Kuiper Belt Orbiter, Naming Planet 9, Most Perfect Spheres | Q&A 246

Could we detect life on Earth from Neptune's orbit? Is the Moon shrinking over time? Why don't we send an orbiter the the Kuiper belt? What should we call Planet 9 if we find it? Answering all these questions and more in this week's Q&A show.
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00:00 Start
00:24 [Andoria] Could we detect Earth life from Neptune's orbit?
04:47 [Vulcan] Will we ever send an orbiter to the Kuiper belt?
07:57 [Risa] Is the Moon shrinking?
11:23 [Aeturen] Plans for the April eclipse?
13:25 [Vendikar] What happens when gravitational waves collide?
14:18 [Remus] Do photons experience time?
16:04 [Janus] What would be considered an unequivocal biosignature?
21:13 [Cait] What should we name Planet 9?
22:07 [Betazed] How soon can we recycle space junk?
25:04 [Cheleb] Did sci-fi become less compelling?
27:22 [Nimbus] How did Moon effect evolution on Earth?
30:28 [Belos] Are event horizons most perfect spheres in the Universe?
32:14 [Lyar] Is it possible to move from our current universe to the previous one?
35:36 [Zalcon] Why can't dark matter be objects?
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[@ravenlord4]

When it is found: Planet Nine Until it is found: Planet Nein

[@paulwilson1529]

it must take so much time and effort to put all these videos together time and time again. I hope Fraser realizes how much we appreciate them.

[@archmage_of_the_aether]

I am sure he has noticed that human appreciation pays the bills

[@sebastianwrites]

It's not just Fraser, he has a team of people!

[@cosmisweb]

Fraser, I wanted to thank you for answering my questions. I have been watching your channel religiously and it’s been helping me cope with my personal struggles. Your love and enthusiasm for astronomy is uplifting. You make complex theories and concepts easy to comprehend, though sometimes I have a hard time understanding some of the discussion in the interviews. Nonetheless, I continue to watch every single one in hopes of gaining more understanding and knowledge.

[@DanielVerberne]

30:10 - Regarding the whole 'life is resilient' notion, yes, life on Earth is remarkably tough. However, we still know very little about conditions that might be required for Abiogenesis itself. Once life is 'booted up', so to speak, it may well have some sort of common 'toughness', but that's once it has somehow crossed the invisible boundary between geochemistry into biochemistry.

[@leonmusk1040]

Voice of sanity if you want to know if they've found life ask a chemist differing pressure regimes make an enormous difference to how the reactions occur.

[@MrEastsidejamie]

I agree, I think life has to form somehow first. THEN you get all the extremophiles everyone talks about.

[@mbj__]

Vulcan: Couldn't planet 9 be visible only from the northern part of Earth (at least for now), and if so, doesn't that mean that the Vera Rubin telescope won't se it?

[@zapfanzapfan]

Persephone, queen of the underworld, would be my choice for naming Planet 9.

[@noahpilarski]

It’d have to be the Roman equivalent to keep the planet naming convention we somewhat follow (looking at you Uranus)

[@zapfanzapfan]

@@noahpilarski I submit to a higher authority, A C Clark had it named Persephone in Rendezvous with Rama 🙂

[@akamikeym]

It's also the name of the planet that is discovered in the outer solar system in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that confuses the astrologers, and the forgotten planet in the film Serenity.

[@zapfanzapfan]

@@akamikeym I guess I have to re-watch Serenity. And re-watch the series which unfortunately doesn't take that long...

[@Yezpahr]

I think the Bible deserves a few names too, I suggest Moses for obvious reasons. (he was a shepherd just like this planet allegedly is doing) I'm not religious at all, but greek mythology has been hauled as a hat with names in it, but that hat is quite empty now and serves no purpose anymore. Unless there's a mythological shepherd of some kind in greek mythology... I'm open to change my mind hehe.

[@JarrodBaniqued]

My choices would be Antevorta, goddess of the future, Providentia, goddess of forethought, Scotus, god of darkness and shadow, and Terminus, god of borders.

