Cosmic Queries - JWST’s Primordial Galaxies with Neil deGrasse Tyson & Wendy Freedman

What do the early galaxies discovered by JWST tell us about the early universe? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Matt Kirshen explore the expansion of space, dark energy, and the age of the universe with astronomer, Wendy Freedman.
What is the Hubble constant? Wendy helps us explain what it is, how Edwin Hubble got it, and why it’s important. If the universe is expanding at an increasing rate why are we calling it a constant? When did we figure out the expansion was speeding up? Discover our cosmic horizon, how we found the age of the universe, and Einstein’s biggest blunder.
What does the JWST discovery tell us about our current model for the early universe? Learn about The Dark Ages- and, no, it is not the era following the fall of the Roman Empire. How is the JWST helping challenge ideas in astronomy?
Is our universe young, middle-aged, or old? Learn about the different ages of the universe, dark energy, and how we live at an inflection point between eras. What does Wendy think about The Big Rip Theory? If time is relative, how do we reliably predict the age of the universe? What if we predicted the age of the universe from right outside a black hole?
Thanks to our Patrons Fernando Colón, Richie Mercado, Miami John, David Rivera, Matthew Reason, and Kostas Chaskis for supporting us this week.
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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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00:00 - Introduction
01:48 - What is the hubble constant?
6:20 - Einstein’s Blunder & The Expansion
9:08 - How come the universe is expanding faster than light but things aren’t moving away from each other?
14:38 - JWST, Early Galaxies & The Dark Ages
19:00 - JWST Findings Challenging Astronomy
22:15 - Challenges in Astrophysics
29:15- Is our universe young, middle-aged, or old?
32:28 - Is there evidence of The Big Rip?
35:55 - If time is relative, how do we reliably predict the age of the universe?
39:32 - Why are they called black holes? Is it still condensed matter?

[@Goodjobeveryone]

My day gets brighter and my mind finds new questions each and every time I see there’s a new StarTalk!

[@michaelccopelandsr7120]

Neil and Chuck for 2024

[@jasminyala3231]

Lol This matt take the micky with chuck,, 0:19 about he chucking on

[@21stcenturyscots]

I am not so sure about Chuck.

[@michael-4k4000]

Trump and Neil 2024!

[@michaelallen2971]

Damn that

[@raya.p.l5919]

❤ warning negative energy will creep out yr feet tell it's time for Jesus energy wash😊😊

[@JALNIN66]

This episode was a real treat for me. The Hubble made the 90's super exciting. I followed along by reading the Health and Science section of the Boston Globe on my subway commute. It made us rethink our understanding of the Universe many times and it's a real thrill to hear from one of the main people who was behind this work. Thank you. The single biggest jaw dropping moment of my life was the day the first Hubble Deep Space photo was published. I think my jaw was on the floor the whole day, couldn't even focus on anything else. It was just so mind blowing to learn there were that many other galaxies. I loved following along as the science community tweaked and refined our understanding of it all. I was fully expecting JWST to find early galaxies more mature than expected because that's the same thing the Hubble found. Just further with JWST. Now we're learning it's closer to 2 to 4 trillion galaxies in the observable Universe. Awesome. Thanks again for doing what you do. We love it!

[@ywfbi]

Absolutely love the part of the discussion regarding uncertainties and testing the measurements. IMHO Wendy really spoke to the real progress of science today. Fantastic show :)

[@CharlieKellyEsq]

mmmm I love wendy's Their spicy chicken nuggets are amazing

[@ginamcdonald7854]

I did not want this episode to end. This is so interesting, and I learn so much every time I watch StarTalk!

[@XxTheAwokenOnexX]

At last, iam finally the first person to like a StarTalk video 👍

[@Unkl_Bob]

Good for you !! The first person to ever like a StarTalk video. they should send you to Mars !!! I watch it for the information

[@alexcolclough6133]

im the 38th

[@archbishoprichardforceginn9338]

@@Unkl_Bob Haha Yeah, Holey Eternal Omnipresent Greetingz cuzinz 🌠 🙌🔥🤴IAM

[@archbishoprichardforceginn9338]

Holey Eternal Omnipresent Greetingz cuzinz and Earthlingz

[@XxTheAwokenOnexX]

​@@Unkl_Bob Thankyou, i have no interest going to Mars, as it is not far enough away from earth 😂

[@harshsharma7154]

Love every episode of startalk just as i love every star in the universe!

[@robertamcintyre627]

Wendy is so good at explaining difficult concepts that lay people can grasp.

