1 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: Hey, Kelly, what's your favorite feature in the night sky? Mmmmm? 2 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 1: You know I like spotting the Orion constellation. Oh yeah, 3 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:19,800 Speaker 1: what makes that one top your list? I like that 4 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:22,079 Speaker 1: it's easy to spot. That makes it easier to point 5 00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:24,640 Speaker 1: it out to my kids. And you know, since it's 6 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: so easy to find, I'd like to imagine that, like, 7 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,320 Speaker 1: even as the Earth has changed for thousands of years, 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:32,320 Speaker 1: other people have been able to find it as well, 9 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: and that pulls us together. Mmm. And it's nice to 10 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:38,199 Speaker 1: think about the sweep of history. But you know that 11 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:43,200 Speaker 1: constellations aren't forever, right? Oh? What is that our fault? 12 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: Did humans manage to ruin the sky and the planet? 13 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:48,559 Speaker 1: Nothing to do with us this time? But you know 14 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 1: the sky is in motion. A t Rex looking up 15 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: at this guy probably never saw the Orion constellation. Well, 16 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: you know what, that's okay, because their little arms would 17 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:01,319 Speaker 1: have been too short to point it out to their 18 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: t rex kids. Anyway, I can't tell what you're pointed to. Mom. Hi, 19 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: I'm Daniel I'm a particle physicist and a professor at 20 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 1: UC Irvine. And I'm Kelly Weener Smith. I'm a parasitologist 21 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:31,479 Speaker 1: and an adjunct professor with Rice University, and even though 22 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 1: I'm technically also a professor of astronomy, I've never really 23 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: been that into constellations. And you know what, neither have 24 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: I Ryan Ryan and the Big Dipper are one of 25 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: the two that I'm able to name. When I was 26 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: really young, I like looking up at this guy and 27 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: seeing the stars, of course, and who can't help but 28 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: look for patterns. But I remember as a kid discovering 29 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: that the constellations are sort of artificial. You only see 30 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 1: those patterns in the sky because of where the Earth 31 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: happens to be. Some of those stars are like really 32 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 1: close to us, and some of them are really far away. 33 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: It's not like an inherent part of the sky or 34 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:07,960 Speaker 1: the universe. Anybody looking at the sky from another perspective 35 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: would see something totally different. And I think it wasn't 36 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: until college that I realized, like, oh, constellations are not 37 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:18,240 Speaker 1: like a helpful astronomy thing. They're just a human pattern 38 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: finding thing. It was kind of weirdly disappointing, I know, 39 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:24,520 Speaker 1: and it sort of encourages the false impression that the 40 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: sky is two dimensional, that you're like looking at a screen. 41 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: I think it's much more thrilling to look up at 42 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: the night sky and see it in three D, to 43 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 1: imagine that some of these things are much deeper and 44 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 1: some are much closer than the others. Instead of looking 45 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: at an image, it makes you feel like you're looking 46 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,919 Speaker 1: at a view, like the best view in the cosmos. Yes, 47 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: I remember. Also when I was in college, I got 48 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: to look through a giant telescope at sort of part 49 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: of a constellation, and it kind of blew my mind 50 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:54,359 Speaker 1: that in all of the stories that I was able 51 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:57,720 Speaker 1: to see, they were like, you know, clusters are swirling 52 00:02:57,760 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 1: things happening in between there, and they were sort of 53 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 1: part of the constellation too, and like, ah, it's I 54 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: don't even know what the point was, but it just 55 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:08,440 Speaker 1: sort of the closer you look, the more surprising it is. 56 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: So even though I was disappointed at first to learn 57 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:14,200 Speaker 1: that constellations are sort of a pattern finding thing, the 58 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 1: closer you look and the more you learn, the like 59 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: more exciting it gets, indeed, and so welcome to the podcast. 60 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge explain the Universe, in which we try 61 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:26,679 Speaker 1: to take a closer look as possible into the very 62 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: nature of this crazy universe. We zoom in on the 63 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: tiniest details and try to understand how quantum particles really move, 64 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 1: what is really going on, and we zoom out to 65 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: the biggest, deepest, oldest, most dramatic questions of the universe. 66 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:43,880 Speaker 1: How old is everything, how does it all work? What's 67 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: going on up there in the night sky. We take 68 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 1: all of that and we try to explain all of 69 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: it to you. And as you may have, guest Horrie 70 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:53,000 Speaker 1: isn't with us today, he's on a brake, and so 71 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 1: we're very glad to have with us one of our 72 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 1: favorite guest hosts, Kelly. Kelly, thanks for joining us today. Thanks. 73 00:03:58,160 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: I love being here. I always love it when Jorge 74 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 1: takes a break and I get to geek out with you. Well, 75 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 1: today we're gonna be talking about one of the most 76 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: accessible things in physics and astronomy, a place where a 77 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:09,480 Speaker 1: lot of people get attracted to the big questions of 78 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 1: the universe, and that's just looking up at the night 79 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: sky and seeing the stars. I think everybody who has 80 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 1: questions about the universe, everybody who wonders what's out there, 81 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 1: probably got started by just looking up and seeing those 82 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:24,240 Speaker 1: twinkling lights and wondering what it all means and So 83 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:26,200 Speaker 1: what part of the night sky are we going to 84 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:28,520 Speaker 1: focus on today? Today? I want to talk about the 85 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: illusion that is the night sky. On one hand, we 86 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:34,000 Speaker 1: say that the night sky seems like it's two dimensional, 87 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:36,240 Speaker 1: but really it's three D. And it takes this sort 88 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 1: of mental exercise to unhook yourself from the illusion that 89 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:42,840 Speaker 1: it's a screen and to remember that it's a deep, 90 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: deep view that you're looking across billions of miles of 91 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: empty space. But there's another illusion of the night sky, 92 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: and that's that it seems to be sort of static, 93 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:54,599 Speaker 1: that it seems to be fixed. And it's true that 94 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: a thousand years ago astronomers looked up at the same 95 00:04:57,560 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: night sky that we see, and in a thousand year 96 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: as astronomers will still be looking at basically the same 97 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,920 Speaker 1: night sky. But that's because the time scales for the 98 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: nights guy and for the Solar system and for the 99 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,599 Speaker 1: universe are just much much longer than we tend to 100 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,719 Speaker 1: think about in human history, and that on those long 101 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 1: time scales, the universe is actually quite chaotic. So like 102 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:21,360 Speaker 1: a thousand years ago, was it a little bit different? 103 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 1: And that's how we know it's way different, like a 104 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:25,839 Speaker 1: billion or a million years from now, or do we 105 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:28,359 Speaker 1: know that some other way exactly? The night sky is 106 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:32,279 Speaker 1: changing very slowly, So if you have very precise measurements 107 00:05:32,279 --> 00:05:34,719 Speaker 1: of where all the stars were, you could see those 108 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:38,200 Speaker 1: things in action. But mostly we understand the night sky 109 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: is dynamic because we understand the processes behind it. We 110 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: know that these stars are in motion. We see these 111 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:48,360 Speaker 1: crazy effects. We see snapshots of all these processes back 112 00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:51,279 Speaker 1: through time, because the further we can look out into 113 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 1: the universe, the further back in time we see. And 114 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,640 Speaker 1: so we can see things happening to other galaxies and 115 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:02,360 Speaker 1: other stars, galaxies, colliding stars swirling around each other, all 116 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:04,840 Speaker 1: sorts of crazy stuff is happening out there. It's sort 117 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:06,159 Speaker 1: of like we are in the middle of a white 118 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,599 Speaker 1: water rapids, but we're just looking at things in super 119 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: slow motion, so it seems like nothing's happening, right, So 120 00:06:13,279 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 1: can we go from like this more sort of abstract, 121 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: grandiose discussion to like a more concrete example, So, like, 122 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 1: what's happening with the Hyades Cluster. That's right, it's been 123 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: in the news recently. There's a blob of stars out 124 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:31,040 Speaker 1: there called the Hyades Cluster, and astronomers have discovered that 125 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 1: something quite dramatic is going on to this cluster. So 126 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: on today's episode, let's talk about what's happening to the 127 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 1: Hyades Cluster. And before you get too worried, you know, 128 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:48,360 Speaker 1: this is a group of stars out there. They don't 129 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:50,960 Speaker 1: have emotions or feelings, so you don't have to worry 130 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 1: about them too much. Although I guess if there are 131 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 1: aliens out there, you know, living on planets in this cluster, 132 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:00,760 Speaker 1: what's happening to the cluster could be disrupting their lives. 