[@archmage_of_the_aether]

Call it Terminus, be embarrassed 50 years later when we discover ten more. "Scotus" yet the only way we find it is through reflected light. "Antevorta" she isn't a goddess yet, she hasn't even been born yet. Purportive potential deity. Besides, once we find the planet, the discovery in the past, and the future still persists. That name would be a nod to the past-looking-forward, a period that you happen to idolize merely because you're in it right now. For "forethought", the name would also be making her all about us, more mere typical modern anthrocentrism. We can be better than selfish. Besides, "Prometheus" would be better than "Providentia" (a name fit for a Crater or Mare at best), but as Prometheus is chained in Hell for giving wisdom to humans - like Satan - and as Satan is Lucifer, the light-bringer - like Venus - the name has been taken. Me, I say we sell the name to fund NASA. Let it be Planet CryptoStaples.com (including the hyperlink)

[@Iambicawes]

So, SCOTUS is the god of darkness and shadow? That explains the black robes.

[@arnelilleseter4755]

Question: Due to interstellar clouds we can't see the center of our galaxy (with our naked eye). What would the night sky look like if nothing obscured our view? Would it be a massive difference or just some extra bits added to the Milkyway that we can already see?

[@oberonpanopticon]

It’d probably be brighter and starrier but probably not a massive difference. The bright stars shine through the dust, and the dim ones would be hard to see anyways.

[@haiperbus]

without any space dust, we'd probably be more vulnerable to interstellar radiation

[@voodoochile7581]

Fraser, you are so good at what you do. Your channel is amazing. I learn so much from you. Keep up the good work.

[@revmsj]

Here’s to the algorithm!👍🏾 Also, I appreciate your answering my question! It was actually a case of serendipity because I had asked that question rhetorically to another person in the chat who had asked something about bio signatures. I nevertheless got to converse about a favorite topic of mine via the Q&A show, and that equals a win in my book! Thank you, sirs and ma’am’s!

[@alphamegaman8847]

Hey Frasier! 👋 For Planet 9 -- "Eureka" 😁 Mike in San Diego. 🌞🎸🚀🖖

[@brucethomas471]

I sure laughed when you were discussing technosignatures in exoplanet atmospheres, saying that we could tell where they are in their civilization, like destroying their ozone! Dark humor!!😆💥

[@Alekosssvr]

Hey, Fraser, this was an excellent Q&A session. Bravo!

[@zanpsimer7685]

Pluto Number Nine Forever ✊

[@zak7181]

Look, I grew up with it too, but all science has to be open to change. IF you want to define planet in a way that includes Pluto, then you need to include Ceres (and the other dwarf planets), in which case Pluto still wouldn't be #9 but #10 out of like 15 and counting. If you want a set list that never changes then you're not participating in science but rooting for a sports team.

[@SaneGuyFr]

No.

[@MrEastsidejamie]

It should be honorary like the vowel "sometimes" Y.

[@bobc2636]

If they find another orbiter in the Kuiper belt it is, by the new rules, probably not a planet. Unless it is significantly larger than everything else out there, it did not clear its orbit.

[@tealshift2090]

@@zak7181 The current definitions of planets for our solar system is absurd, its not "science", Its opinion. You can tell its not science cause it isn't due to a discovery, its due to the IAU voting on definitions with the goal of limiting the number of what they call a planet. Pluto, or Ceres, has more in common with earth then Jupiter, or Saturn yet they are still called planets, but not the other ones. This is cause they wanted to use a stupid metric like clearing the neighborhood, which Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Neptune haven't done so in the last few billion years. Several very prominent astronomers even point this out, Earth has tens of thousands of asteroids close to it, with more discovered every day. Mars, has even more with the asteroid belt starting near its orbit. Then we have Jupiter the king of our solar system's planets, which shares its orbit with an estimated 600,000 asteroids with a diameter of over 1km! Then we have Neptune, that shares its orbit with Pluto, among others. Even worse is Venus, (or Earth for that matter) one of the original planets of ancient times, wouldn't clear its orbit any better then Pluto clear's its if its further from the sun where the so called 9 planet might be. So we currently have an IAU definition where Venus/Earth (and Mars/Mercury might be a planet if its a few AU from the sun but if its further from the sun its not, but then if its not even orbiting the sun its a planet again. Talk about an arbitrary criteria. The IAU wanted to try to make their classifications scientific looking by trying to jump through hoops to make it a smaller number that then makes them look stupid. Just do the simple thing, cut that classification criteria out, and leave the other two criteria. Then you can sub classify if you want grouping planets with similar characteristics, Gas giants, ice giants, terrestrial, and so on. Who cares if our solar system has 50 planets, we can still call the 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or whatever planets the traditional ones, or whatever you want to call them cause of their historical impact. You might claim that classifying an object one thing or another wont change anything, but it will, scientific probes depend on funding, I doubt Pluto would have had a mission sent there if it was not considered a planet leading up to that point.