[@bharfbattlebrain7892]

I love it. All the questions that I had were answered, along with several others, though it's left me with questions I've never thought of before, but that'll be sorted in future installments no doubt. And the beauty of it is, I can enjoy learning about this wonderful universe that we live without worrying about having to take any exams.

[@MisterSixty]

Relatively speaking, time passed by so quickly watching this episode! Thank you, Professors and Hosts 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@Brian-uy2tj]

There is, as there should be, constant reference to the Hubble telescope and the JWST but they never remember to mention the engineers who designed these two marvels of scientific equipment. You are amazed at what you see, but........ in addition to that, I am amazed at the engineers who figured out how to make that happen. Truly amazing stuff!

[@alansilverman8500]

Please do a segment with Wendy delving into her research using the Webb to measure the Hubble constant with Red Giant Branch Tip Stars as opposed to Cepheid Variables which you haven't covered here in more detail...

[@manny011]

Not the response I personally wanted to hear from Dr. Freedman regarding the big rip but I respect her even more for feeling the way she does about it. Great show and great guest yet again. ☄️🔭

[@mattdenihan5653]

Hey Neil / Chuck just wanted to say thanks for everything you do, I love being able to watch/ listen every day to startalk! I love being able to learn a little more everyday about the universe and everything within.

[@sagarah8217]

The more I learn about the universe, the more it sounds like cell development on a much grander scale

[@skeller61]

I love great scientists, because they are humbled by what we do not yet know, yet bold enough to discover new things that we now know better.

[@F_L_U_X]

I really like her. Please have her on more 😊

[@victorreis8110]

This woman is amazing!! Thank you so much for this video

[@kellinrogers1575]

Dr. Tyson, my 11 year old wants to be a theoretical physicist. Where do I start? What resources are available for a kid who is already talking about Einstein blowing away Newtonian gravity?

[@jeffreyjackson4742]

I love Neil's ability to make mundane things interesting and cool. Then takes the already epic stuff and describe it in ways you never though of that make it even cooler 🤯

[@kt420ish]

Wendy was awesome, and so was Matt. Great show as always.

[@younghan3573]

Been waiting for Neil to explain this!

[@udayavenkatesan1333]

Some great Q and A in this one. 👏

[@718Insomniac]

Great episode. Really good.

[@SuperKazmierski]

I want Matt to be my friend. He seems so positive and fun. I bet he's hilarious at a party.

[@michael-4k4000]

Lol, he's married David!

[@MacNif]

Married people can have friends

[@SuperKazmierski]

@@michael-4k4000 Who hurt you?

[@michael-4k4000]

@@SuperKazmierski I don't understand the question? why would someone hurt me?

[@rdberg1957]

I really like Wendy Freedman as a person. She is very even--tempered and kind in addition to being brilliant.

[@kenzgbr]

Wendy Freedman is an absolute legend!!!

[@Moondoggy1970]

This info is so interesting 🧐,this KZbin channel is AWESOME 🤩.

[@hl8333]

Very informative and HILARIOUS show

[@songOmatic]

great episode everyone!!!

[@aaroncamss1623]

will donate soon, thank you!

[@lorigarza9971]

And she just answered my question. Why is the universe expanding. Hopefully they will learn the answer to that in my lifetime.

[@MrDklocks]

8:25-8:43 This had me cracking up! " Oh,, you never aim " - Matt Kirshen

[@SteveC38]

Another Great One, Y’all👍

[@taurnocerostradeguides]

@StarTalk have you seen the stuff of Anton Petrov? I recommend having him on the show, he seems like a keen dude

[@matthewjohns1758]

He is “a keen dude”. I’m sure he’ll thank you.

[@taurnocerostradeguides]

@@matthewjohns1758 Did I mean something wrong ? 😅I kinda suck at English. My bad if it came off as a insult. It was not on purpose.

[@RetNemmoc555]

I like keen dude. Good expression.

[@matthewjohns1758]

@@taurnocerostradeguides no I was just agreeing with you. Texting is kinda terse and tends to make itself sound like you’re complaining when you actually aren’t.

[@taurnocerostradeguides]

@@matthewjohns1758 1000% 😂

[@intergalacticangler]

i wish this was live,

[@jeremygreen5552]

Yay! They asked my question!! How cool

[@juliam7056]

Awesome episode !

[@jimcrutcher1845]

I love the show enough to join Patreon, but have yet to get any of my questions answered.