133 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:04,360 Speaker 1: So now I'm worried. So yeah, actually I changed my mind. 134 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:08,080 Speaker 1: You should totally be worried about those aliens. I'm having 135 00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:12,280 Speaker 1: a bit of an existential crisis now, and so as usual, 136 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:15,000 Speaker 1: I went out there into the Internet to ask people 137 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 1: if they knew what was happening to the Hyades Cluster, 138 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 1: and I should have asked them how they felt about it. 139 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 1: But if you are interested in participating for future episodes 140 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: of the podcast and lending your voice to these questions 141 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 1: and hearing your voice on the podcast, please don't be shy. 142 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: Just right to me two questions, add Daniel and Jorge 143 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: dot com. So before you listen to these answers, think 144 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:38,680 Speaker 1: to yourself, do you know what's going on to the 145 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:42,000 Speaker 1: high these cluster. Here's what people had to say. If 146 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:44,160 Speaker 1: it's a stock cluster, then it could be spinning itself 147 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: a pot or flinging stuff out of it. Or if 148 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:52,960 Speaker 1: it's a galaxy cluster them maybe it's uh combining galaxies 149 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:56,239 Speaker 1: together or just again flinging them out of each flinging 150 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:58,400 Speaker 1: them away from each other. I have never heard of 151 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:01,800 Speaker 1: the Hyades cluster, and I'm not even sure i'm pronouncing 152 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,000 Speaker 1: it correctly. The Hayvis cluster, if I remember correctly, is 153 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:09,000 Speaker 1: a star cluster quite close to us, or maybe even 154 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:14,760 Speaker 1: the closest one. And if I'm correct, it's falling apart 155 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:18,040 Speaker 1: or dissipating, or at least it's the stars are not 156 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:21,960 Speaker 1: staying together in the cluster as they are, But I'm 157 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: not sure what the reason for that is anymore. I'm 158 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,040 Speaker 1: not sure what's happening to it, but I really hope 159 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: it's okay. I'm again not sure I know that much 160 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 1: that this cluster is the closest one to us or 161 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:36,559 Speaker 1: to the Sun, but haven't actually heard what's happening to it, 162 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:39,560 Speaker 1: so I'm not sure. I assume this has to do 163 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:44,080 Speaker 1: with a constellation of stars not in our galaxy to 164 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:48,200 Speaker 1: my knowledge, but should be outside of our galaxy, and 165 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:52,080 Speaker 1: clearly it is, since you're asking a question, it is 166 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:55,920 Speaker 1: clearly an interaction or something that has not been observed 167 00:08:56,679 --> 00:09:02,400 Speaker 1: by humans before. So breaking the mold pussy? Is it 168 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:06,960 Speaker 1: moving towards another cluster creating a giant explosion in space? 169 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:09,599 Speaker 1: I think that the Hades clusters all dying out. I 170 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 1: think it's a clusters does and to go off of 171 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: the name Hades, I think they're all going to the underworld. 172 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:21,080 Speaker 1: May be confusing the Hyades cluster with another one, but 173 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: I think that's a youngish cluster where a lot of 174 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: the dust and such from formation has already been you 175 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:35,120 Speaker 1: accumulated or blown off, and now the stars are moving apart. 176 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:38,720 Speaker 1: Their answers were a nice mix of, you know, honestly 177 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,880 Speaker 1: admitting that they don't know what's going on to one 178 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:44,560 Speaker 1: person who was maybe having a bit of an existential crisis, 179 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:48,079 Speaker 1: really hoping that the Hyades cluster was okay. But since 180 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:51,680 Speaker 1: nobody like seemed to have gotten it totally right, can 181 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: you explain to us what what is it? Right? So, 182 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:59,160 Speaker 1: the Hyades cluster is something that astronomers call an open cluster. 183 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:03,760 Speaker 1: This is basically a group of stars that formed together. 184 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:05,840 Speaker 1: I think this is really interesting because I think it 185 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:09,520 Speaker 1: gives you a window and understanding how and when and 186 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:13,360 Speaker 1: where stars are formed. People might imagine that the stars 187 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:16,400 Speaker 1: just sort of like pop into existence in random places 188 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:18,800 Speaker 1: in the universe, but there's really actually a lot more 189 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: structure and pattern to it than that. And star clusters 190 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:25,599 Speaker 1: are these groups of stars that all formed together and 191 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: give us an opportunity to study exactly how and when 192 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:31,600 Speaker 1: stars are formed. And if they're still in the cluster, 193 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:34,559 Speaker 1: does that mean it's a younger group of stars. Does 194 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:37,120 Speaker 1: the clustering tell you something about age? It does, and 195 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: it tells you something about mass, So you have to 196 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:43,120 Speaker 1: go back to the original blob of stuff that formed 197 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 1: this cluster. Remember that most stars are formed from like 198 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:50,280 Speaker 1: huge clouds of gas and dust and left over remnants 199 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:54,360 Speaker 1: from other stars. You know, we're like fourteen billion years 200 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:57,240 Speaker 1: into the history of the universe that have already been 201 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:00,520 Speaker 1: generations of stars that burned for millions or billions of 202 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 1: years and then exploded and sent their shrapnel, their dust, 203 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:08,679 Speaker 1: their compost out into the universe. To see new generations 204 00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:10,760 Speaker 1: of stars. So you have this sort of like raw 205 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:14,600 Speaker 1: material floating out there, but it doesn't always just necessarily 206 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:17,080 Speaker 1: like come together into a star. There's nobody out there 207 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:20,959 Speaker 1: like scooping up huge blobs of hydrogen to form stars. 208 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,120 Speaker 1: Something has to happen to make those stars formed, to 209 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: make this huge cloud of gas and dust actually coalesced 210 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:31,360 Speaker 1: into these burning, bright blobs. So what happens. So it's 211 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:34,240 Speaker 1: fascinating because two things have to happen. One is the 212 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:37,480 Speaker 1: blob has to get cold, like you think of stars 213 00:11:37,559 --> 00:11:40,240 Speaker 1: is like obviously really really hot. But in order for 214 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:44,120 Speaker 1: them to come together, gravity has to pull those things together, 215 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:46,960 Speaker 1: and it can't do that if the particles inside it 216 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:49,720 Speaker 1: are moving really really fast. So if you have like 217 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 1: a cloud of really really hot gas, it's never going 218 00:11:52,559 --> 00:11:55,839 Speaker 1: to form a star if it can't cool down somehow. 219 00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: Those particles have to slow down because remember that gravity 220 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:02,680 Speaker 1: is really weak. It's the weakest force in the universe 221 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:08,080 Speaker 1: by huge number. It's much much weaker than magnetism or electricity. 222 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 1: So for a star to form, gravity has to be 223 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:14,480 Speaker 1: able to gather together those tiny little particles, and that 224 00:12:14,559 --> 00:12:17,320 Speaker 1: can only happen if the particles are really slow moving. 