How A Star Is Born | Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains...

How do stars get their start? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice delve into how stars are born.
We explore the birth and life cycles of stars. How does thermonuclear fusion even begin? Learn about stellar nurseries and what conditions help make stars. Are spiral galaxies or elliptical galaxies better at making stars? Find out where all the elements come from and why we are all stardust.
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About StarTalk:
Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up!
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Timestamps:
00:00 - Birth of Stars & Definition of Life
04:00 - How to Make a Star & Types of Galaxies
09:37 - Thermonuclear Ignition Point
12:47 - Stardust & The Periodic Table

[@StarTalk]

Do you think stars are "alive" ?

[@invisible_d_r]

The only Star i know it's alive is Sun 🤔

[@Geezer-yf8hv]

It is an alive nuclear process that goes from a birth to death, but not alive as a sentient being. They can surely, and are necessary to create, and sustain life, if the planet is in a habitable zone! Without a stable star, there cannot be life on any planet!

[@compassbow]

The whole universe is alive.

[@andrewcarr2431]

Based on the basic definition then yes. Akin to rocks not being alive as they are unable to metabolize and cannot reproduce. Grass (to my knowledge) has no consciousness but is still alive although will expand your own conscious if smoked.

[@ragrle]

@@Geezer-yf8hv How about if everything is connected?

[@jeffreyjackson4742]

Neil is one of the greatest personalities of our age and my favorite scientist of all time. And chuck, I love your intelligence in both science stuff and comedy. You two are incredible and thank you for all you do for all of us.

[@gumunduringigumundsson4315]

They are definitely in the top 100 in the world to me. I just can't get enough of them... also Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.. Simon Whistler is up there too and so are Diogenes the cynic and my absolute favorite.. a hero of life, mister Douglas Noel Adams.. deceased in 2001. Stephen Fry.. Bill Murray.. Morgan Freeman.. Just to name a few. Love, respect and responsibility 👏 🤗

[@TheRemmell]

Good try, Neil!

[@PlagueDoctorscp049]

Well said

[@gumunduringigumundsson4315]

@@TheRemmell try.. he does..

[@TheRemmell]

@@gumunduringigumundsson4315 just making a joke that you were Neil disguised as another account . Of course he does, you're spot on!

[@michaelccopelandsr7120]

Bringing smiles to people is truly noble work. Neil and Chuck do it while educating us. Thank you, both.

[@kingofthe000]

Neil we need more people like you. You yearn for others to feel the same wonder that you do looking out into the galaxy, and you artfully navigate the politics of today and you do it with compassion (the thing that is humanity's greatest attribute). Thanks for all you bring to humanity.

[@dinosaurandnapkin]

We are watching Chuck get more and more informed with us. It's really cool to watch his thirst for information grow with us. Thank you Dr. Tyson.

[@user-tc1fw5ms5s]

I agree, its been awesome to watch Chuck go on this learning journey with me/us :)

[@joshuagharis9017]

And Chuck, thank you Chuck 😊

[@RenNewtonStonez]

Thus means strategy king.

[@addaname3]

I love to watch this thank you Neil and Chuck for making these wonderful videos 😀

[@carolvega1982]

Chuck's stunned silent face reflects my own! I love gaining knowledge! Thanks, Neil, Chuck, and Startalk!

[@johnnester820]

I WANT MORE OF THIS! If the "buck stops at iron" then what about the even heavier elements like Nickel, Copper, and Barium? We need another explainer, or at least a continuation!

[@billhaskill2343]

Hi Neil, I just saw you on CNN with the 9 year old young man. Could you bring him on, so he can ask some questions with out being interrupted? Wow, you would be a great mentor. Thank for your shows.

[@AnalogX64]

I know time is precious, so I appreciate Neil and Chuck taking the time to produce these videos.💖💖💖

[@petersage5157]

There was an episode of Star Trek: TNG where Data argued rather convincingly that fire is a form of life. It requires significant energy to ignite, it consumes fuel, it produces offspring, it dies.

[@emoraga001]

What episode?