[@Nefville]

31:10 - The moment when Neil realizes he can finally use the "what good are you if you don't know all the answers" line he's been hearing all this time 😂😂

[@MrAlistar28]

was waiting for this

[@joehebert789]

That was an interesting topic to dive into.

[@terryl7874]

Interesting answers about a serious complex subject. I came to realize that black holes are the galaxies trash disposal. Always enjoy conversations about the universe!

[@jasminyala3231]

Yes it will be until they find the white hole

[@terryl7874]

@@jasminyala3231 🤣😂

[@lesliejora9344]

It's good to c Neil alive n healthy

[@jeffsiegwart]

Great video!

[@evolutionofbeliefs]

Nice episode.I have always heard about the fabric of space-time and I wonder whether it is absolute or it may be floating in some hyperspace such that if you rip the fabric,you leak into something else.

[@Russia-bullies]

or something may leak in?If that happens,we may not know it.Personally,I don’t believe there are other dimensions.None can proof my believes,though.

[@SexyMans]

Love watching these high I just got banned from the smoke shop cuz the guy saw me wearing a backpack even though im 18😕 but watching these gets me high on life/existence

[@fleabaglane]

When is this great show live I been finding on KZbin

[@johnnym5444]

I’d love to hear a deeper explainer on super fluidity?

[@bullettube9863]

It's so wonderful watching and listening to these people but also sad to think that I won't be around to see all the discoveries that scientists will bring to the human race in fifty more years.

[@karlgoebeler1500]

Good Show !!!!

[@petersage5157]

I wonder if the influences of gravity in our particular corner of the Virgo Supercluster are significant enough to make our reckoning of time appreciably different from what it might be in the middle of the Boötes Void. If there were a star system in the center of that void with an intelligent civilization, would the universe appear to be older, younger, or automatically adjusted to the same age due to the relative paucity of dark matter? Also, the whole "frame of reference" thing gives me a headache because there's always another reference frame; why haven't we redefined our frame of reference based on the Great Attractor, since that seems to have the greatest gravitational influence in our region? One of my favorite things about academia is the interplay and communication between arts and sciences. In the late 1980s, when ST:TNG first aired, most peoples' understanding of relativity and quantum physics wouldn't have challenged what is presented in _What the Bleep Do We Know,_ but it's fair to assume that Joni Mitchell would have heard of the findings of the B2FH paper when she wrote "Woodstock" in 1969. One of the most frustrating things about TV shows is that the writers have little to no connection with academia. In later seasons of _The Big Bang Theory,_ even when Sheldon was wearing black hole collision T-shirts, the writers were drawing on _What the Bleep_ concepts for their plot arcs.

[@jackehli621]

I'm positive while listening to Matt's voice that he is truly an alien. No human has a voice that sounds like that.

[@huhuruz77]

I have no choice and I`m forced to watch again this great episode because 41 minutes were not enough !! 🥰

[@frankparoots2980]

Wendy Freedman is amazing!

[@ginamartin4540]

Gina Martin from NC. I asked the question about the Big Rip. @startalk Neil, what would you say in response to that extrapolation? We all want to know, even if it is so far in the distant future. I also had a second part to my question that Matt didn't read. "What happens to black holes during the expansion, or are black holes a direct representation of what happens when the expansion takes over an area in space?"

[@JO-iv7tl]

Since we are currently in an expansion in space does this mean there isn't enough gravity to pull objects together. In effect counter the expansion. If so is there a low(er) amount of stars at the moment? This is either a die off of many stars or a youth, new generation, time in space.

[@mariusmacas380]

Thank you Wendy 👍

[@anirudhadhote]

Very good 👍🏼

[@jasons9689]

More Chuck, please

[@jeremymoses7401]

Are we moving toward andromeda or is it moving toward us? Is there an object in the middle drawing us together? If everything is receeding away from us at the hubble constant which is speeding up.... what would cause either of our galaxies to overcome that force that would put us on a collision course? Is there a possibility that the hubble constant could speed up enough to stop the collision?

[@abdulsalamodofin5522]

❤😊

[@keithjansen2409]

The universe is like an eyee chart, the eye chart is never wrong but only how we are able to read it constantly changes. Dr. Jansen

[@user-pd8yl3ol2k]

I have heard that if you were to watch a person fall into a black hole. The observer outside the black hole would see the person slowing down as they approached the event horizon, eventually seeming to be frozen at the event horizon. If the black hole is spinning, would the observer see that frozen image of the person remain stationary? Would the image of the person appear to spin or orbit the black hole due to frame dragging? The event horizon is not a solid surface, so it shouldn’t spin with the black hole, but it is hard to imagine that the last image of the person falling through the event horizon wouldn’t move.