225 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:19,600 Speaker 1: So you have some big cloud of gas and dust, 226 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:22,520 Speaker 1: it needs a way to cool down, like radiating off 227 00:12:22,559 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: its energy, sending photons out into deep space. That gives 228 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:29,080 Speaker 1: you the raw material that gravity can then use to 229 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:32,280 Speaker 1: form those stars. But usually these clouds are not just 230 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:34,719 Speaker 1: like enough cloud to make one star. There are enough 231 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:37,880 Speaker 1: cloud to make hundreds or thousands of stars all at 232 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:40,199 Speaker 1: the same time. So I'm having a little trouble wrapping 233 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:42,160 Speaker 1: my head around this. So when you say cool down, 234 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:47,400 Speaker 1: you mean like cool for a star but still ridiculously hot, 235 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:51,680 Speaker 1: or is it like actually cool, no, really cool even 236 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:55,240 Speaker 1: for you Like these are freezing, freezing cold clouds of 237 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:58,359 Speaker 1: gas and dust. They need to be moving very slowly 238 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:01,319 Speaker 1: for gravity to take over. So we say two things 239 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:03,839 Speaker 1: have to happen. One is they need to be cooled down, 240 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:06,959 Speaker 1: not like thousands of degrees Calvin, but you know, much 241 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:10,840 Speaker 1: smaller values, actually cold values. And then you need gravity 242 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:13,080 Speaker 1: to be sort of like get a foothold to like 243 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:16,800 Speaker 1: make these clouds collapse into a cluster of stars. And 244 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:19,800 Speaker 1: for that to happen, either you need like one blob 245 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:22,600 Speaker 1: that's extra dense and it starts to gather the other 246 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:25,760 Speaker 1: ones because it has stronger gravity. Than anything else around it, 247 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:29,439 Speaker 1: or you have some external event, like a supernova nearby 248 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:32,600 Speaker 1: sends a shock wave, and that can trigger the collapse 249 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:34,720 Speaker 1: because it sort of pushes a bunch of particles into 250 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:37,680 Speaker 1: another bunch of particles and then they have more density 251 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:40,400 Speaker 1: than everything else around them. So you need like a 252 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,680 Speaker 1: cold cloud of gas. It's like the raw ingredients, you know, 253 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:45,679 Speaker 1: like when you make a recipe and they say, like, 254 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:48,920 Speaker 1: you know, use chilled butter or whatever. It's important for 255 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:52,080 Speaker 1: the texture of your pie that you start with cold butter. Right, 256 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:54,480 Speaker 1: You're not gonna get your lamonation in your flaky crust. 257 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:56,040 Speaker 1: In the same way, you need to start with like 258 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:59,320 Speaker 1: cold gas for your stars, and then you need to 259 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,319 Speaker 1: trigger that lapse somehow. So it's this two step process 260 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:04,720 Speaker 1: of forming new stars and so the one once you 261 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:07,160 Speaker 1: get that you know the right pieces of the recipe 262 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:09,920 Speaker 1: so you can make your cosmic pie. What does it 263 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 1: end up looking like? Like what kind of stars do 264 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:15,240 Speaker 1: you make? And how big is the product? It depends 265 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,200 Speaker 1: a lot on exactly how much metal there is in 266 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:21,040 Speaker 1: this cloud. The universe started out with only hydrogen and 267 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:24,400 Speaker 1: helium and very very tiny amounts of everything else, and 268 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:28,080 Speaker 1: astronomers called everything above helium a metal, like I know, 269 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:31,440 Speaker 1: biologists and chemists had their own definition of metals, but 270 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:34,560 Speaker 1: for astronomers, anything above helium they call the metal. And 271 00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:36,160 Speaker 1: so you know, I don't know what they call heavy 272 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:38,840 Speaker 1: metal music, but you know, probably anything with a beat 273 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:41,000 Speaker 1: to it. Do astronomers listen to heavy metal? I guess 274 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:44,240 Speaker 1: some of them must. Almost everything is heavy metals for astronomers. 275 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:47,560 Speaker 1: And if your cloud has more heavy metals in it, 276 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 1: heavier elements carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, even iron, then it's easier 277 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: for it to coalesce, and so you get reasonably sized stars. 278 00:14:56,400 --> 00:14:59,760 Speaker 1: If you have really really big clouds without any heavy metals, 279 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,200 Speaker 1: and it's harder for it to sort of cool down 280 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:05,600 Speaker 1: and to coalesce, and so you get really big stars. 281 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:08,440 Speaker 1: You get these huge clouds, and so we think like 282 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:11,760 Speaker 1: the first population of stars ever reformed in the universe 283 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:16,520 Speaker 1: were probably like enormous mega stars for that reason, whereas 284 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 1: in later clouds of gas and dust that had these 285 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 1: like smaller pockets of metals in them, they formed these 286 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:25,440 Speaker 1: points for the stars to form, and so you've got 287 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:28,880 Speaker 1: a larger number of sort of reasonably sized stars, you know, 288 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 1: stars like half to ten times the mass of our sun, 289 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 1: and do these stars are these stars that will last 290 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: for a long time. There's a really close connection. They're 291 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:40,880 Speaker 1: actually the bigger the star, the greater the gravitational pressure. 292 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:43,280 Speaker 1: Once it does start to burn, the higher the temperature, 293 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:46,040 Speaker 1: and the faster it burns through its fuel. That's why 294 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 1: that first generation of stars that had almost no metals 295 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,960 Speaker 1: in them, only lasted a few hundred million years, whereas 296 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:54,320 Speaker 1: the second generation of stars, some of those are still 297 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:56,920 Speaker 1: around there more than ten billion years old, and the 298 00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:00,160 Speaker 1: smaller ones might even burn for trillions of years. So 299 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:02,880 Speaker 1: the smaller the star at the longer the lifetime. And 300 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:04,840 Speaker 1: the thing to realize is that these stars are not 301 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 1: just formed one at a time. Right, you have a 302 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:09,240 Speaker 1: huge cloud of gas and dust, and so a bunch 303 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:11,760 Speaker 1: of stars are formed together. And so earlier you asked 304 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:14,320 Speaker 1: me like, well, how long do these clusters last? And 305 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: so it depends on how many stars you get into 306 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:20,520 Speaker 1: that cluster. So if you get like a huge cloud 307 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 1: of gas and dust that gives you like thousands and 308 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: thousands of stars, then those stars which are formed together 309 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:28,960 Speaker 1: will hang out together for quite a long time. A 310 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:31,240 Speaker 1: smaller cloud which gives you fewer stars like you know, 311 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:33,800 Speaker 1: ten or maybe a hundred. They don't have the gravitational 312 00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:36,560 Speaker 1: strength to resist the rest of the galaxy, and they 313 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: mostly just end up going their own way. I have 314 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:44,640 Speaker 1: been in some social groups like that. So typically these 315 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 1: clusters can last, you know, millions or hundreds of millions 316 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:50,080 Speaker 1: of years. Scientists are really surprised if they see a 317 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:53,040 Speaker 1: cluster that's like a billion years old, because it's hard 318 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:55,480 Speaker 1: for these clusters to resist like the tug of the 319 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:57,560 Speaker 1: rest of the galaxy, which tends to sort of pull 320 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:00,200 Speaker 1: them apart. Do they all stick around for about the 321 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:02,520 Speaker 1: same amount of time because they started at the same 322 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:04,439 Speaker 1: amount of time, or do some of them disappear at 323 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:07,919 Speaker 1: different rates? Well, the stars inside the cluster can be 324 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:11,600 Speaker 1: of varying sizes, and so because some of them are bigger, 325 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:15,240 Speaker 1: they burn brighter, they burn bluer, they tend to disappear. 326 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:18,000 Speaker 1: So as you're looking in older cluster, you tend to 327 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:21,000 Speaker 1: see fewer blue stars in them and more of the 328 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:24,480 Speaker 1: red stars and the yellow stars. So an older cluster 329 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:27,200 Speaker 1: tends to have like more yellow and red stars. One 330 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:29,520 Speaker 1: weird thing is that they have been looking at open 331 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 1: clusters and globular clusters, which are similar and even larger, 332 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:35,760 Speaker 1: and they see something really weird, which that they see 333 00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: a bunch of bright blue stars even inside these clusters 334 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,040 Speaker 1: that are supposed to be pretty old, where all the 335 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:44,920 Speaker 1: blue stars should have already burned up. WHOA, So why 336 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:47,440 Speaker 1: do we think that they're sticking around? Scientists aren't sure, 337 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:49,400 Speaker 1: of course, but that's what makes it exciting. They call 338 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,479 Speaker 1: these things blue stragglers. And one idea, which I think 339 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,520 Speaker 1: is really fun, is that these blue stragglers might be 340 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:00,439 Speaker 1: new combinations of old stars. Like maybe you had a 341 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:03,000 Speaker 1: couple of stars that are red or yellow and are 342 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,080 Speaker 1: burning happily and planning to burn for billions of years, 343 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:10,080 Speaker 1: but then they merge. They smashed together, they like gravitationally 344 00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:12,480 Speaker 1: bound to each other. Maybe they were in a binary 345 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:14,639 Speaker 1: system to start with, and they just sort of like 346 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:18,240 Speaker 1: fall into each other and become a big hot star. WHOA, 347 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:21,119 Speaker 1: So I wonder like the social media and that galaxy, 348 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:24,960 Speaker 1: is it like benefer when Ben Affleck and Jennifer what 349 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:28,360 Speaker 1: Lopez come together? You know, these stars have names that combine. 