WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:04.799 Imagine a single twenty four hour period where the universe 2 00:00:04.919 --> 00:00:08.000 just like decides to put on its absolute greatest show. 3 00:00:08.039 --> 00:00:10.359 Oh yeah, like a total cosmic flex. 4 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:13.400 Exactly, a day where the gears of the cosmos lock 5 00:00:13.480 --> 00:00:18.600 into place with such I mean terrifying, exquisite precision that 6 00:00:18.679 --> 00:00:20.320 if you were to just walk outside and look up, 7 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:22.879 you might actually think the sky was breaking apart. 8 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:25.399 Right, which is exactly what people online are saying right now. 9 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:27.239 They really are. I mean, we are talking about a 10 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:30.559 day where the midday sun is suddenly swallowed by total darkness. 11 00:00:30.679 --> 00:00:32.759 Yeah, is completely gone. 12 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:35.240 And then you know a day where once night falls, 13 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:38.560 the sky practically rains fire, the meteor shower, right the 14 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:42.039 media shower, and then, as if that wasn't enough, as 15 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:45.000 morning approaches, the planets themselves just line up across the 16 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:48.280 horizon like I don't know, sentinels standing at attention. 17 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:50.320 It's it's quite the lineup. 18 00:00:50.439 --> 00:00:54.000 It is a trinity of cosmic events, a total solar eclipse, 19 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:58.200 a massive meteor shower, and a six planet alignment, all 20 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:00.719 converging within mere hours of what and. 21 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:03.159 Right now, the Internet is practically melting down. 22 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:07.200 Over it, oh, completely melting down. Algorithms are just churning 23 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:12.640 out doomsday theories. Forums are buzzing with absolute panic, and uh, 24 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:16.719 people are looking at this celestial calendar and asking if 25 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:17.400 this is it. 26 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:18.599 Like, if this is the end of the world. 27 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:22.799 Yeah, if this is the end. So welcome to Thrilling Threads. 28 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:25.159 I'm so glad you're here with us today because we 29 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:30.400 are going to, you know, look this so called apocalypse straight. 30 00:01:30.120 --> 00:01:32.239 In the eye, break down the actual science exactly. 31 00:01:32.319 --> 00:01:34.359 We're going to break down the actual science of what 32 00:01:34.439 --> 00:01:37.000 is happening and figure out exactly what the universe is doing, 33 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:38.120 because it really is. 34 00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:42.280 An incredible convergence. I mean, the way the viral narratives 35 00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:44.599 have taken hold, you would think we were living in 36 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:47.879 the opening sequence of a science fiction disaster film, oh one. 37 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:50.599 Hundred percent, like the first act of an alien invasion 38 00:01:50.599 --> 00:01:51.920 movie or something exactly. 39 00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:55.040 Across social media platforms and even in some of the 40 00:01:55.079 --> 00:02:01.400 more let's say sensationalized news reports, nedicins are calling an ominous. 41 00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:04.239 Warning an ominous warning. I mean that sounds so dramatic. 42 00:02:04.519 --> 00:02:08.800 It does. They're explicitly linking this triple event to ancient 43 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:17.240 apocalyptic prophecies. But the baseline reality, the consensus among astronomers, afterrophysicists, 44 00:02:17.319 --> 00:02:22.560 and planetary scientists, is that there is absolutely zero scientific 45 00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:25.919 evidence for panic, right, like none at all none. There 46 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:29.159 is no physical mechanism connecting these three events. What we 47 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:32.960 are witnessing is not a warning. It is, well, it's 48 00:02:33.080 --> 00:02:37.120 merely a breathtaking, mathematically remarkable cosmic coincidence. 49 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:41.000 Okay, so you say coincidence, and I mean mathematically, I 50 00:02:41.080 --> 00:02:43.639 understand that. But let's look at this from the perspective 51 00:02:43.639 --> 00:02:46.039 of you know, the average person just scrolling through their feed, 52 00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:48.599 the doom scrollers, Yeah, the doom scrollers. If you sit 53 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:50.759 down at a casino and you hit triple sevens on 54 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:53.039 a slot machine, you don't think the machine is predicting 55 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:53.759 the end of the world. 