[@gewuerzgurkeev]

Star trek had its way of being waaay ahead of its time Mainly during the original series and TNG

[@gumunduringigumundsson4315]

Could the same be said about wind?

[@petersage5157]

@@emoraga001 "The Quality of Life"

[@emoraga001]

@@petersage5157 will look up, sir. Thank you

[@holygroove2]

Please continue the use of clips during the discussion! Visual learning combined with auditory! I have always wanted to 'see it' while Dr. Tyson is speaking. It's a great combination because he sees it in his mind when he's speaking.

[@crasysyst]

I would love to just translate all your episodes to Arabic 😍 this is so much free knowledge ❤️ thank you

[@eamoralesl]

Just thinking about doing the same but to Spanish there should be a way to share this knowledge to the world, like a way to unite humans thru knowledge and science... Glad to know that I am not alone in the same taught process... Greetings from Guatemala

[@Sai-jw8og]

This channel got me hooked on astrophysics. Truly fascinating!

[@karimmoukaddem4491]

Great work as usual. You guys make science fun. Thanks a million

[@CosmicDesignz]

This is the perfect direction for startalk to go. You guys are basically the #1 Science Podcast but are lacking GFX that just bring the words to life. I understand this is expensive and time consuming but it just brings hard to think about subjects sooo much closer when we can look at a visual. Thank you

[@hakl4398]

One of the best episodes of star talk. Amazing Neil as usual. Need more on star, planets and galaxy formation.

[@thyOne_]

I listen to these explainers while I roll up

[@ukdnbmarsh]

one day im sure with all of this information being soaked up we will hear chuck being introduced as Chuck Nice BSc

[@waynewynnx7976]

Love the new format of graphics and animations, so much easier to understand the explanation. Great work! 👏🏻👍🏻

[@henryalvarez1776]

Loved the video. Great content guys

[@David.Cromer]

Love the videos guys. Thanks

[@cooperwingrave27]

Hey Neil just bought two of your books feeling good I brought a starry messenger and astrophysics for people in a hurry can’t wait to read them hope you have a good day

[@XMegaJuni]

Sir this is a Wendys

[@i_noah_guy18]

Could I just have a frosted and a baked potato please?

[@kevinalicea2929]

I was left with the same question, from the last episode. Thank you for explaining this.

[@johnpaultunglut]

loved these two people.... the topics are out of this world

[@AnarchoReptiloidUa]

Great video. A comment to support this gorgeous channel. ❤❤❤❤❤

[@MLSK8200]

That is an amazing explanation even with a step into how gold and other metals are made.

[@ihaveanunorigionalname]

i love to see chuck with his mouth closed and not cracking jokes! It means his mind is getting blown and its awesome!!!

[@benababiodanso2885]

Is this Chuck guy not an astrophysicist disguising as a comedian? His ability to grasp complex explanations with ease is amazing.🎉❤

[@jeffs6090]

Neil, I just saw a news report of the youngest high school graduate. He wants to be an astrophysicist!! Please, I hope you can connect with this young man and assist him through his journey!!

[@irawolf]

Jeff Goldblum should’ve echoed your description of life in the first Jurassic Park. Brilliant!! I remember that ‘ammonia’ New Yorker Cartoon well from my childhood. Great show as always!!

[@tonisjoberg3094]

How baked was Neil when he had the thought that stars are ALIVE! =D I´ve always been interested in astrophysicist but Neil really makes it so much more interesting!

[@McPilch]

Love to hear an explainer of the same process but tracing the elements from after a supernova to the formation of future stars, dust, etc.

[@deathybrs]

I am particularly loving the talks about stellar formation and such. More like this, plzkthxbai!

[@ooshDAloosh]

ahh my favorite sound :) **StarTalk intro**

[@jimmypk1353]

The GREATEST explainer since Carl Sagan. My Man, Sir Neil deGrasse Tyson!

[@isaacfraser4082]

Neil is so inspiring

[@noahmanning440]

Can we get some explainers related to plant biology or fungi?

