0:00

Backyard in need of some professional help? If

0:02

you've got a messy landscape, including a

0:05

shed filled with junk, trees that need

0:07

trimming, or RVs and fifth wheels that

0:09

need hauling off, leave the mess to

0:11

the experts. Get your free estimate at

0:13

clayscleanup.com. When.

0:21

The idea of a son centered

0:23

or helio centric universe first started

0:26

to arrive on the scene in

0:28

the late Fifteen hundreds and early

0:30

sixteen hundreds, and Europe there was.

0:33

A. Very reasonable Objection:

0:36

To. The idea. In. This objection

0:38

came from Tiger Bri. hey perhaps

0:40

the greatest strong were to ever

0:43

live at least according to take

0:45

over. I any said, look. Let's.

0:48

Say we live in a solar system. Cute name

0:51

by the way for. For this set

0:53

up in the earth revolves around the

0:55

sun. That means over the course of a

0:57

year the earth changes position by over

0:59

one hundred eighty million miles. The A one

1:01

during the summer were on this side of

1:04

the solar system during the winter on

1:06

the opposite side. That's a big difference. That

1:08

means if I look at a distance

1:10

to are. From. These two

1:12

vantage points, then the position of the

1:14

star on this guy should slightly change

1:16

because I'm looking at it from this

1:19

these vastly different reference points And so

1:21

he went out to perform their measurement

1:23

and found no. Shift

1:25

imposition with the stars at all. And he

1:27

was the world's greatest astronomer. So if anyone's

1:30

gonna do it, it's him. As

1:32

we said, look at like I

1:35

understand mathematics and that. We.

1:38

Have one of two situations: This

1:40

lack of observation of the shift

1:42

of the positions of stars. Busy

1:45

their means that. The. Earth

1:48

is the center of the universe in which

1:50

case over the seasons you will never see

1:52

a shift because you always have the same

1:54

perspective or are you know we could live

1:57

in essence entered universe as solar system healers,

1:59

injured universe. But in order for this

2:01

to be true, the stars have to be

2:03

so far away that it's impossible for me.

2:06

the world's going strong a month to measure

2:08

a shift in their position. When my, according

2:10

my calculations, they have to be at least

2:12

seven hundred times for their when and center.

2:16

And we know. That. The nearest

2:18

stars are a little bit more. Than.

2:21

Seven hundred times for their women Saturn

2:23

And instead I'll admit it's a little

2:25

funny to think back about how ridiculous

2:27

as as like oh my gosh the

2:29

star Seven hundred times where the rings

2:31

that they're like seventy thousand times for

2:34

their witness or in the near starts

2:36

by a tux. Hundred years to resolve

2:38

yo Tengo Bri Raise this objection in

2:40

the early sixteen hundred. It wasn't until

2:42

eighteen thirty's a bad. an amateur astronomer

2:44

Friedrich Basil finally managed to measure the

2:46

distance to a star. It was some

2:48

random star sixty one Sydney It's about

2:50

ten. Light years away. He also invented the

2:53

term lightyear by the way to communicate how

2:55

vast, vast distances. Two

2:59

Hundred years. To.

3:01

Measure the distance to one

3:04

of our nearest neighbor stars.

3:06

Two centuries. Tyco brought his

3:09

objections to it. And

3:12

even know astronomers would eventually adopt

3:14

the he was centric model. Mostly.

3:17

Because it made horoscopes easier to protect

3:19

the that's a Different episodes. Even.

3:21

Though they did this in adopted they could they

3:23

knew they are like well. Geico,

3:26

Was kind of right. The. Stars

3:28

should be measurable. This shift should

3:30

be measurable, of course, across the

3:32

seasons, and took two centuries to

3:34

answer that. I mention this because

3:36

we're about to casually discuss distances

3:39

and measurements, and I just wanted

3:41

to be a little bit crowded.

3:43

Than. Actually taking these measurements and

3:45

achieving these distances are just a

3:48

little bit challenging. It took

3:50

two hundred years of work for

3:52

us to get our first reliable

3:54

distance measured to a store. That

3:56

star was ten my years away.

4:00

Obviously we've gotten a lot better at it.

4:03

Since. The eighteen thirties, but it took

4:05

a long time. Over. Two hundred years

4:07

of having telescopes before we could really

4:09

nail this, and so I just want

4:11

us to ground this discussion now that

4:13

were properly granted we can explore very

4:16

distant things, which is pretty fun. By.

4:18

The Way: I also like to point

4:20

out that. Distances.

4:23

Measurements in astronomy are

4:25

incredibly difficult because they're

4:27

to challenges. One. It.

