Thanks, Fraser, for crushing- so expertly- the notion that "Black Holes are tunnels to another place/ time." My response is the same, though not so kindly worded, as yours. I just find it frustrating that so many people seem so keen to forget what a black hole IS, when they start speculating about what they hope it might possibly be.
Lol what are you babbling about? The concept of wormholes literally involves black holes. Wormholes may not exist, but it’s been a serious consideration that black holes could link to other universes. So I wonder where you get your smug attitude from when you’re just flat wrong.
Fraser is ABSOLUTELY correct! I’ve done “sidewalk astronomy” twice in the last few years and you’ll quickly find you had fifteen or more friends you never knew were roaming around unbeknownst to you all these years.
Thank you for all the joy your reporting has brought to me over the years. I’ve loved space since I was a young girl and you have been my guide since I first found your newsletter about 18 years ago now.
I like the idea that at the beginning of time, matter and antimatter annihilated each other, but random fluctuations produced a little bit more matter than antimatter, and that little bit is today's universe.
uh, the smallest part of matter is a quark so shouldn't they call it antielement? that sidetracked me the point I'm trying to make is does it become another form of matter or nothingness?
And we don't know what is beyond the edge of the observable universe, we assume it is the same but there is no way to know. There could be regions where antimatter dominates purely because of random fluctuations, or there is no matter of any kind at all.
A question for Fraser about star formation: If stars form after a certain critical amount of mass has accumulated, starting the fusion process, and a star's solar winds exert pressure outward from the star, then how are super-giant stars able to form? Wouldn't a newly-formed star's solar winds blow away any additional mass in the gas cloud nursery, preventing the cloud from forming a larger star? Or does the gravitation of a massive-enough stellar nursery simply overpower the star's outward energy until equilibrium is reached?
I like giving people the speed of the ISS in miles per second. One, it's more impressive, but two, I think it's easier for someone to comprehend what moving 4.8 miles a second looks like.
About Kerbal Space Program: I would like to add that one should buy the first game. The second game has been halted for now and is not being developed after it flopped. Potentially going to be cancelled. KSP1 is A LOT of fun though, biiiig recommend.
I'm glad I didn't jump on board on launch day of KSP2. I heard nothing but nightmares about all along. I still play KSP1 regularly after 10 years ' and I still haven't ventured outside my 2 closest neighbors: Eve and Duna. 😂 Now I'm inspired to try for Jool. 🤗
The only thing I'd add to the question about the wrench is that it will eventually come back to earth due to atmospheric drag. It's why the station pushes the gas pedal every once in a while to maintain orbit. Although the atmosphere is SUPER thin up there, it's not zero resistance. It may take a few decades for that wrench to "come home" but it'll get there.
The old battery pack discarded from ISS had a much greater mass to surface area ratio than a wrench, and it took less than 4 years to reenter the atmosphere. The wrench would probably take even less time to do so.
@@caldodge Mass and surface area come into play, yes. Less area of the wrench for molecules to slow it down, but, less mass means it's easier to put the brakes on, so to speak. I sincerely don't know the math to figure out which would brake harder. Either way, objects in LEO don't stay there forever.
@@Mr76Pontiac An object with less surface area but more mass will take longer to deorbit than an object with less mass but more surface area. I've never played Kerbal Space Program as the only video game I play is Spider Solitaire. A large percentage of what I know about orbital mechanics (which is not very much about it) I learned by reading Exo by Steven Gould. That is the most recent sequel to the novel Jumper which was about a kid who discovers he has the power to teleport himself. It was made into a Doug Liman film that starred Hayden Christiansen. That was a beautifully shot film with a really stupid plot. The novel was much better. Exo is about the teenage daughter of the kid from Jumper who discovers she can not only teleport but also come out of the jump with any velocity and direction she wishes. She gets herself a spacesuit and decides to start a satellite delivery service. I know that may sound dumb, but it's actually a really good book. Aside from the ability to teleport, it otherwise is a hard science story. I highly recommend it.
Hebridan, Thank you for the extra explanation in the second half of the answer. It is something i had wondered about often, and had a guess similar to your answer but never knew for 'sure'.
Chulak I absolutely love learning something that catches me off guard. I feel I have a solid understanding of the galaxy around us after watching our knowledge about it evolve over the last 40+ years. I would have never guessed that is how spiral arm motion works. Truly fascinating.
To make a tool fall back to Earth (from the space station) within a few 93 minute orbits you only need to throw it behind you (good luck with that!) at about 200 metres/second or about 460 miles per hour. That way it should drop low enough to start re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, and spacecraft returning to Earth usually do a burn of 200m/s.
I'm very sorry but only your voice makes me sleep at night but then I return in the morning to watch your videos you and your team are a gift from heaven and we love you ❤️
Many years ago , on holiday in Norway, I collected a small lump of granite from a quarry. I subsequently discovered that the lump is some 400 million years old . So now I look at it each day knowing it has been round the entire galaxy , twice. Interesting.