[@chrisostling805]

I would love to see an episode to explain the physics of music with Brian May as a guest!

[@ZackeryCool]

I like the new editor 👍

[@21stCenturyHDgamer]

This is an interesting perspective… a lot to think about.

[@JaymanWuddup]

Love these brothers

[@story_teller_beats]

You guys should make some shorts where you visual animate some jokes that Chuck makes, that would be pretty funny. The moments were he says "just imagine if....", you know what i mean

[@aayush4737]

Neil?? Can you explain how we synthesize new elements artificially???

[@Martin-666]

I need a explainer on how planets are formed and how gas giants are formed and why they don’t turn into starts.

[@ashleyobrien4937]

Yeah I too remember that comic "ammonia ! ammonia!" quite hilarious but I have to step in to pour some water on those dreams of exotic alien life. People who ask the questions like, why can't life be based on another element other than carbon, like say silicon or any other element of your imagination. Even though we have no proof that life might be possible with other elements, there are some very hard facts that absolutely cannot be denied- You simply CANNOT build the stupendously complex and large molecules of life without carbon. Carbon just happens to be an atom that can bond to four other things, and also, the bonds are just the right strength, meaning that, with the energy available from say the sun, or geothermal heat they can be broken and remade and also it can bond to other atoms, simply put, there is no other element on the periodic table like carbon because it gives rise to a branch of chemistry so diverse and rich, organic chemistry, the very name itself is the study of the compounds made with carbon. Sure, other elements have entire encyclopedias of compounds made with them, but none of them, absolutely NONE of them, are anywhere near the level of diversity AND abundance of carbon-and this isn't just because we have not looked or have not discovered them. That is why I firmly believe that when we find life not from earth, it will be carbon based. You might be thinking but wait a minute, the universe is massive with trillions of trillions of planets out there so even just by probability alone there must be other forms of life that are not carbon based ! To be considered alive, by our own definition, an organism must be able to demonstrate movement, reproduction, sensitivity, growth, excretion, feeding -even a virus has a hard time by some definitions of being considered alive, but an organism that was made with a base element other than carbon would have a hard time in being able to build the kinds of molecules needed to become complicated enough to carry out those previous requirements. It might be possible to build very simple molecular systems that are capable of some of those requirements, but to build the basic unite of life, a cell, requires atoms to assemble into complex structures, you can't build a lipid bilayer, the cell membrane, without carbon, you can't build a genetic repository like DNA or RNA without carbon, the same goes for enzymes and all the other essential components of a cell.

[@vapidrise2587]

id love an explainer about the snapshot idea. It amazes me with humanity's relatively short existence on earth we have been able to derive so much from our snapshot. also how has jwst changed our view on this "snapshot" of the stars?

[@Acim12345]

Also, you have to use the carbon lattice - geodome of hexagonal lattice for transmission. I didn’t learn this in school. The static energy of radioactivity of earths atmosphere and mantle magnet creates free energy too. I’ve looked at formulas that scientists use and it’s all 2D. DeDe kindness is my favorite.😁

[@varun8951]

Neil, you are awesome! I was watching the other video where you explained how all galaxies have massive black hole at the center. But still not sure how those black holes came into existence as they will require massive massive stars to collapse and in that case the night skies must be brighter than day as the light from those collapsing stars might have not reached earth yet

[@charityfurer7352]

Nice break from school work 😂

[@REMY.C.]

How much time does it take to a star to be born? How much time does this ignition take? Is it an instant and the whole thing light up or does it take time for the reaction to complete? Like a second? A year? A million years?

[@Athena1007]

"The room where it happens" is the name of the song you were thinking of, by the way.

[@vivianyoung4671]

wait. there a car in space. granted, just one, but you let it slip by without a joke or even a chuckle . i love you guys.

[@sanjuancapo2862]

Neil, would you please have Frank Hoogerbeets on the show and talk about the Geometry of Celestial Bodies and Seismic Activity ie Turkey earthquake?