56 00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:55.639 No, you just cash out, exactly. 57 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:58.120 You cash out and you celebrate. But when the universe 58 00:02:58.199 --> 00:03:00.680 hits triple sevens, when the sun goes down, the sky 59 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:03.360 lights up with meteors, and the planets align all in 60 00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:08.080 one single day, the Internet instantly jumps to doom. 61 00:03:08.199 --> 00:03:09.639 It's fascinating, isn't it. 62 00:03:09.639 --> 00:03:14.080 It really is, Like, why is human psychology so hardwired 63 00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:17.319 to look at the sky and immediately assume the worst? 64 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:20.159 Well, it actually comes down to a survival mechanism known 65 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:23.919 as apafenia papaphenia, Okay, what is that? So? Apaphenia is 66 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:29.560 the human tendency to perceive like meaningful connections between entirely 67 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:30.560 unrelated things. 68 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:32.919 Oh, like seeing a face and a piece of toast. 69 00:03:33.159 --> 00:03:37.919 Yes, yeah, exactly that. From an evolutionary standpoint, pattern recognition 70 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:38.960 kept us alive. 71 00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:41.439 Right, because if you didn't see the pattern, you probably 72 00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:41.919 got eaten. 73 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:45.319 Precisely, if our ancestors on the savannah saw the grass 74 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:47.719 moving in a certain way, they didn't stop to calculate 75 00:03:48.199 --> 00:03:49.439 you know, wind vector, right. 76 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:50.879 They assumed there was a predator and ran. 77 00:03:51.159 --> 00:03:55.080 Exactly. We are biologically programmed to find patterns, and when 78 00:03:55.080 --> 00:03:58.000 we find a pattern that is highly unusual, our threat 79 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:00.000 response just automatically activates. 80 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:00.759 It makes total sense. 81 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:04.199 And historically have to remember, the sky was our only calendar. 82 00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:05.199 Right, There were no clocks or apps. 83 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:08.360 It was our clock, our agricultural guide, and our map. 84 00:04:08.759 --> 00:04:11.280 It was flawless and completely predictable. 85 00:04:11.319 --> 00:04:12.800 So when something disrupted, right. 86 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:17.399 When something disrupted that flawless clockwork, a sudden daytime darkness, 87 00:04:17.560 --> 00:04:21.879 or a comet streaking across the stars, it was terrifying. 88 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:24.319 Because it meant the fundamental rules of reality were suddenly 89 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:25.519 suspended exactly. 90 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:26.959 It felt like the sky was broken. 91 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:29.759 Man. That makes so much sense, especially when you look 92 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:31.920 at history, like I was reading about the Battle of 93 00:04:31.959 --> 00:04:35.240 Haley's in five eighty five BC. 94 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:37.079 Oh, that's a classic example, right. 95 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:40.519 So the Meads and the Lydians had been fighting this grueling, 96 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:44.600 just bloody war for over five years. Yeah, and right 97 00:04:44.600 --> 00:04:47.800 in the middle of a battle, a total solar eclipse happened. 98 00:04:48.279 --> 00:04:50.279 The sky just went pitch black. 99 00:04:50.519 --> 00:04:52.800 Can you imagine being on a battlefield when that happens. 100 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:56.319 No, I'd be terrified. And the soldiers were so terrified, 101 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:59.000 so convinced that the gods were angry at them for fighting, 102 00:04:59.240 --> 00:05:00.680 that they immediate we dropped their. 103 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:02.319 Weapons, stopped fighting on the spot. 104 00:05:02.519 --> 00:05:05.399 Yeah, they negotiated a peace treaty right then and there. 105 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:09.319 They projected their own human conflicts onto the mechanics of 106 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:10.160 the solar system. 107 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:13.839 That is the perfect historical parallel. And you know, even 108 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:16.079 though we have mapped the human genome and we have 109 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:19.560 like rovers driving across the surface of Mars right now, 110 00:05:20.199 --> 00:05:22.959 that primal wiring hasn't really changed. 111 00:05:23.079 --> 00:05:26.160 We're still those same scared people on the battlefield. 