The FASTEST growing supermassive black hole EVER found | Night Sky News March 2024

[@DrBecky]

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[@Michaelcaba]

Dr. Becky. Love your show, but using old eclipse glasses can be dangerous. Astronomy Magazine (April 2024, p. 15) elaborates on this danger in the following way: "No one can deny the beauty of a solar eclipse . . . One note of caution, however: If you saved your eclipse glasses from seven years ago, toss them. The protective coating deteriorates over time and typically doesn’t last more than three years." - Dr. Michael J. Caba

[@dtriplett03]

How about those links Dr. BECKY❤🎉

[@dtriplett03]

Links?❤🎉

[@DylanStone-w4s]

Basically an electron is made up of really condensed pieces of its fields smoke liquid energy and these are probably little round piece's of energy.... 😂😂 that are inside the electron and they're just condensed enough to combine to make one piece of energy or one particle... So the collide and push one another and this is why... We see vibrates so they collide in the center and push away from the center of the electron and the center pieces pull the on the other little pieces that are traveling away from the collision in the center..... And gravitational pull from the pieces in the center pulls the other little pieces that are being pushed away from center of the electron... back towards the center of the electron because of the other little pieces in the center...... Good enough my name is Dylan ray Stone Okay so the field that makes up gravity is in all fields.... Accept space which is also its own field.... Or you could say time acts like a smoke and some pieces of the smoke are more condensed than others and whenever these close to the same condensity pieces collide they pull in on other fields and their own field creating a gravitational pull... Or it's another field inside the second field... Doing the same thing as time and then basically one of those pieces becomes condensed enough it pulls on the second field. Then the first field also pulls on its little uncondensed pieces to create what we call gravitational pull😂

[@revdrjon]

If you're interested in an extensive look at an extensive analysis of the history and background of the TMT and Mauna Kea, including personal experience, i can highly recommend astronomy youtuber Dr Fatima's video "astronomy has a colonialism problem".

[@JPF1077]

I'm here for the science but the way Dr Becky radiates joy and happiness can't be ignored.

[@adamphilip1623]

Right! I appreciate unapologetic enthusiasm so much, this stuff is cool, excitement is the correct response!

[@SSGLGamesVlogs]

Looks like you guys survived the ground telescope status update.

[@csh43166]

@@adamphilip1623 100% agree!!

[@AndrewBlacker-t1d]

Her positivity is infectious.

[@AndrewBlacker-t1d]

I think I heard the middle "T" when she said, "Saturn." If I document it, and write a research paper, will she peer review it?

[@davidcerutti8795]

By my back of the envelope calculation, that quasar is 400 trillion times brighter than the sun. It's emitting in about 14 minutes the energy that the sun will release in its lifetime.

[@kamrynsikes]

It’s factoids like this that drive my wonder of the cosmos.

[@Yenadar]

And the size of it it's accretion disc means that if our son was at its center, alpha centauri would be in the disc.

[@myaccount6487]

Lovely. Put your pen and envelope down. It’s your round get the beers in. I’ll have a lager.😂

[@vonkug]

That's a big envelope.

[@VoltamatronSr]

I seriously doubt that you actually used an envelope. If I wanted to use an envelope I would have to get assistance from the wife to find one.

[@wm-dopple]

Re: the colander trick: also good to know is that, if you find a tree with leaves spaced out enough that it results in a sun-dappled patch of shade on the ground, it can also end up focusing the same sort of images of the eclipse on the ground. Last time I was present for an eclipse, after totality we looked down and suddenly realized that there were crescent-shaped patches of light _everywhere around us_.

[@hugegamer5988]

I had no idea comets were like cats, but this makes sense. You get the idea you’re only around because they let you.

[@pobsdad]

And they knock things over, ask the dinosaurs.