@@prasah18carbon dating only works for biological stuff- wood, charcoal, bone etc. most areas have good geological info available which dates the strata, granite or gneiss is often the oldest layer.
Alaris...great way to explain our place in the universe! It's all I can do to figure out Google Maps! Keep up the good work, we're all counting on you!
I read somewhere that yes, while antimatter is insanely prohibitively expensive, we've only really ever tried to make small amounts, enough for things like CERN, and there are more efficient processes, we just don't have a current reason to need them.
Cartego. I wasn't aware of the meme, and it's really kind of an interesting observation that Mercury is on average the closest planet to every other planet.
Radio goes in a straight line from the ISS to the ground. So somewhere _between_ rocket speeds and the speed of light is a speed that can take you to the ground directly.
9:34 reference mention for the de-orbiting an object question involving orbital mechanics - Scott Manley did a good video with animated diagrams showing how that works. It's 6yrs ago, an 11 minute video here on RUclips currently called "The Most Confusing Things About Spacecraft Orbits" (found it in my viewing history after a minute). He did another one just before it about this same question called "Could An Astronaut Throw Something From Orbit To Earth?" which is less mathematical and not into the details so much.
Ardena, because finding other nerds who share our hobbies is important. And your local library might have telescopes that you can check out. But I don't see a good reason to not visit the library every so often. I live in a smaller city, so all the cool stuff isn't just in the metro areas
@donsample1002 which brings to mind the notion of the "Wait/Walk dilemma". Should we set off now to Proxima with chemical propulsion for the initial kick then solar sails for the remainder of the hundreds of years flight time? Or do we hold off an unknown number of years in the expectation we'll have mastered matter/anti-matter production and containment and realise a < human life travel time?
😂 "Wet coast of Canada", where I am it's either the light pollution of the Puget Sound or the wet season. I was lucky to get some auroras with a long exposure earlier this year. Most were washed out from the lights. I've convinced most of my neighbors to change their outside lighting. However, thanks to the remaining ones, I don't need any light for a midnight walk around the property. Access to be able to romote view would be great
12:23 Maybe this void question was referring to the "Local Bubble" space around the sun, that was research/news item in 2022 (e.g. a ScienceAlert article January 2022 "The Solar System Exists Inside a Giant, Mysterious Void, And We Finally Know Why"), a.k.a. Local Cavity - a "relative cavity in the interstellar medium (ISM) in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way". The "G-cloud" is also talked about in this reference, local collection of solar systems and gas - at least 300 light years across.
Arena- This is true regardless of the topic these days. The idea of setting up in public outside a reasonably populated venue whose clientele might be interested in your hobby is really interesting
Question: In Alaris you described in awesome detail the Orbit of our Sun in the Milky Way. One orbit takes 12mio Years, which means that we only have reliable data for some decades? how, and with what error margins can be rely on such information, especially since dark matter seems to interfere with the rotation of galaxies, dependent on the amount of dark matter (Which we don't know?): how is the statistical reliability on such data?
@@filonin2 come find me when you can show me proof of your philosophical fantasy (aka Dark Matter/Energy). Till then, its speculation that shows me most in this field are still clueless as to how this universe actually works. That's why its philosophy, and always will be because even someone less educated than myself looks at this puzzle with common sense and determines this is fraudulent science at best.
CARTEGO gets my vote for "best in show" I laughed my arse off when Fraser explained that bit at the end, where Mercury is closer, on average, to EVERY planet in the solar system. I dunno why I found that funny. It wasn't from disbelief; I concur 100% with the findings. I just find it funny, for some reason.
Question: I understand that from a observational prospective, it goes without saying that we tend to look at things from a prospective where Sol is more or less the center of the universe. The question I have is are we able to account for our perspective when we observe the universe and if so, how?
Hi Fraser, brilliant content! Perhaps a better analogue for density waves (than Mexican Waves) is the density waves that propagate through heavy highway traffic. We see stop/start at places where there seems no reason to expect slowing cars, except that the car in front had slowed a moment earlier. Cheers, from Down Under. Ps Ardena; I love the "community" explanation.
Chulak - it sounds like the stars in the milky way are moving a bit like traffic on a motorway, spread out for a while until somebody brakes and causes a temporary tailback that appears to travel back along the line of vehicles.
If looking for people of like-minded interests, check out your local community college(s). They often hold after hours, non-credit classes in various subjects. My wife and I have met other individuals and couples who shared our interest in wine tasting, bread making, a specific foreign language, as our examples. My interest in all things “space” were supported by a local museum which holds stargazing gatherings as part of their public outreach.
Hey Fraser, do you think photon sieves will replace lenses and mirrors in future telescopes, or are they just a niche technology for cubesats? And have you ever looked through a photon sieve telescope?
