1 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:10,680 Speaker 1: Hey, Daniel, hard things. Oh you know, I'm down in 2 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: Irvine where nothing very exciting ever happens. Is there interesting 3 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:18,280 Speaker 1: stuff happening in your neighborhood? Yeah, everything's good in my neighborhood. 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:20,960 Speaker 1: I like my town, but I bet anything is better 5 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: than an academic suburb where you live. Well, I imagine 6 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: you must have some pretty cool neighbors, you know, like 7 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: you have that one house that has like a million 8 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:32,120 Speaker 1: cactuses out front, or another one where the curtains are 9 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 1: always drawn and the lights are on all night long. 10 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: There is a weird house on our street, I have 11 00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:39,520 Speaker 1: to say, a lot of strange noises. Oh yeah, what's 12 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,159 Speaker 1: so weird about it? My kids living in oh is 13 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:44,520 Speaker 1: that the one with an accentric cartoonist who never leaves 14 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: the house. I wouldn't know that one sometimes spotted eating 15 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,400 Speaker 1: cereal and his pajamas at six pm, and also nine 16 00:00:51,400 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: pm and also three pm. Yea, I am rhemmy cartoonists 17 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:13,479 Speaker 1: and the co author of Frequently Asked Questions about the Universe. Hi, 18 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: I'm Daniel. I'm a particle of physicist and a professor 19 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:18,160 Speaker 1: at u C Irvine, and I think it's been more 20 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:20,319 Speaker 1: than a decade since I've had a bowl of cereal 21 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:22,479 Speaker 1: more than a decade. I feel so bad for you. 22 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:25,400 Speaker 1: Why do you deprive yourself of one of life's simplest 23 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:28,759 Speaker 1: and tastiest pleasures. Well, you know, I don't need breakfast anymore, 24 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: and that's typically the time that normal humans eat cereal. 25 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:34,960 Speaker 1: Though I know you don't feel bound by those constraints. 26 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:37,200 Speaker 1: I do not feel bound by time zones now, So 27 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:40,120 Speaker 1: always breakfast time somewhere in the world. If you just 28 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 1: think globally, you know, if you expand your mind a 29 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: little bit, so you get to travel the world and 30 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: your own kitchen, you're like, Oh, I'm having breakfast in Japan, 31 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:50,560 Speaker 1: or oh I'm having breakfast in Venezuela. Yeah, there's always 32 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: somebody having breakfast right now. Somebody's having breakfast no matter 33 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:56,240 Speaker 1: what time you're listening, somebody is probably eating a bowl 34 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: of cereal right now as they listen to this podcast. Yeah, crunch, crunch, crunch, 35 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: or not. If it's soggy. I guess some people like 36 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: it saggy. I don't know. We have a Danish exchange 37 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: student living with us this year, and he tells me 38 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: that in Denmark they don't eat their own meal cooked 39 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: they eat just raw oats with milk on them. M. Yeah, 40 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:15,800 Speaker 1: don't they call like musically? I think they call that 41 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: horse food over here? Did you just insult all Danish people? 42 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: If you think being compared to a horse as an insult, 43 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:24,799 Speaker 1: and I think you just insulted horses. I think you're 44 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: insulting the dictionary right now. I think I have to 45 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: say nay to that one. But welcome to our podcast 46 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe, a production of I 47 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,079 Speaker 1: Heart Radio in which we try not to spend too 48 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: much time digressing about horses and cereal and died into 49 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:43,079 Speaker 1: the mysteries of the universe, because no matter what you're 50 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: putting in your mouth, there are strange things going into 51 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,519 Speaker 1: your brain. All of these signals from photons traveling across 52 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:52,679 Speaker 1: the universe telling us that there are weird things happening 53 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: out there, deep deep in the skies. Things blowing up, things, exploding, things, collapsing, 54 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:01,080 Speaker 1: things swirling around, things glowing ways that we do not 55 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: quite understand. On this podcast, we try to zoom you 56 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: forward the very edge of human knowledge so you can 57 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:09,080 Speaker 1: understand all of the weird stuff that's out there in 58 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:11,840 Speaker 1: the universe. As because it is a weird universe, and 59 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:13,960 Speaker 1: we love to go out there, galloping out there to 60 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:16,840 Speaker 1: explore the things in it and trot along as we 61 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:20,079 Speaker 1: discover amazing secrets about the universe and talk about them 62 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: in this podcast until our voices are course. Wow, you 63 00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:28,919 Speaker 1: get three stars for all those horse puns in one 64 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:31,400 Speaker 1: sentence to like that, that's really impressive. Yeah, well, how 65 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:35,640 Speaker 1: is your knowledge of horse speeds? Does it extend beyond galloping, trotting, 66 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:40,800 Speaker 1: and walking. Yes, there's also cantering, I think, and that's 67 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: my main knowledge of it. I think loping is a 68 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: thing also, isn't it. I don't know. You have a 69 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 1: daughter who's an expert in horses, right, that's right. I 70 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,480 Speaker 1: hear her talking about loping and cantering and trotting. She 71 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: doesn't horse around. She's quite serious about it, just as 72 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 1: we are very serious about staying on topic on this podcast. 73 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: We try to rein in the puns. That's right, because 74 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: I guess this is a podcast about physics. Although horses 75 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: technically also follow the laws of physics. I'm not sure 76 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: how much that's been tested. One day we should do 77 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 1: an episode about the physics of horses. I'm sure we'll 78 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: have a nice audience there with thirteen year old girls. 79 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: But it is a pretty interesting universe full of mysteries, 80 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:17,919 Speaker 1: even today where people think that maybe science has everything 81 00:04:17,960 --> 00:04:20,719 Speaker 1: figured out, but actually there are still interesting and amazing 82 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:24,599 Speaker 1: and perplexing mysteries out there for us to solve. And 83 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 1: some of those are very accessible. If you are out 84 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:29,960 Speaker 1: camping or just out walking late at night and you 85 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:32,520 Speaker 1: turn your head up towards the night skies, you can 86 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:36,480 Speaker 1: see the twinkling light that comes from huge flaming balls 87 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 1: of plasma that are zillions of miles away. It's incredible 88 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 1: that the photons make their way so far across enormous 89 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:46,839 Speaker 1: vast reaches of transparent space to hit your eyeballs. And 90 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 1: people have been looking up at those stars and wondering 91 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 1: what they are and how they work for thousands of years, 92 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: maybe for hundreds of thousands of years, for at least 93 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:56,600 Speaker 1: as long as people have been looking up at the 94 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,359 Speaker 1: skies and asking questions. And we've made a lot of 95 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 1: progress and understanding what those things are and how far 96 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:05,479 Speaker 1: away they are, and how they work and what powers them, 97 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:08,680 Speaker 1: and yet important questions still remain. That's right. We have 98 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:12,880 Speaker 1: an amazing view of the entire universe, all forty billion 99 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: light years wide of it, full of trallians of stars, 100 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: and that's one of the main things we see when 101 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:20,719 Speaker 1: we look out into the universe stars and they bring 102 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:23,400 Speaker 1: information about what kind of star they are, what kind 103 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 1: of planets they have around them, and how the whole 104 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: universe is arranged. One of the coolest things about these 105 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: hot stars is that they tell us something about the 106 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:34,920 Speaker 1: story of our neighborhood. They contain so many clues about 107 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:37,800 Speaker 1: what has happened in the long, deep history of the 108 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: universe before we started paying attention, before we started looking 109 00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:44,160 Speaker 1: out into the cosmos and noticing things. We do know 110 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:46,680 Speaker 1: that the universe is very, very old, just as the 111 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:50,040 Speaker 1: ground under our feet is old. And by asking questions 112 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:52,279 Speaker 1: about how the Earth got to look this way or 113 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: how stars got to glow in these particular patterns, we 114 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,040 Speaker 1: can start to understand how they form and understand the 115 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:02,479 Speaker 1: story of our own universe, a context of our very lives, yeah, 116 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 1: including how our star form. Because I guess when you 117 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,080 Speaker 1: look out into the university, Daniel, it sort of looks 118 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: like a bunch of pinpoints. All the stars look the 119 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:11,400 Speaker 1: same from our point of view, but actually stars are 120 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:14,920 Speaker 1: really diverse. They go in all kinds of sizes and colors, right, 121 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:18,480 Speaker 1: and temperatures, absolutely, and they tend to resist our efforts 122 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:21,479 Speaker 1: to categorize them. The human tendency is to put things 123 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:23,880 Speaker 1: in groups and say, oh, this is this kind of thing, 124 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: this is that kind of thing. But the history of 125 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:30,680 Speaker 1: astronomy and cosmology is discovering maybe those definitions don't quite work. 126 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:33,240 Speaker 1: There's always a fuzzy thing right at the boundary that's like, 127 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 1: I'm kind of like this one. I'm kind of like 128 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,479 Speaker 1: that one. Are break all the rules that you thought 129 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:40,160 Speaker 1: were true about stars or planets. Just look at our 130 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: solar system. You know, there's a sun, there's planets, but 131 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 1: then there are dwarf planets, and then there are asteroids 132 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:47,840 Speaker 1: and their comets, and there's things called centaurs. It's right 133 00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:50,480 Speaker 1: at the edge between asteroids and comets. It's a whole 134 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: huge spectrum of craziness out there. And every time we 135 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:55,920 Speaker 1: look deep and carefully into the universe, we always find 136 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 