- 2 days ago
Scientists are starting to notice something unsettling: parts of the universe aren’t behaving the way the “trusted” rules say they should. In this video, the strangest new observations get unpacked — from weird motion in space objects to measurements that don’t line up with old predictions. Some of these results are so off that they force researchers to question what they thought was solid physics, not just one small theory. It doesn’t mean everything is wrong, but it does mean reality might be messier than the clean equations people grew up believing. This is the kind of science story where the universe doesn’t look broken… it looks like it’s hiding something bigger 🌌⚠️ Credit:
Yung Structure Slices 4k: By NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - Ashley Balzer, Scott Wiessinger - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14297, https://tinyurl.com/2zkxfaa2
HubbleLegacyFieldZoomOut: By NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz), and G. Bacon (STScI) - https://tinyurl.com/38dhmme9, https://tinyurl.com/42kw9ds6
WMAP: By NASA Goddard / YouTube, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NASA_-_WMAP--From_the_Archives_cnE4oYcCw8g.webm
Webb at L2: By NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - KBR Wyle Services, LLC/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez, ADNET Systems, Inc./Aaron E. Lepsch, KBR Wyle Services, LLC/Michael McClare - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20350, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Webb_at_L2_(SVS20350_-_WEBB_L2_4k_30fps_proRes).webm
Revealing the First Galaxies: By VIDEO: NASA, ESA, CSA, Danielle Kirshenblat (STScI) - https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/videos/2022/015/01G60TWJSAGQXRB5C1XYED0G88, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Webb_-_Revealing_the_First_Galaxies.webm
Spectroscopy, Explained: By NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc./Sophia Roberts, ADNET Systems, Inc./Aaron E. Lepsch, Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc./Rob Andreoli, Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc./John D. Philyaw, University of Maryland College Park/Jeanette Kazmierczak - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12956, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spectroscopy,_Explained_(SVS12956).webm
Complex Organic Molecules of NGC 1333 IRAS 2A Protostar: By Illustration NASA, ESA, CSA, Leah Hustak (STScI) - https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2024/111/01HRCSXGCBKNZMVPZQM7Q0TZHB, https://tinyurl.com/4m4ed4tc
Dark Matter Labs: By NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?11894, https://tinyurl.com/4bd3rpkt
WFIRST 2017 AAS Hyperwall Presentation: By NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - USRA/Scott Wiessinger, HTSI/Chris Meaney, HTSI/Walt Feimer, NASA/GSFC/Neil Gehrels - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12417, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WFIRST_2017_AAS_Hyperwall_Presentation_(SVS12417_-_Dark_Energy_Expansion_Graph_FINAL).webm
CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0:
quantum fluctuations: By The Royal Society / YouTube, https://tinyurl.com/yd9f9v2r
The oldest stars: By The Royal Society / YouTube, https://tinyurl.com/mssxner4
CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0:
Large scale structure: By Igorzinchenko, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Large_scale_structure.webm
CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0:
Constrained Local Universe Evolution Simulation: By Mark Paternostro - Adler Planetarium - https://www.eso.org/public/videos/clues_adler/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Constrained_Local_Universe_Evolution_Simulation_(spherical).webm
Hubblecast 118: By NASA, ESA, ESO/L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser - https://spacetelescope.org/videos/hubblecast118a/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hubblecast_118.webm
JADES-GS-z14-0: By NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, B. Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), B. Johnson (CfA), S. Tacchella (Cambridge), P. Cargile (CfA) - https://esawebb.org/images/jades4, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=148912099
Hubblecast 58: By ESA/Hubble - http://spacetelescope.org/videos/heic1215a/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hubblecast_58.webm
DESI Uses Distant Quasars: By NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Marenfeld - DESI Uses Distant Quasars to Map the Cosmic Web - https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2408d, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=147129646
DESI Year-One Data Slice: By DESI Collaboration/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Proctor - DESI Year-One Data Slice - https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2408b, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=147129624
Animation is created by Bright Side.