[@tharangabasnayake]

Would have been amusing if there was a science paper style screenshot/ thumbnail for Dr. Massey's quote

[@csh43166]

LOL!!! Exactly!! 😼☄

[@theoriginalstoney]

Hi Becky, I’ve a video request, as I have a question on black holes (your favourite topic): White Dwarves are held up by electron degeneracy pressure. Add more mass and a neutron star is held up by neutron degeneracy pressure. (I’m “mass”-ively simplifying to fit this into a comment…) Beyond that - it’s just a black hole with a singularity. Why are we sure it’s not a “something else” degeneracy pressure preventing the singularity e.g. quark matter and instead always state it’s a singularity? It’s ultimately unknowable, I guess, as it’s the wrong side of the event horizon, but I’m curious why there’s confidence in the singularity and why we rule out something else. I assume it’s the maths - but could you do an explainer on that? Would make a very interesting video.

[@Dan-Simms]

I mentioned the solar eclipse to a friend and their kid the other day and they thought it was going to be dark for half a week and get super cold! Said they learned it from twitter and tiktok...smh and we are not even in the area of totality. So i explained how it all worked. Missinfo man, sad.

[@jasonsumma1530]

I was in line for the 2017 total eclipse and it was a bit strange for those few minutes. I think the temp did drop a little. What was interesting was how the animals reacted.

[@jyvben1520]

@@jasonsumma1530 doubting their internal clock probably, thinking their last meal was bad ?

[@sylviahoffman9440]

I heard some b.s. about 3 days of darkness when we pass thru the Photon belt. 😮 I was like 🙄

[@johnladuke6475]

_So much_ misinformation. If you just ask your village wise man, he'll tell you that a turtle is going to try to eat the sun god, but the sun god is going to burn out his belly and come back to life. _Duh._ The wise man has seen it five times, and the last wise man saw it seven times. If you just burn the right herbs to help the sun god stay strong everything will be fine.

[@Dan-Simms]

@@sylviahoffman9440 yeah, how can some people really mix up 3-4 mins with 3-4 days? Like just think for a second how fast the sun moves.

[@tpottrell]

I'm taking my 11 y/o daughter from the UK to see the eclipse in Bloomington - our first total eclipse. Can't wait😎

[@FriedrichHerschel]

I've seen several. It's an amazing thing to see, I wish you a clear sky.

[@ryanfranz6715]

Thank you for the Odysseus lander shout out! I worked on that mission. Really cool to hear about something I worked on through one of my regular, trusted, sources. Plus you didn’t shame us for tipping over 😂, as always you’re focused on the science and bigger picture.

[@JeeVeeHaych]

I reckon that must be one of the most frustrating things about astronomy: after years of preparation having every little detail work like a charm, safe and long journey completed with all systems go but... the damn thing just needs a little nudge and you can't reach it.

[@SKy_the_Thunder]

A note on "commercialization of space exploration": That also comes with "commercialization of space". The same company currently trying to be the next big player in rocketry is the same company cluttering the sky with _thousands_ of satellites, massively disrupting ground-based telescopes. And it's not like it the total cost will be any lower if you add a profit-oriented middleman. "We can benefit from their commercial interest" only works until you're so dependent on them, going back is near impossible. We've seen what the privatization of other public infrastructure has done in the past - from rail over power to the prison system in some places... They typically end up delivering the bare minimum while collecting subsidies - and getting bailed out whenever they were too aggressive at cutting costs, because they're "too essential" to fail.

[@piotrd.4850]

Nailed it. Because commercialization doesn't really mean it. Just like you mentioned, it's not giving something up to more or less free market. It's just wealth redistribution from poor public sectors to ever richer, selected private ones. If it can't fail and depends on publics subsidies - it's not commercial.

[@decaydjk8922]

@@piotrd.4850I mean that's all capitalism has ever been. The capitalist system relies on state funding and state force.