There was a diagram on the wall in the Master's Classroom in my Primary School that depicted the Milky Way viewed from an outside point at an elevation of about 40 degrees. There was an arrow pointing to a place about halfway between the centre and the edge. The caption read: Our Solar System is located somewhere in this area.
Jenev. I agree that it is sad and it seems like a waste but it has to happen. The comments saying to raise the orbit of the ISS is only a good idea if you really want to start a Kessler syndrome event. However I hope that before they do the deorbit, maybe include some Anthropologists on the final mission to bring things back and do a space walk or 2 and bring back some sections of the mats and shields and sections that have had micrometeorite impacts over the decades. While it can't stay up there and we can't bring it back intact, we can save some of it. It has been a hugely important part of our history and efforts should be made so that future people can see it and be close to it.
Chulak : WOW! That means the solar system will eventually find itself outside the Orion Arm. I never would have thought! Thanks Fraser for claifying the univers for me ;)
GAIA was "only" able to see about 2 billion stars in the milky way, but we estimate that there may be as many as 400 billion - is there any way that we can increase the number we can see with future missions? Are there any plans to do this?
The best thing I liked in this discussion is the crucial clarification that a black hole is no hole. It is just an extremely dense star which happens to be so dense that not even light can escape from it. Escape velocity greater than C. Now it is always possible that we would find stars in the future that are of larger and larger event horizons that would fall into classes. The myths and speculations regarding what a Black hole can do in the non scientific domain or science fiction has been only because the name is Black hole. It should have been named Black Star and none of that speculation, misunderstanding, expectations would have occurred. This speculation has also percolated into the scientific community without evidence. Its just Black Star and like a Black body radiation it absorbs all light, reflects or emits none. Thanks.
Would you please describe why galaxies like our own have the central bar and not a disc? Are there other gravitational systems with different sizes that show the same phenomenon? Thank you Fraser.
Regarding the wrench. If you throw a wrench down towards the earth. Its orbital speed remains constant with the space station. But as the wrench gets closer to earth, doesn't its speed increase, like spinning in an office chair and you pull your legs in to spin faster? Which would throw the wrench into a higher orbit? So throwing the wrench away from the earth would actually slow the orbit and cause it to fall closer to the earth and eventually atmospheric drag would slow it and it would continue to deorbit or burn up?
What happens first, the light of distant objects red shift out of sight or there has not been enough time passed for us to detect an object due to distance?
Not appreciably different than the escape velocity at Earth's surface - which is about 11.2 km/s. ISS is already moving at 7.7 km/s, so starting from the ISS you'd only need to add another 3.5 km/s to escape from Earth's gravitational well (but you'll still be orbiting the Sun, not to mention the Milky Way's center of mass.)
Going to an astronomy club and trying out different Focal Length Scopes, is the only way to see the different advantages of Focal lengths and designs. Take notes to remember your experience. Have fun
Follow-up / question for Alaris question about the/our position in the Milky Way; Do we lose planets/stars/etc from the Milky Way? If so, how does that happen? No more pull at the tail ends maybe?
It's all the excitement that tends to periodically sterilize everything in the neighborhood. "Boring" is good if the goal is to spend billions of years gradually evolving life until it attains advanced levels of intelligence and technology.
@@Spherical_Cow Yup. Good point, but I'm still gonna continue construction on my shelter for when that other galaxy gets here. I even have an awesome collection of Space Pens just in case...so...you know...prepared! Ciao
Hey Fraser. The solar system is often portrayed as a flat disc in pictures, as I understand the planets are orbiting more akin to a corkscrew type motion. Is this the same for the galaxy? It is always shown as a flat disc. Is it actually moving like that, or is it similar to the corkscrew type motion?
Chulak. I have always wondered: Where is the Solar System currently within its arm? Is it on a crest, in the middle, etc.? Does that mean that the distances between local systems are compressed or enlarged periodically? What happens when they are, and would we be able to know?
Hey Frasier, a thought came to me, could a neutron star very close to the threshold for becoming a blackhole be pushed over the edge by a clump of dark matter passing thru it? Would we be able to detect that, and tell the difference from other ways neutron stars become blackholes?
About space travel being profitable... At current levels of use, we will run out of known phosphorus reserves, which is essential for life, in around 80 years.That should create a mighty big demand to mine for it off planet, like on the moon.
earlier this year the kugelblitz blackhole option got shown to have issues and would be unable to form. (before August 2024) - from what I understand of what I read on the research, quantum effects kick in and negate the formation, and to get around that you would need more light than is possible in the universe, by a significant margin (orders of magnitude)
I have a question. Is it possible to utilize the kinetic energy of a fast moving object in space and use it to generate energy by slowing it down? Kind of like a sling shot but generate electricity rather than increase its speed.