1: something out there that surprises us, that doesn't fall neatly 137 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,160 Speaker 1: into any of the categories. Yeah, and that happens even 138 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: with stars. We have all these categories for stars. We 139 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:08,360 Speaker 1: know pretty well what happens to stars as they grow older, 140 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 1: as they get bigger, what kinds of stars and depending 141 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 1: on how big they started. Stars are pretty well studied, 142 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 1: but there are still mysteries about stars the scientists are 143 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: wondering about. That's right. At the same time, we do 144 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:21,080 Speaker 1: know a lot about stars, and we have looked at 145 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:23,680 Speaker 1: a lot of them and understood many things, there are 146 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,600 Speaker 1: basic questions about them. We still don't understand our own son, 147 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: for example, even though it's nearby and very bright and 148 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: fairly accessible, resists our understanding. We still don't really understand 149 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: how it generates its incredible magnetic field, and why it 150 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: flips every eleven years, and why it has so many 151 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:43,400 Speaker 1: weird cycles, and why it sometimes spits out enormous quantities 152 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:46,360 Speaker 1: of plasma in our direction. So the sort of basic 153 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:49,080 Speaker 1: component of the universe, stars, the thing that light up 154 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: the universe and make it visible, are something we still 155 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:54,120 Speaker 1: have to understand more deeply. Did you say our son 156 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 1: is spitting at us? That's not very nice in the 157 00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: same way the cloud spit at us. Absolutely, the Sun 158 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:01,679 Speaker 1: causes so older weather. You know, it has a solar 159 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:04,600 Speaker 1: wind made of particles that zoom out super high speeds, 160 00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:08,040 Speaker 1: and sometimes the solar weather gets stormy and creates these 161 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:10,960 Speaker 1: coronal mass ejections. Yes, so we're still trying to even 162 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: understand our star here in our Solar system. But there 163 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 1: are also really extra odd stars out there in space, 164 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: out there in the universe exactly. Not all stars out 165 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:22,960 Speaker 1: there are like our sun, as you said. They're ones 166 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:25,040 Speaker 1: that are much bigger, some that are much hotter, some 167 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 1: of that are more magnetic, some that spin faster or slower, 168 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 1: and then there are some that seem to be impossible. 169 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: So to day on the podcast will be tackling the 170 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:41,960 Speaker 1: question what's going on which she builds ki Star. I 171 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: was nervous about pronouncing that. How many letters are on 172 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: this twelve letters, only one fowl. Yeah, it's a pretty 173 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:50,599 Speaker 1: amazing name. I love the way it's spelled. It's p 174 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 1: r z y b l y s k I. So yeah, 175 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:57,480 Speaker 1: if you don't count wise, then it's all consonants and 176 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:00,040 Speaker 1: then a vowel at the end. It feels like a 177 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:04,160 Speaker 1: classic Superman villain Mr Mix bit look at all, but 178 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 1: you just make that up. It's classic Superman villas like Lex, 179 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 1: Luthor and Bizarro, And then there's Mr Look, which is 180 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:14,439 Speaker 1: a huge name also without any vols. But this one 181 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:16,640 Speaker 1: about the star does have at least one vowel. It 182 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 1: certainly does. And it's got a silent z in it. 183 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 1: I mean, it's got a Z in the name, but 184 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:23,000 Speaker 1: you say it, push Bilski starts, you don't ever say 185 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:24,839 Speaker 1: a Z sound to it. I feel like it has 186 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:29,160 Speaker 1: a silent z, a sneaky y steal the z. Also, 187 00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:32,720 Speaker 1: I think part of it comes from transliteration from Polish. 188 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:34,720 Speaker 1: You know, Polish has a bunch of consonants that we 189 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:36,840 Speaker 1: just don't have. Like there's an L with a line 190 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:40,760 Speaker 1: through it that sounds very different from our L. Maybe 191 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:42,840 Speaker 1: that's a topic for a different podcast. But this is 192 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:45,559 Speaker 1: an interesting start out there in the universe because it's 193 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:48,200 Speaker 1: still kind of a mystery to physicists. Yeah, it's not 194 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:50,800 Speaker 1: one that we understand. It's doing things that we think 195 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:53,920 Speaker 1: are impossible, and it's generated a lot of controversy and 196 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:59,240 Speaker 1: a lot of really out there explanations involving potentially aliens. Yeah, 197 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:01,080 Speaker 1: and this is not just about its name. It's more 198 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 1: about its physics. So it's usually we were wondering how 199 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:06,480 Speaker 1: many people out there had heard of this star and 200 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:10,360 Speaker 1: maybe even had heard of its deep mysteries. So thank 201 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,120 Speaker 1: you very much to everybody who participates in these questions. 202 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:15,600 Speaker 1: If you'd like to hear your voice on the podcast, 203 00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 1: please don't be shy. Right to us two questions at 204 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:20,439 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge dot com to think about it for 205 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:23,760 Speaker 1: a second. Do you know what's going on with Shibilski 206 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:33,720 Speaker 1: Star with Tustatch? Maybe it's going to put another because 207 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:36,640 Speaker 1: of the name. I don't know what Prizk Star is, 208 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: so I can't even begin to him agine what's going 209 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:46,559 Speaker 1: on with it. What's going on with Posiabilisky's Star? I 210 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:50,959 Speaker 1: don't know which star is that? And I'm also don't 211 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:54,079 Speaker 1: know how to pronounce that name, despite the fact that 212 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:58,679 Speaker 1: my wife is Polish. What is this? This sounds like 213 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:07,120 Speaker 1: a guy from football team? Uh, probably Chicago Bears. I 214 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:11,559 Speaker 1: don't know. Prison Bilsky Star is a star where the 215 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:15,040 Speaker 1: gravitational pressure is so great that all the vowels have 216 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:18,079 Speaker 1: been forced out and it is made up of almost 217 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:21,719 Speaker 1: nothing but consonants. Alright, not a lot of name recognition. 218 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:23,320 Speaker 1: I like the person who said it sounds like a 219 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:26,840 Speaker 1: Chicago Bears football player. Maybe it is made to long 220 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:30,400 Speaker 1: lost descendant of the original billy. Yeah, maybe he's a 221 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: star in his local high school football team. Now, yeah, 222 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:35,920 Speaker 1: maybe he's one of those physicists m m. Or maybe 223 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:38,400 Speaker 1: he's a star horseback rider. To bring it all in 224 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:40,640 Speaker 1: a full circle. Oh my goodness. But not a lot 225 00:11:40,679 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: of people seem to have heard of this start. I 226 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:44,960 Speaker 1: guess it's not dominating the headline. Yeah, I was surprised. 227 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:47,440 Speaker 1: I thought it should be more famous. And it's actually 228 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:50,000 Speaker 1: not as well known as it should be in scientific 229 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:53,319 Speaker 1: circles either, because when he published his paper, originally the 230 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:57,120 Speaker 1: journal misspelled his name, so people who went searching for 231 00:11:57,200 --> 00:11:59,960 Speaker 1: this paper weren't able to find it. Wait, they miss 232 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:03,120 Speaker 1: spilled his name. How is that possible? I mean there 233 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:05,559 Speaker 1: are so many z s wise and lack of vowels 234 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:08,840 Speaker 1: in it. Yes, this, so you know, things were being 235 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:11,880 Speaker 1: typed manually and somebody swapped a couple of letters, and 236 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:14,080 Speaker 1: so for a long time it was harder to find 237 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:16,679 Speaker 1: this paper than it should have been. I guess it's 238 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:18,679 Speaker 1: not a very catchy name, you know. Maybe that's a 239 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:21,840 Speaker 1: lesson if you do discover something one day, Daniel, maybe 240 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:24,760 Speaker 1: using easy to remember name or easy to spell at 241 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:27,280 Speaker 1: least so people can google it, right, yeah, I suppose. 242 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:29,720 Speaker 1: You know, my family was Polish and they changed their name. 243 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:31,920 Speaker 1: It used to be Golschewski on my mother's side, and 244 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:34,000 Speaker 1: they changed it to Gail, just to make it easier 245 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:38,120 Speaker 1: to spell and explain. Well, it's an interesting star because 246 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:40,160 Speaker 1: there are still a lot of big mysteries about it, 247 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:43,240 Speaker 1: and one of those mysteries might even lead us to 248 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:45,520 Speaker 1: believe there are aliens out there in the universe. That's 249 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:47,800 Speaker 1: a big claim. Yeah, this is a really fun start. 250 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:50,719 Speaker 1: You're not horsing around here, No, I'm trotting out all 251 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:53,080 Speaker 1: the craziest ideas that are out there. Well, you better 252 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:55,559 Speaker 1: pointing up with some interesting facts here, Daniel, and explain 253 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 1: it to us. Well, my favorite thing about this whole 254 00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:00,320 Speaker 1: topic is just that we're trying to understand all of 255 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:02,680 Speaker 1: the stars. You know, it's a basic idea in physics, 256 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:04,679 Speaker 1: like let's build a model for what we think is 257 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 1: happening inside stars, and then let's compare it to what's 258 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 1: out there. And every time you do that, you always 259 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,680 Speaker 1: find an outlier. You find something which breaks your model 260 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:15,959 Speaker 1: that says there's something else going on that you don't understand. 261 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,720 Speaker 1: And that's the whole process of physics. Right, develop a 262 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:21,240 Speaker 1: simplified view of the universe in our minds and try 263 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 1: to use it to describe what we see outside of 264 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: our skulls. And if we were right the first time, 265 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:28,440 Speaker 1: it wouldn't be very exciting. So it's always really fun 266 00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:32,600 Speaker 1: to see something unexplained, something which makes us stretch our models. 