Colonizing White Dwarfs

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Stars give warmth and light to planets and make life possible, until they run out of fuel and die themselves, but could these dead stars still enable life to dwell around them?
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Credits:
Colonizing White Dwarfs
Episode 444; April 25, 2024
Produced, Written & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur
Graphics:
Jarred Eagley
Jeremy Jozwik
Justin Dixon
Ken York
Steve Bowers
Music Courtesy of
Epidemic Sound epidemicsound.com/creator
Stellardrone, "Red Giant", "The Earth Is Blue", "Eternity"

[@justarandomname420]

Earliest settler to a white dwarf!

[@mattparker9726]

LETS FREAKIN GOOOOOOO!

[@SkyFly19853]

Feels like Civ 4 Beyond the Earth...

[@viperswhip]

A far worse game than Alpha Centauri, somehow they can't seem to remake that. I think a relaunch is in order but the rights are probably owned by EA or something.

[@uncleanunicorn4571]

This will add a lot of nuance to my sci-fi novel during the fight Scene inside of a derelict white dwarf dyson sphere.

[@jsbrads1]

I started writing Metal Stars after hearing Iron Stars from Isaac. It is about a civilization that uses fusion inside stars to create massive amounts of any element in a galaxy wide economy. Inspired by his video, but not really the same subject 😂

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Sounds like a neat setting already, good luck!

[@uncleanunicorn4571]

@@jsbrads1 I've often wondered if you could use the energy from stellar fusion to power more fusion to power more fusion for yet heavier elements than the star would normally produce before going supernova?

[@uncleanunicorn4571]

@@isaacarthurSFIA thanks. I think a habitation Zone sandwiched between two layers would be safest.

[@jsbrads1]

@@uncleanunicorn4571 best idea is to get as close to the weight as possible, if you want to make oxygen you want to start pre Red Giant. Also you need to change the star’s composition if you want it to make oxygen instead of carbon. Then you use star lifting satellites to prevent it from going Red Giant and maintain the right pressure to speed up the oxygen creation and you steal enough of the unwanted ingredients that would run away the reaction in the wrong direction. Basic fusion star farming. 🧑‍🌾

[@ogrehaslayers605]

"white dwarves aren't very bright' Surprised Tyrion Lannister face 😮

[@HobDobson]

With all the possibilties for statites, lagites, etc., I'd think that a civilization living "on" a white dwarf could use also use the remnant as the core of a stellar engine. If your civilization is going to be hanging around the galaxy for a few orbits, you might as well add steering to your space yacht! (or terraforming + colonization barge) It could be useful to add an inner side wall to a white dwarf bracelet. White dwarf stars generate cosmic rays, which in turn can result in cosmic ray spallation of cosmogenic, helium-3, lithium, beryllium and boron. The yield might be low, but protons absorbed by gasses like nitrogen, oxygen, and argon are protons that aren't hitting your infrastructure.

[@littlegravitas9898]

"Your place in the sun"

[@Hell_Hound_Actual]

@Isaac Arthur I just wanted to say congratulations to you and your wife on the anniversary of your marriage as well as the successes that you and your family have achieved. Thank you for also inspiring me, as a disabled combat veteran (former Air Force Special Warfare SR/ SOWT Recon Specialist), to keep focused on the things that I can still do in life, as opposed to what I no longer can do, and keeping a realistic, yet positive view on things yet to come. You and your content truly mean a lot to me, despite not knowing you personally.

[@cannonfodder4376]

Most informative as always, Isaac. And Happy Fourth Anniversary!

[@oliviamaynard9372]

"Most stars are younger than the universe." lol I am 99.8% that was a joke.

[@TheReaverOfDarkness]

It is, and it's probably a reference to certain stars such as the Methuselah Star.

[@HuxleysShaggyDog]

Are much younger than

[@JamesGonzalez-em9un]

It's a reference to the new James Webb photos.

