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to start learning. of

1:57

cosmic queries. Yes,

1:59

and in this

2:01

one we figured.

2:03

Look at

2:06

what

2:11

Dark

2:16

Matter

2:21

This is Star Talk. Neil

2:24

deGrasse Tyson, your personal astrophysicist.

2:26

We're doing cosmic queries today.

2:29

And that means Chuck is sitting right next

2:31

to me. Yes. How you doing, Chuck? Hey,

2:33

what's happening? Is this a topic? Or is

2:35

it grabbing? Oh, you know what it is?

2:37

It's the lactic gumbos. Dad, da, da, da, da,

2:39

right, da, da, da, da, da. Giv, right, da, da,

2:41

da, da, da, da. Giv, right, da, da, da, da,

2:43

da. Giv, right. Gervinin'a, da, da, da, da, da, da,

2:45

da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da,

2:47

da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da,

2:49

da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da,

2:51

da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da,

2:53

da, da, da, da, da, No, I

2:56

have not. And my boy was packing

2:58

some weight back then. I haven't seen

3:00

him in 20 years. Well, we thank

3:02

him for granting you that accent. That's

3:04

that. Don't go more see. So this

3:07

is random, but they're all patron members.

3:09

Whatever they want. But it's only patron

3:11

members. But it's only patron members. Correct.

3:13

Okay, I haven't seen any of these

3:15

questions. No, you do not get to

3:18

see them. And I'm supposed to see

3:20

him, but I'm lazy, so I don't

3:22

see you either. Okay. All right,

3:24

here we go. This is Writer's

3:26

Eye, who says... Hello everyone! I

3:29

hope your day is filled with

3:31

protons from only friendly stars. Ooh!

3:33

Oh maybe he meant photons. Photons,

3:35

yeah. Did you say protons? Did

3:38

you misread? No, it says protons.

3:40

You didn't misread it. Sometimes you,

3:42

you know, you and the reading

3:45

thing. I thought maybe he was,

3:47

you know... talking about like a

3:49

pulsar or something and so you

3:51

know sense and a particle is

3:54

out okay but no he probably did

3:56

mean photos all right from friendly stars

3:58

he says how far are away from

4:00

being able to track gravity waves.

4:02

I know we can detect them,

4:05

so tracking them would be the

4:07

next obvious step in my humble

4:09

opinion that is. If we could

4:11

track them, eventually we could map

4:14

the universe edge to edge. Am I

4:16

correct in thinking that? So

4:18

a couple of things. First,

4:20

a technicality. Right. The kind

4:22

of waves made by gravity

4:24

waves by two colliding black

4:27

holes. Those are called gravitational

4:29

waves. Gravity waves is something

4:31

else that acoustical people is a

4:33

term people use when we

4:35

refer to a medium that's

4:37

rising and falling in response

4:40

to a pressure impulse that goes

4:42

through it. Right. So those are

4:44

gravity waves. that they call so

4:46

we have to make sure that

4:49

the kingdom is separated right okay

4:51

the lexicographic nice the lexicographic reference

4:53

has to be correct distinct

4:55

so gravitational waves okay we

4:57

detect them when they wash

4:59

over us right that's what

5:02

LIGO did that's what earned

5:04

the Nobel Prize right and

5:06

you know who earned the

5:08

Nobel Prize Kip Thorne who

5:10

was one of the executive

5:12

producers on Wait a minute, wait a

5:14

minute, wait a minute, wait, it's the

5:16

string theory movie with Matthew McCartney. It's

5:19

called Intercellus. Yes, good. So in fact,

5:21

we took our crew out to Pasadena

5:23

where he lives, went to his home

5:26

office and interviewed Kip Thorne. Very cool.

5:28

Yeah, yeah. You can find it on

5:30

our archives. And he showed us his

5:33

Nobel Prize. Oh, wow. You just keep

5:35

that thing, huh? I know, right. What

5:37

do you do? I would take it

5:40

everywhere. You know what I mean? Excuse

5:42

me, do you know what time it

5:44

is? I'm like, oh excuse me,

5:46

let me move my Nobel Prize

5:48

out of the way so I

5:50

can see my watch. How did

5:53

that get there? Oh my goodness,

5:55

is that my Nobel Prize? And

5:57

where am I watching your thing?

5:59

Oh my goodness! There's what I

6:01

learned recently, that yes, we can

6:03

detect certain energy levels of gravitational

6:05

waves that wash over Earth. And

6:07

there's certain other phenomena in the

6:10

universe that do make gravitational waves

6:12

that those detectors cannot see. Okay.

6:14

Okay. Now, there's something I only

6:16

know a little bit about here,

6:18

so I just want to put

6:21

it on the table. Okay. All

6:23

right. That there's a research program

6:25

that's going to be put into

6:27

play. that wants to detect the

6:29

effect of gravitational waves Moving across

6:32

Your field of view So if

6:34

you have a pulse are which

6:36

has very very precise spinning rates

6:38

Most accurate set a clock by

6:40

it, okay if a gravitational wave

6:42

passes by it, right? Right if

6:45

a gravitational wave passes by it,

6:47

right? There's a change in the

6:49

rate. Right, you'll see the rhythm

6:51

change. The rhythm change just briefly.

6:53

Yes. And so the idea is

6:56

you monitor all the pulsars, you

6:58

get their rhythms known, and then...