Yung Structure Slices 4k: By NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - Ashley Balzer, Scott Wiessinger - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14297, https://tinyurl.com/2zkxfaa2
HubbleLegacyFieldZoomOut: By NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz), and G. Bacon (STScI) - https://tinyurl.com/38dhmme9, https://tinyurl.com/42kw9ds6
WMAP: By NASA Goddard / YouTube, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NASA_-_WMAP--From_the_Archives_cnE4oYcCw8g.webm
Webb at L2: By NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - KBR Wyle Services, LLC/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez, ADNET Systems, Inc./Aaron E. Lepsch, KBR Wyle Services, LLC/Michael McClare - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20350, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Webb_at_L2_(SVS20350_-_WEBB_L2_4k_30fps_proRes).webm
Revealing the First Galaxies: By VIDEO: NASA, ESA, CSA, Danielle Kirshenblat (STScI) - https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/videos/2022/015/01G60TWJSAGQXRB5C1XYED0G88, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Webb_-_Revealing_the_First_Galaxies.webm
Spectroscopy, Explained: By NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc./Sophia Roberts, ADNET Systems, Inc./Aaron E. Lepsch, Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc./Rob Andreoli, Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc./John D. Philyaw, University of Maryland College Park/Jeanette Kazmierczak - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12956, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spectroscopy,_Explained_(SVS12956).webm
Complex Organic Molecules of NGC 1333 IRAS 2A Protostar: By Illustration NASA, ESA, CSA, Leah Hustak (STScI) - https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2024/111/01HRCSXGCBKNZMVPZQM7Q0TZHB, https://tinyurl.com/4m4ed4tc
Dark Matter Labs: By NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?11894, https://tinyurl.com/4bd3rpkt
WFIRST 2017 AAS Hyperwall Presentation: By NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - USRA/Scott Wiessinger, HTSI/Chris Meaney, HTSI/Walt Feimer, NASA/GSFC/Neil Gehrels - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12417, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WFIRST_2017_AAS_Hyperwall_Presentation_(SVS12417_-_Dark_Energy_Expansion_Graph_FINAL).webm
CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0:
quantum fluctuations: By The Royal Society / YouTube, https://tinyurl.com/yd9f9v2r
The oldest stars: By The Royal Society / YouTube, https://tinyurl.com/mssxner4
CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0:
Large scale structure: By Igorzinchenko, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Large_scale_structure.webm
CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0:
Constrained Local Universe Evolution Simulation: By Mark Paternostro - Adler Planetarium - https://www.eso.org/public/videos/clues_adler/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Constrained_Local_Universe_Evolution_Simulation_(spherical).webm
Hubblecast 118: By NASA, ESA, ESO/L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser - https://spacetelescope.org/videos/hubblecast118a/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hubblecast_118.webm
JADES-GS-z14-0: By NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, B. Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), B. Johnson (CfA), S. Tacchella (Cambridge), P. Cargile (CfA) - https://esawebb.org/images/jades4, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=148912099
Hubblecast 58: By ESA/Hubble - http://spacetelescope.org/videos/heic1215a/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hubblecast_58.webm
DESI Uses Distant Quasars: By NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Marenfeld - DESI Uses Distant Quasars to Map the Cosmic Web - https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2408d, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=147129646
DESI Year-One Data Slice: By DESI Collaboration/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Proctor - DESI Year-One Data Slice - https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2408b, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=147129624
Animation is created by Bright Side.
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FunTranscript
00:00Our universe is starting to glitch, and it looks like we're going through the biggest tension in astronomy since Einstein redefined gravity.
00:09But scientists aren't having a cow yet, because this kind of chaos usually means we're about to discover something huge.
00:17So let's run through the biggest issues driving the crisis.
00:20For decades, cosmetology ran on the idea that the universe should look uniform in all directions for anyone anywhere within it.
00:31They call this idea the basic cosmological principle, not to be confused with the cosmetological principle, which states all women should wear a color of lipstick right for them.
00:42But I digress.
00:43Cosmologically speaking, it means you might see clumps up close, but on massive scales, everything should smooth out.
00:52Because of that, scientists figure no structure should be bigger than about 1.2 billion light-years.
00:58Yeah, that's big.
00:59So they were more surprised to find a structure called the Big Ring.
01:04This thing is nearly a perfect circle made of galaxies and galaxy clusters, and it's about 1.3 billion light-years wide.
01:11Now, a light-year is the distance light travels in a year, and since light is the fastest thing in the universe, that already tells you how enormous this distance is.
01:22If your eyes could see it, it would stretch across the sky like 15 full moons lined up side by side.
01:29See?
01:29And the Big Ring isn't alone.
01:32A couple of years earlier, the same astronomer spotted something called the Giant Arc, a curved structure stretching 3.3 billion light-years.
01:40Then there's the giant GRB ring, found in 2015, with a mind-melting diameter of 5.6 billion light-years.
01:50The Big Ring and the giant arc show up in the same part of the sky at about the same distance from Earth.
01:56So there's a real chance they're actually parts of an even bigger structure hiding in plain sight.
02:02Now, another scientific drama has to do with something called the Hubble constant.
02:08That is, how fast the universe expands, the connection between how far away an object is, and how fast it's moving away from us.
02:17That number helps scientists figure out the age, size, and future of the universe.
02:22The Hubble Space Telescope determined that number with an accuracy of almost 1%.
02:27The universe is about 13.8 billion years old.
02:32So, there was Hubble and later the James Webb Space Telescope that measured distances to faraway galaxies and figured out how fast they're moving away from us.
02:42In everyday terms, they showed that for every million light-years you go out into space, galaxies move away about 45 to 47 miles per second.
02:52That expansion speed lines up nicely with a universe that's 13.8 billion years old.
02:58But there's another, totally different way to measure the universe's expansion.
03:03And it looks way further back in time.
03:06Scientists study the Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB, which is the leftover heat from the Big Bang.
03:14It's the oldest light in the universe, released when the universe cooled enough for light to travel freely.
03:19When scientists use the CMB to calculate how fast the universe should be expanding, they get a slower number, about 42 miles per second per million light-years, instead of 45 to 47.