[@eriktorres7895]

Thats the name of the song:) the room where it happens

[@jarrodgandy1207]

We are stars ✨

[@dalmjosh]

Marvelous n cool

[@thoughtfuloutsider]

I love this explanation, but how is Spacetime involved? Relativity says gravity is the product of the warping of spacetime, does the condensation, as described, fit with this process?

[@reach17-CH]

"...except the galaxy doesn't have cars." Our galaxy does technically have one car floating out in space right now

[@cosmoskeptic]

Please explain. How ancient people calculated size of moon, distance from earth to moon and circumference of earth only using trigonometry. ❤️❤️

[@shankarkarmakar]

Another excellent video. One confusion though - how do stars become super massive? Why all are not of the same size?

[@alansilverman8500]

A STAR IS BORN !

[@fraliexb]

If Thermo nuclear fusion ignition stops the addition of more mass, then how do we have different mass and size stars? Wouldn't Thermo nuclear fusion ignition take approximately the same density to ignite?

[@ghorovitz]

I was looking for that question. Another way of asking is how come ignition starts in different cloud mass?

[@majeedahmed470]

I love you guys love to watch you and chuck is hilariously funny, chuck open his mouth I laugh my a** out loud 😂😂😂

[@charlesandrews2419]

Chuck Call your agent. A star is born.

[@johncurtis-robertson7424]

Amazing thank you. If everything like Stars and Planets have a life span do molecules and particles have life span?

[@JSSTyger]

Are the hills alive...with the sound of music?

[@Shotty2daFACE]

It's always had fascinated me that mass creates gravity 🤔

[@HalfSkullSenior]

It's like penguins during the winter they all get in one big circle and they'll start walking around in a big march and it all gets all nice and toasty 😁

[@dpmeyer4867]

Cool

[@programmerjack]

Can a star become a planet? HUGE FAN

[@jamiboothe]

I did not yet watch the entire vid, but there is a huge difference of between the relative boiling and freezing points of water and ammonia one hundred C, and zero C for water, which is a 100 degree difference, as where ammonia has less than half that variation, about 45C degrees of variation of its boiling point and solid state. There is simply less opportunity for a life form to evolve, unless their environment was extremely stable temperature wise.

[@mosquitobight]

An alien with ammonia blood better crash land in Antarctica, otherwise its blood will boil.

[@ques9927]

Split second heat woooooo when it happens

[@HarHarMahadev-od2qm]

Every living thing in earth has some energy in them. And every energy in them is converted into star after the death of that living. The energy travels once they leave the body and while traveling they become so powerful they born as a star .

[@dankerman321]

Chuck needs to get a reservation at the Big Bang Burger Bar!

[@bored9260]

Totally hit Quantum singularity and came up with a conjecture before I watch this segment.

[@leylaknight148]

Yay

[@ryanallen7511]

My theory on stars… When the center of any galaxy reaches a certain psi the core breaches a psi barrier and it ejects a super solid mass. The unfathomably compressed mass acts as single particle that causes a glitch in physics. It basically quantum tunnels to a points in space too becomes a star. A lightning bolts trajectory is already laid out before it hits the ground (same idea). Extreme radiation within the mass causes the sirface too evaporates into the emptiness of space slingshotting particles that collide on an atomic level causing fusion. The once psi breached density gives a star enough gravitational pull to command solar system. Black holes are created in the same manor without the transfer of matter. A tear in space or “worm hole” exhibiting the gravitational suction force of what exists at the center of a galaxy. For unpredictable reasons only the circumference of what would have been a star exists.

[@brianwinslow9967]

Probably a basic physics question but I’ve been wondering why stars and their solar systems always start spinning?

[@gabrielhersey5546]

Not really ‘spinning’ More like the always falling through the space but the gravity of the Star is too strong for the object to escape but not strong enough to stop it. Sooo as the object flying through space becomes effected by gravity of Star verses off course and curves the direction of the object back into a path back towards the Star Until the odd egg shape orbit becomes more circle shaped orbit

[@theduder2617]

You are correct. It is a basic physics question. It all has to do with the initial conditions of the gas cloud which collapsed to form the stars and eventual planets. They were spinning as they formed. The spinning generated as the gas cloud(s) initially collapsed. Fun fact: Most objects in our solar system, including stars, planets, moons, and even asteroids all rotate counter-clockwise. Venus however... rotates clockwise. Uranus follows in odd rotation due to it essentially rotating on it's side.