4:29

Sometimes. Things are just really really far

4:32

away which makes them them on our

4:34

sky which makes it hard to see

4:36

and hard to measure. Also, some things

4:38

are just by nature small and him

4:40

in makes it very very difficult spot.

4:42

The Oh, we had this whole discussion

4:45

recently about near earth objects and how

4:47

hard they are defined even though they're

4:49

really close to us, closer than the

4:51

nearest stars that's for sure. But they're

4:53

so small in there so damned are

4:55

almost impossible to seats. In example of

4:57

this is random facts. We were able.

4:59

To measure. The. Distance to

5:02

stars both for we

5:04

discovered the planet net.

5:08

I'll say that again cause is

5:10

pretty wild. We were able to

5:12

measure distances the Sars before we

5:14

even knew that Neptune existed. In.

5:17

Even though Neptune is really

5:19

close, It's comparatively

5:22

small, and him. Astronomy.

5:25

Is kind of challenging. That's why to science. And

5:28

that's also what makes it so

5:30

much. by the most distant planet

5:32

that you can see. by the

5:34

way with the naked eye is

5:36

is almost always Saturn. Some people

5:38

can see Uranus the next most

5:41

discipline out. It appeared in some

5:43

old star catalogues of but it

5:45

was mistaken for a planted a

5:47

It's It's like probably below the

5:49

vision of almost everybody eats. but

5:52

some people can. At. Least claim

5:54

to see Uranus. I'm not gonna always believe

5:56

them by it's at least make him there's

5:58

those Read on. these. The most recent

6:00

plenty you can see when it comes

6:03

to stars. The nearest visible stars Alpha

6:05

Centauri, which is about foreign a quarter

6:07

light years away. That means

6:09

that the light from Alpha Centauri last

6:11

over four years ago. Think of what

6:14

you're doing for years ago. At this

6:16

time, For. Here says quite

6:18

a ones are in and all that

6:20

time Think bag the four years. it's

6:22

that this season's coming and going. Maybe

6:24

your kids getting older? Maybe you getting

6:26

nowhere. Few more gray hairs here and

6:28

there for years. And.

6:31

That light started that journey. for

6:33

years. goodness been sailing through interstellar

6:35

space all that time before seemingly

6:38

landing on your retina. Is.

6:40

Just one of these astounding aspects

6:42

of astronomy that I always absolutely

6:45

adore. For.

6:47

Years about like could have graduated high

6:49

school in that time. This is crazy.

6:52

Anyway, as for the most distant star the

6:54

you can see with the naked eye, I

6:56

need to make a little digression here. And.

7:00

We. Need to talk about the absurd

7:02

and some more comical system that astronomers

7:04

used to measure how bright things appear

7:07

in the sky because this this number.

7:09

this measurement is not going to come

7:11

up so much in this episode By

7:13

been Honestly have been wanting to talk

7:15

about A for a while and this

7:17

is the perfect way to do it.

7:20

And you're going to encounter this. If

7:22

you are in any way associated with

7:24

Astronomy Nerdy three you will encounter this

7:26

kind of measurement system for measuring by

7:28

Mrs because it makes no sense. And

7:31

is absolutely confusing. So.

7:33

In. In your life you are going

7:35

to encounter the system, especially at all those

7:38

winky fancy astronomy parties and I want you

7:40

to feel like you belong. So

7:42

here's this system that astronomers

7:44

used to measure brightness. Like.

7:47

The a calibration like a temperature scale

7:49

or size scale. This is their scale.

7:53

To. Start off: we need to acknowledge the

7:55

different objects have different brightness. This

7:57

is a generally true statement. Another

8:01

generally true steam is that some

8:03

times objects can of beer brighter.

8:05

because they're genuinely brighter, they're giving

8:08

off more light. In some times,

8:10

objects can of Beer bride or

8:12

simply because they're closer. For

8:15

example, Jupiter is giving off far

8:17

less light then Alpha Centauri better.

8:20

Jupiter appears much brighter on the

8:22

sky because it's so much closer

8:24

to us. We measure the be

8:26

true amount of light coming off

8:28

an object with something called the

8:31

luminosity. So objects with

8:33

greater luminosity are emitting more raw

8:35

power of light that's connected to

8:37

the brightness that we see. But

8:39

there's more to the story because

8:42

we have to fold distance to

8:44

get s measurement of the actual

8:46

brightness that we perceive. On

8:49

our sky, stars have a variety

8:51

of brightness is regardless of their

8:53

true luminosity. Some stars a brighter,

8:56

some appeared dimmer, sometimes they're bright

8:58

because they genuinely are larger, brighter,

9:00

more intense, more luminous stars and

9:02

sometimes next back in the day

9:05

we didn't know this. We didn't

9:07

know that the stars were distant.

