- 2 hours ago
Join us on a journey through space and Earth’s hidden codes, where science meets intrigue in unexpected ways.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00We also might have just stumbled upon the mother of all water reserves, floating in space.
00:06And it's been hiding under our noses for at least around 12 billion years.
00:11As for its size, it's hard to even imagine.
00:14140 trillion times larger than all the oceans on our home planet combined.
00:21This cosmic water world is orbiting around a large black hole known as a quasar,
00:26located 12 billion light-years away.
00:29Quasars feature supermassive black holes spewing out colossal quantities of radiation.
00:35This one in particular is estimated to be 20 billion times heavier than our sun
00:40and carrying energy that could outshine a thousand trillion of them.
00:44Here in our cozy Milky Way, we're used to seeing water in ice form.
00:49This water reserve in particular seems to be in the shape of vapors.
00:53The important thing about this discovery is that there may be water everywhere in the universe.
00:59We just need to learn where to look.
01:02You might be surprised to learn that not all stars are hot to the touch.
01:06We used to think all stars were like our sun, these blazing hot balls of fire, ready to melt anything
01:12in their path.
01:13Their cooler counterparts are called brown dwarfs.
01:17What makes them special is that they're too small to pull off the nuclear fusion that keeps stars like our
01:23sun shining.
01:24They don't give off much light or heat, which makes them hard to see.
01:28These brown dwarfs are also split into different categories.
01:32There's this one group called Y-type stars, and they're the coldest, with a surface temperature lower than your average
01:38cup of tea.
01:39If you could reach out and touch one, you'd probably just feel a cozy warmth.
01:45Around 4 billion years ago, Uranus apparently switched places with Neptune.
01:50It's hard to imagine planets that big doing that, but this theory might solve the mystery of how our solar
01:57system came to be.
01:58We know that rocky planets formed after big collisions.
02:03Take our planet, for instance.
02:05Around 4.6 billion years ago, things kept bumping into each other around the sun until our watery Earth reached
02:12its final form.
02:13It also included one larger collision that blew up enough rock and gas for it to generate our moon.
02:20But when it comes to our larger solar system neighbors, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune, scientists still haven't got an answer.
02:28Standard models said it'd take forever for them to form, way longer than the solar system itself has been around.
02:35If this new theory is correct, it suggests that Uranus and Neptune came from this dense cloud of gas compacted
02:43around the sun.
02:45Problem is, for the theory to make sense, they had to have swapped places at some point in history.
02:52Neptune is about 2.8 billion miles away, the farthest any planet can be in our solar system.
02:59Uranus is a bit closer, located at 1.9 billion miles.
03:03It's not a definitive answer to how gas giants were formed.
03:07It's more like a strong hunch backed up by looking at a lot of numbers.
03:13Speaking of weird things found in our universe, what about this floating spoon that NASA's Curiosity rover took a picture
03:20of on Mars?
03:21As the machine was cruising around the red planet, it stumbled upon this oddly spoon-shaped rock during the summer
03:28of 2015.
03:30The rock has a handle and even throws shade on the ground.
03:33It's not a leftover utensil from some Martian picnic, but rather what NASA scientists call a ventifact.
03:41That means it's a rock that got sculpted by the wind.
03:44It's not the first time the Martian surface has delighted us with weird, windy sculptures.
03:49There was the face on Mars, a rat, and even jelly donuts.
03:55It's also possible that diamonds are raining down on over 1,900 exoplanets out there in space.
04:03Scientists found out that you don't need particularly hot temperatures for carbon to turn into diamonds, like it was previously
04:10believed.
04:10Up until recently, we only knew of Neptune and Uranus to potentially feature sparkling showers.
04:18Astronomers were onto this interesting phenomenon for about four decades, but these planets were hard to study.
04:25We've only had one space mission, Voyager 2, swing by for a peek.
04:31A lot of progress is being made, though, thanks to lab simulations.
04:36Neptune and Uranus are called the ice giants because their outer layers are filled with hydrogen, helium, water, and ammonia,
04:44what scientists call ice.
04:46And that gorgeous blue hue they have is due to the methane in their atmospheres.