03:33Now, that might not sound like much, but in cosmology, that gap is enormous.
03:39Both methods are extremely precise, and yet they stubbornly refuse to agree.
03:45This disagreement has a name, the Hubble Tension.
03:47Right now, nobody knows why this is happening.
03:51Something might be missing from our understanding of the early universe.
03:56Now, just when astronomers thought it couldn't get stranger, the James Webb Space Telescope kicked the door down.
04:03It spotted some impossible early galaxies.
04:06These galaxies show up just 500 to 800 million years after the Big Bang.
04:11According to everything we thought we knew, galaxies at that age should look messy, small, and half-finished.
04:19But instead, Webb keeps spotting galaxies that look like they've had billions of years to grow up.
04:25They already show organized shapes like disks and bulges, basically the same structures you see in modern galaxies like the Milky Way.
04:33Features like that should take several billion years to form, not a few hundred million.
04:39It's like meeting a teenager who somehow has the wisdom of an 80-year-old.
04:44Now, in some cases, smaller galaxies seem to pack more mass than bigger ones, which also completely flips our expectations.
04:51Even cooler, some of those early galaxies contain heavy elements like oxygen and carbon.
04:58Stars make those elements, but stars need time to cook them up through nuclear fusion.
05:04Seeing heavy elements like that early is like finding baked bread before anyone invented ovens.
05:10Either the universe evolved way faster than we thought, or our timeline is missing entire chapters.
05:17Another weird headache in cosmology is all about lithium.
05:22Yep, the same element in phone batteries.
05:25According to the Big Bang idea, the early universe was insanely hot and dense.
05:30Hot enough to smash particles together and create a tiny amount of lithium.
05:35Not much, but enough that we should still see about 5 lithium atoms for every 10 billion hydrogen atoms floating around today.
05:44Astronomers can actually check this by looking at stars.
05:47They use a trick called spectroscopy, which means splitting starlight into colors to see what elements are inside.
05:54Now, to estimate a star's age, they look at iron.
05:58Iron only forms in supernova explosions.
06:00So stars with very little iron are super old, born when the universe was still young.
06:07But here's the problem.
06:09Those ancient low-iron stars barely have any lithium.
06:12Not just a little less, sometimes less than one-twentieth of what the Big Bang predicts.
06:18And the older the star, the worse the mismatch gets.
06:22Scientists call this mess the lithium problem.
06:25And it's been haunting cosmology for decades.
06:28Some researchers tried to explain it by saying stars somehow destroy lithium internally.
06:33But every version of that idea crashes into other observations.
06:37Instead of getting better, the problem keeps getting worse.
06:42And when a simple element refuses to behave, it usually means our picture of the early universe still misses something big.
06:50Well, dark matter adds another dark spot to the picture.
06:55Scientists invented it to explain why galaxies don't fly apart.
06:59It acts like invisible glue.
07:00Models predict dark matter should pile up densely in galaxy centers and form sharp spikes.
07:07But observations keep showing smooth soft cores instead.
07:12It's like expecting a mountain peak and finding a gently rolling hill.
07:16That mismatch shows that dark matter isn't behaving the way scientists assumed at all.
07:21Some of them even suggest dark matter might feel a fifth force.
07:26Something beyond gravity, electromagnetism, and other known forces.
07:31That idea sounds wild, but it neatly explains why dark matter spreads differently than predicted.
07:38If it turns out to be true, it would change how we perceive the way galaxies form, how they evolve,
07:44and how the universe structures itself on every scale.
07:47And finally, there's dark energy that has confused scientists ever since they stumbled on it about 25 years ago.
07:56It makes up most of the universe, and we still don't know what it is.
08:00The default idea said dark energy stays constant, like a built-in pressure of empty space itself.
08:07Some theories link it to quantum fluctuations, which are tiny particles popping in and out of existence in empty space.
08:14But when scientists calculated how strong that effect should be, they got a value trillions upon trillions of times too big.
08:23So clearly, something didn't add up.
08:26Now, a massive project shows that dark energy might not be constant after all.
08:32Instead, it might have peaked about 4.5 billion years ago and slowly weakened since then.
08:38If that's true, dark energy changes over time.
08:42Why does this matter?
08:43Because dark energy controls the universe's future.
08:47If it stays strong, the universe keeps expanding faster and faster until galaxies drift so far away we can't see them anymore.
08:56A scenario called the Big Freeze.
08:58If dark energy weakens enough, gravity might slowly fight back.
09:03Expansion would slow.
09:05And galaxies that are currently disappearing could drift back into view.
09:09All these problems share something unsettling.
09:12They're systematic.
09:14They repeat across instruments, methods, and research teams.
09:18Random errors don't behave this consistently.
09:21The universe keeps giving conflicting answers, no matter how carefully scientists ask the questions.
09:27That's why researchers call this a crisis.
09:31Not because science failed, but because it's working exactly as it should by revealing where our ideas fall short.
09:39That's it for today.
09:40So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
09:45Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.
09:49Alright.
09:49Let's go.
09:50Let's go.
09:50Let's go.
09:51Let's take this
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