112 00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:27.959 We really are. When you have a report like the 113 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:32.040 recent one highlighting this trinity of events, our modern brains, 114 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:37.439 fueled by the algorithmic acceleration of social media, do exactly 115 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:39.839 what those soldiers did thousands of years ago. 116 00:05:39.959 --> 00:05:42.240 We project our anxieties onto the stars. 117 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:45.600 Exactly. We create a narrative where the universe is paying 118 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:46.480 attention to us. 119 00:05:46.439 --> 00:05:48.000 Right, like we're the main characters. 120 00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:52.199 Yes, an ominous warning to the world implies that the world, 121 00:05:52.439 --> 00:05:55.959 and more specifically, humanity is important enough to be warned. 122 00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:59.000 So it's an ego trip basically a way. Yeah, we 123 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:02.040 are flattering ourselves. I thinking the apocalypse is scheduled around 124 00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:04.600 our calendar. But I mean I have to challenge the 125 00:06:04.600 --> 00:06:06.279 purely clinical view of this for a second. 126 00:06:06.639 --> 00:06:06.959 Go for it. 127 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:10.439 Astronomers can call it a coincidence all they want, But statistically, 128 00:06:10.839 --> 00:06:13.399 what are the odds of the lunar nodes perfectly aligning 129 00:06:13.399 --> 00:06:16.199 for an eclipse, the Earth hitting the densest part of 130 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:21.279 a cometary debristail, and six distinct planets reaching a visual 131 00:06:21.319 --> 00:06:24.079 conjunction in the exact same twenty four hour window. 132 00:06:24.600 --> 00:06:25.839 It's incredibly rare. 133 00:06:25.959 --> 00:06:28.240 Right, It's not just a minor anomaly. It feels like 134 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:31.519 the universe grabbed a megaphone and is just shouting at us. 135 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:35.560 The statistical improbability is exactly why this is so captivating 136 00:06:35.560 --> 00:06:39.759 to people. But and this is the crucial part, probability 137 00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:42.040 and causality are two entirely different things. 138 00:06:42.199 --> 00:06:43.120 Okay, explain that. 139 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:46.240 Well, the Moon's orbit is dictated by its gravitational dance 140 00:06:46.279 --> 00:06:49.600 with Earth right right. The meteor shower is dignated by 141 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:53.680 Earth intersecting a debris stream left behind by a completely different. 142 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:55.720 Body, a comet, right totally separate. 143 00:06:55.439 --> 00:06:58.040 And the planetary alignment is dictated by the varied orbital 144 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:01.680 speeds of gas giants and vestrial worlds traveling around the Sun. 145 00:07:01.720 --> 00:07:03.319 So they have literally nothing to do with. 146 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:07.519 Each other, absolutely nothing. These are three completely independent physical 147 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:11.800 systems that just happen to visually overlap from our specific 148 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:14.040 vantage point on Earth on this specific date. 149 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:16.720 Okay, So just an optical illusion of timing basically. 150 00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:20.639 Basically, Yeah, to understand why there is no cause for alarm, 151 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:23.839 we have to physically dismantle the timeline. 152 00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:26.120 I love that. Let's dismantle it. 153 00:07:26.199 --> 00:07:29.160 If we look at the mechanics of what is actually 154 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:33.079 happening in the sky, we can replace that you know, 155 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:36.560 primal fear with the genuine informed sense of wonder. 156 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:40.160 Okay, so let's trace that physical timeline. Let's start with 157 00:07:40.199 --> 00:07:43.519 the daytime phenomenon that kicks everything off, which is the 158 00:07:43.560 --> 00:07:44.680 total solar. 159 00:07:44.360 --> 00:07:46.079 Eclipse the midday midnight. 160 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:48.439 Exactly the reporting nights that the Moon is going to 161 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:51.319 pass directly between the Earth and the Sun, completely blocking 162 00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:53.680 the solar disk. But I want to get into the 163 00:07:53.720 --> 00:07:56.279 how of that, because you know, the visual geometry of 164 00:07:56.279 --> 00:07:58.279 a solar eclipse is just one of the most bizarre 165 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:01.000 accidents of nature I've ever come acro It really is. 166 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:03.959 It is arguably the most beautiful mathematical accident in our 167 00:08:03.959 --> 00:08:04.959 solar system. 168 00:08:04.759 --> 00:08:07.079 Right because it shouldn't work so perfectly. 