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These stories explore how even the most familiar parts of the universe can still surprise scientists. Astronomers are questioning strange behavior observed in the North Star, a celestial landmark that has guided people for centuries but no longer fits existing models. At the same time, engineers are proposing ambitious ideas that push the limits of technology, including using the Moon as part of a large-scale energy system for Earth. Animation is created by Bright Side.
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Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/
Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV
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For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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00:00Locating the North Star is quite easy on a clear night.
00:03The only thing you need to do is find the Big Dipper.
00:07Those two stars on the end of the Dipper's cup point the way to the North Star.
00:12See? It's the tip of the handle of the Little Dipper, or the tail of the Little Bear.
00:17It's in the constellation Ursa Minor, over there.
00:20People have been watching the North Star for centuries.
00:23This bright star is also known as Polaris.
00:27It's situated almost directly over our planet's North Pole,
00:30which makes it a great landmark for a traveler without a compass, or a GPS on their smartphone.
00:36It's also Earth's close to Cepheid.
00:39That's what we call a star that pulses regularly in brightness and diameter.
00:44Polaris is also part of a binary system of two stars.
00:48It's got a dimmer sister.
00:50It's known as Polaris B.
00:52You can actually see it circling the North Stars from Earth.
00:56But the more astronomers watch Polaris, the less they understand.
01:01The problem is, no one can agree on how big or distant the star is.
01:06Scientists have several ways to estimate the mass, age, and distance of a star like Polaris.
01:12One method is called the Stellar Evolution Method.
01:15After studying the brightness, color, and rate of pulsation of a star,
01:20experts use this data to figure out how big or bright it is,
01:24as well as what stage of life it's in.
01:27Once these details are clear, it's not hard to find out how far a star actually is.
01:33It's simple math once you know the luminosity of a star in real life
01:36and how dim it looks from our planet.
01:38Such models are especially precise for stars like Polaris
01:43because the rate of their pulsing is directly related to their brightness.
01:47This makes it easy to figure out the distance to any of those stars.
01:51Astronomers trust this method so much
01:54that Cepheids have become an important tool for measuring distances all across the universe.
01:59At the same time, there are other ways to study the North Star,
02:03and they don't agree with the stellar evolution models.
02:06Polaris is a so-called astrometric binary.
02:10It means you can see its companion going around it.
02:13It looks as if a circle is being drawn around the bigger star.
02:17To complete one orbit, the smaller star needs around 26 years.
02:23Even though astronomers haven't made detailed observations of Polaris B's full circuit,
02:28they've seen enough to know what its orbit looks like.
02:30Using this information, one can apply Newton's laws of gravity
02:35to calculate the masses of the two stars.
02:37Combined with the Hubble Space Telescope's new measurements,
02:40these calculations lead to very precise numbers.
02:44Polaris is supposed to be around 3.45 times the mass of the Sun,
02:49but that's much less than the mass you get from stellar evolution models.
02:53They suggest a value of almost 7 times the mass of the Sun.
02:57But there's another reason why this star system is weird.
03:01After calculating the ages of the stars,
03:04researchers concluded that Polaris B is much older than its bigger sibling.
03:08But it's extremely unusual for a binary system.
03:12Normally, both stars are of the same age.
03:15One explanation might be that at least one of the measurements is simply wrong.
03:19After all, Polaris is a difficult star to study.
03:23Since it's positioned above our planet's north pole,
03:26it's outside the field of view of most telescopes.
03:29As for those telescopes that do have the needed equipment for measuring the star's properties precisely,
03:35they're typically used for studying much more distant and fainter stars.
03:39Polaris is simply too bright for such instruments.
03:42It blinds them.
03:43There's a theory that the main star of the Polaris system was once two stars,
03:48but they collided a few million years ago.
03:51Such a binary collision could rejuvenate stars by pulling in extra material
03:56and making the stars look as if they went through the Fountain of Youth.
04:00It would also explain some other oddities,
04:02since stars that appear as a result of binary collisions don't fit stellar evolution models.
04:08Unfortunately, so far, none of the theories have been confirmed.
04:12The north star is actually a big deal.
04:16Earth is spinning non-stop,
04:18which causes the sun to rise and set and stars to travel across the sky.
04:23Our planet is also tilted.
04:25That's why we have seasons.
04:27If we drew a line through the axis Earth spins around
04:30and extended it over 300 light-years past the north pole,
04:34at the end of that imaginary line,
04:36there would be the north star.
04:38It stays almost exactly at the same spot in the sky at all times
04:42and always points the way north.
04:45It's really important for navigation.
04:47People heavily relied on it in the days before GPS.
04:50If you were standing on the equator,
04:52Polaris would be right at the horizon.
04:55At the north pole, it would seem to be right over your head.
04:58In other words, using the star's height in the sky,
05:01you can not only figure out the needed direction,
05:04but also understand where you are on Earth.
05:06Curiously, there's no south star.
05:10There isn't a bright enough star right above the south pole,
05:13but one day we might get such a star.
05:15When you spin a top on the table,
05:17its end moves in a circle.
05:20We know this phenomenon as precession.