04:52The beautiful diamond-y phenomenon happens deep down, however.
04:57If we could visit, we would see that beneath the thick atmosphere, there are layers of very dense ice.
05:03And under all that pressure, chemical reactions are happening, possibly generating diamonds the size of a small town.
05:12We can't just dive into Neptune or Uranus with a diamond-seeking probe.
05:17Instead, the same conditions are being replicated in labs here on Earth,
05:22squeezing matter between diamond anvils and zapping it with lasers to mimic the extreme conditions.
05:29Under these circumstances, scientists managed to create artificial diamonds.
05:34Understanding how these rocks formed down there could also explain why Neptune is hotter than it should be,
05:40and why it's got such intense storms.
05:43These diamonds might also be the key to unlocking the mystery of Uranus and Neptune's weird magnetic fields.
05:50If we compare it to our planets, it doesn't behave the same way,
05:55so there may be weird things happening under the surface to affect the magnetism.
06:00NASA's plans include sending a new probe to Neptune or Uranus in the next decade.
06:06With the planets aligning just right in 2030,
06:09it's the perfect time to explore these potentially diamond-filled worlds up close.
06:16Planet Kepler-78b is another weird cosmic discovery.
06:21It's a hot, molten world that's doing laps around its star in record time,
06:26once every eight and a half hours.
06:28And pretty close, less than one million miles away.
06:32Hot environments aside,
06:34if we could set foot on its surface,
06:37we'd notice its sun being 80 times larger on its sky
06:40than the daily view we have here on Earth from our star.
06:44If we apply what we know so far about how planets form,
06:48this little guy shouldn't even be there.
06:51Specialists still don't have a clue how it came to be or how it ended up where it is now.
06:57What we do know is that it will disappear soon.
07:00Sort of.
07:02Since it's so close to its start,
07:04this scorching hot planet is going to collide with it in a couple of billion years.
07:09Sounds like a lot, but it's a cosmic jiffy.
07:14What's similar between our planet and Kepler-78b is the density.
07:19Sure, it's about 20% bigger than Earth and weighs almost double,
07:23but it's got that same solid interior.
07:26There's no possibility of it forming any closer to its star
07:30and simply moving away with time.
07:32It also couldn't have been born much further away and migrated in.
07:36Any movement inward would have been unstoppable,
07:38and it would have also collided with the star.
07:42This may not be a particularly groundbreaking discovery,
07:46but chances are you've never thought of it.
07:48There may be space dust in your hair right now.
07:51Every day, loads of outer space matter comes raining down on Earth.
07:56Sometimes we get flashy objects,
07:58like when a meteor turns into a meteorite by crashing down to the ground.
08:03But most of the time, it's quieter.
08:05This cosmic material drifts down through the atmosphere,
08:08landing softly as what we call space dust.
08:12It may not sound like much,
08:13but it does add up to around 14 tons every single day.
08:17This space dust contains tiny fragments of rock and metal,
08:22broken off from asteroids and comets during big collisions.
08:26These particles are very small.
08:28You can't see them without special tools.
08:30But every time you step outside,
08:32some of it might land in your hair.
08:39If you take a bird's-eye view of the U.S.,
08:41you might spot some creepy barcode-like symbols etched into the pavement.
08:46Well, don't worry.
08:47They're not surveillance QR codes or ancient artifacts.
08:51Back in the 20th century,
08:52these symbols were used to calibrate aerial and satellite cameras.
08:57Up close, you'll see that they were made using black or white paint on concrete or asphalt.
09:02They're usually smaller than a basketball court
09:05and have a bunch of organized bar-shaped lines.
09:08Planes and satellites use them to fine-tune their imaging equipment.
09:12It's like an eye chart for cameras,
09:14determining their optical resolution limits.
09:17Nowadays, we don't need these targets anymore,
09:20since our technology has advanced.
09:22So these giant barcodes have become pretty much useless.
09:26But you can still find dozens of them scattered across the U.S.,
09:30including the Nevada test site.
09:32Fort Huachuca in Arizona,
09:34Travis Air Force Base in California,
09:36and in other parts of the world, too.
