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Watch as we explore a cosmic object so bright it seems to break the laws of physics, followed by the hilarious mishap of astronauts pointing their camera at the Sun and ruining it. Join us on this fascinating journey through the wonders of space and the challenges faced by those who venture there.
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00:00In a galaxy far, far away, we found the most luminous object ever discovered, ASASSN-151H.
00:11Astronomers were left scratching their heads, wondering what kind of beast could produce such a mind-boggling amount of energy.
00:19But just when they thought they had this cosmic enigma all figured out, this object vanished into the depths of
00:26space, leaving behind nothing but a faint memory.
00:29And a few bewildered astronomers.
00:32Fast forward to today, and it seems the universe has decided to play a cosmic prank on us.
00:39That's right folks, ASASSN-151H is back.
00:44And now, it's brighter than ever.
00:47So let's take a look at this impossibly bright space object.
00:52This event was first detected on June 14th, 2015.
00:57We noticed it in the southern constellation Indus.
01:00It was located within a faint galaxy, which goes to show that sometimes the brightest things come from the most
01:07unexpected places.
01:09It's like finding a diamond in a pile of rocks, or a chocolate chip in a batch of oatmeal raisin
01:14cookies.
01:15No offense to oatmeal raisin lovers out there.
01:20ASASSN-151H was so luminous that if it were in our own galaxy, it would shine brighter than the full
01:28moon.
01:29Imagine that.
01:30No night, no stars.
01:32Just this mysterious thing lighting up the sky like a giant flashlight.
01:36Wouldn't that be cool?
01:38And kind of terrifying.
01:40But in all seriousness, it was a fascinating astronomical event.
01:44At its peak, it was 570 billion times brighter than our sun.
01:50That's so bright, you'd be blinded by the sight of it even from afar.
01:55So picture this.
01:56It's 2015, and astronomers discover the brightest object ever observed.
02:01It was one crazy discovery, because scientists had no idea what it could be.
02:07Is it a supernova?
02:08Is that TDE?
02:10What in the world is this thing?
02:12But then, as soon as they started to study this thing, it started to fade away.
02:18That was a huge bummer.
02:20Scientists could only sit with their theories and wonder what it could be.
02:24But then, against all odds, ASASSN-151H did the astronomical equivalent of a double take.
02:33And suddenly got brighter again.
02:36Astronomers were like, wait, what?
02:38Is that thing coming back from the underworld?
02:41For 40 days, its ultraviolet radiation charged up and increased five-fold.
02:47Then, it plateaued for a couple of months before finally dropping away again.
02:52And then, astronomers were like, okay, that's just weird.
02:56So, what is this thing?
02:58And what caused its resurgence?
03:00Well, there are a few theories.
03:02First up, we have the superluminous supernova theory.
03:06A supernova is like a star's grand finale.
03:09When a star runs out of fuel, it reaches the end of its life.
03:14And then, it undergoes a cataclysmic event, releasing a tremendous amount of energy and light.
03:20And this beautiful, crazily bright event is called supernova.
03:25It's like the ultimate mic drop, except the mic is the entire star.
03:30So, some astronomers think that this mysterious object might be a supernova, but a really, really big one.
03:38If once it was a star, it probably was 100 times more massive than the sun.
03:44We've never seen such supernovae before, but maybe this star was gigantic and really loved attention.
03:52Next, we have the magnetar theory.
03:55So, during the supernova event, the core of the star collapses in on itself and forms a very dense object.
04:03Imagine a marshmallow the size of a mountain.
04:06Now, squeeze that marshmallow until it's about the size of an actual marshmallow.
04:12It's so dense that if you could somehow stand on the surface of a neutron star, which you can't because
04:18you'd be squashed by gravity, you'd weigh as much as a billion elephants.
04:23That's kind of what happens to a star after its fuel runs out.
04:26This super-dense leftover core is called a neutron star.
04:31So, you could say that a supernova is like a star's big send-off party, where it goes out in
04:37a blaze of glory, and a neutron star is what's left over after the party's over, like the empty pizza
04:43boxes and beer cans left after a wild night with friends.
04:48So, some scientists think that ASASN-151H might be something like that.
04:54They think that it was a star that ran out of fuel and became a neutron star.
04:59Then, it spun so fast that it burst out super-hot jets of material.
05:05It's like when you spray water out of a hose, but the water is really, really hot.
05:10These jets can heat up the stuff around them and make the supernova even brighter than usual.
05:16But, our mysterious friend was even brighter than that, so this theory might be wrong.
05:22But that's okay, we still have a few others.
05:25Another theory says that it was caused by the collision of two neutron stars.
05:30Such a collision would cause a real grand spectacle, with clouds of glitter and all that stuff.
05:37Another cool idea is that ASASN-151H might have been caused by a supermassive black hole tearing apart a star
05:46that got too close.