[@br3030]

haha nice 🤠

[@oliviamaynard9372]

@@JamesGonzalez-em9un Thanks for explaining it to me

[@Eldagusto]

Man someday I want to hear you chat about your Exalt game using pathfinder 2.0. Great episode again, wasn’t expecting the wire bracelet as the method but makes sense.

[@vapormissile]

"most stars are younger than the universe." That needed some elaboration.

[@phaedrus000]

he said "most stars are _a lot_ younger than the universe"

[@seriousmaran9414]

There are no known stars older than the universe, although some may look like candidates. 😊

[@TheReaverOfDarkness]

Further reading: Methuselah Star, Crisis in Cosmology *_IN THAT ORDER, TOO_*

[@ConstantlyDamaged]

In the style of xkcd: *[citation needed]*

[@00BillyTorontoBill]

except for like 5 in star trek episodes that have Q.

[@SashaXXY]

One problem with a glowing metal shell in a vacuum is that metal tends to sublime at elevated temperatures even if it isn't close to its melting point. Without an atmosphere we have nothing to counter that vapor pressure, which means that the degradation of the sphere will be that much more rapid. So the metal vapor will need to be continuously re-captured and re-applied to the shell not only on the outside but also on the inside.

[@MarsStarcruiser]

Can that really occur all that well at 350,000 times Earth’s gravity though?🤔

[@iainballas]

One day, I'd love a video that's just Isaac doing a stream-of-thought video, rambling about whatever topic comes to mind in the moment and going on endless tangents. I love listening to this channel in the background, at work and while playing video games.

[@tianzhou1244]

No, it's the planning and work behind that makes this channel good...

[@GulmoharBloom]

the livestreams are kinda like that

[@martinwulf8253]

Interviews with John Michael Godier also resemble that

[@MechanicaMenace]

​@@martinwulf8253JMG is great but sometimes, with certain recurring guests, he could do with Issac metaphorically sat alongside going on tangents as a polite way of calling bullshit.

[@erichtomanek4739]

Within the first two minutes of the episode: Space pizza is good pizza especially when one of the key toppings is space pineapple!

[@BigZebraCom]

You only say this to hurt me.

[@mike-0451]

People who cannot comprehend sweet and salty flavor combinations don’t deserve to comment on Hawaiian pizza.

[@innerstrengthcheck]

These are always so well timed with the end of my late shift! Thanks for the cooldown 😊

[@tomboyd7109]

Happy Anniversary! Enjoy your trip.

[@milkibearmilkibear]

Wow, another amazing video! Thank you so much!!!❤

[@seditt5146]

I think our notion of Habitable zone needs a major overhaul. White Dwarfs should impose significant tidal effects should they not? As a result, the Habitable zone feels like we need to start including elliptical orbits that would see the planet stretched and heated. We currently behave as though EM radiation is the only energy source life uses but even on Earth that is not true, and some believe life even started around a totally different energy source which tidal forces would provide.

[@Cyberwar101]

Yes, but tidal forces generate are only harvestable by life when it is simultaneously in an area of high vulcanism and not instable enough to destroy the environment. Also, it only seems to happen under the water. Solar is a vastly more usable and stable source, which is why life only uses geothermal where sunlight is non-existent. You can't run large complex ecologies on it without significant technological interference, such as using geothermal for powering lights.

[@user-bh4ge1pm2t]

Congratulations on the wedding anniversary. I hope you two enjoy your "away from the kids " time.

[@user-xm5ss6gl4s]

Blessings to your family, and enjoy your time away - excelsior!

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Thank you so much!

[@jasonlow6943]

Very interesting stuff... I hope you have a wonderful vacation.

