How An Extreme New Star Could Change All Cosmology

[@ScienceAsylum]

I did my (theoretical) graduate work on white dwarf equilibrium, so this video was particularly exciting for me. White dwarf collisions?! That's so cool! The weirdest thing I learned about them during my grad work was that the vast majority of the electrons are moving relativistically, yet the derivation of the Chandrasekhar limit involves a mix of relativistic and non-relativistic equations. I was never able to figure out how we can get away with that (because I ran out of time and my advisor told me to just suggest it for future research).

[@newchannelverygood162]

Hey @TheS.A., when your next video would come...!?

[@sahastintitli532]

i do have the same kind of "alternate relativistic and non-relativistic choices" when i do sandwiches.

[@forloop7713]

@@sahastintitli532 same here

[@capitalh1895]

"$

[@mirador698]

Hi Nick, so with some extra work a Nobel price could be dead ahead for you?

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

Thanks for the shout out! And great work on this video!

[@benchasinghorizons9428]

Hopefully some of your other DeBunk video's get some views.

[@coder_gogeta]

@@benchasinghorizons9428 a flat earth believer spotted

[@jermsbestfriend9296]

Professor Dave, my favorite channel, mentioned on Spacetime. Wow.... This day is so cool. What's your favorite episode of spacetime, Professor Dave? Mine is The Holographic Universe Explained. 😁 Because the mysterious music is rad.

[@RT710.]

Can electromagnetism ever be decoupled? It would appear to me that this would be a logical next step in the decoupling of the fundamental forces; perhaps there is a way of interpreting superconductivity as this? It would seem to me that superconduction is a still-coupled phenomenon, and this would seem to imply that electromagnetism is indivisible. Please wrinkle my brain!!

[@XraynPR]

"Satisfyingly scathing", yes, that does sound like Professor Dave as we like him

[@haroldfloyd5518]

He breaks down this cutting edge science to a level I can almost comprehend.

[@leeg8461]

How would you know?

[@fellowbiodegradablehomosap2871]

@@leeg8461 cause he can almost comprehend

[@SephirothRyu]

Yeah, its not often you can think of entry level college physics and then come to realize "oh, THAT is what turns a white dwarf into a neutron star!"

[@chrisstargazer5866]

Yeah me too. Almost... Almost

[@arpakyna]

@@SephirothRyu but where did the level college physics entry to?

[@themadotaku]

You're such an effective science communicator. You do a very good job at diving in deeper than most pop-sci but using repetition and good visual aids you keep it accessible to an educated layperson.

[@debralucas2224]

I struggle but I can pick up enough to form a vague understanding 😬

[@Graeme_Lastname]

@@debralucas2224 Gotta start somewhere m8. The beginning is probably the best. There are a lot that start at their conclusion and then try to debunk everything that leads to the correct conclusion. It's a weird world but I reckon the more we know about it, the better off we are. Keep well cobber. :)

[@dahauns]

When you brought up that Gaia was launched to help measure parallax, the "how?" popping up in my mind was immediately answered through a single quick animation without breaking stride - which made me grin and stop to say: I've really come to appreciate how incredibly well your illustrations complement what currently is explained.

[@damonedwards1544]

Unfortunately, it has the typo "View form Earth."

[@joshyoung1440]

@@damonedwards1544 he's talking about the animation after that.

[@joshyoung1440]

I know right?? As much information as they cram in there that's easily digestible by laypeople, there's _still_ more subtle stuff for the benefit of people with more knowledge! I don't know if that animation would have helped me as much if I hadn't seen a VERY similar animation yesterday that showed each raster not as a single white line, but as a strip of image, which was ALSO on a Space Time video I believe, which helped me understand.

[@RCaIabraro]

The tribute to Charlie, the Big Bang Patreon, was awesome. You deserve it, buddy! Thank you for helping keep the lights on at Space Time Studios!

[@dedale2610]

I'm so happy that human kind has people smart enough to study this stuff. This is fascinating.

[@Honorablebenaiaha]

White dwarfs are racist.

[@TheSuperkaugummi]

@@Honorablebenaiaha Brown dwarf lives matter.

[@rsfakqj10rsf-33]

No astronomical objects lives matter

[@polinttalu7102]

Black hole lives matter

[@annunaki1263]

Bruh I got a migraine from reading that sentence 😂😂😂😂 don't make fun others intellect when you can't write a sentence correctly.

[@MrEmperorBlack]

Matt O'Dowd taught for a semester at my university in the Bronx. He was such a great teacher!

[@hughcaldwell1034]

Lucky! I had Burkard from Mathologer for a couple of semesters of maths.

[@thesecondslit1710]

Apparently he still is ;)

[@CubOfJudahsLion]

Loving "huh, that's weird" -- one of my favorite sci-fi novels, Asimov's "The Gods Themselves" (Nebula + Hugo winner) begins with one such moments.

[@feekygucker2678]

Got to love the stuff that can alter the course of whole areas of study. What a splendid time to be a human. Watching this on my 50th birthday and humbled by how much we’ve learnt in my life, and how well disseminated that learning has become in the latter half. Great stuff Matt and the pbsst team.

[@feekygucker2678]

@Magi Don’t know WTF that is but it’s certainly not a pertinent reply.

[@BeachsideHank]

@@feekygucker2678 Blind links with no introduction are always the work of retards.

[@joshleenall]

I think this is something a lot of people don't really appreciate about the internet. I'm 38 so I grew up at first without the internet but it came around relatively early in my life. Before the internet, if you wanted to know something, you literally had to go find an encyclopedia or a book on that subject to learn about it. Now that we have the internet, literally anything you could want to know is somewhere out there and most of it is incredibly easily accessible. This is something that humans wouldn't have even dreamt of for nearly the entire existence of our species but now we have it, and most people don't care, they'd rather spend their time watching stupid tiktok videos or some other nonsense. I find it kind of sad, but that's the majority of humans for you, I guess.