350 00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:31,119 Speaker 1: I don't know, but instellar marriages. There are no divorces, 351 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:33,720 Speaker 1: right once you get gravitationally married to each other. I 352 00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:36,440 Speaker 1: don't know how you can get separated again. You better 353 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:41,239 Speaker 1: like each other. So you've mentioned an open cluster, and 354 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:44,240 Speaker 1: I think I also heard you say globular cluster? Are 355 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:47,919 Speaker 1: there clothes clusters? How many kinds of clusters do we have? 356 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:51,199 Speaker 1: You know, if astronomical names made sense, then yes, there 357 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:54,399 Speaker 1: would be open clusters and close clusters, globular clusters, and 358 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 1: I guess non globular clusters. But no, these things come 359 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: from history of people noticing, just as you were saying earlier, 360 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:03,359 Speaker 1: they would like zoom in on a star and then discover, 361 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:06,080 Speaker 1: way a second, that's not a star, that's actually a 362 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:08,399 Speaker 1: bunch of stars and a little cluster. That's why it 363 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:11,240 Speaker 1: looked a little bit like a hazy blob instead of 364 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 1: a bright pinpoint. And as we study these things, we 365 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:16,720 Speaker 1: discover that these categories, which is sort of historical based 366 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:19,320 Speaker 1: on who found them and what they called them, might 367 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:22,080 Speaker 1: actually just sort of sit in a spectrum. That the 368 00:19:22,119 --> 00:19:25,200 Speaker 1: difference between an open cluster, you know, which tends to 369 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:27,920 Speaker 1: have tens of thousands of stars, and a globular cluster 370 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:31,119 Speaker 1: that has like a hundred thousand stars might just be 371 00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:33,679 Speaker 1: the size that there might be like clusters of stars 372 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,440 Speaker 1: of all sizes, and we just sort of like found 373 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:38,080 Speaker 1: a few here and found a few there and gave 374 00:19:38,119 --> 00:19:40,879 Speaker 1: them different names, when really it's just like a smooth 375 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:43,840 Speaker 1: spectrum and there's no like fundamental difference. But that's something 376 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 1: astronomers are studying, like the concept of this open cluster 377 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:49,000 Speaker 1: and is it different from a globular cluster and how 378 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:51,000 Speaker 1: does it all fit together in the sort of history 379 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,960 Speaker 1: of the galaxy is an exciting area of research right now. 380 00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:55,720 Speaker 1: It's got to be a tough thing to study, but 381 00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:57,720 Speaker 1: I found it really fascinating because it gives you like 382 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:00,680 Speaker 1: a hint as to what's going on in the Ga galaxy. 383 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:02,720 Speaker 1: You know, it's not like we just got these stars 384 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:05,359 Speaker 1: and they're gonna be burning. We're making new stars, like 385 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:08,679 Speaker 1: right now, like everyday, new stars are being formed. And 386 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,600 Speaker 1: these clusters are especially fascinating because not only do you 387 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:14,399 Speaker 1: have stars in there, but they still have clues in 388 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:17,720 Speaker 1: the structure of the cluster about the thing that made them, 389 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:20,600 Speaker 1: this huge cloud which formed them. And so I think 390 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,000 Speaker 1: these clusters are super fascinating because there's sort of like 391 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:26,359 Speaker 1: little mini sub galaxies within the galaxy. They give you 392 00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:28,399 Speaker 1: a clue as like the texture of the galaxy and 393 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:30,960 Speaker 1: it's particular history that is so cool. So do we 394 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: have a sense for like what kind of things you 395 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:35,959 Speaker 1: most commonly find at the center of the clusters? How 396 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:38,119 Speaker 1: many of these have we've been able to study in detail? Well, 397 00:20:38,119 --> 00:20:40,080 Speaker 1: you know, these things are not made that often. There's 398 00:20:40,119 --> 00:20:43,479 Speaker 1: like one of these open clusters we think formed every 399 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,640 Speaker 1: few thousand years in the Milky Way, so like it's 400 00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:49,520 Speaker 1: not like they're always popping into the night sky. But 401 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:52,119 Speaker 1: because the Milky Way is pretty old, there are a 402 00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 1: bunch of them. And we've identified more than a thousand 403 00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:58,560 Speaker 1: open clusters just in our galaxy, but we think there 404 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:00,880 Speaker 1: are lots and lots more so we've they're all over 405 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:03,280 Speaker 1: the place. A thousand that's a pretty nice data set 406 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:05,040 Speaker 1: to work with. Yeah, it's something that you can you 407 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:07,159 Speaker 1: really use to study because you're going to see them 408 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:10,240 Speaker 1: at all different points in their history. Recently, foreign clusters, 409 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:13,560 Speaker 1: clusters that are just falling apart, all sorts of stuff. 410 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:15,720 Speaker 1: Of course, the one that astronomers really like to study 411 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:18,280 Speaker 1: is the one that's closest to the Earth, and is 412 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:21,480 Speaker 1: that the Hyades cluster. That is all right now that 413 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:25,119 Speaker 1: everybody's excited to learn about the Hyades Cluster. Let's wait 414 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:41,080 Speaker 1: and take a break to hear from our sponsors. All right, 415 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,440 Speaker 1: the moment you've all been waiting for, we're back. Let's 416 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:46,960 Speaker 1: hear about the Hyades Cluster. So you were just telling 417 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:49,439 Speaker 1: us that it is the closest of the clusters. So 418 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 1: if I look out in the night sky, where should 419 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:53,639 Speaker 1: I be looking if I want to be looking in 420 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:56,240 Speaker 1: the right direction to find the Hyades cluster. The Hyse 421 00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:59,639 Speaker 1: Cluster is actually part of a constellation. So if you 422 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:03,239 Speaker 1: know that Horace constellation, the Face of the Bull, you know, 423 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:05,879 Speaker 1: then there's this part of that constellation that's sort of 424 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:08,199 Speaker 1: like a v The High These Cluster is part of that. 425 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:10,840 Speaker 1: Another part of that constellation is sort of a famous 426 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:14,040 Speaker 1: star called Aldera Bond, which I think is famous maybe 427 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:15,719 Speaker 1: just because it sounds like the name of a planet 428 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:18,760 Speaker 1: in Star Wars, but it's also one of the brightest 429 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:22,080 Speaker 1: stars in the night sky. And so would we be able, 430 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:25,680 Speaker 1: like if we were looking at the Tourist constellation, would 431 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:29,439 Speaker 1: we see something kind of fuzzy or would it just 432 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:31,399 Speaker 1: sort of look like a point. Well, it's about a 433 00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:34,879 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty three light years away, which means that 434 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:37,560 Speaker 1: it's pretty far away, right, it's not that close, and 435 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:39,879 Speaker 1: so to the naked eye it just looks like a point. 436 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:41,959 Speaker 1: But if you have a strong enough telescope, you can 437 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 1: zoom in on it and you can tell that's not 438 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:47,320 Speaker 1: just a star, it's actually a cluster of stars. It 439 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:50,439 Speaker 1: doesn't take that powerful a telescope. So if you have 440 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,000 Speaker 1: a pretty good telescope in your backyard, zoom in on 441 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:55,000 Speaker 1: the high these cluster and you can see it looks 442 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:57,200 Speaker 1: like a bit of a fuzzy blob, and that's how 443 00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:59,800 Speaker 1: it was discovered to be a cluster. How wide is this? 444 00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:03,560 Speaker 1: So the thing is about sixty light years across, right, 445 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:05,919 Speaker 1: and so it's a hundred fifty three light years away 446 00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:07,720 Speaker 1: and sixty light years across. So that gives you a 447 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:11,000 Speaker 1: sense for like how broad this thing is relative to 448 00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:14,040 Speaker 1: its distance, And that means that it's large enough and 449 00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:17,440 Speaker 1: close enough that we can actually measure its distance directly 450 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:21,399 Speaker 1: using parallax. Remember that the distance two stars can be 451 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,880 Speaker 1: hard to estimate because you can't necessarily tell the difference 452 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:28,800 Speaker 1: between a star that's really bright and far away or 453 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:31,280 Speaker 1: a star that's not so bright and closer up. They 454 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:33,240 Speaker 1: look the same in the night sky, but we have 455 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 1: all these cool techniques for measuring how far away a 456 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:38,920 Speaker 1: star is from, like looking at type one a supernova 457 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:41,520 Speaker 1: for stars and other galaxies, just seeing if they're near 458 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:44,800 Speaker 1: one of these variable stars, these sephids, or if they're 459 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:47,800 Speaker 1: close enough, we can see how the star moves in 460 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:50,760 Speaker 1: the night sky as the Earth goes around the Sun, 461 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 1: because as the Earth goes around the Sun, you get 462 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:55,960 Speaker 1: a slightly different view of the night sky. And for 463 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:58,480 Speaker 1: stars that are close enough, it's sort of like opening 464 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 1: and closing one eye and looking at your finger. You've 465 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,200 Speaker 1: got a different view of that finger, and your brain 466 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:07,560 Speaker 1: actually automatically uses that binocular information to give you a 467 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:10,520 Speaker 1: sense for how far away something is. So Hyades is 468 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:12,360 Speaker 1: close enough that we can do that. We can use 469 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:15,320 Speaker 1: parallax to measure how far away it is. Interesting, and 470 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:16,639 Speaker 1: of course you know now that you've mentioned that I 471 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:18,600 Speaker 1: have to be blinking and looking at my finger in 472 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:21,520 Speaker 1: this room by myself. So we talked a little bit 473 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:24,399 Speaker 1: ago about how you need something in the center to 474 00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:28,160 Speaker 1: pull the cloud together. Do we know what is pulling 475 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:31,760 Speaker 1: things together in the Hyades cluster? So probably all of 476 00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:35,800 Speaker 1: those gravitational centers then became stars, right, So you have 477 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:38,199 Speaker 1: this like big cloud of gas and dust that forms it, 478 00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:41,159 Speaker 1: and then you need these seeds, these gravitational seeds to 479 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:44,720 Speaker 1: pull stuff together. Each of those are the progenitors of 480 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 1: a star, and so what you end up with instead 481 00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:48,800 Speaker 1: of a big cloud of gas and dust, is then 482 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:51,560 Speaker 1: just a bunch of stars. And interestingly, all the gas 483 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:55,159 Speaker 1: and dust that didn't get gathered into a star gets 484 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:58,640 Speaker 1: blown out of the cluster because of the radiation from 485 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,359 Speaker 1: those stars. So sort of like musical chairs, like you 486 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:03,399 Speaker 1: gotta find a star to join, and if you don't, 487 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:06,480 Speaker 1: then the radiation just like blows you away and you're 488 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:11,440 Speaker 1: alone forever. You're just floating out there destined to be 489 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 1: you know, in some next generation of stars, maybe the 490 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:16,440 Speaker 1: fourth or the fifth time around, you'll win the game 491 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:19,200 Speaker 1: of musical stars and you'll get to burn brightly in 492 00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:21,480 Speaker 1: the universe. I don't know though, if gas really wants 493 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:23,159 Speaker 1: to be part of a star and get fused into 494 00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:26,000 Speaker 1: something heavy, or if it's happy just the way it is. Well, 495 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:28,160 Speaker 1: some of us are loaners, and so you know, I'm 496 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 1: glad there's lots of options out there for the dust particles, 497 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:32,439 Speaker 1: and I hope they'll get what they want. I like 498 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:37,119 Speaker 1: the introvert extrovert theory of gas. That's nice. Well, I 499 00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:41,560 Speaker 1: study animal behavior. So, so about how many stars are 500 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:44,560 Speaker 1: in this particular cluster. So the high these clusters sort 501 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:46,800 Speaker 1: of like a big spherical blob, and right now it 502 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:49,760 Speaker 1: has hundreds of stars in it. And as we said earlier, 503 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:52,400 Speaker 1: probably all these stars around the similar age, and they 504 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:54,800 Speaker 1: come from the same cloud and so that the same 505 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:58,960 Speaker 1: sort of chemical makeup. And interestingly, we think, based on 506 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:02,439 Speaker 1: the light that comes from these stars, that there's more 507 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:05,119 Speaker 1: metals in those stars than there is in sort of 508 00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:08,840 Speaker 1: our stellar neighborhood. So you told us that astronomers think 509 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:12,479 Speaker 1: anything more than helium is a metal, right, So that 510 00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:14,960 Speaker 1: might not mean what I think it means. Does that 511 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,280 Speaker 1: just mean it has less helium and hydrogen? Yeah, when 512 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,400 Speaker 1: a star is formed, it's usually it is mostly hydrogen 513 00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:24,119 Speaker 1: and helium, and that's really what the star starts to burn, 514 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:28,359 Speaker 1: because stars are factories for turning helium and hydrogen into 515 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:31,920 Speaker 1: heavier elements. But of course they often come with some 516 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:35,160 Speaker 1: left over remnants of previous stars, and at the beginning 517 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:37,840 Speaker 1: of a star's lifetime, those heavy elements just sort of 518 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,480 Speaker 1: hang out and get hot. If the star burns long 519 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,639 Speaker 1: enough so that they can fuse those heavier elements. Then 520 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:46,800 Speaker 1: eventually they can participate in the star itself. One thing 521 00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 1: we can do is we can measure the emissions from 522 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:51,360 Speaker 1: those elements. We can look at a star, we can 523 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,920 Speaker 1: see in what frequencies it's sending us light, and that 524 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:58,199 Speaker 1: those frequencies tell us what the star is made out of, 525 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:01,720 Speaker 1: because different elements glow with different colors. Like if you 526 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:04,560 Speaker 1: remember middle school chemistry, you probably got to put like 527 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,280 Speaker 1: weird chemicals and a bunsen burner and see the flame 528 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:11,560 Speaker 1: turn green or blue or whatever. Chemistry. That's part of chemistry, 529 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:13,760 Speaker 1: you know, the whiz bang factor. And so we can 530 00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:15,600 Speaker 1: do the same thing with stars. You say, oh, this 531 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:18,159 Speaker 1: one is burning green, that has more copper in it. Whatever. 532 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:21,000 Speaker 1: And so this tells you, like the particular context of 533 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:23,879 Speaker 1: the neighborhood wherever the high these cluster was when it 534 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:27,320 Speaker 1: was born, happen to have more medals in it because 535 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:30,400 Speaker 1: it just happened to have like more compost from other 536 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:33,480 Speaker 1: stars that had blown up and spread those medals into 537 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:37,679 Speaker 1: the universe. Interesting, I'm trying to figure out a hippie 538 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:40,880 Speaker 1: joke or something about composting, but it's just not it's 539 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:43,560 Speaker 1: not coming together. It's a cycle of life or something, 540 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:46,280 Speaker 1: or the cycle of star life. Yes, the cycle of 541 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:48,359 Speaker 1: star life. And as you look at these clusters, you 542 00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:51,760 Speaker 1: can also compare them to the other clusters nearby, and 543 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:53,760 Speaker 1: I can tell you more of like the story of 544 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: what happened. I feel like this is sort of like 545 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,320 Speaker 1: space archaeology, you know, wondering like how did this form 546 00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:01,400 Speaker 1: and what was going on here? While the high these 547 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:05,320 Speaker 1: cluster is near another cluster where there similarly difficult to 548 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:08,000 Speaker 1: pronounce a name. It might be Presepi, but it has 549 00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:11,760 Speaker 1: similar metallicity and it's sort of moving in the same direction. 550 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:14,720 Speaker 1: So they might have been formed together like one big 551 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:18,359 Speaker 1: mega cluster and then gotten split up by title forces, 552 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:21,560 Speaker 1: by the gravitational forces of the Milky Way, into two 553 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:23,679 Speaker 1: separate clusters. Or they could have just come from the 554 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:26,720 Speaker 1: same neighborhood which had like the same sort of leftover 555 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:30,199 Speaker 1: bits of stars. But all these things are remnants, you know, 556 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:32,280 Speaker 1: sort of like when you see a church and it's 557 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:34,960 Speaker 1: built on top of the foundations of something else, which 558 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 1: is built on top of the foundations of something else. 559 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:40,240 Speaker 1: It's like ten layers deep of human history. There that's 560 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:41,800 Speaker 1: sort of what we're looking at when we're looking at 561 00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:46,320 Speaker 1: the stars. There's so many generations of cosmic dramatic history, 562 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:48,760 Speaker 1: and yet you have to try to disentangle it from 563 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:51,600 Speaker 1: light years away. It remains amazing to me that we 564 00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:53,560 Speaker 1: know anything at all about the night sky. And you 565 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:56,160 Speaker 1: asked a really interesting question earlier about how we can 566 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,680 Speaker 1: know that these things are happening because we're seeing them 567 00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:01,760 Speaker 1: in slow motion. I think that's a really important question, 568 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:03,840 Speaker 1: because you're right. We can't like look at one star 569 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:06,680 Speaker 1: and see its whole life cycle and say, Okay, we 570 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:08,600 Speaker 1: saw it get born, and we saw burn, and we 571 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:10,719 Speaker 1: saw it die. All we can do is look at 572 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:12,880 Speaker 1: lots of different examples. It's sort of like if you 573 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,080 Speaker 1: look at a town and you see there are kids, 574 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:17,320 Speaker 1: and there are teenagers, and there are grown ups, and 575 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:19,239 Speaker 1: there are people who are old and dying, and then 576 00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:21,880 Speaker 1: you can sort of put together the lifespan of a human, 577 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,400 Speaker 1: even though you don't ever get to see a human 578 00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:27,720 Speaker 1: go through the whole cycle just from one snapshot. That's 579 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:29,560 Speaker 1: sort of what we're doing in the night sky. We 580 00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:31,959 Speaker 1: don't get to see a star's entire life cycle, and 581 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:35,080 Speaker 1: we definitely don't get to see an open clusters entire cycle. 582 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:37,400 Speaker 1: But we can sort of put the story together by 583 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 1: looking at lots of them. And as you said earlier, 584 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:41,320 Speaker 1: there's like more than a thousand of them, So that 585 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:43,840 Speaker 1: gives us a pretty good picture what's going on in 586 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:47,680 Speaker 1: terms of the dynamics. And so when these clusters go away, 587 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:51,200 Speaker 1: do they go away because the stars die, or do 588 00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:53,880 Speaker 1: they go get pulled aparts and sort of spread out 589 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:56,480 Speaker 1: in the night sky? What what happens to these clusters 590 00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 1: as time goes on. It depends a little on the age. 591 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 1: Sometimes of the cluster lasts a long time. Then the 592 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,440 Speaker 1: stars can live their whole life in the cluster and 593 00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:06,640 Speaker 1: never have to leave. But the rest of the Milky 594 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,680 Speaker 1: Way is tugging on these things. Remember that there's rarely 595 00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:12,680 Speaker 1: strong gravitational forces from the center of the Milky Way. 596 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:15,320 Speaker 1: All of these stars, they're not just hanging out in space. 597 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:19,120 Speaker 1: They're zooming through space because they're whirling around the galaxy, 598 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,880 Speaker 1: which is spinning. That means that there's a very strong 599 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,080 Speaker 1: gravitational force towards the center of the galaxy, but their 600 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:27,840 Speaker 1: velocity keeps them from falling into it, sort of like 601 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:30,120 Speaker 1: the way the Earth doesn't fall into the Sun because 602 00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:33,120 Speaker 1: it's moving so fast, and so these stars are getting 603 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:35,600 Speaker 1: pulled on by the gravity of the Milky Way, but 604 00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:38,000 Speaker 1: doesn't pull on all of them equally. Some of them 605 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:39,840 Speaker 1: are closer to the center and some of them are 606 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:43,640 Speaker 1: further from the center, so they're effectively getting pulled apart, 607 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:46,600 Speaker 1: and we call it tidal forces. Anytime gravity is pulling 608 00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:49,320 Speaker 1: on one part of something with a different force than 609 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:51,720 Speaker 1: it pulls on the other part of it, effectively it's 610 00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:55,400 Speaker 1: pulling it apart. So we call those tidal forces. And 611 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:57,400 Speaker 1: the Milky Way is doing that to the open cluster, 612 00:30:57,520 --> 00:30:59,520 Speaker 1: just like us doing it to everything else. Is trying 613 00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:03,240 Speaker 1: to basically pull it apart. So if you we're living 614 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:06,320 Speaker 1: on a habitable planet and it could be anywhere in 615 00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:09,400 Speaker 1: the Solar System, would you not want your habitable planet 616 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:12,000 Speaker 1: to be in a cluster because it's getting pulled on 617 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:14,960 Speaker 1: a lot, and you'd be more likely to, I don't know, 618 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,120 Speaker 1: get thrown out of whack. Or is it not more 619 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:20,360 Speaker 1: chaotic there than other places? These things are denser than 620 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:22,760 Speaker 1: other places, So the rest of the Milky Way sort 621 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:25,120 Speaker 1: of less dense in terms of stars, like in our 622 00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:27,360 Speaker 1: neighborhood of the Milky Way, it's like one star every 623 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:31,120 Speaker 1: three or four cubic light years, so not very dense, 624 00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:34,200 Speaker 1: whereas in the center of a globular cluster, for example, 625 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:36,840 Speaker 1: there's like one star every cubic light year, so they're 626 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:39,960 Speaker 1: much closer to each other. Normally, that doesn't really affect 627 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:42,160 Speaker 1: you because like that's still really far away, like a 628 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:45,720 Speaker 1: light year is a big distance. However, it really can 629 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,880 Speaker 1: affect you because if stars are near each other, they 630 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:52,400 Speaker 1: can perturb each other's Solar system. So, for example, if 631 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:55,840 Speaker 1: another star came close to our Sun, it might knock 632 00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:59,200 Speaker 1: some things in the or cloud out. This this huge 633 00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:02,680 Speaker 1: cloud of lillions of icy objects orbiting really far from 634 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:05,040 Speaker 1: the Sun. If one of them gets knocked out of orbit, 635 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:08,080 Speaker 1: you can fall into the Solar system and become a comet. 636 00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:14,080 Speaker 1: And sometimes those things smack into planets, causing catastrophes. Yeah, 637 00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:17,320 Speaker 1: so it's not great actually to have neighbors. You want 638 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:19,360 Speaker 1: to live out in the middle of nowhere, and this 639 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:22,040 Speaker 1: neighbors maybe getting a little bit too close. We should 640 00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:26,760 Speaker 1: see if they're following all the h O rules exactly. 641 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:28,760 Speaker 1: Probably they're coming up and they're saying, hey, you'r or 642 00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:30,640 Speaker 1: cloud is out of whack, and you're like, hey, that's 643 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:32,680 Speaker 1: because you came too close. Get out of here. It's 644 00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:36,160 Speaker 1: your phone. You're gonna have to pay for the property 645 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:39,280 Speaker 1: damage if a comet gets too close, exactly. And so 646 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:41,600 Speaker 1: living in the center of a stellar cluster and open 647 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:45,280 Speaker 1: cluster or a globular cluster probably not great for life 648 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:48,200 Speaker 1: because you could probably get more common bombardments. Got it. 649 00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:50,959 Speaker 1: It's a dangerous place out there on long time scales. 650 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,480 Speaker 1: So what is Hyades is history? How old is it 651 00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:56,800 Speaker 1: and is it breaking up a lot right now or 652 00:32:56,880 --> 00:32:59,080 Speaker 1: is it still pretty well held together so high these 653 00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:02,480 Speaker 1: we think is around six hundred million years old, which 654 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:05,040 Speaker 1: is pretty old for one of these clusters. We think 655 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:08,040 Speaker 1: that usually these clusters only last for like fifty to 656 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:11,320 Speaker 1: a hundred million years before basically they get pulled apart 657 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:14,440 Speaker 1: and they just become dissolved into the background structure of 658 00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:16,720 Speaker 1: the Milky Way. So this one is pretty old, which 659 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:20,520 Speaker 1: means probably it started out really big and really massive, 660 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:22,360 Speaker 1: and while we're looking at is sort of like the 661 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:26,320 Speaker 1: leftover bits. What's been able to resist those tidal forces 662 00:33:26,560 --> 00:33:30,080 Speaker 1: for six hundred million years. That's incredible because that's not 663 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:33,600 Speaker 1: just a little bit longer than usual. That's longer than usual. 