9:10

We. Didn't know that the stars had different

9:12

distances from us. We assume that they are

9:14

all just pasted on the celestial sphere. I'll

9:16

be on the orbit of the planets. And

9:20

so all we had was just

9:22

okay. Some stars like Serious and Builders

9:24

looks super bright and a bunch of

9:26

other random nobody stars don't look super

9:29

bright. So the Ancient

9:31

Greeks and yes were digging way into

9:33

the back catalogue for this system devised

9:36

the scheme. Where they

9:38

classified stars according to

9:41

magnitude. They. Said that

9:43

stars of the first magnitude where

9:45

the brightest. Stars. Of

9:47

the second magnitude where the next brightness

9:49

all the way down to stars of

9:52

the six magnitude. So they had six

9:54

categories. Six buckets for brightness is of

9:56

stars in the top pocket the first

9:58

magnitude where the. Right Just once.

10:01

And then the second brightest category

10:03

thoroughbred is category Movie Six with

10:05

my six subdivisions. And for these

10:07

magnitudes for these categories, I mean

10:09

first, why not get off my

10:12

back and we can just do

10:14

whatever we want if we feel

10:16

like it? Second, this magnitude system

10:18

was devised so that very roughly

10:20

remember this is all done by

10:23

I was no precision measurements whatsoever.

10:26

With the. System was devised to

10:28

that roughly stars in one magnitude

10:30

were half as bright as the

10:32

stars in the next magnitude. I.

10:35

Saw. The very top. In your first magnitude

10:38

Sars you have the absolute brightest stars by.

10:40

I use that one. That one that won.

10:42

that one that when they're all pretty much

10:44

the same brightness, they're all the brightest. Pop.

10:46

Price. Then you look

10:49

at Sars. They're roughly half as bright,

10:51

which is as good as you're gonna

10:53

get by in those good in the

10:55

second category, and then half as bright

10:57

as that go in the third category.

10:59

Once you get down to the six

11:01

magnitude, there are no more stars that

11:03

you can see. There are the seventh

11:05

magnitude stars are half as bright as

11:07

the dimmest stars you can see on

11:09

the sky. And so that it. Like

11:12

I said, this is all sketchy is

11:14

all very rough gases. this was all

11:16

firmed up in standardized in the nineteenth

11:18

century as was the fashion the time

11:20

in. So that's why when we talk

11:22

about. Seller. Magnitudes

11:24

which is different than their

11:26

luminosity. The luminar sees the

11:28

raw power coming out of

11:30

the starts. The magnitude is

11:33

a measure of the brightness

11:35

that we see on the

11:37

sky and that's why lowered

11:39

number magnitudes means blade or

11:41

starts a magnitude one star.

11:44

Or. A star with a magnitude

11:46

of one. Is. Brighter than

11:48

a star with the magnitude of to.

11:51

Which. Is. Complete opposite to what

11:53

you think it would be. You think, okay, if

11:55

something's brighter, it should have a larger number attached

11:57

to it. I know, that's how you think. And

12:00

instead we need to think of it as

12:02

a yowling of greatness. Sewers,

12:04

A magnitude One our first rank

12:06

there at the top of the

12:08

orders stores a second magnitude our

12:10

second ranked. So the zone rank

12:12

ordering of brightness of stars. Which.

12:15

Is okay weekend? kind of. Except that.

12:18

Except this is where it gets really

12:20

weird. That. Kind of magnitude.

12:23

The magnitude that we see with

12:25

the naked eye on our sky

12:27

is known as apparent magnitude. The

12:29

perceived magnitude: Once astronomers were able

12:32

to finally measured the distances to

12:34

the stars, they to correct the

12:36

apparent magnitude because some stars are

12:39

break because they're close. Some Sars

12:41

look very very dim to us,

12:43

but in actuality are incredibly bright.

12:46

They're just super far away. so

12:48

we need to switch from what

12:50

we call apparent magnitude. To.

12:53

Absolute Magnitude. Absolute

12:55

magnitude is the magnitude that you would

12:57

measure from a standardized distance of ten

13:00

parsec. The way. So by forty layer,

13:02

why ten percent And I know the

13:04

scene convenient at the time be Absolute

13:07

magnitude is connected to the luminosity of

13:09

the sar. Because now you're

13:11

doing an Apples to Apples comparison.

13:13

You're ignoring distance. You're looking at

13:15

the true brightness. We call this

13:17

the absolute magnitude. And once you

13:19

make this correction for distance, once

13:22

you standardized the distance stars can

13:24

be. Way. Wacky.