05:48It's like if a hungry monster grabbed a hold of a tasty treat, but instead of eating it, it just
05:54tore it to shreds and made a huge mess.
05:57This one's probably the coolest.
05:59And lastly, the most boring explanation.
06:02This theory suggests that this mysterious object might not be as bright as we think it is.
06:08Instead, its light is being magnified by a galaxy cluster or some other massive object in space.
06:15It's kind of like if you put on a pair of glasses that make everything look bigger and brighter.
06:19So, these were all the possible explanations of this event.
06:24And if these mysteries weren't enough, then remember that scientists have no idea why this object could start glowing again.
06:33They thought that maybe it ran into some nearby gas that made it a bit brighter.
06:37But then they checked if that was the case and didn't see anything.
06:42So, 2-0 in favor of the weird bright thing.
06:46In other words, ASASN-151H remains a mystery.
06:51It's still keeping astronomers on their toes and saying,
06:55You thought you knew everything about supernovae?
06:57Think again, puny humans.
07:00And this isn't the only mystery in our universe.
07:03There are tons of things that scientists still can't explain.
07:07For example, have you heard of dark matter?
07:10No, it's not a group of goth particles, but it's something even more mysterious.
07:16Dark matter is a substance that makes up about 27% of the entire universe.
07:22Yet, we can't see, touch, or taste it, even though it's hiding in plain sight.
07:28Scientists know that it's there because it has a gravitational pull on visible matter.
07:33Kind of like how a good cheeseburger has a gravitational pull on me.
07:38The weirdest thing about dark matter is that we have no idea what it's made of.
07:42It's a mystery box, except we can't even see the box itself.
07:47And the mystery of dark matter still keeps scientists up at night.
07:51Another dark mystery is the elusive and enigmatic dark energy.
07:56It makes up about 68% of the universe, but we still have no idea what it is.
08:03Both of these are called dark because they don't interact with light or any other form of electromagnetic radiation.
08:09In other words, even though we know they exist, we can't see them directly.
08:15Can you imagine?
08:16We can only see about 5% of the universe.
08:20Who knows what else might be hiding there?
08:23One day, scientists noticed that the universe was expanding faster and faster over time.
08:29But it must be impossible, right?
08:32After the Big Bang, the expansion of our universe should gradually lose speed, like everything in nature.
08:39However, this wasn't the case.
08:42So something must be pushing it, right?
08:44And that's how scientists came up with dark energy.
08:47A mysterious force that's thought to be pushing the universe and making it accelerate over time.
08:54But what causes it?
08:56Scientists still have no idea.
08:58And until we figure out what all these things are, they will remain one of the greatest mysteries of our
09:03universe.
09:04So, our mysteriously bright object isn't even one of the biggest puzzles.
09:09We still have tons of things to explain.
09:12Who knows what other secrets the universe is hiding from us?
09:15Either way, let's hope that one day we'll learn more about our world and answer these questions.
09:23Just a few months after the amazing success of Apollo 11, you know, the whole one step for a man,
09:30one giant leap for mankind story?
09:32NASA sent another mission to the moon.
09:35But things got pretty dicey during the launch of Apollo 12, which happened in November 1969.
09:42Still riding high on the triumph of the first moon landing, NASA decided to push the limits even further with
09:49Apollo 12's mission, planning to land on the Ocean of Storms, the biggest dark spot on the moon.
09:56For the first moon landing, they went for the Sea of Tranquility, because it's a relatively flat and even spot.
10:03This time around, the goal was to land the spacecraft with even more precision.
10:09Commander Pete Conrad and landing module pilot Al Bean would get to spend more time on the lunar surface with
10:16two excursions planned.
10:18They would even get to send back the first color TV images from the moon.
10:23On November 14th, the team climbed aboard the massive Saturn V rocket in Florida, while the flight director took his
10:30place at the Mission Control Center in Houston.
10:34It was his first time leading a mission, and little did he know about the dramatic events that would soon
10:40unfold.
10:43Near the launching site, some storms had occurred, so the ground was a bit wet and the sky was cloudy.
10:51At 11.22, the huge white rocket started to lift off the pad and zoom up into the sky.
10:57Conrad and his team were shouting in excitement.
11:00But then, only 36 seconds into the flight, something went wrong.
11:06There was a flash, and all the power to the spacecraft was gone.
11:11It was really scary, and all the alarms started going off.
11:15The team inside Apollo 12 was perplexed.
11:18They had no idea what had happened.
11:23But after some investigation, they found out that the rocket had been hit, not once, but twice, by lightning strikes.
11:31The good news was that the rocket's design allowed it to continue its mission despite the unexpected setback.
11:37Even though it seemed like they were in deep trouble, the Saturn V guidance computer was totally fine and kept
11:43the rocket on track.
11:46They soon got into orbit and said, hey, let's go to the moon.
11:51Four days later, Conrad and Bean made a great landing just feet away from their target, the Surveyor 3 probe.
