- 10 hours ago
From gamma ray bursts and supernova explosions to black holes and unknown alien life, we rank the scariest things in the universe by real threat level. This space documentary starts with cosmic dangers scientists understand and escalates to mysteries that challenge modern astrophysics. Learn how black holes warp space, how supernovae blast radiation across light-years, and why gamma-ray bursts could sterilize entire planets. Then we confront the most unsettling truth of all - the sheer size of the universe and how cosmic scale crushes human intuition. Watch now for a mind bending journey through space threats, existential risks, and the darkest corners of cosmology. Credit:
Gravity / Warner Bros.
Satellites and Space Debris: By NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - USRA/Kel Elkins, Jessica Ende, OMITRON/Charles Fisher, Christina Mitchell - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5258, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tracking_Satellites_and_Space_Debris_in_Earth_Orbit_(Feb_2024)_(SVS5258_-_all_trackable_closer_2160p60).webm
Pitch Black / Polygram Filmed Entertainment
A Galaxy Grouping: By G. Bacon, J. DePasquale, F. Summers, Z. Levay (STScI) - https://hubblesite.org/video/1207/science, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Galaxy_Grouping.webm
red giant & neutron star: By NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010800/a010808/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christmas_burst_red_giant_%26_neutron_star.ogv
Record-Breaking Burst: By NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - Francis Reddy, Elizabeth Hays, Brad Cenko, Scott Wiessinger - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14227, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NASA_Missions_Detect_Record-Breaking_Burst_(SVS14227).webm
First Star 18 Times B-roll: By NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - ADNET Systems, Inc./Aaron E. Lepsch, KBR Wyle Services, LLC/Michael McClare, Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc./Sophia Roberts, Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc./Michael P. Menzel - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14248, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_James_Webb_Space_Telescope_First_Star_18_Ti[…]l_(SVS14248_-_Webb_Sees_First_Star_18_Times_B-roll_2).webm
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace / Lucasfilm
Avatar / Twentieth Century Fox
Hubblecast 58: By ESA/Hubble - http://spacetelescope.org/videos/heic1215a/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hubblecast_58.webm
Nearby Superclusters: By Galaxies3D, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nearby_Superclusters.webm
CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0:
Galaxy Collision Animation: By James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) / YouTube, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Galaxy_Collision_Animation-_James_Webb_Space_Telescope_Science.webm
Gravitational Waves: By LIGO Lab Caltech : MIT / YouTube, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LIGO-_The_First_Observation_of_Gravitational_Waves.webm
CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0:
Blue and red kilonova: By Dan Kasen, UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab - https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/153353.php, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_and_red_kilonova_Simulations_and_data_Kasen_2017.ogv
Shapley Supercluster: By Judy Schmidt - https://flic.kr/p/22Ac2tD, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93039482
CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/:
Galaxy collision: By Ingo Berg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Galaxy_collision.ogv
CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0:
SDvision RepulseurDipole v001: By Dpomarede, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=102119235
CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0:
Universe Evolution Simulation: By Dr. Joel Primack, Dr. Anatoly Klypin, Dr. Stefan Gottlöber, Chris Henze, Nina McCurdy, Dr. Mark SubbaRao, Patrick McPike, Dr. Doug Roberts, Mark Paternostro, Adler Planetarium - https://www.eso.org/public/videos/clues_adler/, https://tinyurl.com/23m5fpb8
black hole inside NGC 300 X-1: By ESO/L. Calçada - http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1004a/, https://tinyurl.com/25ax6f8d
Animation is created by Bright Side.
Gravity / Warner Bros.
Satellites and Space Debris: By NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - USRA/Kel Elkins, Jessica Ende, OMITRON/Charles Fisher, Christina Mitchell - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5258, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tracking_Satellites_and_Space_Debris_in_Earth_Orbit_(Feb_2024)_(SVS5258_-_all_trackable_closer_2160p60).webm
Pitch Black / Polygram Filmed Entertainment
A Galaxy Grouping: By G. Bacon, J. DePasquale, F. Summers, Z. Levay (STScI) - https://hubblesite.org/video/1207/science, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Galaxy_Grouping.webm
red giant & neutron star: By NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010800/a010808/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christmas_burst_red_giant_%26_neutron_star.ogv
Record-Breaking Burst: By NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - Francis Reddy, Elizabeth Hays, Brad Cenko, Scott Wiessinger - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14227, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NASA_Missions_Detect_Record-Breaking_Burst_(SVS14227).webm
First Star 18 Times B-roll: By NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - ADNET Systems, Inc./Aaron E. Lepsch, KBR Wyle Services, LLC/Michael McClare, Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc./Sophia Roberts, Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc./Michael P. Menzel - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14248, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_James_Webb_Space_Telescope_First_Star_18_Ti[…]l_(SVS14248_-_Webb_Sees_First_Star_18_Times_B-roll_2).webm
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace / Lucasfilm
Avatar / Twentieth Century Fox
Hubblecast 58: By ESA/Hubble - http://spacetelescope.org/videos/heic1215a/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hubblecast_58.webm
Nearby Superclusters: By Galaxies3D, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nearby_Superclusters.webm
CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0:
Galaxy Collision Animation: By James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) / YouTube, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Galaxy_Collision_Animation-_James_Webb_Space_Telescope_Science.webm
Gravitational Waves: By LIGO Lab Caltech : MIT / YouTube, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LIGO-_The_First_Observation_of_Gravitational_Waves.webm
CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0:
Blue and red kilonova: By Dan Kasen, UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab - https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/153353.php, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_and_red_kilonova_Simulations_and_data_Kasen_2017.ogv
Shapley Supercluster: By Judy Schmidt - https://flic.kr/p/22Ac2tD, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93039482
CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/:
Galaxy collision: By Ingo Berg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Galaxy_collision.ogv
CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0:
SDvision RepulseurDipole v001: By Dpomarede, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=102119235
CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0:
Universe Evolution Simulation: By Dr. Joel Primack, Dr. Anatoly Klypin, Dr. Stefan Gottlöber, Chris Henze, Nina McCurdy, Dr. Mark SubbaRao, Patrick McPike, Dr. Doug Roberts, Mark Paternostro, Adler Planetarium - https://www.eso.org/public/videos/clues_adler/, https://tinyurl.com/23m5fpb8
black hole inside NGC 300 X-1: By ESO/L. Calçada - http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1004a/, https://tinyurl.com/25ax6f8d
Animation is created by Bright Side.