I've always been curious, How does the light speed lag affect galaxies in the local group? The gravity "seen" by even local galaxies has to be at a slightly different angle and position than the current actual position of our own galaxy. Where are the local group galaxies "now, in real time", vs where do they appear to us due to the light speed lag? I understand that "now" is an illusion over long distances and times, but i'm curious what, if any, effect this has on galactic level celestial mechanics.
Hi Fraser, I have a question about the magnetic force vs the gravitational force. Is it possible to derive a calculation, as Karl Scharzschild did for event horizons, to imagine the magnetic force required to overcome the gravitational force in order to pull something back after it has passed a black hole event horizon. Despite that it may not be possible imagine a magnetar orbiting near the event horizon of a black hole and it being able to pull something out that has just crossed the event horizon. I’m just curious what the for would be; for example, 2/3/4 multiples of infinite energy or something else?
And perhaps as an imaginary follow up: if something amplified or somehow multiplied the strength of the magnetic field of a magnetar could it trap light within the magnetic field just as a black hole can trap light within its gravitation field?
Question - since Earth's electro-magnetic field deflects solar/cosmic radiation from the planet, is it feasible for a spacecraft to generate its own field to protect astronauts and equipment from harm?
A permanent/semi-permanently occupied moon base I think is better than maintaining a low earth space station. You can still get your zero-g experiments done in a orbiting lunar station. Pretty easy to go back and forth from the surface.
When you mentioned the sun bobbing it made me think about the animations of jwst’s orbit and it got me thinking. What would be the theoretical use of a galactic Lagrange point?
Given the shemozle that ksp is in, what do you think is the next gen tool for teaching people orbital mechancics ? As a long time math and science nerd i really only understood orbital mechanics after playing around with ksp.
Great idea to take your telescope to a public place. We do this with our spotting scope when we hunt for whales. Always cool to see someone cry when they see a whale for the first time. Same thing with Saturn. 😊
When the cosmic background reaches the radio frequency, spectrum, will it cause interference with earth communications also, what is the bandwidth of the cosmic background noise?
Thanks, Fraser, for crushing- so expertly- the notion that "Black Holes are tunnels to another place/ time."
My response is the same, though not so kindly worded, as yours. I just find it frustrating that so many people seem so keen to forget what a black hole IS, when they start speculating about what they hope it might possibly be.
yea definitely.
Lol what are you babbling about? The concept of wormholes literally involves black holes. Wormholes may not exist, but it’s been a serious consideration that black holes could link to other universes. So I wonder where you get your smug attitude from when you’re just flat wrong.
Chulak. I had no idea that the spiral arms are density waves. Thanks for educating me!
Fraser is ABSOLUTELY correct! I’ve done “sidewalk astronomy” twice in the last few years and you’ll quickly find you had fifteen or more friends you never knew were roaming around unbeknownst to you all these years.
Fantastic
The Wave at the stadium is such a great analogy. Will have to steal that for explanations of my own for such concepts.
Thank you for all the joy your reporting has brought to me over the years. I’ve loved space since I was a young girl and you have been my guide since I first found your newsletter about 18 years ago now.
I like the idea that at the beginning of time, matter and antimatter annihilated each other, but random fluctuations produced a little bit more matter than antimatter, and that little bit is today's universe.
uh, the smallest part of matter is a quark so shouldn't they call it antielement? that sidetracked me the point I'm trying to make is does it become another form of matter or nothingness?
still left with a huge question. at the beginning of time, where did the matter come from to annihilate with anti-matter?
And we don't know what is beyond the edge of the observable universe, we assume it is the same but there is no way to know. There could be regions where antimatter dominates purely because of random fluctuations, or there is no matter of any kind at all.
same with "intelligent" life. The exchanging forces between matter trying to escape (gases?) and the gravitational pull trying to pull them back
A question for Fraser about star formation: If stars form after a certain critical amount of mass has accumulated, starting the fusion process, and a star's solar winds exert pressure outward from the star, then how are super-giant stars able to form? Wouldn't a newly-formed star's solar winds blow away any additional mass in the gas cloud nursery, preventing the cloud from forming a larger star?
Or does the gravitation of a massive-enough stellar nursery simply overpower the star's outward energy until equilibrium is reached?
I cannot pick the single best thing, so I will say: Alaris, Edora and Jenev were good questions and good answers!
Keep up the good work!
The metaphor of the frog in front of a blender got me!
Yeah, especially, because it is impossible to survive even closing in on the event horizon. There is super hot matter swirling around it.
I laughed a good deal with the frog looking into the blender, thank you for that!
I like giving people the speed of the ISS in miles per second. One, it's more impressive, but two, I think it's easier for someone to comprehend what moving 4.8 miles a second looks like.
Nah, then you have to multiply by 1.6 to get to normal units.
@savagesarethebest7251 I live in the US so giving it to them in kps would defeat the purpose of helping them visualize it.