169 00:08:07.480 --> 00:08:12.439 It shouldn't. So think about this. The Sun's diameter is 170 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:15.160 roughly four hundred times larger than the. 171 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:16.879 Moon's, which is massive. 172 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:20.680 Massive. However, the Sun also happens to be roughly four 173 00:08:20.759 --> 00:08:22.959 hundred times farther away from Earth than the Moon is. 174 00:08:23.079 --> 00:08:26.879 Wait exactly four hundred times roughly, but yes, close enough 175 00:08:26.920 --> 00:08:28.399 that it creates this magic trick. 176 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:31.879 Because of this exquisite ratio, when you look up from 177 00:08:31.879 --> 00:08:34.879 the surface of the Earth, the tiny Moon and the 178 00:08:34.919 --> 00:08:37.919 massive Sun appear to be the exact same size in 179 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:38.320 the sky. 180 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:40.559 That is just wild. Like if you wrote that in 181 00:08:40.600 --> 00:08:43.159 a sci fi novel, people would say it was too convenient. 182 00:08:43.399 --> 00:08:45.919 They really would. And when the Moon's orbit crosses the 183 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:49.960 ecliptic plane, which is the imaginary flat plane that the 184 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:52.480 Earth travels on around the Sun, and the timing is perfect, 185 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:55.679 the Moon fits over the Sun like a perfectly machined 186 00:08:55.720 --> 00:08:56.320 lock and key. 187 00:08:56.519 --> 00:09:00.320 And what's wild is that this is like a temporary privilege. Right, Well, 188 00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:02.440 the Moon is slowly drifting away from the Earth by 189 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:04.600 about an inch and a half every year, right due 190 00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:05.440 to tidal friction. 191 00:09:05.559 --> 00:09:06.960 Oh yes, absolutely good point. 192 00:09:07.159 --> 00:09:09.159 So like, if we were living on Earth a few 193 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:12.320 hundred million years in the past, the Moon would look 194 00:09:12.360 --> 00:09:15.799 too big and it would just block the entire solar atmosphere. 195 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:17.159 Right, it'd just be a big black blob. 196 00:09:17.399 --> 00:09:19.399 And if we were living a few hundred million years 197 00:09:19.399 --> 00:09:21.240 in the future, the Moon would be too small to 198 00:09:21.240 --> 00:09:23.679 cover the Sun and we'd only get annular eclipses, just 199 00:09:23.799 --> 00:09:25.360 you know, a wing of fire exactly. 200 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:28.759 We just happen to exist in the exact sliver of 201 00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:32.120 cosmic time where perfect total eclipses are possible. 202 00:09:32.279 --> 00:09:33.320 It's just so lucky. 203 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:36.639 We live in a privileged step aac for observation for sure. 204 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:41.120 And when that perfect alignment occurs, the moon casts a 205 00:09:41.159 --> 00:09:43.960 shadow that literally races across the surface. 206 00:09:43.639 --> 00:09:47.240 Of the Earth, traveling at like supersonic speeds. 207 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:49.600 Right, yeah, thousands of miles an hour. Yeah. And this 208 00:09:49.639 --> 00:09:52.720 shadow has two parts, the lighter pen number which creates 209 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:53.480 a partial. 210 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:55.080 Eclipse which most people see. 211 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:58.559 Right, and then the dark inner core called the umbra. 212 00:09:58.440 --> 00:09:59.480 The path totality. 213 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:02.399 Exactly, the umbra is the path of totality. And on 214 00:10:02.440 --> 00:10:05.600 this specific date, that narrow band of total darkness is 215 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:08.519 going to sweep across some highly specific geography. 216 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:09.480 Okay, where are we talking. 217 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:12.679 We're looking at Greenland, Iceland, Spain, and Portugal. 218 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:15.639 Oh okay, So if you want the ultimate view, where 219 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:18.840 exactly is the absolute best place to be standing when 220 00:10:18.840 --> 00:10:19.679 the shadow hits? 221 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:24.320 Well, the projections indicate that western Iceland and northern Spain 222 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:27.679 are going to offer the most spectacular viewing conditions. 223 00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:29.759 Iceland would be incredible for that, Oh. 224 00:10:29.639 --> 00:10:33.159 It would be stunning. The westernmost points of Iceland, with 225 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:37.480 their rugged coastlines, are expected to experience the absolute longest 226 00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:40.679 spell of total darkness during this particular event. 227 00:10:40.759 --> 00:10:43.120 I mean, just imagine being physically present for that. You're 228 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:45.600 standing on a volcanic cliff in western Iceland. 229 00:10:45.720 --> 00:10:47.039 Sounds pretty cinematic, right. 