[@ixi-cn7uq]

Chandelier cities! That's what I instantly thought after hearing that when a white dwarf has the right spectrum a shell around it where the temperature is right would have about Earth gravity. I imagine a view out of the window with the sun somewhere below, lots of mirrors to reflect the sudlight the right way, shades to block it and lots of spaces with glass floors. Sadly guess such cities would probably have to be airtight. The outer side of the shell can have radiators and industrial facilities lit up by reflected sunlight. And yeah, quite high escape velocity around all this setup...

[@inventist]

6:10 Here for the dog references to the Sirius star system.

[@NineSeptims]

Thanks for always making my Thursdays for so many years. 💙

[@ultrahd3388]

This episode of White Dwarf should have been released WAY earlier in SFIA history.

[@Nikki_Catnip]

Hey Isaac I can tell your speech therapy is going well! Your progress is so impressive! Your efforts aren’t unnoticed. ❤ Also, Happy anniversary! 🎉

[@vi6ddarkking]

Hypothetically speaking couldn't we use tidal forces by orbiting Brown Dwarves or if you're feeling brave. Another White Dwarf around the White Dwarf to keep it warm all but indefinitely. Using the heat to power our system that keep the orbits stable.

[@60508]

Funny you mention RPGs and world building, your channel always gives me amazing ideas for world building sci fi settings.

[@corywilliams2255]

Congrats! And here's to many more years of joy.

[@cerealata9035]

New Isaac Arthur upload let's go!

[@bluekoi455]

Congratulations on your anniversary, have an enlightening vacation 🤘🍺

[@TheMrBeaucephus]

Planetary nebulae are an excellent source of galactic nutrients. Part of a balanced cosmic breakfast.

[@DNihilHEAVYIndustries]

Awesome! I didn't even know 1/32nd of the information and I'm only 4 minutes in and am familiar with physics and cosmology. Can't wait to see where all this goes! With all the hard science that goes into your video's, I wouldn't be surprised if you had a degree in some form of engineering or mathematics because it would assume to me to be a good futurologist one would have to have a degree in something along those lines. I've been listening to you for close to 8-9 years and every subject I've watched you cover has been as informative as it has been entertaining which i could imagine it being difficult to pull off considering the subject matter. Keep up the amazing work! 💙⭐🌟✨💥🌌

[@imogen1]

If I have learned one thing from Isaac Arthur videos, it's that I am 100% investing when Tungsten Shells R Us goes public.

[@fooman1188]

Happy Anniversary, Amigo!

[@czarkbrooks]

Earth spinning the wrong way in intro

[@BigZebraCom]

I noticed that in a previous video. Apparently, it is hard to notice such mistakes during production and editing as the video window only makes up a small portion of the monitor.

[@Rangera-ct1xu]

congrats to you and your wife. i wish you many more happy years together.

[@BigZebraCom]

I was going to colonize a white dwarf -- but things got really busy at work.

[@cblimes]

thanks isaac. 3 years on

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

Good luck. Yer gonna NEED it.

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

I was born too early...😢

[@bengunderson712]

I was born 😢

[@williammckinney4090]

Happy Anniversary!

[@galaxya40s95]

Happy anniversary!

[@Psillytripper]

I was on lsd many many years back and had the idea of simply moving earth further back in the solar system b4 the sun starts to expand then moving it in much closer after it retracts. This way a care taker species could try to keep earth perpetually going[might have to also restart the earths core or install electro magnetic sheilds when the core slows too much]

[@glyngreen538]

I remember White Dwarf - good magazine. Could we colonise a magazine? Maybe become words based lifeforms? A bit like the Shifts from Doctor Who.

[@andyf4292]

before it became a games workshop sales brochure

[@quentinking4351]

Looking at how we use our words on social media, I would recommend against it.

[@levirivers2772]

Happy Anniversary to your family.

[@user-bh4ge1pm2t]

4:21 So it would seem that one advantage to colonizing white dwarfs would be the planetary nebula where you have lots of loose, readily accessible materials. Easy pickings as it were, naturally occurring star lifting.

