An ASTROPHYSICIST'S TOP 5 space news stories of 2024

[@vincentzimmerman2011]

Dr. Becky has an enthusiasm for science that is a joy to see. She breaks down complicated science in a way that's easy to understand. Her book is also a joy to read.

[@richard--s]

Oh yes, that is so true... I really like how she present her topics in her videos. And she has good well selected topics. Many thanks to you when you read this, Dr Becky!

[@Duckfisher0222]

100% She reminds me of Rachael Stirling from the series "the detectorists" Always an enjoyment to watch!

[@vincentzimmerman2011]

@@Duckfisher0222 I'm not familiar with that series.

[@stewiesaidthat]

You do know that Becky is a flat earther/science denier, don't you? Her gravity BS was debunked centuries ago as far back as Galileo who put the earth in motion around the sun and that it's this motion that creates gravity and the resulting tides. And yet Becky still wants for you to believe that the moon is somehow creating the tides. Think about it for a minute. The moon, from 250,000 miles away, as more gravitational pull than the earth itself. And can lift the ocean 3 feet in the air. Are people really that stupid on your planet? Next up is Einstein’s Relativity nonsense. Do you know that not a single experiment has validated relativity. Not a single one. Ask Becky about it. Name one experiment that validates Einstein’s relativity. I say she can't.

[@markhodge7]

My last "formal" Physics class was in 1979. I've never lost my curiosity and your channel, Doctor Becky, satiates my astrophysics branch like no other. Mahalo.

[@ianmangham4570]

1985 for me Mr Best great physics teacher.😊 🇬🇧

[@afernandesrp]

I have space FOMO. It saddens me that the most interesting questions won’t be answered in our life time.

[@GustavSvard]

Such as finding a planet with a atmosphere that we can't explain in any way other than life. FOMO for that. But also already resigned to not be around for that.

[@whoff59]

you never know ... before you know.

[@johnfitch5358]

Does it make it better to know that the most interesting question won't even be asked in our lifetime?

[@deltasixgaming]

​@@GustavSvard FOMO for Traveling to other Planets and seeing new Life

[@santyclause8034]

Plunging Regions: the disk being a planar that is in a region of extreme space-time curvature such that from all points of view it is either edge-on, or face-up backwards. Youse tell me. 2/ 2D lattice fineness and nearest neighbor matter stacking gradient, the Standing Wave puzzle.. ie convective current 'curvature' in stellar masses. 3/ The Oscillatory Universe and the superposition of "inside" and "outside" cosmic inflation phase relativity... roughly speaking phase equilibrium as Emergent phenomena and Gravity a derived force. 4/ Intelligent life being ubiquitous, a prime of evolved complex life always arriving at the same destination with minor variation.. we eventually meet ourselves. Enjoy.

[@EShirako]

And the BEST thing in Space News in 2024...is your enthusiasm, but also your adorable cat, which we all keep going "Eeeee, kitty!" for every time Pip drops in and messes with something to 'help you out' with your production efforts. :D Also, at 7:56 the "Asterisk: Billions" correction chime was actually pretty much perfect (at least for me, whatever that might be worth!) because despite my having been half-watching/fully-listening to you while doing something else IRL and not looking at the screen, that little 'Ding!' made me look up in time to see the correction. I was like, "Oh, cool, good to know", and...then I realized that I wanted to mention that that worked nicely. As someone with what others call 'super-senses', it was excellently 'notable yet not AAAUGH!', which was nicely-done in my opinion. Also-also, a little over a Sun's worth of mass a DAY?! Wow! Is that because maybe the accretion disk has a 'fold' in it to make it have a 'bypass' that shunts things in quickly around the normal disk? A 'ripple' maybe acting sort-of-like a 'magnetic plow' or something. Wild-ass-guess on my part, but hey. The "Hubble Tension" thing is quite interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing what the eventual resolution to this is! I'm surprised that two teams with the same base data from JWST came to two different answers. Is there a protocol to give the data and both sets of results to a third team (even one still learning in college!) and asking them to look at it all 'for the lulz' and just see what they can come up with if given those data-points but not given the methods or theories of the two teams? "Here's the JWST data-files in raw format. Here's Team One's conclusions and Hubble Measurements when dealing with (whatever). Here's Team Two's colclusions and Hubble Measurements when measuring (otherWhatever). See if you can figure out what the difference is between the two teams despite their common data sources." Or maybe that's more of a "Thesis-level" of thing? I dunno. Maybe both! Also for lulz, I recall ONLY the 'pale-blue Neptune'. I wonder how I never saw that strange electric-blue-color version before, or if I did, I haven't noticed it before.