230 00:10:47.320 --> 00:10:50.480 It's midday, the wind is coming off the North Atlantic, 231 00:10:51.080 --> 00:10:54.480 and then the quality of the light just fundamentally changes. 232 00:10:54.600 --> 00:10:55.960 It's not like a normal sunset. 233 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:58.799 No, it's not like a cloud passing overhead, and it's 234 00:10:58.840 --> 00:11:01.519 not like a sunset at all. It is this metallic, 235 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:04.200 eerie twilight that descends from above. 236 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:06.240 Yes, the lighting gets very sharp, right. 237 00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:08.720 The shadows on the ground look bizarre because the light 238 00:11:08.759 --> 00:11:13.519 source is shrinking to this tiny sliver. And then totality. 239 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:14.240 Hits and everything changes. 240 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:19.279 The temperature plunges, the wind literally shifts direction because the 241 00:11:19.320 --> 00:11:23.440 sudden loss of solar radiation changes the local atmospheric pressure. 242 00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:25.879 That's a localized weather event really, And. 243 00:11:25.799 --> 00:11:29.960 The seabirds they go completely silent, tricked into thinking night 244 00:11:30.039 --> 00:11:30.639 has fallen. 245 00:11:30.759 --> 00:11:34.440 It's true. The physical environment reacts in real time. Animals 246 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:38.320 get very confused, and during totality, the sky goes dark 247 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:41.279 enough that stars and planets become visible in the middle 248 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:41.639 of the day. 249 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:42.480 In the middle of the day. 250 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:45.879 Yeah, but of course the main event is the sun itself. Right, 251 00:11:46.279 --> 00:11:49.279 because the blinding photosphere is blocked, you can finally see 252 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:52.080 the Sun's outer atmosphere, which is called the corona. 253 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:54.399 The corona, What does that actually look like? 254 00:11:54.519 --> 00:11:57.600 Well, these are million degree tendrills of plasma shaped by 255 00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:02.200 the Sun's magnetic field reaching out into the blackness of space. Wow, 256 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:06.440 it looks like perlascent glowing silk. It's really hard to 257 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:07.600 describe unless you've seen it. 258 00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:09.360 And it's always there, right always. 259 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:12.879 It is a structure that is constantly there, violently churning, 260 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:16.759 but completely invisible to us. They're like ninety nine point 261 00:12:16.840 --> 00:12:18.679 nine percent of the time because of the glare of 262 00:12:18.679 --> 00:12:19.440 the Sun itself. 263 00:12:19.720 --> 00:12:23.279 It really highlights how fragile our perception of reality is. 264 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:26.000 You know, how do you mean, Well, the Sun isn't 265 00:12:26.039 --> 00:12:28.559 just a yellow circle in the sky. It's a raging 266 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:31.360 magnetic storm, and we only get to see the truth 267 00:12:31.399 --> 00:12:33.639 of it when a rock happens to block the light. 268 00:12:34.039 --> 00:12:36.200 That is a very poetic way to put it, but 269 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:37.600 it's entirely accurate. 270 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:41.080 But okay, let's be real. Most people aren't going to 271 00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:44.759 be in Iceland or Spain right sadly, So if you 272 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:48.559 can't be in that exact umbra. The event isn't completely 273 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:49.600 lost for you, is it. 274 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:52.360 Not at all? No, the p number, the lighter part 275 00:12:52.360 --> 00:12:55.120 of the shadow we talk about, covers a vast area. 276 00:12:55.159 --> 00:12:56.480 Who gets to see that part? 277 00:12:56.679 --> 00:13:01.919 Observers across large swathes of Europe, the United States, Eastern Canada, 278 00:13:01.960 --> 00:13:05.480 and Northwest Africa will experience a partial solar eclipse. 279 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:07.519 Okay, so a huge chunk of the globe. 280 00:13:07.639 --> 00:13:10.320 Yes, they will see the Sun turn into a crescent. 281 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:13.240 And while it doesn't offer the total darkness or the 282 00:13:13.320 --> 00:13:16.480 view of the corona, it is still a profound astronomical event. 283 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:19.080 I think the global nature of it is what really matters. 284 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:22.679 You know. Yeah, millions of people, cutting across time zones 285 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:26.159 and national borders, all stepping outside at roughly the same time, 286 00:13:26.279 --> 00:13:29.279 putting on those little cardboard solar glasses and just looking up. 287 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:31.639 Yeah, it's a shared experience exactly. 