[@colorstringsconservatoryof63]

Thank you for all of your work and wonderful educational content

[@georgeflitzer7160]

Ty Frazier for this channel!❤

[@frasercain]

Thanks a lot

[@zimmy1958]

Love the show never miss it. Thanks

[@catsgame9282]

Erebus would be my choice in naming planet nine

[@XionUnjust]

Fraser loves Mass Effect. HECK YEAH!! one of the best game series I ever played. The end of episode 3 had me in tears

[@capnbeenieweenie5603]

It is such an amazing series!! I hope whatever the next one is called is good!

[@MrVontar]

Thanks for the videos Fraser! You could always dial back on videos to the point where you feel better about the content or time obligations. It can really be hard if you work for a long time with no results but the nice thing with youtube is they accrue over time. Just an idea, got a new sub from me!

[@DeathValleyDazed]

Love the curiosity displayed here👍

[@jessickamuro9579]

Only just found yall... but I'm with it

[@Starman_67]

Nimbus. Was tough this time as nothing really stood out to me but the answer Fraser managed tipped this one over the line. 🤘😎🤘

[@savetheplantet5799]

We need to collectively nominate Fraser and his team for journalism awards. How do we get in sync to do that. With his permission of course. We could communicate through discord or patreon or something. Im not good at this but someone surley is good with organization .etc. Fraser you deserve it 1000%

[@EKDupre]

Minerva would be a lovely name for a possible Planet 9. ❤️

[@hernerweisenberg7052]

Noice. I'd like Persephone too.

[@cuteswan]

Agreed. For a person I'd prefer "Athena," but her older name is less ambiguous and more planet-ey. Either way, she deserved a planet!

[@dweebteambuilderjones7627]

Already in use for an asteroid.

[@dweebteambuilderjones7627]

@@cuteswan Athena has an asteroid. Three, actually.

[@loopernoodling]

Janus; (Life signatures) It wasn't that long ago when a group announced they had found traces of a chemical associated with life on Venus. Then other people said the chemical could be produced in other ways. Haven't heard anything since then, but I'm sure if something had come up, either you or Anton P would have told us about it!

[@rifz42]

Good one!!

[@sorrow_Sam]

These videos are the favorite part of my week.

[@alibaba855]

You need to get a life

[@leeFbeatz]

Caught it on Spotify!!!!

[@KaganRustem]

On the question of the most perfect sphere in the universe I'd have guessed it could be a neutron star, although some can spin quite fast, so perhaps a white dwarf as I don't believe they spin any faster than the star did in its main sequence.

[@drewd2]

Was tough but Remus was my favorite. As to what I'll call the Planet X question, Feronia would be good.

[@simfromzim]

Fraser, could you recommend reputable purveyors of Eclipse glasses? Thanks!

[@mrromantic5553]

Hi Fraser, i'll have a question. Singularity of a black hole is ofter described as being something very mysterious, because it can't be explained with mathematics. Could the singularity just simply be a sphere of some ultra dense matter unknown to physics that surface acceleration equals the speed of light? Or is there something in physics as we currently understand, that prohibits this?

[@oberonpanopticon]

I think Erebus or Terminus would be nice names for a planet. Not exactly gods, but still.

[@douglasstrother6584]

Simple: restore Pluto to Planetary Status, then "Planet 9" becomes "Planet X". TA! DA!

