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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Bedtime Astronomy. Explore the wonders of the cosmos

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<v Speaker 1>with our soothing Bedtime Astronomy podcast. Each episode offers a

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<v Speaker 1>gentle journey through the stars, planets, and beyond, perfect for

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<v Speaker 1>unwinding after a long day. Let's travel through the mysteries

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<v Speaker 1>of the universe as you drift off into a peaceful

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<v Speaker 1>slumber under the night sky.

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<v Speaker 2>I want you to picture, just for a second, the

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<v Speaker 2>absolute most terrifying, most destructive force in the entire universe.

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<v Speaker 3>Oh, I mean, I'm pretty sure I know exactly where

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<v Speaker 3>you're going with.

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<v Speaker 2>This, right, because if you ask anyone on the street

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<v Speaker 2>to name the ultimate cosmic monster, most people are going

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<v Speaker 2>to say the exact same thing without skipping a beat.

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<v Speaker 2>A super massive black hole.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, the classic space vacuum.

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<v Speaker 2>Cleaner, exactly. We have this image so deeply ingrained in

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<v Speaker 2>our collective consciousness, you know, of these relentless, bottomless pits

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<v Speaker 2>just sitting at the dark center of galaxies.

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<v Speaker 3>And the prevailing cultural idea is really that they are

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<v Speaker 3>just the ultimate destroyers.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah. They swallow ancient star's hole, they shred wayward planets

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<v Speaker 2>into confetti. They even trap light itself in a gravitational prison.

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<v Speaker 3>It's basically the rule of the cosmos. If you get

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<v Speaker 3>too close, that is it game over, right.

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<v Speaker 2>You are spaghettified, pulled apart atom by atom, and permanently

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<v Speaker 2>erased from existence.

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<v Speaker 3>And honestly, it's a reputation that has certainly earned. I mean,

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<v Speaker 3>from a purely mechanical standpoint, the event horizon.

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<v Speaker 2>That's the point of no return, right.

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<v Speaker 3>Exactly, the event horizon around a black hole is where physics,

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<v Speaker 3>as we currently understand it essentially just clocks out.

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<v Speaker 2>Wow, just breaks down entirely.

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<v Speaker 3>Right. The gravity is so overwhelmingly intense that nothing, not

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<v Speaker 3>even a massless photons of light, has the escape velocity

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<v Speaker 3>required to leave. It's a literal tear in the fabric

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<v Speaker 3>of space time.

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<v Speaker 2>So it makes total sense why the cosmic destroyer narrative

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<v Speaker 2>is the one that dominates.

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<v Speaker 3>Oh absolutely, it is the ultimate one way street in astrophysics.

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<v Speaker 2>So what if we have it all wrong? Or I

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<v Speaker 2>guess maybe more accurately, what if we are only looking

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<v Speaker 2>at one side of the coin.

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<v Speaker 3>Here, because there's always another side exactly?

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<v Speaker 2>I want to completely flip this assumption on its head today,

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<v Speaker 2>What if these terrifying world ending destroyers are actually the

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<v Speaker 2>universe's most prolific creators.

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<v Speaker 3>That the massive paradigm shift we are facing right now, right.

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<v Speaker 2>Because what if the very places we thought were the

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<v Speaker 2>absolute worst, most hostile neighborhoods in the cosmos are actually

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<v Speaker 2>the biggest, most active planet nurseries in existence.

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<v Speaker 3>It's wild, but we are truly on the verge of

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<v Speaker 3>having to completely rethink our fundamental map of the cosmos.

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<v Speaker 2>Because for decades, whenever astronomers wanted to understand where planets

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<v Speaker 2>come from, we really only looked at one specific thing.

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<v Speaker 3>Young stars. We viewed stars as the sole exclusive parents of.

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<v Speaker 2>Planets, like that was the only recipe we thought existed.

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<v Speaker 3>Right. But if we shift our gaze away from those quiet,

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<v Speaker 3>predictable stellar neighborhoods and look directly into the extreme chaotic

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<v Speaker 3>environments around active galactic nuclei.

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<v Speaker 2>And those are the actively feeding super massive black holes

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<v Speaker 2>right wrecked.

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<v Speaker 3>When we look there, we find conditions that might be

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<v Speaker 3>churning out not just a handful of worlds, but literally

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<v Speaker 3>millions of planets.

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<v Speaker 2>Millions. It completely changes our understanding of where life and

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<v Speaker 2>new worlds can even exist.

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<v Speaker 3>It really does. It flips everything upside down.

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<v Speaker 2>I have to admit when I first encountered this concept,

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<v Speaker 2>my immediate thought was that it sounded like a typo

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<v Speaker 2>in a physics paper.

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<v Speaker 3>A lot of people thought that at first.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, because we are going entirely off the traditional map today.

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<v Speaker 2>We are going to start by looking at the actual

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<v Speaker 2>anatomy of an active, supermassive black.

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<v Speaker 3>Hole, because it's not just a featureless void.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, as I've learned, it is not just a floating

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<v Speaker 2>drain plug in space. There is actual architecture.

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<v Speaker 3>There, massive complex architecture exactly.

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<v Speaker 2>Then we're going to travel to its outer end, where

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<v Speaker 2>somehow fragile dust actually manages to defy total.

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<v Speaker 3>Destruction, which is the key to everything. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>And then we will explore the insane speed and the

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<v Speaker 2>sheer massive size of the planet's forming in that environment.

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<v Speaker 3>And the sizes get truly ridiculous, they really do.

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<v Speaker 2>And finally we are going to look at some bizarre,

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<v Speaker 2>exotic worlds that literally blur the line between what we

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<v Speaker 2>call a planet and what we call a star.

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<v Speaker 3>It is a phenomenal journey, and what I really appreciate

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<v Speaker 3>about it is that it forces us to question our

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<v Speaker 3>deep seated.

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<v Speaker 2>Assumptions about like what's required for creation exactly.

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<v Speaker 3>Human beings naturally associate creation with calm, stable, nurturing.

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<v Speaker 2>Environments, right, like a warm incubator.

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<v Speaker 3>But the universe has a funny way of proving that

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<v Speaker 3>extreme chaos can be just as generative, if not significantly

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<v Speaker 3>more so.

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<v Speaker 2>All right, well, let's start with the monster itself. Super

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<v Speaker 2>Massive black holes sit at the center of most large galaxies,

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<v Speaker 2>including our own Milky Way.

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<v Speaker 3>Right, yes, almost all of them.

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<v Speaker 2>But the ones we are focusing on are what astronomers

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<v Speaker 2>call active galactic nuclei or.

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<v Speaker 3>Agens, right, the active ones.

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<v Speaker 2>And my understanding is that these are the ones that

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<v Speaker 2>are aggressively feeding. Like, they aren't just sitting there dormant.

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<v Speaker 3>No, they're actively pulling in massive amounts of surrounding gas, dust,

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<v Speaker 3>and even whole stars.

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<v Speaker 2>And that feeding frenzy creates a phenomenal amount of activity.

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<v Speaker 3>It does to understand the environment, we first have to

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<v Speaker 3>discard the idea of a black hole as just a dark,

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<v Speaker 3>quiet sphere.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, so what does it actually look like.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, when a supermassive black hole is actively feeding, when

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<v Speaker 3>it's an agn the material falling toward it doesn't just drop.

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<v Speaker 2>Straight in like water going down a drain, Right, It's.

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<v Speaker 3>Not a straight drop, because everything in the galaxy has

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<v Speaker 3>some amount of spin. That material actually spirals inward. Okay,

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<v Speaker 3>that makes sense, and as it spirals closer to the

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<v Speaker 3>event horizon, it gets compacted. It is moving at significant

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<v Speaker 3>fractions the speed of light.

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<v Speaker 2>Which has to create an insane amount of.

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<v Speaker 3>Friction, unimaginable friction. The particle are just colliding relentlessly, and

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<v Speaker 3>this friction generates heat temperatures in the millions of degrees.

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<v Speaker 2>Millions of degrees. Wow.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, the material actually transforms into a glowing, superheated plasma,

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<v Speaker 3>forming what we call an accretion disk.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, so the black hole is essentially surrounded by a

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<v Speaker 2>blindingly bright, incredibly hot whirlpool of plasma exactly. And this

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<v Speaker 2>isn't a subtle phenomenon, right, The energy being released is

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<v Speaker 2>just staggering. I was reading about the jets that get

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<v Speaker 2>launched from these things. Jets are incredible, Yeah, because some

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<v Speaker 2>of this material doesn't actually make it into the black hole. Instead,

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<v Speaker 2>it gets channeled toward the magnetic poles and blasted out

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<v Speaker 2>into space.

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<v Speaker 3>As incredibly high energy jets. Yes.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And the scale of these jets is so difficult

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<v Speaker 2>to wrap my head around. The baseline measurement is that

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<v Speaker 2>at their base right near the black hole, these jets

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<v Speaker 2>can be as small as a few light hours across, right.

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<v Speaker 3>And let's pause there to actually contextualize that, because light

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<v Speaker 3>hours is a term astronomers throw around that can obscure

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<v Speaker 3>the actual physical reality.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, let's do the math on that. Light travels at

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<v Speaker 2>about one hundred and eighty six thousand miles per second,

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<v Speaker 2>which is fast, extremely fast. In one minute, that's roughly

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<v Speaker 2>eleven million miles. In one hour, light covers over six

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<v Speaker 2>hundred and seventy million miles.

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<v Speaker 3>It's a huge distance.

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<v Speaker 2>So if the base of this jet is a few

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<v Speaker 2>light hours across, we are talking about a column of

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<v Speaker 2>highly energized particles that is roughly the width of our

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<v Speaker 2>entire Solar system out to maybe Jupiter or Saturn at least,

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<v Speaker 2>which sounds incomprehensibly massive to a human being, but on

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<v Speaker 2>a cosmic scale, it's basically a pinhole, exactly a tiny pinhole.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, I wouldn't call it a pinhole, but relatively speaking,

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<v Speaker 3>it is incredibly narrow and focus at the source.

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<v Speaker 2>How does it stay so focused?

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<v Speaker 3>Right? The intense twisting magnetic fields around the black hole?

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<v Speaker 3>Acts almost like a cosmic rifle barrel. They can strict

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<v Speaker 3>and accelerate this plasma.