[@harrymills2770]

@@joshleenall Yes. And romance novels sell more copies than engineering texts.

[@twt2718]

@@joshleenall Once tRumps bs dies down and the internet returns to “normal” maybe we won’t have to spend half our time on fact finding missions

[@NewMessage]

Finally, something with 'Extreme' branding that actually qualifies for the title.

[@Robert_McGarry_Poems]

The M 400mH final... What!!! That was extreme.

[@NajwaLaylah]

Is this one of those "skater pulls her arms in, spins faster" things?

[@ARVash]

@@NajwaLaylah yeah basically but like with two skaters

[@sirgog]

@@NajwaLaylah Yeah, just at a more extreme level.

[@johnnamkeh1290]

@@NajwaLaylah Imagine two skaters locked in arms using each other to spin around, with one spinning in the middle and the other "in orbit". If the middle skater let's go then the other will start spinning around their own axis but faster than they were in the pair, as they took some of the momentum of the other too.

[@johnblankenhorn9730]

I love these videos about cutting edge discoveries. Thank you for making this one!

[@kierangallagher9213]

I love finding a brand new episode mere minutes old

[@GNParty]

Agreed.

[@kentjensen4504]

Same here.

[@NameUnknownz]

Yess

[@AmritGrewal31]

Atleast you didn't comment "first" I respect that

[@stormlord1984]

Indeed!

[@swedebug2889]

I want a shirt with "Typical until proven weird" print!

[@mbrackeva]

I want one that says "Proven weird".

[@t.c.2776]

How about one that says "we only think, and we don't really know"😁😉

[@theobolt250]

With such a shirt the proof is there; you're weird dude. 😜😁

[@t.c.2776]

@@theobolt250 didn't he say that multiple times in the video?😉

[@berserkberserk997]

there are plenty of sites that allow you to customize shirts. you're welcome

[@snaffu1]

You guys rock. Thank you so much for all these videos and all of the hard work that goes into them.

[@Rubrickety]

From the question responses: "Much much weaker than gravity." There's a phrase you don't hear a lot on Space Time.

[@onehitpick9758]

I question this assertion in general. While a dipole magnetic field falls off as r^3 and monopole gravity only as r^2, we are just beginning to learn about the current flows in the larger scale universe and the unexpected magnetic fields present past our own heliopause and from unanticipated large-scale structures.

[@Garresh1]

It would be more accurate to say "on galactic scales". Gravity is the weakest force after all. It just has way longer range.

[@markharmon4963]

@@onehitpick9758 Which assertion? In respect to dipole magnetic field strength to distance and gravitational field strength to distance.

[@plopdoo339]

It just depends on the distance tbh, we still don't know how gravity works on the quantum scale compared to electromagnetism.

[@charlesballiet7074]

as a short person with pale complexion i am offended with the term "white dwarf" lol

[@jed1mstr]

The Magneto defense has now replaced the Chewbacca defense in my conversations. Thank You

[@TheBlueB0mber]

Wookies don’t live on Endor… It just *doesn’t make SENSE!*

[@WilliamFord972]

@@TheBlueB0mber You’re right. Wookiees live on Kashyyyk.

[@DFloyd84]

Due to the unity of forces, Storm cannot hit Magneto with lightning. The lightning bolt should follow the path of a magnetic field, but in the animated series, Magneto just no-sold it to the chest.

[@ptmountford]

Objection! As quote on the Wikipedia re Magneto's powers and abilities I refer you to the following " On occasion he has altered the behavior of gravitational fields around him, which has been suggested as evidence of the existence of a unified field which he can manipulate."

[@loganmpe7559]

👍 _grrahahgah!_

[@jonass-j2949]

Amazing how high quality these shows are! Love it!

[@Gamer8585]

I thought the only reason you haven't done Quantum Mechanic based pranks is that you couldn't be certain of the outcome.

[@dnag6]

That special "thank you" to the big supporter was very cute!

[@TheAtheistRealist]

The best physics channel on KZbin that I have seen by far. Not too complicated for beginners but not for simpletons either ... I love it!

[@TriMarkC]

I’m enjoying the graphics that emphasize yet simplify each point. As an example, the teaspoon w a tiny piece of the sun, then it sinking when he said this star was 1000x even heavier.

[@mickmccrory8534]

If your 100lb. girlfriend gets 5G... she will weigh a 1/4 ton.

[@sicfxmusic]

The more our technology advances, the more we can see into deep space and the more stranger things we will find. What a time to be alive and drifting through space!!

[@loganmpe7559]

Nyehh, I would've preferred the 30's & 40'!

[@sicfxmusic]

@@loganmpe7559 You still like Wi-fi, internet and KZbin though 😂

[@LividCreature]

@@loganmpe7559 so, horrific non-stop wartime?

[@TotalGAMIX]

That reminds me. When Is the James Webb telescope launching!? Is it still this year 🤔

[@junacebedo888]

.................the more mankind has inadequate brain power to understand the universe and life. Man is an image of God. Man is not a clone of God. Therefore, Man is not omniscient What a HUMBLING time to be alive and drifting through space!!!

[@DyxoXinoro]

"Quantum Mechanics Greatest Pranks" sounds like a tongue in cheek series about times scientists got things hilariously off base even though the math checked out.

[@threeNinetySix]

"for this prank we're going to have Adam secretly look at this pie through a peep hole which will cause its quantum superposition to collapse and hit Jamie in the face!...maybe"

[@lasarousi]

That's called Science in general, all of it runs on assumptions never actually checked, it's kinda impressive how much Science mimics religion in its process of discovery

[@N7_CommanderShepard]

My research advisor in undergrad was an astrophysicist who’s research interests were in neutron stars and white dwarfs. She must be ecstatic right now.