288 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:35.679 The news cycle just takes a breath for a few hours. 289 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:39.279 The petty terrestrial arguments we have online don't seem to 290 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:42.960 matter as much because everyone is momentarily united by the 291 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:44.440 mechanics of the solar system. 292 00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:48.240 It forces a shift in perspective. For sure. You are 293 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:51.320 suddenly made acutely aware that you are standing on a 294 00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:55.320 sphere orbiting a star while a smaller sphere orbits you. 295 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:58.679 It's deeply humbling, very much so. But usually an eclipse 296 00:13:58.759 --> 00:13:59.519 is the entire show. 297 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:02.240 Right, Yes, that's the main event of the decade. 298 00:14:02.279 --> 00:14:04.399 Right, you experience it, you pack up your lawn chair, 299 00:14:04.440 --> 00:14:05.960 and you talk about it for the rest of your life. 300 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:09.600 But in this specific twenty four hour window, the universe 301 00:14:09.639 --> 00:14:11.879 is just warming up. Right, The show is far from 302 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:15.399 over because once the daylight returns, the Earth keeps rotating, 303 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:18.639 the sun sets, and the darkness left by the eclipse 304 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:23.600 gives way to the second massive event, the Perseed meteor shower. Now, 305 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:26.279 NASA is officially on the record stating that this is 306 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:29.519 the absolute best meteor shower of the entire year. 307 00:14:30.039 --> 00:14:33.000 It is the crown jewel of annual media showers, without 308 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:33.360 a doubt. 309 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:35.799 So why is it so much better than the others? 310 00:14:35.960 --> 00:14:39.080 Well, to understand why it's so spectacular, we have to 311 00:14:39.080 --> 00:14:42.519 look at the source material. Meteor showers are not random 312 00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:45.440 rocks just falling from the sky. They are the result 313 00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:48.600 of Earth passing through the debris trail left behind by 314 00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:51.759 a comet, and in the case of the perseods, that 315 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:53.840 parent body is comet swift tuttle. 316 00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:56.879 Okay, let's talk about swift tuttle. Because when people hear 317 00:14:56.919 --> 00:14:59.200 the word debris, I think they picture space junk or 318 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:02.559 maybe asteroid it's colliding in star wars. Oh sure, yeah, 319 00:15:02.600 --> 00:15:06.440 but a comet is basically a massive, dirty snowball, right. 320 00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:09.559 That is actually a highly accurate description. Comma Swift Tuttle 321 00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:13.039 has a nucleus that is roughly sixteen miles across. 322 00:15:12.840 --> 00:15:15.519 Sixteen miles of just dirt and ice exactly. 323 00:15:15.720 --> 00:15:17.679 And as it travels it's one hundred and thirty three 324 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:21.240 year highly elliptical orbit around the Sun, the solar radiation 325 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:21.639 heats it. 326 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:24.159 Up and it starts melting well in space. 327 00:15:23.960 --> 00:15:27.879 It sublimates suplamates, yeah, meaning it turns directly from a 328 00:15:27.960 --> 00:15:31.720 solid into a gas, skipping the liquid phase entirely. 329 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:32.440 Oh wow. 330 00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:37.200 Okay, And as it violently vents into space, it ejects dust, rock, 331 00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:39.759 and ancient material that has been locked in the ice 332 00:15:39.879 --> 00:15:41.639 since the formation of the Solar System. 333 00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:45.399 So it's leaving a trail of ancient breadcrumbs. 334 00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:49.720 Exactly over thousands of years. This creates a massive river 335 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:54.679 of debris suspended in space. Every August, the Earth's orbit 336 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:57.559 intersects this river. We literally plow right through it. 337 00:15:57.480 --> 00:15:59.919 So we are driving the Earth through a cosmic dust. 338 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:01.960 That's exactly what is happening. 339 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:05.720 And NASA is predicting that under dark, clear skies, viewers 340 00:16:05.720 --> 00:16:08.240 could see up to one hundred meteors an hour. 341 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:09.240 Under ideal conditions. 342 00:16:09.320 --> 00:16:10.960 Yes, but I want to talk about what that actually 343 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:14.240 looks like in practice, because one hundred hour sounds like 344 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:15.639 a sci fi laser battle. 