05:23Earth behaves in the same way,
05:25and the north and south poles
05:26won't always point towards the same spots in the sky.
05:29In the next 26,000 years,
05:32it may cause the north star to change from Polaris
05:35to a few other stars and back again.
05:38One day, the title of the north star will go to Vega.
05:41It's the fifth brightest star in the night sky
05:43and the second brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere.
05:47Vega has another name, Alpha Lyrae.
05:50That's because it's the main star of the Lyra constellation.
05:54Vega has been one of the most crucial stars to people since ancient times.
05:58It's very bright and blue, hence, very recognizable.
06:02Vega was the north star several thousand years ago,
06:06and it'll regain this status in 12,000 years or so.
06:09This star is located a mere 25 light-years from Earth.
06:13It's just 450 million years old,
06:16which makes it way younger than our own 4.6 billion-year-old star system.
06:21Astronomers study Vega to learn more about star systems
06:24in the early stages of their formation.
06:27Vega is almost directly overhead at mid-northern latitudes on a summer night.
06:32It hides behind the horizon for only 7 hours a day.
06:35You can see it on any night of the year.
06:38If you travel farther south,
06:40you'll find out that Vega lies below the horizon for longer periods of time.
06:44But in Alaska, northern Canada, and some parts of Europe, Vega never sets.
06:49Vega's blue-white light is bright enough to be featured a lot in ancient cultures,
06:55from the Chinese to the Polynesians to the Hindus.
06:58Vega's name can also be translated as fallen or swooping.
07:03This is a reference to the times when people regarded this constellation
07:06as a swooping vulture, not a leer.
07:10Vega was also the first star to get photographed,
07:13other than the sun, of course.
07:14To do it, astronomers at Harvard College Observatory used a 15-inch refractor,
07:20and it happened again in 1850.
07:23Around two decades later,
07:24an amateur astronomer broke down Vega's light
07:27to reveal various elements making up the star.
07:30In 2006, thanks to telescopic observations,
07:33scientists found out that Vega was whipping around so fast
07:37that its poles were several thousand degrees warmer than its equator.
07:40The star rotates every 12.5 hours and is at 90% of its critical rotation speed.
07:47That's the velocity at which an object can tear itself apart.
07:52In 2013, researchers announced that they had discovered an asteroid belt around Vega.
07:57It means there might be planets somewhere out there among space rocks.
08:02There are two areas,
08:04an outer region that contains icy asteroids
08:06and an inner region with warmer space rocks.
08:09Scientists can examine bright stars like Vega
08:13using NASA's mission called TESS,
08:16which stands for Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.
08:20It was launched in 2018 to conduct an all-sky survey.
08:24The main goal of this mission is to search for exoplanets,
08:28but the satellite can also look for star variability.
08:32By examining such stars as Vega,
08:34TESS can help scientists learn more about the early stages of star evolution.
08:39This catapult-like system on the Moon might bring us limitless energy.
08:52It's a launch system concept that was recently proposed by the Chinese scientists.
08:57It would work like a hammer throw,
08:59spinning a launch arm that flings objects.
09:01This arm is supposed to be about 165 feet long.
09:04It will accelerate until it reaches the Moon's escape velocity,
09:08and then whoosh!
09:09The capsule is sent into space.
09:12This crazy idea will cost around 18 billion dollars.
09:15Ooh, pricey.
09:17But trust me, it's totally going to be worth it.
09:20The system would be powered by solar panels and nuclear energy.
09:23It could also recover more than 70% of the energy used after each launch.
09:28The Moon has a very weak gravity.
09:30There's also barely any atmosphere.
09:33So the air doesn't weigh you down.
09:34This makes it so much easier to launch stuff there.
09:38But why do we even need this?
09:40The main purpose is to transport helium-3.
09:43It's a really cool isotope of helium,
09:46and one of the most insane things about it
09:48is that it could become fuel for nuclear fission.
09:51This is the same process that happens in stars, including our sun.
09:55If we manage to recreate nuclear fusion here, on Earth,
10:03we can make it a clean and basically limitless source of energy for power plants.
10:08But helium-3 is super rare on Earth.
10:11We can sometimes find it in volcanic rock formations on the ocean floor.
10:16That's because it's a product of another rare element called tritium,
10:19the element we usually make in nuclear reactors and put in cool stuff like glow-in-the-dark paint.
10:25But the catch of tritium is that it takes forever to decay and turn into helium-3.
10:31Now, there's a bunch of helium-3 on the Moon, around 1 million tons.
10:36Just 20 tons of helium-3 could meet China's yearly electricity needs.
10:41In fact, lunar soil has enough helium-3 to power the entire world for over 1,000 years.
10:46But why is there so much of helium-3 on the Moon, and barely none on our planet?
10:51Well, that's because helium-3 comes from the Sun and travels in solar winds.
10:56Solar winds are like streams of dangerous particles.
10:59They're super radioactive.
11:01Our planet's thick atmosphere and magnetic fields serve as a shield for us.
11:05They almost fully protect us from those particles.
11:08But, unfortunately, they also prevent the good stuff like helium-3 from getting here.