[@nathanielbyrne1132]

I like the very faint radio signals in the music

[@stanislavstoimenov1729]

Thank you for giving home to those three kids! They're lucky.

[@Area51byDaveReale]

Happy Anniversary! :)

[@palfers1]

I take it you realise that the bracelet is metastable. Its lowest potential energy state corresponds to one side touching the star's surface.

[@peterxyz3541]

As long as the White Dwarf have food replicators like the Jupiter Mining Corp's Red Dwarf

[@stephenpointon]

Actually the JMC replicators were just vending machines with poor quality AI's (sometimes with speech impediments (so i guess they would be cool around here))

[@Michael-ju7xu]

Why did I read this as "Decolonizing white dwarves"

[@UpperDarbyDetailing]

Watching too much CNN and MSNBC probably.

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

Hopefully you're not in the vicinity of college xir/zem people

[@comentedonakeyboard]

White Dwarfs are microagressions😂

[@Fridaey13txhOktober]

What about dropping a mini black hole into a White Dwarf? One about the mass of Neptune on Sirius B?

[@ThirtytwoJ]

"That sounds reecist." -Most western "educated" idiots.. probably.

[@Jay_Scott_Raymond]

On this fine Ar-Thursday, I ask what's you favorite pencil and paper RPG system? My current favorite is Savage Worlds. Still got a soft spot for RuneQuest also. As for DnD/Pathfinder, while my group does play them, I find they make figuring out the result of a combat excessively complex.

[@Dac85]

As always, seems like you could expend a fraction of the effort to make oneil cylinders and get more surface area for effort.

[@ricorommeldumaplin4822]

I would love to see a video of colonizing habitable exo moons in the future

[@anthonyhargis6855]

2:52 ". . . our sun is expected to grow gradually hotter . . . " Man, you do not want to open that door, because I WILL walk through it. ROFLMAO

[@MrBishop077]

Is it possible to have a stellar mass 'rocky body'? meaning something approaching the weight of a star but instead of gas its mostly rock. If such a thing existed I imagine it would look like some kind of dim star due to the residual heat of formation and radioactive elements ... but what would you call such a planet/star? It does not seem to quite meet the requirements for a brown dwarf. any advice on this subject would be quite helpful.

[@ThirtytwoJ]

Note from humans of the future found floating in space- Hey we found this "useless" dwarf star your little planet is orbiting and decided to take it as a nightlight for our massive colony ship. Hope youre cool with that. Btw your planet smells like farts, you should do something about that. Maybe burn the methane to keep warm. Their response "humans really are just the worst.. lets go eat them."

[@ApocGenesis]

100,000 years from now, some inheritor civilization will look at your videos the same way we look at Jules Verne and Issac Asimov

[@martijncox2364]

The mentioned temperatures are a bit misleading. A white dwarf with temperature of 40. 000k doesn't mean you need a star with a surface temperature of 40.000 k. The suns surface temperature is "only" 5778 k, but the core temperature is estimated to be around 10^7 k. Thus when the suns will become a white dwarf it will also at some point be a white dwarf (or something like that) with a surface temperature of 40.000 k. The HR-diagram is kinda misleading with surface temperature. It is the only temperature we can observe using blackbody spectra, but the fusion of a star happens within the core. When you look at the path a star takes around the HR-diagram after it leaves the main sequence. The surface temperature is a good indicator of how far you can look within the star (in other words how much of it shell it has shedded). It would be awesome to see a HR-diagram with core temperature instead of surface temperature.

[@andrewcole4843]

I still love the dying earth Jack Vance genre.

[@akigreus9424]

Chug 5-10 jupiters together and cause a brown dwarf warm enough for very close by planets and moons to have liquid oceans and chuck every protoplanet into a orbit around it and leave the solar system counter revolution and return just as sun is going supernova and observe results and then colonize white dwarf and form a dual star.

[@juicedsky688]

We’ll get to colony talk soon

[@alfredotto7525]

I hope you have a nice vacation.

