00:00When we look at this close-up of a vibrant orange sun with its active surface and massive solar flares,
00:07we usually see a life-giver.
00:10A stable heat source like this is exactly what makes our planetary ecosystem possible.
00:16But turn your telescope away from our neighborhood and look deep into the cosmos, and you'll find celestial bodies that
00:25operate strictly as destroyers.
00:27High-energy radiation and gravity are often more efficient killers than a standard supernova.
00:35For many systems, the simple proximity of a specific type of star is enough to ensure total sterilization.
00:44Today, we are analyzing three apex killers, each using a different mechanism of destruction to identify the deadliest star in
00:54the known universe.
00:55By tracking these anomalies, we realize that deep space is a highly active, hazardous environment governed by lethal physical loss
01:05rather than a passive, empty backdrop.
01:08This wide-angle photograph shows the central band of the Milky Way galaxy.
01:13In a massive system like this, we expect stars to maintain predictable, stable orbits around the galactic core.
01:23But occasionally, an anomaly breaks those rules.
01:26These are hyper-velocity stars, rogue objects hurtling through the galaxy at speeds exceeding 2 million miles per hour.
01:35To understand how they get this fast, look at this diagram.
01:40It starts with a binary system, two stars orbiting each other, that wander too close to the supermassive black hole
01:48at the center of the galaxy.
01:50The black hole's immense gravity captures one of the stars.
01:54In the process, the orbital momentum transfers to the remaining star, which violently ejects it into deep space like a
02:02gravitational slingshot.
02:03If one of these rogue stars were to cross paths with a foreign solar system, its sheer gravitational pull would
02:12rip planets right out of their habitable orbits, without the need for an explosion.
02:16A rogue star relies purely on extreme mass and velocity.
02:22It proves that kinetic force alone is enough to permanently sterilize a solar system.
02:29To find threats that rely on massive, explosive energy, we have to look toward the constellation Sagittarius.
02:37This infrared image reveals a dense, glowing field of reddish-brown cosmic dust in that region.
02:46Nestled inside that dust is WR104, pictured here as a pinkish crescent nebula.
02:55WR104 is a Wolf-Rayet star, a hyper-luminous giant at the end of its life cycle, rapidly shedding huge
03:04amounts of mass into space.
03:06Because it is shedding mass so quickly, its core will eventually become unstable.
03:13When it can no longer support its own weight, the dying star will cave in on itself in a catastrophic
03:19collapse known as a hypernova.
03:22As the star collapses in this diagram, it ejects extreme radiological energy into two narrow, intense beams from its poles,
03:32a phenomenon called a gamma ray burst.
03:37WR104 is a specific hazard because of its orientation.
03:42Astronomical observations suggest its rotational axis is aimed nearly directly at Earth.
03:48Even from 7,500 light-years away, looking at this full view of Earth, we are vulnerable.
03:55A direct hit from that gamma ray burst could strip our planet's ozone layer, leaving the surface exposed to lethal
04:04cosmic radiation.
04:06WR104 is a testament to the power of concentrated radiological energy.
04:12It shows us that vast physical distance from an explosion does not guarantee safety.
04:18While a gamma ray burst is a brief, sudden flash of terror, other celestial bodies create a sustained, localized death
04:27zone.
04:27This brings us to PSR J1959 plus 2081, the original Black Widow pulsar.
04:36It earns its reputation through a mechanism of sustained parasitic consumption that effectively erases its neighbors over millions of years.
04:46A Black Widow is a special class of millisecond pulsar.
04:50It's a super-dense neutron star that spins hundreds of times every single second, blasting out a relentless wind of
04:59high-energy, relativistic particles.
05:02Notice the interaction in this diagram.
05:05The pulsar is locked in a tight orbit with a smaller companion star.
05:10The pulsar's intense radiation field strikes the companion, violently heating its surface in a process called ablation.
05:17Under that relentless bombardment, the companion star slowly vaporizes.
05:24The pulsar is actively stripping its neighbor, atom by atom, until it is entirely consumed.
05:31Black Widow pulsars demonstrate a unique level of cosmic lethality.
05:35Their proximity creates a guaranteed, inescapable process of destruction that leaves nothing behind.
05:42The spectrum of destruction ranges from kinetic cannonballs and targeted radiological beams, to pulsars that vaporize their companions atom by
05:53atom.
05:54Yet astrophysicists actively seek out these extreme phenomena.
05:58They serve as natural laboratories, allowing researchers to study nuclear physics under intense pressures and radiation levels that are impossible
06:09to recreate on Earth.
06:10As humanity eventually looks toward deep space navigation, knowing where these hazards are located will be a basic requirement for
06:20survival.
06:21We have to map out these death zones before we can plot a safe course through the galaxy.
06:27Charting the universe's ultimate stellar monsters is our first necessary step to safely exploring the cosmos.
06:34To continue mapping the unknown with us, subscribe to the channel and click the next video to see exactly what
06:41happens when two galaxies collide.
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