1 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:12,800 Speaker 1: Hey, Katie, do you have science words that you especially like? Yeah, 2 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 1: I really like apoptosis. It makes me think of popcorn. 3 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: That does make me want to have a snack. Well, 4 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:24,959 Speaker 1: I like the word fundamental. It sounds so important, it's 5 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 1: got fun in it, it does. So what science words 6 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: don't you like? Um, coagulate, I was afraid you're gonna 7 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:39,559 Speaker 1: say moist coagulates pretty gross. Also, I'm not such a 8 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 1: fan of the word had drawn. No, the problem is 9 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: a lot of people end up with a little typo 10 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:47,519 Speaker 1: that swaps a couple of letters and you end up 11 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: with something very not safe for work. Yeah, that gives 12 00:00:51,720 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: the lard hay drown collider a whole different connotation. Hi, 13 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,960 Speaker 1: I'm Daniel, I'm a part of Old Physicist, and I 14 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: definitely am colliding hay drowns at the LHC. And I 15 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 1: am Katie Golden. I'm stepping in for Jorge this week, 16 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 1: and I am the host of Creature Feature. I'm a 17 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:31,199 Speaker 1: science podcast interested in evolutionary biology, human psychology, and hate 18 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:36,200 Speaker 1: also physics and Welcome to the podcast. Daniel and Jorge 19 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: explain the universe, in which we take you on a 20 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:43,440 Speaker 1: mental journey to understand everything about the universe, from the 21 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:46,320 Speaker 1: tiniest things between your toes to the things you see 22 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: in the night sky to the vast weird, crazy bonker 23 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:53,560 Speaker 1: stuff going out in the depths of space. We take 24 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: all of it, roll it up and try to make 25 00:01:55,800 --> 00:02:01,560 Speaker 1: sure that you understand it. Like a cosmic burrito. How 26 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 1: much hot sauce you want is up to you. And 27 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:06,960 Speaker 1: we love to talk about stuff that we see in 28 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: the night sky, but we also love to talk about 29 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: stuff you might not have even heard of. When you 30 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:15,080 Speaker 1: look up in the sky, you see stars, and if 31 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: you have a nice telescope you can even see further 32 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:20,960 Speaker 1: in meb see those smudges that our galaxies. But there's 33 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 1: a lot of other stuff out there in the universe 34 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: that we are not familiar with, that most people don't 35 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,400 Speaker 1: even know exists. Okay, so if I'm looking at the 36 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:32,800 Speaker 1: night sky, I see a bunch of stars. Sometimes I 37 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,800 Speaker 1: see like, like you said, it looks like someone spilled 38 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: a bunch of sugar up there, and it's a galaxy. 39 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: But what can I possibly be missing? I mean other 40 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:45,680 Speaker 1: than yeah, I guess I can't see them in detail 41 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 1: with a telescope, But but what what's up there? Like 42 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:52,799 Speaker 1: you mean giant alien eyeballs. Well, there's a lot of 43 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,120 Speaker 1: stuff out there. And basically, every time we turn on 44 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:58,079 Speaker 1: a new telescope or a new kind of device for 45 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: we're listening to the Cosmos, we find something new. And 46 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: every time we ap peer deeper and deeper into the sky, 47 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:08,360 Speaker 1: we see stuff that we didn't expect. On the podcast today, 48 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:10,640 Speaker 1: we'll be talking about a weird thing that's in the 49 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 1: sky that astronomers have known about for hundreds of years, 50 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,080 Speaker 1: but most people aren't aware of. All Right, well, what's 51 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: this big secret? What if astronomer has been keeping from us? Well, 52 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,359 Speaker 1: unfortunately it's got a really strange and kind of an 53 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:32,079 Speaker 1: ugly name. Oh, it's not coagulated. It stars don't coagulate. 54 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 1: I guess if a galaxy cuts itself right, a bunch 55 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: of like stars could rush in to fill in the 56 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: gap planetary platelets. No, Today on the program, we'll be 57 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: asking the question what are globular clusters? You? Doesn't sound 58 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: like something you want to order on the menu, does it? No? 59 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 1: It sounds like the worst kids cereal? Ever, like, be 60 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: sure to get globios for your globular clusters. I know, 61 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: I imagine some like scoop of some very viscous kind 62 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: of stuff. It's like jello mixed with gravy or something. 63 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: Oh man, I don't I have a texture thing when 64 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: it comes to food, Like I don't like cottage cheese 65 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: or other like things, little chunks suspended within goo. So 66 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: I don't know about this globular clusters thing. This does 67 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 1: not sound good. Well, fortunately it was not designed as 68 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 1: a menu item. It's an astrophysical object. It's something out 69 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:37,479 Speaker 1: there in our universe that might teach us something about 70 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: how the galaxy was formed, and how old the universe is, 71 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: and weird new kinds of stars, and so it's an 72 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:46,839 Speaker 1: opportunity to learn something. Unfortunately, we don't actually have to 73 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:49,280 Speaker 1: taste it. That's good, that's good, all right. I'm still 74 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:51,839 Speaker 1: with you then, But if you try to give me 75 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 1: a spoon on one of these globular clusters, I am check. Please. 76 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 1: So we asked what people think globular clusters are, and 77 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,240 Speaker 1: this is what people have to say. I don't know 78 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:13,159 Speaker 1: what a globular clusters. I think it might be something 79 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: found in out space, but I don't actually I'm not 80 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:21,000 Speaker 1: sure entirely, but I think it's just some type of 81 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: grouping of stars, assuming it's a term from cosmology. A 82 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 1: cluster is a collection of stars, and globular means that 83 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 1: it's round like a globe, and you'll as in molecule 84 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:38,719 Speaker 1: or module, suggests that it's small, so it's a small 85 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:43,680 Speaker 1: round a bunch of stars. This one is like a 86 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:51,600 Speaker 1: gathering of stars spherical. It's not a galaxy. It can 87 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: be within a galaxy, but it may look like a galaxy, 88 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:00,719 Speaker 1: like a spherical galaxy. I've heard the phrase globular or cluster. 89 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:04,279 Speaker 1: I'm not sure what it means. I thought that it 90 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 1: had something to do with a group of stars, maybe 91 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:13,680 Speaker 1: that are clustered together in a spherical shape. This is 92 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: a gigantic group of stars sit outside and I think 93 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: maybe even all of it the galaxies. This has something 94 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:26,360 Speaker 1: to do with a group of stars, maybe that they 95 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: all formed from the same nebula or um other event. 96 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 1: Thanks to everybody who volunteered to speculate baselessly without getting 97 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:39,040 Speaker 1: to do any research or googling. If you'd like to 98 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:42,160 Speaker 1: participate for a future episode, please write to me two 99 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 1: questions at Daniel and Jorge dot com. I think it's interesting, 100 00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:49,839 Speaker 1: so most of the answers more along the same lines 101 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:54,760 Speaker 1: like this is probably a big cluster of stars or 102 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:59,359 Speaker 1: some kind of space junk, some kind of space junk. 103 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:01,480 Speaker 1: But then no clue in there that it's a cluster 104 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:04,240 Speaker 1: of stars, right, it could have been a cluster of anything, 105 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:08,360 Speaker 1: you know, jello or gravy or breakfast cereal or whatever. 106 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 1: I think when people think about space, you think of 107 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: it mostly stars. Right, you look out into space. What 108 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:18,760 Speaker 1: do you see? You see stars. All the other stuff 109 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:21,520 Speaker 1: that is out there is either hard to see or 110 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:26,200 Speaker 1: isn't really perceivable. Yeah, but you hear some people speculating 111 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:29,760 Speaker 1: like maybe it's a cluster of galaxies or a cluster 112 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 1: of galaxy clusters or something like that, because there's this 113 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: fascinating sort of hierarchy of structure out there in space. Right, 114 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 1: It's not like they're just stars everywhere. Things are sort 115 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: of grouped together into galaxies, and those galaxies are grouped 116 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:46,200 Speaker 1: together into clusters of galaxies, and so there's like this 117 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 1: really fascinating sort of hierarchy of structure is getting bigger 118 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:51,880 Speaker 1: and bigger and bigger. And so I guess the question 119 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:54,120 Speaker 1: then is, you know, like what are globular clusters a 120 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 1: cluster of Yes, what kind of pyramid scheme is a 121 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: globular cluster. Who's the downstream and who's the upstream? Who's 122 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:08,200 Speaker 1: really making money off globular clusters? Right? Who's behind big 123 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:13,200 Speaker 1: globular taking globular clusters to the moon. So the answer 124 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 1: is that globular clusters are clusters of stars. And to me, 125 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:21,120 Speaker 1: the fascinating thing is that there's something in between, sort 126 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 1: of like our Solar system and the galaxy. Do you 127 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 1: think about like our cosmic address. We're here on Earth, 128 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: we're zooming around our star, and then we think that 129 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:33,440 Speaker 1: our star is just like one of many stars of 130 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:37,320 Speaker 1: hundreds of billions of stars in the galaxy. But it 131 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,080 Speaker 1: turns out that there's an intermediate step there. It's not 132 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 1: like just Solar system and then galaxy. You could have 133 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 1: organizations of solar systems. So when you zoom out, like 134 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,120 Speaker 1: when you see these videos of here you are on 135 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:56,400 Speaker 1: planet Earth. You're tiny and significant, flee like creature on 136 00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:00,160 Speaker 1: this huge planet. Then you zoom out to Solar system 137 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:04,760 Speaker 1: and usually goes right from Solar system to galaxy. But no, 138 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 1: there's an extra step. You're saying, there's an extra step. Yeah, 139 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:13,400 Speaker 1: some stars, some special stars grouped together into these big 140 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:18,120 Speaker 1: clusters of stars called globular clusters. Now, not every star 141 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:20,840 Speaker 1: is in one of these things. It's not like, you know, 142 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: another layer in this hierarchy is sort of like a 143 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:26,440 Speaker 1: special clumping. Like most stars are just sort of like 144 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:28,760 Speaker 1: out there on their own, sort of like out in 145 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:31,439 Speaker 1: the middle of the countryside by themselves. But it turns 146 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:34,200 Speaker 1: out that there are these like urban areas where stars 147 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 1: clump together really densely and make these things called globular clusters. 148 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:42,440 Speaker 1: And they're like a fascinating relic of the ancient formation 149 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:44,320 Speaker 1: of the galaxy and can tell us a lot about 150 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:46,520 Speaker 1: how things work out there. So it's like you've got 151 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:49,400 Speaker 1: a bowl of granola, and yet you have your little 152 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 1: oatmeal pieces in there, but then you have the big 153 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:57,360 Speaker 1: clusters of oatmeal too. Those are the best ones. Those 154 00:09:57,360 --> 00:09:59,680 Speaker 1: are the best ones. Those are nice. Yeah. I always 155 00:09:59,679 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 1: fish those out first, and then I'm left with just 156 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: sort of a bowl of sugary oatmeal and that's not great. 157 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:07,160 Speaker 1: But so that whole bowl is like the galaxy, but 158 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:12,360 Speaker 1: within that bowl you have the globular clusters of the 159 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: nice crunch granola's. Yeah, exactly. The stars are not evenly 160 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:19,320 Speaker 1: distributed through the galaxy. I mean, the overall pattern is 161 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:21,720 Speaker 1: that there's more stars in the center of the galaxy 162 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 1: with a gravity stronger, and then it's sort of peters 163 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:28,080 Speaker 1: out along the galactic disc. But inside there it's not smooth. 164 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:31,200 Speaker 1: There are these clumps where you get these big collections 165 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:33,840 Speaker 1: of stars. And we're not talking like, you know, five 166 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:37,559 Speaker 1: ten stars. We're talking like a few hundreds of thousands 167 00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:40,960 Speaker 1: of stars. It's a big deal. Sounds like when they're 168 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:43,560 Speaker 1: making the galaxy that just didn't stir enough. That's what 169 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:45,480 Speaker 1: I learned about. Like when I'm trying to make polina, 170 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:48,000 Speaker 1: you know, it gets clumpy. You just didn't stir enough. 171 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 1: Katie's globular polenda. That's not the foundation for your next 172 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:55,839 Speaker 1: food truck, right, And so these things have like a 173 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:58,800 Speaker 1: few hundred thousand stars in them, but they're not actually 174 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:01,400 Speaker 1: that big, right there only like ten to sometimes like 175 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:04,800 Speaker 1: three hundred light years wide. Okay, you say that's not 176 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:09,000 Speaker 1: that big. However, how long would it take me to 177 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:12,080 Speaker 1: drive from one end to the other of three hundred 178 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:14,319 Speaker 1: light years? Yeah, it would take you a while. I mean, 179 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:17,800 Speaker 1: even in your light speed polenta powered vehicle, it would 180 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 1: take you three hundred years to go across three hundred 181 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:24,200 Speaker 1: light years obviously, and in a much slower, more reasonable 182 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:26,440 Speaker 1: ship it would take much much longer. But the reason 183 00:11:26,520 --> 00:11:28,679 Speaker 1: I say that it's not that big is that there 184 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:31,640 Speaker 1: are so many stars in there. So would you end 185 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:35,360 Speaker 1: up with is stars in a very unusually dense collection 186 00:11:35,679 --> 00:11:38,200 Speaker 1: like in our part of the galaxy in our neighborhood, 187 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:40,959 Speaker 1: there aren't that many stars, like the nearest stars more 188 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:44,760 Speaker 1: than four light years away, right, I mean, it seems 189 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:48,880 Speaker 1: like there would be conflict with stars being that close together, right, 190 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:52,920 Speaker 1: because I know every body in the universe has some 191 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:57,400 Speaker 1: kind of gravitational poll and stars are so big they 192 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:00,200 Speaker 1: seem like they would be acting on each other there, 193 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 1: So it's it's odd that you would have them so 194 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:06,239 Speaker 1: close together. Yeah, And that's exactly what makes them fascinating 195 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 1: because in these clusters we get to see stars doing 196 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:12,200 Speaker 1: something they don't normally do, which is like dance around 197 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 1: each other and tug on each other and form new, 198 00:12:14,679 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 1: weird kinds of stars. And we're gonna dig into all 199 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:20,560 Speaker 1: that crazy stuff that's happening inside the globular clusters in 200 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:23,080 Speaker 1: a minute. But here's some numbers for you, Like the 201 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:26,320 Speaker 1: density of stars in our neighborhood. Like around where we 202 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 1: live in the galaxy is like one star per three 203 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:33,240 Speaker 1: hundred cubic light years, so that's pretty big area just 204 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:35,760 Speaker 1: to get one star. But inside one of these globular 205 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: clusters there's like two stars per cubic light year, so 206 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:43,160 Speaker 1: it's like six hundred times denser than it is in 207 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:45,559 Speaker 1: our neighborhood. It's like going from the middle of nowhere 208 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:49,320 Speaker 1: to Manhattan. Really packed in there, like star deans. Yeah, 209 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:52,440 Speaker 1: they really are. Imagine what it would be like to 210 00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:56,120 Speaker 1: live around a star in a globular cluster. You would 211 00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:59,400 Speaker 1: have so many other like bright stars in the sky 212 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:02,360 Speaker 1: at night. The night itself might be a lot brighter 213 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:04,240 Speaker 1: than it is here. Yeah, it seems I would be 214 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:07,959 Speaker 1: as bright as daylight. You just have too many suns 215 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:10,280 Speaker 1: going on. Yeah, if you're near the center one of 216 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:12,720 Speaker 1: these things, I mean, the globular cluster itself is like 217 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:16,080 Speaker 1: twenty five thousand times brighter than the sun. These things 218 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:18,400 Speaker 1: are really bright. Some of them are up to like 219 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:21,160 Speaker 1: fifty times brighter than even that. You'd be in the 220 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:23,920 Speaker 1: middle of like a lot of light bulbs all the time. 221 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:27,079 Speaker 1: Maybe a pretty crazy experience. Well, I need to get 222 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,840 Speaker 1: some more high tech sunglasses. It seems like to be 223 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:34,960 Speaker 1: able to live here some of that those polarized shades. 