About Kerbal Space Program: I would like to add that one should buy the first game. The second game has been halted for now and is not being developed after it flopped. Potentially going to be cancelled. KSP1 is A LOT of fun though, biiiig recommend.
@@SidMajors it is a shame about ksp2. Kerbal is one of my favorite games in my library
I'm glad I didn't jump on board on launch day of KSP2.
I heard nothing but nightmares about all along.
I still play KSP1 regularly after 10 years ' and I still haven't ventured outside my 2 closest neighbors: Eve and Duna. 😂
Now I'm inspired to try for Jool. 🤗
@@NarwahlGaming Oh man I feel you :P I have a few hundred hours in the game and only scratched the surface 😅
The only thing I'd add to the question about the wrench is that it will eventually come back to earth due to atmospheric drag. It's why the station pushes the gas pedal every once in a while to maintain orbit. Although the atmosphere is SUPER thin up there, it's not zero resistance. It may take a few decades for that wrench to "come home" but it'll get there.
The old battery pack discarded from ISS had a much greater mass to surface area ratio than a wrench, and it took less than 4 years to reenter the atmosphere. The wrench would probably take even less time to do so.
@@caldodge Mass and surface area come into play, yes. Less area of the wrench for molecules to slow it down, but, less mass means it's easier to put the brakes on, so to speak. I sincerely don't know the math to figure out which would brake harder. Either way, objects in LEO don't stay there forever.
@@Mr76Pontiac An object with less surface area but more mass will take longer to deorbit than an object with less mass but more surface area. I've never played Kerbal Space Program as the only video game I play is Spider Solitaire. A large percentage of what I know about orbital mechanics (which is not very much about it) I learned by reading Exo by Steven Gould. That is the most recent sequel to the novel Jumper which was about a kid who discovers he has the power to teleport himself. It was made into a Doug Liman film that starred Hayden Christiansen. That was a beautifully shot film with a really stupid plot. The novel was much better. Exo is about the teenage daughter of the kid from Jumper who discovers she can not only teleport but also come out of the jump with any velocity and direction she wishes. She gets herself a spacesuit and decides to start a satellite delivery service. I know that may sound dumb, but it's actually a really good book. Aside from the ability to teleport, it otherwise is a hard science story. I highly recommend it.
@@michaelmcchesney6645I'd suggest the movie Explorers. It's from the 1980's.
@@caldodgenah the battery pack definitely doesn’t have the frontal area/ mass of solid steel. But it is comparable.
Hebridan, Thank you for the extra explanation in the second half of the answer. It is something i had wondered about often, and had a guess similar to your answer but never knew for 'sure'.
Alaris. I love the way you're explaining it. It was so clear and precise. The best answer of the video.
I have no "astronomy" friends. I was able to talk my wife and son into watching the recent solar eclipse. Great memory.
Chulak I absolutely love learning something that catches me off guard. I feel I have a solid understanding of the galaxy around us after watching our knowledge about it evolve over the last 40+ years. I would have never guessed that is how spiral arm motion works. Truly fascinating.
Hebridan, that was a really good question!
To make a tool fall back to Earth (from the space station) within a few 93 minute orbits you only need to throw it behind you (good luck with that!) at about 200 metres/second or about 460 miles per hour. That way it should drop low enough to start re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, and spacecraft returning to Earth usually do a burn of 200m/s.
I'm very sorry but only your voice makes me sleep at night but then I return in the morning to watch your videos you and your team are a gift from heaven and we love you ❤️
Many years ago , on holiday in Norway, I collected a small lump of granite from a quarry. I subsequently discovered that the lump is some 400 million years old . So now I look at it each day knowing it has been round the entire galaxy , twice. Interesting.
did you do a carbon dating? and why?
You went to a quarry on vacation?
@@prasah18carbon dating only works for biological stuff- wood, charcoal, bone etc. most areas have good geological info available which dates the strata, granite or gneiss is often the oldest layer.
Whoa. Talk about mileage...
Alaris...great way to explain our place in the universe! It's all I can do to figure out Google Maps! Keep up the good work, we're all counting on you!
Thanks for another enlightening session!
I read somewhere that yes, while antimatter is insanely prohibitively expensive, we've only really ever tried to make small amounts, enough for things like CERN, and there are more efficient processes, we just don't have a current reason to need them.
Love the frog looking into the blender analogy.
17:55
Sir, you win the Internet with that black hole comparison😂😂
Frog\blender=human\bh😊
Love the channel, I'll think of a question next time
Try "what would be a good question to ask?"
Asuria a great question and answer!
This makes my brain happy.
Cartego. I wasn't aware of the meme, and it's really kind of an interesting observation that Mercury is on average the closest planet to every other planet.
Radio goes in a straight line from the ISS to the ground. So somewhere _between_ rocket speeds and the speed of light is a speed that can take you to the ground directly.