267 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:34,760 Speaker 1: And this one is super exciting because we don't really 268 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: even know how to stretch our models to describe it. Yeah, 269 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:41,040 Speaker 1: so maybe step us through this, Daniel, What is Shebilsky Star? 270 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:43,959 Speaker 1: Why is it weird? So this is a star discovered 271 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:48,120 Speaker 1: in nine by Anthony Shebilski, and it's weird in a 272 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:51,000 Speaker 1: couple of ways. First, it's weird because it's both hot 273 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:54,400 Speaker 1: and magnetic, which is unusual. And then it's also weird 274 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 1: because it has some very strange, very unusual elements in 275 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:00,719 Speaker 1: it that we don't understand. How they out there? M 276 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:02,679 Speaker 1: What do you mean? Well, first let's talk about how 277 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:06,080 Speaker 1: it's hot and magnetic. So stars, of course are all hot, right, 278 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:08,040 Speaker 1: they're all out there in space. They have enough mass 279 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:11,400 Speaker 1: to ignite fusion at their cores and to give off light. 280 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:13,320 Speaker 1: That's how we know they're out there. Otherwise it would 281 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:16,079 Speaker 1: be like failed stars, and just like big jupiters that 282 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:18,720 Speaker 1: didn't quite have enough pressure, they did the temperature going 283 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:21,560 Speaker 1: for fusion. But the bigger stars are hotter, and they 284 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:24,440 Speaker 1: tend to glow at different temperatures. So we classify stars 285 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:26,840 Speaker 1: based on their temperature according to the light that we 286 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:30,120 Speaker 1: get from them. Hotter things tend to glow and higher frequencies, 287 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:32,960 Speaker 1: and cooler things tend to glow in lower frequencies in 288 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:36,760 Speaker 1: longer wavelengths. So the whole spectrum of different temperature stars 289 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: out there from sort of cooler too hot, although all 290 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:42,680 Speaker 1: of them are uncomfortably hot on our standards, right, And 291 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:45,320 Speaker 1: it's kind of interesting that the blue stars are the 292 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:48,320 Speaker 1: ones that are hotter, but the red stars are actually cooler, right, 293 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:51,120 Speaker 1: A little unintuitive to meet. Blue is more intense. It's 294 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:53,840 Speaker 1: like the ultra violet. But I guess here on Earth 295 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,880 Speaker 1: we usually use you know, blue for cold and red 296 00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:59,800 Speaker 1: for hot. Oh, I guess that's true. Yeah, like icy blue, 297 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:02,160 Speaker 1: but it's the opposite. And I guess what the term 298 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:04,600 Speaker 1: is the temperature of a star. Well, it's mostly just 299 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:07,680 Speaker 1: the mass. As you have more mass, you have more gravity, 300 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:11,520 Speaker 1: which makes more pressure at the core, which increases the temperature, 301 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:14,800 Speaker 1: and that temperature drives fusion. The higher the temperature, the 302 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:18,080 Speaker 1: more effective fusion is and it burns faster. So really 303 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:21,560 Speaker 1: big stars are hotter in their core, which give off 304 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:24,240 Speaker 1: more blue light. And they also don't last very long, 305 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:26,960 Speaker 1: so blue stars tend to be young stars, whereas red 306 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:30,320 Speaker 1: stars can last much much longer because they burn cooler, 307 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:32,520 Speaker 1: so it takes them longer to burn through their fuel. 308 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 1: They're cooler and I guess not it's excited and they 309 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 1: don't feel loud like the hot stars. It's also an 310 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:42,160 Speaker 1: interesting connection between how hot stars are and their magnetic field, 311 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:45,920 Speaker 1: which also is connected to how fast they spin. And 312 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:49,800 Speaker 1: we don't really understand exactly how magnetic fields are made 313 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,640 Speaker 1: inside all of stars. We think it has to do 314 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:55,520 Speaker 1: with like currents of plasma. Most of the star is 315 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:57,600 Speaker 1: a big ball of plasma, but we think that in 316 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: cooler stars are probably current of plasma, like there's convection, 317 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:04,360 Speaker 1: you know, layers of plasma moving this way and then 318 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:07,840 Speaker 1: sinking and then rising, and that those spinning currents can 319 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 1: generate magnetic fields. Magnetic fields typically come from moving charges. 320 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:15,480 Speaker 1: Charges moving in a circle, for example, will generate a 321 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:18,440 Speaker 1: magnetic field. If you have electricity moving in a circle 322 00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:20,960 Speaker 1: on Earth, you can generate a magnetic field. We think 323 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,480 Speaker 1: the same thing is happening inside the Earth, and probably 324 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:26,880 Speaker 1: the same thing is happening inside the Sun and inside 325 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:31,080 Speaker 1: cooler stars. Yeah, like our Sun is filled with turmoil, right, Like, 326 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: it's got all kinds of things flowing and churning inside 327 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 1: of it. And in fact, it's magnetic field is flipped 328 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:39,920 Speaker 1: a few times, right, Yeah, it actually flips every eleven years, 329 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:43,120 Speaker 1: which is kind of bonkers. The Earth's magnetic field flips also, 330 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:45,560 Speaker 1: but it's much less predictable, and it flips on much 331 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 1: longer time scales, hundreds of thousands of years or millions 332 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: of years. We don't even really understand it. Sun's magnetic 333 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:55,320 Speaker 1: field flips very regularly every eleven years, and it's not 334 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:57,920 Speaker 1: something that we understand. We think again, it comes from 335 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:01,160 Speaker 1: how these plasma currents are flowing inside the Sun. But 336 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:03,000 Speaker 1: it's not easy to see. It's easy to see the 337 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:05,919 Speaker 1: outside of the Sun, but to penetry deeper into the 338 00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:08,920 Speaker 1: Sun and see what's going on inside it is quite tricky, right. 339 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,399 Speaker 1: I guess it kind of depends on the overall spin 340 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:14,160 Speaker 1: of the stuff inside the Sun, right, Like, everything sort 341 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:18,439 Speaker 1: of spinning one direction clockwise than the overall magnetic fields. 342 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:20,399 Speaker 1: You can point one way, but if the things inside 343 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:22,560 Speaker 1: of it are turning the other way, then the overall 344 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:24,919 Speaker 1: magnetic field would flip right. Yeah, And so for the 345 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:27,960 Speaker 1: field to flip, that means things have to like change direction. 346 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:31,560 Speaker 1: Imagine some like huge pot of sauce that's bubbling and 347 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:34,600 Speaker 1: like some bubble like comes up and flips everything around 348 00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:37,959 Speaker 1: every eleven years. It's a very regular process. But this 349 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: is different than the sun spinning because the Sun is 350 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:41,600 Speaker 1: also spinning at the same time. Yeah, the Sun is 351 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:43,720 Speaker 1: spinning at the same time, and it's still spinning the 352 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:47,040 Speaker 1: same direction. It's always been spinning. Now. Something that's interesting 353 00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:50,240 Speaker 1: is that stars that are hotter tend to not have 354 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,600 Speaker 1: as strong magnetic fields as stars that are cooler. Started 355 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:56,600 Speaker 1: are hotter have more fusion happening, and they're hotter inside, 356 00:17:56,600 --> 00:18:00,639 Speaker 1: and the energy transfer tends to be more radiative than convective. 357 00:18:00,760 --> 00:18:04,600 Speaker 1: Instead of like sheets of plasma current moving against each other, 358 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:08,160 Speaker 1: the energy transfer tends to be more through photons passing 359 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:10,680 Speaker 1: that energy. It's radiative energy, and so it's just sort 360 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:14,040 Speaker 1: of like more turbulent and less organized, and so the 361 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:16,880 Speaker 1: theory is that that tends to give weaker magnetic fields 362 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:19,520 Speaker 1: in the hotter stars than in the cooler stars. Do 363 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:21,399 Speaker 1: we know that for sure or is that just kind 364 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:24,199 Speaker 1: of based on how we think the stars work or 365 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:27,000 Speaker 1: or simulations. We definitely do not know that for sure. 366 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:31,000 Speaker 1: And also that's a very simplified picture. Even this classification 367 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:34,119 Speaker 1: of stars by temperature and their magnetic fields excludes a 368 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:37,080 Speaker 1: lot of examples that break these rules. And we don't 369 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:40,240 Speaker 1: understand turbulence well enough, Like we can't even model turbulence 370 00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:43,560 Speaker 1: like in sewer systems. We have tried, but it's a 371 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:47,560 Speaker 1: chaotic process. You know, turbulence is very difficult. One little 372 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:50,399 Speaker 1: ripple here or there can really change the way you know, 373 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:53,639 Speaker 1: your sewer system functions. So if everybody's flushing the toilet 374 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:56,760 Speaker 1: at the wrong time, you can get unpredictable results. You 375 00:18:56,840 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: gotta throw it all in the toilet. And so turbulence 376 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,920 Speaker 1: is something that's always been a challenge to model scientifically, 377 00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:03,560 Speaker 1: and lots of people are working on that. You know, 378 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:06,399 Speaker 1: air turbulence, water turbulence. It's a hard problem. And now 379 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:09,720 Speaker 1: you're talking about a star sized turbulence and everything has 380 00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:12,040 Speaker 1: electric charges on it, so it's not just like forces 381 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:15,600 Speaker 1: of compression, but there's also the magnetic fields and electrical fields. 382 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:19,000 Speaker 1: It's a really complicated problem. We can't control plasmas in 383 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:21,840 Speaker 1: tocomax here on Earth for that reason, because they tend 384 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:24,679 Speaker 1: to go unstable. We lose control them, and our simulations 385 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:26,879 Speaker 1: are not great at predicting how that happens. We had 386 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:29,719 Speaker 1: a better understanding of it, we could probably solve fusion, right, 387 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,400 Speaker 1: we could reverse engineer exactly how to keep a plasma 388 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:34,960 Speaker 1: from getting too turbulent. But we don't understand it. But 389 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:38,240 Speaker 1: we do see this trend that hotter stars tend to 390 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:40,960 Speaker 1: be less magnetic, and we think it might be because 391 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 1: it's just more chaos going on inside the star. You 392 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:46,280 Speaker 1: don't have these organized tubes of plasma because things are 393 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:48,400 Speaker 1: too hot for that. Right. There may be a little 394 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 1: too explosive in the middle for things to kind of 395 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:55,040 Speaker 1: flow around. They're just too busy getting exploded. I guess, yeah, exactly. 