13:26

Great. Because. The

13:28

stars that our first magnitude to

13:31

our eyeballs. Looks pretty

13:33

bright in in in general they're

13:35

pretty bright stars but then there's

13:37

some random. Then. Star that

13:39

just happens be super far away in

13:41

a viewer to get up close to

13:43

it's it's way brighter than serious Them

13:46

Beetlejuice than any of the bright stars

13:48

on the Vegas. Any of the bright

13:50

stars on our sky way brighter. So

13:53

he was got a problem. The

13:55

brightest stars are. First.

13:58

Ranked first magnitude. And.

14:00

We've already decided that dimmer stars

14:02

are second rancor, third rank, or

14:04

fourth ranked. So so what's brighter

14:06

than a first rank star? A

14:10

zero rank store. And.

14:12

Was brighter than that. On. On

14:14

a negative ones break star and than

14:17

a negative to say. Rank.

14:19

Star. Because

14:23

as the opposite during the there's no other

14:25

directions to go. So now thanks to the

14:27

ancient Greeks. Who decided on a

14:29

rank ordered system for measuring in

14:31

categorizing stellar brightness that we see

14:33

them with the naked eye when

14:35

the awkward position of calling Civil

14:37

Rights or something like Beetlejuice has

14:39

an absolute magnitude of negative seven

14:41

point Two and that's supposed to

14:43

indicate that this is far brighter

14:45

than a negative for magnitude star

14:47

or three magnitude star like this

14:49

makes any sort of sense whatsoever.

14:52

A where I just wanted to fill you

14:54

in because you are guaranteed to our encounter

14:56

this horrible system and you can thank the

14:58

ancient Greeks for the mess where it. And.

15:01

We need to take a quick pause

15:03

so that I can let you know

15:05

that this show is sponsored by Better

15:07

Health and with talks a lot about

15:09

time in this series. What is the

15:11

nature of time? Or there's all sorts

15:13

of physics concepts that we explore about

15:15

the nature of time. But there's also

15:17

this human part of time or the

15:19

experience of time that we all know

15:22

so intimately and yet we don't understand.

15:24

And one of the biggest things about

15:26

time is that we all wish we

15:28

had more of it. Like if there's

15:30

an extra hour. In the day of,

15:32

we should just put things on

15:34

pause. What would we do? I'd probably

15:36

do more episodes I don't else on

15:39

the boat like. We all wish that

15:41

time was different. and one of

15:43

the coolest things about therapy that I've

15:45

seen in my own experience is that

15:48

he i'm by real linings your perspective.

15:50

by real lining your expectations. You

15:52

can get a better sense of your

15:54

own solo of time so that time

15:57

it does it's thing outside of our

15:59

control, but you can be up

16:01

part of that flow. If you're thinking

16:03

of starting therapy, give better help a

16:06

try. it's entirely on mine. It's convenient,

16:08

flexible, suited to your schedule. So

16:10

I debris questionnaire and boom, you're connected

16:12

to a licensed therapist. Your. Is

16:15

it better? help.com/space Man

16:17

today to get ten

16:19

percent off your first

16:22

month. That's better help

16:24

each clp.com/space Man. So.

16:27

We've covered that the nearest star

16:29

that we can see. Which.

16:32

Is Alpha Centauri that is not the nearest started

16:34

the or that's proximal Suntory which is a little

16:36

bit closer but because Bronx miss and is a

16:38

red dwarf we can't see a with her naked

16:40

eye. The brightest star

16:43

we see on the sky serious ak the

16:45

dark star which is totally a really bright

16:47

star but it's only eight point six light

16:49

years away so gets to be nice and

16:51

bright on it's own and he gets to

16:54

be super close. As

16:56

for the most distant star visible with

16:58

the naked eye, that's a bit of

17:00

for debate because a everybody has different

17:02

eyes and be stars have a tendency

17:04

to very in brightness. They can be

17:06

all over brighter in a low but

17:08

dimmer. With those caveats aside,

17:10

when you ask okay on

17:12

average what is the most distant

17:15

star visible to the most number

17:17

of naked eyes with the

17:19

oh decent functioning night vision across

17:22

the world he owed taking away

17:24

light pollution and all that stuff.

17:26

It's the general consensus is a

17:29

little star while actually to

17:31

big starts in the constellation Cassiopeia

17:33

is called be Seven Six Two

17:36

Cats is a variable star

17:38

so I'd it's dimmest. As an

17:40

apparent magnitude of six point O

17:42

Two, and as it's brightest, a

17:44

whopping five point Nine two, The

17:46

it's Either way. It's like right

17:48

at the edge of human visibility.

17:51

Without a telescope, without binoculars without

17:53

anything. And you need an absolute

17:55

career. Crystal clear dark sky night in

17:57

order to see it. but it's there.