[@Ken-vv3os]

Question. How far away would we be able to detect ourselves, as we are now? What about as we were during the Renaissance? Thx

[@majorzipf8947]

Risa. I don’t know why but this fascinates me. We’ve all watched the moon to some degree our whole lives. It makes me wonder how big it must have looked to our ancestors, far bigger than any perigee full moon. And how it will look for them in our far future, just a tiny silver dot in the sky. I donno. This one sparked my imagine so it gets my vote. 🤓😁

[@juakofz]

Fraser, does rocket exhaust contribute or somehow impact the space debree problem? What happens to those gasses?

[@johncnorris]

I'm looking forward to the upcoming 3BP projects. I haven't attempted the TV series yet.

[@Alekosssvr]

Here are a few questions by me: 1. Can something escape a black hole during a BH-BH collision. Answer is yes - with some oversimplifying assumptions (worked it out). 2. Can we have dark photons? (photons with a high enough frequency that they are black holes) Could this be a dark matter candidate?

[@SuperYtc1]

16:20 I love Janus.

[@rowshambow]

It would be so interesting if a new large planet bigger than earth was discovered in the kuiper belt. It would be a new rush of exploration to figure out what it looked like, if it had moons, if it had heat generation etc

[@richardloewen7177]

As hard as it is to survey the Kuiper Belt TNOs--due to vast scale and very low density--the challenge is much, much harder for the Oort Cloud. At least we know that the Kuiper Belt exists. The Oort Cloud is STILL hypothetical.

[@theradgegadgie6352]

I have two suggestions: 1. Persephone. Makes sense if you think about it. 2. Nibiru. It'll drive the Sitchin fans batshit! 😂

[@mknochel]

What is the return window cadence from Mars to Earth and is it the same cadence as the trip out just shifted by some months?

[@MichaelBuetKESE]

Star Technologies & Research

[@volpedo2000]

How cool would it be if they named planet nine Erebos, the personification of darkness or Nyx the goddess of the night. Nyx would also be a nice hint to the old Planet X name.

[@dweebteambuilderjones7627]

As an added bonus Erebus doesn't appear to be in use yet, so the IAU would be more inclined to go for it.

[@nomdeguerre7265]

The most apt name for 'Planet 9' is 'Utopia'. It seems, increasingly, the original meaning of the term is perfectly appropriate for 'Planet 9'.

[@robertethanbowman]

I asked on Reddit (should have been StackExchange) the question of what tide would 25x25solar mass black hole merger cause to earth if were only one a.u. away. The answer seemed to be only one meter of flex. So these waves while powerful don't seem to couple well to ordinary matter.

[@SisavatManthong-yb1yn]

Yep space is like what Mr is talking about! Levels is views also

[@jim.franklin]

Fraser, Vera Rubin not finding Planet 9 does not prove it doesn't exist because it could be in part of the sky, as seen from Earth, that Vera Rubin does not see. However, it will certainly constrain where it could be and reduce the chances it exists.

[@rienkhoek4169]

Hi Fraser, question; is there also a theory for dark matter that assumes it is the result of dark energy being all around galaxies and therefore sort of ' contains' or 'squeezes' them, giving the illusion of extra gravity? ( No idea how to test such a thing)

[@JustanOlGuy]

Cheleb, suspension of disbelief is dificult for more people than I realized.

[@zrebbesh]

On tidal effects. Anything that orbits slower than the more massive planet's day length (like Earth's moon) is getting further away. Anything that orbits faster than the massive planet's day length (like Mars' moon Phobos) is getting closer.

[@dweebteambuilderjones7627]

I would suggest Erebus for Planet Nine. It's the name of Greek primordial god of darkness, befitting an object with a 10,000+-year orbit, and it's also not in use for any moons, asteroids, dwarf planets, or stars, which means that the IAU would be more likely to go for it since they dislike repetition.

[@roqua]

22:10 Fraser has interviewed a specialist (maybe several) examining plans for creating "dead satellite and orbital debris" recyclers that would move along the more densely travelled orbits, gobbling up said objects for reuse. Not all space junk is amenable to this concept (as Fraser points out), but the idea also isn't quite as hopeless as he may seem to be making it out. Searching through Fraser's interviews from 2019-2022 is about when this interview I'm thinking of happened.