[@MrAlRats]

*whose

[@nallid7357]

@@MrAlRats Thanks for correcting his mistake, now all the angry kids won't have to correct him. 🙏

[@nanig805]

@@MrAlRats wow. You must be fun at parties

[@ModuliOfRiemannSurfaces]

I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite publication on the Citadel.

[@abrahamlincoln9758]

White dwarf: I want to be even smaller Matt: Actually, quantum mechanics forbids this.

[@yashdadhwal3034]

Black hole: what did you just say?

[@1dgram]

Neutron star: Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.

[@egonieser]

Nah it doesn't, it just becomes a neutron star and then a black hole. Nothing is forbidden.

[@Mosern1977]

I think nature doesn't really care that much about our laws of nature. They'll bend - if needed.

[@LuisSierra42]

@@yashdadhwal3034 This is racist

[@DrWhosmate]

"Wafer thin mint, ZEE?" "It's only wafer thin..."

[@hansisbrucker813]

I got the reference 🤣

[@neonsilver1936]

I anticipate that there's going to be *some* consequence for astrophysics because Type 1A Supernova are used as a standard candle. If there's a weirdo in our midst, star-wise, then doesn't that allow for some variation that we may not have accounted for previously with the other Type 1A Supernova that we were assuming were all the same?

[@LaurensPP]

That's the point of this video, innit?

[@neonsilver1936]

@@LaurensPP I think yes and no...the video was implying it but doing everything it could to avoid saying it directly, I felt. I suppose it may have been obvious to some, but I just wanted to say what was on my mind after watching it

[@JosePineda-cy6om]

Yes. A lot of distances in the star ladder will need to be reassessed, as well as distances to galaxies

[@DP-ot6zf]

@@JosePineda-cy6om I just did the reassessments and the answers I got was _twelve_ and _giraffes._

[@eljcd]

Recent work from Wendy Freedman already casts doubts about variable Cepheids as standard candles, a recalibracion of the distance ladder using Red Giants measurements put the H° calculated from supernovae in the ballpark with the CMB result.

[@nelutumohan2833]

This was a great episode, first ep in a long time that my brain don’t hurt at the end xD

[@jaydonbooth4042]

I get a kick out of the white dwarf blessings every time I watch this one, probably my favorite end-of-video bit out of all the Space Time videos I've seen, which is pretty much all of them at this point, and several times over too lol

[@srinitaaigaura]

How to name a star - gets frustrated and bangs both hands on keyboard - "Yeah, that looks right"

[@srinitaaigaura]

@Oliver Von arx Obviously this is just a handle name, not my real name. But no, it was created by a more deliberate process. 😂🤣

[@Cordial-07]

"May your electrons be forever degenerate." That's great 😂👍🏽

[@medexamtoolscom]

It sounds like a greeting one furry scientist would say to another.

[@KGBJACKAL]

From one Napoleon Bonaparte to another.

[@nadarith1044]

@Magi Stop spamming crap

[@MarketAnalyticsCorporation]

Another great video. Many years ago when I read about those two different techniques measuring dark energy, coming up with slightly different results, it struck me as an arrogant view point to think such a small difference shouldn't exist. Arrogant to think that the work of both of those teams had such a high degree of certainty, that now we are going to start thinking the universe is inconsistent, instead of question the measurement accuracy of one or both of those teams. On top of that, to this day no one has any clue what dark energy is. Best guess from my point of view is that whatever created this universe has an expansion parameter that gets tweaked. We know that the rate of expansion has varied enormously starting with inflation, then moving forward billions of years, slowing down and speeding up, and no one has any guess why, at least I have not heard any guesses other than my gas pedal guess. Which will always be just a guess, because it it will never be possible to send a probe outside this universe. Even so, I'd bet on that gas pedal parameter still being the best explanation for dark energy 1,000 years from now. It is good to know people are now questioning one of those measurement techniques. Personally, I knew the moment I read that article a decade ago that there was nothing mysterious about that small difference. The only remarkable thing was that using two completely different techniques, trying to measure something that no one knows anything about, that the numbers where still only single digit percent apart. Why even assume that it is possible to nail down the exact rate of dark energy expansion at a particular moment in time? There is an uncertaintly principle that exists in this universe. It is a good assumption to consider the nature of dark energy to be consistent, like gravity is consistent, but I would not bet on it being possible for two different techniques of measurement to give the exact same result looking over distances close to the scale of the observable universe. More likely, one technique is slightly better than the other, and I would go with the CMB number. Love this channel. It is like having an agent with deep subject matter expertise sorting through things in the physics space, so I don't have to, and reporting the most relevant happenings. I plan on doing some of my own interesting projects in the future, leveraging some practical fallout from this whole purposefully designed universe notion. An idea that I realize is probably impossible to prove, but I am not trying to prove anything. Might try to build some things though, starting around 2040 when access to space is cheaper, and asteroid mining gets closer to break even cost wise.

[@TS-jm7jm]

an interesting counter to dark matter that has been proposed was called quantised intertia if i recall correctly, interesting to think about alternate theories instead of just assuming somethings are correct from the get go

[@steamedwatermelon2165]

Hahaha. The "magneto defense" to the electric universe argument. Brilliant

[@PIOQWERTY]

"Argument" That doesn't seem accurate, I would use "ramblings", "buffoonery", or "grift" instead.

[@aidanklobuchar1798]

Counterpoint: "Gravity Squeeze!"

[@JormunB]

Aaaaaaah, passing it off to Dave at the end! Too right, Matt. Too right.

[@Roachehh]

These videos are so fascinating but also a strong reminder of how little i know compared to the professionals. Nothing less than total dedication to the sciences is required to be at the frontier of human knowledge. Very privileged to have this information made understandable to the more casual science enthusiasts.

[@Roachehh]

@ceci n'est pas une pipe Are you high bud?