18:00

Right at the edge. Visibility

18:02

in reality. It. Is one

18:05

hundred thousand times more luminous than

18:07

the sun, it is putting out

18:09

a hundred thousand times more light

18:11

dinner, own son. Which.

18:14

Is insane. But

18:16

it's over sixteen thousand light

18:18

years away, which is why

18:20

it looks so damn. To.

18:22

Us. Let. That sink in.

18:26

The light that left this tiny

18:28

star. In. The constellation

18:30

Cassiopeia left. The

18:32

surface of that source. sixteen. Thousand.

18:36

Years ago. Sixteen.

18:39

Thousand. that is before writing. That.

18:42

Is before cities. That.

18:44

Is. Somewhere around the dawn

18:46

of agriculture, maybe even before. The.

18:49

Sun remembering right? Sixteen.

18:52

Thousand years that light has

18:54

traveled the interstellar debts before

18:56

reaching your. Eyeball.

18:59

This star hundred thousand times brighter than the

19:02

sun is so bright you would literally melt

19:04

your face off if you're to approach it.

19:07

In. It is so far way that despite all

19:09

of it's power. And. All of it's

19:11

for of see it appears as only the

19:13

dentist. Pinprick, Of light. Owners

19:16

Guy. All. The stars that

19:18

we see with the naked eye without a

19:20

telescope or giants. They're much more massive than

19:22

the sun. They're the only ones bright enough

19:24

to be seen at interstellar distances, even a

19:27

few light years away. With the naked eye,

19:29

stars like our sun. Star. Smaller

19:31

than the sun are just too dim

19:33

to overcome the light years of distance

19:35

between them and us, making them invisible

19:38

without a telescope. Give you a sense

19:40

of how me sars there really are in that

19:42

volume. Contained by the

19:44

distance to be seven six, two

19:46

cats. That. Sixteen thousand light years

19:48

the maginot of a sphere with

19:51

a radius of sixteen thousand light

19:53

years going right off the zoo

19:55

be seven six two casts with

19:57

in that volume within as fear

19:59

their about nine thousand stores visible

20:01

to the human eye. There's.

20:04

About a million more. That.

20:06

Are invisible to us. But.

20:09

Well, that's the most distant star.

20:12

It's not the most distant saying

20:14

that honor goes to a petri.

20:16

On add that patria.com/p M. Sutter

20:19

and it's how you. Yes,

20:21

You can keep this show going if

20:23

you been thinking about it. Now is

20:25

the time to do as I truly

20:28

do appreciate all of your support and

20:30

your supports Shines with radiant glory. It's.

20:32

Absolute and a bear and magnitudes

20:35

in the negatives. All. Across

20:37

the universe I truly do appreciate know the

20:39

actual i'm most distant thing that you can

20:41

see with the naked eye is the Andromeda

20:43

Galaxy. For ever we

20:45

thought it was a nebula, just a collection

20:47

of gas and dust and random stars. And

20:49

then in the nineteen twenties, Edwin Hubble discovered

20:51

that it's it's a mere two and a

20:53

half million light years away, You.

20:56

Can't see. Any

20:58

individual star in the Andromeda Galaxy,

21:01

but there's around a trillion of

21:03

I'm and so they combine their

21:05

life together to make. Of

21:07

of vague fuzzy patch on our guides of the

21:09

most visually impressive thing but it's there and when

21:11

you look at his. You. Take that

21:14

into account that light travel time to and

21:16

a half million light years? That means to.

21:18

And a half million years ago Still, even

21:20

humans back then. When.

21:22

The light from Andromeda started

21:25

it's journey. And we're not

21:27

talking interstellar distances. We're talking

21:29

intergalactic distances. That. Like

21:32

has sailed through the void for millions

21:34

of years in a landed. On.

21:36

Your eyes I'd this like you are

21:39

literally connected to the stars, not an

21:41

astrological gun. Away by a physical kind.

21:43

away like light from distant stars is

21:45

now touching your eyes. It's becoming a

21:48

part of you. This is amazing. There's.

21:50

Still one more thing more distant and that

21:53

we can see in these are rare train

21:55

the in events were talking explosions here. Most.

21:58

of the visible supernova that become apparent

22:00

on our sky happen in our galaxy

22:03

but there are more powerful explosion say

22:05

occur throughout the inverse like gamma ray

22:07

bursts. There. Was a gamma

22:10

ray burst back in? two thousand and

22:12

eight that was visible. To. The

22:14

naked eye for about thirty seconds before

22:16

faded away so feel happened to be

22:18

looking at just the right patch of

22:20

the sky. At night you'd see a

22:22

low bright star of actually more like

22:24

a dim star like just barely appear

22:26

on the edge of human vision before

22:29

going away on the distance to that.