[@Trollificusv2]

Oh sure. Like any other system isn't going to have rent-seekers, grifters, corruption and bureaucrats with their hand in every line item and budgetary provision. What you are whining about is human greed, amorality and moral weakness, not "capitalism". Or maybe it is capitalism, and every other system of control of human economy. Gee...maybe if we tried an economic system that claimed to have good intentions! What could possibly go wrong.

[@SKy_the_Thunder]

@@Trollificusv2 Where did _that_ strawman come from? I'm not talking about economic systems or corruption or anything like that. I'm saying that giving away control over a system that you rely on rarely goes well. Nothing anti-capitalist about keeping your own assets under your control instead of making yourself dependent on another party with its own independent interests. That's just basic risk assessment.

[@Skootavision]

I now call it a toenail moon. You did this to me, Dr Becky, I *did not ask for this* 🤣 Now *that* is an influencer! Thanks for the ongoing content. You are an extremely trustworthy source, but you don't expect us to take your word for it, and talk us through data that non-experts couldn't make sense of let alone interpret. I don't comment on your videos often but I wanted to say thanks.

[@seadog8807]

17 billion solar mass black hole that existed just 2 billion years after the Big Bang… how does that fit with measurements of other supermassive black holes of a similar age? Great episode, many thanks!

[@CaseyW491]

You're my favorite science communicator, along with Anton Petrov. Always appreciate the new videos!

[@flabreque]

My favourite Calvin & Hobbes cartoon is just Calvin walking with “zip zop zip zop zip zop” written behind him. He turns around, smiles and simply says: “Snow pants!” I feel Dr. Becky’s reaction to receiving her ski pants is the same.

[@carolfranklin758]

Thanks!

[@RobertRodneyUplinger]

Correction: (With Mercury's 'this time) 'Greatest Elongation forms a Right-Angle at Mercury, rather than at the Sun.

[@jeremiefaucher-goulet3365]

I've been waiting for this eclipse for years. I feel super privileged to live directly in the middle of the totality path.

[@michaellong5714]

I went up Mauna Kea in January on a 10 person tour. At the turn-off road, we passed a site where there had been protests and some road blocking, but there was exactly 1 tent and maybe 1 sort of lean-to still there with no one in sight. A problem we were told was that in some digging, a burial ground was found, so the scope would have to be re-sited. And it's a little more complex, as some native Hawaiian groups do feel that astronomy is a natural extension of the original Polynesians who used navigating by stars to come to Hawaii. One other aspect we were told is that it's also required that if a new scope goes up, an old one has to come down, so there will be no 'growth', just maintenance of the current (or less even) number of scopes on top. It was interesting to view them all, though sadly none were open to enter, and at the first, the gate was open but an occupant came out smiling at us, slammed the gate shut and returned inside. None of us were even close to entering, respecting the gate there, open or not.

[@littlekingofthebirds]

The board that oversees Mauna Kea now requires a Native Hawai'ian to have one seat so at least their voices aren't completely lost. The lease is also set to expire in 2032 and will be met with fierce requirements/conditions for renewal. I can imagine that no new telescopes full stop will be included with the eventual goal of decommissioning all remaining telescopes within a certain time frame.

[@Reinforce_Zwei]

It's honestly saddening that a "magic mountain" and the people who believe in that "magic" are even considered as credible voices against the proposed telescope. We point and laugh whenever highly religious christians or muslims try to "silence science" but when it comes to hawaiians? Gotta treat the poor dears with kid gloves and give them full control on what's built.

[@Trollificusv2]

@@littlekingofthebirds I can understand their bitterness, since the colonizers totally stole the idea of "looking up at the sky" from the Polynesians.

[@JMurph2015]

Feels like if the Native Hawaiians were just given a bit more respect and voice in the process, we could have come to a consensus where telescopes are "respectfully" constructed atop Mauna Kea in some fashion. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

[@Demonrifts]

@@Trollificusv2 Yeah, that's the part that is causing the tension.