7:00

You see one change and then

7:02

you look to see if it

7:04

is there if it coincides with

7:07

a gravitational wave Well, well that

7:09

would be the evidence that would

7:11

be them now you see if

7:13

it moves to the next one

7:15

and then the next one Oh

7:18

right and now you would see

7:20

the consistency across each part correct

7:22

and you'd be watching a gravitational

7:24

wave move across the medium of

7:26

space. Yes. That's amazing. And we're

7:28

not there yet but that's an

7:31

unfortunately We had to cut that.

7:33

The funding towards been cut already.

7:35

We've saved so much money by

7:37

not even thinking about it. You

7:39

know it. I know it. On

7:42

that subject, let me remind you

7:44

how much money NASA gets from

7:46

the government. What? This is, this

7:48

is for the space station, space

7:50

shuttle, Hubble, JWST, James Webb. Everything

7:53

NASA does. We're going back to

7:55

the moon, including looking back at

7:57

Earth and weather and everything. No,

7:59

the weather would be Noah. That's

8:01

Noah. Okay. But there's a strong

8:04

collaboration between them. Yeah, the two

8:06

are right. Right. You know, it

8:08

was like 10 years after Noah

8:10

was founded that I caught on

8:12

that it's like pronounced like Noah,

8:15

like Noah's Ark. Yeah. Because he

8:17

was the first weatherman. Oh my

8:19

God. All right, so I didn't,

8:21

I'm just catching that now. You

8:23

just caught that now. You had

8:25

to actually spell it out. Yes.

8:28

He was the first weather man.

8:30

Yeah. Hey, hey, it's going rain.

8:32

God says it's going rain, man.

8:34

People are like, what are you

8:36

talking about? No. You're talking about

8:39

it. It has never rained here.

8:41

Never. I'm telling you, man, I'm

8:43

building the boat. It's going rain.

8:45

Oh, crazy Noah. There he goes

8:47

again. You know, so. Well, he

8:50

did grow grapes, as I understand

8:52

it. It might have made some

8:54

wine. Man made a little wine.

8:56

The Bible references that he did

8:58

drink. Yeah, yeah. But go ahead.

9:01

So the Noah, by the way,

9:03

if he did drink, I'm just

9:05

saying, that's rough. Just like, I'll

9:07

tell you right now. It's going

9:09

to rain. Who's going to believe

9:11

that? Right. Told me to. Told

9:14

me to get three of every

9:16

animal. I think it was two.

9:18

Anyway, go ahead. Let's move on.

9:20

Okay. So, of course, this is

9:22

called N-O-A-H and then N-O-A-A-A. National

9:25

Oceanic and atmospheric administration. So, yeah,

9:27

Noah makes those. So just to

9:29

remind people that of your tax

9:31

dollar. Right. It is four tenths

9:33

of one tenths of one cent.

9:36

So it's not even a full

9:38

penny. Yeah, so you can say

9:40

I want to save money there,

9:42

right? But then what total impact

9:44

is that going to have given

9:47

all the rest of the spending

9:49

that's going on? Right. It's not

9:51

a very efficient means of cost

9:53

cutting. Yeah, so if you have

9:55

a department of efficiency. It could

9:58

be more efficient about where it's

10:00

being efficient. Right. I think we

10:02

need to be efficient with the

10:04

apartment of officials. Exactly. Okay. All

10:06

right. Next one. Here we go.

10:08

Let's move on to Maurice Van

10:11

der Linden. This is Maurice Vanderlington.

10:13

He says, hey Neil, hey Chuck,

10:15

I've been wondering about something. Jan

10:17

11 said once in your episode

10:19

that it might be possible that

10:22

if you look far enough into

10:24

the cosmos, your line of sight

10:26

can loop around the universe and

10:28

end up at your position just

10:30

along the timeline. Doesn't this imply

10:33

that if true, the universe is

10:35

a perfect 4D sphere? You would

10:37

see your past location. In your

10:39

case, a young solar system from

10:41

every angle, so it would appear

10:44

smeared out across the cosmic horizon.

10:46

Love the Shell Con regards Maurice

10:48

from Harleam in the Netherlands. Oh,

10:50

Harlem. Yes, Harlan. It's where we

10:52

got our name, Harleam. Harleham. Here

10:55

in New York. Yeah, back when

10:57

the Dutch were running. Yeah. They

10:59

owned it all. They put in

11:01

all the canals because they... We

11:03

have Canal Street, you know, and

11:05

that's what they do. Absolutely. Even

11:08

back then. Odd number canals. So

11:10

I don't know if I can

11:12

answer it in the precision that's

11:14

sought here. But I can tell

11:16

you that. We do live in

11:19

an open universe, which means we're

11:21

expanding out forever. Right. So there

11:23

is no sight line that will

11:25

come back to where we are.

11:27

Right. It goes out. Because the

11:30

sight line is continually moving. Correct.

11:32

And out away from us. And

11:34

out away from us. So there's

11:36

no way that you could move

11:38

back. Because it's always going. in

11:41

principle will ultimately come back. And

11:43

the way to think about that

11:45

is just the surface of a

11:47

sphere. Right. We'll call it a

11:49

balloon, a perfect spherical balloon. We're

11:51

all crawling around on the surface

11:54

of that balloon. And if you

11:56

send out a beam of light,

11:58

it will go away. from you,

12:00

but then come around, come back

12:02

and hit you in the back of

12:05

the head. Right. Right. But that

12:07

would be later. Right. Okay. And

12:09

as the balloon begins to

12:11

shrink back, because it's, well,

12:13

wouldn't have to shrink, it

12:16

just has to be closed, but

12:18

if it's closed, it will shrink.