[@fotnite_]

@ceci n'est pas une pipe you're such a sheep dude, keep blindly believing in your conspiracy theories like a cult member, remaining completely incapable of handling data and reading studies.

[@fotnite_]

@ceci n'est pas une pipe Studies for what? All of astrophysics? You clearly don't understand how studies work if this is what you're asking for, you gotta be more specific. Though when I've given studies to others like you, they unanimously claim the study is lying because it goes against their worldview, like sheep. They never provide reasoning forthis from the actual study, rather they tell me it "can't be true" and then reassert some conspiracy theory. I doubt you're any different.

[@t.vinitreddy8692]

4:58 I think the Formula of Luminosity wrt Radius should be *L = σ T⁴ 4πR²* instead of L = σ T⁴ 4πR³

[@MrHistorian123]

Correct.

[@SLEEPYJK]

"This exposes their naked cores" - Ahh I love when space nerds talk dirty

[@amtep]

You'd think astronomers would be polite enough to not look

[@bakastarz5150]

@@amtep hey who knows they like it as they are into that stuff O_O

[@p_serdiuk]

@Don't Click This Profile Yes?

[@DragonWinter36]

@Don't Click This Profile the videos aren’t behind a paywall. do you have an actual point?

[@currentlybuyinggme7357]

@@p_serdiuk hes a bot. He joined 21 hours ago and already has 11 comments on this channel

[@ZENMASTERME1]

@9:01 That is such a coincidence, very serendipitous, we have one as well in our family, his name is uncle Mike.

[@MrD3m0Nic]

Matt, you must be the best person, ever to share a camp fire with man, thanks to you guys for the most awesome content on the internet.

[@LunDruid]

I can generally only fully understand about a quarter of what's said in each episode, and yet they're always still fascinating, and make me want to learn more, so I can understand more. Thank *you* for keeping up with this channel!

[@marcsaraiva2654]

Can relate!

[@mtheg7220]

thats a quarter more than me

[@frede1905]

That's what's so amazing about physics. It's confusing at first, especially the mathematics, but once you've put in the work to understand what's going on, it's very satisfying and you almost become proud of yourself for understanding it :)

[@Nilguiri]

That's weird: I just opened this video for the first time and it already had a preemptive LIKE. I guess KZbin knows that I like all PBS Space Time vids!

[@scottdorfler2551]

That was my favorite PBS Space Time episode. White dwarfs are so underrated.

[@diogeneslaertius3365]

Au countraire. Peter Dinklage, Warwick Davis, Kenny Baker, and many others are quite popular and well-known.

[@jorgepeterbarton]

Yeh often presented as the boring 'the star go small" option of stellar remnants compared to pulsars and black holes but my only response is "dey got the quantum wibbly stuff too"

[@meatgravylard]

Only one doesn't have a beard....

[@scottdorfler2551]

@@meatgravylard Was that a shot at Matt's height?

[@meatgravylard]

@@scottdorfler2551 I bet he gets it. 🙄

[@RetroGameSpacko]

"Huh, thats weird" Thats how coders discovered all the neat tricks on 8bit computers.

[@nick2629]

How so?

[@ducksonplays4190]

@@nick2629 Invalid opcodes, for example the 6502. Some invalid opcodes crashed it whilst others could do some really useful things.

[@RafitoOoO]

that's how Bungie codes Destiny 2 probably.

[@dustinjames1268]

@@nick2629 Innovation happens when the result of an action is different from what you expected Like with science, it's more exciting to find something unexpected because it can be used in creative ways

[@diablo.the.cheater]

Well another name for coders or programmers is computer SCIENTISTS.

[@endlessrage4062]

That was an awesome shout out to Charlie. Marvellous! Fascinating as always, I love this channel. Thank you brother!

[@nexus3112]

It was like a detective story narration! Just loved it!!! 🥰

[@charlesjmouse]

Hmm, interesting. You hinted If enough Type 1A supernovae turn out to be caused by white dwarf mergers rather than accretion of matter that would effect the result of the 'supernovae' method for measuring dark energy. Might that be in theory enough to make the 'supernovae' and the CMB measurements agree... or would that make the disagreement worse..? Thanks.

[@MindForgedManacle]

Seemed to be implied that would bring them closer to agreement. Since the Supernovae measurement would suggest more dark energy that seems to be allowed the the CMB, them being white dwarf collisions would imply less dark energy is needed to explain the current data (him saying "there's too much independent evidence to rule our Dark energy [entirely]" makes me think this is what he means).

[@gulianophys]

Brilliant video as always! I have a question about the distance measurement though: since we try to measure its luminosity, this is probably done in a specific band/wavelength range. As certain wavelengths will get absorbed and re-emitted in the IR due to gas clouds along our line of sight towards Zee. This is often modelled as optical depth telling us how deep we can look into this cloud. So, which bands are used for such a measurement? PS: did you misspoke when you said the white dwarf becomes bigger after merging, because its mass actually increased.

[@edreusser4741]

I wonder if its possible to see spectroscopic evidence of superheavy nuclei being formed from the collisions of these sorts of objects. The idea of a super stable island around 118 protons would allow these elements to be remarkably stable with half-lives in the hundreds of thousands or millions of years or even longer.

[@FireHax0rd]

7:06 "Electrons are bound to the white dwarf by gravity." Whoa, I feel like there may be major implications in that statement. One of the most desired physics goals is to unite QM with gravity. If electrons have such a direct relation with gravity via neutron starts, could this bridge be explored by studying these two together?

[@danilko1]

I envision a transition from white dwarf to neutron star, slow enough to avoid going critical.

[@MrTerrrrible]

Gravity is fake. Bad theory. Never seen an electron. It's funny how much faith you science fan boys have. GOOFY.