9:34 reference mention for the de-orbiting an object question involving orbital mechanics - Scott Manley did a good video with animated diagrams showing how that works. It's 6yrs ago, an 11 minute video here on RUclips currently called "The Most Confusing Things About Spacecraft Orbits" (found it in my viewing history after a minute). He did another one just before it about this same question called "Could An Astronaut Throw Something From Orbit To Earth?" which is less mathematical and not into the details so much.
Talking about the width of the galaxy, what’s the depth?
A few thousand light years
Ardena, because finding other nerds who share our hobbies is important. And your local library might have telescopes that you can check out. But I don't see a good reason to not visit the library every so often. I live in a smaller city, so all the cool stuff isn't just in the metro areas
would be really cool to catch up to the Voyagers and give them a refurbishment and a boost.
If you could catch them, you have the ability make something a lot better, going a lot faster.
@donsample1002 which brings to mind the notion of the "Wait/Walk dilemma". Should we set off now to Proxima with chemical propulsion for the initial kick then solar sails for the remainder of the hundreds of years flight time? Or do we hold off an unknown number of years in the expectation we'll have mastered matter/anti-matter production and containment and realise a < human life travel time?
@@DanielVerberne wouldn't it suck to be on the first ship and see an updated ship zip right by you?
@@DanielVerberne what if something that we learn from data transmitted back to earth from a probe is what leads to us developing that next level tech?
If you could do all that, why don’t you just take your new technology and keep going?
😂 "Wet coast of Canada", where I am it's either the light pollution of the Puget Sound or the wet season. I was lucky to get some auroras with a long exposure earlier this year. Most were washed out from the lights. I've convinced most of my neighbors to change their outside lighting. However, thanks to the remaining ones, I don't need any light for a midnight walk around the property. Access to be able to romote view would be great
*Cartego* That’s the best explanation of why Mercury is the closest planet to the Earth I’ve heard.
One more question, suppose we have the technology to be able to travel to nearby stars. How would we go about navigating to them?
I learned about orbital mechanics reading 'Seveneves'. Prints actually made sense after that
Really good episode Fraser, especially how you spoke about finding like minded people ❤
12:23 Maybe this void question was referring to the "Local Bubble" space around the sun, that was research/news item in 2022 (e.g. a ScienceAlert article January 2022 "The Solar System Exists Inside a Giant, Mysterious Void, And We Finally Know Why"), a.k.a. Local Cavity - a "relative cavity in the interstellar medium (ISM) in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way". The "G-cloud" is also talked about in this reference, local collection of solar systems and gas - at least 300 light years across.
Arena- This is true regardless of the topic these days. The idea of setting up in public outside a reasonably populated venue whose clientele might be interested in your hobby is really interesting
This was a very down-to-earth question show 😂
Question: In Alaris you described in awesome detail the Orbit of our Sun in the Milky Way. One orbit takes 12mio Years, which means that we only have reliable data for some decades? how, and with what error margins can be rely on such information, especially since dark matter seems to interfere with the rotation of galaxies, dependent on the amount of dark matter (Which we don't know?): how is the statistical reliability on such data?
dark matter is philosophy, not science. so don't worry about it.
@@BigTimeRushFan2112 Words of ignorance.
@@filonin2 come find me when you can show me proof of your philosophical fantasy (aka Dark Matter/Energy). Till then, its speculation that shows me most in this field are still clueless as to how this universe actually works. That's why its philosophy, and always will be because even someone less educated than myself looks at this puzzle with common sense and determines this is fraudulent science at best.
Chulak! I had no idea the spiral arms were kind of a gravity wave, really interesting
CARTEGO gets my vote for "best in show"
I laughed my arse off when Fraser explained that bit at the end, where Mercury is closer, on average, to EVERY planet in the solar system. I dunno why I found that funny. It wasn't from disbelief; I concur 100% with the findings. I just find it funny, for some reason.
Chulak. I learned something I didn't know today. Thank you
Ardena, The hardest part I find about conversation about space in local vacuums is that sound can't travel in a vacuum.
Question: I understand that from a observational prospective, it goes without saying that we tend to look at things from a prospective where Sol is more or less the center of the universe. The question I have is are we able to account for our perspective when we observe the universe and if so, how?
Hi Fraser, brilliant content!
Perhaps a better analogue for density waves (than Mexican Waves) is the density waves that propagate through heavy highway traffic. We see stop/start at places where there seems no reason to expect slowing cars, except that the car in front had slowed a moment earlier.
Cheers, from Down Under.
Ps Ardena; I love the "community" explanation.
Chulak - it sounds like the stars in the milky way are moving a bit like traffic on a motorway, spread out for a while until somebody brakes and causes a temporary tailback that appears to travel back along the line of vehicles.
If looking for people of like-minded interests, check out your local community college(s). They often hold after hours, non-credit classes in various subjects. My wife and I have met other individuals and couples who shared our interest in wine tasting, bread making, a specific foreign language, as our examples.