22:31

This particular one it was Gr B

22:33

O Eight O Three One Nine P

22:35

For those of you keeping score home

22:37

in this explosion when ass or seven

22:39

point five billion light years away. Seven.

22:42

Point: Five billion years.

22:45

That's. Amazing. That's amazing. Obviously, with

22:47

the telescope, the universe opens up

22:50

before us because telescopes aren't like

22:52

buckets. They. Allow us to

22:54

see both very dim things because they

22:57

can collect more light than a human

22:59

eye, and they allow us to see

23:01

very small and distant things because they

23:04

offer greater of resolution through magnification. So

23:06

those two. Properties. Of

23:08

a telescope combined allow us

23:10

to see. Really? Really

23:13

really far. We. Can

23:15

see we can map stars. Piercing.

23:18

Into the Milky Way. Tens

23:20

of thousands of light years, which is

23:22

the individual stars. We can see individual

23:25

galaxies. We've mapped galaxies out billions of

23:27

light years away, Done. Surveys of

23:29

them but even are most advanced

23:31

telescopes and I really should do

23:33

an. Episode. On upcoming

23:35

mega observatory so please just ask.

23:38

Can't. See them most distant stars

23:40

and the most distant galaxies alone.

23:44

The. Most distant ones, the ones at

23:46

the very edge of the observable universe.

23:48

they're just too far away. There two

23:50

small there to dance. Even with the

23:52

James Webb Space Telescope or the very

23:55

see Rubin Observatory or the Thirty meter

23:57

tells grave are shiny and mega observatories.

24:00

It's just too much.

24:03

They. Can do it. Thankfully.

24:06

Major. Helps us along with a little

24:08

trick. In that trick is called gravitational

24:10

lensing. The same look

24:12

at a distant galaxy. And. Between

24:14

me and that galaxies is a

24:17

big old massive object. Like a

24:19

galaxy cluster. Like something really big

24:21

and heavy. It's that massive galaxy

24:23

cluster as a lot gravity. And

24:26

so it bends space around it

24:28

very very strongly. And what happens

24:31

is that light coming out of

24:33

that distant galaxy that distant objects

24:35

as it approaches the galaxy cluster

24:38

that that's in the middle. The

24:40

intervening galaxy cluster the like it's

24:43

ends. In it acts

24:45

like a lens and eggs literally

24:47

like a magnifying lens. As is

24:49

the exact same equations that tell

24:52

us how base and so if

24:54

things line up just right, we

24:56

can look through a galaxy cluster,

24:58

adam even more distant objects and

25:01

the light from that object will

25:03

be expanded and it will be

25:05

amplified. We can get magnification effects

25:08

up to ten thousand times. Imagine

25:11

a pair of binoculars I

25:13

can magnify by power of

25:15

ten thousand. That. Is

25:17

what we are able to do with

25:19

his gravitational lensing technique. So.

25:22

When were very careful and very

25:24

observant, we can occasionally get a

25:26

glimpse of objects sitting even deeper

25:28

into the dark, far beyond the

25:30

reach of even are most powerful

25:32

telescopes. With. That technique, we

25:34

can now meet the most distant

25:36

known individual star. The Sars

25:39

called Errand him and yes, that's a

25:41

nerdy Lord of the Rings reference, which

25:43

is itself a nerdy reference to a

25:46

the Anglo Saxon Mess of the Morningstar.

25:48

That. Morningstar Arundel individually image

25:51

I guess single spec,

25:53

a single start seen

25:55

through gravitational lensing. Around

25:58

age massive galaxy. After.

26:00

That. Star since roughly twenty

26:03

eight billion. Light. Years

26:05

away, This. Is truly mind

26:07

boggling to meet a due to the

26:09

expansion of years. We know that the

26:11

star formed roughly nine hundred million years

26:13

after the big banks, making it among

26:16

the first generation of stars to ever

26:18

appear. This. Is.

26:21

Nearly. Thirteen billion years old. The.

26:24

Stars of over than the earth. Older.

26:27

Than our solar system. Older than the

26:29

entire Milky Way galaxy. Is

26:31

doubtful the air and dell still exists. Bright

26:33

stars like this do not live long. That

26:37

means this star hasn't existed

26:39

in our universe for billions

26:41

of years. And. Yet it's

26:43

light still remains the if I was in

26:45

a more poetic mood there be something beautiful

26:47

to say about it but instead was just

26:49

soak it in. The. Bear sacked.

26:52

The star existed. Thirteen.

26:55

Billion years ago, lived it's life and

26:57

died. But. It's a

26:59

light of persists in the cosmos in

27:01

a reaches our telescopes today. But.