[@DavidDatura]

What an unfortunate situation with all these telescopes, disappointing…

[@iraviya]

Aww, that's sad about Chandra. I'm really surprised by that--I mean, we're seeing stuff now like overlays combining imagery from JWST and Chandra, and it rocks. I don't understand why they're shutting this thing down. This is the best time in history for Chandra to get science done because there's so much more to correlate its observations with.

[@aozoratenshu]

An accretion disc 7 LY across is just staggering.

[@Nomad77ca]

How large would that make the event horizon?? I'm guessing larger than our whole solar system.

[@aozoratenshu]

@@Nomad77ca Even at the most liberal estimate of the size of the Oort Cloud, 7LY across is more than twice the size of our solar system.

[@mray1137]

And that was the size 12 billion years ago!?! How big would the accretion disk be right now?

[@vonkug]

For my last two eclipses I've used my 8inch telescope as a projector onto a screen through the eyepiece. 10/10 easiest observation no goggles needed.

[@timpointing]

You have to worry about all of that energy concentrated on the glass of the eyepiece. This can easily lead to that glass basically exploding.

[@Michael500ca]

I really stopped moving 25 years ago because my father was in the RCMP which had us moving around every 4-6 years. I would lose friends over and over until even had no friends. When I got to the place where I live now, I said never again. I have been here now for over 25 years and I won't leave at all. This is my home!

[@xxhabanerojoexx5747]

Thanks!

[@jacksonstarky8288]

"Congress is the opposite of progress." - NSF

[@alquimista000]

capitalist society is opposite of progress

[@johngrundowski3632]

Agree- the work is done ,,,redundancy can be very helpfull- thier plan will just cost more!!!📡⛓️

[@FLPhotoCatcher]

And the natives...

[@owenmerrick2377]

Think of all the money being poured into our present day Vietnam...

[@yvindwestersund9720]

No matter where you build these telescopes the fact that the science foundation only gets some of the money to begin with and then has to provide updates on how it's doing is just nuts look at how that ended up regarding their shining new particle accelerator in Texas It would have been att least 3 times the size of LHC and it would have found the Higgs a lot faster But republican politicians decided 5hat No we need to save money in the budget so they killed the project Mind-you if they'd cut 0.001 % of the defense budget at the time they would have saved just as much money but they would have gotten a kickass collider to And now we're seeing the same thing again with the telescopes It's tragic that politicians that have shits for brains and do their biding in accordance to lobbyists in Washington DC cuts funding to projects that are good and necessary to advance our understanding of the universe But the thing that is most baffling to me is that they don't fully finance their projects from the start I'm Europe we decides to build a flagship telescopes and then when we've agreed on location size and other technical requirements and specifications we fully fund the project and tell them to get to work We want our telescopes NOW In the US on the other hand you idiots start out by planing the flat ground and how to make as much money from that before moving on to the next level of construction Then because there's so much more complicated for them and so much more money being wasted the congress is starting to look at it an saying you must get your wast down other wise we will not fund the next part of the project 😂😂 This is stupid having a project that is driven by the fact that if you don't do things right you will be punished for it and mind you it has never been done before so you can just look it up in the handbook It is a wonder that JWST ever got built it is probably because they had sunk sooooo much money in to it that it would look really stupid to stop funding it and not finish it And there were strong voices for just dropping it even after putting 9 billion dollars in to the project Imagine having JWST sitting in a wear house somewhere collecting dust instead of photons It would be a tragedy to all mankind and I'm telling you it was not all that far-off from happening because of the stupid way the US is allocating money for its science projects Where politics is more important than science Madness just saying Madness 😂😂 Just saying 🇳🇴

[@michaelferron4777]

I live in McKinney TX just north of the center of the total ellipse .

[@russellneal1263]

Just finished your book, couldn’t put it down. Good luck on your ongoing research in the field and funding prospects. As always, great video.