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<v Speaker 2>So you have this beam the width of our solar system,

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<v Speaker 2>blasting outward at nearly the speed of light.

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<v Speaker 3>Right, But the true scale isn't the width, it is

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<v Speaker 3>the length.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, how long are we talking?

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<v Speaker 3>These jets stretch outward, cutting entirely through the host galaxy

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<v Speaker 3>and deep out into the empty intergalactic space for hundreds

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<v Speaker 3>of thousands of light years.

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<v Speaker 2>See that is the part that breaks my brain. Hundreds

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<v Speaker 2>of thousands of light years.

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<v Speaker 3>It's hard to visualize.

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<v Speaker 2>Because the entire Milky Way galaxy from one edge all

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<v Speaker 2>the way to the other, containing hundreds of billions of stars,

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<v Speaker 2>is only about one hundred thousand light years across.

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<v Speaker 3>That's our whole neighborhood.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so you are telling me these jets from a

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<v Speaker 2>single super massive black hole can be several times longer

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<v Speaker 2>than our entire galaxy.

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<v Speaker 3>That is absolutely correct. They are among the largest single

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<v Speaker 3>structures in the universe.

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<v Speaker 2>That's just wild.

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<v Speaker 3>And it's not just these narrow piercing jets either. The

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<v Speaker 3>intense energy from the inner accretion disk of the agn

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<v Speaker 3>also produces these broad, wispy incredibly powerful radiation winds.

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<v Speaker 2>Radiation winds that sounds intense.

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<v Speaker 3>Very These winds sweep outward in all directions and are

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<v Speaker 3>so forceful that they literally carve out massive bubble like

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<v Speaker 3>cavities in the surrounding cosmic.

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<v Speaker 2>Gas, like blowing bubbles in water.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, but on a galactic scale, they are essentially acting

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<v Speaker 3>like galactic bulldozers, pushing matter out of the way, just

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<v Speaker 3>clearing house exactly. They can even shut down star formation

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<v Speaker 3>in certain areas and actively shape the structural evolution of

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<v Speaker 3>the galaxy itself.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, let's unpack this for a second, because here is

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<v Speaker 2>where I hit a massive logical roadblock.

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<v Speaker 3>Okay, what's the roadblock?

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<v Speaker 2>If I am trying to build a delicate, fragile thing

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<v Speaker 2>like a baby planet, I need peace and quiet. Sure,

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<v Speaker 2>but you have just described an environment where jets are

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<v Speaker 2>shooting out for hundreds of thousands of light years and

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<v Speaker 2>colossal radiation winds are blowing massive structural bubbles in the

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<v Speaker 2>cosmic gas.

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<v Speaker 3>It's a violent neighborhood.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah. How could anything possibly survive there? You have extreme

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<v Speaker 2>X ray radiation, high energy particle jets, and hurricane force galactic.

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<v Speaker 3>Wind It sounds impossible.

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<v Speaker 2>It really does. If I'm listening to this, it honestly

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<v Speaker 2>sounds like trying to build a delicate house of cards

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<v Speaker 2>inside a Category five hurricane.

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<v Speaker 3>It does sound completely counterintuitive, and historically, you know, that

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<v Speaker 3>is exactly why astronomers never bothered to look for planets

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<v Speaker 3>in these regions, because why would you, Right, we assume

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<v Speaker 3>do It's physically impossible. But this is where we have

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<v Speaker 3>to look much closer at the spatial anatomy of the environment.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, so what are we missing?

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<v Speaker 3>The mistake is visualizing the black hole as a single

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<v Speaker 3>point of absolute destruction that just radiates pure chaos equally

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<v Speaker 3>in all directions forever.

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<v Speaker 2>Like a bomb going off constantly exactly.

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<v Speaker 3>But that isn't how the physics work. It has a vast,

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<v Speaker 3>highly structured anatomy structured how well the destruction, the extreme

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<v Speaker 3>spaghetification from tidal forces, the intense X ray radiation that

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<v Speaker 3>strips electrons from.

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<v Speaker 2>Atoms on the scary stuff, right, That all.

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<v Speaker 3>Happens very close to the center. That is the realm

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<v Speaker 3>of the event horizon and the interaccretion disk. Okay, but

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<v Speaker 3>space is big. As we move outward radially from that

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<v Speaker 3>central point, the physics begin to drastically change.

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<v Speaker 2>So, if I'm understanding you, proximity is everything here everything

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<v Speaker 2>The danger is an absolute everywhere. It is dependent on

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<v Speaker 2>exactly where you are standing relative to the center precisely.

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<v Speaker 3>The environment is chaotic, yes, but it is a structured

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<v Speaker 3>chaos with distinct boundary lines.

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<v Speaker 2>Like different weather zones on Earth.

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<v Speaker 3>That's a great way to put it. There are specific

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<v Speaker 3>transition zones within this immense system. If you go far

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<v Speaker 3>enough out from the center, the radiation actually drops by

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<v Speaker 3>orders of magnitude. Oh really, Yeah, The ambient temperature cools

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<v Speaker 3>down just enough, and the dynamics of the swirling material fundamentally.

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<v Speaker 2>Change, so it calms down relatively speaking.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, we eventually leave the zone of pure destruction and

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<v Speaker 3>enter the specific critical zones where creation suddenly becomes mathematically

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<v Speaker 3>and physically possible.

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<v Speaker 2>And that brings us to the core conflict between the

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<v Speaker 2>conventional wisdom of astronomy and what is actually happening in

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<v Speaker 2>these outer zones.

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<v Speaker 3>The paradigm shift.

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<v Speaker 2>Exactly because normally, when we talk about planets forming, we

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<v Speaker 2>aren't talking about black holes at all. We talk about

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<v Speaker 2>young stars.

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<v Speaker 3>Right. The traditional model.

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<v Speaker 2>We have this very standard, comforting model of planet formation,

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<v Speaker 2>that we teach in middle school. A young star is born,

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<v Speaker 2>and it has this leftover disc of gas and dust

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<v Speaker 2>spinning around it.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, and over.

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<v Speaker 2>Millions of years that dust gently clumps together into pebbles.

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<v Speaker 2>The pebbles stick together into boulders. The boulders crash into

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<v Speaker 2>each other to form planetesimals, and eventually, after a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of patients, you get a planet.

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<v Speaker 3>And astronomers call those protoplanetary disks, right, And we call

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<v Speaker 3>them that because historically that is the gold standard for

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<v Speaker 3>planetary science.

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<v Speaker 2>It's the only way we thought it worked exactly.

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<v Speaker 3>It is a highly complex process, but it relies heavily

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<v Speaker 3>on that spinning disc of gas and dust, providing a

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<v Speaker 3>relatively stable incubator.

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<v Speaker 2>And we know this happens, right, Like, we've observed these

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<v Speaker 2>disks around countless young stars in our own game Galaxy. Oh.

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<v Speaker 3>Absolutely, We've even reached a point technologically where we can

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<v Speaker 3>take direct pictures of them.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, using advanced radio telescopes like LMA and Chile.

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<v Speaker 3>Right, Yes, LMA has been revolutionary for this. We can

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<v Speaker 3>actually look at these disks and see the dark, empty

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<v Speaker 3>rings in the dust, and.

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<v Speaker 2>Those rings are where young unseen planets are acting like

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<v Speaker 2>cosmic vacuum cleaners right, just swooping up material as they orbit.

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<v Speaker 3>Precisely, so we know the stellar model works.

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<v Speaker 2>But here's the big reveal that completely upends the table.

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<v Speaker 3>This is the crazy part.

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<v Speaker 2>Giant versions of these exact same spinning disks of gas

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<v Speaker 2>and dust also exist around supermassive black holes at the

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<v Speaker 2>center of active galaxies.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, giant is an understatement, and if we connect this

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<v Speaker 3>to the broader implications of astrophysics, it represents a massive

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<v Speaker 3>shift in cosmic geography. How so, well, what we are

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<v Speaker 3>doing is taking the exact same mechanical structure.

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<v Speaker 2>Which is a central gravitational anchor surrounded by a spinning disc, exactly.

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<v Speaker 3>And scaling it up to almost incomprehensible degree.

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<v Speaker 2>It's deeply ironic to me. Honestly, We've spent decades and

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<v Speaker 2>billions of dollars building incredibly sensitive space telescopes specifically designed

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<v Speaker 2>to stare at young, quiet.

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<v Speaker 3>Stars looking for Earth two point zero.

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<v Speaker 2>We operated under the strict assumption that a stellar neighborhood

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<v Speaker 2>is the only place in the universe that has the

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<v Speaker 2>right recipe, the right temperature, and the right gravitational balance

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<v Speaker 2>for baking a planet.

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<v Speaker 3>It was our only frame of reference.

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<v Speaker 2>We were basically standing on a street corner obsessively looking

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<v Speaker 2>at the local artisan bakery, completely ignoring the massive, industrial

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<v Speaker 2>scale manufacturing plant operating just down the road.

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<v Speaker 3>I love that analogy, though I would actually push back

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<v Speaker 3>just a little on the word factory or manufacturing plant.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh why is that?

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<v Speaker 3>Because that implies a level of controlled, intentional design.

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<v Speaker 2>Fairpoint.

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<v Speaker 3>What we're talking about here is more akin to an

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<v Speaker 3>avalanche that purely, by the laws of physics, happens to

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<v Speaker 3>perfectly assemble a billion snow castles on its way down

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<v Speaker 3>the mountain.

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<v Speaker 2>Wow. Okay, yeah, that is a very different mental image.

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<v Speaker 3>The chaos itself is the mechanism. But your point stands

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<v Speaker 3>regarding our observational bias. It highlights a very common pitfall

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<v Speaker 3>in science. We look for what we know.

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<v Speaker 2>We're biased toward our own existence.

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<v Speaker 3>Exactly, because human beings live on a rocky planet orbiting

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<v Speaker 3>a very average, middle aged yellow dwarf star, we naturally

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<v Speaker 3>assumed that stars are the mandatory prerequisite for planetary formation.

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<v Speaker 2>It's the classic, you know, looking for your lost keys

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<v Speaker 2>only under the street light because the light is better there.