Category
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FunTranscript
00:00To say space is harsh is, well, an understatement.
00:04It's filled with creepy things.
00:06What about gamma-ray bursts that could cancel your existence, and mine too, on our planet tomorrow?
00:13Or mysterious, eerie, empty supervoids that are up to no good either?
00:18Which one scares you the most?
00:20Well, let's watch and pick, huh?
00:23And the first scary thing on our list is space junk.
00:26Look up there at the nice sky.
00:28You might think you see stars and a few satellites, but there's something else up there.
00:34A mess of space junk, and it's growing.
00:37Earth's orbit is our highest trash dump.
00:40Old satellites that don't work anymore.
00:43Empty rocket parts.
00:45And thousands of broken pieces are all flying around the planet.
00:48And they're moving insanely fast.
00:50So fast that even a tiny fragment can hit with the force of an explosion.
00:55Right now, we're tracking over 30,000 objects in orbit.
00:59And that's just the big stuff.
01:01There are millions more pieces too small to see, but still dangerous.
01:06In space, even something the size of a marble can cause serious damage.
01:11Still, extreme planets are even spookier.
01:14In our own neighborhood, some planets are kind of overwhelming.
01:19Mercury can reach about 800 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:22Venus is even hotter at 860 degrees, thanks to its thick, heat-trapping atmosphere.
01:28For reference, the Sun's surface is around 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:33But that's nothing compared to Kelt 9b, the hottest planet ever found.
01:39Its temperature soars to roughly 7,800 degrees.
01:43That's hot enough to rip atoms apart.
01:46Under conditions like that, Mercury would vaporize into glowing plasma.
01:51At the opposite end is a planet nicknamed Auth.
01:54It's about 5.5 times Earth's mass and sits at around minus 370 degrees, just barely above absolute zero.
02:04Even though it orbits a star, that star is a dim red dwarf, so the planet gets almost no heat.
02:11Size-wise, Jupiter dominates our solar system.
02:15This gas giant outweighs all the other planets combined.
02:18But this planet, I'll let you read its name, is on another level.
02:24It's about 28 times Jupiter's mass.
02:27A big boy.
02:28It's so huge that scientists think it might actually be a brown dwarf, a failed star that almost ignited nuclear
02:36fusion.
02:37And then there's Venus, our solar system's climate nightmare.
02:41It's similar in size to Earth, but wrapped in crushing air that's nearly a thousand times denser than ours.
02:49Winds there race at over 220 miles per hour.
02:53Sulfuric acid rains from the clouds, and the surface pressure would flatten you instantly.
02:59Sounds terrifying, but only until you hear about supernovae.
03:03A supernova is the most powerful explosion we've ever witnessed.
03:07It's what happens when a star ends its life in a massive, blinding blast that can briefly outshine an entire
03:15galaxy.
03:16So, what causes it?
03:17One type of supernova happens when a very large star, at least five times heavier than our Sun, runs out
03:24of fuel.
03:25While it's alive, the star stays stable because two forces are fighting against each other.
03:31Gravity pulling inward, and energy from nuclear reactions pushing outward.
03:36But once the fuel is gone, that outward pressure disappears.
03:41Gravity instantly takes over, and the star collapses in on itself in seconds.
03:47The collapse creates huge shockwaves that blast the outer layers of the star into space.
03:53It's rather intense.
03:55But not as intense as colliding galaxies.
03:59You see, galaxies are bound by gravity and are constantly moving.
04:02That's why collisions are common, especially between large galaxies and their smaller companions.
04:09When a small galaxy drifts too close, the larger one's gravity ruthlessly pulls it apart,
04:15robbing it of its stars and gas and absorbing them completely.
04:19When galaxies of similar size collide, the outcome is even more destructive.