12:20

Hmm. Don't look at me,

12:22

I'm not gonna ask for

12:24

a fist. So. The cosmic

12:26

microwave background, we have done

12:29

some experiments to test for

12:31

this. Oh! So, the microwave

12:33

background is in every direction.

12:35

Right. So if you look this way, and

12:37

you get an exact, I know

12:39

exactly the patterning that's

12:41

happening there. Mm-hmm. And then you

12:43

just look that one around. Is

12:45

that exact pattern pattern? Because if

12:48

that's the thing, then that means

12:50

they are the same place. That

12:52

means that was a line that went around

12:54

and met on the other side. Right. Okay.

12:56

We haven't found that. We haven't? No. Oh.

12:58

But we've looked. We've looked. We've looked.

13:00

We've looked. We've looked very carefully for

13:02

statistically significant repeated patterns. Got you. All

13:04

throughout the cosmike. Got you. Okay. Yeah.

13:07

So that's the best I can answer.

13:09

No, that's a great answer. Jana might

13:11

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15:47

Star Talk with Neil Degrass

15:49

Tyson. I'm not Young Frankenstein.

15:51

Okay, Igor. I think. I

15:53

think in Young Frankenstein, he's

15:56

Igor. But he's also Marty

15:58

Feldman, who has big giant

16:00

bug eyes. So I think

16:02

they were. He says, hello,

16:04

gentlemen. And is he Dr.

16:06

Frankenstein? Dr. Frankenstein. Dr. Frankenstein.

16:08

Dr. Frankenstein. He is an

16:10

E. E. E. I. Einstein.

16:12

E. E. E. E. E.

16:15

E. E. E. E. E.

16:17

E. You didn't know that

16:19

you never heard that listen

16:21

I can barely get I

16:23

before he except after C

16:25

and except in Neil right

16:27

when accepting science and except

16:29

in Keith Yeah, so I

16:31

think they got rid of

16:33

that rule and I spell

16:36

all those words wrong I

16:38

think they got even lying

16:40

I would Yeah, I'm an

16:42

exception to that rule and

16:44

so's a whole lot of

16:46

other words. All right. Here

16:48

we go. He says hey

16:50

gentleman. My name is Igor

16:52

from Zagreb I'm a first-time

16:54

caller. I like what he

16:57

did there. That's good. Excellent.

16:59

He says, I've always wondered

17:01

if there are higher dimensions.

17:03

Could the expansion of the

17:05

universe be caused by space

17:07

time falling into another dimension?

17:09

Like if our 3D space

17:11

was a waterfall falling into...

17:13

a higher dimension and we

17:15

simply perceive it as expanding

17:18

in all directions. What would

17:20

it mean for dark energy?

17:22

Thank you. Man. Interesting. First

17:24

of all, let me just

17:26

tell you, Igor, I do

17:28

not know what kind of

17:30

weed you are smoking in

17:32

Croatia. But that is, please.

17:34

Send some here. Yes, send

17:37

us some of that Croatian

17:39

weed over here. What a

17:41

weird concept of our space

17:43

time, falling into another dimension.

17:45

Right. There's no evidence that

17:47

one dimension is susceptible to

17:49

another dimension in that way.

17:51

Correct. So, for example, let's

17:53

take this. surface of a

17:55

table. How many dimensions is

17:58

that? That's two. Two, it

18:00

just has a length and

18:02

a width, no depth. No

18:04

depth. And then I have

18:06

another surface of a tape.

18:08

So I can make that

18:10

table infinite, right? Correct. Now I

18:12

can have another table that's separated

18:15

from it, that's also infinite. And

18:17

they're just running parallel. They're not,

18:19

there's no, no one, okay? And

18:21

it's in a third dimension, and

18:23

there's no, I can embed a

18:25

two dimensional surface in three

18:27

dimensions. As two dimensions. Inside

18:29

of a three-dimensional medium. It's

18:32

not calling to you. Right. Right. Okay.

18:34

But here is something that's related.

18:36

Okay. Again, it's not exactly answering the

18:38

question, but it addresses the question.

18:41

All right, that's good. Right. In

18:43

our world, we have quantum physics,

18:45

where a lot of mysterious

18:47

things happen. It's not mathematically

18:50

mysterious. It's just. intellectually mysterious.

18:52

Particles pop in and out

18:55

of existence, matter and energy

18:57

are equivalent. Particles behave in

19:00

the same way over logs.

19:02

Very entangled, you know, there's

19:04

weirdness that's going on. We can

19:07

describe it mathematically though.

19:09

Is that weirdness completely

19:11

normal in a higher dimension?

19:13

Let's just ask for that. So

19:15

what would be an example? Let's

19:17

go back to our 2D world. Okay. And we're

19:19

there. We're walking around. Slitering around,

19:21

over two deep people get

19:24

around. We're line drawing. Yeah,

19:26

we are only our perimeters

19:28

to each other. Right, right. Suppose

19:30

we're looking around and we see

19:32

a dot. Right. It just came

19:35

out of nowhere. Yes. It's like

19:37

particles popping in inters, it's

19:39

a dot. Where did that come from?

19:41

I don't know. Right. And then we

19:44

keep, watch, we study it,

19:46

we're scientists, we study it. And

19:48

the dot becomes a circle. Then

19:50

it grows to like a maximum

19:53

point, and then it starts

19:55

shrinking back. And it gets smaller

19:57

and smaller, then it's a dot.