11:13The Moon's atmospheric shields are super thin, though, so it's under a constant shower of solar winds.
11:20So, helium-3 accumulated there over billions of years, and now it's just scattered around there.
11:26But mining it and bringing it back to Earth is no easy feat.
11:30It's super expensive.
11:31Just think about it.
11:36Rockets need tons of fuel to break free from gravity.
11:39Every single bolt and screw on the spacecraft must be engineered to survive extreme conditions, like radiation.
11:46Not to mention, you need a team of rocket scientists, literally, working around the clock to make sure nothing goes wrong.
11:53You can't call a repair guy if something breaks on the Moon.
11:56So, generally, it costs about a half a million dollars to send one pound of payload to our satellite.
12:02That's based on estimates from NASA.
12:04To get some idea, let's calculate how much it would cost to send an apple to the Moon.
12:09A typical apple weighs about 0.4 pounds.
12:12So, that funny mission would be at least $200,000.
12:16Now, for comparison, the Chinese launch system weighs around 80 tons.
12:23Another problem is that the lunar surface is pretty harsh on the equipment.
12:27Like the freakish lunar dust, for example.
12:29You might recall this small thing that happened in the 60s called the Moon landings.
12:35But when the Apollo astronauts came back from the Moon, they found something weird was happening to them.
12:40Their throats were sore and their eyes watered.
12:43Luckily, it wasn't some scary moon sickness.
12:46Turns out, there's a lot of lunar dust clinging to their spacesuits.
12:50This dust seems harmless, but it's made up of sharp and abrasive particles,
12:54much smaller than human hair, yet sharp like glass.
12:57It contains silicate, a thing that can cause severe lung problems on Earth and is a common issue for miners.
13:04So, it caused a lunar hay fever.
13:06At least, that's how NASA astronaut Harrison Schmidt called it.
13:12All 12 astronauts who walked on the Moon were then sneezing and experiencing nasal congestion.
13:18Sometimes, it took days to fade away.
13:20The dust even got inside their spacecraft, smelling like burnt gunpowder.
13:24This nasty stuff can be harmful to both humans and equipment.
13:28It managed to damage spacesuit boots and even ruin the seals on the containers used to bring back samples during the Apollo missions.
13:36As we mentioned, they're glass-sharp and jagged.
13:39So, they start scratching, grinding, and wearing down any surfaces they come in contact with.
13:45They don't care if it's metal, glass, or humans.
13:47And since there's so much dust, this causes equipment to malfunction and fail quite quickly.
13:53And that's just one of the possible hurdles with lunar missions.
13:56So, scientists really need to come up with some weird ideas to get that precious helium-3.
14:01The Chinese scientist project looks like a weird sci-fi invention, but it's a cost-effective way to transport materials back to us.
14:12It could throw stuff to Earth twice a day, and it would be 90% cheaper than current methods.
14:18Since it only needs electricity and no fuel, the system would be small and easy to set up.
14:23Besides the beloved helium-3, this catapult would also help advance technologies in space mining and heavy launch vehicles.
14:31No lunar dust scares this thing.
14:33It should last for at least 20 years.
14:36It would need to be transported to the Moon using China's super-heavy lift rocket.
14:43But the idea is far from new.
14:46There was a novel called The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein.
14:50In the story, there's a lunar colony that uses an electromagnetic catapult to send weed and water ice back to Earth.
14:58It gets quite wild when the colonists, known as loonies, eventually take control of this catapult.
15:04They threaten to launch rocks at Earth unless their colony is recognized as an independent world.
15:09Sounds kind of funny, but a large rock, if thrown at us from the Moon, could wipe out a city.
15:15The damage would be like from a meteorite strike, with fires, houses destroyed, and worse.
15:21But scientists have been talking about this catapult idea for a while.
15:25For decades, they were trying to find a way to use electromagnetic systems to send resources from the Moon to Earth.
15:33There are also some challenges.
15:35For example, scientists forgot to mention how exactly helium-3 would be extracted from the lunar soil.
15:41Installing this launch system on the Moon's rugged surface would be difficult as well.
15:46Also, they would need to make sure that the system remains stable at high speeds,
15:51and that it could withstand the Moon's extreme temperature changes, cosmic rays, and intense solar radiation.
15:57So, it would take some time to develop.
16:00China hopes to have the key components of the system ready by 2030.
16:04The full-scale operations might start by 2045.
16:07China has tons of plans for the Moon.
16:12For example, they want to build a research station at its south pole by 2035.
16:17But China's not the only one in this space race.
16:20Considering that NASA plans to send humans on Mars by that time,
16:24oh boy, the 2030s will be a crazy decade for space exploration.
16:29There's also an American startup that's part of the lunar economy.
16:33Oh, the ones that plan to land astronauts on the Moon have people actually living on our satellite in a decade or two.
16:40One of the goals of this colony is to boost economic growth and create new jobs.
16:45Most of them will likely involve some mining activities.
16:48And if there'd be two space colonies, well, they'll have to figure something out.
16:53That's it for today.
16:56So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
17:01Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.
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