[@diablo.the.cheater]

​@@MrTerrrrible You have never seen air, yet still you breath it. Gravity can't be fake, gravity is just what sticks you to the ground, how you describe that is another thing, but you are stick to the ground, so there is gravity, if you say your God sticks you to the ground, then your God is gravity. The existance of gravity is not dependant on the explanation of gravity.

[@JTuaim]

@@diablo.the.cheater the same with God. Magnetism sticks things too. Elections are all negative forces, yet atoms don't repel each other until they disperse as gasses or vapors. I know this explained by positrons attracting the negitrons. Yet, if that's the case of Ps overriding the Ns then why don't the Ps repel each other? Gluons seem t be the answer. So, are gluons Ps or Ns or is there some other factor? This has puzzled me for a long time and I've yet to discover the answer. These bosoms are very mysterious. It's hard to do research without a solid understanding of physics because what's published isn't always in agreement. Dark energy is even more perplexing it responds to nothing, it responds to gravity. My head must be composed of dark energy because it's on the verge of repelling my internal universe . My degree is biology and that's another world of perplexment. Every new discovery sends me back to basics. I'm far more impressed with what we don't know than what we do know.

[@TheSincerety]

@@diablo.the.cheater don't feed the trolls

[@maks_st]

I recently watched your videos about how gravity slows time, or rather how slowed time increases gravity, and a question popped in my mind when you mentioned its speed of rotation (1 rotation every 7 minutes) - are these 7 minutes as we experience on Earth and do they match for Zee? Or does the star experience its speed of rotation differently?

[@Real_MisterSir]

I believe the rotational speed is relative to our observation - so for our equations then yes it happens ever 7 minute relative to us. But it's one of those weird things we can't fully prove, such as whether light actually has travel time/speed, or if it's merely just what we are able to observe (aka speed of light being a relative term, not a constant).

[@danielcreatd872]

The gravity in white dwarfs is not enough for such effects to become serious. That white dwarf has a schwarzschild radius of 4-5 km, way smaller than its actual size.

[@emilialittle1002]

@@danielcreatd872 you would start to notice some affects of it before it becomes a black hole, pretty sure seeing as it's incredibly massive for a white dwarf there is most likely some form of small time dilation going on

[@RuosongGao]

@@emilialittle1002 There is time dilation on the surface of a white dwarf, but very small- approximately 0.1% or so. Which is still very impressive, but not quite enough to become a serious concern.

[@SheWhoPlays2]

Also, a better measurement can be found from the arc curve. Also, find projection to an electron appearance equally.

[@docdoc]

"A telescope dedicated to watching the things that go bump in the night" 😄 Who came up with that one

[@bennylloyd-willner9667]

Matt seems to me likely to have the humor and wit to make it pop up in his head when he writes his scripts. He is not a good one that steals great quotes, he is a great one coining them 😁 edit: I just watched to the end, apparently two writers this episode, but I'm still sure the guy named Matt wrote it 😁

[@christopherlee627]

Its the one they use to keep an eye on Azathoth.

[@ChrisMontgomery-xtrmagamr]

The Vatican's telescope is named Lucifer. Speaks volumes about the Pope.

[@ldbarthel]

@@ChrisMontgomery-xtrmagamr Mostly that the Pope speaks Latin. "Lucifer" means "light bringer" and referred to Venus, the morning star. But given that telescopes gather and focus light, not a bad name, nicht wahr? The whole "being cast down to earth" bit probably comes from the observed transition of Venus between "morning star" and "evening star".

[@loganmpe7559]

Who? The people that prefer to keep their "bumps in the night" private like they should be silly, of course!

[@sulljoh1]

I love that PBS is staying relevant during the days of youtube

[@thesecondslit1710]

He is impressive indeed. And he sets a very solid standard for teachers in general.

[@fotnite_]

It's unfortunate Republicans are trying to abolish PBS entirely (they attempted just a year or two ago, I believe, and partially succeeded). This content is fantastic and deserves to be seen.

[@Ohmriginal722]

Technically later in the comics Magneto is one of the most powerful of the X-men able to control things like gravity through magnetism

[@MrChazz10]

I didn't know that but I knew he's one of the most powerful mutants and was even up there with The Dark Phoenix Jean Gray and she was kind of only that powerful because of the phoenix force and its affinity to her whereas magnetos power came only from himself.

[@h00db01i]

@@MrChazz10 he doesn't threaten to destroy reality though. her on the other hand, she's literally teh allfather. so to speak

[@TheTerranInformed]

This is amazing! I would love to see an update video for any new future research in this area!!! (also very nice explosion effects!) (what program did you use?)

[@alexmarian6656]

One of the few videos from PBS SpaceTime i fully understand :))))))))))) but still love all of them

[@johngori9477]

Plot Twist: An intelligent Type VI civilization that likes to remain hidden gets bored easily and has a sense of humor so they periodically entertain themselves by creating cosmic abnormalities to mess with the lower life forms. "Hey, *Y(HDWOEUYE#, lets mess with a white dwarf today and watch the human scientists freak out..."

[@DasRaetsel]

Wait til you find out what they do with black holes.

[@johngori9477]

@@sukramapaht15 some of the best speculative science fiction is two alien races meeting that are so different from each other that one can't even perceive the other as life.

[@Graeme_Lastname]

@@sukramapaht15 Do you think Smilly could be our view of a lens moving towards us? Smilly is an Einstein ring. Just the rings in general. Thousands of bloody kids with lenses have spotted us in the playground. Different time scales, same result. Sweet dreams m8. :)

[@jagnestormskull3178]

It's the South Park episode where the planet Earth is an alien reality show that can be cancelled (read: planet destroyed) at any time.

[@rohanganapathy8]

Last vid Question: As we can see that the magnetic field lines of the sun is so turbulent like and changes itself, what would the field lines would have been during the big bang when the universe was infinitely small?? would it bee just like an electron's magnetic field or would there be no field lines as there was no space for it to???