[@bjornfeuerbacher5514]

Concerning the question at 14:18, about photons experiencing time: Why do people always only consider time dilation when answering that question? The electric and magnetic field _also_ depend on the frame of reference. And if you do the actual calculation, you see that in the "rest frame" of the photon, the electric and magnetic field strengths would be zero, i. e. no photon actually exists in that frame. Essentially, that's simply another way to show that a "rest frame" of a photon can't even exist: photons _always_ travel at the speed of light, there _is_ no frame of reference where a photon is at rest, and hence the question makes no sense anyway. And yet another way to see this: In order to "catch up" with a photon, so you could "see" what it experiences, you'd have to move with light speed with respect to the source of the photon yourself. But that would cause an infinite redshift, i. e. the photon would have no energy at all in that frame, i. e. it wouldn't exist.

[@peters616]

Also, my understanding is that the leading MOND theory indicates that there is about 50 percent more baryonic matter than we can observe.

[@churchdiscography]

Hey, my question became the thumbnail! Surely I win a prize for that: sealskin mukluks (size 12 please), or a Fraser Cain bobblehead perhaps.

[@friendlyone2706]

Regards the need for an explanation for why gravity seems inadequate: Why not have all three explanations be part of the solution?

[@patrickhobbs8201]

Planet name: Tantalus Underworld adjacent + self description. (Though there's already an asteroid with that name.)

[@imetr8r]

I will be in Austin for the April eclipse. My daughter and son-in-law's home is nearly at the center of totality! We will watch it from the front yard with all the neighbors and plenty of beer! Concerning photons and time: Because time stops for a photon, from its point-of-view, it arrives at its destination at the time it left its origin... even if the origin was 13 billion years ago.

[@alexanderpitman9433]

Question: has anybody tried to look for the spectral lines of Tc, element #43, in astronomy data from any of the telescopes?

[@DrDeuteron]

I'm only commenting so much b/c your content is so good: 14:49 photons have no rest frame, so let's just stop asking if they experience time. It's meaningless...but it's also why they don't change (e.g no Faraday Effect in vacuum), unlike neutrinos, which have a rest frame, have time, and can rotate their flavors. And: the animation at the above time stamp shows the photon/light packet with different phase and group velocities---which ONLY occurs if you're traveling less than "c", i.e., if you experience time.

[@bjornfeuerbacher5514]

Thanks for bringing this point up. See also my comment where I give some more reasons why the question makes no sense.

[@bobc2636]

That was a great explanation, preceded by a very dismissive statement. Just because you know the question makes no sense doesn't mean everyone does. Stating that any question should never be asked is rude in my opinion. None the less your explanation was factual and informative, I now know to never ask you anything lest I want to be belittled.

[@prusak26]

Don't make me tap the sign! "Life, uhh... uhh... finds a way"

[@trelligan42]

Planet IX has already been named (though not discovered, therefore not by a discoverer.) It is Nemesis, the goddess of Retrubution for hubris, from its habit of throwing comets into the inner system.

[@oberonpanopticon]

Pretty sure that isn’t how it works

[@ScRaMbLeS247]

Can u answer the physics behind motion sensors and then possibly how it could b amplified and incorporated into telescopes not dependent on light to detect motion but another form of motion sensing such as chemical signature motion sensors that could detect everything that is too small to see with light but in motion.

[@ScRaMbLeS247]

Not everything is magnetic or is it..... not everything is x-ray gamma ray light ray detectable but chemical and partical signatures may b the way to start upgrading our planet based telescopes or no?

[@agapitosdovles9803]

Hi Fraser, can create small scale artificial magnetic fields that would protect astronauts from radiation? Thanks for the wonderful content!

[@frasercain]

kzbin.infoXmXNFefJ4Zo

[@BoomMC_Inc]

I'm going to be at my brother's place in kerrville tx

[@old_house_1906]

22:00 i would call planet 9: Chrysomallos

[@missingpiece2071]

so you don't experience time the same way but what about your cells? Wouldn't your metabolic rate stay the same?