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<v Speaker 3>That's exactly what it is. But physics is completely blind

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<v Speaker 3>to our biases. The mechanics of planet formation, the simple

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<v Speaker 3>act of solid dust grains colliding, sticking together via electrostatic forces,

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<v Speaker 3>and eventually clumping enough to generate their own gravity.

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<v Speaker 2>That might just be universal entirely.

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<v Speaker 3>Universal, appears to scale up seamlessly from the relatively tiny

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<v Speaker 3>environment of a single stellar neighborhood to the massive, galactic

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<v Speaker 3>scale environs of a super massive black hole.

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<v Speaker 2>So the physics don't care about the source of the gravity,

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<v Speaker 2>not at all.

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<v Speaker 3>The fundamental physics of cumping dust do not care if

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<v Speaker 3>the gravity well in the center belongs to a star.

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<v Speaker 2>Or a black hole.

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<v Speaker 3>The only care if the local conditions in the disc

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<v Speaker 3>allow for the process to happen.

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<v Speaker 2>But that brings me right back to the environment. Even

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<v Speaker 2>if there is a massive disc, we know the inner

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<v Speaker 2>part of that disk, that accretion disc you mentioned, is

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<v Speaker 2>an absolute inferno of plasma and X rays.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, it is so.

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<v Speaker 2>Exactly where in this giant, violent, super massive structure could

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<v Speaker 2>you possibly find the right conditions to bake a planet

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<v Speaker 2>without the ingredients getting instantly vaporized.

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<v Speaker 3>And that leads us to the very outer edges of

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<v Speaker 3>these black hole disc structures. Astronomers call this specific outer

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<v Speaker 3>region the Taurus.

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<v Speaker 2>The Taurus geometrically speaking, that's just a fancy word for

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<v Speaker 2>a giant donor.

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<v Speaker 3>Shape, right, correct. Imagine a massive, thick, donut shaped ring

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<v Speaker 3>of dust and cold gas that completely surround the inner

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<v Speaker 3>accretion disc at a significant distance.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, I'm picturing it well.

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<v Speaker 3>The inner disc is flattened raezer thin because of the

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<v Speaker 3>extreme speeds in gravity. The torus is puffed up and

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<v Speaker 3>thick due to turbulent dynamics and radiation pressure pushing outward. Okay,

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<v Speaker 3>and here is the crucial discovery that really anchors this

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<v Speaker 3>whole theory. In these outer tories, the temperatures and the

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<v Speaker 3>physical conditions are incredibly similar to those found in the

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<v Speaker 3>planet forming discs around ordinary young stars.

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<v Speaker 2>Wait. Really, it's like finding a perfectly calm, climate controlled

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<v Speaker 2>greenhouse operating on the outer rim of an actively erupting volcano.

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<v Speaker 3>That's one I'm way to look at it.

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<v Speaker 2>Sure, you have this absolute chaotic inferno in the center,

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<v Speaker 2>but out on the very edge, shielded by the sheer

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<v Speaker 2>volume of material between it and the center, the temperature

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<v Speaker 2>suddenly drops to a manageable level.

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<v Speaker 3>I think the volcano analogy is maybe a bit too serene, though,

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<v Speaker 3>Oh really, yeah, it's more like trying to understand radiation shielding.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, explain that.

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<v Speaker 3>So the inner disc is blasting out lethal X rays, right,

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<v Speaker 3>but gas and dust are exceptionally good at absorbing radiation.

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<v Speaker 3>We call this optical depth optical depth. As the X

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<v Speaker 3>rays try to push outward from the black hole, they

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<v Speaker 3>hit a wall of gas. That gas absorbs the extreme energy,

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<v Speaker 3>heats up and re radiates it as lower energy infrared.

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<v Speaker 2>Light, so it steps it down exactly.

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<v Speaker 3>Then that infrared light hits the next layer of gas

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<v Speaker 3>gets absorbed and re radiated again.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh wow.

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<v Speaker 3>By the time that energy propagates all the way out

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<v Speaker 3>to the torus, it has been stepped down so many

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<v Speaker 3>times that it is no longer a destructive death ray.

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<v Speaker 3>It's just a warm glow.

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<v Speaker 2>That makes perfect sense. Distance and optical depth are the

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<v Speaker 2>keys to survival here. So the inner material is essentially

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<v Speaker 2>throwing itself on the grenade to protect the outer material.

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00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:46.720
<v Speaker 3>In a sense. Yes, that's a good way to picture it.

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<v Speaker 3>In the torus, the intense heat and the extreme radiation

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<v Speaker 3>from the black holes feeding frenzy have dissipated just enough

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<v Speaker 3>we cross a very specific boundary called the sublimation radius.

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<v Speaker 2>Sublimation radius. Break that down for me. Sublimation is when

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<v Speaker 2>a solid turns directly into a gas like dry ice.

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<v Speaker 3>Right precisely, if a grain of dust wanders inside the

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<v Speaker 3>sublivation radius, it gets too close to the black hole's

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<v Speaker 3>heat and boom, well not boom, but the temperature exceeds

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<v Speaker 3>the melting point of rock and metal, and the solid

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<v Speaker 3>dust grain instantly vaporizes into free floating atoms. It is destroyed.

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00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:22.799
<v Speaker 2>But just outside that boundary.

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00:19:22.680 --> 00:19:26.200
<v Speaker 3>Just outside that boundary, out in the torus, the temperature

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00:19:26.279 --> 00:19:31.799
<v Speaker 3>drops below that critical threshold. Out there, solid matter, actual

402
00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:37.079
<v Speaker 3>grains of silicate dust and ice, can persist without boiling away.

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00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:40.960
<v Speaker 2>And dust is the magic ingredient. Right. Without solid dust grains,

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00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:43.839
<v Speaker 2>you can't build a rocky planet. Right, you can't build

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00:19:43.880 --> 00:19:46.359
<v Speaker 2>the core of a gas giant. You just have a

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00:19:46.359 --> 00:19:48.119
<v Speaker 2>cloud of hot gas exactly.

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00:19:48.359 --> 00:19:53.359
<v Speaker 3>Dust is the absolute prerequisite for planetary architecture. Planet formation is,

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00:19:53.480 --> 00:19:57.480
<v Speaker 3>at its core a game of deep patience and survival.

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00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:01.119
<v Speaker 3>You need time, lots of time. You need tiny microscopic

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00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:03.920
<v Speaker 3>particles of dust to gently collide and stick together.

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00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:06.799
<v Speaker 2>At first, it's just static electricity holding them together, right,

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00:20:06.920 --> 00:20:09.000
<v Speaker 2>like dust bunny is accumulating under a couch.

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<v Speaker 3>Great analogy. Yes, then they grow a little bigger into

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00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:14.240
<v Speaker 3>pebbles and a little bigger into boulders, until they finally

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00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:16.359
<v Speaker 3>have enough mass for their own gravity to take over

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00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:17.440
<v Speaker 3>the construction process.

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00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:20.039
<v Speaker 2>And this process takes millions of years of undisturbed time,

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00:20:20.279 --> 00:20:20.920
<v Speaker 2>Yes it does.

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00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:25.119
<v Speaker 3>The simple fact that dust can physically survive in the

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00:20:25.160 --> 00:20:29.519
<v Speaker 3>torus without being annihilated means that the fundamental clock of

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00:20:29.559 --> 00:20:33.119
<v Speaker 3>planet formation can actually start ticking in this environment.

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00:20:33.240 --> 00:20:36.440
<v Speaker 2>Okay, so if the recipe exists in this outer donut,

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00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:41.440
<v Speaker 2>this torus, and the ingredients aren't getting vaporized. Just how

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00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:43.920
<v Speaker 2>many planets are we actually talking about here?

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00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:45.119
<v Speaker 3>That is the big question.

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00:20:45.319 --> 00:20:48.799
<v Speaker 2>Because a normal star like our Sun gives us roughly

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00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:52.440
<v Speaker 2>eight planets, maybe some dwarf planets like Pluto, some moons

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00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:56.160
<v Speaker 2>and asteroid belt. It's a nice manageable family, right, But

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00:20:56.240 --> 00:20:59.119
<v Speaker 2>we are talking about a disk around a super massive

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00:20:59.160 --> 00:21:02.559
<v Speaker 2>black hole. The sheer volume of material must be completely

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<v Speaker 2>off the charts compared to our little Solar system.

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<v Speaker 3>This is where the theoretical models start yielding numbers that

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00:21:07.960 --> 00:21:10.160
<v Speaker 3>frankly sound like science fiction. Oh, I'm ready for this,

434
00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:14.880
<v Speaker 3>but they are rooted entirely in rigorous math. Researchers, including

435
00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:17.200
<v Speaker 3>a prominent team led by Barry mccurrn from the City

436
00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:20.240
<v Speaker 3>University of New York, wanted to actually quantify this. They

437
00:21:20.279 --> 00:21:23.839
<v Speaker 3>didn't just want to say, hey, it's theoretically possible. They

438
00:21:23.880 --> 00:21:26.480
<v Speaker 3>wanted to know what the demographics of this environment would

439
00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:27.200
<v Speaker 3>actually look like.

440
00:21:27.400 --> 00:21:28.279
<v Speaker 2>So what did they do?

441
00:21:28.519 --> 00:21:31.319
<v Speaker 3>So they took everything we know data on the temperatures,

442
00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:34.200
<v Speaker 3>the gas densities, the mass of the black holes, and

443
00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:38.400
<v Speaker 3>they fed it into a highly complex computer model of

444
00:21:38.440 --> 00:21:39.880
<v Speaker 3>a magnetized black hole.

445
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:42.759
<v Speaker 2>Disc Let me stop you there, because computer model can

446
00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:44.000
<v Speaker 2>mean a lot of things.

447
00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:44.640
<v Speaker 3>True.

448
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:48.000
<v Speaker 2>When I hear computer model, I usually think of meteorologists

449
00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:52.319
<v Speaker 2>running hurricane simulations. You know, they plug in current wind speeds,

450
00:21:52.359 --> 00:21:56.319
<v Speaker 2>ocean surface temperatures, barometric pressure, and the computer runs the

451
00:21:56.319 --> 00:21:58.839
<v Speaker 2>physics forward to predict where the storm will hit.

452
00:21:59.160 --> 00:21:59.400
<v Speaker 3>Right.

453
00:21:59.720 --> 00:22:03.359
<v Speaker 2>These astrophysicists doing the exact same thing here, just swapping

454
00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:07.160
<v Speaker 2>out barometric pressure for gravitational pull and radiation intensity.

455
00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:11.160
<v Speaker 3>That is an excellent analogy. Yes, they're building a mathematical sandbox.

456
00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:16.359
<v Speaker 3>They define the rules of physics, gravity, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics,

457
00:22:16.759 --> 00:22:19.559
<v Speaker 3>and then they set the initial conditions based on what

458
00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:22.400
<v Speaker 3>we actually observe in active galactic nuclei.

459
00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:23.839
<v Speaker 2>Like the density of the gas and stuff.

460
00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:26.920
<v Speaker 3>Exactly, they established the gas density, the size of the

461
00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:30.440
<v Speaker 3>dust grains, the temperature gradients. But the key phrase you

462
00:22:30.519 --> 00:22:33.519
<v Speaker 3>noted earlier was magnetized black hole.

463
00:22:33.400 --> 00:22:35.319
<v Speaker 2>Disc Yeah, why does that matter?

464
00:22:35.640 --> 00:22:39.079
<v Speaker 3>This isn't just about gravity. Plasma in an accretion disk

465
00:22:39.319 --> 00:22:41.920
<v Speaker 3>generates intense, twisting magnetic fields.

466
00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:44.640
<v Speaker 2>And why do magnetic fields matter so much for building

467
00:22:44.680 --> 00:22:45.200
<v Speaker 2>a planet?

468
00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:48.759
<v Speaker 3>Because of something called the magneto rotational instability.

469
00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:51.279
<v Speaker 2>Or MRI MRI like at a hospital.

470
00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:55.920
<v Speaker 3>Same acronym, very different physics. In a perfectly smooth, frictionless

471
00:22:55.960 --> 00:22:59.240
<v Speaker 3>disk of gas, dust would just orbit forever and never

472
00:22:59.319 --> 00:23:04.240
<v Speaker 3>clump together. You need friction, You need turbulence, and magnetic

473
00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:07.759
<v Speaker 3>fields threading through the plasma create this immense turbulence. They

474
00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:11.559
<v Speaker 3>act almost like sticky threads, creating drag. Okay, this drag

475
00:23:11.640 --> 00:23:15.119
<v Speaker 3>slows down the gas, forcing it to spiral inward. But crucially,

476
00:23:15.240 --> 00:23:18.880
<v Speaker 3>this turbulence creates swirling eddies and pockets of high density

477
00:23:19.160 --> 00:23:22.039
<v Speaker 3>where dust gets trapped. It forces the dust grains to

478
00:23:22.079 --> 00:23:23.200
<v Speaker 3>collide more frequently.

479
00:23:23.279 --> 00:23:25.079
<v Speaker 2>It's like stirring a cup of tea. If you just

480
00:23:25.160 --> 00:23:27.680
<v Speaker 2>let it sit, the sugar stays at the bottom. If

481
00:23:27.720 --> 00:23:30.000
<v Speaker 2>you stir it, you create turbulence that forces everything to

482
00:23:30.039 --> 00:23:30.880
<v Speaker 2>mix and interact.

483
00:23:31.240 --> 00:23:35.759
<v Speaker 3>Exactly so, the mcernin team's computer models simulate this specific

484
00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:39.960
<v Speaker 3>physics over millions of years of accelerated virtual time.

485
00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:41.000
<v Speaker 2>And what did they find.

486
00:23:41.480 --> 00:23:45.079
<v Speaker 3>They calculated the collision rate of the dust, how fast

487
00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:49.559
<v Speaker 3>it actually clumps together in that turbulent magnetic environment. They

488
00:23:49.640 --> 00:23:52.440
<v Speaker 3>modeled the final potential size of the planets, and they

489
00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:55.880
<v Speaker 3>looked at the accretion rate, meaning how much extra surrounding

490
00:23:56.000 --> 00:24:00.200
<v Speaker 3>dust and gas these newborn rocky cores would swallow up

491
00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:03.799
<v Speaker 3>as they orbited through this incredibly dense taurus.

492
00:24:04.200 --> 00:24:07.400
<v Speaker 2>And the results, this is the part that completely shatters

493
00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:10.319
<v Speaker 2>my mental model of the galaxy. It's pretty shocking, yeah,

494
00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:14.119
<v Speaker 2>because the approximate model suggests that these agn dust tories

495
00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:17.759
<v Speaker 2>might host the largest populations of planets in the entire

496
00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:20.559
<v Speaker 2>universe by far. We aren't talking about eight planets, we

497
00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:23.240
<v Speaker 2>aren't talking about one hundred. We are talking about tens

498
00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:26.400
<v Speaker 2>of millions of planets forming in a single environment around

499
00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:27.359
<v Speaker 2>a single black hole.

500
00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:30.160
<v Speaker 3>Tens of millions forming concurrently in the dark.

501
00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:31.640
<v Speaker 2>It's just staggering to think about.

502
00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:34.519
<v Speaker 3>If you just calculate the raw volume of a trus

503
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.000
<v Speaker 3>around a supermassive black hole, it contains vastly more building

504
00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:43.400
<v Speaker 3>material than a standard star's protoplanetary disc. It's the difference

505
00:24:43.400 --> 00:24:45.799
<v Speaker 3>between the amount of water and a backyard swimming pool

506
00:24:46.039 --> 00:24:47.799
<v Speaker 3>and the under water in the Pacific Ocean.

507
00:24:47.839 --> 00:24:48.400
<v Speaker 2>Wow.

508
00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:53.559
<v Speaker 3>And because the dynamics of that magnetized disk actively accelerate

509
00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:57.759
<v Speaker 3>the clumping process through turbulence, it forces us to entirely

510
00:24:57.799 --> 00:24:59.680
<v Speaker 3>reconsider our galactic sensus.

511
00:25:00.200 --> 00:25:03.200
<v Speaker 2>I always pictured the galaxy as this dark, empty ocean

512
00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:06.359
<v Speaker 2>with these little isolated islands of stars.

513
00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:07.480
<v Speaker 3>It's the standard view.

514
00:25:07.559 --> 00:25:10.880
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and each glowing island has a few tiny pebbles,

515
00:25:11.160 --> 00:25:13.480
<v Speaker 2>you know, planets circling it. We thought all of action,

516
00:25:13.559 --> 00:25:15.599
<v Speaker 2>all the real estate was on the islands. But this

517
00:25:15.720 --> 00:25:19.240
<v Speaker 2>model suggests the dark, terrifying whirlpool at the center of

518
00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:22.680
<v Speaker 2>the ocean is actually a massive swirling continent packed with

519
00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:24.440
<v Speaker 2>millions of unseen worlds.

520
00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:27.559
<v Speaker 3>And that completely flips the script on what is actually

521
00:25:27.640 --> 00:25:31.480
<v Speaker 3>normal in astrophysics. How So, we have always inherently assumed

522
00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:34.680
<v Speaker 3>that the normal planets, the ones orbiting stars like Earth

523
00:25:34.759 --> 00:25:38.880
<v Speaker 3>orbits the Sun were the standard template for planetary existence.

524
00:25:38.680 --> 00:25:40.720
<v Speaker 2>Right, because that's what we are exactly.

525
00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:44.079
<v Speaker 3>But if a single agn Tourus can produce tens of

526
00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:47.400
<v Speaker 3>millions of planets while a star only produces a handful,

527
00:25:48.279 --> 00:25:52.000
<v Speaker 3>simple math dictates that stellar planets might actually be the

528
00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:53.319
<v Speaker 3>minority in the universe.

529
00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:55.359
<v Speaker 2>Wait, really the minority?

530
00:25:55.519 --> 00:26:00.000
<v Speaker 3>Yes, the vast overwhelming majority of planets might not experience

531
00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:03.359
<v Speaker 3>at sunrises or stellar days at all. They might be

532
00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:07.759
<v Speaker 3>orbiting in eternal twilight, swirling around super massive black holes.

533
00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:09.960
<v Speaker 2>So if I'm a researcher looking at this data, I'm

534
00:26:09.960 --> 00:26:12.319
<v Speaker 2>not just seeing a lot of planets. I'm seeing planets

535
00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:15.680
<v Speaker 2>that form on a completely different timeline. The cun Y

536
00:26:15.799 --> 00:26:18.680
<v Speaker 2>data shows that these planets grow much much faster than

537
00:26:18.759 --> 00:26:20.480
<v Speaker 2>planets born around normal stars.

538
00:26:20.559 --> 00:26:23.640
<v Speaker 3>Right, Yes, the temporal scale is drastically compressed.

539
00:26:23.720 --> 00:26:24.200
<v Speaker 2>Why is that?

540
00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:27.880
<v Speaker 3>And that rapid growth is directly tied to the mechanism

541
00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:31.240
<v Speaker 3>of accretion in an environment characterized by high density and

542
00:26:31.319 --> 00:26:31.920
<v Speaker 3>high gravity.

543
00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:33.279
<v Speaker 2>Okay. Elibran on that.

544
00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:35.960
<v Speaker 3>The intense gravity from the distant black hole doesn't just

545
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:39.279
<v Speaker 3>hold the torus in place, it continually pulls new material

546
00:26:39.319 --> 00:26:42.640
<v Speaker 3>in keeping the tors incredibly dense and packed with materials.

547
00:26:42.279 --> 00:26:43.200
<v Speaker 2>So it's always full.

548
00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:46.720
<v Speaker 3>Right. A young planet in this environment is essentially born

549
00:26:46.839 --> 00:26:49.319
<v Speaker 3>into a high pressure all you can eat buffet that

550
00:26:49.400 --> 00:26:50.400
<v Speaker 3>never runs out of food.

551
00:26:50.759 --> 00:26:53.079
<v Speaker 2>Oh wait, let's address the massive elephant in the room here.

552
00:26:53.160 --> 00:26:53.759
<v Speaker 3>Okay, what's that.

553
00:26:54.119 --> 00:26:56.240
<v Speaker 2>If you're listening to this and wondering how a planet

554
00:26:56.279 --> 00:27:00.039
<v Speaker 2>doesn't just get sucked in instantly or crushed, you have

555
00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:01.920
<v Speaker 2>to remember how orbital mechanics work.

556
00:27:02.200 --> 00:27:02.400
<v Speaker 3>Right.