[@seanhewitt603]

Awesome.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Thanks!

[@dgw4049]

1:30... laughing cause we got two astronauts... indoors... with suits on... about to eat pizza. Makes no sense.

[@BoringAngler]

The reasons behind this scene happening should be a wondrous joke thread somewhere.

[@jimc.goodfellas226]

Anything over 28 minutes requires drink and a snack

[@jasonmorello1374]

Personally ,I am surprised you didn't pull a variant of Niven's Smoke Ring series, after all if have earth like gravity nearly, and a centripetal path, maybe you could have a gas volume in in earth like pressure.

[@fortgaming9058]

ooh, I'm excited for this episode. Been waiting for a long time. edit: not disappointed

[@Bluefoot65]

could star lifting extend the life of yellow dwarf stage our sun is currently in?

[@markd.s.8625]

if you can harvest fast enough, yes,

[@cheradenine1980]

OMG I’m grabbing a drink and a snack… BRB

[@kennycarter5682]

the white dwarf photos being surrounded by debris and asteroids. a white dwarf system could be wonderful for mining

[@cornelstamate2537]

i looked hard for this scenario on youtube and i havent find it.

[@tturi2]

is the thinner than air outer shell on a red giant actually hotter or colder than normal space? because it can convect heat, can it cool off more or does it just keep heating up?

[@andreinicodim1622]

I have a few questions, maybe not really related to this topic. Should the Universe continue to accelerate in its expansion, after how many years would the Big Rip kill off any civilization at the end of time? Would there be any civilizations left by then living on black hole batteries or would the Big Rip happen before the last black hole has evaporated and entropy had already claimed its victory?

[@MarsStarcruiser]

No big rip anymore. Dark Energy Survey using hundreds of thousands of galaxies show both increase and decrease of expansion rate at different times. This implies mediation by unknown factor potentially driving and limiting expansion rate, rather than a perpetual acceleration. Even before though, the rip potential with old expansion assumptions were pretty vague though, like 30 billion years

[@andreinicodim1622]

@@MarsStarcruiser Wiki page on the Big Rip (last update December 2023) says 153 billion years at the earliest but also says that w has not been yet identified to be larger than -1. Got any sources I could see that rule out the big rip? Also what you're saying implies that w would change its value at the same time across the whole universe so whatever is acting on it would be doing it faster than the speed of causality or would imply that its actually a local parameter.

[@MarsStarcruiser]

@@andreinicodim1622 Wo thats changed, but then again it’s been over a decade since I heard anything about it. Didn’t know anyone still took that hypothesis seriously since 2013-2019 dark energy survey. It’s been non-stop heat-death and then more recently cyclonic/crunch propositions after 2019.

[@MarsStarcruiser]

@@andreinicodim1622 I don’t know if even the DES shows w change at same time universe wide. On their plot, the variance goes back and forth to indicate something uneven and their results were on averages

[@MarsStarcruiser]

@@andreinicodim1622 My comment was probably blocked just now because of link. Easiest thing I can point you too is Sabine Hossenfender vid on January 15 earlier this year called “Dark Energy might Change in Time, Making Recollapse More Likely, New Survey Finds”

[@aceofspace1686]

Hey Issac, just asking what are your sources for the video?

[@werre2]

A sleeve around a white dwarf? We would have all that tech and still worry about 24h cycles :)

[@hibbs1712]

NOT THE ADVERTISING PREDICT ON THE SUNSHELL I hate this timeline

[@garyuntermeyer7976]

I'm curious what the three question marks at the end of the phone number might be.

[@comentedonakeyboard]

Colonists should make absolutely sure not to drop their waste on the white dwarf

[@nyyotam4057]

Guess ppl living on such a bracelet would have a "flat bracelet society".

[@user-bd1hl2tu9f]

Ok so maybe a stupid question whats the chance, witha large gas giant being a failed star, that the shucked off outer layer of the oarent star increases mass and temperature enough to finish the process and ignite a planet like say jupiter into a full blown star?