09:39Still, size does not always matter
09:41when it comes to seeing something creepy from the sky.
09:44Take phytoplankton, for example.
09:46These teeny-tiny bacteria may seem insignificant,
09:49but when they team up,
09:51they create a mind-blowing watercolor masterpiece
09:54that can be seen all the way from space.
09:57Up close, you can't even see these little tiny plants.
09:59But thanks to NASA's satellite images,
10:02we can witness the massive blooms they form.
10:05It looks as if they're taking over the ocean.
10:08Such phytoplankton blooms are like explosive growth spurts for these plants,
10:12happening in a jiffy.
10:14Luckily, satellites keep an eye on their expansion
10:17and make sure they aren't causing any trouble for our environment.
10:21Anyways, you don't need to go up into the sky
10:24to look at some creepy stuff.
10:27Take these spooky lights in Marfa,
10:29a super-cute art town in West Texas.
10:33These ghostly Marfa lights show up at night
10:36near Highway 67 in the desert.
10:38They're distant glowing spots of different colors
10:41that pulse and flicker,
10:43getting brighter and then fading away.
10:45Plus, they zoom around,
10:47flying above desert plants like they've got places to be.
10:51Some folks say it's just car headlights,
10:53ranch lights, campfires,
10:55or some weird reflections in the atmosphere.
10:57But the people who have actually seen them
11:00swear these lights are like nothing they've ever witnessed before.
11:03These ghost lights have been spooking folks
11:06since the late 1800s
11:08when early settlers chased after them in the dark,
11:10only to come up empty-handed.
11:13The city of Roswell in New Mexico
11:15is famous for paranormal things and secrets.
11:19Back in 1947,
11:21there was this dude and his son chilling on their ranch
11:24when they stumbled upon some weird metallic debris
11:26that was super light.
11:28They took a few pieces of the wreckage
11:29to the Roswell Sheriff,
11:31who then got in touch with Colonel Blanchard,
11:33the big shot in charge of the
11:35Roswell Army Airfield Composite Group.
11:37As they were trying to figure out
11:39what the heck that wreckage was,
11:41an intelligence officer went ahead
11:43and publicly announced
11:44that Roswell Army Airfield
11:46had actually gotten their hands
11:48on a flying saucer.
11:50Still, a few decades later,
11:52the U.S. Air Force released a report
11:54saying that the wreckage
11:55was nothing more than a test balloon.
11:58In the Manistash Ridge of Washington,
12:01there's this crazy hole
12:02on the property of a man
12:04who identified himself as Mel Waters.
12:07People say it's not just an ordinary hole,
12:10but a gateway to another dimension.
12:12Now, for years,
12:14Mel and his neighbors used this hole
12:15as their personal trash can.
12:17I mean, they chucked everything in there,
12:19from regular old garbage
12:21to busted appliances.
12:22The hole never filled up,
12:24no matter how much junk they tossed in.
12:27But this bottomless pit
12:28also had some spooky stuff going on.
12:32Radios would pick up weird signals,
12:34and even dogs didn't want to go near this hole.
12:37Waters claimed that sometimes
12:39a mysterious black beam
12:41would shoot out from the hole,
12:42and portable radios
12:43would start playing tunes from the past.
12:46Now, by the way,
12:47Mel tried to measure this hole,
12:49and it turned out to be deeper than 80,000 feet,
12:52and he didn't even reach the bottom.
12:54Sometime later,
12:55the authorities asked Mr. Waters
12:57to lease them his property,
12:58but the hole disappeared into thin air.
13:01To this day,
13:02nobody has been able to find
13:04this mind-bending, mysterious hole.
13:07Another paranormal place on our list
13:10is called Skinwalker Ranch
13:11in Uinta County, Utah.
13:13This 512-acre property
13:16has seen over 100 incidents of weirdness.
13:20We're talking about animals
13:22disappearing into thin air,
13:24magnetic fields going haywire,
13:26mysterious lights,
13:27and even animals with glowing red eyes.
13:30Now, despite all the buzz,
13:32every attempt to investigate
13:33and recreate these occurrences
13:35has ended in failure.