[@brothermine2292]

The paper published a week ago that analyzed the Type Ia supernova database, and concluded the Timescape model fits the data better than the Dark Energy model does, deserves a mention.

[@SD-ou3pt]

Yep think with Xmas Dr Becky not caught up on this. But this clearly will be in years to come the story from 2024

[@davidhoward4715]

@@SD-ou3pt Assuming it's a viable hypothesis. Declaring it to be doesn't make it so.

[@SteedRuckus]

I think it's a little early for that kind of inclusion mostly because it's SO new and based only on the single set of Type 1A supernovae data and not a more rigorous comparison of other data that would keep it from being part of 2024's "best of" - however, if it holds up under further scrutiny? oh yeah, 100% it'll be one of 2025's greatest discoveries (and probably one of the greatest of the 2020s period) without a doubt!

[@stevenverrall4527]

Unfortunately, almost all astronomers are wedded to lambda CDM because their grant funding relies on it! Basically a sunk cost fallacy.

[@jakabbailey6654]

Fantastic recap of a fantastic year for astrophysics! Keep up the incredible work Dr Becky, watching your videos has been a recurrent highlight of my week this year ❤️🛰️🔭👽🪐

[@SteedRuckus]

Okay I know I can't be the only one thinking that Dr. Becky's enthusiasm is SO friggin contagious, I absolutely love everything about her and this channel, thank you for bringing us non-academics the hard hitting scientific breakthroughs you all have worked so hard to uncover! ❤

[@sylviahoffman9440]

I love your excitement on this video. What an exciting year for astrophysics! Thanks for sharing Pip's and her playfulness with the tripod - too cute. 🐈

[@paulkinzer7661]

You've become my astronomy news curator. Each new video keeps me up to date on the latest cool astrophysics news. You explain clearly, and with obvious fascination and joy at what we're learning with the almost miraculous instruments now in use. And I never do this, but I'm going to comment on your appearance. You are so seasonal! The earrings and the sweater are a treat for us at this time of year. Happy New Year!

[@martynspooner5822]

I absolutely love this channel even though there is so much that is far beyond my limited understanding . Thanks so much to Dr Becky for breaking it all down as much as possible so people like myself can also get a little taste of what is happening out there. Looking forward to the news and discoveries in the coming year, thanks again always so appreciated.

[@PhilMason1972]

Happy new year Dr Becky & Pip!! Thanks for the best space channel ever!!

[@eljcd]

Mery Christmas, Dr. Becky! And to my taste, the Astrophysics story of the year is... Big Galaxies at High Redshift!! Big, brigth, structured Galaxies at z>10, that contradicts the LCDM cosmology.

[@Spherical_Cow]

On a related note, impossibly large supermassive black holes in the early universe. Such as the one reported recently (December 18) in Nature from JWST, that's already at 400 million solar masses just 800 million years after the Big Bang, and comprising a whopping 40% of the total mass of its host galaxy!

[@oortcloud8078]

*5-4-3-2-1 Thunderbirds are Go!* "Yes, M'lady!" Dr Becky is my number one, but the Parker probe driving Fab One is a pretty close second. 🤓 Thank you Brains.

[@fwd79]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Dr Becky for providing great news last year and here's to next year 😊

[@SolaceEasy]

Christmas was yesterday?

[@michaelallen434]

I just finished your audio book. It was fantastic. I hope you do another! Thanks for sharing your knowledge 🙂

[@brandonfrerking592]

Thanks!

[@NilaniPlays]

I would've picked #2 and #1 the same as you, Dr. Becky. Very exciting science. I was also glad for the reminder about the Neptune story.

[@gerardbryant1445]

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you, Dr Becky! Here's to a 2025 full of just as many discoveries!

[@danibee535]

thanks dr. s, love your work! and a very happy midwinter to you and yours!

[@sevenofzach]

Your passion for space is always enthralling, exactly the energy i was looking for to start my Friday

[@davidraiklen4521]

Thank you Dr. Becky, for a year of fascinating and mind expanding information and insights about the Universe! I'm creating a Universe symphony, Musicalizing the history of the cosmos in a number of contrasting movements. Happy New Year!✨️🚀

[@2Sheds30619]

Many thanks for all your 2024 videos and already looking forward to 2025. Happy New Year to you and Sam

[@clementmartinez121]

Yay I have the right answer to #1. Thanks for a fantastic year. Best wishes. Cheers

[@sgtommyc]

My biggest discovery of 2024 was learning why the accretion disc looks like it has a 90 degrees bend at the middle, because the gravity of a SMBH bends the light 😮Looking forward to your description on the phenomena 😊

[@EShirako]

If you liked that, I think people still say that the movie "Interstellar" did a great job with the black hole's accretion disk. That whole thing was just...mind-blowing to see in a high-resolution movie. I have it in 4k UHD on blu-ray so I can watch it at home now, and it's not really too common for me to buy any but the MOST amazing of movies after I watch them in the theater. And now that I've talked about it, maybe I'll watch that after I finish watching this!