27:04

It's still not the most distant known

27:06

object that honor currently goes to. What

27:08

it does have a nerdy nickname like

27:11

Air and else are is just a

27:13

phone number. I'd Jades G, S Z

27:15

One Three Zero. It.

27:17

Was discovered. With the James

27:19

Webb Space Telescope, there are no surprise

27:21

because that's sort of its job. To.

27:24

Discover distant objects, the current distance

27:26

to this galaxy and yard. In

27:28

order to get even these kinds

27:30

of distances, we can't just have

27:32

a single star. We need an

27:34

entire galaxies worth of light. That

27:36

distance is currently pending thirty three

27:38

point, six billion light years. There.

27:40

Are tentative observations of even more

27:42

distant galaxies but we haven't sex

27:45

we him pinned the distance yet

27:47

reliably so. This is the most

27:49

distant. Confirmed. Object

27:51

that we know of at that distance,

27:54

it means the galaxy was born within

27:56

four hundred million years after the Big

27:58

Bang. Even

28:00

contain some remnants of the first

28:02

generation of stars to ever appear

28:04

in the universe. It's

28:07

a bear magnitude by the way. It's.

28:10

Brightness as it appears on our own

28:12

sky. Ah, if we're doing this ranking

28:14

system of the Greeks, your first rank

28:17

second rate. It's ranks are twenty nights.

28:19

Which. Is kind of them. We.

28:22

Do know that there are more distant

28:24

galaxies out there. More distant stuffers booed

28:26

can't see them. Yeah, we don't have

28:28

the astronomical power to do it. This

28:30

is something called the Cosmic Dawn The

28:33

Dark Ages which you know if you've

28:35

listened to the show. I have a

28:37

soft spot for. But. Currently.

28:40

Aaron Dell is the limit to what

28:42

we can see with stars and Jades.

28:45

Dash. Gs. Dash. Z

28:47

Thirteen-to zero is the limit what we

28:49

can see with galaxies. But

28:51

that's still not the most distant observed

28:54

thing. For that you have to switch

28:56

different wavelengths of light. These galaxies stars

28:58

are discovered an infrared are visible. Once

29:01

you switch over some microwave, you can

29:03

see any even more distant thing. We

29:05

see something called the Cosmic Microwave Background.

29:08

This is light that was white hot

29:10

when I formed. When. Our universe

29:12

was only three hundred eighty thousand

29:14

years old when a transition from

29:17

being a plasma to a neutral

29:19

states released this white hot flashes

29:21

of radiation that has persisted in

29:23

the cosmos ever since. It.

29:26

Is now read shifted all the way

29:28

down to microwaves. Are you know those

29:31

old antenna T V. Or

29:33

if you currently have an antenna Tv,

29:36

or if he ever gets static on

29:38

the channel. About twenty five percent of

29:40

that static comes from the Cosmic Microwave

29:42

background, so that means this light was

29:45

emitted. Thirteen. Point Seven Seven

29:47

billion years ago has been sailing

29:49

through the voids. The. Clusters,

29:51

the filaments of the universe. Before.

29:54

Landing. On your Tv.

29:56

That's wild. it's were soaked in a soaked in

29:58

this radius and. This. Light.

30:02

Is right at the edge of what

30:04

we can absolutely see because the universe

30:06

is only so old and like, can

30:08

only travel so fast that there is

30:11

a limit. We do live in the

30:13

center of a universe. take that. Kepler.

30:16

And. Copernicus. It turns out we are at the

30:18

center in a in a certain way because

30:20

there is a limit to what we can

30:22

see given the age of the universe, the

30:24

Cosmic Microwave background. Is. Right

30:27

at the edge you imagine we

30:29

live. Inside. Of a giant

30:31

spear with the earth precisely at the

30:34

center in our Milky Way galaxy is

30:36

right there Next yellow wrapped around us.

30:38

and then Andromeda is just like a

30:41

little pinch away. And then we do

30:43

some galaxy surveys and weekend. So of

30:45

the the large scale structure, the cosmic

30:48

web around us, and and oh, approaching

30:50

the edge of the sphere there's Aaron

30:52

Dell. there's the Jades Galaxy. And then

30:54

you can imagine the Cosmic Microwave background

30:57

as this like seen layer of paint

30:59

right on the. Inner surface of the

31:01

sphere and that is what we're seeing.

31:04

It's right at the edge of what

31:06

we can ever see. And

31:08

so it's worth and ask and we see beyond that.

31:11

The answer is not yet. But.

31:14

We might be able to pierce

31:16

beyond the Cosmic Microwave background. We

31:18

can't do it in light because

31:20

the Cosmic Microwave background. It's this

31:23

like curtain of radiation that obscures

31:25

everything that happened before. So we

31:27

can't look directly with radiation to

31:30

see beyond that thin skin of

31:32

paint of the sea and be

31:34

and all the way to the

31:36

edge. And remember, this is also

31:39

going back in time. So. The.