04:25Their spiral structures are torn apart, and neither galaxy keeps its original shape.
04:30Well, this sounds impressive, even by universal standards.
04:35And still, gamma ray bursts are even more menacing.
04:38Those are the most powerful explosions in the universe.
04:42In just a fraction of a second, a menacing star, many times heavier than our Sun, collapses into a black
04:49hole.
04:50As it does, the star's outer layers are ripped away,
04:53and two narrow beams of energy blast out in opposite directions.
04:57These beams are so bright, we can detect them from billions of light-years away.
05:03In that minuscule instant, a gamma ray burst releases more energy than the Sun will produce over its entire lifetime.
05:11It's not just a supernova, it's a super supernova.
05:16Now, gamma ray bursts are rare, but they're incredibly dangerous.
05:20Astronomers estimate their destructive effects could stretch across thousands of light-years.
05:25If one were to occur within about 5,000 to 8,000 light-years of Earth, the consequences would be
05:32catastrophic.
05:33One side of the planet would get flooded with deadly radiation.
05:37The ozone layer would be badly damaged or completely destroyed, leaving life exposed to intense radiation from space.
05:45The result would be a mass extinction, on the same scale as the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.
05:51Now, we're approaching something even scarier.
05:55Something most of us are too afraid to imagine.
05:58I mean, other civilizations.
06:00What if they find us?
06:02There's something called the dark forest idea.
06:05Imagine the universe as a pitch-black forest.
06:09Everyone's hiding.
06:10If one civilization makes noise, another, far more advanced, might wipe it out instantly.
06:16Not out of cruelty, but out of fear.
06:19In a place this big, staying silent might be the safest move.
06:24Another alarming idea.
06:26What if a super-advanced society wouldn't even see us as people?
06:30We'd be more like trees in a forest, or fish in the ocean.
06:34Planets could just be raw materials.
06:37And life could be perceived as just a by-product.
06:40There might even be civilizations so advanced they could use the energy of an entire star or even a whole
06:47galaxy.
06:48At that level, erasing a planet like Earth wouldn't take effort.
06:52Thinking about it is a little unsettling.
06:56Even more unsettling is considering the existence of super-voids.
07:01Those are some of the most mind-boggling structures in the universe.
07:05Imagine a patch of space so empty it's missing roughly 10,000 galaxies.
07:11It's cold, vast, and almost completely devoid of matter.
07:15A super-void doesn't fit into our current models of the cosmos.
07:20And scientists often describe it with the word unthinkable.
07:24But it's not completely nothing.
07:26A few lonely galaxies drift inside, which is somehow even more sinister than total emptiness.
07:33The edges of the void aren't smooth.
07:36They have temperature shifts and subtle changes that hint at some invisible forces.
07:41Even light seems to get distorted there, making these regions super-eerie.
07:48But the worst part is that some super-voids can impact us.
07:52For example, something strange is moving our galaxy through space at about 1.2 million miles per hour.
08:00In front of us, a massive cluster of galaxies, called the Shapely Concentration,
08:06650 million light-years away, is pulling us toward it.
08:10And behind us, scientists discovered a nearly empty region of space with almost no galaxies.
08:17They call this super-void the dipole repeller, and it's shoving the Milky Way with incredible force.
08:25What is probably better than being propelled toward a black hole?
08:29Black holes are some of the universe's most ruthless objects.
08:33They can swallow asteroids, comets, planets, and even stars.
08:38Almost every black hole starts its life as a massive star.
08:42Then it runs out of fuel, it collapses in on itself,
08:46and packs more mass into a tiny space than you can imagine.
08:50That's why its gravity is so insane even light can't escape.
08:55A lot of people picture black holes as giant cosmic vacuums,
08:59pulling up everything around them.
09:01But that's a myth.
09:03Black holes can only pull in stuff that gets super close,
09:07crossing what's called the event horizon, a point of no return.
09:11For a black hole with the mass of our Sun, that boundary is just about 2 miles across.
09:17And for a black hole as small as Earth,
09:20the event horizon would be just a couple of inches wide.
09:24Still, their gravity is powerful enough to influence stars and planets nearby.
09:28And now, we're finally ready to speak about the ultimate nightmare the human brain simply can't comprehend.
09:36The sheer size of the universe.
09:39Imagine this.
09:40You're sitting in your room.
09:42That room is inside your house.
09:44Your house is on Earth.
09:46Earth is part of our solar system, which has 8 planets.
09:49And that solar system is just one tiny neighborhood inside the Milky Way galaxy,
09:56home to at least 100 billion other planets.
09:59Now, it is getting wilder.
10:02The Milky Way is just one galaxy in a local group with few others.
10:07That group sits inside the Virgo supercluster, which contains hundreds of galaxies.
10:13And all of that is just a small part of the observable universe,
10:18which stretches about 93 billion light-years across.
10:21And that's only what we can see with our current tech.
10:24We have no idea how much bigger the universe actually is,
10:28or if it even has an end.
10:32Think about that.
10:34That's it for today.
10:35So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity,
10:37then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
10:40Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.
10:44So, let's get started.
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