557
00:27:02.680 --> 00:27:04.559
<v Speaker 2>We know that if a moon or a planet gets

558
00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:07.400
<v Speaker 2>too close to a massive gravity, well, whether it's a

559
00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:11.440
<v Speaker 2>star or a black hole, tidal forces can rip it apart.

560
00:27:11.559 --> 00:27:14.319
<v Speaker 2>It's what happened to form Saturn's wings. Yeah, just on

561
00:27:14.359 --> 00:27:17.119
<v Speaker 2>a smaller scale exactly. So if the gravity is so

562
00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:20.400
<v Speaker 2>intense that it's compressing the entire disc, how does that

563
00:27:20.440 --> 00:27:23.359
<v Speaker 2>intense gravity actually help a planet grow rather than just

564
00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:24.920
<v Speaker 2>shearing it into dust.

565
00:27:25.240 --> 00:27:27.039
<v Speaker 3>It is a brilliant question, and it comes down to

566
00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:30.920
<v Speaker 3>a delicate balance defined by something called the Roche limit

567
00:27:31.200 --> 00:27:32.920
<v Speaker 3>and a concept known as the hill sphere.

568
00:27:33.079 --> 00:27:34.960
<v Speaker 2>Let's define those because they sound crucial.

569
00:27:35.160 --> 00:27:38.400
<v Speaker 3>They are. The Roach limit is the minimum distance a

570
00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:42.200
<v Speaker 3>smaller celestial body can be from a massive body before

571
00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:46.279
<v Speaker 3>the tidal forces overcome the smaller body's own internal gravity,

572
00:27:46.599 --> 00:27:47.240
<v Speaker 3>tearing it apart.

573
00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:48.240
<v Speaker 2>So it's a safety line.

574
00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:51.599
<v Speaker 3>Exactly, if the planet were too close to the black

575
00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:55.559
<v Speaker 3>hole inside the Roch limit, the gravitational pull on the

576
00:27:55.599 --> 00:27:57.960
<v Speaker 3>near side of the planet would be so much exponentially

577
00:27:58.039 --> 00:28:01.039
<v Speaker 3>stronger than the pole on the far side that the

578
00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:02.839
<v Speaker 3>planet would just physically disintegrate.

579
00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:04.720
<v Speaker 2>It would be stretched and shredded.

580
00:28:04.839 --> 00:28:07.680
<v Speaker 3>Right, That's this figetification we always hear about. Okay, but

581
00:28:07.759 --> 00:28:10.359
<v Speaker 3>out in the torus, the planet is far beyond the

582
00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:13.799
<v Speaker 3>Roche limit, the tidal shear from the black hole is

583
00:28:13.880 --> 00:28:15.519
<v Speaker 3>significantly weaker out there.

584
00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:16.279
<v Speaker 2>That makes sense.

585
00:28:16.400 --> 00:28:21.000
<v Speaker 3>However, the planet still possesses its own gravity. The region

586
00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:23.559
<v Speaker 3>around the planet where its own gravity dominates over the

587
00:28:23.559 --> 00:28:26.920
<v Speaker 3>gravitational pull of the central black hole is called its

588
00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:27.559
<v Speaker 3>hill sphere.

589
00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:29.559
<v Speaker 2>Wait, what's a hillsphere again.

590
00:28:29.559 --> 00:28:33.359
<v Speaker 3>It's essentially the planet's gravitational territory. Anything that wanders into

591
00:28:33.400 --> 00:28:35.880
<v Speaker 3>the planet's hill sphere belongs to the planet.

592
00:28:36.119 --> 00:28:39.240
<v Speaker 2>Okay, so the black hole is dictating the massive traffic

593
00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:42.160
<v Speaker 2>patterns of the entire doughnut, but the planet has its

594
00:28:42.160 --> 00:28:44.200
<v Speaker 2>own local gravitational.

595
00:28:43.680 --> 00:28:47.200
<v Speaker 3>Jurisdiction precisely and because the material in the torus is

596
00:28:47.240 --> 00:28:50.880
<v Speaker 3>so dense, there is an enormous amount of mass constantly

597
00:28:50.920 --> 00:28:52.720
<v Speaker 3>flowing through the planet's hill sphere.

598
00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:54.799
<v Speaker 2>Ah, I see where this is going.

599
00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:58.960
<v Speaker 3>In a standard sparse disk around a young star, a

600
00:28:59.039 --> 00:29:03.119
<v Speaker 3>growing planet eventually clears its orbit. It acts like a snowplow,

601
00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:06.119
<v Speaker 3>sweeping up all the available dust and gas in its path.

602
00:29:06.519 --> 00:29:09.480
<v Speaker 3>And then what once the path is clear. If growth

603
00:29:09.559 --> 00:29:14.079
<v Speaker 3>dramatically slows down because there's simply nothing left nearby to eat,

604
00:29:14.279 --> 00:29:15.720
<v Speaker 3>it has reached its final.

605
00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:19.000
<v Speaker 2>Mass, it essentially starves itself by being too efficient at eating.

606
00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:22.079
<v Speaker 3>Right. But in the Aegean Taurus, the abufve at is

607
00:29:22.119 --> 00:29:24.480
<v Speaker 3>continuously restocked because.

608
00:29:24.200 --> 00:29:26.000
<v Speaker 2>The black hole keeps pulling stuff in.

609
00:29:26.039 --> 00:29:30.000
<v Speaker 3>Exactly the violence swirling dynamics of the supermassive disc mean

610
00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:33.119
<v Speaker 3>that fresh gas and dust are constantly being pushed into

611
00:29:33.119 --> 00:29:36.559
<v Speaker 3>the planet's orbital path. The young planet just keeps eating. Wow,

612
00:29:36.680 --> 00:29:40.160
<v Speaker 3>it never clears its orbit because the orbit is constantly refilling.

613
00:29:39.680 --> 00:29:42.599
<v Speaker 2>And because it never has to stop eating. The scale

614
00:29:42.640 --> 00:29:45.319
<v Speaker 2>of these worlds becomes mind blowing. We aren't talking about

615
00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:48.559
<v Speaker 2>billions of Earth clones here, not at all. The models

616
00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:52.160
<v Speaker 2>show that these worlds easily grow far larger than our planet.

617
00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:55.039
<v Speaker 2>We are talking about rocky cores that just keep packing

618
00:29:55.039 --> 00:29:58.799
<v Speaker 2>on mass, eventually sweeping up enough dense gas to balloon

619
00:29:58.839 --> 00:30:01.079
<v Speaker 2>into something that com deletely dwarfs Jupiter.

620
00:30:01.240 --> 00:30:06.279
<v Speaker 3>Yes, they are supersized giant planets, living their entire existence

621
00:30:06.279 --> 00:30:09.640
<v Speaker 3>in the absolute fast lane of cosmic evolution.

622
00:30:09.480 --> 00:30:13.440
<v Speaker 2>Which naturally forces an astrophysicist to ask the next logical question.

623
00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:16.279
<v Speaker 2>If a planet is sitting at an endless buffet and

624
00:30:16.359 --> 00:30:19.119
<v Speaker 2>the physics of the environment allow it to continuously gorge

625
00:30:19.160 --> 00:30:22.799
<v Speaker 2>itself without ever running out of raw material, what happens

626
00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:24.440
<v Speaker 2>when it doesn't stop growing?

627
00:30:24.640 --> 00:30:26.519
<v Speaker 3>That is the multimillion dollar question.

628
00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:29.240
<v Speaker 2>Is there a hard physical limit to how big a

629
00:30:29.279 --> 00:30:31.839
<v Speaker 2>planet can get before the laws of physics intervene and

630
00:30:31.880 --> 00:30:33.440
<v Speaker 2>it stops being a planet altogether?

631
00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:35.920
<v Speaker 3>And this is exactly what blows my mind about the

632
00:30:35.960 --> 00:30:38.920
<v Speaker 3>mccurrn and teams research, because the rigid line we draw

633
00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:40.960
<v Speaker 3>between what is a planet and what is a star

634
00:30:41.599 --> 00:30:42.960
<v Speaker 3>starts to completely blur here.

635
00:30:43.039 --> 00:30:45.519
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, the core information from these models reveals that some

636
00:30:45.559 --> 00:30:47.920
<v Speaker 2>of these newly formed giant worlds in the ag and

637
00:30:47.960 --> 00:30:50.720
<v Speaker 2>tory can accreate so much gas and dust that they

638
00:30:50.759 --> 00:30:54.200
<v Speaker 2>actually cross the mass threshold and ignite into new stars.

639
00:30:54.599 --> 00:30:58.960
<v Speaker 3>It is a profound, almost philosophical shift in how we

640
00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:00.759
<v Speaker 3>categorize so lestial body.

641
00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:01.640
<v Speaker 2>It's unbelieva.

642
00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:05.839
<v Speaker 3>The formal scientific definition in the literature notes that this vigorous,

643
00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:11.880
<v Speaker 3>unceasing accretion leads to objects with stellar masses. The researchers

644
00:31:11.960 --> 00:31:16.160
<v Speaker 3>actually define this as a completely new, mathematically proven core

645
00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:18.200
<v Speaker 3>accretion channel for star formation.

646
00:31:18.440 --> 00:31:21.640
<v Speaker 2>It's absolutely wild. Think about it, like packing a suitcase

647
00:31:21.640 --> 00:31:24.839
<v Speaker 2>for a trip. Okay, in a normal stellar system, you

648
00:31:24.920 --> 00:31:28.000
<v Speaker 2>eventually run out of clothes to pack. The suitcase is full,

649
00:31:28.119 --> 00:31:30.599
<v Speaker 2>you zip it up, and that's your planet right the

650
00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:32.920
<v Speaker 2>orbit it's cleared. But in this environment you have an

651
00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:35.920
<v Speaker 2>infinite closet. You just keep throwing clothes in, keep sitting

652
00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:38.680
<v Speaker 2>on the suitcase to compress it, throwing more clothes in,

653
00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:39.680
<v Speaker 2>sitting on it again.

654
00:31:39.759 --> 00:31:41.039
<v Speaker 3>I see where this analogy is going.

655
00:31:41.160 --> 00:31:45.119
<v Speaker 2>Eventually, the sheer mechanical pressure inside that suitcase becomes so

656
00:31:45.880 --> 00:31:50.000
<v Speaker 2>unbelievably intense that the zippers fuse together on a molecular

657
00:31:50.079 --> 00:31:52.079
<v Speaker 2>level and the whole thing bursts into flames.

658
00:31:52.119 --> 00:31:55.359
<v Speaker 3>Well, your analogies are getting more violent, but mechanically you

659
00:31:55.359 --> 00:31:58.799
<v Speaker 3>are describing the thermodynamics of core ignition perfectly.

660
00:31:58.440 --> 00:31:58.720
<v Speaker 2>Thank you.

661
00:31:58.920 --> 00:32:02.319
<v Speaker 3>To truly appreciate how radical this core accretion channel is,

662
00:32:02.839 --> 00:32:06.160
<v Speaker 3>we have to contrast it with the traditional, universally accepted

663
00:32:06.200 --> 00:32:07.680
<v Speaker 3>model of star formation.

664
00:32:07.880 --> 00:32:08.920
<v Speaker 2>Okay, let's do that.

665
00:32:09.279 --> 00:32:11.759
<v Speaker 3>Usually we think of stars forming from what we call

666
00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:12.720
<v Speaker 3>the top down.

667
00:32:12.599 --> 00:32:15.319
<v Speaker 2>Right, a giant nebula, a big cloud of gas out

668
00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:15.799
<v Speaker 2>in space.

669
00:32:15.880 --> 00:32:20.200
<v Speaker 3>Yes, you have a massive, diffuse, incredibly cold cloud of

670
00:32:20.279 --> 00:32:24.240
<v Speaker 3>molecular gas. It sits there for eons, just floating right.

671
00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:27.440
<v Speaker 3>Something triggers a collapse, maybe a shockwave from a nearby

672
00:32:27.480 --> 00:32:32.359
<v Speaker 3>supernova or a gravitational perturbation. A section of that massive

673
00:32:32.359 --> 00:32:35.079
<v Speaker 3>cloud begins to fall inward under its own crushing weight.

674
00:32:35.799 --> 00:32:38.920
<v Speaker 3>As it collapses, it gets denser and hotter. This is

675
00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:42.599
<v Speaker 3>driven by gravity pulling the gas together. Eventually, the core

676
00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:45.440
<v Speaker 3>of this collapsing cloud becomes so compressed and so hot

677
00:32:45.720 --> 00:32:49.279
<v Speaker 3>that the individual hydrogen atoms are literally forced to overcome

678
00:32:49.319 --> 00:32:52.279
<v Speaker 3>their natural repulsion and fuse together into helium.

679
00:32:52.319 --> 00:32:53.799
<v Speaker 2>And that's fusion exactly.

680
00:32:54.079 --> 00:32:57.319
<v Speaker 3>That nuclear fusion releases an enormous amount of outward energy,

681
00:32:57.559 --> 00:33:00.519
<v Speaker 3>balancing the inward pull of gravity, and a star is born.

682
00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:04.319
<v Speaker 3>Top down, A big loose cloud collapsing into a dense

683
00:33:04.359 --> 00:33:05.039
<v Speaker 3>bright star.

684
00:33:05.519 --> 00:33:07.759
<v Speaker 2>But the mechanism we are talking about in the black

685
00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:10.079
<v Speaker 2>hole Torus this is bottom up.

686
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:12.720
<v Speaker 3>Star formation exactly. It flips the entire sequence in.

687
00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:14.559
<v Speaker 2>Reverse because it starts as a planet.

688
00:33:14.839 --> 00:33:18.680
<v Speaker 3>Right. You start with a microscopic submillimeter piece of solid

689
00:33:18.839 --> 00:33:24.359
<v Speaker 3>silicate dust. Through random electrostatic collisions, it clumps into a pebble.

690
00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:27.720
<v Speaker 3>The pebble grows into a rock. The rock grows into

691
00:33:27.759 --> 00:33:29.519
<v Speaker 3>a massive planetary.

692
00:33:28.960 --> 00:33:30.319
<v Speaker 2>Core, just building blocks.

693
00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:33.319
<v Speaker 3>Because the core has so much gravity, it starts pulling

694
00:33:33.400 --> 00:33:37.039
<v Speaker 3>in thick envelopes of surrounding gas. Becomes a gas giant,

695
00:33:37.160 --> 00:33:38.680
<v Speaker 3>much like Jupiter, which is where.

696
00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:41.279
<v Speaker 2>The process normally stops in a quiet stellar neighborhood.

697
00:33:41.440 --> 00:33:44.039
<v Speaker 3>Right, Jupiter didn't have enough surrounding gas to keep growing.

698
00:33:44.400 --> 00:33:47.599
<v Speaker 3>But because this particular gas giant is orbiting inside the

699
00:33:47.640 --> 00:33:50.160
<v Speaker 3>Agan Taurus, the buffet never closes.

700
00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:51.279
<v Speaker 2>It just keeps eating.

701
00:33:51.440 --> 00:33:54.000
<v Speaker 3>It keeps pulling, a gas packing on mass, getting heavier

702
00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:57.599
<v Speaker 3>and heavier. Eventually, the immense weight of all that accreted

703
00:33:57.680 --> 00:34:01.200
<v Speaker 3>gas creates such extreme pressure and temperature at the very

704
00:34:01.240 --> 00:34:04.160
<v Speaker 3>center of the planet that it forces its own internal

705
00:34:04.200 --> 00:34:07.799
<v Speaker 3>atoms to fuse. It doesn't collapse from a cloud. It

706
00:34:07.880 --> 00:34:11.119
<v Speaker 3>builds up from a seed. It transitions from a planet

707
00:34:11.360 --> 00:34:13.360
<v Speaker 3>to a star entirely from the.

708
00:34:13.320 --> 00:34:16.400
<v Speaker 2>Bottom up, So you literally have stars being borne out

709
00:34:16.440 --> 00:34:20.360
<v Speaker 2>of the ashes of supercised planets, completely rewriting the fundamental

710
00:34:20.360 --> 00:34:22.920
<v Speaker 2>boundaries of planetary instellar evolution.

711
00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:26.440
<v Speaker 3>It really does bose a massive categorical problem. Yeah.

712
00:34:26.719 --> 00:34:28.840
<v Speaker 2>If I somehow manage to point a telescope at one

713
00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:32.639
<v Speaker 2>of these objects when it's exactly halfway through this process,

714
00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:35.639
<v Speaker 2>the awkward teenage phase, exactly when it's too massive to

715
00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:39.320
<v Speaker 2>be a normal gas giant but hasn't fully ignited nuclear

716
00:34:39.400 --> 00:34:41.320
<v Speaker 2>fusion yet, what do I call it? Is it an

717
00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:46.440
<v Speaker 2>incredibly bloated massive planet or is it a failing unignited star.

718
00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:50.199
<v Speaker 3>At that point it becomes a purely semantic argument. Really, Yeah,

719
00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:53.840
<v Speaker 3>we as humans have an innate desire to categorize things

720
00:34:53.880 --> 00:34:56.920
<v Speaker 3>based on our local observations. We want neat little boxes.

721
00:34:57.039 --> 00:34:58.760
<v Speaker 3>This is a planet, This is a brown dwarf, this

722
00:34:58.800 --> 00:35:00.920
<v Speaker 3>is a star. Right, we like label, but the universe

723
00:35:00.920 --> 00:35:03.920
<v Speaker 3>doesn't care about our taxonomy. These models show us a

724
00:35:03.920 --> 00:35:07.800
<v Speaker 3>continuous evolutionary spectrum where a single grain of dust can

725
00:35:07.880 --> 00:35:11.920
<v Speaker 3>theoretically evolve into a raging nuclear furnace, provided it exists

726
00:35:11.960 --> 00:35:14.440
<v Speaker 3>in the right environment and is fed enough material.

727
00:35:15.119 --> 00:35:18.760
<v Speaker 2>And as if bottom up star formation wasn't weird enough,

728
00:35:19.119 --> 00:35:21.519
<v Speaker 2>the models predict something even stranger.

729
00:35:21.599 --> 00:35:22.639
<v Speaker 3>Oh yes, if you look.

730
00:35:22.519 --> 00:35:25.719
<v Speaker 2>Closely at the math, they predict the possible formation of

731
00:35:25.800 --> 00:35:28.880
<v Speaker 2>exotic massive objects made mostly from dust.

732
00:35:28.960 --> 00:35:30.480
<v Speaker 3>Yes, the dust giants.

733
00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:33.920
<v Speaker 2>If the bottom up stars challenge our definitions, these dust

734
00:35:33.920 --> 00:35:37.239
<v Speaker 2>giants challenge our basic understanding of structural physics, they do.

735
00:35:37.840 --> 00:35:40.480
<v Speaker 3>This is perhaps the most alien concept to emerge from

736
00:35:40.519 --> 00:35:44.880
<v Speaker 3>the data. These objects would be fundamentally unlike absolutely anything

737
00:35:44.920 --> 00:35:47.559
<v Speaker 3>known in the planetary systems around ordinary stars.

738
00:35:47.760 --> 00:35:51.000
<v Speaker 2>So what exactly is a massive object made mostly of dust?

739
00:35:51.079 --> 00:35:53.360
<v Speaker 2>I am trying to visualize the physical structure of this

740
00:35:53.400 --> 00:35:55.880
<v Speaker 2>for anyone listening. It's tricky to picture because we know

741
00:35:56.079 --> 00:36:00.639
<v Speaker 2>gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn they have massive, swirling

742
00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:05.039
<v Speaker 2>hydrogen atmospheres over relatively small dense cores. And we know

743
00:36:05.559 --> 00:36:09.760
<v Speaker 2>rocky worlds like Earth, Venus and Mars solid metal and

744
00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:14.440
<v Speaker 2>silicate rock crusts with very thin atmospheres. Yes, but a

745
00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:18.079
<v Speaker 2>giant ball of mostly dust. I can't even get the

746
00:36:18.159 --> 00:36:20.320
<v Speaker 2>dust bunnies under my couch to hold their shape when

747
00:36:20.360 --> 00:36:22.840
<v Speaker 2>I sweep them up. How does a massive planet made

748
00:36:22.840 --> 00:36:24.840
<v Speaker 2>of dust even structurally hold together.