My interest in all things “space” were supported by a local museum which holds stargazing gatherings as part of their public outreach.
I love that suggestion
@@frasercainso the sun actually wobbles around the milkeyway up and down on the "plate" structure as it circles around.
Hey Fraser, do you think photon sieves will replace lenses and mirrors in future telescopes, or are they just a niche technology for cubesats? And have you ever looked through a photon sieve telescope?
Asuria. All I can think of is the scene in the MST3K movie where Mike drops the Hubble.
By far, this is the best question show I've seen! Also.. Chulak
There was a diagram on the wall in the Master's Classroom in my Primary School that depicted the Milky Way viewed from an outside point at an elevation of about 40 degrees.
There was an arrow pointing to a place about halfway between the centre and the edge.
The caption read:
Our Solar System is located somewhere in this area.
Yay team Fraser Cain! Keep kicking butt!
ISS? What we have here is a Do'er'upper. A perfect home for first time buyers but advised to flip quickly. Really quickly.
Another question, what's the theoretical distance limit of a gravitational influence of the supermassive black hole in the center of the milky way?
Jenev. I agree that it is sad and it seems like a waste but it has to happen. The comments saying to raise the orbit of the ISS is only a good idea if you really want to start a Kessler syndrome event. However I hope that before they do the deorbit, maybe include some Anthropologists on the final mission to bring things back and do a space walk or 2 and bring back some sections of the mats and shields and sections that have had micrometeorite impacts over the decades. While it can't stay up there and we can't bring it back intact, we can save some of it. It has been a hugely important part of our history and efforts should be made so that future people can see it and be close to it.
Alaris haha thanks for answering Fraser! Cheers
Chulak : WOW! That means the solar system will eventually find itself outside the Orion Arm. I never would have thought! Thanks Fraser for claifying the univers for me ;)
GAIA was "only" able to see about 2 billion stars in the milky way, but we estimate that there may be as many as 400 billion - is there any way that we can increase the number we can see with future missions? Are there any plans to do this?
The best thing I liked in this discussion is the crucial clarification that a black hole is no hole. It is just an extremely dense star which happens to be so dense that not even light can escape from it. Escape velocity greater than C. Now it is always possible that we would find stars in the future that are of larger and larger event horizons that would fall into classes. The myths and speculations regarding what a Black hole can do in the non scientific domain or science fiction has been only because the name is Black hole. It should have been named Black Star and none of that speculation, misunderstanding, expectations would have occurred. This speculation has also percolated into the scientific community without evidence. Its just Black Star and like a Black body radiation it absorbs all light, reflects or emits none. Thanks.
oh hey, I caught this one live :P
Would you please describe why galaxies like our own have the central bar and not a disc? Are there other gravitational systems with different sizes that show the same phenomenon? Thank you Fraser.
Regarding the wrench. If you throw a wrench down towards the earth. Its orbital speed remains constant with the space station. But as the wrench gets closer to earth, doesn't its speed increase, like spinning in an office chair and you pull your legs in to spin faster? Which would throw the wrench into a higher orbit? So throwing the wrench away from the earth would actually slow the orbit and cause it to fall closer to the earth and eventually atmospheric drag would slow it and it would continue to deorbit or burn up?
What happens first, the light of distant objects red shift out of sight or there has not been enough time passed for us to detect an object due to distance?
The wrench is thrown in space.
A better question is, what is the escape velocity at the space station?
Not appreciably different than the escape velocity at Earth's surface - which is about 11.2 km/s. ISS is already moving at 7.7 km/s, so starting from the ISS you'd only need to add another 3.5 km/s to escape from Earth's gravitational well (but you'll still be orbiting the Sun, not to mention the Milky Way's center of mass.)
@@Spherical_Cowa mere 12,600 km/hr? (It looked easily achievable until I did the math. lol)?
@@hive_indicator318 it's only slightly more than Mach 10. No big deal 🙃
@@Spherical_CowMach 10? Based upon what temp/altitude? M=39rootK . So at 33000'/-50•C M is c 580kts.
@@stoobydootoo4098 at sea level, duh
Going to an astronomy club and trying out different Focal Length Scopes, is the only way to see the different advantages of Focal lengths and designs. Take notes to remember your experience. Have fun
Follow-up / question for Alaris question about the/our position in the Milky Way; Do we lose planets/stars/etc from the Milky Way? If so, how does that happen? No more pull at the tail ends maybe?
Such a bummer, man. We live out in the boondocks. Nothing ever happens out here. All the excitement happens in the center. GAH!
It's all the excitement that tends to periodically sterilize everything in the neighborhood. "Boring" is good if the goal is to spend billions of years gradually evolving life until it attains advanced levels of intelligence and technology.