13:37Some skeptics think
13:38that the current owners
13:39just make up these stories,
13:41because the previous owners
13:42never mentioned anything
13:43out of the ordinary.
13:45But it hasn't stopped folks
13:46from cashing in on the craziness.
13:48We've got movies, TV shows,
13:50and documentaries
13:51about Skinwalker Ranch,
13:53keeping the mystery alive and kicking.
13:56Mount Shasta,
13:57down in California's Cascade Range,
13:59has got quite a reputation.
14:01It's been a hotbed of myths
14:02and legends for centuries.
14:05The indigenous tribes in the area
14:07held this mountain in high regard,
14:09thinking there was a secret city
14:11tucked away inside.
14:12They believed the city
14:14had all sorts of extraordinary stuff,
14:16like intricate tunnels
14:18filled with dazzling jewels
14:19and treasures.
14:21In 1904,
14:22a British prospector claimed
14:24he had stumbled upon
14:25an underground village
14:26while exploring the mountain.
14:28He said he found gold,
14:30ancient artifacts,
14:31and even giant mummies.
14:32But here's the twist.
14:34When he was supposed to guide
14:36an exploration team
14:37back to the village,
14:38he simply vanished.
14:40Some folks think
14:41there really was a village
14:42inside Mount Shasta,
14:43but it's been abandoned for ages.
14:46Others, though,
14:47believe that an ancient civilization
14:49still calls this mountain home.
14:51If you're not ready
14:52to spend money on traveling
14:54to see spooky places,
14:55then just open Google Maps.
14:57The service has much to offer
14:59in terms of creepiness.
15:01Start with Nazca lines,
15:03massive geoglyphs
15:04chilling in the Peruvian desert.
15:06You'll see all types of shapes.
15:08Spiders, spirals, birds,
15:10you name it.
15:11Still, you can only see them
15:13from above,
15:14for example,
15:14from an airplane or a drone.
15:16The weird thing is
15:17that they've been hanging out there
15:19since way before humans
15:20took to the skies.
15:21How on earth
15:22did they get there?
15:24Well, no plausible version here.
15:26It's still a mystery.
15:29Another Google Maps destination
15:31you gotta visit
15:32is the Real Light Ghost Town.
15:35Check out these
15:36super spooky sculptures
15:37standing right on the edge
15:39of Death Valley in Nevada.
15:40Let me tell you
15:41the wild and crazy story
15:43of how Real Light
15:44came to be in 1904.
15:47The thing is,
15:48one day,
15:48a lot of gold
15:49was found in that area.
15:51The news spread like wildfire
15:52and hordes of people
15:54started flocking to Real Light.
15:56Things were popping there.
15:57They had all the essentials
15:58of a half-man town.
16:00An ice-cream parlor,
16:01a school, banks,
16:03even an ice plant.
16:04But as luck would have it,
16:06things took a turn.
16:07The financial panic of 1907 hit,
16:10and it was like
16:11a deflation party in reverse.
16:13People started bailing out,
16:15and by 1920,
16:16only 14 people were left there.
16:19Nowadays,
16:20if you wander around Real Light,
16:21you'll see some epic sights.
16:23The main road
16:24takes you past
16:25these crumbling banks
16:26that were once
16:27filled with gold.
16:29Real Light is also famous
16:30for its bottle house,
16:32made of over 50,000 bottles.
16:34Paramount Pictures
16:35even stepped in
16:36to restore it in 1925
16:38because they realized
16:39Real Light
16:40was the perfect
16:41filming location.
16:42There's a secret spot
16:44that's strictly off-limits
16:45to tourists.
16:46The Vatican Secret Archives.
16:49Still,
16:50you can visit it
16:51without leaving
16:51your cozy couch.
16:53Just use Google Maps.
16:55Rumor has it
16:56that this library
16:57might hold the key
16:58to some serious
16:59paranormal stuff.
17:00So,
17:01if you're up for an adventure
17:02that combines history,
17:03art,
17:03and a sprinkle
17:04of extraterrestrial intrigue,
17:07Vatican City
17:08and its secret archives
17:09should definitely
17:10be on your
17:11travel bucket list.
Comments