[@karlkutac1800]

You're enthusiasm is contagious 😊

[@chaosmarklar]

The last partial eclipse, we had a good cloud cover, transparent enough to take a cell phone picture of the eclipse clearly and thick enough clouds to not get any brightness

[@tymoteuszdomeradzki6645]

1:47 this diagram looks a bit misleading, at greatest elongation there is a right angle between the line joining the centres of Mercury and the Earth and the line joining the centres of Mercury and the Sun (because at that moment the first line is tangent to Mercury's orbit), so it's the other angle in the triangle that should be a right angle

[@audetnicolas]

Good catch, you're absolutely right!

[@simon1546]

Your enthusiasm makes me want to discover more about astrophysics, then I look at it and realise how complicated it is, then appreciate you even more for managing to break that down for us.

[@joyl7842]

An accretion-disk bigger than the distance to our nearest neighboring star! That's insane.

[@ginayoung130]

Dr. Becky coming through with all the best links! Thank you ❤️ I have been playing around with the hubble observations for a few weeks and I love it, gives me something fun to do on break at work!

[@benjaminbeard3736]

That site showing current Hubble/Webb observations is such a good idea for public engagement.

[@Ishikawa01]

Thank you so much, you are currently my main source of Astro news as I have no time to read articles at the moment. I get so excited about all of this!

[@TomLeg]

My eclipse glasses (free from the Guelph, Ontario, Canada library) say not to use after three years ... not sure if that's about scratches, or destructive chemistry.

[@user-Aaron-]

Interesting, didn't realize they might have expiry dates.

[@iambiggus]

Essentially typical sunlight damage to the materials making up the protective layers. Especially on cheaper, disposable glasses.

[@TomLeg]

@@iambiggus Personally, after April, I will have my glasses indoors, not near windows. But anyways ....

[@DarenMiller-qj7bu]

I am directly in the path of the eclipse. I've been waiting for this day for about 8 years now lol.

[@balaji-kartha]

As we learn more about all the stuff in the cosmos, our minds are going get blown many more times ! We haven't seen nothing yet! Just love it

[@PopeLando]

Your talk about the quasar and the spectral signatures of the spiraling materials was interrupted by the Lloyds Bank advert scored by Florence+The Machine singing... "Spectrum". Which includes star-like lyrics such as "Every body we illuminate/ We are shining..."

[@TammyJerkChicken]

Flying to Texas to see this my first eclipse ❤ praying for clear skys!

[@Snowflake-id4fw]

The light on your new set is really lovely...bright but diffuse. You must be very happy with it.

[@CourtneyK87]

Those numbers are astounding. Is it possible this is the universe's first black hole?

[@martensjd]

The colander idea is cool. Also often deciduous trees will do the same thing. Look on the ground at the light passing through the leafs.

[@leonardhopper857]

For those of you that do welding and torch work. I found that a #12 welding lense stacked with a #3 torch lense does provide sufficient protection for viewing the eclipse and sunspot spotting. If it stills feels a little too bright, swap out one of the lenses for the next step higher. Enjoy!

[@vikingsoftpaw]

I was just going to suggest #12's

[@wellingtoncrescent2480]

Shade 14 is simpler, and safer. $10 for a sheet 4" x 6"

[@leonardhopper857]

@@wellingtoncrescent2480True, but back in the day, #12's were about as high as you could go and they were rare to find on the shelf. #13's and #14's were, pretty much special order and 3 to 5 weeks on delivery.

[@shubinternet]

Not ISO certified, and I'm not going to trust my eyes to them.

[@GK49245]

We have 4 min 1 sec totality at our house west of Austin, TX. Thanks for another rich content Night Sky News.

[@deanakalova3063]

I live in a city in Ohio with the full eclipse and I couldn't be more excited🎉

[@fanq_]

I think I read a tumblr post a few years back where the conclusion that explains "but how sun hurt eyes if dark?" is by saying that when the sun equips the moon, it gets a critical multiplier to its backstab ability 😂

[@patchvonbraun]

Feverishly working to get our radio observatory able to track again after 27 years. The target is to be able to track the sun on April 8th. Wish us luck!