396 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:58,159 Speaker 1: There's always fresh photons coming out from the interior breaking 397 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 1: things up, and so that will We think that's trend, right, 398 00:20:01,119 --> 00:20:03,240 Speaker 1: although we can measure I mean, we had our sun, 399 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:05,360 Speaker 1: which is one data point, but the rest we think 400 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:08,160 Speaker 1: it's from the theories and simulations. Well, we can measure 401 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:11,359 Speaker 1: the temperature stars, and we can also measure their magnetic fields. 402 00:20:11,359 --> 00:20:14,080 Speaker 1: So we've measure the magnetic fields of other stars, not 403 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:16,640 Speaker 1: just our own, and we do see these kinds of trends. 404 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:19,240 Speaker 1: You can measure the magnetic fields of other stars by 405 00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:22,680 Speaker 1: seeing the effect of the magnetic field on the radiation 406 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:25,480 Speaker 1: from that star. Like if there's a magnetic field, then 407 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:28,640 Speaker 1: atoms tend to have different lines of excitation. The light 408 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,439 Speaker 1: that we get from other stars comes from eating the 409 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:34,159 Speaker 1: outer layers of the star and then having them glow 410 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:36,840 Speaker 1: based on that temperature. And atoms can only glow at 411 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,719 Speaker 1: certain wavelengths due to their quantum mechanical nature, and if 412 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:42,760 Speaker 1: there's a strong magnetic field, some of those wavelengths gets split, 413 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:44,720 Speaker 1: like the spin up and the spin down version of 414 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,800 Speaker 1: the electron glow, it's slightly different wavelengths. So we can 415 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:50,919 Speaker 1: measure the magnetic fields by seeing the small effects on 416 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:53,719 Speaker 1: those wavelengths of the glow of the star. So we 417 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:58,080 Speaker 1: can measure the magnetic fields of other stars. Interesting, Okay, Well, 418 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:02,439 Speaker 1: then it seems like shability are has a weird combination 419 00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:05,360 Speaker 1: of both heat and a magnetic field. And so let's 420 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:08,359 Speaker 1: get into that mystery. But first let's take a quick break. 421 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 1: All right, we're talking about the mysteries of Sabilsky Star. 422 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:26,680 Speaker 1: Where is the star Daniel? Is it really far away 423 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:28,440 Speaker 1: from us or is it closed by? It's about three 424 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:31,840 Speaker 1: seventy light years away, so it's not super close, but 425 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,280 Speaker 1: it's not super far. You definitely can't go there on 426 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:37,160 Speaker 1: a day trip. And it's in our Milky Way galaxy, right, Yeah, 427 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:38,920 Speaker 1: Almost all the stars that we can study in any 428 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 1: detail are in the Milky Way because other galaxies are 429 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:44,520 Speaker 1: just so far away millions of light years away, that 430 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:47,240 Speaker 1: the stars are much dimmer and it's harder to resolve 431 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:50,200 Speaker 1: individual stars. And can you see this star in the 432 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:53,320 Speaker 1: night sky or do you need like a super good telescope. 433 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:55,959 Speaker 1: It's in the constellation of Centauris, so yeah, you can 434 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:57,560 Speaker 1: look up in the night sky and see it, especially 435 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:00,640 Speaker 1: if you're in the Southern hemisphere, especially or only you're 436 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:02,879 Speaker 1: in the Southern hemisphere. Yeah, I don't know. It's a 437 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:06,200 Speaker 1: bright constellation in the southern sky. I'm not sure exactly 438 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:08,840 Speaker 1: where it's visible. All right, Well, there is a big 439 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:11,639 Speaker 1: mystery about this star, enough that people have in papers 440 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:13,639 Speaker 1: about this mystery. Right, Yeah, there are a couple of 441 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:16,160 Speaker 1: exciting mysteries. One is one we were just talking about, 442 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:18,919 Speaker 1: which is this combination of the star's temperature and its 443 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:21,840 Speaker 1: magnetic field. We were saying that hot stars tend to 444 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:24,640 Speaker 1: not have a very strong magnetic field. But Shebilsky Star 445 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:27,600 Speaker 1: is a very hot star. It's called an A star, 446 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:29,840 Speaker 1: which means it's one of the hotter stars that are 447 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:33,720 Speaker 1: out there are stars. A G star is arbitrary classification. 448 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:35,720 Speaker 1: What we're not even on the B list. We're on 449 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:39,680 Speaker 1: the G list. We're cool, man, We're not hot. We're 450 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,960 Speaker 1: so uncool. We're cool is everything? Yeah, exactly. Well, No, 451 00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:44,960 Speaker 1: our star is not one of the hotter stars or 452 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:47,240 Speaker 1: the bigger stars. It's kind of a boring star in 453 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:50,200 Speaker 1: the Solar system. But Shebilsky Star is an A star, 454 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:52,760 Speaker 1: which means it's very hot. But it also, we think 455 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,480 Speaker 1: has a very strong magnetic field, and so this is 456 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:59,199 Speaker 1: an unusual combination when it comes to stars. It's a 457 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:01,680 Speaker 1: hot star, that means it's a really massive star. How 458 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:03,639 Speaker 1: big are or massive is it? So it is a 459 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,240 Speaker 1: more massive star. It's only like one and a half 460 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:08,760 Speaker 1: times the mass of the Sun. It's on the hotter 461 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:12,040 Speaker 1: edge of the spectrum. So it's just hotter because it's 462 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:15,280 Speaker 1: at that point in its life. A cycle or just 463 00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:17,600 Speaker 1: that extra half of a solar mass makes it that 464 00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:20,000 Speaker 1: much hotter to make the dai having one and a 465 00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:22,800 Speaker 1: half solar masses definitely makes it hotter for sure. And 466 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 1: we've measured it's magnetic field. We can do that from here. Yeah, 467 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:27,720 Speaker 1: we can measure the magnetic field because, as we were 468 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:31,280 Speaker 1: saying before, the magnetic field affects the atoms inside the star. 469 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:33,919 Speaker 1: It changes how they glow. What do you mean, Well, 470 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,480 Speaker 1: electrons are whizzing around the atoms, and the reason that 471 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:39,560 Speaker 1: a star glows is not directly because of photons made 472 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:42,840 Speaker 1: from the fusion. The energy produced by fusion gets transmitted 473 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:44,760 Speaker 1: to the outer layers of the star and they get 474 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:48,000 Speaker 1: hot and they glow. Everything in the universe glows as 475 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:50,679 Speaker 1: it gets hot because getting hot means that things are 476 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:53,160 Speaker 1: moving around. They have a lot of speed. For example, 477 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:56,200 Speaker 1: electrons can move up in energy levels around the atom. 478 00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:59,240 Speaker 1: Remember that electrons are not little classical objects that are 479 00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:01,720 Speaker 1: in orbit around the atom the where the Earth is 480 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:04,160 Speaker 1: in orbit around the Sun. There have a few quantum 481 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 1: states that they can sit in. It's more like a 482 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:08,720 Speaker 1: ladder than a hill. And so if you give them energy, 483 00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:10,800 Speaker 1: they can step up the ladder, but then they like 484 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:12,920 Speaker 1: to step back down the ladder because the universe likes 485 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:15,240 Speaker 1: to spread its energy out and when they step back 486 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:17,720 Speaker 1: down the ladder, they give off that amount of energy. 487 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:20,720 Speaker 1: So every atom has like these levels of energy you 488 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:22,720 Speaker 1: can be at, and if you add a magnetic field, 489 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,840 Speaker 1: it changes those energy levels a little bit, which changes 490 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:28,920 Speaker 1: the energy of the light that's emitted by those atoms. 491 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 1: And we can see that here on Earth. Do we 492 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:33,879 Speaker 1: see it brighter or dimmer or only in certain frequencies? 493 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,240 Speaker 1: Thinks shift, what's the evidence for the magnetic field? We 494 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:38,600 Speaker 1: see a split. So if you have like hydrogen gas 495 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:40,359 Speaker 1: and you heat it up, they'll tend to emit a 496 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:43,120 Speaker 1: certain frequencies. Now, if you add a magnetic field, then 497 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:45,920 Speaker 1: like the spin up electrons and the spin down electrons 498 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:48,679 Speaker 1: are now slightly different energies. So instead of having a 499 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:52,080 Speaker 1: single line from those electrons, you'll split it into two lines. 500 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:55,439 Speaker 1: And by lines you mean like how much of certain 501 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 1: frequency the light has that comes from let star, right, 502 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:00,320 Speaker 1: Like if it has a lot of energy as frequent 503 00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:01,720 Speaker 1: see it then you know that comes from a storing 504 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:04,840 Speaker 1: atton in that star, and you're saying, if that spike 505 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:08,040 Speaker 1: splits into two, that means there's a strong whitetic field. Exactly. 506 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:10,760 Speaker 1: We can't go and measure these things directly. Almost all 507 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:13,640 Speaker 1: the information we have about these stars comes from their lights, 508 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:15,320 Speaker 1: so we have to try to suck out as much 509 00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:18,800 Speaker 1: information as possible from this limited stream of data. And 510 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:20,520 Speaker 1: so one thing we do a lot of is not 511 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,320 Speaker 1: just count the number of photons we see from the star, 512 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:25,600 Speaker 1: but we measure all of their frequencies and we make 513 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:28,800 Speaker 1: a spectrograph which says what frequencies are we seeing light 514 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:30,879 Speaker 1: from this star. And we don't see light at every 515 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,440 Speaker 1: frequency from the stars. It depends on what the star 516 00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:35,520 Speaker 1: is made out of and how hot it is, and 517 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:38,960 Speaker 1: also the magnetic field. So it's incredible how much information 518 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:41,280 Speaker 1: is stored and just the spectrum of light that comes 519 00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:43,200 Speaker 1: from a star, it really tells you a lot about 520 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:46,280 Speaker 1: what's going on inside. Yeah, it's pretty wild because when 521 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:48,160 Speaker 1: you get light from a star, you're getting like a 522 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:51,040 Speaker 1: single stream of photons, right, It's not like you're getting 523 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:53,399 Speaker 1: like a huge beam of light. You're just getting like 524 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 1: one photon at a time, and you have to get 525 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:58,879 Speaker 1: all this frequency information from