[@zeljkoradojkovic6159]

You often say we can only get a single pixel image of an exoplanet with our current telescopes, but what mirror size would it take to get for example 12 pixels (4x4 minus the corner pixels)?

[@oberonpanopticon]

I’ve heard we’d need a mirror around 2 kilometres across to resolve a decent image of an exoplanet. Not very specific i know, but hopefully that gives a rough sense of scale.

[@alexisdespland4939]

how many xoplaneys have magnetosphee and w how do we find thexo-madnetospee.

[@rowshambow]

Would be the size needed for a planet to be classed as planet 9 and not just another kuiper belt dwarf planet?

[@UrbanPorcupine]

Sedna was able to be discovered because it was near perihelion. Is it possible that there are planets that come within the orbit of Neptune or Pluto for example, but are unknown to us because they are on radically elongated orbits and closer to aphelion?

[@olorin4317]

Nimbus I think the moon probably kick started plate tectonics and thus is the reason we have continents and land. That cycle of recycled rock allowed the lighter granites to form and float up to the surface like a rock froth. Ocean life will likely be ubiquitous, maybe even atmospheric life as well, but long term continental stability could be pretty rare.

[@mrnobody2873]

It seems to me that the uncounted factor in the Drake equation is partially the Moon but more specifically, Plate Tectonics being caused by the Moon's close distance when Earth Solidified after the collision with Theia. The storage, replenishment, and renewal of water and atmosphere not only extended the habitable period of Earth, but drove evolution in shorter timescales than a stable environment would not. Those specifics to me, make extra terrestrial complex life far less likely to occur.

[@barr65]

Nibiru,just to be cheeky

[@FirstNameLastName-okayyoutube]

Planet 9 is Pluto. It is a Dwarf Planet.

[@waterboymikemjhi]

seems the time a photon would experience would be the redshift time plus any delays due to gravity

[@user-ql7pd1bk2j]

Okay I have two serious question's right now and id like to hear your input. 1st if we remove all the asteroids in the kiper belt as well as the asteroid belt don't you think because of their presence would effect the orbits of every planet? Which goes with my 2nd question, if the asteroid belt is as filled as our expectations seem it as, again wouldn't that have any effect on Neptune? Yes they might not be bodied into a formation but billions of them should have some gravitational pull on any closest planet. Qnd we always talk like the further out the gravitational effects the furthering planets why not ita inner closets planet? So Uranus couldn't be the reasoning of the effects Neptune is going through? I honestly think its a chain of events, i believe Jupiter is effecting Saturn and Saturn is effecting Uranus who's effecting Neptune. This I believe is like a defense mechanism to keep the outer planets from exiting the solar system. If our moon is drifting from us why can't the other planets attempt the same motion? And our belts and gravitational force from the other planets are keeping them in place.

[@bloviatormaximus1766]

Voyager did that first tiny blue sphere

[@faolitaruna]

Hello Fraser. Ganymede has higher gravity and temperature on its surface than Titan. Why there is no atmosphere there?

[@dweebteambuilderjones7627]

Its proximity to Jupiter's radiation zone likely blasted off any atmosphere it had a long time ago.

[@ioresult]

I'm currently watching the Chinese Three-Body show. I'm at episode 13 of 30. It's pretty good and I think they improved on the book. They added more female characters. I love how they gave more importance to Wang Miao's daughter. And also the assistant that's as effective as 10 assistants. It's very funny. They added humor and it makes it more fun. Also the CMB scientist who's becoming more and more unhinged. I like the cheap-looking CGI animation of the game. Funny how it makes it even more immersive. Anyway, I like it a lot. I thought Shi Qiang'S actor was a bit too young for the role, but he's very funny. I love his interaction with Wang Miao's daughter also. Also how he eats spaghetti with a fork exactly how he would eat it with chopsticks. He has no idea how to eat noodles with a fork. Very funny.

[@saurabhj4950]

Planet 9 name should be based on Sanskrit name. I have a suggestion name. "Apoorva". Its a girl name and name meaning stands for like never before,exquisite,quite new,one of a kind,unprecedented.