[@twt2718]

No space, no quantum fields, no field lines. That’s my thought. But at the first instant of inflation space would be expanding faster than light so how ANY quantum fields dealt with that is a mystery to me. If anyone has any link to valid papers or videos explaining quantum fields during the Plank epoch I’d love to check it out

[@edcunion]

Isn't the whole point, pun intended, of renormalization to get rid of infinities at particle scales, the electron being but one? Dirac and Pauli were there before the post-war particle crowd? That's a good point though, pun again intended. Black holes are "infinitely dense" singularities that swallow light at their event horizons, so are they a superluminal inflation apparatus too, that inflate into bounded spheres, like the unproven universal inflation theory? They have non-infinite spherical sizes in our 4D universe, though they apparently contain an infinity? That's a bit of a stretch, pun intended, and they, like everything else in our universe, just look like revolving specks of dust in the larger cosmic filaments, that apparently flow like currents, and that we are just resolving now with our newer telescopes including Ligo? The universe apparently, isn't just a homogeneous pool of Brownian motion unstructured entropy? It exhibits twisting swarming behaviours of it's constituents too, seeking a lowest energy ground state while they go with the flow?

[@EmeraldNutmeg]

Thank you for the “Weird Weirdness” positioning. Right off the top!

[@SolidSiren]

Question about determining the size of a star: We supposedly can determine this if we know "how much light the star is putting out"/luminosity. But, don't we need accurate distance in order to determine that? And.. aren't our distance determinations a bit...well....possibly flawed? Why does it seem to me like we base luminosity on distance and distance on luminosity when we really aren't positive about either? Is there a way to use red/blue shift of Spectral lines to double check distance?

[@TSteffi]

As far as i know, the spectrum of light emitted by a star plays a big role here. Since the spectrum of a star depends on its size and temperature.

[@nicolaiveliki1409]

well electromagnetism is 'stronger' than gravity measured by the effect each particle has on the field, but it's a lot weaker because particles that cancel each others EM force out also tend to balance out in numbers locally, whereas there really is no negative gravity, so this force can arbitrarily accumulate...

[@a2pabmb2]

No, stronger forces that cancel out are still stronger. They don't get weaker, they cancel. That's why they're different words.

[@jorgepeterbarton]

Big force small range. Small force big range not really a stronger force

[@nicolaiveliki1409]

@@jorgepeterbarton both EM and gravity have the same range properties

[@MarsStarcruiser]

edit: fixed…

[@Jehannum2000]

@@MarsStarcruiser Word salad.

[@mktplyr76]

I’ve been up to Keck observatory a few times, it’s crazy. Looks like another planet up there. Unbelievable sunrise view!

[@stanrogers5613]

Imagine a facility named after Fritz Zwicky discovering something contrarian. What are the odds?

[@loganmpe7559]

All the doors would only work backwards! And it would have a "no parking lot!" 😂😂😂😂

[@h00db01i]

some swiss names are quite funny

[@Franciscasieri]

One page paper, that Einstein dismissed because he wasn’t a cosmologist. Gravitational lensing that he couldn’t see the future implications. Fritz saw it…

[@Astarath]

The problem with doing quantum based pranks is eventually the cats learn to run away from you before you can stuff them in a box

[@SeedlingNL]

Meaning that there never was a cat... or maybe there was?

[@saim84526k]

@@SeedlingNL Until you check, both are true. Don't question it.

[@hughcaldwell1034]

Bernice!

[@thesecondslit1710]

@Bryan I been trying to explain that for a while, cheers....

[@srinitaaigaura]

@Bryan My problem is that the cat has nine lives.

[@Burglecutter]

Best KZbin channel of all time in my opinion. So good.

[@roosh2927]

This is one of the most impressive science videos ever to grace KZbin. You might not expect it going into a video about a mysterious white dwarf, but there are so many related and relevant high level concepts that need to be lightly pushed to and fro in a delicate dance of expertise. You wouldn’t think someone could successfully do that and cover all this succinctly and smoothly in less than 19 minutes, but somehow Matt does it. Bravo!

[@lasarousi]

Every theoretical physics teacher: am I joke to you?

[@olivercharles2930]

@@lasarousi Eh, all teachers are hit or miss, few are able to nail it... In my experience

[@danejohnson788]

I've never heard this question asked or addressed but I was wondering....if a black hole slowly evaporates away through hawking radiation and thus loses mass and gravity in the process, does it eventually become visible again?

[@narfwhals7843]

No, at least not until the very end. Being a black hole isn't about mass, but about density. The density always remains high enough to maintain the event horizon. As the black hole loses mass the horizon simply shrinks until the black hole is gone. At that point some hypotheses say a "naked singularity" or "planck remnant" remains.

[@jasonmilgate6769]

very cool. This just changes the collective development schematic of the universe. the beginning is still time... 👍😊

[@niravelniflheim1858]

Now I'm picturing Einstein sitting in the bath, muttering "Huh, that's weird." It's much less graphic than him standing up to shout "Eureka!"

[@Thomas.Wright]

I thought that was Archimedes.

[@brazosbennett2014]

Einstein was hung, but of course, it’s all relativity.

[@cultureal9544]

he had shower thoughts, mine is: my face squeaks after cleaning, but the rest of the body, no squeak, not even the buttocks. hmmm.

[@Nothing2150]

Just to note on the electric universe vs gravity universe. The astrophysics class I took essentially said that on a quantum scale the power of electro magnetism is so great that gravity is almost unmeasurable comparably by comparison. But because it's so strong over such a short distance it manages to neutralize itself very quickly if at all possible making it very difficult for this force to act at a distance for any amount of time. So at small scales electricity rules, at large scales gravity rules

[@spoodlydoodler3552]

Yeah, but still not an electric universe

[@wadewilson524]

I’m not ashamed of how many times I had to rewind this to try to get my head wrapped around some of the finer points….