[@kindlin]

Who? What? Huh? Moar eenfo plx

[@zburnham]

The set looks fine. Except for a little echo in the audio you'd not know it wasn't a "regular" setup.

[@BabyMakR]

We had a partial eclipse here in Queensland last year and My then 7 year old son and I made a pinhole cameras to look at it with. Complete with a box with cloth to go over the head. He enjoyed making the camera more than he did looking at the eclipse. I also borrowed a set of welding goggles from a friend but he prefered to look through his camera.

[@carltontweedle5724]

Being a ex merchant seamen I loved going out on deck and just look up. I now live in Scotland taking my dog a walk every night look up see bolt this winter has been bad for cloud, well mainly rain so miss the sky at night.

[@omargoldi1019]

I have a theory about the expansion of the universe What if at a black hole’s singularity, the infinite pressure that is akin to 1+2+3+4+5… = -1/12 therefore, adding negative pressure to the fabric of space increasing the rate of expansion everywhere. The more black holes are created throughout the universe, the lower, the overall pressure of the space time fabric and the faster the rate of inflation becomes. That’s why we have a rate of expansion that is accelerating instead of decelerating as a result of gravity.

[@sarasheppard8242]

4:42 speaking of the 2017 eclipse, I didn't have any eclipse glasses so when the sky went dark, I used the upper edge of the building I was at to peek at the event, pulling away the moment I noticed the brightness picking up. Probably not the recommended way, but it was definitely cool to see first-hand

[@fwd79]

12:00 To all non-UK viewers, Dr Becky means *Private* whenever the word *Commercial* is said.

[@PaulGAckerman]

I am so psyched for the eclipse! I live in a suburb of Buffalo, NY. My house is a quarter mile north of the centerline.

[@TheDaneofCoosCounty]

What about welding hoods?? Is there a shade of welding lens that’s safe to use?

[@RichardIresonMusician]

I'm yet to see a "proper" total solar eclipse. I was in Cornwall for the total eclipse in 1999 but was clouded out. However, the effect all that cloud and haze created is something I will never forget. We were looking out to sea and, as totality neared, an ominous looking veil of dark approached as the umbra sped towards us. It was awe inspiring and disturbing at the same time!

[@johnpublicprofile6261]

I was there as well, at a beach near Falmouth.

[@RichardIresonMusician]

@@johnpublicprofile6261 I was near St.Just.

[@robertfarrow4256]

OMG, Dr. Becky! YOU are the most energetic force on KZbin, Big Hugs.

[@ashraile]

I happen to be in Austin on the 8th of April. Great and uncanny timing, never seen a total solar eclipse before.

[@TheCervelo100]

Getting a code 500 error on your links to the Hubble and JWST observation links , great episode

[@rwarren58]

We have a billboard that is counting down till the eclipse. We get 45 % coverage where i live

[@adrianaspalinky1986]

I went to R.I. to see Chris Lintott talk yesterday 😁, he's Amazing

[@SebSN-y3f]

As always, absolutely informative and entertaining. Great!

[@billybaloney7769]

Come over to Cornwall Ontario Canada and you can hang out here to watch the Eclipse, have room for 3-4 peeps to stay over !!!

[@x15973]

Thank you for the Telescope links Doc! I love your raw enthusiasm for your chosen field!

[@blackthorne-rose]

YAY! Your enthusiasm is infectious!

[@keithrosenberg5486]

We are lucky! We live near Death Valley and we can easily drive to where it is dark out here!

[@ayushsinha7300]

“Let us talk about something cheerier now - like the fastest growing Supermassive Black Hole that we’ve ever found” - this is why I love this channel! The love she has for astronomy is so evident!

[@joen0411]

Is the growth rate typical for black holes that long ago or is it faster compared to other black holes at that time?