those photons, right, Yeah, although 526 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:01,080 Speaker 1: every beam of light is really just one photon at 527 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:03,280 Speaker 1: a time. Even from our sun, you're still just getting 528 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:05,360 Speaker 1: one photon at a time. All though's just a lot 529 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:07,840 Speaker 1: more photons per second, And so you can measure the 530 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:10,800 Speaker 1: frequency of each photon, and that's what we do, and 531 00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:12,920 Speaker 1: then they pile up. They tend to be in certain 532 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:15,239 Speaker 1: frequencies and that tells us this one must have been 533 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:18,080 Speaker 1: emitted from an atom and this energy level. The electron 534 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,479 Speaker 1: jumped down to a lower energy level and give us 535 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:23,680 Speaker 1: this photon. So iron has a characteristic frequency at which 536 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:26,640 Speaker 1: it glows, and helium has a characteristic frequency at which 537 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:29,119 Speaker 1: it glows. And these lines all get split by the 538 00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:31,720 Speaker 1: magnetic field. So the photons go at higher or lower 539 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:34,560 Speaker 1: frequencies based on the spin of the electron because the 540 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,720 Speaker 1: spin interacts with a magnetic field. All right, So then 541 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:40,840 Speaker 1: the mystery about this Sabilsky star, or at least one mystery, 542 00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:44,119 Speaker 1: is that it's both hot and highly magnetic. Is it 543 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:47,080 Speaker 1: rare to see that or is it physically impossible to 544 00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:49,640 Speaker 1: do that? It's rare, it's not impossible, and it's also 545 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:52,600 Speaker 1: not the only example of a hot magnetic star, but 546 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:55,240 Speaker 1: it's not something that we understand. It's weird. It just 547 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:58,120 Speaker 1: sort of like adds to the weirdness of this star. 548 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:01,320 Speaker 1: I guess why would it be rare or weird. Maybe 549 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:03,000 Speaker 1: it's just a really hot star with a lot of 550 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:06,199 Speaker 1: turmoil inside, so it has that extra it factor that 551 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,280 Speaker 1: makes it both hot and magnetic. Yeah, well, it means 552 00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:10,119 Speaker 1: that's something that is going on inside the star that 553 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:13,119 Speaker 1: we don't understand, because we don't understand how a really 554 00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:16,119 Speaker 1: hot star can have the sort of convection necessary in 555 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:18,639 Speaker 1: order to generate the magnetic field. It's just not something 556 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:20,439 Speaker 1: that we understand. We don't have a model for it. 557 00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:22,879 Speaker 1: And we do see that it's rare. That's just an observation. 558 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:25,440 Speaker 1: We don't see a lot of hot stars with strong 559 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:28,280 Speaker 1: magnetic fields. Tends to be colder stars that have these 560 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:30,640 Speaker 1: magnetic fields. But again, it's a sort of a forefront 561 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:33,439 Speaker 1: of human knowledge here. We don't really understand magnetic fields 562 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,119 Speaker 1: inside stars kind of at all, and so it's a 563 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:38,480 Speaker 1: it's a big area of investigation, just kind of a 564 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:41,360 Speaker 1: rare matchup of both temperature and magnetic field. Is there 565 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,400 Speaker 1: the opposite like have we seen any cool stars with 566 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:47,520 Speaker 1: little magnetic field? There's a huge population of stars out there, 567 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:50,040 Speaker 1: so there's always something on the tail whenever we're talking 568 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:52,160 Speaker 1: about these things. Were are we just talking about trends 569 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:55,160 Speaker 1: or we're trying to describe a vast population of billions 570 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:57,880 Speaker 1: of stars? And they never follow these things exactly. There's 571 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:01,119 Speaker 1: always variation and fuzz So they're definitely are some cool 572 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:04,480 Speaker 1: stars out there without strong magnetic fields, and also kind 573 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:07,600 Speaker 1: of a mystery. All right, So that's one mystery about 574 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,520 Speaker 1: bills Ki Star. What's the other mystery? The other mystery 575 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:13,439 Speaker 1: is how it glows. We were talking about how the 576 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:16,320 Speaker 1: different atoms in the atmosphere of a star make it 577 00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:18,920 Speaker 1: glow differently, and we can use that to tell sort 578 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:21,239 Speaker 1: of what a star is made out of. Like we 579 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:23,560 Speaker 1: can look at our sun and we can say, what's 580 00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:25,960 Speaker 1: our sun made out of? How would we figure it out? Well, 581 00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:27,399 Speaker 1: one thing you can do is go and take a 582 00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:28,879 Speaker 1: scoop of it and you can bring it back to 583 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,240 Speaker 1: Earth and like study this stuff. But that's not very 584 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:33,480 Speaker 1: practical because taking a scoop out of the sun is 585 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,640 Speaker 1: pretty dangerous. But you can study the sun without actually 586 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:38,600 Speaker 1: going there. You can just look at the light that 587 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:41,480 Speaker 1: comes from the star and say what frequencies is it 588 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:44,320 Speaker 1: coming at, and what stuff do I need to mix 589 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:47,760 Speaker 1: at what temperature to get this spectrum? Can I reverse 590 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:49,800 Speaker 1: engineer the spectrum and say I need to add a 591 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:51,880 Speaker 1: certain amount of hydrogen, a certain amount of helium and 592 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:53,800 Speaker 1: heat it all up to a certain temperature, and then 593 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:56,240 Speaker 1: I should expect to see the spectrum that I'm seeing 594 00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 1: from the sun. So that's sort of the general strategy 595 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:01,240 Speaker 1: for how you can tell what a star is made 596 00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:03,440 Speaker 1: out of. Don't you see the lines in the spectrum 597 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,640 Speaker 1: to like if it if it has certain lines in 598 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 1: a certain frecuncy that tells you, oh there's iron here. 599 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:10,600 Speaker 1: Oh it's got some carbon too, yeah exactly. And it's 600 00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:13,120 Speaker 1: sort of like a fingerprint, yeah exactly, because every element 601 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:15,440 Speaker 1: has a different set of lines that tend to glow 602 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:18,600 Speaker 1: at different levels because they're constructed differently. In the solutions 603 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:21,040 Speaker 1: to the Shorteninger equation for iron are different than they 604 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:23,840 Speaker 1: are for helium and for hydrogen, So each element has 605 00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:26,120 Speaker 1: its own fingerprint. So you can look at the spectrum 606 00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:29,200 Speaker 1: of star and reverse engineer and say to explain this spectrum, 607 00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:31,040 Speaker 1: I need a bunch of hydrogen and a little bit 608 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:33,800 Speaker 1: of helium and some iron and some nickels. So, for example, 609 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:35,520 Speaker 1: we can look at our star and we can tell 610 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:39,480 Speaker 1: it's about by mass seventy percent hydrogen and like almost 611 00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:42,680 Speaker 1: thirty percent helium, So that's almost the entire star. And 612 00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:46,560 Speaker 1: there's like a percent or so that's heavier stuff carbon, nitrogen, 613 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:49,320 Speaker 1: oxygen all the way up, like iron and nickel and 614 00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:51,200 Speaker 1: a few other things. So we can tell what's in 615 00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 1: our star by looking at the light that comes from it. 616 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:55,120 Speaker 1: And the cool thing is, because you don't have to 617 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:57,160 Speaker 1: go to the Sun to use this technique, you can 618 00:29:57,200 --> 00:29:59,560 Speaker 1: also apply the same technique two stars that are really 619 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:02,080 Speaker 1: really fall are away that you could never visit. Yeah, 620 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:04,840 Speaker 1: you can look at expectrum and actually it's the opposite 621 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:06,480 Speaker 1: that tells you what's in it, right, Like if you 622 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:09,600 Speaker 1: see light comes in and all frequencies except a certain frequency, 623 00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:12,120 Speaker 1: that's how you know that there's a certain element there, right, 624 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,000 Speaker 1: because the element absorbs that bite. Right, So when you're 625 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:17,800 Speaker 1: analyzing the light from a real star, it does get complicated. 626 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:19,840 Speaker 1: You have like a whole spectrum. You see photons that 627 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:23,240 Speaker 1: basically every wavelength, and then there are some spikes some 628 00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:26,160 Speaker 1: places where the atmosphere of the star has been excited 629 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:29,200 Speaker 1: to emit just at that frequency, and there are also 630 00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:31,640 Speaker 1: dips there, dips when the atmosphere of the star is 631 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:34,720 Speaker 1: absorbing light just at that frequency. So like photons that 632 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,920 Speaker 1: come from inside the star get absorbed by the atmosphere 633 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:40,440 Speaker 1: of that star. That's similar to like how we model 634 00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:43,080 Speaker 1: the atmosphere of an exoplanet. We can see the light 635 00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:45,480 Speaker 1: coming from the star behind it, and we can see 636 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:48,520 Speaker 1: what frequencies the light of that atmosphere gets absorbed, and 637 00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:51,280 Speaker 1: so it's both lines and dips in that spectrum that 638 00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:54,560 Speaker 1: tell you something interesting is going on. Yeah, and that's 639 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:56,160 Speaker 1: how we know what the star is made out of, 640 00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 1: which is amazing, right. It's like we're getting this drip 641 00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:01,240 Speaker 1: of data from a pinpoint in the sky and we 642 00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:03,040 Speaker 1: can tell hey, it's got a little bit of this 643 00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:05,240 Speaker 1: and a little bit of that. Right. It's really incredible, 644 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:08,280 Speaker 1: and it requires developing this model of saying we think 645 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:10,400 Speaker 1: we know what's going on inside a star, and different 646 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:12,880 Speaker 1: models should generate different fingerprints, and so we can reverse 647 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:15,760 Speaker 1: engineer and say this fingerprint means this is going on 648 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:19,200 Speaker 1: inside that distant object. It's really quite incredible, And when 649 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:22,040 Speaker 1: we look at Shebilsky Star, we see a spectrum that 650 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:25,240 Speaker 1: we really just do not understand. Interesting, what do you 651 00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:27,560 Speaker 1: mean what do we see in Shebilsky Star? Well, we 652 00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:30,720 Speaker 1: both see things missing and we see weird things that 653 00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:33,080 Speaker 1: we don't think should be there. We expect that most 654 00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:35,240 Speaker 1: stars will have some iron and some nickel in them, 655 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:37,480 Speaker 1: Like even the Sun has iron and nickel in it, 656 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:40,120 Speaker 1: even though it's not capable of making iron and nickel. 