20:00

Wow, we become out with all

20:02

kinds of theories, right? Aliens! Aliens!

20:05

Because we live in rural America.

20:07

Where the rural part of the

20:09

paper. City people. We're in the

20:12

rural part of the paper. Where

20:14

the two-dimensional, where the dots. Yeah,

20:16

I was out in the middle

20:18

of night. Dot showed up. Got

20:21

bigger and bigger. Okay, go ahead.

20:23

So we can't explain that. Right.

20:25

Right. And is it like the

20:28

studying the elephant, but you don't

20:30

see the whole elephant? Yeah, okay.

20:32

You get seven different descriptions, the

20:35

trunk, the tusk, the leg, the

20:37

toenails, the tail, the side, none

20:39

of those comport, until you take

20:42

a step back and say, you

20:44

all describe the same creature, okay?

20:46

And that's the full understanding that

20:49

no one gets at first. Do

20:51

you know what I just described?

20:53

a sphere passing through the paper.

20:55

The paper. Because at one point

20:58

it's just a dot because it's

21:00

a single point of the sphere

21:02

that's touching the two-dimensional plane. Exactly.

21:05

But as you continue to move

21:07

the sphere through, then what you

21:09

have is more points in the

21:12

360 degree sphere that keep. Fanning

21:14

out, but only in two dimensions,

21:16

so they make a hole that

21:19

keeps getting bigger a circle a

21:21

circle and then And how big

21:23

does the circle get the whatever

21:26

the size of the diameter and

21:28

then you come back and then

21:30

you down one point and here

21:33

we are mysteriously inventing forces and

21:35

phenomenon and it's just a normal

21:37

Wow, in the higher dimension of

21:39

this example, which is three dimensions,

21:42

but to us to two dimension

21:44

in rope in rural paper standing

21:46

paper stand and world paper stand.

21:49

That was a serious phenomenon. It

21:51

was a serious one. And they're

21:53

reporting that to the government and

21:56

people are trying to capture the

21:58

next one. Oh wow, that's great.

22:00

So. If higher dimensions pass through

22:03

or otherwise interact, it can be

22:05

very mysterious. Wow. Dude, what a

22:07

great question. He was trying to

22:10

account for the dark energy. I

22:12

don't know what could be happening

22:14

in a higher dimension to manifest

22:16

in our dimension as dark energy.

22:19

Right. That could be a thing.

22:21

Right, it could be. Yeah. All

22:23

right, this is Nat Woods who

22:26

says, get out Professor Tyson and

22:28

Lord Nice. Adelay here from Australia.

22:30

That was the best I could

22:33

do guys. That's pretty good. I

22:35

tried. That's good. That's good. Not

22:37

as good as your French action.

22:40

No, but I tried. Or your

22:42

gumbo action. Yeah. He said, I

22:44

was wondering if we can't ever

22:47

truly touch anything. Could the space

22:49

between particles be dark matter pulling

22:51

the particles together or dark energy

22:53

repulsing the particles? Well, there's another

22:56

thing pulls the particles. But anyway,

22:58

I enjoy every podcast. Don't editorialize

23:00

on a man's question. I'm sorry.

23:03

I was thinking out loud. I'm

23:05

sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm

23:07

sorry. And I'm sorry. Nacked. I

23:10

remain inspired by you guys every

23:12

day. Please keep up the good

23:14

work. Anyway. Excellent. OK. Okay. Well,

23:17

I've never seen... Okay. I should

23:19

not say that. No, I would

23:21

never do that. He's paid to

23:24

read them in advance. Let the

23:26

record show. Exactly. Okay, so I

23:28

forgot the question. So he's basically

23:30

saying, like, if we can never

23:33

touch anything, truly, then could it

23:35

be dark matter in between the

23:37

touching that's pushing or pulling? All

23:40

right. So it turns out, dark

23:42

matter, does not... interact with itself

23:44

as potently as regular matter does.

23:47

Interesting. Okay, so when regular matter

23:49

gets together, right? Its molecules grab

23:51

on. You make solid objects, liquid

23:54

gas, it will, it'll, it'll make,

23:56

okay, so we have regular matter

23:58

planets. Right. We have rocks, because

24:01

that's what regular matter does, using

24:03

the electromagnetic force, in case you

24:05

were wondering. All right. Dark matter,

24:08

what we call dark matter, which

24:10

is really dark gravity, does not

24:12

respond to the electromagnetic force. At

24:14

all. At all. Doesn't interact. Doesn't

24:17

interact. Okay. So it doesn't interact

24:19

with us, that way. It does

24:21

interact gravitation, though. So you can

24:24

have pockets of dark matter out

24:26

there. But nowhere is it so

24:28

dense that you have solid objects.

24:31

Wow. As far as we can

24:33

tell, there's no solid dark matter

24:35

out there. Okay. By the way,

24:38

if it was, if it did,

24:40

it was just passed through you

24:42

because it doesn't, it doesn't interact

24:45

with any force that's holding you

24:47

together. Right. It's got another instruction

24:49

set. Let it slip right through

24:51

my hands. So particles, we already

24:54

have accounted for their behavior with

24:56

the forces that are known. Right.

