puerto rico at arecibo planets that might support life would

09:58need to orbit at such a vast range while withstanding massive radiation levels the brief lifespan of these

10:05planetary stars leaves little chance for complex life to develop in such conditions

10:15o-type stars have strong stellar winds these winds are streams of charged particles that move outward at

10:22very high speeds taking away large amounts of the star's mass according to nasa spitzer space telescope

10:30they are powerful enough to shape entire nebulae and hit orbiting objects with great force

10:38falling near one of these stars would mean passing through an area filled with intense fast-moving particle blasts

10:44the sheer power of an o-type star goes far beyond simple amazement

10:55it overwhelms us making human life feel like a faint echo against the universe's vast noise

11:02it shows us the powerful and uncaring forces that control the cosmos and highlights how fragile life

11:09is and how remarkable the conditions are that let it thrive in our small safe part of space

11:21human curiosity to ask what if and explore even wild scenarios pushes science forward thinking about

11:29these extreme cases helps us learn about the amazing physics inside the strongest stars

11:35and makes us value the universe's breathtaking and sometimes scary beauty even more what surprised you

11:42the most about this thrilling and intense dive into an o-type star tell us what you think in the comments

11:49if this cosmic dive blew your mind or freaked you out hit the like button and subscribe to mind astray

11:55to explore more mind-bending parts of the universe what other wild what-if space scenarios

12:02should we dive into share your ideas

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended