1 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:10,639 Speaker 1: So I wonder sometimes, why isn't the universe you know, 2 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: more boring? You know, what, what do you mean more boring? Well, 3 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:17,640 Speaker 1: not only is so much of our universe beautiful from 4 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: you know, like features on Earth too, incredible things in space, 5 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:23,040 Speaker 1: but it's also just seems to be filled with like 6 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:27,080 Speaker 1: really weird stuff, you know. Yeah, the universe always seems 7 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 1: to top itself with more intense or more crazy stuff. 8 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:33,280 Speaker 1: I know. But I wonder is that a property of 9 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: the universe or is that something about us? Like if 10 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: we meet aliens and their physicists, would they be like, yawn, 11 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 1: the universe is so simple and boring and we're the 12 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: only ones who think is fascinating. Or they also just 13 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: like stand a gape at the incredible features we see 14 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:50,320 Speaker 1: in the universe. Oh, I see you're asking a philosophical question, 15 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 1: like is it not boring objectively or just subjectively as 16 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: for humans given our experience? Yeah, is the universe not 17 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:00,240 Speaker 1: boring because of who we are? Because of what the 18 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:03,279 Speaker 1: universe is? Like? If we lived in a crazier part 19 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: of the universe, maybe would be we would be more 20 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: used to crazy things exactly if we had seen all 21 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:12,759 Speaker 1: the fascinating stuff early on, then all these discoveries would 22 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 1: be ho hum, Right, But we grew up in a 23 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:16,600 Speaker 1: kind of a boring corner of the universe, and so 24 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:18,880 Speaker 1: we're blown away when we go to like the Manhattan 25 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:21,640 Speaker 1: part of the university, see all the crazy stuff that happens, 26 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 1: all the extremes. Yeah, yeah, we're like the uh, the 27 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: provincial ignor a miss of the universe. Y'all, y'all got 28 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:35,959 Speaker 1: a nice universe here. Now let's insult the United States. 29 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 1: I mean we should come definitely, let's cut that. And 30 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 1: I'm Daniel. Welcome to our podcast Annual and Jorge Explained 31 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: the Universe, a production of I Heart Radio in which 32 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: we take a tour of the universe and find weird, 33 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: interesting stuff that's hard to understand and try to explain 34 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: it to you. They ever going to take a topic 35 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,920 Speaker 1: and we're going to examine some of the weirdest examples 36 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:19,960 Speaker 1: of them, So the most intense and extreme examples of 37 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:27,679 Speaker 1: this very common thing you see every night. That's right, 38 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: And this episode is dedicated to a listener who wrote 39 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: in and asked us to do an episode about all 40 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: the weirdest stars in the universe. This was requested by 41 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 1: Callie Smith, who also in her email described yourself as 42 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,360 Speaker 1: a physics ninja or hey, what do you think that means? 43 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:46,919 Speaker 1: She must have gone to like a combination school where 44 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: they teach physics and ninja skills. I imagine that a 45 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:54,240 Speaker 1: physics ninja is somebody who breaks into your office late 46 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: at night, totally silently and solves all the problems you 47 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 1: have on the chalkboard and escapes without leaving a tri wow. 48 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: I would love to see a duel between her and 49 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:07,200 Speaker 1: like a physics samurai. What would happen a physics samurai 50 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:09,240 Speaker 1: comes in and chops your chalkboard in half? I think 51 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:14,920 Speaker 1: less subtle, less subtle problem solved. Isn't that what you 52 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: do to your students? You like walking? This is not good? Yeah. No, 53 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: I'm definitely not like a physics gladiator, and that's what 54 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: you mean. I think I meself more as a physics architect, 55 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:30,080 Speaker 1: trying to build interesting stuff in physics and find interesting puzzles. Cool. Well, 56 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:33,079 Speaker 1: thank you Kelly Smith for submitting this idea, and it's 57 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: a pretty interesting one. Just the idea that there are 58 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: things out there that you might somebody might call weird stars. Yeah, 59 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: and you know, you know that our sun is a star, 60 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: and lots of other stars out there, and a lot 61 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 1: of them are sort of vanilla. You know, they're out there, 62 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:49,040 Speaker 1: they're fusing hydrogen, they're enormous burning balls of gas. We 63 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: can see them from billions of miles away, you know. 64 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:54,200 Speaker 1: But there's so many of them that becomes a little plain, right, 65 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:56,839 Speaker 1: like you're bored by that. Um. But it turns out 66 00:03:56,880 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 1: there's a lot of stars out there that are weird, 67 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:03,360 Speaker 1: that are strained, that do incredible stuff that blows your mind. 68 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: And so this episode is dedicated to talking all about 69 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 1: those kinds of stars. Yeah, because it's it's funny to 70 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: think that our star, our sun, is this giant, enormous, 71 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:17,719 Speaker 1: continual in men's atomic bomb. That's just that it's exploding 72 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 1: all the time, and it's but it's it's weird. I 73 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,200 Speaker 1: think that that's the vanilla version. That there are versions 74 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:28,479 Speaker 1: of stars out there that would make art Star look boring. Yeah, 75 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 1: you've gotta be pretty jaded to think an enormous, constantly 76 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: exploding fugion bomb is the size of yesterday's news. Yeah, 77 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:40,920 Speaker 1: the size of the sun is yesterday's news, right that, um, 78 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:42,360 Speaker 1: But that's the world we live in, you know, you 79 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: always need something more exciting, something as you're scrolling down 80 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:48,800 Speaker 1: your Internet feed, right, you need something to catch your eye. 81 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: And so yesterday's ball of enormous plasma is boring, and 82 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:54,840 Speaker 1: you need something news, something exciting, and so that's what 83 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: we're providing to you today. Yeah, so let's break it down. 84 00:04:57,440 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: What do you what do you mean by weird stars 85 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:01,680 Speaker 1: or stars that are not like the typical star that 86 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:04,480 Speaker 1: you see out in the universe. Yeah, you know, astronomers 87 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: like to look out in the sky and see what 88 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: they look at and try to understand it. And they 89 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: look at the population they see. Do the stars have 90 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,640 Speaker 1: the distribution of brightness that we expect, We see the 91 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,720 Speaker 1: sizes that we expect, the distances we expect, and they 92 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:18,880 Speaker 1: start to ask questions, you know, and when they do so, 93 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:21,840 Speaker 1: they find some odd balls. They find some stars out 94 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:24,320 Speaker 1: there that don't quite um act the way they might 95 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: have expected, and it gives some clues that there's different 96 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:29,799 Speaker 1: stuff going on in the universe that's producing these weird stars. 97 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,480 Speaker 1: And so specifically today we're interested in things like neutron 98 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:39,120 Speaker 1: stars and pulsars and weird things called magnetars. Magnetars sounds 99 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:43,120 Speaker 1: like a Greek mythology monster. Yeah, I wonder what a 100 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:45,240 Speaker 1: magnetar would do against the physics ninja. Who do you 101 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:48,919 Speaker 1: think they like? Epic battle? That would be an epic battle. 102 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:51,680 Speaker 1: Would love to see some fan art if anyone's listening, 103 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: who knows it draw magnetars, I'd I'd love to see 104 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:58,920 Speaker 1: that done. That would be awesome. Yes, so we are 105 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: going to dig into what's weird and fascinating and interesting 106 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:03,559 Speaker 1: about all these kinds of stars. But of course, before 107 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:05,599 Speaker 1: we do so, I went around and I asked people 108 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:09,479 Speaker 1: what they knew about these weird categories of stars. Yeah, 109 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 1: we ask people what they thought was a neutron star 110 00:06:13,279 --> 00:06:17,599 Speaker 1: or a pulsar or a magnetar. That's right. So before 111 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: you listen to these answers, think to yourself, do you 112 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 1: know what a neutron star is? How's it made? Why 113 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: is it weird? Do you know what a magnetari is 114 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:26,000 Speaker 1: other than a comic book villain in Jorge's imagination? Think 115 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,040 Speaker 1: about it for yourself, then listen to these answers. Here's 116 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 1: what people have to say. Kind of, I don't know 117 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:37,560 Speaker 1: so much about it. I don't know big stars I've 118 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:42,479 Speaker 1: heard days before, but nothing about like amation, and I 119 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:45,320 Speaker 1: feel like I've heard about a neutron stars but not 120 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:50,159 Speaker 1: the other two. Make a guess what a neutron star is? Um. 121 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:54,480 Speaker 1: Neutrons are like um, it's like the atom, right, like 122 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: the protons, electrons and neutrons. So I would assume it 123 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:05,360 Speaker 1: has to do something that that I know. Well, if 124 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 1: you have to guess what a quasar was, what would 125 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 1: you guess? It is like a type of star or 126 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 1: something something like that, a fireball for the fun there. 127 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:19,080 Speaker 1: A pulsar, to my understanding, would be like a black hole. 128 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: When a black hole is and I could be very wrong, 129 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:24,960 Speaker 1: but a black hole is like eating or you know, 130 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 1: or just breaking apart like a planet, and as it's 131 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 1: doing that, it's spewing you know, stuff out, And as 132 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: the black hole spins, it kind of emits um like 133 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:39,360 Speaker 1: what it is like radiation or you know, frequencies that 134 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 1: when we see it here on Earth, it seems like 135 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: it pulses or flashes something that's like given emitting like 136 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 1: a energy. I'm not sure al R p U L 137 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,280 Speaker 1: S A R I have, but as wach, I can't 138 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:57,239 Speaker 1: remember what it is, all right, how about a neutron star, 139 00:07:57,800 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: I'm sure just like a at this star so far 140 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:03,800 Speaker 1: of energy that now he emits a sense of light 141 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 1: as far as neutron I mean, that's that's actually my 142 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:09,640 Speaker 1: best guess. I mean they're from the newtron star because 143 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 1: it's probably more neutrons than like what positrons and those 144 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 1: other things. So what do you think of those answers for? Yeah? No, 145 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: I think they demonstrated as much knowledge as me about 146 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: these topics. I see, so like them, you're fascinated to 147 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 1: learn more about neutron stars and pulstars and that. Like them, 148 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:29,640 Speaker 1: I would have just said, yeah, it's like a fireball, 149 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: right or a big ball of energy. Yeah. So a 150 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:34,560 Speaker 1: lot of people seem to have heard the term, right 151 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:39,319 Speaker 1: neutron star is um not unfamiliar people. I think one 152 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:42,000 Speaker 1: reason is that Thor's hammer is supposed to be made 153 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 1: out of neutron star material. Isn't that right? Oh? Is 154 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:46,800 Speaker 1: that true? I think so. I'm not an expert on 155 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:48,880 Speaker 1: the Marvel universe. I'm sure somebody's gonna write in and 156 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 1: correct me, but please do um. I think it was 157 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:57,120 Speaker 1: forged by the energy of a neutron star ran according 158 00:08:57,160 --> 00:08:59,680 Speaker 1: to the movie, but I'm not sure if it's comic booklore. 159 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: Isn't it super heavy? Though? It's super heavy? Right, it's 160 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:06,439 Speaker 1: as dense as a neutron star. Right, I don't know 161 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:08,920 Speaker 1: if it's super heavy. I know that only four can 162 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:11,439 Speaker 1: pick it up. Yeah, there's some complicated physics rules and 163 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:14,079 Speaker 1: the Marvel universe there. Well, this is not Dale and 164 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 1: Jorge explain the Marvel universe. So let's get back to 165 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:20,120 Speaker 1: our universe. Although that sounds like a great podcast, that's 166 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 1: our spinoff podcast. Yeah, um exactly. Um yeah, I thought 167 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:26,720 Speaker 1: people you know, mostly had heard of this stuff, but 168 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:28,720 Speaker 1: they didn't really know a lot of details about what 169 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:31,840 Speaker 1: pulsars were, and nobody had any idea what a magnetard was. 170 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:36,280 Speaker 1: I mean, it sounds like it's magnetic. Yes, that's a 171 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:39,600 Speaker 1: good clue. Magnets oars are super magnetic, like a star 172 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 1: that will stick to your fridge, or it's a star 173 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:46,719 Speaker 1: that will erase your credit cards. So the idea is 174 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:48,720 Speaker 1: that when you look out into the sky at night, 175 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 1: you see a whole bunch of stars, but some of 176 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:53,079 Speaker 1: the ones that you're looking at are not like the others. 177 00:09:53,559 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 1: That's right, Some of them are pretty weird and they're 178 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:58,640 Speaker 1: not always easy to spot. So let's dig into it. 179 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:01,400 Speaker 1: The first category of weird stars we want to talk 180 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 1: about is neutron stars. Yeah, so what's a neutron star 181 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: besides you know, a plot element in the in the 182 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:13,559 Speaker 1: Avengers movie. Um, well, I don't think they were created 183 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:16,840 Speaker 1: just for that purpose. Neutron star is some what happens 184 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:20,560 Speaker 1: after some stars go super nova. Right, So, the typical 185 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:23,880 Speaker 1: life cycle of a star is gas and dust come together, 186 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:27,440 Speaker 1: they're compressed by gravity. It starts to ignite in the center. 187 00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 1: It burns for billions of years. Right. Eventually it runs 188 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: out of that fuel and and and the and the 189 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:37,320 Speaker 1: burning slows down and it can't any longer prevent itself 190 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:40,960 Speaker 1: from collapsing gravitationally, right, all this stuff gravity is trying 191 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 1: to pull the star into as small adut as possible. 192 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:46,120 Speaker 1: But during its whole life, it's burning, and that's causing 193 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:49,920 Speaker 1: this outward pressure. Eventually that burning fades and fades and fades, 194 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:52,480 Speaker 1: and the star gives way to the inevitable forces of 195 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:55,560 Speaker 1: gravity and collapses like it's nuts out and and all 196 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:59,600 Speaker 1: that stuff to suddenly crunches down in the into the center. Yeah. Well, 197 00:10:59,679 --> 00:11:02,640 Speaker 1: usually you get an implosion followed by an explosion which 198 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:04,679 Speaker 1: is a supernova, so a huge amount of light is 199 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:07,440 Speaker 1: emitted and then you have what's left over is a 200 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:11,360 Speaker 1: very very very dense, very small core. And if it's 201 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:13,360 Speaker 1: big enough, if it's like massive enough, then it can 202 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:15,480 Speaker 1: form a black hole, right, and and that's how a 203 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:17,800 Speaker 1: lot of black holes are made. But it's not quite 204 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:20,840 Speaker 1: massive enough. Sometimes it doesn't form a black hole. It 205 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: just forms a super dense blob of stuff. So a 206 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:28,720 Speaker 1: neutron star is like a failed black hole. I don't 207 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:31,120 Speaker 1: want to pass any value judgments on neutron stars. I 208 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:33,480 Speaker 1: think neutron stars should be happy with how they look, 209 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:36,560 Speaker 1: you know, and not be aspiring to anything else. Um. 210 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:39,040 Speaker 1: But yeah, neutron stars are black holes that didn't go black. 211 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:43,280 Speaker 1: This is a stellar positive podcast. That's right. That's sorry. 212 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:46,319 Speaker 1: I love your body, stars, love who you are, But 213 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: yeah they are. There are blobs of matter that weren't 214 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:51,720 Speaker 1: big enough, weren't dense enough to turn into black holes. 215 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:53,920 Speaker 1: What are you left with? This huge blob of matter 216 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:57,640 Speaker 1: and it's amazing amount of gravitational pressure and it's squeezes, 217 00:11:57,640 --> 00:11:59,960 Speaker 1: squeezes down and in the end, you know, you start 218 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:02,800 Speaker 1: it out with this thing. It's millions of kilometers wide. 219 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:05,680 Speaker 1: All that stuff gets compressed into a little blob that's 220 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:09,440 Speaker 1: like ten kilometers in radius, which is pretty small. It's 221 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:12,560 Speaker 1: it's like the size of Manhattan. Yeah, exactly. And these 222 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:15,559 Speaker 1: things start out often much bigger than our son. Remember, 223 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:17,320 Speaker 1: our son is fairly small compared to a lot of 224 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:19,640 Speaker 1: suns out there. So this thing comes out to be 225 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:22,560 Speaker 1: like ten kilometers wide, but still have like one or 226 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:25,840 Speaker 1: two times the mass of our sun. So imagine taking 227 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:29,040 Speaker 1: our son and squeezing it down to like the size 228 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:33,320 Speaker 1: of Manhattan. And and what's holding it together is the gravity, right, 229 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:36,840 Speaker 1: that's right. Gravity is pulling this thing together, and nothing 230 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:40,280 Speaker 1: else is capable of sustaining it anymore. There's no pressure 231 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:43,640 Speaker 1: left to to keep it larger. So what's keeping it 232 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:45,600 Speaker 1: from becoming a black hole? We're din't it just keep 233 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:48,960 Speaker 1: compressing because of gravity? Yeah, well there's not enough gravity, right, 234 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:51,520 Speaker 1: There is some pressure there, and so the news what happens. 235 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:54,080 Speaker 1: The reason it's called the neutron star is that gravity 236 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:56,520 Speaker 1: is compressed it. And you know mostly these atoms have 237 00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:01,200 Speaker 1: neutrons and protons and electrons, right, Well, it's so compressed 238 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:04,720 Speaker 1: that the protons and the electrons they have this interaction, 239 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:07,600 Speaker 1: and they turn into neutrons. Right, so you turn all 240 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:11,439 Speaker 1: the protons and electrons into neutrons. Member protons or plus 241 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:15,360 Speaker 1: one electrons are minus one. Wait waits there? Usually there 242 00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:18,280 Speaker 1: one is plus and one is negative. So they attract 243 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:19,920 Speaker 1: each other. But you're saying, what if they get close 244 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 1: enough they become a neutron, they turn into a neutron. Yeah, 245 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:25,960 Speaker 1: and it's not like, don't be confused, and neutron is 246 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:29,439 Speaker 1: not just a proton and electron stuck together, right, is 247 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:32,280 Speaker 1: the transformation of the quirks that are inside the proton. 248 00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:35,200 Speaker 1: One of the corks inside the protons gets flipped from 249 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:37,320 Speaker 1: being like a down cork to an up cork, and 250 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:39,720 Speaker 1: that turns the proton into a neutron. And also it 251 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:43,479 Speaker 1: emits a neutrino. And so you turn all the protons 252 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:46,680 Speaker 1: and electrons inside these atoms into neutrons, so that all 253 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:50,960 Speaker 1: you're left with is neutrons. Why doesn't that collact into 254 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 1: a black hole. Well, neutrons don't like to be on 255 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:56,360 Speaker 1: top of each other, right, And there's still gluons and things. 256 00:13:56,360 --> 00:13:58,800 Speaker 1: The neutrons don't want to be like literally on top 257 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:00,800 Speaker 1: of each other, so there's still enough pressure there to 258 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:03,120 Speaker 1: prevent it from collapsing into a black hole. If there 259 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:06,199 Speaker 1: was more push each other out to you, don't they 260 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:08,319 Speaker 1: crowd each other out. Yeah, you know, it's like a 261 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:10,280 Speaker 1: bag of pink pong balls, right. You squeeze it and 262 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:13,319 Speaker 1: squeeze and squeeze it, and eventually they pack so tightly 263 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:15,640 Speaker 1: that they can't get any closer. And if you had 264 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:18,439 Speaker 1: enough neutrons you added another you know, if you double 265 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:21,160 Speaker 1: the mass or something, there'd be enough gravitational pressure it 266 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:23,240 Speaker 1: would form a black hole. But these are ones where 267 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:27,040 Speaker 1: there isn't enough gravitational pressure to overcome the neutrons pushing 268 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:31,080 Speaker 1: against each other. It's just stuck in this really dense state. Yeah, 269 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:34,200 Speaker 1: super dense. You know, if you had like a spoonful 270 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:38,560 Speaker 1: of this stuff, it would weigh three billion tons. It's 271 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:42,000 Speaker 1: hard to even really fathom, like how heavy this stuff is. 272 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:47,000 Speaker 1: A spoonful wigs three billion tons? Yeah, I mean you've 273 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:50,080 Speaker 1: taken something twice the size of the sun and compressed 274 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: it to a sphere ten kilometers wide. Like it adds 275 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:56,680 Speaker 1: really dense stuff. Wow. So that's why it's called a neutron. 276 00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: Start said, it's mostly made out of neutrons. Yeah, it's 277 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:02,240 Speaker 1: a base eically just neutrons. Like you know, what is 278 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 1: a neutron star? It's a star of neutrons. Right. For once, 279 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:08,280 Speaker 1: we have a great name in science that's compact, it's crisp, 280 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:11,840 Speaker 1: and it's totally accurate. Right, So kudos to the anonymous 281 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:14,960 Speaker 1: Physics naming Committee that we are often um crapping on 282 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:17,000 Speaker 1: their work, but today they did a great job. But 283 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:19,280 Speaker 1: why is it still called the star? Wouldn't it just 284 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:22,720 Speaker 1: be like a a neutron ball, wouldn't Why wouldn't you 285 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:26,320 Speaker 1: just call it a neutron ball. You don't even give it, 286 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:28,160 Speaker 1: You don't even want to give them this one. Huh? 287 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:30,200 Speaker 1: Why is it called the star? Yeah? Well, okay, that's 288 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 1: a good question. I mean, let's talk about how you 289 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: see them, right, A neutron star isn't actively fusing anymore, 290 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:37,160 Speaker 1: so it's not giving off a lot of lights. You 291 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 1: can't see neutron stars in the sky the way you 292 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:41,480 Speaker 1: see other stars, right, just by seeing the light that 293 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:44,800 Speaker 1: comes off them. They're more like black holes, um in 294 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:47,800 Speaker 1: that they're intense sources of gravity and the stuff around 295 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:50,800 Speaker 1: them is getting sort of rubbed and compressed. They have 296 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:53,960 Speaker 1: an accretion disc, right, it's the stuff that's about to 297 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:56,480 Speaker 1: fall into the black hole of the neutron star, and 298 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:58,840 Speaker 1: that's giving off a lot of radiation. So you see 299 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:01,400 Speaker 1: the neutron stars not to but if they happen to 300 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: have an accretion disc, it gives off a lot of 301 00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 1: ratian your radiation. So yeah, that's a fair point. That's 302 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:07,760 Speaker 1: a fair point. Maybe they shouldn't be called star that 303 00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:10,640 Speaker 1: should be called like neutron rocks or scoops, oh neutron 304 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 1: or something neutron balls. I feel like I should just 305 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 1: get a Nobel price just for figuring out the Nobel 306 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 1: Prize for star naming. Yeah. Nice, Maybe you can get 307 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:24,560 Speaker 1: a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for naming stars. 308 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:27,040 Speaker 1: At least a sticker, you know, like a little gold star. 309 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:30,480 Speaker 1: That would be nice. I'll make you a gold neutron 310 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:38,920 Speaker 1: star or a ball technically, Okay, so I see what 311 00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:41,080 Speaker 1: you're saying. So it's not like the thing itself, that 312 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 1: super dense core is glowing itself. It's just that it's 313 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:47,480 Speaker 1: it's almost acting like a black hole that it's so 314 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:52,360 Speaker 1: heavy and stuff that's surrounded. It's such an intense gravitational 315 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:54,840 Speaker 1: field that the stuff around it kind of burns and 316 00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: and and gets shredded, and that's what gives us the 317 00:16:57,080 --> 00:16:59,360 Speaker 1: light that we see. Yeah, exactly, it's a lot like 318 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:02,560 Speaker 1: a baby cole, Right, but it's cool because it's a black, 319 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: baby black hole you can see into, right, the stuff 320 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:08,400 Speaker 1: is not hidden behind the gravitational event horizon. You can 321 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:10,399 Speaker 1: see it. You can study, you can ask questions like 322 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:12,520 Speaker 1: how fast it's spinning. You know, what is it like 323 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:14,960 Speaker 1: to be on the surface, And uh, it's pretty crazy 324 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 1: because these neutron stars, you know, they contain the all 325 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:21,600 Speaker 1: the angular momentum of the original star. Right, So imagine, 326 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:23,879 Speaker 1: for example, think about like being a figure skater or 327 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:25,720 Speaker 1: being on the ice. If you're spinning any of your 328 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:28,119 Speaker 1: arms out wide, and then you bring your arms in 329 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:30,879 Speaker 1: closer and closer together, you go faster and faster. Right. 330 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:33,080 Speaker 1: The reason is angular momentum. You have to have the 331 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:36,320 Speaker 1: same amount of spinning momentum when your arms are out 332 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:39,600 Speaker 1: wide as when you're they're close in, Right, But having 333 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:41,960 Speaker 1: things close in means they have to go faster to 334 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:44,160 Speaker 1: have the same amount of angler momentum because it depends 335 00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:47,359 Speaker 1: on the radius. So like it shrinks, like as a shrinks, 336 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 1: it goes faster and it spins faster and faster until 337 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:52,800 Speaker 1: exactly it gets so small that it's it's probably spinning, 338 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:56,440 Speaker 1: spinning at a crazy speed. Yeah exactly. Some neutron stars 339 00:17:56,480 --> 00:18:00,399 Speaker 1: we found spin like they rotate. The entire star takes 340 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:04,760 Speaker 1: like five or six hundred times per second. Five times 341 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:08,919 Speaker 1: per second per second, yeah, which means if you're like 342 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:11,760 Speaker 1: standing on the surface of the star, the surface is 343 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:14,520 Speaker 1: moving it like a quarter of the speed of light. Wow. 344 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:17,840 Speaker 1: But technically you could sort of like land on it, right, 345 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: like if you maybe, right, if you match the speed maybe, 346 00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:22,119 Speaker 1: And I don't know what would be like to be 347 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:23,520 Speaker 1: on the surface of a neutron star. I think it 348 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:26,120 Speaker 1: would be pretty hot and unpleasant. There's definitely a huge 349 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:30,120 Speaker 1: amount of radiation from all the stuff nearby. But yeah, 350 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:32,320 Speaker 1: technically you could. I mean, it's a thing, right, you 351 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:34,960 Speaker 1: could land on it, you could touch it would just 352 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:39,160 Speaker 1: send you a robotic probe first, but yeah, go for it. Well, 353 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:40,919 Speaker 1: I mean I think if you were spinning that fast, 354 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:44,160 Speaker 1: you would probably just get squitched against your chair, right, 355 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:47,200 Speaker 1: yeah exactly. I mean imagine landing on something that's spinning 356 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 1: really really fast, right, You'd have to catch up to 357 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:51,119 Speaker 1: it in order to land on it, so you'd have 358 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:53,200 Speaker 1: to be orbiting it at a quarter of the speed 359 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:56,120 Speaker 1: of light. It would be pretty tricky maneuver. Okay, So, 360 00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:58,880 Speaker 1: so how rare are these neutron stars? How many are 361 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:01,479 Speaker 1: there in the in the universe or in our galaxy? Yeah, well, 362 00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:03,560 Speaker 1: we've identified a bunch of them, you know, we've seen 363 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:08,119 Speaker 1: We've identified pretty confidently, like thousands of them in our neighborhood, 364 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 1: and the closest one we've ever seen is like four 365 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:13,440 Speaker 1: hundred light years away. And then we can extrapolate, We say, well, 366 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:16,040 Speaker 1: if there's a certain density of neutron stars around here 367 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:18,119 Speaker 1: that we've seen, you know, how many do we expect 368 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:20,359 Speaker 1: to see? And we can have models of stars and 369 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:23,359 Speaker 1: supernova collapses and and their's and their masses, and the 370 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:26,040 Speaker 1: estimates are that there are tens of millions of these 371 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:29,440 Speaker 1: things in the galaxy. Um. But and you know, that's 372 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 1: a tiny fraction of the hundreds billions of stars that 373 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 1: are in our galaxy. But it's not a small number. 374 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:37,439 Speaker 1: And right there's a lot of these crazy dense, super 375 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:41,320 Speaker 1: spinning um little tiny what do you call them, neutron balls? 376 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:44,240 Speaker 1: Neutron balls. Yeah, that sounds like something you'd order for dessert. 377 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:47,040 Speaker 1: You know, I'd like two neutron balls with chocolate syrup. Please, 378 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:50,560 Speaker 1: Can I get our ninja physics physics ninja to cook 379 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:54,119 Speaker 1: up the balls? Said, oh, no, you should have a 380 00:19:54,119 --> 00:19:59,960 Speaker 1: dessert that's not quite so dense. Yeah. So they're they're 381 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,200 Speaker 1: a lot of them, and they spend really fast. They're 382 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:05,000 Speaker 1: super dance. They can't actually see them. Can you actually 383 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:06,720 Speaker 1: see them in the night scout? You can, right, because 384 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,200 Speaker 1: I heard they don't give a visible light. Yeah, exactly. 385 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:12,879 Speaker 1: They're like anything else that doesn't glow, you know, just 386 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:15,639 Speaker 1: like an asteroid. Right, You can't see an asteroid unless 387 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:18,159 Speaker 1: the sun shines on it. These things are too far 388 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:20,680 Speaker 1: away from any start to shine on them. We have to. 389 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:22,720 Speaker 1: We can only see them from the radiation that comes 390 00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:25,600 Speaker 1: from nearby them because the gravitational pressure they exert on 391 00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:27,960 Speaker 1: like gas and dust that's orbiting them. So you can't 392 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:30,280 Speaker 1: see them directly. You can't point your telescope and a 393 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:32,480 Speaker 1: neutron star and expect to see it. Just be like 394 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,680 Speaker 1: a black rock, but not a black hole, you see, 395 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:39,160 Speaker 1: like the chaos it's that it's causing around itself. Yeah, exactly, 396 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:41,879 Speaker 1: just the way if you see a star walk, you know, 397 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:46,680 Speaker 1: through the through the crowd of photographers at the oscars, right, 398 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:48,680 Speaker 1: you probably don't see the star directly. You just see 399 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:50,840 Speaker 1: like all the flashes of light from the cameras and 400 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:52,920 Speaker 1: all the whispering and all the people jockeying to get 401 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:55,920 Speaker 1: a quote right, and so often it's the secondary stuff 402 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:57,920 Speaker 1: that you see more directly. Yeah, and probably if you 403 00:20:58,000 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 1: try to reach you and go into and touch touch them, 404 00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:04,359 Speaker 1: probably also die, right. Probably. Yes, some of the stars 405 00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:10,160 Speaker 1: are spinning at a quarter of this peaceful like burned myself. 406 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:15,000 Speaker 1: All right, cool, So those are neutron stars or neutron balls. 407 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: So let's get into the other kinds of weird stars 408 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:19,880 Speaker 1: that we're gonna talked about today. But first let's take 409 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:35,240 Speaker 1: a quick break, all right. So let's keep going down 410 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:38,199 Speaker 1: our list of weird stars in the universe. And we 411 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:41,080 Speaker 1: already talked about neutron stars. Now, what's Daniel, what's our 412 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:44,040 Speaker 1: second kind of weird star in the universe. The second 413 00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:46,119 Speaker 1: kind of weird star is one of my favorites. And 414 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:50,119 Speaker 1: this is something called a pulsar. That's that that sounds 415 00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 1: like a like a like a watch. They're very expensive. 416 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:55,720 Speaker 1: They're only made in Geneva and they cost like fifty 417 00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:58,800 Speaker 1: dollars each because they're made by like tiny little dwarfs 418 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:01,920 Speaker 1: that are kept underground, never see the Sun or anything. Right, 419 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 1: there's my strange watch fantasy pulsars. Pul Stars are actually 420 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:11,080 Speaker 1: a type of neutron star. Right, So neutron stars we 421 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:14,680 Speaker 1: just talked about, and neutron stars have strong magnetic fields, 422 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,920 Speaker 1: like really really powerful magnetic field because, as we talked 423 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:20,359 Speaker 1: about in our episode about why the Earth has a 424 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,639 Speaker 1: magnetic field, anything that has like a fluid inside of 425 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:26,440 Speaker 1: it that can conduct the electricity and is active is 426 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,320 Speaker 1: going to have a magnetic field. And neutron stars already 427 00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:33,359 Speaker 1: have magnetic fields that are like billions of times as 428 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:35,919 Speaker 1: strong as the Earth's magnetic field. Because it's spinning. Is 429 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:39,560 Speaker 1: that why yet spinning? And because it has activity inside 430 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:41,480 Speaker 1: of it, So you know there must be stuff going 431 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:44,199 Speaker 1: on inside the neutron star. It's not just neutrons like 432 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:47,000 Speaker 1: crammed in and then and quiet right there moving around. 433 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:49,680 Speaker 1: There's like some fluid and some flow in order to 434 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:53,359 Speaker 1: get the magnetic field. So inside of this ten kilometer 435 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:57,919 Speaker 1: to Sun's mass, super dense thing, there's actually stuff going 436 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:01,360 Speaker 1: on inside of it, that's creating a magnetic field. Yeah, 437 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: but we don't understand that very well. Like we even 438 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:06,080 Speaker 1: don't understand the magnetic field of our sun very well. 439 00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:08,439 Speaker 1: You know, our son has this very strong magnetic field 440 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,280 Speaker 1: and it flips every eleven years, which is really weird, 441 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:13,760 Speaker 1: and we don't understand very well. So we have a 442 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:16,959 Speaker 1: very tentative understanding of the magnetic fields inside neutron stars. 443 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 1: And even weirder is that some neutron stars have even 444 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:24,760 Speaker 1: stronger magnetic fields. Like alright, neutron stars already crazy hot, 445 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:29,560 Speaker 1: crazy dense, crazy fast, crazy, small, crazy, spinning, crazy magnetic fields. 446 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:32,560 Speaker 1: And in this category of them called pulsars, have extra 447 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:35,639 Speaker 1: powerful magnetic fields like a thousand or a million times 448 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:39,560 Speaker 1: more powerful, and and so. But other some stars don't 449 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:42,240 Speaker 1: have this magnetic field. Yes, some neutron stars have weaker 450 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:45,520 Speaker 1: magnetic fields. All neutron stars, we think, have magnetic fields, 451 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:47,919 Speaker 1: but some of them have such a strong magnetic field 452 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:51,680 Speaker 1: that something really weird happens. And remember that magnetic fields 453 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:54,560 Speaker 1: interact with charge particles, so a charge particle gets bent 454 00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:56,920 Speaker 1: by magnetic field. And you know on Earth we see 455 00:23:56,920 --> 00:23:59,560 Speaker 1: this all the time in the northern lights. Northern lights 456 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:01,760 Speaker 1: are just charge particles from the Sun or from some 457 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:05,119 Speaker 1: from somewhere else that got carried up to the north 458 00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:08,240 Speaker 1: part of the Earth by the magnetic field. Right, we 459 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:10,600 Speaker 1: have these lines and the magnetic then the charge particles 460 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:12,520 Speaker 1: get bent by them and sent to the north or 461 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:15,840 Speaker 1: to the south. So something weird happens on a pulsar. 462 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:18,159 Speaker 1: That's sort of the inverse, which is that a lot 463 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:22,200 Speaker 1: of charge particles get shot out from the pulsar around 464 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:24,320 Speaker 1: the north pole and the south pole of the pulsar. 465 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:28,320 Speaker 1: It becomes like a like a death ray, yes, exactly 466 00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:30,439 Speaker 1: two death rays, right, one from the north and one 467 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:32,560 Speaker 1: from the top of the south. And you know, there's 468 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:35,000 Speaker 1: all this radiation produced and it gets funneled up to 469 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:37,280 Speaker 1: the north and the south magnetic poles and then shot 470 00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:40,040 Speaker 1: out into space. So it's not just like um sent 471 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:42,480 Speaker 1: everywhere like a glowing sun. It's like you take all 472 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:45,600 Speaker 1: this crazy radiation and you focus it into just two beams, 473 00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:47,960 Speaker 1: one from the top and one from the bottom. Right. 474 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:50,480 Speaker 1: And the crazy thing is that this magnetic field is 475 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:53,960 Speaker 1: moving right relative to the star. Well sometimes, like on Earth, 476 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,880 Speaker 1: the magnetic field is not pointing the same direction as 477 00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,959 Speaker 1: the rotation axis, right, So the Earth for example, right 478 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:02,720 Speaker 1: spins around one axis, and the north pole, as we 479 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:05,440 Speaker 1: talked about in that other episode, is not aligned right, 480 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 1: So the direction of the north pole doesn't always point 481 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:11,320 Speaker 1: the same way as the direction of the magnetic north pole. 482 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,200 Speaker 1: So there's a it drifts in like an Earth. The 483 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:17,560 Speaker 1: magnetic are north poll is drifting into Russia right now, 484 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:20,040 Speaker 1: that's right, And as long as they're not aligned, then 485 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:22,239 Speaker 1: the magnetic north pole sort of like sweeping out a 486 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,480 Speaker 1: circle in space, right, like a cone in space. Now, 487 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:28,360 Speaker 1: imagine if you're blasting a hugely powerful laser, and that's 488 00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 1: basically what pulsars are doing. A hugely powerful laser out 489 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,200 Speaker 1: into space from your magnetic north pole. But the spinning 490 00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:37,880 Speaker 1: north pole is in another direction. So the magnetic north 491 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:40,760 Speaker 1: pole is going to sweep through space, um, sending this 492 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:44,960 Speaker 1: huge blast of radiation in different places. And that's why 493 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:48,000 Speaker 1: it's called a pulse are because um it doesn't always 494 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,760 Speaker 1: point towards Earth. For example, sometimes that radiation sweeps across 495 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:53,679 Speaker 1: Earth and we're like, whoa, what was that? And then 496 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: it turns black again, and it waits for the pulse 497 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:57,960 Speaker 1: are to spin around and then it covers us again. 498 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,600 Speaker 1: It's like a like a lighthouse, right, this spinning around 499 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:03,159 Speaker 1: you only see it sometimes it's always shining, but you 500 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:05,160 Speaker 1: don't always see it. It's kind of like the Death 501 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:09,359 Speaker 1: Star in Star Wars, right, like, um, how is it 502 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:11,679 Speaker 1: like the Death Star? Exactly? Yeah, No, follow me on 503 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:15,200 Speaker 1: this one, Daniel. You know the little circle that shoots 504 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:17,399 Speaker 1: the beam out of the death Star, that's kind of 505 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:21,920 Speaker 1: like the north pole of the pulsar, and so you 506 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 1: can imagine the death Star kind of spinning along its access. 507 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:27,399 Speaker 1: Then that that that laser beam is going to be 508 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:31,080 Speaker 1: also rotating around kind of like a yeah yeah, Like 509 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:32,840 Speaker 1: like if you can shine a flash light out into 510 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:34,600 Speaker 1: the sky and you move your hand, it's going to 511 00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:37,320 Speaker 1: be sweeping around, right, yeah, exactly. You know, I think 512 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:39,719 Speaker 1: a better name for pulsars would have been death stars, 513 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:43,159 Speaker 1: because they really are death stars. There are these big blobs, 514 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 1: right fully operational battle stations, capable of delivering incredible amounts 515 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:50,240 Speaker 1: of radiation. Well, you know, this is our podcast, Daniel, 516 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:53,920 Speaker 1: we can name things whatever we want. Neutron balls, death 517 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:59,880 Speaker 1: stars exactly. In our little universe, we are in charge. 518 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:05,600 Speaker 1: The first pulsar ever discovered actually has a pretty cool name. 519 00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:10,640 Speaker 1: It's called l G M. It stands for Little Green Men. 520 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:15,639 Speaker 1: That's because it was an exciting discovery, the first pulsar 521 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:18,200 Speaker 1: ever seen. You know, they saw it in their data 522 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:20,000 Speaker 1: and they saw it was bright and then dark and 523 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:21,800 Speaker 1: then bright and then dark and then bright and then dark, 524 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:24,320 Speaker 1: and it was regular. Right, It's not random. It's not 525 00:27:24,359 --> 00:27:26,480 Speaker 1: like the pulse are just shines on you sometimes and 526 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:29,560 Speaker 1: sometimes it doesn't. It follows a very specific pattern, so 527 00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:33,600 Speaker 1: like somebody was trying to um send us a signal, yes, exactly. 528 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:35,840 Speaker 1: So the first time they saw this, they thought, what 529 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:38,800 Speaker 1: are we getting a message from aliens? I mean, it's 530 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 1: like Morse code or something, right, And so that's why 531 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: they called it l g M one because they thought, well, 532 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:46,480 Speaker 1: maybe this is the first time we're hearing from aliens. 533 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:49,760 Speaker 1: And for the real little hesitant to publish, that's the 534 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:53,359 Speaker 1: real name, it's the l l g M. Yeah, the 535 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:56,040 Speaker 1: real scientific name of the first pulsar ever discovered was 536 00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:59,560 Speaker 1: called l g M one. And they thought for a while, Wow, 537 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:01,560 Speaker 1: maybe the of sa this aliens. I mean, I love 538 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:03,879 Speaker 1: reading about those moments in science when people thought they 539 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:07,760 Speaker 1: discovered aliens, right, because maybe there are aliens out there, 540 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:11,159 Speaker 1: and usually aliens like in science are relegated to like 541 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:15,200 Speaker 1: the fringe of you know, the extremes, the crazy people, etcetera. 542 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:19,080 Speaker 1: But one day we might actually find aliens, and some 543 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:22,159 Speaker 1: like actual scientists doing careful work is going to stumble 544 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:24,520 Speaker 1: across evidence of it or hear a message from space 545 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,399 Speaker 1: or something. So I love hearing about those moments when 546 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,280 Speaker 1: a scientist is like, am I that person? Am I? 547 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:31,840 Speaker 1: The person is going to call it my colleagues and 548 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:33,760 Speaker 1: be like, no, I know this sounds crazy, but I 549 00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:36,480 Speaker 1: think I found aliens. Well, they must have felt pretty 550 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,480 Speaker 1: confident if they named it LGM. I think that was 551 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:43,040 Speaker 1: mostly a joke between them. But then they found a 552 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:46,320 Speaker 1: second one coming from a totally different direction in the sky, 553 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:48,640 Speaker 1: and so they were like, oh, let's call this one 554 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:53,400 Speaker 1: little Blue Men, Big Green Men or something. Um, So 555 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:55,120 Speaker 1: they find a second one, so they thought, oh, there 556 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:59,000 Speaker 1: must be It can just be. There can be two 557 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:02,000 Speaker 1: civilizations of little green men sending us signals. It must 558 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:05,600 Speaker 1: be some natural phenomenon. Yeah, exactly. And the thing that 559 00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:07,760 Speaker 1: made it seem like maybe it was aliens was just 560 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:09,960 Speaker 1: the fact that it was regular. And that's not that 561 00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:12,960 Speaker 1: hard to explain, right, There's not that much information content 562 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:15,160 Speaker 1: in a regular message. If somebody wants to send you 563 00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:17,960 Speaker 1: a message saying, hi, we're here, we're alive, come talk 564 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:20,120 Speaker 1: to us. You don't just send regular beeps, right, you 565 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:23,400 Speaker 1: want to send some information and uh. And so that's 566 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:26,520 Speaker 1: it wasn't very convincing as an alien message anyway. Yeah, 567 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 1: So then they found the second one and uh. And 568 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:30,600 Speaker 1: then they found a bunch And so now we found 569 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:32,320 Speaker 1: lots of these things. So if we were to look 570 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:34,120 Speaker 1: at these out into you wouldn't see them in the 571 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:36,000 Speaker 1: night sky, right, You only see them in X ray 572 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:38,800 Speaker 1: the X ray spectrum. Right, that's right. I think they're 573 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:40,520 Speaker 1: mostly an X ray and you would see them as 574 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:44,239 Speaker 1: as kind of these blinking lights. Mhmm exactly. And some 575 00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:46,680 Speaker 1: of them blink slow because they rotate slowly, and some 576 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:50,320 Speaker 1: of them blink really fast because they rotate like crazy fast. 577 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:54,959 Speaker 1: Like some of them blink on and off every millisecond. Wow. 578 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:59,080 Speaker 1: So it's like there's something ten kilometer is big with 579 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:05,040 Speaker 1: the massive two sons spinning once every millisecond. Yes, exactly. 580 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:08,560 Speaker 1: I mean, this is an enormous cosmic object doing these 581 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:12,880 Speaker 1: really extreme maneuvers um just to send us this blinking radiation. 582 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:16,360 Speaker 1: It's really crazy. And there's a mystery to them, right, 583 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:19,120 Speaker 1: like we don't really know why they're sending this how 584 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:22,240 Speaker 1: or how they're sending these beams of radiation. Yeah, you know, 585 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:24,600 Speaker 1: the how the magnetic field is generated and how the 586 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:27,080 Speaker 1: magnetic field turns into this beam of radiation is not 587 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:29,520 Speaker 1: something that's well understood. It's an area of active research. 588 00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 1: And you know, there's some models here and there, but 589 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:34,680 Speaker 1: nobody is really fully confident that they that they understand it. 590 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:37,080 Speaker 1: It's pretty weird. I think it's pretty clear there's probably 591 00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:40,880 Speaker 1: some some guys in black helmets inside turning a lever 592 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,680 Speaker 1: and that's what's costing these beams. I mean, obviously it's 593 00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:47,720 Speaker 1: a death star. I find your lack of faith in 594 00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:54,440 Speaker 1: science disturbing horhe um. And you know it costs these 595 00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:56,760 Speaker 1: guys energy. Right, you can just beam a huge amount 596 00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:59,720 Speaker 1: of energy into space for free. That energy comes from 597 00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:02,200 Speaker 1: some where. So what happens is as the years and 598 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:04,680 Speaker 1: the millions of years go by, these pulsars start to 599 00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:08,480 Speaker 1: slow down. Essentially shooting out all this energy into space 600 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:11,080 Speaker 1: is like friction on the on the pulsar and it 601 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:13,320 Speaker 1: slows down and they last, Like you know, we think 602 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,840 Speaker 1: like ten to a hundred million years, so only a 603 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:21,760 Speaker 1: little while in Yeah, only a little while. And they're unique, 604 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:23,880 Speaker 1: you know, each one has its own pattern, and that 605 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:26,200 Speaker 1: makes it really cool because you can use them for 606 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:31,160 Speaker 1: things like um cosmic locations, kind of like beacons. Yeah, 607 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:34,040 Speaker 1: you can say I'm this distance from that pulsar, and 608 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:36,200 Speaker 1: I'm that distance from this other pulsar, and I'm this 609 00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:38,680 Speaker 1: distance from this third pulsar, and that's enough to say 610 00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:43,160 Speaker 1: uniquely where you are in the galaxy. That's pretty cool. 611 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:46,080 Speaker 1: It is cool. We actually we used it because when 612 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:48,440 Speaker 1: we sent out some of those early satellites that we 613 00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:51,280 Speaker 1: just sort of like lofted out into space, thinking maybe 614 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:53,959 Speaker 1: one day they'll crash land on an alien planet, we 615 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:57,600 Speaker 1: included on on that spacecraft a plaque that describes our 616 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:01,680 Speaker 1: location using pulsars. So then what happens after a hundred 617 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:04,480 Speaker 1: million years, after they run out of energy, they just 618 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:08,280 Speaker 1: become regular neutrons neutron balls, Yeah, yeah, exactly, they start 619 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:12,480 Speaker 1: to slow down, They just become dark neutron balls, yeah exactly. 620 00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:19,720 Speaker 1: Hopefully the aliens find us before our address becomes obsolete. Yeah, alright, 621 00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:22,360 Speaker 1: let's get into the last type of weird star out 622 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:38,560 Speaker 1: there in New universe. But first let's take another break. Okay, 623 00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:41,760 Speaker 1: So the last kind of weird star that our listener 624 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:45,440 Speaker 1: our physics ninja, our physics ninja. Yeah, Kelly Smiths suggests 625 00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:49,600 Speaker 1: that we talked about is something called a magnetar. Yeah, magnetar. 626 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:53,960 Speaker 1: Magnetars are like the extreme version of pulsars. So pulsars 627 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:57,040 Speaker 1: are the extreme version of neutron stars, which are already extreme, 628 00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:01,120 Speaker 1: and magnetars are like the crazy of the crazy. Huh. 629 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:04,520 Speaker 1: But wait, if we're naming neutron stars neutron balls, you're 630 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:07,040 Speaker 1: saying this is the bossiest of all the neutron balls. 631 00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:11,000 Speaker 1: That's right, these are the ballsiest balls of all um 632 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:13,360 Speaker 1: and a C d C would love these. Um, we 633 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:16,760 Speaker 1: have neutron stars sometimes have crazy magnetic fields, and they 634 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:19,600 Speaker 1: call them a pulsar. But when they have super crazy 635 00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:23,160 Speaker 1: magnetic fields, like ridiculous, then you call it a magnetar. 636 00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:26,240 Speaker 1: And so these are things that are spinning incredibly fast 637 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:29,719 Speaker 1: and have incredibly powerful magnetic fields. We think these are 638 00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:33,720 Speaker 1: the most powerful magnetic fields basically anywhere in the universe. 639 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:36,720 Speaker 1: What do you mean, So it's just something, It's just 640 00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:40,000 Speaker 1: a neutron star or neutron balls. It just happens for 641 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 1: some reason to have started off with a giant magnetic 642 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:47,600 Speaker 1: field and rotation. Is there something that would you know? 643 00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:52,360 Speaker 1: How do you what what causes um a neutron ball 644 00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:56,040 Speaker 1: to to have these higher or higher energy and fields. 645 00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:58,440 Speaker 1: I think Thor's hammer has to strike at it just 646 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:02,560 Speaker 1: the right moment. Now it was it was bitten by 647 00:34:02,560 --> 00:34:05,880 Speaker 1: a microwave spider. Now, um, we don't know, you know, 648 00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:08,239 Speaker 1: we don't understand. We know that it's not super rare. 649 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:12,360 Speaker 1: You know, something like one inten um of these pulsars 650 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:15,359 Speaker 1: is a magnetar, so it's not super rare, but they're 651 00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:17,640 Speaker 1: super powerful. And you know, we don't even really have 652 00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:20,880 Speaker 1: a strong grasp on magnetic fields of ordinary stars. So 653 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:24,279 Speaker 1: understanding like the crazy extreme magnetic fields of some really 654 00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:27,360 Speaker 1: strange neutron stars is definitely an area of active research 655 00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:29,600 Speaker 1: and not something that we understand very well. So wait, 656 00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:32,400 Speaker 1: are these things are made out of pure neutrons? They like, 657 00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:34,920 Speaker 1: there aren't There aren't any more atoms, basically, is what 658 00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:38,200 Speaker 1: you're saying. It's just pure neutrons clump together. That's right. 659 00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:39,799 Speaker 1: If you want to source of pure neutrons, you want 660 00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:41,360 Speaker 1: to go to whole foods and like go in the 661 00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:43,719 Speaker 1: both food sections, they don't have neutrons. You gotta go 662 00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:46,480 Speaker 1: out to the neutron stars to get a pure spoonful 663 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:49,680 Speaker 1: of neutrons. Because remember Adams started out with protons and 664 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:52,880 Speaker 1: electrons and neutrons. But in the vicinity of a neutron 665 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:56,600 Speaker 1: star and the internal crazy compressed bits of a neutron star, 666 00:34:56,880 --> 00:35:00,960 Speaker 1: the protons and electrons react to give neutrons. Then also neutrinos, 667 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:03,719 Speaker 1: which fly out into outer space and are not kept 668 00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:07,200 Speaker 1: inside the star. But neutrons don't have any electric charge, right, 669 00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:10,239 Speaker 1: They're not neither positive nor negative. So how can they 670 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:13,799 Speaker 1: have a magnetic field. Well, there are quarks inside the neutron, right, 671 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:17,719 Speaker 1: which have charge. So it's the spinning of spinning of 672 00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:21,200 Speaker 1: those it's causing maybe these fields. Yeah, exactly, And as 673 00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:23,920 Speaker 1: I said, we don't really understand it very well. Um, 674 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:26,480 Speaker 1: but these things are crazy and they're moving really fast, 675 00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:29,000 Speaker 1: and they're moving so fast that they don't last very long. 676 00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:31,680 Speaker 1: Like we said that pulsars take like a hundred or 677 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:33,759 Speaker 1: ten to a hundred million years to give up all 678 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:36,439 Speaker 1: their energy because they're spinning and beaming all this energy 679 00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:39,279 Speaker 1: into space. Magnetars use of all their energy in like 680 00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:42,120 Speaker 1: ten thousand years or something. Wow, that's super quick. That's 681 00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:45,040 Speaker 1: like a like a it's like a blink in the 682 00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:47,960 Speaker 1: in the age of the universe. Yeah, exactly, it's hardly anything, right, 683 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:50,799 Speaker 1: It's it's basically an explosion right from the from the 684 00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:52,839 Speaker 1: time scale of the universe. It's an explosion. And they 685 00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:55,640 Speaker 1: basically don't last at all. It's like a flash. Yeah, exactly, 686 00:35:55,840 --> 00:35:58,879 Speaker 1: the flash. Um, but you know before they before they die, 687 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:02,040 Speaker 1: they do even weird or stuff. So the surface of 688 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:05,160 Speaker 1: the of this magnetar is very intense, right, it's a 689 00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:07,919 Speaker 1: huge amount of pressure, and we think that maybe it's 690 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:11,120 Speaker 1: not stable, and that sometimes what happens is the same 691 00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:13,920 Speaker 1: thing that happens on Earth when you have huge dense 692 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:16,560 Speaker 1: bits of matter pushed against each other, which on Earth 693 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:18,759 Speaker 1: you get an earthquake. So on the surface of this 694 00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:22,880 Speaker 1: magnetar you might get a star quake. Huge blobs of 695 00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:25,840 Speaker 1: these neutrons like push against each other and slide and slip, 696 00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:29,719 Speaker 1: and you get cracks and the thing reforms. And yeah, 697 00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:32,080 Speaker 1: I know it sounds like science fiction, right, but we 698 00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:35,839 Speaker 1: think it's actually literally happening in this universe. Because they're 699 00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:38,520 Speaker 1: spinning faster, you're seeing these spin even faster than a 700 00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:41,120 Speaker 1: thousand times a second. Yeah, some of them do exactly, 701 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:43,840 Speaker 1: and they have crazy magnetic fields. And the reason we 702 00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:46,680 Speaker 1: think that sometimes they have these star quakes is that 703 00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:50,080 Speaker 1: we see these really strong flashes of light, these gamma 704 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:54,360 Speaker 1: ray bursts that we think are essentially like light escaping 705 00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:57,279 Speaker 1: from the inside the neutron star during one of these starquakes, 706 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:00,759 Speaker 1: and so it releases this huge out of energy. And 707 00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:02,600 Speaker 1: you know, we should do a whole podcast episode on 708 00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:05,360 Speaker 1: gamma ray bursts. They're fascinating. They're not very well understood. 709 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:07,879 Speaker 1: But one idea is that they might be caused by 710 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:13,000 Speaker 1: star quakes on the surface of magnetars. Wait, so doesn't 711 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:15,319 Speaker 1: that sound like fiction. It just sounds like fiction. Star 712 00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:18,399 Speaker 1: quakes on the surface of magnetars. Well, it doesn't sound 713 00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:21,080 Speaker 1: that impressive if you switch to balls, right, ball quakes 714 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:24,640 Speaker 1: and the surface of neutron balls. And that's why we're 715 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:29,640 Speaker 1: not using balls because it doesn't sound as good. Um, alright, 716 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:33,279 Speaker 1: so them, then how do we see these magnetars? Are 717 00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:36,160 Speaker 1: they do they also see them blinking like the pulsars. Yes, 718 00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:38,200 Speaker 1: they also admit a lot of radiation. That's why they 719 00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:41,600 Speaker 1: slow down. So they're essentially like the super duper version 720 00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:44,600 Speaker 1: of pulsars, and pulsars are super duper neutron stars, then 721 00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:47,040 Speaker 1: magnetars are super duper pulsars, and we can see them 722 00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:49,319 Speaker 1: in that same way. And then also sometimes they admit 723 00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:54,440 Speaker 1: these huge flashes of gamma rays, which coincidently is what 724 00:37:54,560 --> 00:38:00,440 Speaker 1: gave another Avenger his superpowers. What which one? You don't, uh, 725 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:04,040 Speaker 1: I'm not of my moral universe details. It's the it's 726 00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:07,560 Speaker 1: the Hug. The Hug everyone knows got his powers from 727 00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:10,680 Speaker 1: gamma rad Yeah, but not from gamma ray burst from 728 00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:13,359 Speaker 1: outer space, right, that would affected everybody? Well, we don't 729 00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:16,640 Speaker 1: we When he was getting one of his seven pH ds, 730 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:20,480 Speaker 1: he was doing an experiment that immersed him in gamma rays, right, yeah, 731 00:38:20,719 --> 00:38:23,120 Speaker 1: all right, so um so those our magnetars are like 732 00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:27,319 Speaker 1: super charged pulsars, which are like supercharged neutron stars, which 733 00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:32,160 Speaker 1: are like actually neutron balls exactly exactly. And you know 734 00:38:32,239 --> 00:38:34,920 Speaker 1: these things are not just ideas, right, these things they 735 00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:37,160 Speaker 1: are out there there, literally there. You could take a 736 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:39,279 Speaker 1: spaceship and go and look at one and visit them 737 00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:42,360 Speaker 1: and interact with them. Right. The universe really has this 738 00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:45,600 Speaker 1: stuff in it, right, And I always try to remind 739 00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:48,440 Speaker 1: myself in astronomy that we've only seen the tip of 740 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:51,520 Speaker 1: the iceberg. You know, every decade we find something else 741 00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:54,680 Speaker 1: super weird that astronomers twenty years ago would have thought, No, 742 00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:58,640 Speaker 1: that's incredible, that's crazy, that's too weird to exist, Which 743 00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:01,400 Speaker 1: means that there must be lots of stuff out there. 744 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:04,120 Speaker 1: We haven't even imagined crazy stuff to trip over. We 745 00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:06,279 Speaker 1: haven't even begun to think about. Well, there are even 746 00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:08,480 Speaker 1: crazier things that we think might be out there, right, 747 00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:12,919 Speaker 1: hypothetical crazy stars. Yeah, there's no shortage theorists out there 748 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:16,520 Speaker 1: thinking up other crazy stars that might exist. So let's 749 00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:21,160 Speaker 1: transition from talking about real weird stuff to hypothetical weird stuff. 750 00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:29,120 Speaker 1: What are some of the things that physicists think might 751 00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:31,600 Speaker 1: be out there that are even weirder. Well, one of 752 00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:34,600 Speaker 1: them is called a quark star, And so we talked 753 00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:37,239 Speaker 1: about how the neutron has quirks inside of it, right, 754 00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:39,800 Speaker 1: and that in a neutron star is really compressed and 755 00:39:39,840 --> 00:39:42,480 Speaker 1: the neutrons are all pushed up against each other. Well, 756 00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:44,799 Speaker 1: it might be that you get a neutron star that's 757 00:39:44,840 --> 00:39:47,200 Speaker 1: so dense that has enough gravity not to become a 758 00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:50,560 Speaker 1: black hole. But to break up the neutrons right where 759 00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:53,480 Speaker 1: the bond between the quarks um is weaker than the 760 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:55,879 Speaker 1: energy of the gravity and so basically breaks them up. 761 00:39:56,120 --> 00:39:59,520 Speaker 1: And then you just have a ball of quarks, a 762 00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:02,319 Speaker 1: quirk ball, a cork ball. And you know, we don't 763 00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:04,920 Speaker 1: see even though we're made out of protons and neutrons, 764 00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:07,160 Speaker 1: which are made out of quarks, we never see quarks 765 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:09,640 Speaker 1: by themselves. Even in particle colliders, we never see that 766 00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:12,839 Speaker 1: because corks have really really strong bonds with each other. 767 00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:15,799 Speaker 1: They have this really strange kind of force. You know 768 00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:20,040 Speaker 1: how gravity, How gravity gets weaker as things get further apart. Well, 769 00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:22,879 Speaker 1: the bonds between quarks is really weird. He get stronger 770 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:26,080 Speaker 1: as things get further apart, which means it's very very 771 00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:28,760 Speaker 1: difficult to pull things apart because the amount of energy 772 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:31,560 Speaker 1: stored in that bond becomes enormous. But where would this 773 00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:33,640 Speaker 1: pressure come from, Like, what would be the difference between 774 00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:36,799 Speaker 1: a regular neutron star and a quark star. I don't know, 775 00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:38,759 Speaker 1: that's a great question. I think it must just have 776 00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:41,839 Speaker 1: to do with the mass of it and the gravitational pressure. Right, 777 00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:44,759 Speaker 1: So if it's bigger than if it's enough mass to 778 00:40:44,800 --> 00:40:46,879 Speaker 1: form a neutron star, but not quite enough to form 779 00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:49,919 Speaker 1: a black hole. Then under some conditions it might break 780 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:52,520 Speaker 1: down those neutrons into corks, but that's not something we've 781 00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:55,720 Speaker 1: ever seen. So you would just see like a ball 782 00:40:55,760 --> 00:40:58,400 Speaker 1: of solid quarks, yes, exactly. And I'm not sure how 783 00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:01,040 Speaker 1: you would observe that, right, that's a great question. How 784 00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:03,560 Speaker 1: would you tell the difference between a neutron star and 785 00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:06,320 Speaker 1: a star with the neutrons have broken down into quarks. 786 00:41:06,719 --> 00:41:09,040 Speaker 1: There must be some sort of strange radiation that that's 787 00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:11,719 Speaker 1: generated from that kind of star you just asked, right, 788 00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:15,839 Speaker 1: like on on the red carpet here over here, over here, 789 00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:18,840 Speaker 1: that's right. And the kinds of quirks that are in 790 00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:22,560 Speaker 1: um neutrons are just up corks and down corks, but 791 00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:25,439 Speaker 1: there are other kinds of corks. There's the strange cork, 792 00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:27,640 Speaker 1: and the bottom cork and the charm cork. And so 793 00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:29,600 Speaker 1: some people thought of like, well, what if you had 794 00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:33,960 Speaker 1: a star made exclusively of strange quirks, for example, And 795 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:36,960 Speaker 1: so they called that, of course, the strange stars. And 796 00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:40,680 Speaker 1: that's another just crazy hypothetical example of something. But it 797 00:41:40,719 --> 00:41:43,160 Speaker 1: could be out there, right, It could be this enormous 798 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:45,960 Speaker 1: ball of pure strange corks just out there floating in 799 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:48,520 Speaker 1: the universe. Well, that's a different that's a whole different avenger. 800 00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:52,840 Speaker 1: I think that's right, that's the strange hulk, right. But 801 00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:56,080 Speaker 1: I also read that there is something that might be 802 00:41:56,120 --> 00:42:00,280 Speaker 1: called a dark matter star. Yeah, exactly. Remember that stars 803 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:03,480 Speaker 1: are formed from gravity, right, it's gravity pulling stuff together 804 00:42:03,520 --> 00:42:06,279 Speaker 1: and squeezing it, making denser and denser. Well, we know 805 00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:08,600 Speaker 1: that dark matters out there. In fact, there's more dark 806 00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:10,880 Speaker 1: matter than anything else, and we do know that it's 807 00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:13,759 Speaker 1: affected by gravity. That's how we discovered it. So it's 808 00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:17,120 Speaker 1: entirely possible that in every star this dark matter, but 809 00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:19,520 Speaker 1: that there are some stars that have huge fractions of 810 00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:22,880 Speaker 1: dark matter, or that in the early universe some of 811 00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:25,680 Speaker 1: these uh, some of these stars were formed primarily from 812 00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:28,680 Speaker 1: dark matter, or even you might have stars that are 813 00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:32,880 Speaker 1: pure dark matter, like a dark star, a dark star exactly. 814 00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:34,759 Speaker 1: That that sounds like a science fiction novel. I'd like 815 00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:38,000 Speaker 1: to me. You could get enough dark matter condensed in 816 00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:40,120 Speaker 1: the same spot that it might actually start to like 817 00:42:40,280 --> 00:42:42,400 Speaker 1: combust or burn. Well, that's a question. We don't know, 818 00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:44,680 Speaker 1: the institute, because we don't know if dark matter has 819 00:42:44,719 --> 00:42:48,520 Speaker 1: any interactions with itself other than gravity, so gravity can 820 00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:51,560 Speaker 1: cluster together. The reason that normal matter starts to burn 821 00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:54,080 Speaker 1: is because of the other forces, right, the strong force 822 00:42:54,160 --> 00:42:56,759 Speaker 1: and fusion. All that stuff comes from the other interactions. 823 00:42:57,040 --> 00:42:59,160 Speaker 1: We don't know anything about dark matters interactions. If it 824 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:02,359 Speaker 1: has some sort of crazy interaction with itself, then yeah, 825 00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:04,840 Speaker 1: it could combust and start to burn. But then it 826 00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:07,440 Speaker 1: might admit some sort of radiation we can't see, right, 827 00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:10,200 Speaker 1: It might admit dark photons, for example. So again you're 828 00:43:10,239 --> 00:43:13,840 Speaker 1: just talking about dark matter balls. Back to the balls 829 00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:20,360 Speaker 1: as always, dark balls. Welcome to Daniel Jorge, explain the 830 00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:23,400 Speaker 1: balls now. But do you know what I mean? Like 831 00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:26,759 Speaker 1: you're you're really just talking about clumps super danse dark 832 00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:29,640 Speaker 1: matter clumps, Yes, exactly, But they might be so dnse 833 00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:33,040 Speaker 1: and so crazy that they might uh amid some sort 834 00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:36,320 Speaker 1: of lighter radiation. They might that part of pure speculation. 835 00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:39,240 Speaker 1: I would not be surprised if dark matter formed clumps. 836 00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:41,920 Speaker 1: That was at least his dances stars, right, so you 837 00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:44,719 Speaker 1: could call that a star. I think, Um, we don't 838 00:43:44,719 --> 00:43:47,680 Speaker 1: know anything about dark matter interactions for generating radiation, so 839 00:43:47,719 --> 00:43:50,360 Speaker 1: that is just pure wild guesses. It might be the 840 00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:53,359 Speaker 1: dark matter has no other kind of interaction, in which 841 00:43:53,440 --> 00:43:55,680 Speaker 1: case it just sort of quietly gets clumped together by 842 00:43:55,680 --> 00:43:59,480 Speaker 1: gravity to form these structures but never radiates anything. It 843 00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:01,600 Speaker 1: could be, I don't think so. I think dark matter 844 00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:04,480 Speaker 1: must have some kind of interaction with normal matter, otherwise 845 00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:06,840 Speaker 1: it wouldn't have come into equilibrium in the early universe. 846 00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:08,960 Speaker 1: But we haven't figured that out at all. That's like 847 00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:11,279 Speaker 1: one of the biggest questions in science right now is 848 00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:15,239 Speaker 1: doesn't dark matter feel any forces other than gravity? Does 849 00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:18,279 Speaker 1: it feel anything? It's so cold and distant, just like 850 00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:22,480 Speaker 1: all those other stars so em so full of itself, 851 00:44:26,239 --> 00:44:28,480 Speaker 1: all right? Or those are the all the weird stars 852 00:44:28,480 --> 00:44:31,040 Speaker 1: that um Kelly Smith wanted us to talk about. And 853 00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:33,400 Speaker 1: I think the lesson is here is that the universe 854 00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:36,279 Speaker 1: always has more surprises waiting for us. That's right. Don't 855 00:44:36,280 --> 00:44:38,840 Speaker 1: be bored by the universe. It's always got something on 856 00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:41,640 Speaker 1: the next page to just turn the page, dial that 857 00:44:41,719 --> 00:44:43,960 Speaker 1: telescope up one more notch and you'll see something else 858 00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:47,400 Speaker 1: to entertain you. All right, Thanks everybody, Thanks for listening everybody, 859 00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:50,000 Speaker 1: and tune in next time. And if you have questions 860 00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:52,480 Speaker 1: about something we said, or you have questions about something else, 861 00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:55,760 Speaker 1: or you on an episode where we talk about your questions. 862 00:44:55,880 --> 00:44:59,319 Speaker 1: Just send us your suggestions to Questions at Daniel and 863 00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:11,680 Speaker 1: Jorge com. All right, see you next time. If you 864 00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:14,640 Speaker 1: still have a question after listening to all these explanations, 865 00:45:14,719 --> 00:45:17,680 Speaker 1: please drop us a line. We'd love to hear from you. 866 00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:20,520 Speaker 1: You can find us at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at 867 00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:23,960 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge That's one word, or email us at 868 00:45:24,239 --> 00:45:27,920 Speaker 1: Feedback at Daniel and Jorge dot com. Thanks for listening, 869 00:45:27,960 --> 00:45:30,680 Speaker 1: and remember that Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe is 870 00:45:30,719 --> 00:45:34,239 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. From more podcast from 871 00:45:34,239 --> 00:45:37,960 Speaker 1: my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio Apple podcasts, 872 00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:40,480 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.