[@MCsCreations]

Happy holidays, dr. Becky! 😊 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@JuanLopez-uv5tg]

Dr Becky I anticipate everyday for new videos I absolutely love your content ❤❤ now as soon as I go outside instead of looking down I look straight up 😅

[@padders1068]

Great video, very well explained! Thanks Dr.Becky! 🙂😎🤓❤

[@bobjackson6669]

Thanks for the 411 Dr. Backy - Happy Holidays!

[@DarkVibe-w7z]

I’m always amazed at how clear and practical your tips are.

[@rayhallett]

Ah, Dr. Becky, you say the darnedest things! Thanks for all the thought-provoking videos throughout the past year. Keep it up!!

[@mkardigen]

Becky, I love your news stories updates! I learn so many interesting facts. Recently I have learned about interesting project you may want to cover, they say the Parker Proble was the closed to the Sun. I wonder if you can dig and add some interesting facts about what we have learned from it. Thanks for all your hard work of astrophisics science popularization. Best wishes for 2025!

[@mikeblake9761]

Merry Christmas and a happy new year Pip and Dr Becky

[@mostboringyoutubechannel8845]

Thanks Dr Becky۔ Happy holidays 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@shockmesane4158]

With the new telescope this has been an amazing year for Astronomy and frankly I'd be willing to bet my life that we've also gotten some really interesting data no one has really had time to either process and publish! Hope you have a great 2025 Dr Becky!

[@Iwaslemon87]

This was an interesting watch. Just started a part time degree in Physics and this is now getting me more excited for the astrophysics content!

[@chadcrotts870]

Fantastic year end review as always. Looking forward to what 2025 has to share!

[@Kindrin]

Thank you for all the videos in 2024. I really enjoyed this top 5 list.

[@sourabhsoni2930]

Always waiting for your video dr Becky💙

[@rowno12]

It’s crazy to me that NASA never processed the Neptune and Uranus photos in true colour after all this time.

[@mrsokol6199]

Probably not as interesting for the government because NASA is not in a private sector, we must remember.

[@Kneedragon1962]

Thank you Becky, Merry Christmas.

[@primoroy]

Happy New Year Astrocat momma! ❤🎉

[@eugenelevich320]

Happy new year Dr. Becky. U r talented

[@franksmith7226]

Thanks for your enthusiasm and knowleadge

[@napotronix]

Thanks for all the video this year 🙏

[@michaelsommers2356]

I remember watching the Neptune flyby on TV "live". Live as the data arrived on Earth, that is. It was quite exciting.

[@williamscoggin1509]

Happy New Year Dr Becky! ✨🛸

[@DrReverendJ]

Merry Xmas Pip, and I guess Dr. Becky too.

[@garbagestarkaloyan]

For me it was the commet. The fact that I could see with my naked eye a piece of ice that comes from who knows wrere and is melting near our planet was amazing to watch. Thank you space for that cpectacular show.

[@geoffguitars]

A black hole with an accretion disk 7 light years across! ? Did I hear that right. That is crazy 😳

[@Gary-k2g]

Anton Petrov mentioned a Blackhole about 7 thousand light years away.

[@deltalima6703]

The second closest star to earth is less than 7 light years away.

[@elheber]

I suppose since the paper was published just 8 days ago, Timescapes will not be on the list, let alone take the top spot. But I'm crossing my fingers anyway. Cosmic voids possibly explaining the illusion of Dark Energy certainly seems like a big deal; right at the end of the year. Happy new year!

[@glenncurry3041]

Thanks! Had not seen Pip in any shots! See you in 2025! And thanks for all your efforts in 2024!

[@syoung6126]

Merry Christmas Dr B!!

[@Anthony-gq7dk]

Not only do you have the information and the intelligence to impart it , but you do so with such positive, dramatic, entertaining delivery and you make it so engaging and fun for anyone with even a passing interest in this fascinating subject. A teaching inspector would make you down with an A1 .