24:58

There's nothing mysterious there. He might

25:01

have known that we don't actually

25:03

touch things because it was an

25:05

episode of Cosmos where we did

25:08

that. As you bring two things

25:10

together, you feel like you're touching,

25:12

but what's happening is the electromagnetic

25:15

forces are repelling each other. And

25:17

you're responding to the forces thinking

25:19

that it's a solid thing, but

25:22

it's not. And that is why

25:24

you have four-year-olds all over the

25:26

world and the backup cards going,

25:28

I'm not touching you. Okay, I'm

25:31

not touching you. All right, here

25:33

we go. Next up. This is

25:35

Stetson and Stetson says. There's like

25:38

Madonna. That's just Stetson's chair. He's

25:40

Stetson. He's just Stetson. He says,

25:42

hello Dr. Tyson and Lord Nice.

25:45

Stetson here from the US, but

25:47

currently living in Japan. Oh, well,

25:49

yes, Konitua. He says, the study

25:52

of planets, including ours, is quite

25:54

fascinating. The internal structure of our

25:56

planet is generally agreed upon, but

25:59

how would Would we be able

26:01

to understand the internal structure of

26:03

other planets, even those nearby? Great

26:05

question. Great question. So we make

26:08

educated guesses, and then we test

26:10

the guess. Oh, we're making this

26:12

up. No, that's not what I

26:15

said. We just making it up

26:17

as we go along. Oh my

26:19

God. Let's take Mercury. Let's take

26:22

Mercury. For example. Okay. Mercury is

26:24

tiny. Very small. And small. And

26:26

okay. Closer to the sun, right?

26:29

Oh, yeah. It's the closest planet.

26:31

Okay. Our moon might even be

26:33

bigger than Mercury. What? Okay. I

26:36

have to check that. But it's

26:38

small. It's small. Okay. But it's

26:40

a full up legit planet. Okay.

26:43

What's going on? Well. we can

26:45

measure its mass. Its mass is

26:47

way higher than it could possibly

26:49

be if mercury was composed only

26:52

of rock, like the moon. The

26:54

moon is made of rock, through

26:56

and through. Mercury has much more

26:59

mass. So we go to the

27:01

periodic table of elements and we

27:03

say, here's the birth ingredients. of

27:06

the solar system. We know that

27:08

because that's what the sun is

27:10

made of. That's what Jupiter is.

27:13

Jupiter didn't give up any mass

27:15

that it was born with. So

27:17

you look at the composition on

27:20

Jupiter, it matches that of the

27:22

sun? Okay, anybody else who's different,

27:24

you've been horse trading your ingredients

27:26

along the way. All right. So

27:29

Jupiter was trying to be the

27:31

sun. It's true. Yeah, that's what

27:33

Jupiter was trying. Jupiter was just

27:36

like, I'm gonna give one day.

27:38

In fact Jupiter is the only

27:40

planet that. radiates more energy than

27:43

it receives from the sun. Oh,

27:45

I didn't know that. That's how

27:47

that's how that's how want to

27:50

be it was. Yeah, it still

27:52

does. It's already all right. That's

27:54

a great factoid. Go ahead. So

27:57

I go to the periodic table

27:59

and I say of all these

28:01

elements some are very rare some

28:03

are not basically not really in

28:06

the solar system so I'm going

28:08

to ignore those and which are common

28:10

and and so nickel iron these are

28:13

pretty common in the universe so maybe

28:15

I get the mass of mercury fitting

28:17

into that volume by throwing in

28:19

something heavier than rock because we

28:21

know it's rock on the surface because

28:23

we see the crater ring looks just

28:25

like the surface of the moon okay

28:28

so but deep inside what could be

28:30

there. Now we know when it formed,

28:32

heavy stuff goes to the middle. Because

28:34

it's the fluid thing. It's molten. If

28:37

you're molten and you're heavy, you're gonna

28:39

sink. You're gonna sink. You're gonna sink.

28:41

Okay. So, we ask ourselves how much

28:43

iron has to be there to give

28:45

us that kind of mass at that

28:48

size, which is basically the density. So

28:50

the average density, we construct the average

28:52

density of the object. Pulling from

28:54

the periodic table of elements we know

28:57

are in the universe. So we find

28:59

out it has a huge core of

29:01

iron That's dope. It's dope. That is

29:03

that is dope. Okay. I'm sorry. God

29:05

damn it. That is science right there

29:08

buddy. Oh it works the other way

29:10

too. Really we've discovered asteroids

29:12

Okay, and we know they're rocky,

29:14

but we look at the density.

29:16

It's like these are way less dense

29:19

than rock right right less dense right

29:21

What's going on? Oh, that's so

29:23

cool What's going on? Because you see

29:25

the volume of it. And it's a

29:27

fuzzy image. You know, we're not looking.

29:30

These are not missions to go there.

29:32

It's not like we got binoculars. Harold!

29:34

Look at this asteroid! Where'd you get

29:36

Harold from? Anyway, go ahead. Harold and

29:39

the purple crayon. Because he went into

29:41

the sky with his purple crayon. There

29:43

you go. So, I liked Harold. It's a

29:46

great, right, yeah, everybody does. So how

29:48

do you have rock that has less

29:50

mass than rock. It ain't rock.

29:52

Well, it's got to be made

29:54

out of stuff that we know

29:56

about. Right. So that was the

29:58

first idea that... Maybe some asteroids

30:01

are piles of rubble. Nice. So

30:03

that there's... So they're coalesced, but

30:05

they're not stuck together. Enough stuck

30:07

together. Wow. So when we look

30:09

at the total mass and the

30:11

total size, the volume, some of

30:13

that volume is taken up by

30:15

nothing. Right. confounding our deduction for

30:17

what its density is. Like a

30:19

floating ball of pebbles. Pebbles. There'd

30:21

be so much space in between

30:24

each pebble that that floating ball

30:26

would never have the density of

30:28

a rock. Overall density is lower

30:30

than rock. So that matters because

30:32

we want to deflect an asteroid,

30:34

you can't just go up to

30:36

and push on it if it's

30:38

a bubble ball. Because that's a

30:40

bunch of little rocks coming your

30:42

way. Bruce Willis, you messed up

30:44

bad. So you get to push

30:46

off a chunk of it and

30:48

the rest doesn't, it's not attached.