224 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:37,080 Speaker 1: But before I do that, why don't we take a 225 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:40,800 Speaker 1: quick break and I will return with all new sunglasses. 226 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 1: All right, I've got my super polarized super extra anti 227 00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:02,000 Speaker 1: glare globular cluster sunglasses on. I can't see a thing indoors, 228 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:06,000 Speaker 1: but I think it'll help me see within the globular clusters. So, 229 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:09,120 Speaker 1: so what's going on around me? Yes, So these globular clusters. 230 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:12,320 Speaker 1: You have this big collection of stars all packed into 231 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:15,760 Speaker 1: one spot. And one of the amazing things is that 232 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:19,240 Speaker 1: there aren't actually that many of these, Like the galaxy 233 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 1: has hundreds of billions of stars, but they're only about 234 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:25,520 Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty, maybe up to two hundred of 235 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:29,720 Speaker 1: these globular clusters. Well why are they so rare? We 236 00:14:29,800 --> 00:14:32,000 Speaker 1: don't really understand, and we can talk in a minute 237 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:34,720 Speaker 1: about how they form, but one clue is that they're 238 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:39,200 Speaker 1: also not always contained within the galactic disk. Like when 239 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:42,040 Speaker 1: you look at the galaxy sort of from outside, which 240 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 1: we can't do what we can look at other galaxies. 241 00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:46,680 Speaker 1: Of course, you see that it's mostly a flat swirl, 242 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:49,280 Speaker 1: and that's because of how the galaxy formed. Right, the 243 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:52,400 Speaker 1: galaxy form from a huge collection of gas and dust 244 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:56,240 Speaker 1: which collapsed into stars and then gravity took over and 245 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:58,600 Speaker 1: try to pull all those stars together, and that's why 246 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:00,720 Speaker 1: you have a galaxy. But it's my it's harder for 247 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 1: gravity to pull along the galactic plane because that's how 248 00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:08,120 Speaker 1: the galaxy is spinning. That's spinning keeps things from falling 249 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:11,200 Speaker 1: in only along that plane. Perpendicular to that plane, you 250 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:13,840 Speaker 1: can squish it flat like a pancake. Is it sort 251 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:16,320 Speaker 1: of like when you have a bicycle wheel, You have 252 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 1: some torque there, so you have that kind of like 253 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:24,160 Speaker 1: inward energy of the galaxy spinning, So it's easier for 254 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:26,520 Speaker 1: it to be flat and spinning inward than it is 255 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 1: to spin another direction. Yeah, exactly, if you spin a 256 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 1: bicycle wheel, then it's harder for things to sort of 257 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: fall in towards the center. Or if you think, for example, 258 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:37,720 Speaker 1: about like a merry go round with ping pong balls 259 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 1: on it, right you spin that thing, the ping pong 260 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 1: balls are all going to fly out, but they're gonna 261 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:44,880 Speaker 1: fly out along that plane. So that's what we call 262 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 1: rotation supported. The rotation of the galaxy is keeping things 263 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 1: from falling inwards, but again only along that plane. There's 264 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:55,240 Speaker 1: nothing that prevents the collapse perpendicular to that plane, which 265 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:57,680 Speaker 1: is what makes it flat like a disk. Well, next 266 00:15:57,720 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: time I go on a Merry go around, I'm bringing 267 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:02,440 Speaker 1: a bunch of ping pong balls with me. This is 268 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:05,920 Speaker 1: probably why I'm banned for most Merry go round. Maybe 269 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:07,760 Speaker 1: also because you try to eat polenta and you end 270 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:12,840 Speaker 1: up throwing up globular chunks of polenta. Oh man, When 271 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:15,640 Speaker 1: I was a kid, I was a throw upper kid, 272 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,520 Speaker 1: and I had some moments. I had my moments, especially 273 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:22,080 Speaker 1: on the teacups. All right, well, we don't want to 274 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:24,760 Speaker 1: revisit that with too much to jail. But the interesting 275 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:27,760 Speaker 1: thing about these globular clusters is that they don't tend 276 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:31,160 Speaker 1: to be along this galactic disk. Like if you looked 277 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:33,240 Speaker 1: at a diagram of where they are, there's some of 278 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:35,040 Speaker 1: them that are in the disc, but they're also sort 279 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:39,280 Speaker 1: of just spherically distributed around the galaxy. It's almost like 280 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:42,600 Speaker 1: they come from a time when the galaxy was a 281 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 1: big puffy sphere before collapsed. Right, And I'm looking at 282 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:49,120 Speaker 1: this image and what it looks like to me is 283 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:52,440 Speaker 1: like a side view of like a fried egg, and 284 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:56,400 Speaker 1: then above it, like scattered around it are little little 285 00:16:56,480 --> 00:17:01,440 Speaker 1: yellow dots like you just spilled a bunch of salts around. Man, 286 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:04,520 Speaker 1: I keep coming back to food on this globular cluster episode, 287 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:08,840 Speaker 1: don't I. We've gotta stop recording these at lunch. Whoever 288 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:12,080 Speaker 1: thought globular clusters would make you hungry? Like, I gotta 289 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:16,080 Speaker 1: bring a positive spin to it. So they're falling outside 290 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 1: of that disk. You're saying that maybe these had formed 291 00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:24,760 Speaker 1: back when the galaxy was sort of this big puppy cloud, 292 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:30,080 Speaker 1: and even as it flattened down to the disk, they 293 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:33,600 Speaker 1: didn't come with the rest of the game. Yeah, precisely. 294 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,000 Speaker 1: And there's a bigger topic here of the galaxies halo. 295 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,960 Speaker 1: Remember that galaxies are not mostly stars. Most of what's 296 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:44,000 Speaker 1: in the galaxies actually dark matter. And if you look 297 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:46,879 Speaker 1: at where the dark matter is in a galaxy, it 298 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:50,240 Speaker 1: doesn't collapse the same way that normal matter does. It 299 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:53,880 Speaker 1: tends to spin. And so this is big spherical halo 300 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,119 Speaker 1: of dark matter around the galaxy. And that's the original 301 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,040 Speaker 1: thing that's sort of like clustered together the gas of 302 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:03,440 Speaker 1: dust that made our galaxy. And so these globular clusters 303 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:06,640 Speaker 1: they're sort of in this larger galactic halo, but they 304 00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:09,960 Speaker 1: haven't collapsed down into this disk, and we don't know 305 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:13,800 Speaker 1: exactly why. It could be that they didn't form with 306 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:17,080 Speaker 1: the original galaxy but are like their own little mini 307 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:20,560 Speaker 1: galaxies that were then captured later and that's why they're 308 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:23,480 Speaker 1: orbiting around. Or it could be that they formed with 309 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:26,360 Speaker 1: the rest of the galaxy but then didn't collapse as 310 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,240 Speaker 1: well as the gas and dust because they don't collide 311 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:31,320 Speaker 1: with each other as much as the gas clouds do, 312 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:35,159 Speaker 1: so they avoided like losing all that angular momentum and 313 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:38,240 Speaker 1: they can keep spinning around out there in crazy orbits. 314 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:40,960 Speaker 1: Or maybe they just prefer to hang out out in 315 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:44,119 Speaker 1: the dark matter halo. Dark Matter Halo is a really 316 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:47,800 Speaker 1: good metal band name, I've got to say. Yeah, So 317 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:50,679 Speaker 1: that that's interesting. We can't see dark matter, but it 318 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:56,120 Speaker 1: is there, and so it's like this halo around the 319 00:18:56,160 --> 00:19:00,520 Speaker 1: galactic disc. And suspended in that halo are these little 320 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:05,560 Speaker 1: dots and those are each a globular cluster, yeah, exactly, 321 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:08,240 Speaker 1: and some of them happen to fall within the galactic disc, 322 00:19:08,359 --> 00:19:11,080 Speaker 1: but most of them do not. You know. The closest 323 00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 1: one to us is about sixteen thousand light years away. 324 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:17,679 Speaker 1: It's called the Omega cluster. But there's a bunch of 325 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:21,240 Speaker 1: these things, and what's really interesting is how they form. 326 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:23,600 Speaker 1: And as you said earlier, they might tell us something 327 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:27,040 Speaker 1: about the age of the Milky Way, because we think 328 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:30,399 Speaker 1: that they formed very very early on as the galaxy 329 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:32,639 Speaker 1: was forming. You know, the way these things happened is 330 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: that you get, you know, a big clump of gas 331 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:36,439 Speaker 1: and dust, and it may have been that you just 332 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:39,160 Speaker 1: got sort of like an over dense pocket of gas 333 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:41,240 Speaker 1: and dust something which was like, you know, got more 334 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:43,480 Speaker 1: of a serbing of globs than the rest of the 335 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:46,199 Speaker 1: stuff around it, and it collapsed all at once and 336 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:50,200 Speaker 1: made a big bunch of stars. And so these globular clusters, 337 00:19:50,359 --> 00:19:51,879 Speaker 1: when we look at them, we see a bunch of 338 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:55,040 Speaker 1: stars and no gas and dust in between, which means 339 00:19:55,119 --> 00:19:57,880 Speaker 1: like they're not forming any new stars. So there's sort 340 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:01,080 Speaker 1: of like a little time capsule from very very early 341 00:20:01,119 --> 00:20:03,920 Speaker 1: formation of the galaxy. So when you say it happens 342 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:07,520 Speaker 1: at the same time, what are we talking about, Like 343 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:10,520 Speaker 1: it all happens within sort of one of our human 344 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:13,840 Speaker 1: years or is it literally like within a few moments? 345 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:17,240 Speaker 1: Oh wow, now we're talking like in within millions of years. Okay, 346 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:22,160 Speaker 1: star times. We humans are sort of like dogs. We 347 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 1: live in dog years and they live in star years. Yeah, 348 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:28,119 Speaker 1: they live in star years. We think that these globular 349 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:33,639 Speaker 1: clusters are about eleven to thirteen billion years old. I remember, 350 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:37,360 Speaker 1: the whole universe is only just under fourteen billion years old, 351 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:40,240 Speaker 1: which makes these things some of the oldest things in 352 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:42,480 Speaker 1: the galaxy, which is how we can sort of use 353 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:45,080 Speaker 1: them to help understand the age of the galaxy. And 354 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:48,080 Speaker 1: also when we see them in other galaxies like Andromeda, 355 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:51,040 Speaker 1: we can use them to help understand the age of Andromeda. 356 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:53,560 Speaker 1: And one way we can do that is because we 357 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:56,360 Speaker 1: think that all the stars in there were formed at 358 00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:59,040 Speaker 1: the same time, which means they all sort of like 359 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:01,920 Speaker 1: start their own clock at the same time. And you 360 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:04,320 Speaker 1: remember that the life cycle of a star is that 361 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:06,680 Speaker 1: it burns for a while and then ones is done 362 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:09,000 Speaker 1: with all of its fuel. It either goes nova or 363 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:12,359 Speaker 1: collapses or something. But the lifespan there depends on the 364 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,400 Speaker 1: original size of the star. The more mass it has, 365 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:18,879 Speaker 1: the faster it burns. The smaller it is, the longer 366 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:21,119 Speaker 1: it burns. So we can tell something about the age 367 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:23,240 Speaker 1: of these things just by looking at like the distribution 368 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:25,880 Speaker 1: of stars, which ones have burned out already, which ones 369 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:28,239 Speaker 1: have not. But the fact that they've all formed at 370 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:30,439 Speaker 1: the same time makes it very easy to sort of 371 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,760 Speaker 1: like reverse that back and understand how this thing started. 372 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:37,639 Speaker 1: It's nice from a scientific perspective because you control for 373 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:40,800 Speaker 1: the factor of age. You've got like these little test 374 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:44,240 Speaker 1: tubes out there that you can look at as physicists. Yeah, exactly. 375 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:47,840 Speaker 1: And they're also an interesting collection of stars because they're 376 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:51,440 Speaker 1: not stars like our sun. Our universe has gone through 377 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:54,160 Speaker 1: a few cycles of making stars. You know, the very 378 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:57,479 Speaker 1: early universe, you had hydrogen helium and that fell together 379 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:01,240 Speaker 1: to make the original first generation of ours, which weirdly 380 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:06,080 Speaker 1: astronomers called population three stars. And those were really big 381 00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:08,320 Speaker 1: and didn't burn for very long, but they made some 382 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,480 Speaker 1: like helium and some heavier stuff and things that astronomers 383 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 1: called metals. And then when they blew up and they 384 00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:16,320 Speaker 1: spread their stuff through the galaxy, there was a second 385 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:20,160 Speaker 1: generation of stars which formed, and those are called population 386 00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:23,480 Speaker 1: two stars. Some of those burned up and collapsed and 387 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:26,880 Speaker 1: spread their stuff through the galaxy to make population three stars, 388 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:29,720 Speaker 1: which is like our sun is a population three stars. 389 00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:33,640 Speaker 1: But these stars in the globular clusters are only population 390 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 1: two stars. There weren't any of the population one stars, 391 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:40,160 Speaker 1: the ones like our sun when these things formed. So 392 00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:42,560 Speaker 1: you may have explained this. It counts down. It goes 393 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:46,800 Speaker 1: pop three pop to pop one is the newest or yeah, exactly, 394 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,240 Speaker 1: which I guess makes the next generation of stars are 395 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:52,080 Speaker 1: gonna be what pop zero and then pop negative one? 396 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:56,879 Speaker 1: Like nobody really thought this through pop zoomers. And the 397 00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:00,440 Speaker 1: other fun thing about these is that that very low metallicity, 398 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:04,080 Speaker 1: Like there's basically just helium and hydrogen because that's what 399 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,560 Speaker 1: was around after the first generation of stars, the population 400 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,720 Speaker 1: three stars. You know, astronomers have this weird naming system 401 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:13,480 Speaker 1: for basically everything. Well one thing that's especially weird is 402 00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:16,120 Speaker 1: what they call them metal. Like everything that's not hydrogen 403 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:18,439 Speaker 1: or helium is a metal to them because it's like 404 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:21,359 Speaker 1: a big heavy element. See. I mean, like, you know, 405 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:24,280 Speaker 1: there's a lot of controversy in the metal community of 406 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:27,600 Speaker 1: what can be considered metal. There's prog metal, and some 407 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:29,800 Speaker 1: people say, no, it's too much of a ballad to 408 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:33,119 Speaker 1: be metal, But you know, I think it's nice to 409 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:36,920 Speaker 1: be inclusive, and so these globular clusters that have basically 410 00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:40,160 Speaker 1: only very low metal stars. And these stars are also 411 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:42,400 Speaker 1: not that big, which is why they've been burning for 412 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,080 Speaker 1: so long, and they might continue to burn for billions 413 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:47,560 Speaker 1: and billions of years more. The smaller kinds of stars, 414 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:50,720 Speaker 1: like red dwarves, they might even last for trillions of years. 415 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:54,240 Speaker 1: So these are very I guess gassy stars would be 416 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,880 Speaker 1: fair to say these sorry gassy stars. But the interesting 417 00:23:57,920 --> 00:23:59,760 Speaker 1: thing is that they've sort of cleared out all the 418 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,200 Speaker 1: ask the dust inside of them. They're not making any 419 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:05,880 Speaker 1: new stars. Other parts of our galaxy still have these 420 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:08,760 Speaker 1: big blobs of gas and dust, so there's still new 421 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,480 Speaker 1: stars being made all the time, Like our son was made, 422 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 1: you know, fairly recently on these time scales, only five 423 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:16,879 Speaker 1: billion years ago. But the globular clusters, they're sort of 424 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:19,720 Speaker 1: like you know, old boys clubs. They made all their stars, 425 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:21,760 Speaker 1: they used up all their gas and dust, and then 426 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:24,120 Speaker 1: they're done. They're just like, we're gonna hang out. We're 427 00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:28,280 Speaker 1: happy with a number of stars. We have no new members. Typical. Typical. 428 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:32,720 Speaker 1: There are some places in the universe where globular clusters 429 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 1: are still forming, like in the large Magellanic Cloud there's 430 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:38,960 Speaker 1: a big positive gas and people think that it's now 431 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:42,440 Speaker 1: forming into a new globular cluster. And by now we mean, 432 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:45,560 Speaker 1: you know, within the last twenty million years on star time, 433 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:49,679 Speaker 1: star time, not not a little human dog time. But 434 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:52,520 Speaker 1: there's still a lot of really interesting mysteries about these things. 435 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,400 Speaker 1: Most of them have sort of like a single population 436 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:57,600 Speaker 1: of stars that we think all formed at the same time, 437 00:24:57,600 --> 00:24:59,800 Speaker 1: and you can tell based on like the star ages 438 00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:02,040 Speaker 1: and sort of how they're like popping off and dying. 439 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,880 Speaker 1: But some of them have like two or three different populations. 440 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:07,880 Speaker 1: It looks like there was a clump all made it once, 441 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:10,399 Speaker 1: and then another clump all made at the same time 442 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:12,560 Speaker 1: that was different from the first clump. So there's a 443 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:15,560 Speaker 1: lot of interesting mysteries there. So is it more rare 444 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:20,280 Speaker 1: for globular clusters to form in our current universe than 445 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:22,879 Speaker 1: you think that it was like near the beginning of 446 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:25,959 Speaker 1: the universe. Yeah, absolutely, because a lot of the gas 447 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:29,040 Speaker 1: has already turned into stars or into globular clusters, and 448 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:32,160 Speaker 1: so it's very rare for globular clusters to still be made. 449 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:34,159 Speaker 1: Most of them were made in the early universe and 450 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:36,520 Speaker 1: they're just sort of like hanging around. They're like, you know, 451 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,000 Speaker 1: the old folks still smoking in the back of a bar, 452 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:41,440 Speaker 1: you know, and they're just not really making them like 453 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:43,919 Speaker 1: they used to anymore. There's just not enough gas to 454 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:47,320 Speaker 1: go around, which I can't believe I'm saying. And so 455 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:50,439 Speaker 1: we don't really understand like how these globular clusters have 456 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:55,520 Speaker 1: multiple different populations, Like people think maybe different globular clusters 457 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:57,960 Speaker 1: might have merged, like you had two of them formed 458 00:25:57,960 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 1: at different times, and they sort of came to get 459 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,920 Speaker 1: there to make one that had two different populations in it. 460 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:04,879 Speaker 1: But it's you know, it's an area of active research. 461 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:08,520 Speaker 1: It's not something we really understand. So could I live 462 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:13,240 Speaker 1: in a globular clusters? What's going on in there? Is it? 463 00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:16,800 Speaker 1: Is there anywhere for me to be? Are you looking 464 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:18,840 Speaker 1: to move, Katie? You are happy with your current apartment. 465 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,000 Speaker 1: I've got my cool shades that I currently can't say 466 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,679 Speaker 1: anything through, So I've gotta gotta find a place as 467 00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:28,359 Speaker 1: bright as I am. It's a really fun question because 468 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:31,080 Speaker 1: it's fun to imagine what would like to be on 469 00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:34,719 Speaker 1: a planet inside a globular cluster, And so people are wondering, 470 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:38,560 Speaker 1: like are there planets around these stars? Do these stars 471 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:42,119 Speaker 1: also have like planetary disks which collapse and give you 472 00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:44,200 Speaker 1: rocky stuff that you could live on. Could there be 473 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:48,040 Speaker 1: alien life that evolved inside a globular cluster? We think 474 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:51,359 Speaker 1: actually it's pretty unlikely for these things to have planets 475 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:53,720 Speaker 1: around them, which is a bit disappointing when it comes 476 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:56,320 Speaker 1: to like writing science fiction novel about it. But there's 477 00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:59,479 Speaker 1: really two reasons. One is that most of the material 478 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:03,399 Speaker 1: just sort of went to making stars, Like there's mostly 479 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:06,440 Speaker 1: gas there, so it's hard to form planets. Planets you 480 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:08,879 Speaker 1: tend to want to have like a rocky core with 481 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,320 Speaker 1: something heavy in it, But these things formed in the 482 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:14,480 Speaker 1: early universe when there was basically just hydrogen and helium 483 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:17,359 Speaker 1: and very small amounts of heavier stuff, so you didn't 484 00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:19,840 Speaker 1: have sort of the raw ingredients to make planets. And 485 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:22,560 Speaker 1: the second is that it's pretty hard for a planet 486 00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:25,920 Speaker 1: to stay orbiting a star if there are so many 487 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:29,879 Speaker 1: other stars nearby constantly tugging on it. Right, it seems 488 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:33,240 Speaker 1: like even if you could have like a gas planet, 489 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:38,880 Speaker 1: it would just get ripped apart by these quarreling stars. Yeah, exactly, 490 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:41,440 Speaker 1: and it would just get tugged out of orbit. You know, 491 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,440 Speaker 1: we think of our planet is mostly just orbiting the Sun, 492 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:49,359 Speaker 1: but there are gravitational forces from other nearby stars or 493 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:52,680 Speaker 1: things that pass nearby, and when the Sun comes nearby 494 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:56,639 Speaker 1: other stars, those things get stronger. So in a globular cluster, 495 00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:59,800 Speaker 1: remember it's much much denser, there are many more stars, 496 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:02,680 Speaker 1: your byes of these tugs are a lot stronger. So 497 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:04,800 Speaker 1: even if you did form a planet and it did 498 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:07,399 Speaker 1: survive being pulled apart, as you said, you woul probably 499 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,240 Speaker 1: just get like passed around from star to star. Wouldn't 500 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:14,399 Speaker 1: have like a stable orbit like a volleyball exactly like 501 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:19,159 Speaker 1: a hot potato planet. That doesn't sound ideal for me 502 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:22,840 Speaker 1: as a little person living on this volleyball planet. So 503 00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:27,120 Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to rethink my travel plans. So we'll 504 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:29,879 Speaker 1: take a break while I look into real estate in 505 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 1: a different part of the universe. Alright, so we are back. 506 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:50,360 Speaker 1: I am looking at man Zillo just does not really 507 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:56,320 Speaker 1: go into like beetle juice area. There aren't very many 508 00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:58,680 Speaker 1: sales to track there, so who knows how much of 509 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:04,520 Speaker 1: those houses cost. So we're talking about globular clusters. We 510 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:07,680 Speaker 1: have found out that I cannot live there inside a 511 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:11,760 Speaker 1: globular cluster, dream shattered but maybe there's something else we 512 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:15,640 Speaker 1: can get out of these globular clusters. Yeah, we think 513 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:18,280 Speaker 1: that there aren't planets around these things. And people actually 514 00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:21,360 Speaker 1: went and looked and they studied a cluster and one 515 00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:24,239 Speaker 1: of them had exactly zero planets in them. And then 516 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:26,360 Speaker 1: they looked at another cluster and they actually did find 517 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:30,920 Speaker 1: one planets, this huge Jupiter sized planet. But it's orbiting 518 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:34,440 Speaker 1: a pulsar in a binary star system. It's like a 519 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:37,400 Speaker 1: really rare and unusual kind of situation. And a pulsar 520 00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 1: is not what you want for like your home sun. 521 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:43,320 Speaker 1: So what is a pulsar? A pulsar is a star 522 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,480 Speaker 1: that's already collapsed, so it's burned it through its life 523 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:49,800 Speaker 1: and it doesn't have the energy to prevent gravitational collapse, 524 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:52,400 Speaker 1: and so it falls down into a neutron star and 525 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:56,320 Speaker 1: then it starts spinning crazily and emitting crazy radiation into 526 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:59,680 Speaker 1: the universe, which then sweeps across the sky and pulses, 527 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 1: which why we call it a pulsar. We have a 528 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:05,120 Speaker 1: whole fun podcast episode about pulsars people can dig into. 529 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:08,400 Speaker 1: But pulsars don't emit light the same way like our 530 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:11,600 Speaker 1: son does because there's no fusion going on inside, so 531 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:15,480 Speaker 1: it would be a pretty chilly place to live. Well, 532 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:20,320 Speaker 1: I'll pack a sweater, pack all the sweaters. But there 533 00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 1: are some really interesting things you can do with globular clusters, 534 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:26,920 Speaker 1: like experiments, you can do questions, you can ask things, 535 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:29,280 Speaker 1: you can learn about the universe. To me, what's really 536 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:32,320 Speaker 1: interesting is that you get all these stars together, like 537 00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:34,800 Speaker 1: really tightly packed, and so you get to see like 538 00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:37,320 Speaker 1: what happens when stars get really dense, when they're like 539 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:40,479 Speaker 1: all tugging on each other gravitationally. Because you know, normally 540 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:43,880 Speaker 1: stars are pretty far separated, they don't really pull on 541 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,720 Speaker 1: each other that much. So it's like getting to study 542 00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:49,080 Speaker 1: what happens when they get all crammed together. It's a 543 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:55,040 Speaker 1: starsh pit exactly. You get really interesting dynamics. Like some 544 00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:58,240 Speaker 1: of these things have had what they call core collapse, 545 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:00,880 Speaker 1: where the center of the globe the cluster has a 546 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:03,479 Speaker 1: bunch of really really big stars and all the smaller 547 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:05,800 Speaker 1: stars are on the outside. And so they're trying to 548 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:09,240 Speaker 1: understand like are these because of gravitational interactions where like 549 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:11,480 Speaker 1: two stars come near each other and then sort of 550 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:13,920 Speaker 1: like throw each other in different directions and the bigger 551 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,440 Speaker 1: star always gets sort of thrown a little bit more 552 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:19,440 Speaker 1: towards the center, so that after billions of years, you 553 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:21,640 Speaker 1: end up with the smaller ones like in a little 554 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: halo around the bigger ones at the center. It's like 555 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:27,120 Speaker 1: you have a bunch of dance partners, and you've got 556 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:30,000 Speaker 1: a bunch of little guys and some some big guys, 557 00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:32,640 Speaker 1: and they're doing the dance from you know, the Titanic, 558 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:34,520 Speaker 1: where you hold hands and you spin around in a 559 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:36,600 Speaker 1: circle and then you let the other person go and 560 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:38,720 Speaker 1: they go flying. But it's a bunch of stars, and 561 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:41,920 Speaker 1: so maybe the little ones, like when they go flying, 562 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:47,160 Speaker 1: they fly out further, keep getting slingshotted out to the outside, 563 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 1: whereas the bigger ones don't get tossed or heated. As 564 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:54,280 Speaker 1: the kids say as far, Yeah, that's exactly what happens. 565 00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:57,360 Speaker 1: That makes the core of these things even crazier, because 566 00:31:57,400 --> 00:31:58,960 Speaker 1: not only is it a place where there are a 567 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,560 Speaker 1: lot of stars, but now you have even bigger stars 568 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:04,960 Speaker 1: all clustered towards the center. So the heart of these 569 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:07,760 Speaker 1: globular clusters must be a really crazy place to live 570 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:13,160 Speaker 1: or even to visit. It seems slightly deadly. Potentially, you 571 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:16,760 Speaker 1: can also see really interesting new kinds of stars. There's 572 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:19,840 Speaker 1: a kind of star that seems to only exist inside 573 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:23,400 Speaker 1: a globular cluster. Yeah, and these actually I gotta give 574 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:25,760 Speaker 1: astronomers kudos because they have a cool name. These stars 575 00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:30,040 Speaker 1: are called blue stragglers. Oh man, this sounds like I 576 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:33,600 Speaker 1: can just hear sort of like a guitar toWin going 577 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:40,880 Speaker 1: on and a country songs starting about the blue stragglers. Yeah, 578 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:44,280 Speaker 1: they lost their dog and their truck. But the interesting 579 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:47,200 Speaker 1: thing about these stars is that usually what happens to 580 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:50,040 Speaker 1: a star is a d percent determined by how much 581 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:52,320 Speaker 1: gas it started with and then how old it is. 582 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:54,200 Speaker 1: So you start with a bunch of gas and it 583 00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:56,600 Speaker 1: burns for a long time, and you know, it's color 584 00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:00,600 Speaker 1: depends on its temperature, which depends on the gravitation pressure, 585 00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:03,080 Speaker 1: which depends again on just how much stuff it is. 586 00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:05,400 Speaker 1: So you get enough stuff, you're gonna have a red giant. 587 00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:07,520 Speaker 1: You get a little more, you can have a blue giant, 588 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:09,960 Speaker 1: for example. And so it's a very like well known, 589 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:14,120 Speaker 1: well understood sequence and stars should only appear like somewhere 590 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:16,320 Speaker 1: on this curve that tells you the mass and the 591 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:19,640 Speaker 1: age of the star. But inside these globular clusters is 592 00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:22,800 Speaker 1: a weird kind of star called a blue straggler, and 593 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:26,000 Speaker 1: they're much bluer than you expect for a star of 594 00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:31,360 Speaker 1: that size and that age. Poor things they got the 595 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:35,120 Speaker 1: blues that country music at all. It's the blues really, 596 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:36,880 Speaker 1: all right, So why are they so down? Are you 597 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:39,560 Speaker 1: talking about the color? Yeah, well, we don't exactly know. 598 00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:43,200 Speaker 1: It's a fascinating area of study, something people are trying 599 00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:46,560 Speaker 1: to understand. And that's what's really interesting about these globular clusters. 