31:42

Cosmic Microwave background was generated when or universe

31:44

was only three hundred eighty thousand years old.

31:46

So if we get some sort of signal,

31:48

it will be from a younger universe And

31:50

a younger universe and them are pushing all

31:52

the way up to the Big Bang. We.

31:55

Might be able to get

31:57

very, very close. Odd neutrinos were

31:59

produced in balance in the

32:01

early universe. Those could have streamed

32:03

right through the Cmb. If we

32:06

build a big enough sensitive

32:08

enough neutrino detector, we might catch

32:10

some of those relic primordial neutrinos

32:13

that would give us some

32:15

sense. of what the

32:17

universe was like and it's earliest days

32:19

in if we do detect one of

32:21

those neutrinos it would make it the

32:23

oldest known it saying the most distant

32:26

thing we have ever measure because that

32:28

one neutrino that we detect would have.

32:31

Originated Oh no. like a few minutes

32:33

after the Big Bang. And

32:35

then sailed through until I hit our detector.

32:38

Plans are currently a to go even

32:40

deeper. With. Something called the

32:42

Big Bang Observatory. This is

32:45

a gravitational waves detector that's designed

32:47

to look for gravitational waves generated

32:49

in the inflationary up. We're talking

32:51

less than a second after the

32:54

Big Bang. If. We

32:56

detect those that would be the old.

32:58

The same can be beyond at the

33:00

film of Pains of the Cmb. And

33:02

like, right at the microscopic edge of

33:04

the limit of what we could possibly

33:06

see. Those. Gravitational waves would

33:08

be the oldest known things in the

33:10

universe, cause they would have sliced through

33:12

space. For. Billions of years

33:15

generated in the first second of

33:17

the Big Bang before finally reaching

33:19

or observatories. This

33:21

is. Beautiful. To

33:23

me, it's amazing to me. One of my

33:26

favorite things about astronomy is that the farther

33:28

out we don't distance, the further back we

33:30

go in time. As.

33:33

We pierce further and further

33:35

into the universe and we

33:37

collect the most distant thing.

33:41

The. Most distant star. The most distant

33:44

galaxy. Mapping the Cm

33:46

be pushing further were peeling back

33:48

the history of the universe itself.

33:51

Be. Entire history of the

33:53

universe is just laid out

33:56

before us. Which.

33:58

Is amazing. And

34:02

for food. We're.

34:04

Just getting started, we've mapped less than three

34:06

percent of all the stars in the milky

34:08

Way. We've. Mapped less than

34:10

one percent of all the galaxies in

34:12

the observable universe. We.

34:15

Have not pushed into the Cosmic dawn to

34:17

the birth of the first stars and galaxies.

34:19

We have not push beyond the Cosmic Microwave

34:21

background, into the neutrinos and the gravitational waves

34:24

left over from the Big Bang. We've.

34:27

Accumulated some pretty impressive

34:30

records, But.

34:32

We've got a lot of work to do. Think.

34:35

You to rouse. So the question that led

34:38

to today's episode. And.

34:40

Thank you of course. To

34:42

all my top he drank all my

34:44

be drunk drivers all the I love

34:47

all of your that patreon.com/pm sutter by

34:49

The especially like to think my top

34:51

contributors this month they are just Angie

34:54

Chris L, Barbara K A Barrister amp

34:56

Duncan Inquiry Deed Tom G. Nylon John

34:58

as Joshua Scott Amraam H. Lewis Amp

35:00

John W Alexis Gilbert M. David L.

35:03

Robbed A Be A Valerie Each Demetrius

35:05

J. Jewels are mighty Gym else got

35:07

J Louis I, Peter Ie. David as

35:10

Por El John Boy and Scott. Are

35:12

is all those contributions and so

35:14

many more that keep this show

35:16

running. I can't thank you enough.

35:18

Please keep the questions coming. Ask

35:20

a space manage, email.com or just

35:22

website. Ask a spaceman.com and I

35:24

will see you next time for

35:26

more complete knowledge of. Built

36:01

upon a solid foundation of cast

36:04

iron and steel, the Kubota LO1

36:06

series is part of our tractor

36:08

lineup, rated number one in durability

36:10

and owner experience. They feature powerful

36:12

Kubota diesel engines and easy operation.

36:15

The durable Kubota LO1 series. Talk

36:17

to your local Kubota dealer today

36:20

to schedule a demo. Go to

36:22

kubotausa.com for full disclaimer. Coastal

36:25

Equipment, on the web

36:27

at coastalequipmentsystem.com.