30:51

Exactly. If it's not attached, you

30:53

didn't have any effect on it.

30:55

Right. So, so this density estimate,

30:57

these density estimates are a major

30:59

part of what folks in the

31:01

solar system do. Super cool man.

31:03

So Mercury's small, it's the smallest

31:05

planet. Right. A title formerly held

31:07

by Pluto. Poor Pluto. Why do

31:09

you go to Sire like that?

31:11

You know, you at my office,

31:13

there's no sympathy for Pluto in

31:16

my office. I know, but you're

31:18

like, you're like Kendrick and Drake,

31:20

I mean, you won, you won.

31:22

Why you gotta beat the guy

31:24

up? Okay, but go ahead. Okay,

31:26

so Mercury and the moon are

31:28

about the same size. Mercury might

31:30

be a little bigger. However, Mercury

31:32

has four times the mass of

31:34

our moon. Wow. Same size four

31:36

times the mass and we know

31:38

it's rocky on the surface because

31:41

they both have equal looking features

31:43

on the surface So what's going

31:45

on right we know the moon

31:47

has hardly any iron Right because

31:49

it was sight-swiped off of Earth's

31:51

crust from the the it's crusty

31:53

baby It's crusts that's the moon

31:55

the moon is crusty so we

31:57

think iron Rest deeply with end

31:59

largely within the center of where

32:01

it works. Boosting its total mass

32:03

relative to other normal objects. So

32:05

that's how that's how we roll

32:08

when we make the calculations. Very

32:10

cool. All right, let's, let's. It's

32:12

time for a few more, I

32:14

think. Yeah, yeah, we got some

32:16

time. Let's rock and roll here.

32:18

This is Wesley. We are getting

32:20

through these questions. We are actually

32:22

getting this. This is like the

32:24

most we've done. And I hope

32:26

people are recognizing that we're getting

32:28

to you as quickly as we

32:30

can. Hello, Dr. Tyson, Lord Nice.

32:33

I'm Wes from Davenport, Iowa, and

32:35

I for one want to say

32:37

I appreciate your programming and expertise.

32:39

Exactly what we know we're doing

32:41

it. It's an expression it really

32:43

is an expression I know it

32:45

really is an expression I know

32:47

and we appreciate it by the

32:49

way I used to wrestle go

32:51

ahead Iowa knows wrestlers Iowa yeah

32:53

that's because you know when you

32:55

grow up wrestling cows is that

32:58

what that is yeah get in

33:00

the kick my ass every time

33:02

in a circle on me no

33:04

I was, yeah. They're hauling calves.

33:06

You holding hauling calves. Put it

33:08

over there. Where are I put

33:10

this? In that shoot over there,

33:12

dummy? Yeah. Anyway. I arrest a

33:14

long tradition, long proud tradition of

33:16

wrestlers. Yeah, very cool. He says,

33:18

my question is regarding black holes

33:20

and what happens when they collide

33:22

with recent theory enhancements from great

33:25

minds. Is there now mathematical equations

33:27

that work to model this expected

33:29

action and... reaction. Can we mathematically

33:31

reproduce the collision of black holes

33:33

with absolute consistency? Yes. And because

33:35

we have the mathematics of it,

33:37

it's the math that predicted the

33:39

black hole to begin with. Right.

33:41

So we already had the math.

33:43

Yeah. Because it's not like here.

33:45

Here's an object. Oh my gosh.

33:47

How do I describe it? Einstein's

33:50

general theory of relativity. Right. Predicted

33:52

black holes. Even though he was

33:54

anti-black holes. Right. Yeah. Well he

33:56

was a racist. They all were

33:58

back there. No, he actually wasn't.

34:00

No, he wasn't. No, if you

34:02

read his ideas and opinions, it's

34:04

a book. Right, it was Hubble

34:06

who was. the racist. Yeah, Hubble

34:08

had issues. Yeah, he has. Hubble

34:10

had issues. When Marian Anderson, after

34:12

she was denied singing opportunity, she's

34:15

an opera singer in in Constitution

34:17

Hall. Oh, Washington DC. Because that

34:19

was run by the daughters of

34:21

the Confederates. Okay. That's when Roosevelt

34:23

said you can sing on the

34:25

steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Wow.

34:27

Einstein is active around then. This

34:29

is like the 1930s. Roosevelt was

34:31

president regardless. Okay. So it would,

34:33

yeah, it would have been the

34:35

30s. We weren't at war yet.

34:37

And she visited Princeton and visited

34:39

Einstein on the Princeton campus. Wow.

34:42

Yeah, he was receiving of people

34:44

who were otherwise well known, but

34:46

had issues with dealing with, you

34:48

know, society. Yeah, societal issues. Yeah.

34:50

So he was a very forward-thinking

34:52

person. Very cool. Well, yeah, I

34:54

mean, it's great to see that

34:56

being how he was so brilliant.