[@rykehuss3435]

Well to be fair Magneto in the comics was one of the most powerful mutants around. Its just that there were some truly overpowered ones like Proteus too

[@lnsflare1]

Whose powers Magneto can screw around with, because apparently at least that form of reality warping is electromagnetic in origin, somehow.

[@rykehuss3435]

@@lnsflare1 Yeah thats one of Magnetos best feats, defeating Proteus

[@jorgepeterbarton]

Proteus was a Greek shape-shifting old man god that came out the ocean

[@lnsflare1]

@@jorgepeterbarton I mean, you're right, but I'm not really sure what that has to do with a conversation about Proteus the Marvel Comics character who is an insane reality warper who only lost to Magneto because the writers arbitrarily declared that his reality warping was somehow electromagnetic in nature.

[@lnsflare1]

@Magi I can definitely see why you have comments turned off on that video.

[@wmpx34]

This reminds me of that neutron star in The Expanse novels that was purposefully created to be right on the edge of collapse in terms of mass, serving as a sort of defense mechanism to which the aliens could add just a tiny amount of mass and force it to collapse into a black hole, emitting deadly gamma-ray bursts in the process.

[@coleozaeta6344]

I wanna look it up now

[@BeekersSqueakers]

I love how so many of the answers to physics questions include "sort of..."

[@alibabuche]

I am LIVING for the fact that you cited Magneto, who is rumored to have the ability to control Gravity and the Strong and Weak Forces, but just doesn’t know how to do so, yet!

[@SjaakSchulteis]

After seeing many videos about the universe (I'm retired and have a lot of time), I learned one thing: nothing is strange in the Universe and I have seen scientist change their general opinion about how the universe works. So in my opinion there is nothing strange about this white dwarf, because just because many white dwarfs behave in a certain way, it doesn't imply that every white dwarf has to behave like that.... I think the deeper we can look into the universe with its uncountable stars and galaxies, anything can be expected.

[@seriousmaran9414]

Physics is a set of models that demonstrate what we think is there. Unfortunately we often find that better, more accurate, measurements will mean old models get proved inadequate and need new theory to explain. Then it is still the best model we can make, not necessarily a complete representation of what is really there.

[@1PUREROSE]

Strange can refer to many meanings

[@alexiskiri9693]

Are we looking at a possible dyson sphere? Proof that life exist beyond our earth?

[@seriousmaran9414]

@@alexiskiri9693 extremely unlikely. That would need a huge emission of infra red light and we have no evidence of that as yet. JWST could change that but I doubt it.

[@karenpivaral]

14:34 :3 aaww such a beautiful poem/prayer? anyway, sooo beautiful I wish someone would write something like that for me. You deserve it Charlie and thank you for supporting this channel I enjoy so much to watch 😍👏👏👏

[@vingadordasestrelas8992]

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...' Isaac Asimov

[@RobertGardnerEngineer]

If it turns out the supernova based measurement of H0 was wrong, and the CMB measurement was right, what does that mean for the amount of Dark Energy in the universe, and what does that do in regards to the ultimate fate of the universe?

[@onehitpick9758]

The CMB measurement can't possibly be right. According to the Hubble Ultra Deep field, there are hundreds of thousands of galaxies that emit plenty of microwaves in a single pixel of Planck.

[@danieljensen2626]

The difference in the amount of dark energy is not that much between the two measurements, and all measurements sorta point to a big rip since expansion is accelerating. It's just weird that they're different. The real question is just whether both numbers are correct, in which case dark energy is changing over time. A recent study managed to overlap the CMB measurements though, suggesting the other measurement might just have more uncertainty than originally calculated.

[@onehitpick9758]

@@danieljensen2626 The CMB measurements are highly processed to be able to see beyond the effects of our solar system and through Milky way. The residuals of these two systems are unambiguously visible as the predominant features in the remaining data. This is not to mention there are hundreds of thousands of remaining galaxies, each with plenty of stars and other things in just a single pixel of the CMBR measurements.

[@frojojo5717]

@@onehitpick9758 all of that is known and compensated for. Small refinements to data calibration, as mentioned in this video, will undoubtedly result in the discrepancies between the measurements eventually disappearing.

[@onehitpick9758]

@@frojojo5717 No it's not. The Hubble Ultra Deep field clearly shows hundreds of thousands of galaxies in a single pixel of the best CMB measuring devices like Planck, and these are absolutely not compensated in the processing. You would have to catalogue each source, its brightness, polarization, and spectrum. What is attempted to be compensated is the Milky Way galactic plane and many other known point sources. The Milky Way cannot actually be cancelled to reveal what is behind as claimed. This is not remotely theoretically possible. If they just removed (or masked out) those regions, this would be plausible, but it still leaves each of the rest of the angular resolution cells basically staring at trillions of stars with different redshifts blazing into a single pixel of measurement.

[@siby117]

I know it is not that important, but I feel the need to mention, luminosity L=sigma T^4 4pi R^2 (not R^3). I thought it was a typo at first but you kept the power 3 (or power 1/3 when inversing the relation).

[@eljcd]

Of course it's important! Imagine that typo calculating your taxes!

[@nickllama5296]

"We should solve this weirdness of Zee." "Nah, it'll blow up in a few million years."

[@sunnyjim1355]

Thanks for your contribution to Science. I'm sure the Noble Prize nominations are pouring in as I type this. Congratulations. 🥇

[@bierrollerful]

Gaia keeps popping up in the science news. Such an amazing piece of science and engineering.

[@onehitpick9758]

Gaia is the best revealer of our era.

[@DrMackSplackem]

LOL. Nice try, cultard.

[@nosuchthing8]

I cant wait to watch this but I'm too tired right now

[@OGSontar]

The more we discover, the more we learn how little we really know.