749
00:36:25.280 --> 00:36:28.960
<v Speaker 3>To understand how these exotic dust giants could possibly form

750
00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:32.119
<v Speaker 3>and maintain their structure, we have to once again contrast

751
00:36:32.159 --> 00:36:35.280
<v Speaker 3>the Agan environment with standard stellar systems.

752
00:36:35.360 --> 00:36:36.599
<v Speaker 2>Okay, let's do the comparison.

753
00:36:36.920 --> 00:36:39.960
<v Speaker 3>In a normal system, when the young star finally ignites

754
00:36:40.039 --> 00:36:43.679
<v Speaker 3>nuclear fusion at its core, it produces a very powerful

755
00:36:43.719 --> 00:36:46.079
<v Speaker 3>outflow of particles called a stellar wind.

756
00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:48.039
<v Speaker 2>And this acts like a giant cosmic leaf blower.

757
00:36:48.199 --> 00:36:50.960
<v Speaker 3>That is the exact perfect analogy. The stellar wind turns

758
00:36:51.000 --> 00:36:54.599
<v Speaker 3>on and physically sweeps the remaining loose, unconsolidated gas out

759
00:36:54.599 --> 00:36:56.119
<v Speaker 3>of the entire planetary.

760
00:36:55.679 --> 00:36:57.840
<v Speaker 2>System, so the buffet is forcefully clear.

761
00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:00.960
<v Speaker 3>Exactly what you are left with are the dense, rocky

762
00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:03.440
<v Speaker 3>cores that were strong enough to resist the wind, are

763
00:37:03.519 --> 00:37:06.360
<v Speaker 3>terrestrial planets or the gas giants that manage to lock

764
00:37:06.400 --> 00:37:09.440
<v Speaker 3>in their thick atmospheres with immense gravity before the loose

765
00:37:09.480 --> 00:37:10.480
<v Speaker 3>gas was blown away.

766
00:37:10.679 --> 00:37:14.199
<v Speaker 2>So the stellar leaf blower removes the construction material, leaving

767
00:37:14.239 --> 00:37:16.400
<v Speaker 2>only the finished products precisely.

768
00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:20.679
<v Speaker 3>But in the extreme hyperdense environment of the Agan torus,

769
00:37:21.039 --> 00:37:22.760
<v Speaker 3>the dynamics are entirely.

770
00:37:22.440 --> 00:37:25.519
<v Speaker 2>Different because there is no leaf blower right, there is.

771
00:37:25.440 --> 00:37:29.119
<v Speaker 3>No stellar leaf blower clearing the immediate area. The torus

772
00:37:29.159 --> 00:37:34.000
<v Speaker 3>is continuously replenished and dynamically stirred by the overarching gravity

773
00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:35.480
<v Speaker 3>of the supermassive black.

774
00:37:35.199 --> 00:37:37.239
<v Speaker 2>Hole, So the dust just stays there.

775
00:37:37.360 --> 00:37:41.000
<v Speaker 3>Yes. Furthermore, the sheer volume and density of solid dust

776
00:37:41.119 --> 00:37:46.519
<v Speaker 3>particles in certain specific bands of the torus are extraordinarily high.

777
00:37:46.639 --> 00:37:47.679
<v Speaker 2>How high are we talking?

778
00:37:47.840 --> 00:37:50.320
<v Speaker 3>So high in fact, that when a planetary body begins

779
00:37:50.320 --> 00:37:53.000
<v Speaker 3>to accrete mass, it isn't just sucking in a gentle

780
00:37:53.039 --> 00:37:57.280
<v Speaker 3>stream of gas. It is aggressively sweeping up massive overall

781
00:37:57.400 --> 00:38:01.079
<v Speaker 3>quantities of solid dust faster than it can sweep up gas.

782
00:38:01.280 --> 00:38:04.000
<v Speaker 2>So instead of a standard rocky core slowly gathering a

783
00:38:04.039 --> 00:38:07.039
<v Speaker 2>giant gaseous envelope of hydrogen, you have a rocky core

784
00:38:07.119 --> 00:38:09.440
<v Speaker 2>gathering a giant, thick envelope of solid dust.

785
00:38:09.719 --> 00:38:12.159
<v Speaker 3>In a way, yes, but it wouldn't be like flying

786
00:38:12.159 --> 00:38:14.079
<v Speaker 3>a space ship into a loose, powdery cloud.

787
00:38:14.119 --> 00:38:14.840
<v Speaker 2>Oh it wouldn't.

788
00:38:15.119 --> 00:38:19.159
<v Speaker 3>No, the sheer gravitational pressure of an object that massive

789
00:38:19.840 --> 00:38:24.000
<v Speaker 3>would compack this dust to an incredible degree. Gravity would

790
00:38:24.039 --> 00:38:29.679
<v Speaker 3>force it into a massive, structurally bizarre semi solid state. Wow.

791
00:38:30.559 --> 00:38:33.880
<v Speaker 3>We are talking about celestial objects that might have the

792
00:38:33.920 --> 00:38:37.119
<v Speaker 3>total mass of a giant planet like Jupiter, but instead

793
00:38:37.119 --> 00:38:40.440
<v Speaker 3>of being made of light gas, they're composed almost entirely

794
00:38:40.480 --> 00:38:45.280
<v Speaker 3>of compacted silica grains, heavy metals, and complex carbonaceous material.

795
00:38:45.400 --> 00:38:47.320
<v Speaker 2>So if I were to somehow dive into one of

796
00:38:47.360 --> 00:38:51.360
<v Speaker 2>these exotic dust giants, assuming my ship wasn't instantly crushed

797
00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:54.480
<v Speaker 2>by the immense gravity, what would the geology actually be like.

798
00:38:54.920 --> 00:38:56.400
<v Speaker 3>It's a fascinating question.

799
00:38:56.199 --> 00:38:59.039
<v Speaker 2>Because it wouldn't have a standard, distinct molten iron core

800
00:38:59.159 --> 00:39:01.760
<v Speaker 2>and a clear, solid, rocky mantle like Earth has.

801
00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:04.880
<v Speaker 3>Right, It is entirely theoretical, of course, because we have

802
00:39:04.960 --> 00:39:08.119
<v Speaker 3>never observed one directly, but it is highly likely you

803
00:39:08.119 --> 00:39:11.239
<v Speaker 3>wouldn't find the neat geological differentiation we see on Earth.

804
00:39:11.280 --> 00:39:13.599
<v Speaker 3>Why not Well, on our planet when it was young

805
00:39:13.639 --> 00:39:16.000
<v Speaker 3>and molten, the heavy iron sank to the center to

806
00:39:16.039 --> 00:39:18.480
<v Speaker 3>form the core, and the lighter silicates floated up to

807
00:39:18.519 --> 00:39:20.960
<v Speaker 3>foam the mantle and crust. Right, that makes sense, But

808
00:39:21.039 --> 00:39:24.400
<v Speaker 3>depending on exactly how rapidly these dust giants form in

809
00:39:24.440 --> 00:39:28.320
<v Speaker 3>the Taurus, the immense sudden pressure might prevent that settling.

810
00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:33.400
<v Speaker 3>The material might remain somewhat uniformly mixed, a massive homogeneous

811
00:39:33.400 --> 00:39:34.960
<v Speaker 3>blend of rock and metal.

812
00:39:34.800 --> 00:39:37.159
<v Speaker 2>That sounds incredibly strange.

813
00:39:36.880 --> 00:39:41.239
<v Speaker 3>Or conversely, it might stratify in entirely novel bizarre ways

814
00:39:41.559 --> 00:39:44.559
<v Speaker 3>based purely on the extreme pressure physics we can hardly

815
00:39:44.599 --> 00:39:45.480
<v Speaker 3>replicate in the lab.

816
00:39:45.639 --> 00:39:47.800
<v Speaker 2>It just goes to show how much is still out there.

817
00:39:48.000 --> 00:39:51.440
<v Speaker 3>It deeply reflects how little we truly know about the universe,

818
00:39:51.920 --> 00:39:54.800
<v Speaker 3>given that whole new categories of celestial bodies, things we

819
00:39:54.800 --> 00:39:58.239
<v Speaker 3>don't even have proper names or classifications for yet, are

820
00:39:58.239 --> 00:40:01.559
<v Speaker 3>almost certainly hiding right now now in these dark corners

821
00:40:01.599 --> 00:40:02.360
<v Speaker 3>of the cosmos.

822
00:40:02.400 --> 00:40:05.639
<v Speaker 2>It's absolutely wild to think about we are essentially mapping

823
00:40:05.719 --> 00:40:09.400
<v Speaker 2>out a completely invisible ecosystem exactly. We are relying on

824
00:40:09.480 --> 00:40:13.239
<v Speaker 2>the immutable laws of physics and incredibly complex mathematics to

825
00:40:13.360 --> 00:40:16.719
<v Speaker 2>confidently prove that these bizarre leviathans have to exist out

826
00:40:16.719 --> 00:40:18.280
<v Speaker 2>there in the dark, even if we can't take a

827
00:40:18.280 --> 00:40:19.159
<v Speaker 2>picture of them yet.

828
00:40:19.199 --> 00:40:23.000
<v Speaker 3>And that is the true beauty of theoretical astrophysics.

829
00:40:22.320 --> 00:40:23.079
<v Speaker 2>It really is.

830
00:40:23.159 --> 00:40:25.719
<v Speaker 3>We use the fundamental laws of physics that we test,

831
00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:31.440
<v Speaker 3>verify and rely on locally gravity, fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, and

832
00:40:31.480 --> 00:40:35.519
<v Speaker 3>we confidently apply them to extreme distant environments to see

833
00:40:35.559 --> 00:40:36.559
<v Speaker 3>what the math predicts.

834
00:40:36.840 --> 00:40:37.920
<v Speaker 2>We aren't just guessing.

835
00:40:38.239 --> 00:40:41.280
<v Speaker 3>No, we are calculating. In this case, the math strictly

836
00:40:41.320 --> 00:40:45.440
<v Speaker 3>predicts a hidden zoo of exotic objects that fundamentally challenge

837
00:40:45.679 --> 00:40:48.280
<v Speaker 3>our baseline understanding of planetary science.