[@hernerweisenberg7052]

How about Persephone? She was taken hostage by her uncle Hades (Pluto)

[@alexisdespland4939]

how dose having many moons affect the tide of ithir planet.

[@DavidGuillen-ji6kw]

You are such a decent human. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[@211212112]

From your Vera Rubin statement Panet 9 if it exists must be in our southern hemisphere, not possibly in the northern hemisphere?

[@alexalmeida8627]

Hi Fraser, do we have a detailed analysis of the DART mission success? How much energy was transferred to the asteroid. How big a spacecraft has to be to change the path of a 10Km asteroid like the one that supposedly killed the dinosaurs?

[@ladydustin7811]

Later this year Esa will launch the Hera mission to go and study the asteroid in detail in the aftermath of DART to answer those questions.

[@georgeflitzer7160]

Is this the same as planet X oi Sumerian civilization? Ty

[@shannonparkhill5557]

QUESTION: if an event horizon is an oblate spheroid, doesn't that mean that the black hole itself is an oblate spheroid, and doesn't that then disprove a singularity, since a singularity is a point and therefore has no shape?

[@ZappaBlues]

Planet 9?? Kaiju!!

[@BettMagnett]

Because of the thumbnail i went looking if there's any new clues or findings, am so disapointed that there isn't any news apart from usual fan theories and that new giant telescopes could find it in 'only 1 or 2 years' for almost 9 years now!

[@oberonpanopticon]

Idk, I have “planet 9 discovered” on my bingo card

[@nerufer]

@Fraser Cain [Andoria] I think it would be interesting to show us what a hypothetical JWST would meaure when it is looking at earth from afar when earth was in various stages of its life. As you know there was an earth before the great oxigination. (resulting in a snowball earth for a long time). My point being here that we could be looking at an exoplanet and think it's not like earth but actually it could be, just earlier in it's life. Regarding the [Lyar] question; to me, a universe that is always moving towards more complexity, a heat-death doesn't sound logical to me. A new big bang would fit when talking about the most complex thing of all times.

[@ElitePhotobox]

It looks like Life Jim, but not as we know it !

[@JamesCairney]

Cheleb Sci-fi, people should find the UK version of Red Dwarf, it's brilliant. Can I vote for two? Zalcon

[@Chris.Davies]

It is the ocean's tides which accelerate the moon, not the Earth itself. The drag caused by the tidal bulge has slowed Earth's rotation from every 6 hours, down to 24. And as you say, eventually 1:1 - but humans will be extinct by then. The reason it's the tides, is because the rapid rotation of the Earth ensures that the tidal bulge, raised by the moon, is actually slight ahead of the line between the bodies. This very slight advance of the ocean's tidal bulges pulls on the moon very gently, accelerating it ever s o s l o w l y . . . But it's important to also remember that the effects of gravity go with the square of the distance, so that as time passes the moon gets further away with a faster orbit, but the rate at which that happens is always slowing down.

[@zam6877]

I am always learning something Always have something surprise me Oh! these are the best gifts I only watched a couple of contemporary Chinese, both had some need to acknowledge an government authority... I hope the "3 body" breaks that trend

[@howardkearney7989]

So if the moon is getting smaller, is its mass getting less too? As we colonize the moon would we not be adding more mass with buildings, etc., or removing mass as we mine for resources?

[@saablesaab]

Peek earth for observation.

[@mrxmry3264]

a question for the next question show: what if we used rocket engines to bring the moon down to geostationary orbit? would it be inside its roche limit and fall apart?

[@FailSpace2]

we can calculate the roche limit using the equation: d = 2.4R (ρM/ρm)^1/3 where R is the distance between the bodies, ρM is the density of the main body(earth), ρm is the density of the satellite(the moon), and d is the roche limit. i don’t know the answer but i’d recommend doing the math for it! it’s a ton of fun, and you can get to know the answer!

[@oberonpanopticon]

I’m pretty sure the moon’s Roche limit is inside of geostationary orbit. That being said, doing so would still have unbelievably cataclysmic results

[@yeabutwecouldbefreer]

Yea but the property value for the lucky person who gets it over their house would be huge. Or the government would pay you fair market value. Moon elevator anyone?