600 00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:49,760 Speaker 1: It's like a new experiment. You know. Astrophysicists, they don't 601 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:52,480 Speaker 1: get to do experiments like particle physicists, where we like 602 00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:55,440 Speaker 1: smash stuff together to see what happens. They don't just 603 00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:57,840 Speaker 1: say I'm going to smash two stars together and see 604 00:33:57,880 --> 00:33:59,880 Speaker 1: what happens. We don't have a star canon yet, we 605 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:02,480 Speaker 1: can't do it, yeah, exactly. We asked for funding for 606 00:34:02,560 --> 00:34:05,240 Speaker 1: the Star game seventy two trillion dollars, but we haven't 607 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:07,320 Speaker 1: heard back yet. But what they can do is just 608 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:10,120 Speaker 1: sort of look out into the universe and see if 609 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:13,479 Speaker 1: these experiments are already happening. Because the universe is chalk 610 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:16,160 Speaker 1: filled with weird stuff, and if you look long enough, 611 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:19,000 Speaker 1: you'll see something that might answer your science question. And 612 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:23,000 Speaker 1: so we think that might be what's happening inside globular clusters, 613 00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:27,480 Speaker 1: that essentially star collisions happened. That the reason these stars 614 00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:30,440 Speaker 1: are like two or three times bigger than you expect 615 00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:32,640 Speaker 1: for a blue star is that they sort of like 616 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:36,640 Speaker 1: got captured and fell together and formed an extra big star. 617 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:39,840 Speaker 1: So they just kind of like it's a collision and 618 00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:42,680 Speaker 1: instead of all spreading out, it all kind of just 619 00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:45,920 Speaker 1: starts to I hate to say it, but congealed together, 620 00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:50,640 Speaker 1: coagulated exactly. And you know, that tells us something about 621 00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:54,840 Speaker 1: star formation, because most stars we see formed outside globular clusters, 622 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:56,680 Speaker 1: and that tells us about the distribution. You know, you 623 00:34:56,800 --> 00:34:59,359 Speaker 1: get a certain amount of helium and hydrogen, you get 624 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:01,000 Speaker 1: this kind of star of that kind of star. This 625 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:04,200 Speaker 1: tells us that under special circumstances, if you make a 626 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:06,760 Speaker 1: bunch of big stars near each other, they can combine 627 00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:10,160 Speaker 1: together to make a super kind of star blue straggler 628 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:13,880 Speaker 1: that doesn't appear anywhere else in the galaxy or the universe. 629 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:18,160 Speaker 1: It's like a special star laboratory. And what's the straggler 630 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:20,719 Speaker 1: part of the name referring to if you look at 631 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:24,960 Speaker 1: the curve for where stars are, it's like color versus mass. 632 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:28,399 Speaker 1: Then there's this population of blue stragglers that are sort 633 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:31,320 Speaker 1: of off the curve. They're like to the left, and 634 00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:33,080 Speaker 1: so they're sort of like not hanging out with the 635 00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:35,360 Speaker 1: rest of them that are like falling behind. You know, 636 00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:37,520 Speaker 1: you don't want to judge these stars and make them 637 00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:40,839 Speaker 1: feel bad. They're just sort of different. They're differently starred. Yeah, 638 00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:45,360 Speaker 1: they're differently started exactly. Globular clusters also give us a 639 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:48,760 Speaker 1: laboratory for trying to understand another mystery of the universe, 640 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:51,960 Speaker 1: and that has to do with black holes. Black holes 641 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:54,200 Speaker 1: form in our universe, but sort of only in two 642 00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:57,759 Speaker 1: different groups. Like we either get black holes that form 643 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:00,480 Speaker 1: when stars collapse, and then they're about the mass of 644 00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:02,800 Speaker 1: a star. And so we see black holes from stellar 645 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:04,800 Speaker 1: collapse and they're out there and they have masses of 646 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:07,799 Speaker 1: like ten to a hundred times the mass of our Sun, 647 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:10,800 Speaker 1: about what you would expect from the collapse of massive stars. 648 00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:13,839 Speaker 1: Then there's another whole group of black holes that are 649 00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:16,680 Speaker 1: like millions of solar masses, and these are the ones 650 00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:19,440 Speaker 1: at the centers of galaxies. So you got like stellar 651 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:21,719 Speaker 1: black holes hanging out in the neighborhood, and then like 652 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:25,239 Speaker 1: the really big Papa black holes in the centers of galaxies. 653 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:28,440 Speaker 1: And one question in astrophysics for a long time is 654 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:31,200 Speaker 1: like where are the intermediate ones? Like why are there 655 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:33,600 Speaker 1: no black holes that are sort of like between a 656 00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:38,560 Speaker 1: hundred and ten thousand solar masses right the Goldilocks black holes? Yeah, 657 00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:41,680 Speaker 1: you know, why don't black holes emerge to form the 658 00:36:41,719 --> 00:36:44,080 Speaker 1: bigger ones. It's an interesting question about like where they're 659 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:46,440 Speaker 1: made and how often it happens, and so this is 660 00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:50,160 Speaker 1: something people have been trying to understand. And one possibilities 661 00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:52,840 Speaker 1: that you might be able to make intermediate mass black 662 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:56,239 Speaker 1: holes in globular clusters because here you have like an 663 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:59,000 Speaker 1: unusual density of stars and if a bunch of them 664 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:01,600 Speaker 1: go black hole and then formed together, you might be 665 00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:04,040 Speaker 1: able to make one of these things. So how are 666 00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:05,560 Speaker 1: we going to do this? What do we need to 667 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:09,880 Speaker 1: make a black hole out of one of these globular clusters. Well, 668 00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:11,320 Speaker 1: we don't have to do much. We just sort of 669 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:14,440 Speaker 1: sit back like astronomers and look out in the universe 670 00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:16,880 Speaker 1: that's putting on a show for us. And the idea 671 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:19,120 Speaker 1: is sort of wait for one of these things to 672 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,279 Speaker 1: turn into a black hole. And then if there are 673 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:23,319 Speaker 1: a bunch of other black holes nearby, they could sort 674 00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:26,239 Speaker 1: of swirl into each other. And remember what happens when 675 00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:29,120 Speaker 1: you toss a black hole into a black hole is 676 00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:32,680 Speaker 1: you just get a bigger black hole. Right, black holes 677 00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:35,560 Speaker 1: don't like tear each other apart. Anything you tossed into 678 00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:37,960 Speaker 1: a black hole just makes a black hole bigger. This 679 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:39,960 Speaker 1: is one of the favorite things people write in about, 680 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:43,080 Speaker 1: like what if I threw in, you know, antimatter into 681 00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:45,080 Speaker 1: a black hole? Or what if I shot a laser 682 00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:47,600 Speaker 1: into a black hole? Right? You can't destroy a black 683 00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:50,200 Speaker 1: hole by adding more energy to it. A black hole 684 00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:53,239 Speaker 1: is just a big blob of dense energy. So the 685 00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:55,680 Speaker 1: more you add to it, the more black holely it gets. 686 00:37:55,880 --> 00:38:00,839 Speaker 1: This is called the Kirby principle. Is at a cartooning joke. 687 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:04,640 Speaker 1: It's a it's a Nintendo character Kirby. He just sucks 688 00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:09,440 Speaker 1: stuff up and he gets bigger and bigger. Awesome. Well, 689 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,319 Speaker 1: that's exactly what happens. And so black holes can eat 690 00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:15,759 Speaker 1: other black holes and then become super black holes. Or 691 00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:17,759 Speaker 1: if you start out with a bunch of smaller ones, 692 00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:21,160 Speaker 1: you might get an intermediate mass black hole, and that'd 693 00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:24,080 Speaker 1: be really interesting because maybe intermediate glass black holes do 694 00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:26,560 Speaker 1: something different from the really big ones. Are the really 695 00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:29,200 Speaker 1: little ones, you know, the really big ones are for example, 696 00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:33,200 Speaker 1: sometimes their quasars they make crazy radiation because of all 697 00:38:33,239 --> 00:38:35,759 Speaker 1: the gas and dust swirling around them. So this would 698 00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:38,200 Speaker 1: be like a cool opportunity to just see something new 699 00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:41,640 Speaker 1: we've never seen before. And so people are looking inside 700 00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:44,440 Speaker 1: these globular clusters trying to see if there are these 701 00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:47,759 Speaker 1: intermediate mass black holes inside of them. So when you're 702 00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:50,480 Speaker 1: looking in a globular clusters, there a trick to being 703 00:38:50,560 --> 00:38:53,480 Speaker 1: able to find a black hole inside one of these. Yeah, 704 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:56,520 Speaker 1: that's great question because you can't obviously see them directly. 705 00:38:56,800 --> 00:38:58,799 Speaker 1: The way you can see a black hole is either 706 00:38:59,160 --> 00:39:02,760 Speaker 1: gravitational lensing of the stuff behind it. So for example, 707 00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:05,640 Speaker 1: of a star passes behind the black hole, than most 708 00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:07,759 Speaker 1: of the star would disappear or some of the light 709 00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:10,440 Speaker 1: from the star would bend around the black hole and 710 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:12,840 Speaker 1: you could see that sort of distortion. And actually a 711 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:15,480 Speaker 1: globular cluster is a great place to do that because 712 00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:17,840 Speaker 1: you have a lot of stars moving all around, so 713 00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:21,439 Speaker 1: it's easier to see this gravitational lensing effect I see. 714 00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:24,520 Speaker 1: So the more activity you have, like, the easier it 715 00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:28,359 Speaker 1: is to see the disruption of that activity as done 716 00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:31,239 Speaker 1: by the black hole. Yeah, because you can see the 717 00:39:31,239 --> 00:39:33,640 Speaker 1: black hole directly, you can only see its influence on 718 00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:36,760 Speaker 1: stuff around it. So you can either see it bending 719 00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:39,200 Speaker 1: the light that comes from behind it, or you could 720 00:39:39,239 --> 00:39:42,480 Speaker 1: just see its gravitational effects on the nearby stars. Like 721 00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:44,760 Speaker 1: the black hole that's at the center of our galaxy. 