838
00:40:48.320 --> 00:40:50.039
<v Speaker 2>Okay, I feel like we need to take a collective

839
00:40:50.039 --> 00:40:52.960
<v Speaker 2>breath and recap this wild ride because we have covered

840
00:40:53.039 --> 00:40:56.119
<v Speaker 2>a massive amount of dense conceptual ground today.

841
00:40:56.280 --> 00:40:56.880
<v Speaker 3>We really have.

842
00:40:57.079 --> 00:41:00.360
<v Speaker 2>We started by looking at super massive black holes, which

843
00:41:00.360 --> 00:41:03.800
<v Speaker 2>we have always known as the ultimate cosmic destroyers. We

844
00:41:03.880 --> 00:41:07.880
<v Speaker 2>pictured their jets shooting energized plasma hundreds of thousands of

845
00:41:07.960 --> 00:41:12.400
<v Speaker 2>light years across intergalactic space, and their radiation lines ruthlessly

846
00:41:12.440 --> 00:41:14.920
<v Speaker 2>blowing massive cavities in the cosmic gas.

847
00:41:15.079 --> 00:41:20.360
<v Speaker 3>The ultimate hostile environment where survival seemed scientifically impossible exactly.

848
00:41:20.599 --> 00:41:23.400
<v Speaker 2>But then we looked closer. We pushed past the assumptions,

849
00:41:23.760 --> 00:41:26.199
<v Speaker 2>and we found that on the very outer edges of

850
00:41:26.239 --> 00:41:29.800
<v Speaker 2>their massive accretion disks, far away from the lethal X rays,

851
00:41:29.840 --> 00:41:34.199
<v Speaker 2>there are these giant doughnut shaped rings called tory.

852
00:41:34.199 --> 00:41:38.880
<v Speaker 3>And miraculously, physics dictates that these tories act as vast

853
00:41:39.239 --> 00:41:40.679
<v Speaker 3>shielded safe.

854
00:41:40.440 --> 00:41:43.800
<v Speaker 2>Havens right the conditions there, thanks to the optical depth

855
00:41:43.840 --> 00:41:47.000
<v Speaker 2>of the gas absorbing the radiation, are just right for

856
00:41:47.079 --> 00:41:48.480
<v Speaker 2>fragile dust to survive the.

857
00:41:48.559 --> 00:41:51.679
<v Speaker 3>Hidden Goldilock zone of a supermassive black hole, where the

858
00:41:51.719 --> 00:41:55.239
<v Speaker 3>temperature drops just enough to allow solid matter to persist

859
00:41:55.440 --> 00:41:58.039
<v Speaker 3>and begin the long, slow dance of clumping together.

860
00:41:58.159 --> 00:42:01.159
<v Speaker 2>And because that solid matter persists, and because the magnetic

861
00:42:01.239 --> 00:42:05.079
<v Speaker 2>turbulence constantly stirs the pot these dark environments might actually

862
00:42:05.119 --> 00:42:08.519
<v Speaker 2>manufacture the largest populations of planets in the entire universe.

863
00:42:08.760 --> 00:42:10.039
<v Speaker 3>The numbers are just astounding.

864
00:42:10.199 --> 00:42:12.880
<v Speaker 2>We are talking tens of millions of planets per black hole,

865
00:42:13.199 --> 00:42:16.920
<v Speaker 2>effectively turning our understanding of the galactic map completely upside down.

866
00:42:16.960 --> 00:42:17.559
<v Speaker 3>It really does.

867
00:42:17.880 --> 00:42:21.599
<v Speaker 2>We learned that the dense, never ending buffet of material

868
00:42:21.800 --> 00:42:27.159
<v Speaker 2>creates Jupiter dwarfing giants, bizarre exotic dust worlds that defy

869
00:42:27.280 --> 00:42:31.920
<v Speaker 2>conventional geology, and even planets that grow so relentlessly massive

870
00:42:31.960 --> 00:42:34.639
<v Speaker 2>from the bottom up that they literally ignite their own

871
00:42:34.719 --> 00:42:36.519
<v Speaker 2>cores into stars.

872
00:42:36.440 --> 00:42:39.559
<v Speaker 3>Completely rewriting the textbook rules of how stars are born.

873
00:42:39.760 --> 00:42:43.239
<v Speaker 2>It is a breathtaking synthesis of ideas, it is, But.

874
00:42:43.280 --> 00:42:46.320
<v Speaker 3>As an astrophysicist, I do want to ground the conversation

875
00:42:46.480 --> 00:42:47.480
<v Speaker 3>just a bit before we finish.

876
00:42:47.599 --> 00:42:49.239
<v Speaker 2>Oh, okay, let's ground it.

877
00:42:49.239 --> 00:42:52.639
<v Speaker 3>It is crucial to remember the scientific method here. While

878
00:42:52.679 --> 00:42:56.280
<v Speaker 3>the computer models, the fluid dynamics calculations, and the brilliant

879
00:42:56.320 --> 00:42:59.119
<v Speaker 3>insights from teams like the researches at the City University

880
00:42:59.119 --> 00:43:03.719
<v Speaker 3>of New York are mathematically rigorous and highly compelling, we

881
00:43:03.760 --> 00:43:06.480
<v Speaker 3>still have to prove it exactly. We are currently operating

882
00:43:06.519 --> 00:43:10.159
<v Speaker 3>at the bleeding edge of the theoretical frontier. This research

883
00:43:10.159 --> 00:43:13.199
<v Speaker 3>gives astronomers plenty of substantial food for thought, but the

884
00:43:13.280 --> 00:43:16.280
<v Speaker 3>universe ultimately demands empirical proof, so we need.

885
00:43:16.199 --> 00:43:17.320
<v Speaker 2>To actually see them.

886
00:43:17.559 --> 00:43:23.519
<v Speaker 3>Yes, it will require future, undeniable observational evidence to definitively

887
00:43:23.599 --> 00:43:27.360
<v Speaker 3>prove that these millions of planets are out there. We

888
00:43:27.440 --> 00:43:31.599
<v Speaker 3>will need next generation telescopes, perhaps advanced infrared arrays or

889
00:43:31.639 --> 00:43:37.199
<v Speaker 3>novel gravitational wave detectors, and incredibly clever observational techniques.

890
00:43:36.880 --> 00:43:39.360
<v Speaker 2>Because looking into a dust donut around a black hole

891
00:43:39.480 --> 00:43:41.039
<v Speaker 2>is probably pretty hard.

892
00:43:41.039 --> 00:43:44.119
<v Speaker 3>Extremely hard. We have to peer through that thick, dusty

893
00:43:44.199 --> 00:43:47.440
<v Speaker 3>torus and catch the faint, telltale signature of a planet

894
00:43:47.800 --> 00:43:51.079
<v Speaker 3>in the actual act of forming around an active galactic nucleus.

895
00:43:51.159 --> 00:43:54.079
<v Speaker 2>It's the ultimate cosmic game of hide and seek played

896
00:43:54.079 --> 00:43:55.199
<v Speaker 2>on a galactic scale.

897
00:43:55.239 --> 00:43:59.239
<v Speaker 3>Precisely the math explicitly says they are there. The physics

898
00:43:59.280 --> 00:44:01.920
<v Speaker 3>not only allow for or but actively encourage it, but

899
00:44:02.079 --> 00:44:04.960
<v Speaker 3>observational astronomy demands that we see it. That is the

900
00:44:04.960 --> 00:44:08.119
<v Speaker 3>next great exciting challenge for the astronomical community over the

901
00:44:08.119 --> 00:44:08.880
<v Speaker 3>coming decades.

902
00:44:09.000 --> 00:44:11.000
<v Speaker 2>So what does this all mean for us sitting down

903
00:44:11.000 --> 00:44:14.840
<v Speaker 2>here on our little rocky world orbiting a very average, quiet,

904
00:44:15.159 --> 00:44:17.239
<v Speaker 2>middle aged star. I want to leave you with a

905
00:44:17.280 --> 00:44:18.320
<v Speaker 2>final thought to mull over.

906
00:44:18.480 --> 00:44:19.199
<v Speaker 3>Okay, let's hear it.

907
00:44:19.519 --> 00:44:21.519
<v Speaker 2>The next time you step outside on a clear night

908
00:44:21.559 --> 00:44:24.519
<v Speaker 2>and look up at the sky, it's so easy to

909
00:44:24.639 --> 00:44:27.360
<v Speaker 2>just look at the twinkling stars and imagine the tiny,

910
00:44:27.480 --> 00:44:30.880
<v Speaker 2>isolated planets orbiting them. That's what we've always been taught

911
00:44:30.880 --> 00:44:31.880
<v Speaker 2>to do. We look at the light.

912
00:44:32.000 --> 00:44:32.920
<v Speaker 3>It's human nature.

913
00:44:33.000 --> 00:44:34.719
<v Speaker 2>But next time, I want you to look into the

914
00:44:34.840 --> 00:44:39.199
<v Speaker 2>dark spaces between the stars, look past the constellations toward

915
00:44:39.239 --> 00:44:42.920
<v Speaker 2>the invisible super massive center of our own Milky Way galaxy.

916
00:44:43.039 --> 00:44:45.719
<v Speaker 3>The dark spaces hold so much more than we think.

917
00:44:45.519 --> 00:44:49.400
<v Speaker 2>And instead of picturing a terrifying, empty void of pure destruction,

918
00:44:49.960 --> 00:44:52.920
<v Speaker 2>I want you to imagine tens of millions of massive,

919
00:44:53.039 --> 00:44:58.960
<v Speaker 2>exotic worlds, dust giants, and bottom up stars thriving unseen

920
00:44:59.039 --> 00:45:02.960
<v Speaker 2>in the dark, swirling in a massive cosmic dance around

921
00:45:02.960 --> 00:45:04.559
<v Speaker 2>the biggest monsters in the universe.

922
00:45:04.639 --> 00:45:06.800
<v Speaker 3>It's a universe where a creation doesn't just happen in

923
00:45:06.840 --> 00:45:09.360
<v Speaker 3>the warm light of the sun, but in the deepest,

924
00:45:09.400 --> 00:45:11.840
<v Speaker 3>most turbulent magnetic shadows exactly.

925
00:45:11.920 --> 00:45:14.079
<v Speaker 2>It makes you wonder what else physics is hiding from

926
00:45:14.119 --> 00:45:14.679
<v Speaker 2>us in the dark.