@@Spherical_Cow
Yup. Good point, but I'm still gonna continue construction on my shelter for when that other galaxy gets here. I even have an awesome collection of Space Pens just in case...so...you know...prepared! Ciao
You sound like Luke in episode 4 heh
@@ericv738
Yup. Got my paperwork in at the academy, but Uncle Owen won't let me go. I guess I'm goin nowhere. GAH!
@@ericv738
Could be worse, though dude. Ever been to Jakku? Pretty much nowhere.
Hey Fraser. The solar system is often portrayed as a flat disc in pictures, as I understand the planets are orbiting more akin to a corkscrew type motion. Is this the same for the galaxy? It is always shown as a flat disc. Is it actually moving like that, or is it similar to the corkscrew type motion?
Chulak. I have always wondered: Where is the Solar System currently within its arm? Is it on a crest, in the middle, etc.? Does that mean that the distances between local systems are compressed or enlarged periodically? What happens when they are, and would we be able to know?
Hey Frasier, a thought came to me, could a neutron star very close to the threshold for becoming a blackhole be pushed over the edge by a clump of dark matter passing thru it? Would we be able to detect that, and tell the difference from other ways neutron stars become blackholes?
You took the easy questions.
I just take them as they come.
About space travel being profitable... At current levels of use, we will run out of known phosphorus reserves, which is essential for life, in around 80 years.That should create a mighty big demand to mine for it off planet, like on the moon.
earlier this year the kugelblitz blackhole option got shown to have issues and would be unable to form. (before August 2024) - from what I understand of what I read on the research, quantum effects kick in and negate the formation, and to get around that you would need more light than is possible in the universe, by a significant margin (orders of magnitude)
Would you be squashed to an atom thick on the surface of a neutron star? Or are the atoms also squashed to just neutrons?
Neutron stars have layers. So it's pure neutrons deeper down, but an outer layer that's more like a white dwarf
re: Sun's Place in the Galaxy
can we have an episode that addressing galactic season earth and out solar system has experienced? do we have that data?
I have a question. Is it possible to utilize the kinetic energy of a fast moving object in space and use it to generate energy by slowing it down? Kind of like a sling shot but generate electricity rather than increase its speed.
Goronak thanks Fraser 🚀
CGP Grey’s The mostest closest planet referenced :D
I've always been curious, How does the light speed lag affect galaxies in the local group? The gravity "seen" by even local galaxies has to be at a slightly different angle and position than the current actual position of our own galaxy. Where are the local group galaxies "now, in real time", vs where do they appear to us due to the light speed lag? I understand that "now" is an illusion over long distances and times, but i'm curious what, if any, effect this has on galactic level celestial mechanics.
My father always taught me earths weather is highly influenced by were are solar system is in the galaxy and the way the sun bobbs up n down !
Belsa: a frog looking at a blender! hahaha!
Good show, Fraser.
I have a question: Why are we still calling collapsed super-massive suns 'black holes' instead of 'black stars'?
Hi Fraser, I have a question about the magnetic force vs the gravitational force. Is it possible to derive a calculation, as Karl Scharzschild did for event horizons, to imagine the magnetic force required to overcome the gravitational force in order to pull something back after it has passed a black hole event horizon.
Despite that it may not be possible imagine a magnetar orbiting near the event horizon of a black hole and it being able to pull something out that has just crossed the event horizon. I’m just curious what the for would be; for example, 2/3/4 multiples of infinite energy or something else?
And perhaps as an imaginary follow up: if something amplified or somehow multiplied the strength of the magnetic field of a magnetar could it trap light within the magnetic field just as a black hole can trap light within its gravitation field?
Question - since Earth's electro-magnetic field deflects solar/cosmic radiation from the planet, is it feasible for a spacecraft to generate its own field to protect astronauts and equipment from harm?
good vid
Finally we get Stargate gonna name
A permanent/semi-permanently occupied moon base I think is better than maintaining a low earth space station. You can still get your zero-g experiments done in a orbiting lunar station. Pretty easy to go back and forth from the surface.
When you mentioned the sun bobbing it made me think about the animations of jwst’s orbit and it got me thinking. What would be the theoretical use of a galactic Lagrange point?
Could a star orbit a galaxy in the galaxy’s lagrange point?
Given the shemozle that ksp is in, what do you think is the next gen tool for teaching people orbital mechancics ?
As a long time math and science nerd i really only understood orbital mechanics after playing around with ksp.
I think KSP 1 does the job
Great idea to take your telescope to a public place. We do this with our spotting scope when we hunt for whales. Always cool to see someone cry when they see a whale for the first time. Same thing with Saturn. 😊
We all living in a yellow submarine !
When the cosmic background reaches the radio frequency, spectrum, will it cause interference with earth communications also, what is the bandwidth of the cosmic background noise?
When did we abandon the Imperial measurement system for the metric system? My car drives in MPH. not KPH.
I’m Canadian, I never learned the imperial system. My car is in km.
I would go for Dakara this time :)
P5C-768 gets my vote