722 00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:47,759 Speaker 1: We know it's there because we've seen its pull on 723 00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:50,280 Speaker 1: the stars that are around and we see those stars 724 00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:53,440 Speaker 1: orbiting something that isn't there but obviously has a very 725 00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:56,879 Speaker 1: strong gravitational pull. And so globular clusters are a great 726 00:39:56,920 --> 00:39:59,040 Speaker 1: way to see black holes because there are so many 727 00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:02,360 Speaker 1: of these gravitation or probes. If there's a black hole somewhere, 728 00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:04,279 Speaker 1: you should be able to see its effect on the 729 00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:07,280 Speaker 1: nearby stars. You can calculate, like how should these stars 730 00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:09,279 Speaker 1: be moving if there wasn't the black hole, And then 731 00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:11,200 Speaker 1: you can see if there's a deviation from what you 732 00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:14,239 Speaker 1: expect and if that could be explained by putting an 733 00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:17,520 Speaker 1: invisible heavy mass in one spot, and if so, then 734 00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:19,680 Speaker 1: you think you've seen one. So have we found any 735 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:23,880 Speaker 1: inside a globular cluster. So no confirmed sightings of intermedium 736 00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:27,040 Speaker 1: mass black holes and globular clusters. I know, stay tuned. 737 00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:29,960 Speaker 1: There was one where people thought maybe they saw one 738 00:40:30,040 --> 00:40:33,360 Speaker 1: with four thousand solar masses, but then follow up analysis 739 00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:36,520 Speaker 1: didn't see the same results. And actually you could explain 740 00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:39,040 Speaker 1: all of the star paths without the black hole. And 741 00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:41,080 Speaker 1: so it's a hard thing to do because these things 742 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:43,759 Speaker 1: are not that close by, and you're looking at individual 743 00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:47,479 Speaker 1: stars in a cluster, you know, thousands of light years away. 744 00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:49,759 Speaker 1: But it's an exciting thing. It's a it's a cool 745 00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:52,640 Speaker 1: new object for us to look into and to ask 746 00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:55,720 Speaker 1: questions about the way stars form and new weird kinds 747 00:40:55,760 --> 00:40:59,120 Speaker 1: of stars and strange conditions for black holes. I mean, 748 00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:02,200 Speaker 1: it seems like a real, just fun happening spot in 749 00:41:02,280 --> 00:41:06,759 Speaker 1: the universe to really put your papers on. As an astronomer. Yeah, 750 00:41:06,840 --> 00:41:09,479 Speaker 1: I think it's really interesting and I love these bits 751 00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:11,880 Speaker 1: of the universe that are sort of left over from 752 00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:15,080 Speaker 1: an earlier time. Now, these things formed more than ten 753 00:41:15,239 --> 00:41:18,080 Speaker 1: billion years ago and they're still around, which gives us 754 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:21,000 Speaker 1: an opportunity to learn, like what was going on back then, 755 00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:24,240 Speaker 1: because what happened back then is what determined the shape 756 00:41:24,280 --> 00:41:26,840 Speaker 1: and the nature and the content of these things. So 757 00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:29,360 Speaker 1: they really are like a little time capsule of the 758 00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:32,919 Speaker 1: early universe. And everything we're doing in physics about trying 759 00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:35,719 Speaker 1: to understand the universe is about trying to rewind and 760 00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:38,400 Speaker 1: trying to understand how did everything happen. So to do 761 00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:40,239 Speaker 1: that we have to find clues. We have to look 762 00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:43,040 Speaker 1: for places in the universe where stuff is left over. 763 00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:46,920 Speaker 1: You now, this is like the astrophysics analogy of a fossil, 764 00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:49,560 Speaker 1: you know, a little piece of evidence left over from 765 00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:52,000 Speaker 1: an earlier time, or like a living fossil, like a 766 00:41:52,080 --> 00:41:56,080 Speaker 1: Ceila camp. Yeah, exactly, like a living fossil. Unfortunately, there 767 00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:59,920 Speaker 1: probably aren't any aliens living on planets swinging arounds from 768 00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:03,640 Speaker 1: star to star inside a globular cluster. But maybe there are, 769 00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:06,320 Speaker 1: and if so, maybe they could tell us something fascinating 770 00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:09,360 Speaker 1: about what it's like to live inside such a bright environment. 771 00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:13,080 Speaker 1: I'm hoping to find a blob fish inside a globular cluster. 772 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:17,440 Speaker 1: I think that's why globular cluster sounds gross to me, 773 00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:20,440 Speaker 1: because it resonates with the word blob. You know, every 774 00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:23,440 Speaker 1: time on this podcast, I wanted to say globular cluster 775 00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:27,600 Speaker 1: of almost said blobular cluster. Well, you know it's interesting 776 00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:33,320 Speaker 1: because globular clusters do not deserve that kind of nasty name. Likewise, 777 00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:36,800 Speaker 1: the blobfish actually gets a bad reputation. It does not 778 00:42:37,040 --> 00:42:40,120 Speaker 1: look like that. Have you ever seen the blobfish. It 779 00:42:40,200 --> 00:42:45,040 Speaker 1: looks sort of like a a sad, ziggy exploded blob 780 00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:48,640 Speaker 1: with a frown. Yes, it's not very advertising. No, no, 781 00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:52,040 Speaker 1: it looks like a slimy bloble. That's because it exploded 782 00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:54,759 Speaker 1: when you brought it up from the deep sea and 783 00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:57,680 Speaker 1: it's natural environment. I wouldn't say it's a looker. It's 784 00:42:57,719 --> 00:43:01,000 Speaker 1: not beautiful, but it it looks a lot more solid. 785 00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:03,960 Speaker 1: It just kind of looks like this gray, sort of solid, 786 00:43:04,280 --> 00:43:06,480 Speaker 1: bony fish. But when you bring it to the surface, 787 00:43:06,640 --> 00:43:08,640 Speaker 1: it looks like a blob. And so you know you 788 00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:13,680 Speaker 1: can't trust a glob or a blob by the name. Well, 789 00:43:13,719 --> 00:43:15,360 Speaker 1: it must be very disappointed. You know. It looked at 790 00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:17,080 Speaker 1: itself in the mirror before it leads the house, and 791 00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:19,440 Speaker 1: it's like, I'm looking good, and then it ends up 792 00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:21,000 Speaker 1: looking like a big blob when it's brought up to 793 00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:24,880 Speaker 1: the surface. And they truly do look quite pathetic because 794 00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:29,120 Speaker 1: it looks like they're frowning. But maybe the globular clusters 795 00:43:29,239 --> 00:43:31,959 Speaker 1: and the blobfish can come together and get some better 796 00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:36,719 Speaker 1: pr for themselves. Maybe the aliens that live in globular 797 00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:39,600 Speaker 1: clusters look like blob fish and they'll come here and 798 00:43:39,719 --> 00:43:43,319 Speaker 1: they'll recognize the blobfish as you know, really the people 799 00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:44,960 Speaker 1: they want to talk to. It seems like you'd have 800 00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:48,200 Speaker 1: to be sort of blobular to live in a globular 801 00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:50,839 Speaker 1: cluster because of all those stars tugging on you all 802 00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:53,359 Speaker 1: the time. Like Taffy, your planet would be a bit 803 00:43:53,360 --> 00:43:56,000 Speaker 1: of a blob as well. All right, well, thanks everyone 804 00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:58,560 Speaker 1: for sharing your curiosity with us and taking this tour 805 00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:02,680 Speaker 1: of a fascinating structure inside our galaxy, something that can 806 00:44:02,719 --> 00:44:05,320 Speaker 1: tell us all about the universe and house stars formed 807 00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:08,080 Speaker 1: in the age of our galaxy, and maybe about the 808 00:44:08,160 --> 00:44:11,680 Speaker 1: future of black holes. Episode. When someone says, hey, would 809 00:44:11,719 --> 00:44:14,239 Speaker 1: you like a globular cluster, don't turn your nose up 810 00:44:14,280 --> 00:44:16,480 Speaker 1: at it. It could teach you about the deepest secrets 811 00:44:16,520 --> 00:44:19,840 Speaker 1: of the universe. But please don't use that for your 812 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:23,080 Speaker 1: next breakfast cereal. All right, everyone, thanks for tuning in, 813 00:44:23,400 --> 00:44:33,520 Speaker 1: see you next time. Thanks for listening, and remember that 814 00:44:33,680 --> 00:44:36,440 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge explained. The Universe is a production of 815 00:44:36,560 --> 00:44:39,920 Speaker 1: I heart Radio or more podcast from my heart Radio. 816 00:44:40,040 --> 00:44:43,600 Speaker 1: Visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 817 00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:45,400 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.