11:59Conrad was so excited to explore the lunar surface that he couldn't wait to get outside.
12:04The whole NASA team behind this mission was worried that people might have lost interest in the program after Apollo
12:1111.
12:12But they had a plan.
12:14The first color TV broadcast from the surface.
12:17Two companies were tasked with broadcasting the lunar mission live.
12:21In those days, it was important because having two networks joining the effort meant they could reach millions of people.
12:28However, even though NASA focused on TV as a way to connect with the public, the astronauts didn't really get
12:35trained on how to use the camera.
12:37When Conrad made his way down the ladder to the moon's surface, he had to open up a storage bay
12:43to get the video camera out.
12:47The footage was a bit blurry and showed only his legs at first, but it was still amazing to see.
12:54After a little while, Bean popped up next to his teammate on the surface, and they both took a moment
12:59to soak up the crazy new world they found themselves in.
13:03Bean wanted to make sure everybody back on Earth could watch what was happening, so he grabbed the camera, wanting
13:09to set it up on a stand.
13:11But, oops, he accidentally aimed it at the sun, and most of the screen went dark, except for a really
13:17bright white spot at the top.
13:19Whoopsies, I guess.
13:22Even though the astronauts and mission control team tried really hard, they couldn't fix the camera.
13:28It looked like the image sensors were busted for good.
13:31Thankfully, the TV networks had a plan B.
13:34They switched over to a studio, where two actors dressed up like astronauts did a cool simulation of the moonwalk.
13:42They still played the real voices of the astronauts, though, so the audience got to hear everything they were saying.
13:49Apollo 12's story didn't end once the astronauts got back to Earth safely.
13:55In September 2002, a strange space object was noticed by astronauts.
14:00It was orbiting our planet in an unusual way.
14:04Little did they know that the mysterious object was connected to the Apollo 12 mission.
14:09Scientists initially thought the object was an asteroid.
14:12They were surprised by this discovery, since they thought the moon was the only natural object orbiting Earth.
14:19This thing wasn't an asteroid at all, though.
14:21It was actually human-made.
14:24Turns out, it was the rocket that launched the Apollo 12 astronauts to the moon.
14:28It left Earth in 1969 and came back 30 years later.
14:33What do you think happened to it during all that time?
14:38Named the Saturn V rocket, it had three stages, each with a specific job to get the astronauts to the
14:45moon.
14:46The first stage burned for two and a half minutes, lifting them to 42 miles above the Earth's surface.
14:53The second stage then took over for six minutes, taking them even higher and faster.
14:59Finally, the third stage gave a quick burn to get the spacecraft into orbit.
15:04Once there, it did another burn to send the rocket and the crew toward the moon.
15:09After that, the third stage was supposed to be discarded safely.
15:13Or so everyone hoped.
15:14During the Apollo 12 mission, though, things didn't go quite to plan with the discarded part.
15:20In order to ditch Apollo 12's third stage, NASA had to program it to have a special path to meet
15:27up with the moon.
15:28But their first calculations would have led the third stage of the rocket to the wrong side of the moon.
15:33So they had to adjust the target and the speed.
15:37Luckily, the third stage had these cool little thrusters that helped it turn around.
15:41Even though specialists had to adjust their plan, it didn't waste much energy since it was done in advance.
15:48By the time they let that third portion of the rocket go, the team had been going super fast.
15:53To make sure the part went to the right spot, they just had to slow it down a bit.
15:58Easy peasy, you might think.
16:00Yet again, things didn't go exactly as planned.
16:07In reality, NASA had a little mishap with their tracking system when they sent this rocket.
16:13It turns out the system was a bit off, which caused them to slow down the rocket too much and
16:18overcorrect it by just 25 miles per hour.
16:22This small mistake ended up affecting the rocket's initial trajectory.
16:27At one point, it even reached Lagrange point 1, which is a special point in space where the gravitational forces
16:34of Earth and the Sun balance out.
16:37The plan for this third part of the rocket was to send it on a trajectory beyond our planet, making
16:42it orbit the Sun.
16:44It would have been our safest bet, ensuring it wouldn't affect future missions to the Moon by accidentally bumping into
16:50other spacecraft.
16:52But because of the miscalculations, this unlucky piece still ended up traveling around the Sun, but in a wacky pattern
17:00on the inside of Earth's own orbit around the star.
17:03It took 30 years for this unusual object to be dragged back to our planet's orbit by coming across it
17:10at the Lagrange point 1 again, finally.
17:13Once it reached this point, it began to spin around Earth in a very unusual pattern.
17:19To eventually identify the rocket, scientists performed spectroscopy.
17:24This method allowed them to identify what sorts of materials were inside the object.
17:29In short, they were able to figure out the composition of the rocket by studying the way it reflected light.
17:37It didn't take long before they figured out that what they were looking at was a special kind of white
17:43paint that was used for coating NASA rockets.
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