657 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:42,640 Speaker 1: There's iron nickel in it from like the last generation 658 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:44,880 Speaker 1: of stars that made that and blew up and then 659 00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:48,040 Speaker 1: gathered together. Just like there's iron and nickel inside the Earth, 660 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:50,520 Speaker 1: even though the Earth is not capable of using hydrogen 661 00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:53,720 Speaker 1: together into iron and nickel. But Shebilsky Star has like 662 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:57,360 Speaker 1: very very little iron and nickel, is like a tenth 663 00:31:57,400 --> 00:31:59,520 Speaker 1: of the iron that we would expect of a star 664 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:02,560 Speaker 1: of its hype. Interesting, I guess why would we expect 665 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:05,800 Speaker 1: there to be more iron because we don't really know 666 00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:08,560 Speaker 1: the history of this star or star system. Right, We're like, 667 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:12,000 Speaker 1: we don't know what kinds of stars exploited before then, Right, Yeah, 668 00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:13,880 Speaker 1: that's true. You know, why do you expect any star 669 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:15,640 Speaker 1: to have iron in it. It just comes from the 670 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:18,400 Speaker 1: history of the stuff that formed that solar system. So 671 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:21,920 Speaker 1: you have mostly hydrogen and then some helium and heavier stuff. 672 00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:24,600 Speaker 1: But that stuff we think is pretty well mixed around. 673 00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:27,200 Speaker 1: We've been studying like the stuff in the universe, and 674 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:30,040 Speaker 1: mostly everywhere there's about the same amount of iron. So 675 00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:32,920 Speaker 1: any arbitrary star that you form, you don't expect a 676 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:36,040 Speaker 1: huge variation in how much heavy metal it should have 677 00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:38,080 Speaker 1: inside of it. So to find a star with a 678 00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:40,920 Speaker 1: very very tiny amount of iron in it is weird. 679 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:43,320 Speaker 1: It's like very far out there. Most stars have a 680 00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:45,400 Speaker 1: certain fraction of iron in them, and this is like 681 00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:49,400 Speaker 1: way out on the tails. So it's got some iron deficiency. 682 00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:51,720 Speaker 1: Maybe it just needs to eat more lentils or something, 683 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:55,600 Speaker 1: or more cereal, right, aren't those iron fortified? Yeah, that's right. Yeah, 684 00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:57,920 Speaker 1: And it's the star, so it can eat sial all 685 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,640 Speaker 1: day because every day is a day for a sun, right, 686 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:03,160 Speaker 1: that's right. And maybe it has been eating weird stuff 687 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:06,520 Speaker 1: because the star also has fingerprints of really strange, very 688 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:11,400 Speaker 1: heavy stuff like strontium and caesium and new dymium has 689 00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:15,360 Speaker 1: even weirder stuff things we call actinides, like einsteinium, and 690 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:18,840 Speaker 1: other weird elements high up on the periodic table. And 691 00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:22,320 Speaker 1: that's weird because these are super heavy elements, right, Usually 692 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:26,160 Speaker 1: you only see these heavy elements when they're produced by supernovas. Yeah, 693 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:28,360 Speaker 1: so these things are very heavy. They're heavier than it 694 00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:31,080 Speaker 1: can be produced by any star. Stars can only make 695 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:33,520 Speaker 1: up to iron. We think that the really heavy elements 696 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:37,280 Speaker 1: plutonium and platinum and uranium are made by supernovas or 697 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:40,240 Speaker 1: by the collisions of neutron stars, etcetera. Now you do 698 00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:43,160 Speaker 1: expect to see them still in stars, Like our Sun 699 00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:45,840 Speaker 1: has elements inside of it that are heavier than it 700 00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:49,680 Speaker 1: can make. Again, they're just debris left over from previous stuff, 701 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:51,920 Speaker 1: Like we see uranium in the Earth, right, it is 702 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:54,320 Speaker 1: not made by the Earth or in our Solar system, 703 00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:56,640 Speaker 1: is made by a star long time ago. The thing 704 00:33:56,680 --> 00:33:59,600 Speaker 1: that's really weird about finding these elements inside a star 705 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:02,120 Speaker 1: is that they have short half lives, like they do 706 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:05,560 Speaker 1: not last for very long. Einsteinium lasts for four hundred 707 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:09,520 Speaker 1: and seventy two days. So like, what's making einsteinium in 708 00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:11,680 Speaker 1: this star? Because if you see it in the star, 709 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:14,560 Speaker 1: it must have been made in the last year or so. 710 00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:17,239 Speaker 1: But we think that all the heavy elements that are 711 00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:20,320 Speaker 1: inside of star must have come from before the star 712 00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:22,440 Speaker 1: was born, so it sort of doesn't add up. The 713 00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:26,560 Speaker 1: story doesn't make sense. You're saying these heavy elements themselves 714 00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:29,680 Speaker 1: aren't around along, they're still heavy that they break apart 715 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:31,920 Speaker 1: by themselves. Yeah, they have very short half lives, so 716 00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:34,239 Speaker 1: they're very rare in the universe. Even if they are 717 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:38,560 Speaker 1: made inside special reactors here on Earth or inside neutron 718 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:41,080 Speaker 1: star collisions, they do not last for very long. So 719 00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:43,799 Speaker 1: you don't expect to see them in old stuff. Right, 720 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:47,759 Speaker 1: This star itself not capable of making einsteinium. This star 721 00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:50,600 Speaker 1: is millions of years old. Einsteinium should only last for 722 00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:53,640 Speaker 1: a year or so, So why is there still einsteinium 723 00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:56,239 Speaker 1: in the atmosphere of this star or even like a 724 00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 1: year ago? Right, Like, if you look at it over 725 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:00,680 Speaker 1: the course of a couple of year, you should see 726 00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:04,960 Speaker 1: the amount of einsteinium decaying or decreasing, right, Yeah, exactly. 727 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:07,319 Speaker 1: And we've been studying the star for six decades now 728 00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:09,120 Speaker 1: and it seems to be pretty stable. And it's not 729 00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:12,120 Speaker 1: just einsteinium. There are other weird isotopes in this star. 730 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:15,680 Speaker 1: There's technidium, there's prometheum, and none of these have very 731 00:35:15,719 --> 00:35:18,960 Speaker 1: long half lives. This is the core mystery of Pushpilski stars, 732 00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:22,720 Speaker 1: Like how does it have these apparently impossible, short lived 733 00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:25,320 Speaker 1: heavy metals inside of it? Right? Right? And you forgot 734 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:29,240 Speaker 1: horsinium also, Okay, so that's maybe even the bigger mystery 735 00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:31,440 Speaker 1: about this star, right, it's why does it have so 736 00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:34,000 Speaker 1: many heavy elements it shouldn't have or that it should 737 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,319 Speaker 1: have run out of by now? Yeah, that's really the 738 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:39,960 Speaker 1: core mystery. It's also really hot and strangely magnetic and 739 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:43,560 Speaker 1: spinning really slowly. It takes like two hundred years to 740 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:46,839 Speaker 1: rotate one time. So there's lots of things about the star, 741 00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:50,080 Speaker 1: and it's pulsating and oscillating in all sorts of crazy ways. 742 00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:52,319 Speaker 1: So this star is like an outlier basically every way 743 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:54,799 Speaker 1: that you can measure it. But definitely the weirdest thing, 744 00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:57,120 Speaker 1: the best clue that the right we can pull on 745 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:00,000 Speaker 1: easiest is this question about why it has so many 746 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:03,080 Speaker 1: heavy things inside of it. But you're saying, our star 747 00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:06,360 Speaker 1: also has these heavy elements, but shouldn't our stars also 748 00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:09,560 Speaker 1: have decayed them? By now? Our star has some heavy elements, right, Look, 749 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:12,920 Speaker 1: it has iron, has nickel, probably some uranium in it also, 750 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:15,520 Speaker 1: But those things do decay for sure. But these things 751 00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:18,359 Speaker 1: are short lived, right, so if they existed inside our 752 00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:20,839 Speaker 1: star ear beyond, they would have decayed away by now, 753 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,680 Speaker 1: so we don't see evidence for these things inside our star. 754 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:27,920 Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's get into what might be possible 755 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:32,239 Speaker 1: explanations of these mysteries about Shebilsky Star, including maybe that 756 00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:35,719 Speaker 1: it could be aliens, which is Daniel's favorite topic to 757 00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:50,520 Speaker 1: talk about. But first, let's take another quick break. We're 758 00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:52,879 Speaker 1: talking about a mysterious star out there in space called 759 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:56,399 Speaker 1: Shebilsky Star, and it's weird and mysterious because first of all, 760 00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:59,360 Speaker 1: it's hot and magnetic, you know, that's pretty rare for 761 00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:02,360 Speaker 1: even Hollywood stars. And it's also has a lot of 762 00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:04,920 Speaker 1: heavy elements, and it's pretty heavy metal, which is also 763 00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:08,399 Speaker 1: rare for Hollywood stars. I guess to be that much 764 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:11,160 Speaker 1: into heavy metal, we haven't had good heavy metal stars 765 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:13,759 Speaker 1: in a couple of decades, you know, Motley Crue than 766 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:16,280 Speaker 1: all these guys. What's the next generation of heavy metal? 767 00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:19,200 Speaker 1: I guess Azzi Osborne made a comeback. He's sort of 768 00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:21,600 Speaker 1: more heavy physically and less heavy metal. You know, he's 769 00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:25,400 Speaker 1: definitely passes half life. But there are deep mysteries about 770 00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:28,440 Speaker 1: the star. It's hot and magnetic, and it's got heavier elements, 771 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,480 Speaker 1: and it should have What are some possible explanations, Daniel, Well, 772 00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:34,680 Speaker 1: let's go from the most boring explanation to the most exciting. 