34:58

Yeah, but also, I mean, as

35:00

a Jew escaping the rise of

35:02

Nazi Germany. Yeah, he has some

35:04

motivates. Yeah, he had and some

35:07

empathetic empathetic. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that

35:09

makes sense. Yeah. And he predicted

35:11

gravity waves. I mean, gravitational waves,

35:13

which means that the math was

35:15

already there. Math is already there.

35:17

Right. Right, and so math was

35:19

in place and then we say

35:21

that must be, but he did

35:23

not believe that matter would do,

35:25

would be so, he didn't think

35:27

the universe would be that mean

35:29

to matter. Really? Yeah, interesting. Yeah,

35:32

the matter is closing in on

35:34

itself, right. and it collapses with

35:36

nothing to stop it. Exactly. Down

35:38

to a singularity. Yes, it doesn't

35:40

make any sense. Doesn't make any

35:42

sense. Doesn't make any sense. So

35:44

he said, it must, but it

35:46

can't be. Right, it can't be

35:48

up there and find in black

35:50

holes. Look at that. That's so

35:52

great. So, so yes, it can

35:54

be completely described. And what's interesting

35:56

about it is, the two black

35:59

holes enter each other event. dominant

36:01

black hole. What if they are both

36:03

mirror identities? What happens

36:06

then? Oh, you, because you, you're,

36:08

you're imagining in

36:10

most scenarios, one black

36:12

hole is like dominant. Yeah,

36:15

one black hole is just

36:17

like, you know, you and

36:19

my part of space now.

36:22

And I'm hungry. Right. So,

36:24

I got news for you.

36:26

We're gonna be one black

36:29

hole, but it's gonna be

36:31

me. Did you one time

36:33

imitate a black hole eating?

36:36

No, you had some voice?

36:38

What was that? No, what

36:40

did I do? Something? Oh,

36:42

no, because I was said,

36:45

black holes are just like,

36:47

hey, hey, Because that is

36:49

exactly what they would sound

36:52

like. Oh my goodness. If

36:54

they spoke English, their sound

36:56

could move through space, that's

36:59

what they'd be saying. Another

37:01

black hole, a test is

37:03

snack. Okay. Yeah, but that's

37:05

my concept is that one

37:08

of them would be dominant

37:10

always. But the math doesn't. It

37:12

doesn't care. Math is what is

37:14

bigger, smaller, equal. It doesn't make

37:17

a difference. Here's the thing. When

37:19

they merge, you have a new

37:21

black hole that is exactly the

37:23

mass of the two of them

37:25

sum together. Oh, and that's all

37:28

that counts. That's all it counts.

37:30

And then you have a bigger black

37:32

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39:16

This is Jared Higbee. He

39:18

says, greeting Dr. Tyson and

39:20

Lord Chucky Baby. This is

39:22

Jared Higbee from Alamo, Nevada.

39:24

Is the north and south

39:26

sides of a magnet actually

39:29

different in any way outside

39:31

of the attraction and repelling

39:33

effects? How would you determine

39:35

which side of a magnet

39:37

is which? Interesting. So you

39:39

don't have anything to go

39:41

on because you can't turn

39:43

them and attract or turn

39:46

them and repel, you have

39:48

to determine what's one is

39:50

north and which one is

39:52

south. It is completely. Arbitrary.

39:54

Yes. Do tell. Okay. I

39:56

will. What I mean by

39:58

arbitrary is that we all

40:00

decide what to agree on

40:02

and then that's the answer.

40:05

It's not a fundamental thing

40:07

in the universe that tells

40:09

this is North. There's no

40:11

whispering secret force operating on

40:13

this. So by definition. Now

40:15

think this, remember, like poles

40:17

will do what? They repel.

40:19

Repel. Repel, and opposite poles

40:21

attract. Okay. Okay. So, by

40:24

definition, if you have, let's

40:26

say a bar magnet, because

40:28

it'll work better. Yeah, it's

40:30

easier. And you hold it

40:32

with a string in the

40:34

middle, and it'll turn. The

40:36

part that points north on

40:38

earth is the north pole

40:40

of the magnet. And that's

40:43

it. It's been decided, guys.

40:45

There's no need to make

40:47

a choice. It's been decided

40:49

for. By that one, okay,

40:51

so now, what that means

40:53

is, if the North Pole

40:55

or your magnet is pointing

40:57

to the North Pole of

41:00

the Earth, where is the

41:02

Earth's South Magnetic Pole? Wait

41:04

a minute, if the, wait,

41:06

the North Pole of the

41:08

magnet is pointed towards the

41:10

North Pole of the Earth.

41:12

What attracted it? The South

41:14

Magnesian... Yes! No! No! Come

41:16

back, Chuck, I need you!

41:19

That's insane! That's the right

41:21

pole is the South Pole!

41:23

Yes, on earth? That is

41:25

effing ridiculous. Yeah, oh geez!

41:27

You didn't know that? Have

41:29

you thought about that? No!

41:31

How are we calling in

41:33

our North Pole and North

41:35

magnets point to it? Now

41:38

you point in North Pole

41:40

or North Pole and it

41:42

repels. Exactly. Something's good. Something's...

41:44

Oh, something's going on there.

41:46

Wow, that's crazy. Yes, Earth's

41:48

South Magnetic Pole is the

41:50

North Pole. Yes. That's insane.

41:52

I don't know what to

41:54

believe anymore. I can't believe

41:57

anything anymore. Okay, so now,

41:59

so now, why, we had

42:01

someone asked from down under,

42:03

you can ask, what makes

42:05

that the North Pole of

42:07

the Earth at all? Right.