[@coryvaillancourt]

Dr.becky, I saw something from beachman, talking about how we may live within a black hole , kinda made sense

[@josephhavens3619]

decided to check what JWST is observing, and discovered that one of my own astronomy professor is the PI for the observations happening right at that moment!

[@jim.franklin]

Great News cast as usual Becky - loving the Bloopers -

[@Sol19891]

Tried buying the book on Audible but it's not available in the U.S.

[@samedwards6683]

Thanks so much for creating and sharing this educational and entertaining video.

[@jonny8688]

My growthrate is about 1cm of expansion every 3-14seconds untill a quite impressive size has been reached.

[@John.0z]

I am still quite pleased that I have positively identified Mercury in the sky. For year I had missed it, but one night it was in a row with Venus and the moon. 😁

[@RamBam3000]

The stats on that quasar are truly insane. A stellar mass per day? *headasplode*

[@Jake-yt8ss]

welding glass can also work for the eclipse or cds/dvds. I once watched a partial eclips throug my darkside of the moon cd :D

[@Jeeptalkshow]

Years ago there was a TRS-80 computer game, Asylum that if you looked up a piano would fall on you. A cautionary tale! ;)

[@lorienator]

Thank you so much for making these videos. Your channel was what got me interested in astronomy and no matter how much I read, your videos are what actually helps me to understand the crazy and amazing world (universe?) of astronomy and astrophysics 🙂

[@DrBecky]

I'm so glad!

[@michaelsnow4735]

I'd give my hind teeth to witness such a spectacular. I've only ever experienced one in my life 😢.

[@thirstfast1025]

Just got my JWST tee! Absolutely love it! Cheers Dr. Becky!

[@rickseiden1]

I live about 7 miles / 11 km Northwest from the dead center of the April 8th eclipse. I've been looking forward to this for MONTHS. I'm starting to get anxious, because I'm so scared that the weather here in Buffalo, NY won't cooperate.

[@1.4142]

Pons Brooks has been a treat

[@justincronkright5025]

I'm in South-Eastern Ontario, do we actually need the special specs if we're only looking during the 1-3 minutes of FULL ECLIPSE? Or is it simply safest to air on the side of caution.

[@michael.a.covington]

Filters are for the hours when the eclipse is partial. During totality you do not use filters (if you do, you don't see anything through them -- the total brightness is like the full moon).

[@justincronkright5025]

@@michael.a.covington Thanks thanks there, that is what I was anticipating... mentioning to others - mostly those who might get out only for a few min to watch (if it's not rubbish weather here). Wanted to make more sure. The rest of the event (time) can be enjoyed with them, but that minute or those specific minutes depending on where you are - should be viewable with the naked eye.

[@michael.a.covington]

Just don't look at the sun even for an instant when any part of it is NOT fully covered. People get injured by looking at thin sliver of uneclipsed sun. There's less total glare than the whole sun, and it doesn't hurt, but it still injures the eye!

[@mr.percyknits]

I live by Erie, PA and most businesses are closing for the Eclipse. I bought a lens for my camera to try and take pictures. Hopefully it will be sunny!

[@JavSusLar]

1:46 at greatest elongation, the right angle is at the inner planet, not at the sun.

[@kindlin]

Ah, true. Good point.

[@zacrintoul]

I mean technically it would be half way between, when the two objects are equidistance from earth. That gives you the largest angle between them.

[@kindlin]

@@zacrintoul What do you mean by equidistant? As they are in separate orbits, their distances to the sun will never be equal. And you can't be halfway between something that can't happen. No, Jav is correct.

[@zacrintoul]

@@kindlin I am wrong, but this is what I was thinking. Equidistant was equidistance from earth. Aka forming an isosceles triangle with earth. Which mathematically would have the greatest angle if we assume the distance between the two legs... (Which in our case is the orbital distance of the planet) is the same in all three scenarios.