773 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:37,680 Speaker 1: So the most boring explanation is that it's a mistake 774 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:41,359 Speaker 1: that we're wrong about interpreting this spectrum to say that 775 00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:43,600 Speaker 1: there are heavy metals in it, because it's not an 776 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:46,320 Speaker 1: easy thing to do. It's not like a very clear 777 00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:49,839 Speaker 1: smoking gun signature of einsteinium. What do you mean it's 778 00:37:49,880 --> 00:37:52,160 Speaker 1: not clear. Well, it's hard to do these analyzes. You know, 779 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:54,960 Speaker 1: einsteinium if it exists in this star, it's not like 780 00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:57,600 Speaker 1: it's fifty percent einstein um. It would be like point 781 00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:01,440 Speaker 1: one percent einsteinium. So it's a mall signal. Doesn't like 782 00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:03,600 Speaker 1: jump out at you. It would be like a very 783 00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:06,799 Speaker 1: faint dip or spike in the spectrum of the star, right, 784 00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:09,040 Speaker 1: which might get mixed up with the noise exactly, might 785 00:38:09,040 --> 00:38:11,279 Speaker 1: get mixed up with the noise. And also we're not 786 00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:15,160 Speaker 1: very confident in understanding what einsteini Um should look like. 787 00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:17,799 Speaker 1: Einsteini Um, just as an example, for many of these 788 00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:20,640 Speaker 1: short lived isotopes are not things that are well studied 789 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:23,680 Speaker 1: here on Earth in the laboratory, like hydrogen. We know 790 00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:26,640 Speaker 1: how hydrogen glows. It's not hard to study. We have 791 00:38:26,719 --> 00:38:32,160 Speaker 1: lots of examples of it. Hydrogen is very common einsteini um, emersium, paramythium, technetium. 792 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:34,839 Speaker 1: We don't make these things in large quantities. We can't 793 00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:37,239 Speaker 1: just like order a bunch of it on Amazon and 794 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:39,960 Speaker 1: study it in your laboratory. So we're not even exactly 795 00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:43,480 Speaker 1: sure what the spectrum of these things are. So interpreting 796 00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:45,960 Speaker 1: the spectrum of a distant star in terms of a 797 00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:49,239 Speaker 1: very faint line of rare elements that are not well 798 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:52,600 Speaker 1: understood is not always conclusive. Oh you're saying, we're not 799 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:55,440 Speaker 1: even ensure what a star with a lot of einsteinium 800 00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:57,440 Speaker 1: might look like because we don't know if it's going 801 00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:00,880 Speaker 1: to be blocking the light or glowing a certain frequencies 802 00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:03,440 Speaker 1: the way we think it might be exactly because it's difficult, 803 00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:06,560 Speaker 1: and we have models. We have calculations that suggest what 804 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:09,120 Speaker 1: einsteinium should look like when you heat up a bunch 805 00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:11,280 Speaker 1: of it, just like we have models for what hydrogen 806 00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:13,879 Speaker 1: should look like. But we haven't tested those very well 807 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:16,520 Speaker 1: in the lab to really be confident. Some of these things, 808 00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:19,080 Speaker 1: like promethium and technetium. People have been able to do 809 00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:21,759 Speaker 1: studies to verify what these things should look like. But 810 00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:24,839 Speaker 1: the sort of weirder things we see in Prishbilsky Star, 811 00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:27,480 Speaker 1: we're not certain what they should look like when they 812 00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:31,080 Speaker 1: do get heated up. I see, Okay, So then one possibility, 813 00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:33,960 Speaker 1: the most boring possibility, is that Bilsky Star is just 814 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:36,560 Speaker 1: a weird hot and magnetic star that we think has 815 00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:38,280 Speaker 1: a lot of heavy metals, but maybe it just doesn't 816 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:40,399 Speaker 1: have that many heavy metals. We're just may be wrong 817 00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:42,520 Speaker 1: about that. Yeah, and there's a possibility that we're wrong 818 00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:46,239 Speaker 1: about the crazier ones Einstein, Eum, etcetera. But the identification 819 00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:49,239 Speaker 1: of like technetium and permethium, those are pretty solid. Those 820 00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:52,000 Speaker 1: we do understand, and the lines there are easier to 821 00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:54,120 Speaker 1: pick apart. So I read one paper that said the 822 00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:57,360 Speaker 1: spectroscopic evidence is strong enough that we would declare promethium 823 00:39:57,400 --> 00:39:59,960 Speaker 1: to be present without hesitation. So there's a lot of 824 00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:02,759 Speaker 1: confidence that prometheum is there. And prometheum has a half 825 00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:05,480 Speaker 1: life of like twenty years, so it's still a mystery. 826 00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:07,879 Speaker 1: It's hard to brush this under the rug of saying 827 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:10,680 Speaker 1: we're not sure about the spectroscopy of it. I think 828 00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:13,040 Speaker 1: you just made those names up. Then there was really 829 00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:18,279 Speaker 1: an element called promethea. There really is technetium. Horstium is 830 00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:22,000 Speaker 1: made up, but prometheum is not. How about Gideon gide 831 00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:24,759 Speaker 1: from gidium. You know, I'm gidium with excitement about this? 832 00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:27,040 Speaker 1: All right, Well, we could be a mistake, but some 833 00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:29,120 Speaker 1: people are pretty confident about at least some of these 834 00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:32,120 Speaker 1: heavy metal measurements. What else could it be that explains 835 00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:34,640 Speaker 1: Chibilski star. So you need a source of these heavy elements. 836 00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:36,279 Speaker 1: One way to make them in the university is to 837 00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:39,120 Speaker 1: collide neutron stars, because we think that these things might 838 00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:41,239 Speaker 1: be made at the heart of neutron stars or during 839 00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:44,279 Speaker 1: those collisions. So one idea was like, maybe there's a 840 00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:48,440 Speaker 1: neutron star nearby and it's somehow leaking this stuff into 841 00:40:48,719 --> 00:40:51,839 Speaker 1: Pshbielski star album. There is like, well, we don't see 842 00:40:51,880 --> 00:40:55,680 Speaker 1: any neutron stars nearby. We can measure the velocity of 843 00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:58,239 Speaker 1: Pushpilski star and we don't think it's part of a 844 00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:01,040 Speaker 1: binary star system like we would see a wiggle in 845 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:03,600 Speaker 1: the frequencies that come from it if it was orbiting 846 00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:07,120 Speaker 1: some invisible, very massive object like a neutron star. So 847 00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:09,520 Speaker 1: we don't think that there's like a neutron star nearby 848 00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:12,480 Speaker 1: that's like spilling its guts into this star as the 849 00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:15,520 Speaker 1: source of these short lived heavy elements. Interesting, So a 850 00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:19,399 Speaker 1: neutron star can make these heavier elements, but I would 851 00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:21,239 Speaker 1: it give up its elements? Like that is, if it's 852 00:41:21,239 --> 00:41:23,719 Speaker 1: a neutron star, would be pretty intense and heavy. It 853 00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:26,480 Speaker 1: would suck. Actually the other star wouldn't. Why would it 854 00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:29,000 Speaker 1: give up its material? Yeah, it's not a great explanation. 855 00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:31,319 Speaker 1: You at, a neutron star has very strong gravity, and 856 00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:33,520 Speaker 1: so it's just as likely to pull things out of 857 00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:37,040 Speaker 1: Pushpilsky Star as to dump stuff in it. Another crazy 858 00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:41,200 Speaker 1: idea is like maybe Pushpielski Star passed through the remnants 859 00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:44,799 Speaker 1: of a neutron star collision and like accidentally gathered up 860 00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:48,240 Speaker 1: some of this stuff fairly recently, just before we started 861 00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:50,560 Speaker 1: observing it, and sort of just sort of like covered 862 00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:53,680 Speaker 1: in gunk from a neutron star collision that has all 863 00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:57,439 Speaker 1: these crazy things in it. That's like one other wacky idea. Oh, 864 00:41:57,520 --> 00:42:00,719 Speaker 1: I see, because when two neutron stars collide, they basically 865 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:03,399 Speaker 1: kind of explode and spill out all their guts, right, 866 00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:06,279 Speaker 1: including these heavy elements that it made. Yeah, so that's 867 00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:08,000 Speaker 1: one idea, but we don't see any evidence for that. 868 00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:10,600 Speaker 1: There's no like other remnants of a neutron star, which 869 00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:13,080 Speaker 1: are pretty typical, you can identify these things, there's no 870 00:42:13,160 --> 00:42:16,040 Speaker 1: evidence for that as an explanation for what's going on 871 00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:18,640 Speaker 1: inside this star. Could it have a neutron star inside. 872 00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:21,640 Speaker 1: That's a really cool idea. We talked about that once. 873 00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:24,360 Speaker 1: It's possible for a red giant to absorb a neutron 874 00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:26,520 Speaker 1: star and to have it inside of it. It tends 875 00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:29,400 Speaker 1: to collapse the red giant and it wouldn't again spill 876 00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:31,920 Speaker 1: the materials and the neutron star out from inside the 877 00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:35,160 Speaker 1: neutron star. All right, So maybe it's not a neutron star. 878 00:42:35,239 --> 00:42:36,879 Speaker 1: What else could it be? So now we're getting into 879 00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:40,960 Speaker 1: the crazier ideas. It might be evidence of super heavy 880 00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:44,279 Speaker 1: elements that we've never identified before. Once we talked to 881 00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:47,680 Speaker 1: the podcast about how elements beyond the ones we know 882 00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:51,280 Speaker 1: might exist and might be stable, like we've seen elements 883 00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:54,520 Speaker 1: up to atomic number like one fourteen, one fifteen and 884 00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:58,400 Speaker 1: just beyond, it's possible that in neutron star collisions and 885 00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:00,839 Speaker 1: in other processes in the universe, you can make even 886 00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:04,080 Speaker 1: heavier elements, super heavy elements that might live a long 887 00:43:04,160 --> 00:43:08,880 Speaker 1: time and then decay into these other things. Oh, I see, like, 888 00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:11,800 Speaker 1: maybe it has the ingredients for some of these heavier metals, 889 00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:14,120 Speaker 1: but we can't see those because they're too heavy to see. 890 00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:17,040 Speaker 1: So maybe the source of these heavier elements are just 891 00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:19,960 Speaker 1: even heavier stuff breaking down exactly. We suspect that the 892 00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:24,000 Speaker 1: universe might be capable of making these ultra heavy isotopes, 893 00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:26,360 Speaker 1: that they could be formed in the collision of neutron 894 00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:28,640 Speaker 1: stars or other weird things, but they might not be 895 00:43:28,719 --> 00:43:31,239 Speaker 1: totally stable, so they might then break down and be 896 00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:34,600 Speaker 1: a source for these shorter lived isotopes like einstein um, 897 00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:36,640 Speaker 1: which are easier to see, right, because I guess the 898 00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:40,200 Speaker 1: heavier the element is, the harder it is to see it, right, 899 00:43:40,360 --> 00:43:43,000 Speaker 1: Like it's the further up into the spectrum. It isn't 900 00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:45,400 Speaker 1: the rarer. It is definitely the rarer it is. And 901 00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:47,400 Speaker 1: we don't know at all how these things would glow, 902 00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:49,440 Speaker 1: so we wouldn't even be able to identify them in 903 00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:52,000 Speaker 1: order to identify an element in the spectrum, you basically 904 00:43:52,040 --> 00:43:54,040 Speaker 1: have to know what it's going to glow like olthowise, 905 00:43:54,120 --> 00:43:57,319 Speaker 1: it's hard to disentangle. Remember, these spectra are messies, all 906 00:43:57,360 --> 00:43:59,680 Speaker 1: sorts of photons in them, and to pull anything out 907 00:43:59,719 --> 00:44:02,160 Speaker 1: of them basically have to know what the fingerprint looks like. 908 00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:05,520 Speaker 1: And so these super duper extra heavy elements