[@josselynpagliarini3899]

I have a question about fine tuning the Universe. I've long thought the Multiverse could answer that. After all, if we assume an infinite or/and eternal Multiverse, everything seems to come together to lead to a universe like ours, however finely tuned it may be. Yet, I recently read that to produce so many different universes, the Multiverse would also have to be fine-tuned (regardless of whether it was infinite or eternal I guess). This upset me because from then on, for the very first time, the hypothesis of a Creator God seemed to me a bit less far-fetched than the Multiverse. What do you think ?

[@larshansen7862]

I am always in awe of you guys and your grasp on the big things, but use the terms: Decades and have stood the test of time in the same sentence?, perhaps I'm missing something?

[@brandtreppond2167]

I like Wendy. Sure, I love the grand predictions of the far future, but I also love that she focuses on what she can actually observe, here and now

[@wtfbbq]

Even though Wendy didn't want to answer, I REALLY wish Neil answered the Big Rip questions despite it being speculative and sufficiently distant that it doesn't effectively matter. I mean Wendy was quite positive on the fact that the universe is expanding at an increasing rate, and as Neil said, the Big Rip is just an extrapolation of that aspect far into the future... I think it's plausible enough at this point that entertaining some thought experiments about that event is valid and I thought both questions were great, even if it's pure speculation.

[@ginamartin4540]

I asked that question about the big rip on an atomic level... I was disappointed she didn't want to answer, because it's "so far in the future" but she's focused on the past of the universe.....that doesn't affect her either.

[@robertmcbrayer6633]

no what I want is for you to go and take that expansion measurements and radio them back so we can compare And thank you for your service

[@jasminyala3231]

Yes it's about time they go back and do live zoom , Now that technology is so advanced. Hubble bubble went and Measured the universe in the nineteen twenties. Aeroplane was Invented in 1903 when did Hubble Invented Hubble to go and do this measurement.

[@astrophysicistguy]

Thank-you Wendy ! … on Neil’s previous podcast I said exactly the same thing regarding his comments about the Big Rip, namely that there is no evidence this will happen, it’s just an entertaining theory by theoretical physicists

[@jamiboothe]

at around 20:00 you started talking about being right and wrong in science. The most amazing thing a human brain can do is to be wrong, and use that wrong understanding to create a more correct understanding.

[@lmili7097]

Like to see more topics on The Great Attractor

[@RadoslavFicko]

I would like to ask if it is possible to determine from the radial velocity of a galaxy parameters such as acceleration, potential energy and potential power from acceleration.For example, if a car accelerates from 60km/h(16.666m/s) to 100km/h(27. 77m/s) which has a mass of 1600kg in t=5s seconds , then the power to overcome the drag is P=m*(dv/dt)*(v+dv), since I cannot measure the small values of dt and dv I will use the approximate relationship P=m*(v2-v1/t)*(v1+(v2-v1))=1600*(11.111/5)*27.777=98.76kW and the potential power P/m=a*v =61.72W/kg. If for the radial velocity of the galaxy v=H*R then the potential energy is a*R=(H*R)^2=v^2, the acceleration a=2*H^2*R and the potential power P/m=H^3*R^2. The balance of acceleration with gravity is GM/R^2=2*H^3*R R^3/M=G/2*H^3 .I'm not saying those relationships are correct, but is it possible to determine those parameters based on observations?

[@imranroy4731]

Wendy has a camera-perfect scientist face, extremely photogenic for a Hollywood movie 🧡💙💚

[@justrelax8564]

I think that general relativity/age of the universe questions is more important. She said that when we macroscopically measure the age of the universe we shouldn't pick high gravity density regions like near black holes. So how can we accurately measure the age of the universe when we are also at a considerably high gravity region ourselves. When we look macroscopically, although not as black holes, we are in a high gravity region of galactic superclusters, milky way, the sun, planet earth. Just like when we measure heights on earth compared to the sea level which is the lowest place on surface, shouldn't we pick places with very low gravity like super voids to measure the age ?

[@EWA8755]

With latest from JWST, my image of the Universe is now this: The Known (Observable) Universe is an amphoras bubble surrounded by a flat disk (dark mater?) As the disk exerts its pull on the bubble, expansion instantly happens in all directions away from the observation point.