[@theduder2617]

@@gabrielhersey5546 A planet's rotation and it's orbit are two separate pieces of the pie so to speak. Planets rotate along their axis as they fall around the center of a larger mass. But the two exist independent of each other. Easy example: The ISS does not rotate, yet it orbits (falls around) the center of a larger mass (Earth). Our moon does not rotate, yet it also orbits a larger mass. Rotation and orbit are different entities.

[@TheNeiskorisceni]

Great explanation! Can you make one show how Hydrogen been form in first place as a primar fuel for making star? Please

[@orinhickman1721]

Well looks like I was wrong again. I thought it was the infusion of heavier elements created by supernovas that caused gas clouds to collapse becuase of the added mass of the heavier elements. I was way off! This explanation explains what really happens beautifully and I'm glad I saw it.

[@gabriellorinczi4386]

I'm wondering if you could explain why plains don't fly over the Poles ? When in air , flying, is earth moving underneath the plane . Earth is moving with a speed of 1,674km/h in one direction only, so why Auckland, NZ to London takes 30h(aprox), and back same time. Thank you

[@RPIdemon]

This is great. What they missed is that our solar system is 4.5 billion years old, but we have all of these heavier elements. So what that means is that we were born from the heavier elements ALREADY CREATED BY A SUPERNOVA! Our solar system has the elements of a dead star! So cool!

[@ayodejiesan416]

Daaamn, Chuck was talking smart at the early parts of the video😂 Seems like Neil's rubbing off on him😌

[@gilgoldmuenze2570]

Alchemy and making gold is easy: all you need to do is make a star go boom!

[@gregavolk]

Are planets formed the same way, only to run out of particles to attract before they achieve enough mass for "ignition"?

[@ahujasahil]

What comes first Star Or the Ingredients of Star from Star Explosion? 😕

[@mikotagayuna8494]

How A Star is Born: Get casted in a film with Bradley Cooper.

[@user-ro1iq9nk5g]

نتمنى عرض الترجمه الى العربيه

[@peterjackson2722]

Thanks from South Yorkshire, UK.👍🏼

[@davidevans3227]

Cardiff, south wales 🙂 x

[@MegaSkills9]

The entire Universe is a process. An evolving process. We are all part of it. Fragmented bits of a larger ongoing process. Life is tiny segments of the time line. Since everything we see seems to be cyclical, I strongly feel that one day we will see, that even the Universe is also cyclical. Its deeply logical if you think about it. We may not yet have the observed data to support that theory but it fits best in the big picture. We are just in the expansion phase of the cycle. It's all part of an ongoing cycle. Many Cosmologists and Astrophysicists agree with this view point. Remember : The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Cycles are the key to everything.

[@Espo11B]

So stars fuse heavier elements but that fusion doesn't provide energy for more fusion. Is that how we get rare elements? Is that how elements like plutonium and uranium are made? Or are those too heavy to be made before the star runs out of energy?

[@vanessajazp6341]

Life is: a complex self-sustaining organism that utilizes a source of energy and returns a waste product (that is an energy source for a different life form).

[@Partofplanet]

13:30

[@vlad-ovidiuadam6489]

I hope one day humanity will be advanced enough and will have observed the universe long enough to say " Look...the data shows that if we keep observing this spot with all our telescopes, we will be able to see a star be born in the next decades"

[@yaqqmanQ]

this helped me realize why iron is so important in our bodies

[@heinousanus9352]

In through the back door, MY MAN! My man. 👊

[@sheldonscott2631]

Thanks to the moon and back😉

[@TheHawaiianc]

Neil can life or should be a collection of energy that has a order of? Like how fusion repeats it self? Just saying what if that energy is part of a life forum as a whole?