[@ianyboo]

There seems to be this obsession with getting gravity as earth-like as possible. And I'm over here just dying to live in low g so I can jump around like a maniac and have fun and play sports. I'd be pissed if I got up to a space hotel and found out that the accommodations were exactly 1G. Forget that I want something different lol

[@owenbelezos8369]

it's likely that most bedrooms would be set for 1g but most likely there certainly would be altered gravity [probably mostly lower gravity] spots that people could do stuff in.

[@comentedonakeyboard]

Humans are adapted to Earth Gravity

[@LoganKearsley]

There is some recently published work suggesting that continued gravitational contraction, as heavier nuclei slowly diffuse towards the core and vice-versa, can slow cooling such that white dwarf habitable zones remain stable for billions of years.

[@dragonturtle2703]

Do neutron stars also cool like that, or is there some sort of decay process going on there to power them?

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

They also cool

[@dragonturtle2703]

@@isaacarthurSFIA interesting. Thanks.

[@thomaskalbfus2005]

Van Maanen's Star is candidate.

[@sarcasmo57]

Lets do it .

[@bespoken2017]

fusion at its core 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@whosagreekgod4135]

Hold up it’s been 4 years since you got married??? How long have i been watching your channel... I remember when you announced that you where getting married. How time flies... 🤣🤣🤣

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

It sure does :) the show turns ten in September

[@sab1751]

Great vid, again. But... I gotta say I prefer watching on Nebula, no comment section but hey.

[@mattparker9726]

@Isaac Arthur I have always wondered if you could somehow inject a white dwarf with fresh fuel, both hydrogen and helium, what would happen? Say an injection of 50% it's starting mass? ALSO, we have a gaming group too, and have an opening for one more person on our Sunday Hero Quest game. We are currently in the second story, but have had multiple characters killed by the Dirty Xargon. So we would be all starting out on the same basic footing. You are invited if you would like to play with us.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Too busy but thank you very sincerely :) you can inject new fuel but you have to triple it in or cause a nova

[@mattparker9726]

@@isaacarthurSFIA 😭 Drat! He's seen through my devious plans! We must try again! 🤣🤣 I think I would be more surprised if you WEREN'T too busy.

[@knuthamsun6106]

i love this dude but novae and nebulae are definitely pronounced with an -ee sound, not with a long i

[@GadZookz]

Do stars exchange information?

[@dougsinthailand7176]

Humans only colonize places where they can get resources of some sort. We explore out of curiosity.

[@RyllenKriel]

You never mentioned what type of pizza the astronauts were about to eat at the beginning of the video.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Neptunian pepperoni and Martian mushrooms?

[@Suzaku455]

Question what do call you call an object that orbits around a Brown Dwarf? A Moon or Planet?

[@phaedrus000]

PMO (planetary mass object)

[@RaidenTV86]

Les go

[@francoiseeduard303]

I am considering Planetary Bracelets for the colonization of my systems gas giants. As well as contemplating colonizing the White Dwarf 0.81 light years from my system.🤔

[@Bagginsess]

If we "need" gravity-agnostic drives to travel through the galaxy and beyond then would the weapons look the same? Alla Fermi Paradox if you can move a ship at or beyond light speed so can you move ordinance. What happens if a civilization flings a planet at another planet? If they 360 no scope is God pleased? These are the answer I want upon upon death.

[@Sirithil]

God is *always* pleased by a 360 no scope.

[@Bagginsess]

@@Sirithil yes, deus vult

[@MarsStarcruiser]

At that speed, cherenkov radiation is your ordinance. Particles slowing down to sublight velocities will have to shed lots of photons to compensate, so you’d wake similar to sonic boom but cherenkov boom in space, cooking everything around you as you drive by😂 Edit: not to mention whatever the hell gravity waves would be doing to everything around you too