42:09

Was that arbitrary? That arbitrary

42:11

as well. Okay. Yeah, because

42:14

from where we're sitting. Well,

42:16

the folks in the South

42:18

Pole, they might have another

42:20

opinion on the matter. Exactly.

42:22

Okay. Exactly. That's another one.

42:24

Trikey. That's another one that's

42:26

decided by decree. Arbitrary consensus.

42:28

Okay. And you know how

42:30

we get it. You ask,

42:33

which way is the earth

42:35

spinning? Okay. Curl your hand.

42:37

Take your right hand. Kirl

42:39

your fingers in the direction

42:41

earth is spinning. Now point

42:43

your thumb up, that's the

42:45

North Pole. Yeah, look at

42:47

that. So that's it. That's

42:49

it. But suppose most people

42:52

were left-handed then? There's no

42:54

left-hand rule. It's only a

42:56

right-hand rule. It's only a

42:58

right-hand rule. You do that

43:00

for any rotating object. That's

43:02

how you can say that

43:04

the planet Uranus is tipped

43:06

98 degrees from the vertical.

43:08

Oh, okay. How's that possible

43:11

if you just have another

43:13

axis that's up there? Right.

43:15

Because the right-hand rule takes

43:17

it down down below. That's

43:19

so cool, man. Yeah, that's

43:21

very cool. You can have

43:23

a planet that's 180 degrees

43:25

flipped. Right. Why don't you

43:28

just say, well, just call

43:30

that north? No, because the

43:32

rotation. Yeah. Oh, that's so

43:34

cool. Oh, man. All right.

43:36

All right. Here we go.

43:38

I think we had time

43:40

for one more question. One

43:42

more. Or two if I

43:44

answer each and half the

43:47

time. I did the math.

43:49

All right, go, go. Here

43:51

we go. This is Hugo

43:53

Dart. He says, hello Dr.

43:55

Tyson, Lord Nice. This is

43:57

Hugo Dart from Rio de

43:59

Janeiro, Brazil. Blazil. He says,

44:01

with my seven year old

44:03

daughter, Olivia, who is a

44:06

big fan of your show.

44:08

one breakthrough be. We would

44:10

know for sure whether there

44:12

was life elsewhere in the

44:14

solar system, not on Earth.

44:16

Either in the oceans of

44:18

Europa or in the soils

44:20

of Mars, where we think

44:23

water has gone. We will

44:25

know for sure whether there

44:27

is or there is not.

44:29

And if there is not,

44:31

that's important information. Very much

44:33

so. And if there is,

44:35

that's even more important. I

44:37

think we'll know that probably

44:39

in the next 30 years.

44:42

based on missions that are

44:44

scheduled. Another question. So, okay,

44:46

here we go. This is

44:48

Logan Sinnet, who says hello,

44:50

Dr. Tyson, Lord Nice. Logan

44:52

is a cool name. That

44:54

is bad ass. This is

44:56

Logan from Phoenix, Arizona here.

44:58

Have you mentioned that the

45:01

best telescope discoveries are unexpected

45:03

discoveries? So I was wondering

45:05

if the JWST has made

45:07

any interesting unexpected discoveries thus

45:09

far. And if so, which

45:11

one interests you most? When

45:13

I was coming up? There

45:15

was the record for what's

45:17

the farthest object in the

45:20

universe. Okay, and it's measured

45:22

by redshift So and the

45:24

with the letter Z and

45:26

there's a mathematical form for

45:28

that But the bigger is

45:30

the Z the bigger is

45:32

the farther way the object

45:34

is okay in my day

45:37

the farthest objects were Z

45:39

of five Okay, okay when

45:41

I was growing it coming

45:43

up in ranks right we

45:45

might have hit six when

45:47

we built the road center

45:49

25 years ago. Okay, the

45:51

farther way it is the

45:53

closer back in time it's

45:56

getting to the beginning of

45:58

the... Correct. Right. But not

46:00

only that, start from the

46:02

beginning of the universe, you

46:04

couldn't make anything until the

46:06

universe... down right to the

46:08

point where matter forms right

46:10

Adams form right now we

46:12

have atoms now the atoms

46:15

can call coalesce and make

46:17

stars before they make stars

46:19

the universe is still expanding

46:21

we call that the dark

46:23

ages hasn't made stars yet

46:25

oh wow okay we called

46:27

it the dark ages interesting

46:29

all right JWST looks around

46:31

found galaxies in the dark

46:34

ages red shift 14 oh

46:36

my gosh 14. That's crazy.

46:38

My head is exploding. Yeah.

46:40

So first, what? A galaxy

46:42

at Redship 14? Holy shit.

46:44

Okay. A. B. That's in

46:46

the dark ages when ain't

46:48

supposed to be there. So

46:51

now we have an incongruency

46:53

time-wise. Yes. Or we don't

46:55

understand how galaxies form. Correct.

46:57

Or we had a totally

46:59

cool dark galaxy. Hey, baby.

47:01

You can call me the

47:03

chocolate galaxy if you're right?

47:05

That's all the time we

47:07

have. Yes, that was great.

47:10

We got a lot in

47:12

there. We got so many

47:14

questions in. Okay. So shut

47:16

up. No, I'm supposed to.

47:18

This has been Star Talk,

47:20

Cosmic Queries Edition. Neil Degrass

47:22

Tyson, your personal astrophysicist. As

47:24

always, keep looking up. To

47:38

realize the future America needs, we understand what's

47:40

needed from us, to face each threat head

47:42

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