[@Soulflame1]

I swear in those billions of galaxy’s there must be other intelligent civilizations

[@anomalousresult]

Meks u fink

[@AmritGrewal31]

@@Soulflame1 why do you swear though?

[@Soulflame1]

@@AmritGrewal31 good question. Idk i‘m just too excited when it comes to „aliens“

[@callumbillington8395]

@@Soulflame1 I can sympathize. I lay in bed wondering what's out there, and why I'm laying here...

[@genericytprofile852]

I would actually like to see you do quantum pranks on people for an episode or two. I personally love to look away from people so they turn into superpositions of dead and alive. They get so mad lmao

[@jackbradley4737]

Not how it works

[@Warhawk76]

I was actually wondering what such a prank would look like... let's see some quantum pranks!

[@SatwikPadhi]

That "Thank You" message at the end...........🤘

[@Paethgoat]

Is there a possibility that one or more measurements are incorrect and it's actually a neutron star? It would, in my mind, explain quite a few things.

[@casacara]

Given the spectral line analysis showing the surface of the object not just being iron, unlikely. A neutron star would not be coated with the elements characteristic of a white dwarf.

[@jensphiliphohmann1876]

I also had this thought but ZEE is just too big for a neutron star and doesn't seem to have an iron crust.

[@Paethgoat]

@@casacara Ah, thank you. That was the crucial information I lacked.

[@hughcaldwell1034]

Yeah, the super-fast rotation and strong magnetic field made my mind go to pulsars, but I figured the spectroscopy ruled out that kind of thing - though I'm no astronomer.

[@eljcd]

Waaay too big for that, neutron stars are only some dozens km. in diameter.

[@LeifCoffield]

it would be interesting to know the complexity level of how he’s describing this, like you know those ‘4 levels of music theory’ videos, from complete beginner to advanced. anyone able to comment on that?

[@careyosoup274]

I have been watching his videos for a long time now, even passively as ASMR/background noise. I have a background in some sciences, and have always been interested in the field, esp astrophysics. so far my progression would 1) I don't know crap 2) I don't know crap but say ahhh once in a while now 3) I don't know crap and realize I know less than I thought I did 4) I don't know crap but recognize some of the words now.

[@georget.8548]

Excellent lecture...People that are showing thumps down are just jealous of you.....Great work... Thanks.

[@pipin3d]

This dude has a lot of t-shirts.

[@shgjjj2879]

Early comment 53 seconds after release, I love this channel!!

[@ChrisSmith-ec6qp]

4 minutes and 40 comments later I arrived ;)

[@fiiral5870]

Another 12 minutes after that

[@jjthe82th]

Idea: Make one episode fantasizing about possible future cosmological and/or quantum experiments and/or devices (telescopes, particle colliders - beyond what's being planed right now) that could be useful for our understanding of the universe. No implausible sci-fi though.

[@andreweaston1779]

If Zee exploded tomorrow (from our perspective, 135 years ago from its) what, if any, effect would we experience?

[@Mernom]

probably nothing, it's quite far away it seems. Just another 1a supernova.

[@MadChemistVEVO]

One star would seem a tad bit brighter than yesterday

[@weldabar]

If Zee is 135 light-years away, then the question is: what would happen if it exploded 134 years 11.xx months ago. I think it would be really a phenomenon to see such a change as it's happening (well, as the light reaches us).

[@andreweaston1779]

@@Mernom Supernovae put out a lot of radiation. is 135 lightyears enough to attenuate it?

[@DrDeuteron]

the minimum safe distance is 50-100ly, so we'd be OK, but it would be a global event.

[@hydratorthealmighty5687]

Is there any merit in looking at dark energy as kinetic energy astrophysical objects receive from the vacuum? Analogous to pushing an object away from a reference point, giving it speed and energy as the distance between object and point increases, with the difference being that with dark energy it's *all* distant objects away from *all* reference points.

[@janicepedroli7403]

Thank you for the explanation and illustration. Did not know what white dwarf was. Before something not in our solar system.

[@macronencer]

In my early days online in the 1990s I came across that Electric Universe Theory thing, and for a while I was intrigued. I realised quite quickly that it was nonsense - I probably would have realised immediately if my degree had been in physics rather than maths! It was a damn good early lesson for me about how dangerous it is to believe what you read on the web. I still recall it every time I stumble over something similar even now...

[@dosdes888]

"read on the web"; Cuvier, Birkeland, and Velikowsky among others are way older than the internet.

[@macronencer]

@@dosdes888 I didn't know that, though of course I never really looked into it deeply. Interesting!

[@zlm001]

I would have liked more information on how exactly this might change our estimates of the amount of dark energy. Why and how would it be different than current estimates? Still enjoyed the video though. Thanks.

[@LaurensPP]

They had a video about the implications not long ago. It's called the New Crisis in Cosmology, he also linked to it in the video. I doubt if the exact (numerical) implications are clear, it's rather that our distance measurements could be way off.

[@zlm001]

@@LaurensPP Thanks.

[@MarsStarcruiser]

@@LaurensPP Not way off… but it will have implications towards the overall rate, was just reading an article, this will effect the accuracy of their distance measurements by around 2%

[@LaurensPP]

@@MarsStarcruiser Which is kinda way off.

[@MarsStarcruiser]

@@LaurensPP Well it definitely does screw up the “accelerating” in their expansion model. Now we just got more normalized expansion😅

[@maxstark142]

Very important piece of information and you made it so digestible, thanks!

[@I3endoubles]

So would these results point to CMB echoes likely being a better measurement of the cosmological constant than the standard candles method? Type 1A supernova are one of the rungs on the standard candles ladder, and this seems to throw some assumptions about them into doubt.

[@StumpyDaPaladin]

Maybe. Do these results indicate that a Type 1a supernova may not always be as bright as they possibly can be?