[@zacrintoul]

@@kindlinMy problem is I ignored the fact that earth sun distance is fixed. So in reality the greatest angle will be when earth to planet alignment is tangential to the orbit. (Easy to understand if you draw the earth the sun and a planet with a circular orbit and are given a straight edge) Aka the angle between earth planet and sun make a 90 deg angle as you pointed out correctly. Only if there were two equal mass bodies orbiting each other (double inner stars in a system) would my initial statement be correct.

[@AMVH2012]

I'm excited, thank you for putting up that time and date website information. I thought I was going to have to go out to the middle of nowhere but I just have to go to the other side of town.

[@adamwallace9790]

Whilst the arguments against manned space travel make sense (cost, risk etc), there is that intangible element that could inspire future generations of scientists and engineers. Plus, some of us would just like to see mankind do something "big". In a world full of wars, corruption, incompetence etc it would be nice to see a big manned exploration step, safe and cost efficient or not.

[@Reinforce_Zwei]

Not to mention that moon-based manufacturing via a manned moonbase would lower the cost or complexity of many proposed missions as the weight limits for launch would largely be eliminated aside from specialist hardware and crew.

[@saab0009]

Love and appreciate your work, Dr. Becky, thank you so much 💫

[@Dan-nj8du]

Re: SMBH, Love it when something is discovered that gets you this excited. Thanks for bringing the info to us at a level we understand. 'May you live in interesting times...'

[@GlassDeviant]

Hey Dr. Becky, can you do a bit about Shakti and Shiva, the "streams" of stars being touted as the "ancient building blocks" of the Milky Way?

[@mawkernewek]

20:51 can't you just do a crowdfunder to buy the Chandra telescope?

[@EShirako]

Science is wonderful, and Dr. Becky's enthusiasm for the topic is almost contagious...but in case she wondered, ( 32:04 ) at least *I* was very pleased to get to see how cheerful she was with her snow pants, and its color and design...she's quite cheerful, and while Science is both wonderful and important, just seeing her "I have to show everyone this lovely pair of sage-minty-green snow pants, they're so amazing!" cheer is pleasing in its own right. Please continue being enthusiastic AND 'cute about it'! It at least helps people like me, for example, who can use a bit more cheer in their day. :)

[@tiagotiagot]

Could Chandra be donated or sold to some other space agency or something instead of being shut down and becoming space junk? Or is there some sort of infra-structure on the ground that is tied to it in some way, and it's not just a matter of sending someone the radio-passwords or whatever?

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

I am SO excited to see another totality eclipse!! I fell in love with totality when I saw it back in 2017! And I'll be damned if I let the fact that I was with my ex that time steal my joy at seeing another one! One more memory built without him. 😉😁 5:10 Note: if you can get a #10 glass for a welding helmet or goggles - AND have the helmet or goggles, to stay safe - you can likely watch the eclipse for around 30 seconds at a time. Note: I am NOT an expert, but I DID do this for a partial eclipse several years ago. Thank you for what you do, Dr. Becky. ❤❤

[@brittoncooper1251]

I'll be in far SE Oklahoma for the eclipse. Have taken images with my telescope of several partials, but never had the opportunity to make it to a total. Hoping for clear skies!

[@l.stewarthearl1465]

When I was a child, we used to look at sunspots with a method I'd never heard of before. We simply bought a roll of film (remember actual film?). Unrolled the film and looked through the exposed film at the sun. It didn't look particularly bright, but the sunspots were obvious. Probably will work with solar eclipses as well.

[@samipickard589]

I'm so excited for the eclipse. I've been planning my trip for a year now. I bought several pair of solar glasses six months ago and made a homemade solar filter for my telescope. I'm taking my father with me too. It's about an 18 hour drive and I hope the weather cooperates! I also hope my photos will turn out okay!

[@KoRntech]

4:10 im excited, last time i had to drive three states in 2017, this time I just need to walk outside my home, BUT its Ohio and lake effect clouds have a knack of showing up at the worst time.