664 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:36,160 Speaker 1: So we've got a thousand data points. Is six hundred 665 00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:39,240 Speaker 1: million years old and extreme value? Are we lucky to 666 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:41,960 Speaker 1: live next to this extreme open cluster? Or is there 667 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,520 Speaker 1: a lot of variability around that fifty to one hundred 668 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:47,080 Speaker 1: million years? There is a lot of variability, though they 669 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:50,280 Speaker 1: tend to peek at much smaller values, so six hundred 670 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:52,440 Speaker 1: is pretty rare that we have seen some up to 671 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:55,760 Speaker 1: like maybe a billion if they're really really massive. But 672 00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:57,960 Speaker 1: this suggests the high these is definitely on the more 673 00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:01,920 Speaker 1: massive end of clusters. All right, Well, so we opened 674 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:05,280 Speaker 1: by saying what's happening to Hyades? Which suggests that something 675 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:08,479 Speaker 1: interesting is happening to Hyades. So let's make everybody wait 676 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:11,080 Speaker 1: when we take a break before we get back to 677 00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:26,759 Speaker 1: the big question. And we're back. So, now that we've 678 00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:30,040 Speaker 1: all learned about Hyades background, we all, you know, are 679 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:32,839 Speaker 1: sort of emotionally attached to it. But you told us 680 00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:34,879 Speaker 1: that something is happening to it, which we all hope 681 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:38,440 Speaker 1: is nothing bad. What is happening to Hyades? So what 682 00:34:38,520 --> 00:34:40,799 Speaker 1: you usually happens to these clusters is that they get 683 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:43,760 Speaker 1: pulled apart by the galaxy, right and usually tidal forces 684 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:46,279 Speaker 1: have a very distinctive effect on something. They tend to 685 00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:49,520 Speaker 1: pull it apart into long strands, and so you get 686 00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,640 Speaker 1: like a forward tail and a trailing tail instead of 687 00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:55,080 Speaker 1: just being a blob that like pulls the closer bits 688 00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:58,160 Speaker 1: harder and doesn't pull on the back bits as hard. 689 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:00,239 Speaker 1: So it gets sort of like stretched out. You get 690 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:03,480 Speaker 1: these really long tails, and so that's what typically happens 691 00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:06,520 Speaker 1: to these clusters. They get stretched out and eventually dispersed. 692 00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:09,520 Speaker 1: And so people have been studying the high these cluster 693 00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:13,279 Speaker 1: and they see these tails, but one of these tails 694 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:16,279 Speaker 1: is missing. The trailing tails seems to sort of have 695 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:19,920 Speaker 1: been like chopped off. WHOA where did it go. It's 696 00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:22,000 Speaker 1: like finding a lizard in nature and be like, oh, 697 00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:24,040 Speaker 1: somebody took a bite out of this one, right right, 698 00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:27,000 Speaker 1: the predator got him. Yeah. And so what that means 699 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:30,480 Speaker 1: is that there's something big out there that's disrupting this thing. 700 00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:34,040 Speaker 1: It's not just the normal process of the galaxy tearing 701 00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:37,600 Speaker 1: this thing apart gently. Something sort of more brutal is happening. 702 00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:40,719 Speaker 1: And I say more brutal as a direct quotation from 703 00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:43,799 Speaker 1: one of these astronomy papers I read. And when astronomers say, 704 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:45,960 Speaker 1: you know who are used to like stars burning and 705 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:49,200 Speaker 1: exploding and supernovas. When they say something's brutal, you know, 706 00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:52,239 Speaker 1: it's pretty severe. I'm scared. What is the brutal thing 707 00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:55,120 Speaker 1: that's happening? Do they know? We don't know exactly because 708 00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:57,480 Speaker 1: all we can do is measure the gravity, right. What 709 00:35:57,560 --> 00:35:59,919 Speaker 1: we know is that these things are disrupted by grab, 710 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:02,839 Speaker 1: of course, the gravity of the galactic center. But here 711 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:06,440 Speaker 1: there's some new source of gravity. Something else is tugging 712 00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:09,200 Speaker 1: on this thing, and it's like slurred up the tail 713 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:11,799 Speaker 1: of this cluster, it's like gobbled it up. And so 714 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:16,360 Speaker 1: there's some massive invisible structure out there that's tearing the 715 00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:19,080 Speaker 1: high these cluster apart. So why don't the clumps get 716 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:22,200 Speaker 1: like pulled away and then form something bigger? Where where 717 00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:24,960 Speaker 1: are they going? Yeah, that's a great question. It depends 718 00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:27,120 Speaker 1: on the sort of the shape of this new thing 719 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:29,799 Speaker 1: that's pulling on them. It's possible that it's just sort 720 00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:31,839 Speaker 1: of like yanks them out, and they get tossed out 721 00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:35,000 Speaker 1: because of their high velocity, into some new direction and 722 00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:39,440 Speaker 1: they can't necessarily like coalesce around this new heavy, invisible object. 723 00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:42,560 Speaker 1: But in order to tear this thing apart. It needs 724 00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:45,880 Speaker 1: to be some object that has like ten million times 725 00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:48,760 Speaker 1: the mass of the Sun, so it's much more massive 726 00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:51,440 Speaker 1: than the entire cluster, and we can't see it, and 727 00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:53,600 Speaker 1: we can't see it directly. When we look, we don't 728 00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:56,839 Speaker 1: see anything there, and that of course suggests that it 729 00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:00,960 Speaker 1: might be something really fascinating, like you know, a supermassive 730 00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:04,359 Speaker 1: black hole that somehow escaped its galaxy and it isn't 731 00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:08,319 Speaker 1: surrounded by you know, glowing accretion disks and other stars. 732 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:11,479 Speaker 1: Or it could be like a huge blob of dark matter. 733 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:14,600 Speaker 1: WHOA which one do we think it is? Are those 734 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:17,839 Speaker 1: equally plausible? I think it's more likely to be dark matter, 735 00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:19,800 Speaker 1: although you know, it's a bit of a catch all. 736 00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:23,040 Speaker 1: Like every time we say, oh, there's gravity, and we 737 00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:26,040 Speaker 1: can see the gravitational effects because we see it tugging 738 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:29,799 Speaker 1: on the stars, we don't see anything there. Then we say, okay, 739 00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:32,399 Speaker 1: there's some invisible matter, and it's easy to say, well, 740 00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:34,520 Speaker 1: that must be dark matter, sort of like the go 741 00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:38,239 Speaker 1: to explanation for a black hole to be like ejected 742 00:37:38,239 --> 00:37:40,880 Speaker 1: from its galaxy or to lose all of its stars. 743 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:43,480 Speaker 1: That could happen. Also, if you get two galaxies that 744 00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:46,360 Speaker 1: merge and then one of them gobbles all these stars 745 00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:48,440 Speaker 1: and the other ones sort of orbit each other for 746 00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:50,799 Speaker 1: a while, but then one of them gets ejected. But 747 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:53,120 Speaker 1: it's much less likely to happen. So I think dark 748 00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:56,040 Speaker 1: matter is the sort of current best explanation that we 749 00:37:56,040 --> 00:37:59,280 Speaker 1: don't have any direct evidence that it is dark matter. Okay, 750 00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:01,239 Speaker 1: how do we know any of this? Yeah, we can 751 00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:04,120 Speaker 1: only see this stuff because of the gravitational effects, right, 752 00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:06,360 Speaker 1: So what we do is we look at the path 753 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:09,600 Speaker 1: of all of these stars really, really carefully and really 754 00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:12,640 Speaker 1: accurately in order to try to understand these dynamics. And 755 00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:16,680 Speaker 1: we're actually entering a really exciting era in astronomy where 756 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:19,880 Speaker 1: we're getting much more precise pictures of what's going on 757 00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:22,200 Speaker 1: in the Milky Way. We talked earlier about how we 758 00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:23,759 Speaker 1: look at the stars is sort of like a two 759 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:25,719 Speaker 1: D screen in the sky. It takes it sort of 760 00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:29,080 Speaker 1: like mental gymnastics to remember that it's three dimensions. Well, 761 00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:32,360 Speaker 1: recently we've launched some telescopes that really help us build 762 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:34,719 Speaker 1: that three D map of the Milky Way. This is 763 00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:37,759 Speaker 1: this thing called the Gaia satellite, whose entire job is 764 00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:41,680 Speaker 1: essentially just to map the Milky Way really really precisely. 765 00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:44,239 Speaker 1: Is that a NASA project or did somebody else launch it? 766 00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:47,200 Speaker 1: That's from the European Space Agency, so thanks to our 767 00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:50,360 Speaker 1: European colleagues, and they launched it in two thousand thirteen. 768 00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:53,200 Speaker 1: Has two really powerful telescopes on it, and so what 769 00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:55,000 Speaker 1: it does is it focuses on a star and it 770 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:57,440 Speaker 1: can measure the brightness of the star. But because has 771 00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:00,440 Speaker 1: two telescopes, it can also do parallax. It sort of 772 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:02,719 Speaker 1: sort of like looking at the sky with binoculars. So 773 00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:06,480 Speaker 1: it measures the angular precision, the distance, and the brightness 774 00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:10,160 Speaker 1: really really accurately. And it also measures the velocity of 775 00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:12,840 Speaker 1: those stars. Because we can look at the spectrum of 776 00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:15,160 Speaker 1: the light that comes from the stars, we can say 777 00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:18,680 Speaker 1: what frequency are the photons that come from those stars, 778 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:21,440 Speaker 1: and based on this frequency, we can measure the speed 779 00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:24,600 Speaker 1: of the stars from the Doppler shift on those photons. 