345 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:17.159 It does, but it's not quite like. 346 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:19.360 That, right. It's not an even distribution, is it. It's 347 00:16:19.399 --> 00:16:22.000 not like one meteor exactly every thirty six seconds, like 348 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:22.600 a metronome. 349 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:25.120 No. No, it is highly sporadic. The debris stream is 350 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:28.440 not uniformly distributed. It is thicker patches and thinner patches. 351 00:16:28.519 --> 00:16:31.159 So you could go minutes without seeing anything easily. 352 00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:34.559 You might spend ten minutes staring at the constellation Perseus, 353 00:16:34.759 --> 00:16:37.399 which is the radiant point, the area of the sky 354 00:16:37.480 --> 00:16:41.399 where the meteors appear to originate, and see absolutely nothing. 355 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:43.279 That would be so frustrating. 356 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:47.200 It tests your patients, for sure. But then in the 357 00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:49.879 span of thirty seconds you might see four or five 358 00:16:49.960 --> 00:16:54.159 brilliant streaks all at once. It requires immense patients. 359 00:16:54.200 --> 00:16:56.919 It's like waiting for popcorn to pop. Nothing for a 360 00:16:57.000 --> 00:16:58.879 while and suddenly the sky goes crazy. 361 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:00.320 That is a great an hourgy. 362 00:17:00.360 --> 00:17:04.039 Actually, yes, and the physics behind those streaks is fascinating 363 00:17:04.039 --> 00:17:06.039 to me. We always hear the phrase burning up in 364 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:09.200 the atmosphere, which makes it sound like it's caused by friction, 365 00:17:09.400 --> 00:17:10.640 like rubbing your hands together. 366 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:12.240 Right, that's the common misconception. 367 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:14.279 But it's actually ram pressure, isn't it. 368 00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:16.839 Yes, ram pressure is the precise mechanism. 369 00:17:16.920 --> 00:17:19.319 Okay, break that down for us. What is ram pressure? 370 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:22.359 Okay, So these particles, many of which are no larger 371 00:17:22.359 --> 00:17:24.640 than a grain of sand or a small pebble, are 372 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:28.480 hitting the Earth's upper atmosphere at roughly thirty seven miles 373 00:17:28.519 --> 00:17:29.039 per second. 374 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:33.599 Thirty seven miles per second, that is incomprehensible. 375 00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:36.400 Speed, it really is. At that speed, the particle cannot 376 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:38.960 push the air molecules out of its way fast enough. 377 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:41.720 It's like hitting a brick wall of air exactly. 378 00:17:42.119 --> 00:17:44.720 It violently compresses the air directly in front of it. 379 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:49.799 That immense compression superheats the gas to thousands of degrees, 380 00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:54.000 which in turn vaporizes the meteoroid. Wow, So what you 381 00:17:54.039 --> 00:17:57.960 are seeing from the ground. That bright glowing streak is 382 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:02.319 not the tiny rock itself, but the massive superheated tube 383 00:18:02.359 --> 00:18:05.480 of glowing atmospheric gas left in its wake. 384 00:18:05.480 --> 00:18:07.880 A grain of sand hitting the atmosphere so hard that 385 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:11.240 it creates a streak of incandescent gas visible for hundreds 386 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:11.839 of miles. 387 00:18:11.880 --> 00:18:13.920 It's incredible when you think about it, it really is. 388 00:18:14.359 --> 00:18:17.359 And the proceeds are famous for leaving long, lingering trains 389 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:18.160 of light behind them. 390 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:19.960 Right. Yes, the fireballs. 391 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:23.240 Sometimes they even have distinct colors depending on their chemical composition, 392 00:18:23.319 --> 00:18:25.480 like green for magnesium or yellow for iron. 393 00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:27.160 Exactly, it's a chemical light show. 394 00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:29.240 So if someone is listening to this and they are 395 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:32.839 planning to watch this, when is the optimal window? Because 396 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:36.519 earlier you mentioned the earth plowing into this debris, and 397 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:39.720 i'd imagine the timing of that matters immensely for the viewer. 398 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:43.440 It matters hugely. The shower peaks overnight, carrying into the 399 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:48.119 pre nawn hours. Globally, the best viewing is expected between 400 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:49.079 midnight and dawn. 401 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:52.160