[@javierjavier1429]

Can you make a video about timescapes?? 🙏

[@suicidalbanananana]

Happy holidays!

[@spacemissing]

I remember the announcement during the Neptune flyby live coverage (I stayed up All Night for that And recorded it) that the colours were modified so we could better see certain features.

[@shaunehuolohan5736]

Hope you had a wonderful 🎄 Christmas and have a interesting 2025 from Australia 🦘 🇦🇺

[@Rancid-Jane]

Number 2 (super massive black hole) is the most astounding and interesting, for me. #1 is the most distressing.

[@timl.b.2095]

Dr. Becky is the most engaging scientist on KZbin that I am following. I want to see if I can get my granddaughter to watch her.

[@blammela]

I am this excited about space stuff but no where near smart enough. I’m so grateful we have educators like Dr Becky that I can live vicariously through ❤❤

[@inspectorcolt]

Thank you, Dr. B!

[@tjmozdzen]

Great episode!

[@daveozip4326]

Well I was completely wrong - I was going for Parker solar probe as number-1, and it didn’t even make the list 🤣. I’m over the ‘crisis in cosmology’ because my feeling is that without a serious revision of models being applied it’s just never going to be resolved…

[@bobwatson957]

It's such a beautiful colour. The new image of Jupiter are astounding.

[@YULspotter]

Thanks Dr Becky for all the videos you posted in 2024. I look forward to more space news in 2025. I also think you’re gonna need to add the word “Cat” to the title “bloopers” segment in 2025 as your cat seems to now be the cause of most of them 😊

[@Neilhuny]

My guess at your No 1 was that JWST had pushed back the age of galaxies! I was nowhere near. I've long admired your content and presentation; genuinely great explanations of what is going on "out there" and why some astronomical observations matter... so I've watched you for many years and in this video I am suddenly aware of how stunning your eyes are! Shallow of me? Or have you altered the lighting? Doesn't really matter - keep doing what you are doing.

[@jamestaylor6041]

Thank you for another year of super interesting facts and figures and science tid bits Dr Becky and of course your wacky sense of humour , totally look forward to next years mind blowing treats . Have an amazing new years night , see you in 2025 .

[@richard--s]

The cat in the tripod: Oh yes, cats want to be not just IN the center of attention, but cats want to be THE center of attention ;-) (but only at times when the cats want it so...)

[@karlgoebeler1500]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Again

[@SolaceEasy]

Christmas was yesterday?

[@vdivanov]

@@SolaceEasy "On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me..."

[@karlgoebeler1500]

@@SolaceEasy Just catching up on my to do list. LOL

[@gordonwallin2368]

Merry Cristmas and Happy Boxing Day. Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

[@musecreator4868]

Hello Dr. Becky and Happy New Year, I hope you had a great Christmas. Now, I have a question about the ol’ Hubble Tension. As I, as a rank amateur, understand it, the CMB measurement of the Hubble constant is at odds with the “standard candle” measurement. I keep thinking about Alan Guth and Inflation. We don’t know what caused that and we don’t know what stopped it, right? Is Inflation linked to Dark Energy and is there a mechanism that keeps turning Dark Energy on and off, thereby we would see that the expansion rate of the universe would vary over cosmic timescales? I agree that it’s a fascinating subject and I wish my command of maths was better so I could understand it all more! I LOVED your book btw!

[@blisteringbarnaclesmagnets6364]

Merry Christmas ⚓️🧲👍😁

[@debaryagain2270]

Merry Christmas

[@SolaceEasy]

Christmas was yesterday so get over it

[@chelseaboyijm]

I got given an "A" grade in GCSE Physics. Also I was invited to an interview at Cambridge University in 2018 at Peterhouse College. I am a big fan of your videos and am interested in science now because I have been a patient in the NHS.

[@falconnm]

31000 Astronomy papers. 15500 publish theories, 15500 refute them!

[@adamzientarski7065]

I love Dr. Becky!!!!!

[@jeffreydavis9757]

See you in the future, Doc!

[@bloodstockvip2176]

Great top 5... number one is such an emotive topic. I've just finished listening to'Space Oddities' by Dr Cliff and he talks a LOT about this. Really interesting read and he and your style of writing, really appeal to me and my low-level of capable understanding! I'm sure you've read it, however if not, well worth looking at! 😁

[@J-MQ_1956]

Great Video as always!

[@rickseiden1]

I had two predictions, and was wrong about both of them. First, I thought for sure JADES-GS-z14-0 would show up in the bloopers. Second, I thought for sure that Pip would take the number 1 spot. Happy New Year!