780 00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:27,480 Speaker 1: Stars that are moving away from us really really fast 781 00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:30,160 Speaker 1: tend to be more red shifted. Stars that are moving 782 00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:33,239 Speaker 1: towards us get blue shifted. So as a result, we 783 00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:35,960 Speaker 1: can build this incredible map of the Milky Way with 784 00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:39,319 Speaker 1: really high precision. So having two telescopes helps us do 785 00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:42,880 Speaker 1: all of that. Are these two telescopes like Hubble sized 786 00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:46,360 Speaker 1: or much smaller. They're not nearly Hubble sized. Remember, anything 787 00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:48,600 Speaker 1: that we launched in the space is sort of limited 788 00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:50,920 Speaker 1: because you can only fit an object of a certain 789 00:39:50,960 --> 00:39:53,719 Speaker 1: size into our rocket. Unfortunately, so neither of them are 790 00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:57,000 Speaker 1: Hubble class telescopes. But together they can really make this 791 00:39:57,160 --> 00:40:00,160 Speaker 1: very accurate map of the universe. And it's not just 792 00:40:00,239 --> 00:40:02,520 Speaker 1: a three D map. It's sort of like a four 793 00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:05,879 Speaker 1: D map because not only do you know where all 794 00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:08,600 Speaker 1: the stars are now, but you can tell where they 795 00:40:08,640 --> 00:40:11,600 Speaker 1: are going. Right, You can tell their velocity, which tells 796 00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:14,600 Speaker 1: you something about their direction. And that's really exciting because 797 00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:17,200 Speaker 1: it gives you this picture of the Milky Way as 798 00:40:17,239 --> 00:40:19,799 Speaker 1: that dynamic entity. Right. It's like looking at all the 799 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:22,840 Speaker 1: water droplets in that white water river and knowing which 800 00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:25,640 Speaker 1: direction they're going, and also gives you a sense for 801 00:40:25,719 --> 00:40:28,719 Speaker 1: like the snapshot that we have of this crazy chaotic 802 00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:32,120 Speaker 1: galaxy that's swirling around us. That is incredible. And so 803 00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:35,839 Speaker 1: it's been out there for less than a decade, but like, 804 00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:38,680 Speaker 1: you know, eight years or something, how many stars has 805 00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:41,000 Speaker 1: it mapped so far? It has a map of a 806 00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:45,560 Speaker 1: billion stars. It's incredible, and it's you know, it's really 807 00:40:45,560 --> 00:40:48,200 Speaker 1: a new era of astronomy. And every time I talk 808 00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:51,000 Speaker 1: to astronomers about what they're doing, they're always talking about 809 00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:52,960 Speaker 1: this data set. You know, they can use this to 810 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:56,400 Speaker 1: measure things they could never measure before, to observe effects 811 00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:58,440 Speaker 1: that they could never study before. You know, I know 812 00:40:58,560 --> 00:41:00,919 Speaker 1: people here you see Irvine that are studying like how 813 00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:04,040 Speaker 1: often do we get asteroids impacting on the Earth and 814 00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:07,520 Speaker 1: can we tell if that's because other stars come nearby? 815 00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:09,719 Speaker 1: And they can use this guy a data set to 816 00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:12,200 Speaker 1: like look at the history of stars. So this one's 817 00:41:12,239 --> 00:41:14,239 Speaker 1: going in that direction. It must have come by our 818 00:41:14,239 --> 00:41:16,600 Speaker 1: solar system a few million years ago. It's kind of 819 00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:19,880 Speaker 1: really interesting studies. And so it's it's like we've been 820 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:21,960 Speaker 1: looking at a flat screen and now we're getting like 821 00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:24,640 Speaker 1: the four D picture of the galaxy. We've got our 822 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:27,760 Speaker 1: three D goggles and we're ready. And so it sounds 823 00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:30,520 Speaker 1: like these data are just available to anyone and will 824 00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:33,279 Speaker 1: be available a thousand years later when people want some 825 00:41:33,400 --> 00:41:36,360 Speaker 1: like background data to work with. Yeah, because it's the 826 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:38,360 Speaker 1: s A, it means that it's available so and we 827 00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:40,399 Speaker 1: can go and download the data and analyze it. And 828 00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:43,799 Speaker 1: get in your computer a four D picture of the galaxy. 829 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:46,799 Speaker 1: And that's how we're making these really interesting discoveries, like 830 00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:49,200 Speaker 1: looking at the high these cluster and be like, oh, 831 00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:52,520 Speaker 1: something is chomping on this tail. Is that something where 832 00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:54,239 Speaker 1: like if you knew where to look in the night sky, 833 00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:56,279 Speaker 1: you could pull up the e s A data and 834 00:41:56,280 --> 00:41:59,560 Speaker 1: you could see a tail sort of disappearing. That's exactly 835 00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:02,239 Speaker 1: what happened. And then so these astronomers that made this discovery, 836 00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:04,279 Speaker 1: that's just what they did. They looked at the guide 837 00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:06,919 Speaker 1: data for the Hyades cluster and they tried to find 838 00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:09,760 Speaker 1: these tails, and they noticed that this backwards tail was missing. 839 00:42:10,120 --> 00:42:12,799 Speaker 1: And there's no like really big cloud of gas or 840 00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:17,280 Speaker 1: other star cluster nearby that could provide this dramatic gravity. 841 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:19,879 Speaker 1: And so it's cool because you can think about these 842 00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:22,319 Speaker 1: stars is sort of like tracers. You know, there's a 843 00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:25,200 Speaker 1: lot more going on in the galaxy than just the 844 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:27,759 Speaker 1: things we can see, but the stars are affected by 845 00:42:27,760 --> 00:42:30,440 Speaker 1: those because of the gravity of the rest of the galaxy. 846 00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:32,280 Speaker 1: So you can think of the stars is like giving 847 00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:35,000 Speaker 1: us a sense for the currents of mass that are 848 00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:37,960 Speaker 1: flowing through the galaxy and anytime they're moving in a 849 00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:41,239 Speaker 1: way that we don't understand that tells you there's something there. 850 00:42:41,480 --> 00:42:43,880 Speaker 1: So is this like I guess my question was more like, 851 00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:45,919 Speaker 1: is this like Google Maps where I can just sort 852 00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:48,839 Speaker 1: of like plup my little guy down wherever I want 853 00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:50,839 Speaker 1: in space? Or is it? Is it more of like 854 00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:53,239 Speaker 1: an Excel sheet with zeros and ones and you need 855 00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:55,200 Speaker 1: to know what you're looking for to see that there's 856 00:42:55,239 --> 00:42:57,799 Speaker 1: a tail there. Yeah, it's more like an Excel sheet. 857 00:42:57,840 --> 00:42:59,879 Speaker 1: You have to be a little bit familiar with data 858 00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:02,080 Speaker 1: ealysis techniques to get a handle on it. I don't 859 00:43:02,080 --> 00:43:05,279 Speaker 1: think they have yet like a Google galaxy, but that 860 00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:07,880 Speaker 1: would be pretty awesome. You can zoom through the galaxy 861 00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:10,000 Speaker 1: and look at all the stars. Yeah, that would be great, 862 00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:11,920 Speaker 1: and then we can see, you know, what aliens are 863 00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:15,240 Speaker 1: watering their law on today. That sounds great, but whatever 864 00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:17,640 Speaker 1: is happening to these stars is pretty dramatic. And you know, 865 00:43:17,719 --> 00:43:19,920 Speaker 1: if these stars are getting yanked out of this cluster, 866 00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:22,920 Speaker 1: it's a pretty serious force. And so the dynamics of 867 00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:26,040 Speaker 1: what's happening there could be very dramatic. For those solar systems. 868 00:43:26,160 --> 00:43:28,680 Speaker 1: They could get like briefly very close to each other 869 00:43:28,719 --> 00:43:31,680 Speaker 1: and both like induce lots of common rains on the 870 00:43:31,719 --> 00:43:34,279 Speaker 1: inner planets in their solar systems, or even lose some 871 00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:36,759 Speaker 1: of their planets if they get close enough each other 872 00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:39,200 Speaker 1: to like steal planets from each other. So next time 873 00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:41,560 Speaker 1: you're looking up at the night sky, remember that you're 874 00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:43,960 Speaker 1: not looking at a flat screen. You're looking at a 875 00:43:44,120 --> 00:43:49,640 Speaker 1: four dimensional view, a huge three D starscape that's evolving 876 00:43:49,719 --> 00:43:53,319 Speaker 1: in time, that's crashing and smashing and flowing and doing 877 00:43:53,360 --> 00:43:55,640 Speaker 1: all sorts of crazy things. And now we have a 878 00:43:55,640 --> 00:43:58,600 Speaker 1: pretty good picture for what's out there and where it's going. 879 00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:00,759 Speaker 1: Kid one is going to have a long lesson the 880 00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:03,600 Speaker 1: next time we look at the Ryan, just be glad 881 00:44:03,640 --> 00:44:09,279 Speaker 1: your arms are long enough to point it out. I 882 00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:11,719 Speaker 1: am all right. Thanks for joining us, everybody, and thank 883 00:44:11,760 --> 00:44:14,560 Speaker 1: you Kelly for guest hosting today. Thanks for a fun afternoon. 884 00:44:14,719 --> 00:44:17,040 Speaker 1: Have a good one, Daniel, alright, tune in next time. 885 00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:27,719 Speaker 1: Thanks everybody, thanks for listening, and remember that Daniel and 886 00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:31,120 Speaker 1: Jorge Explain the Universe is a production of I Heart Radio. 887 00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:34,120 Speaker 1: For more podcast for my Heart Radio, visit the I 888 00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:37,960 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 889 00:44:38,040 --> 00:44:39,000 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.