[@ronalddippenaar2381]

If the Universe is expanding it can only be measured relative to our position. If that is the case, it would mean that we are either standing still or moving in an opposite direction. And if that is the case then there must be different speeds between the different galaxies. So how does one measure the different speeds with us as a reference point, simply because we're not in those spaces inorder make the calculations?

[@karlgoebeler1500]

I became aware on October 4 1988. Then all the events I had observe became factors for comparison. And yes I have been seeing the "Ratrix" in the conduct of the people themselves. Believe me thru me a "loop". And yes that does become another factor (Food for thought) in my day to day.

[@ThaVoodoo1]

Our nearest star cluster is the Hyades cluster, also known as the Melotte 25 cluster. It is located in the constellation Taurus and is approximately 153 light years away from Earth.

[@franciscogallegos7936]

What happens in time measurements when you go below seconds?

[@shiftylad9938]

If everything is expanding away then is there a point where we can rewind to and therefore find a place where the big bar happened and therefore know what was expanding into

[@winchesterbear]

To expect Einstein to never make a mistake is absurd.

[@MrQlife]

I have this question that I hope that a specialist like you can explain me why it’s completely wrong 😁 What if the reason that the expansion of the universe accelerates is not the elusive dark energy but the fact that time is not constant and accelerates. Wouldn’t that also explain the wavelength of light travels over huge distances becomes longer ?

[@wtfbbq]

Well space and time are linked and in a sense could be considered much the same thing, which is why it's referred to as "space-time". Much the same way electricity and magnetism are two sides of the same coin and are referred to as "electromagnetism"... So in a sense, the fact that space is expanding also means time is expanding in the same way. Edit: Therefore time expanding couldn't really be the CAUSE of space expanding, since dark energy is affecting both of them as 'spacetime'. (Just my random thoughts, I'm no expert.)

[@christos8518]

My question and in regards to Quantum entanglement. Is our observations of the expanding universe, causing the universe to expand

[@stevefisher6708]

are we talking about the objects in the universe moving further apart, or the space between the objects expanding?

[@TheRealSkeletor]

Here's my hot take (call me crazy if you like, but hear me out first): It was originally theorized that due to the collective gravity of everything in the universe, the universe's acceleration will decrease over time, not increase. What if that is actually the case, the universe is slowing in expansion, but due to the effects of gravity on time dilation (as detailed in Einstein's theory of general relativity), time itself is also being slowed by the collective gravity of everything in the universe. So, from our perspective, the expansion of the universe appears to be accelerating, since the motion of objects is measured relative to the passage of time, which is also slowing?

[@bugssy]

Will someone please turn on the lights in this cave we call the universe so we can see all the way to the end?

[@AndrewJonkers]

Maybe this is a naïve question: Can general relativity model a changing Hubble constant over the life of the universe with a cosmological constant that is a function of time (in the event empirical observations are not in fact reconciled to a constant)? I ask this because in a calculus course I took way back when it was shown that when integrating partial differential equations you get a function of integration, not a constant of integration (as you do with ordinary differential equations).

[@jakestatefarm712]

Question. If you could go anywhere in space where would you go

[@manuwilson4695]

Matt is an English comedian. BUT he's also keenly interested in science. 👍

[@MikeTheNABI]

If the universe's expansion is accelerating, is that acceleration linear? Can we work backwards to figure out when that acceleration was zero?

[@MrAshtute]

I think it's also worth saying that when the questions we can't yet answer are answered we will just have a lot of new questions to answer 😛

[@ravichanana3148]

There is some radio telescopic data from u.k that gives the hubble constant of 42. It's on the internet.

[@Bosnian.Spartan]

Is it possible the way we see earth and the solar system might be upside down? Like north is actually south and south is actually north??

[@kujessie06]

We are asking out of curiosity not worry. Why treat us like precious children.

[@TJ-hs1qm]

Given the unknown nature of DE and the fact that Energy and Mass are the same according to Einstein how can we attribute the expansion to the DE and not the DM?

[@bryonmartin8463]

Question: In this video we say that light doesn’t have the velocity to escape a black hole. I thought the reason light cant escape a black hole is because of the massive amount of gravity in a blackhole warps the space around it to the extent that all “gravitational roads” lead back to the blackhole once you get to the event horizon. Why is velocity relevant? Second question? If there was a velocity that could “escape” a blackhole what would that velocity be? Just trying to learn.

[@stevensperber8629]

Pronouncing Nevada correctly 👏

[@hctim96]

Love Matt's blue earrings.. Very fashionable......😁

[@Robbie_jojo]

Awesome