[@masterxyr]

Suppose it turns out that black holes can indeed become so large -7 light years. In that case, I wonder what kind of gravity reach those monsters would have and if (many ifs) they were to become more numerous and even bigger whether then they would begin engulfing the sheer universe as we 'know' it back to the singularity, and big bang all over. happy holidays again to the two sweet and so knowledgeable astro girls. can't get enough of the bloopers. and yes, it's acutely hard getting anything done with a cat around

[@BradIngham-w5q]

OI model refined the estimate for the Hubble constant (H0) to 69.8 km/s/Mpc The analysis of the Hubble tension using the Early Dark Energy (EDE) model and the Optimal Individual (OI) model reveals a sophisticated interplay between various cosmological measurements and theoretical adjustments. By integrating data from Cepheid Variable Stars, Type Ia Supernovae, Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation, and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO), we employed the OI model to optimize the parameters and reconcile discrepancies. The inclusion of the EDE factor provided a significant enhancement, suggesting that early dark energy plays a crucial role in the universe's expansion rate. Through iterative modeling and parameter optimization, we refined the estimate for the Hubble constant (H0) to 69.8 km/s/Mpc, offering a more cohesive understanding that bridges the gap between local and CMB measurements. This approach underscores the importance of comprehensive data integration and advanced modeling techniques in addressing complex cosmological puzzles.

[@chessgold8768]

Great channel to follow...

[@michaelharder3055]

I really hope to watch your take on TimeScapes. It looked promising to me when I watched the videos from Dr. Ryan Ridden And Prof. Ryan Kipling. Love your videos.

[@haroondaniel7245]

Merry Christmas Dr Becky Smerthurst

[@SolaceEasy]

Christmas was yesterday?

[@MarcusAurileus]

Spell her name right

[@skysurfer5cva]

The true color images of Uranus and Neptune are much closer to what I see in my 11" telescope, just a bit more saturated (as I would expect).

[@johnhoslett6732]

Please, please just call it the Hubble tension. I have so many non-science friends who believe it’s a true, massive crisis in astrophysics after reading science news stories. 😎

[@davidhoward4715]

I totally agree. "Crisis" is a sensationalist term, used far too often, which completely misrepresents the situation.

[@glyngreen538]

Yeah I heard something about Hubble being tense. He should try meditation or yoga or something to relax maybe.

[@altrucker18]

Happy Christmas 🎄

[@altrucker18]

And Boxing Day

[@SolaceEasy]

Christmas was yesterday so get over it

[@altrucker18]

@@SolaceEasy ok sure, it’s Boxing Day here, hope you’re enjoying any solstice celebrations you are into or just living life to your liking

[@vdivanov]

@@altrucker18 apparently they never heard of The Twelve Days of Christmas

[@danielfrancisbain388]

love this

[@Gruntld]

As a pleb, I’m wondering if gravity waves interacting with each other and the photons, on their way to us, would account for the different readings from the sample stars?

[@taiho7777]

Great teacher...

[@Valery0p5]

Do I have reverse Mandela? Because I clearly remember that after the fiasco of Uranus's "dullness" to the pubblic they did enhance the features in Neptune

[@TechNed]

I've met Sam Lai and been on the phone to Chris Onken a few times.

[@staffordbiggs4966]

Great video

[@peters616]

Some of the other science youtubers have been talking about a new paper that argues that the timescape model is a better fit to observational data than Lamda CDM at almost every distance cutoff, implying that there is likely no dark energy or acceleration of the expansion rate, and my rough understanding is that could also help to explain the Hubble tension, if it's correct.

[@gezblair]

“I work with supermassive black holes all the time, and..” is one bad ass aside to drop into a conversation ❤😊

[@filipprochazka4961]

Number 2 is really insane. If the black hole was at a point equidistant to the Sun, Alpha Centauri and Barnard's Star, all stars mentioned would still be INSIDE the acretion disc.

[@rose_and_thorns]

We just need those two research teams to have a massive pillow fight and whoever is the last one standing, their team's findings get crowned Best Science Facts.

[@santyclause8034]

When I was a kid in ophanage/children's home the winner stuffed phone books in their pillow slip. This became a passage of succession as you got older and caught on to the game mechanic (and had recovered from your concussion).

[@ruud9767]

Happy new year to you. I hope you'll have many ground-breaking discoveries to report on in 2025, and that some of them will be of your own!

[@platylobiumobtuseangulum1607]

Awww! Your cat. So beautiful.