would have 909 00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:08,120 Speaker 1: been made in like a supernova, right, Perhaps a supernova, 910 00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:11,440 Speaker 1: perhaps a neutron star collision, perhaps some other process that 911 00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:13,800 Speaker 1: we don't even understand. We have a whole fun episode 912 00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:17,120 Speaker 1: about the Island of stability, this hypothesis that there might 913 00:44:17,239 --> 00:44:20,640 Speaker 1: be stable or semi stable, very healthy elements that could 914 00:44:20,719 --> 00:44:22,759 Speaker 1: exist in the universe. And so that would be a 915 00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:25,880 Speaker 1: really cool explanation because that would be evidence for something 916 00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:29,200 Speaker 1: we've never seen before, right right, Yeah, the island of 917 00:44:29,200 --> 00:44:31,759 Speaker 1: stability sounds like a great place to go, sounds better 918 00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:35,399 Speaker 1: than our current state canal of chaos. So then what's 919 00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:38,800 Speaker 1: the most fantastical possibility that would explain Shibilsky star. So 920 00:44:38,840 --> 00:44:42,919 Speaker 1: the most ridiculous and funnest, but maybe also most plausible 921 00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:47,560 Speaker 1: explanation is, of course aliens. We're talking about natural processes 922 00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:50,080 Speaker 1: to create these short lived isotopes. But there are also 923 00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:53,480 Speaker 1: artificial processes to create these things. We can create these 924 00:44:53,480 --> 00:44:56,919 Speaker 1: things here on Earth using our laboratories. What if there 925 00:44:56,960 --> 00:45:00,160 Speaker 1: are aliens out there and they have some crazy process us. 926 00:45:00,239 --> 00:45:03,239 Speaker 1: Maybe they are generating energy from fission, or they have 927 00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:05,760 Speaker 1: some insane fusion process or they're just doing a bunch 928 00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:08,520 Speaker 1: of experiments to understand the universe, and in doing so 929 00:45:08,719 --> 00:45:12,239 Speaker 1: they create dangerous garbage. And this stuff is very radioactive. 930 00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:14,680 Speaker 1: What should you do with it? Well, maybe they decided 931 00:45:14,719 --> 00:45:16,920 Speaker 1: to like head it into the Sun, and so they 932 00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:19,800 Speaker 1: dumped it into their star. So maybe what we're seeing 933 00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:24,520 Speaker 1: is a glowing alien trash heap. Whoa wait, So so 934 00:45:24,600 --> 00:45:28,040 Speaker 1: you can make these elements without needing a neutron star 935 00:45:28,239 --> 00:45:31,359 Speaker 1: collision or supernova like we can make some of these 936 00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:33,920 Speaker 1: crazy super duper heavy metals here. Yeah, that's how we 937 00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:37,360 Speaker 1: verified that they can exist. We shoot protons or neutrons 938 00:45:37,400 --> 00:45:39,759 Speaker 1: into lighter elements at just the right speed so they 939 00:45:39,760 --> 00:45:42,640 Speaker 1: get absorbed into the nucleus. We can create these heavier 940 00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:45,080 Speaker 1: elements here on Earth. Can't create many of them, sometimes 941 00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:47,480 Speaker 1: just a few atoms, but that's how we've proven that 942 00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:50,359 Speaker 1: they exist. But you can imagine aliens might be able 943 00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:53,239 Speaker 1: to do it at larger scale for who knows what reason. Yeah, 944 00:45:53,280 --> 00:45:55,239 Speaker 1: I guess that's the question. Why why would they do that? 945 00:45:55,400 --> 00:45:58,120 Speaker 1: Is it kind of energy efficient like fusion? Could that 946 00:45:58,160 --> 00:46:00,880 Speaker 1: be their source of energy? These are very heavy elements, 947 00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:03,560 Speaker 1: so it's more likely to be fishing, like the waste products, 948 00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:06,160 Speaker 1: And people even here in our solar system have suggested 949 00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:08,839 Speaker 1: this idea, like what to do with nuclear waste? Well, 950 00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:11,359 Speaker 1: why not just dump it into the sun? Right, throw 951 00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:13,839 Speaker 1: out into space and it will eventually drift into the Sun. 952 00:46:13,920 --> 00:46:16,480 Speaker 1: It's like a real proposal people have made here in 953 00:46:16,520 --> 00:46:19,120 Speaker 1: our solar system for getting rid of nuclear waste. It's 954 00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:22,480 Speaker 1: not a great idea because it's very expensive, and launching 955 00:46:22,640 --> 00:46:25,680 Speaker 1: dangerous waste on top of an exploding rocket has its 956 00:46:25,719 --> 00:46:28,919 Speaker 1: own dangers. Also, you might miss and if you miss 957 00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:31,120 Speaker 1: the Sun, it will come back around back to you. Right, 958 00:46:31,200 --> 00:46:33,680 Speaker 1: there's a reason why we haven't pursued this. But you know, 959 00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:36,960 Speaker 1: maybe aliens are doing their experiments already out in space 960 00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:39,200 Speaker 1: and they have a reason to dump their stuff into 961 00:46:39,239 --> 00:46:42,040 Speaker 1: their sun. And it's really expensive, right, Like to get 962 00:46:42,080 --> 00:46:44,560 Speaker 1: anything to the Sun takes a huge amount of energy. Well, 963 00:46:44,600 --> 00:46:46,560 Speaker 1: to get things off of Earth takes a huge amount 964 00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:48,600 Speaker 1: of energy. Once you're in space, it doesn't take that 965 00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:50,719 Speaker 1: much energy to fall into the Sun. You just need 966 00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:52,919 Speaker 1: like a gentle push in that direction and the Sun 967 00:46:52,960 --> 00:46:54,719 Speaker 1: will take over. Well, you've got to slow it down 968 00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:56,759 Speaker 1: enough to fall into the Sun, right otherwise it's just 969 00:46:56,760 --> 00:46:58,560 Speaker 1: gonna shoot pass it. It depends, I guess on the 970 00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:01,680 Speaker 1: time scale you're interested. In Ventually, everything does fall into 971 00:47:01,719 --> 00:47:03,960 Speaker 1: the Sun. Comets, for example, whizz around the Sun, but 972 00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:05,799 Speaker 1: they do lose a little bit of speed, and every 973 00:47:05,800 --> 00:47:07,560 Speaker 1: time they come around they get a little bit closer 974 00:47:07,600 --> 00:47:10,000 Speaker 1: and closer to the Sun. So it's possible yet to 975 00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:12,640 Speaker 1: shoot something towards the Sun and just miss and have 976 00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:17,000 Speaker 1: it whizz around the other side, which you probably wouldn't want. Yeah. Well, 977 00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:19,480 Speaker 1: you know, maybe it's like their bonfire and they're just 978 00:47:19,640 --> 00:47:23,520 Speaker 1: you know, roasting marshmallows, giant planet size marshmallows, and they're 979 00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:26,880 Speaker 1: just feeding you know, some high energy stuff into the 980 00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:29,799 Speaker 1: Sun to make it last longer. Yeah, or maybe they're 981 00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:33,160 Speaker 1: using it to message us. Carl Sagan suggested that aliens 982 00:47:33,239 --> 00:47:35,359 Speaker 1: might do this kind of thing on purpose to their 983 00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:39,000 Speaker 1: own star as a way to indicate to other species 984 00:47:39,040 --> 00:47:41,640 Speaker 1: out there in the galaxy that they are there make 985 00:47:41,680 --> 00:47:45,239 Speaker 1: their star weird, So there's no other explanation for it 986 00:47:45,320 --> 00:47:51,080 Speaker 1: other than there's some technological civilization they're capable of doing that. Wow, 987 00:47:51,560 --> 00:47:54,960 Speaker 1: it sounds like they're very attention needy species, availing to 988 00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:57,080 Speaker 1: the extreme, like, Hey, let's spend all this money to 989 00:47:57,120 --> 00:48:00,400 Speaker 1: make our sun glow a little extra in this spectrum 990 00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:02,440 Speaker 1: so that people know we're here. Yeah. Well, it's a 991 00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:04,880 Speaker 1: pretty fun idea, you know. When challenge to that is 992 00:48:04,920 --> 00:48:08,279 Speaker 1: to understand that this star can't be made by natural processes. 993 00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:12,200 Speaker 1: You have to really really understand natural processes super well. 994 00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:14,840 Speaker 1: You have to understand exactly the probability of having this 995 00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:17,880 Speaker 1: start actually appear through all the normal processes. And so 996 00:48:18,080 --> 00:48:20,440 Speaker 1: it's not a great way to signal that you exist. 997 00:48:20,520 --> 00:48:22,840 Speaker 1: Because there's so many stars out there that are weird, 998 00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:25,120 Speaker 1: so hard to describe them. So to make one that 999 00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:27,880 Speaker 1: really stands out compared to all the other stars is 1000 00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:31,560 Speaker 1: a challenge. Another hand, Sabielski star is a pretty weird one. Yeah, 1001 00:48:31,600 --> 00:48:33,680 Speaker 1: I guess if everyone's weird, it's hard to stand out 1002 00:48:33,719 --> 00:48:37,320 Speaker 1: as a weird person. You've got to be the weirdest. 1003 00:48:37,560 --> 00:48:39,920 Speaker 1: But it's kind of wild. It's pretty interesting that the 1004 00:48:39,960 --> 00:48:44,080 Speaker 1: most plausible explanation are aliens doing some weird things for 1005 00:48:44,160 --> 00:48:46,839 Speaker 1: some unknown reason. Yeah, it's pretty fun to think about. 1006 00:48:46,920 --> 00:48:49,120 Speaker 1: It's a reason this star has been weird for a 1007 00:48:49,160 --> 00:48:51,279 Speaker 1: long time. People have been thinking about it. And in 1008 00:48:51,320 --> 00:48:53,319 Speaker 1: the future, as we keep taking more data on this 1009 00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:55,759 Speaker 1: star will get better and better measurements to see whether 1010 00:48:55,800 --> 00:48:58,799 Speaker 1: those heavy elements really are there in its atmosphere. Now, 1011 00:48:58,800 --> 00:49:00,960 Speaker 1: this is something that's actually than the paper like this 1012 00:49:01,200 --> 00:49:03,759 Speaker 1: is actually write this in their conclusions at the end 1013 00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:05,800 Speaker 1: of the paper, like or it could be aliens. I 1014 00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:09,720 Speaker 1: don't know. I've seen it in blog posts and in conversations. 1015 00:49:10,040 --> 00:49:13,319 Speaker 1: Were actually seen it in a paper suggesting aliens as 1016 00:49:13,400 --> 00:49:16,120 Speaker 1: an explanation. It's just usually sort of left as a question. 1017 00:49:16,360 --> 00:49:19,520 Speaker 1: The spectrum remains unexplained. I see you leave it for 1018 00:49:19,560 --> 00:49:23,560 Speaker 1: the comment session. The internet will fill in those gaps 1019 00:49:23,600 --> 00:49:26,480 Speaker 1: for you. Yeah, or Daniel, I feel like you're alien 1020 00:49:26,520 --> 00:49:30,719 Speaker 1: triggers really light, You're like mystery aliens done. At least 1021 00:49:30,719 --> 00:49:34,360 Speaker 1: we're trying to explain actual cosmic mysteries, not like the pyramids, 1022 00:49:34,520 --> 00:49:37,520 Speaker 1: you know, in terms of aliens, what do you mean? 1023 00:49:38,040 --> 00:49:40,719 Speaker 1: Don't get me started on that. They're also mysteries, aren't they. 1024 00:49:41,400 --> 00:49:43,520 Speaker 1: What's more likely that a bunch of people were really 1025 00:49:43,520 --> 00:49:45,279 Speaker 1: clever thousands of years ago and figured out how to 1026 00:49:45,280 --> 00:49:47,400 Speaker 1: build the pyramids, or that aliens did it, or that 1027 00:49:47,520 --> 00:49:50,239 Speaker 1: aliens are throwing some weird materials into the star just 1028 00:49:50,280 --> 00:49:54,800 Speaker 1: to get attention. I don't know, man, I think Einstein 1029 00:49:55,200 --> 00:49:57,320 Speaker 1: in this star is harder to build than pyramids. And 1030 00:49:57,320 --> 00:49:59,840 Speaker 1: I don't think the Egyptians could be responsible for Einsteiny 1031 00:50:00,160 --> 00:50:03,080 Speaker 1: in Shebilsky star, though I do give them credit for 1032 00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:05,879 Speaker 1: the pyramids. Right well, I guess the end lesson here 1033 00:50:05,960 --> 00:50:07,840 Speaker 1: is that there are still big mysteries out there in 1034 00:50:07,840 --> 00:50:10,040 Speaker 1: the universe, and we should be, you know, kind of 1035 00:50:10,080 --> 00:50:13,600 Speaker 1: thankful for stars like Sabilsky stars for delivering us weird 1036 00:50:13,640 --> 00:50:16,080 Speaker 1: examples of things that can happen in the universe, because 1037 00:50:16,080 --> 00:50:18,600 Speaker 1: that lets us understand more about the universe. Right. Yeah, 1038 00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:21,520 Speaker 1: It pushes our envelope of understanding and forces us to 1039 00:50:21,560 --> 00:50:24,080 Speaker 1: come up with ways to describe things that we do 1040 00:50:24,160 --> 00:50:26,799 Speaker 1: not understand. Yeah, and maybe we shouldn't think too much 1041 00:50:26,800 --> 00:50:28,799 Speaker 1: into it because you know, as they say, never look 1042 00:50:28,840 --> 00:50:31,400 Speaker 1: at gift horse in amount might have dangerous radio active 1043 00:50:31,400 --> 00:50:33,920 Speaker 1: medals in it. Yeah, it might have Einsteinium braces or 1044 00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:37,080 Speaker 1: something or giddy up and braces. We'll stay tuned, I 1045 00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:39,960 Speaker 1: guess as we learn more about stars like Shebilski and 1046 00:50:40,000 --> 00:50:42,880 Speaker 1: we form a better understanding of how stars work in 1047 00:50:42,920 --> 00:50:45,000 Speaker 1: this universe. Do you hope you enjoyed that. Thanks for 1048 00:50:45,080 --> 00:50:55,480 Speaker 1: joining us, See you next time. Thanks for listening, and 1049 00:50:55,520 --> 00:50:58,239 Speaker 1: remember that Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe is a 1050 00:50:58,280 --> 00:51:01,719 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more podcast For my 1051 00:51:01,840 --> 00:51:05,400 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 1052 00:51:05,520 --> 00:51:09,800 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H