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Speaker 1: If you thought you had a pretty solid grasp on physics,

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or orbital mechanics, or even just the basic timeline of

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the universe, I'm afraid twenty twenty five probably made you

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rethink well, pretty much everything.

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Speaker 2: Oh absolutely. It was a year where all these things

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that were just theoretical possibilities suddenly became observational realities, right,

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And you had objects that really should have obeyed the

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rules of gravity, the speed limits we thought existed, and

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they just sort of shrug them off. The cosmos for

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twelve straight months felt like it was playing tricks on us.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Thrilling Threads. Yeah, the show where we take

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that fire hose of information you send away and in

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this case, it's a really fascinating compilation from a y

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On podcast and we distill it down to the most potent,

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most thrilling nuggets of knowledge. Our mission today is I

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guess you could say simple, but the content is, well,

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it's anything, but we're going to dive into this stack

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of sources detailing twenty twenty five's most bizarre cosmic observations.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and these findings they cover everything we're talking about,

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objects that we're hiding in plain sight for decades and

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phenomena that you know, they only existed in these incredibly

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complex physics papers for half a century. So the goal

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here is to really get a handle on these aha moments,

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not just by listing what was found, but by dissepting

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why it fundamentally matters to cosmology. We're going to go

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from our own cosmic backyard all the way out to

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the scaffolding of the early universe.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so let's start right here at home, because apparently

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we have a neighbor who's been quietly living next door

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for sixty years and we've only just now decided to

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knock on the door.

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Speaker 2: That is probably the most humbling way you could put it.

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Speaker 1: Yes, right.

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Speaker 2: The discovery of the quasi Moon, which is officially designated

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twenty twenty five p. Seven, was an absolute shocker. It

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was found on August second, twenty twenty five, by the

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Pants Stars Observatory in Hawaii, and the surprise wasn't just

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its size or anything like that, but the realization after

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they went back through old data that it has been

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performing this intricate synchronized dance with Earth for nearly sixty years.

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Speaker 1: Sixty years. Yeah, that's a very long time. For a

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relatively big object to just go completely undetected, especially with

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how much we monitor near Earth objects now, So, if

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this thing is orbiting with us, why didn't we see it.

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It's not like it was hiding behind the Sun the

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whole time, was it?

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Speaker 2: And that gets right to the heart of why a

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quasei moon's orbit is so tricky. A quasi satellite or

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a quasi moon isn't gravitationally bound to Earth like our

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actual moon is. Okay, Instead, it's orbiting the Sun, but

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its orbital period is synchronized almost perfectly with Earth's. Because

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of that, it just appears to hover around us, usually

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near what we call the lagrange points.

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Speaker 1: Can you give us a quick breakdown of what a

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lagrange point is or anyone who might not have heard

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that term before.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely so. In any two body system like the Earth

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and the Sun, there are five specific points in space

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where all the gravitational forces and the centrifugal forces just

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balance out. Okay, those are the lagrange points L one

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through L five. Now L one, L two, and L

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five three are unstable. Think of like trying to balance

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a pencil on its tip.

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Speaker 1: Right, It's not going to stay there long.

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Speaker 2: Exactly, but L four and L five are famously stable.

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If you put something there, it tends to stick around.

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Twenty twenty five P seven is doing this very large,

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very wide horseshoe orbit that kind of wraps around these points,

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making it look like it's trailing us.

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Speaker 1: So it's using the stability of the whole system, not

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a direct gravitational leash from Earth, to stay with us.

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That explains why it's so camouflaged. If it's always sort

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of offset and doesn't cross our orbit in a way

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that really stands out against you know, the backdrop of

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deep space, I can see how you'd miss it.

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Speaker 2: That's precisely it. Its path is stable, but it's subtle.

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So when the astronomers went back and scammed through the

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old data, they found pictures of twenty twenty five PM

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seven going all the way back to twenty fourteen WOW,

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which confirmed that its presence wasn't some kind of mistake

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or recent capture, and the orbital mechanics prove this is

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long term. The investigation showed it had been in this

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orbital resintor way longer than twenty fourteen, and they project

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it's going to remain our cosmic hitchhiker for another sixty years.

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Speaker 1: So a total of one hundred and twenty years. That

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is exceptional for what we normally called the transient object.

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It really is that immediately makes me think about future

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space missions, okay, or even planetary defense. If we have

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stable neighbors that are this hard to spot, what else

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is out there? I mean, could we leverage these for

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deep space missions? Or on the flip side, what happens

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if one of these stable orbits, you know, destabilizes, Well, it.

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Speaker 2: Forces us to reassess how rigorously we're searching the areas

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around Earth's L four and L five points, the so

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called trojans, which are these zones we've always associated with

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much smaller asteroids. The fact that twenty twenty five P

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seven's orbit is set to last another six decades suggests

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a really high degree of orbital efficiency and understanding the

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exact mechanics that keep it so stable. Could you know,

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inform mission planners who are looking for long term parking

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spots in space.

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Speaker 1: Or it could tell us about what's collected there, right.

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Speaker 2: It could give us valuable insights into the density and

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composition of matter near those points. This quasi moon isn't

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just a curiosity. It's a full on test bed for

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orbital dynamics happening right on our doorstep.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So, speaking of things that should have broken apart

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but didn't, let's talk about this near Earth asteroid, the

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one that'spins so fast that basically defies its own gravity.

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This one really brings up a major point about structural limits.

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We thought we had a decent idea of what these

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asteroids are made of, and well apparently we were wrong

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about some of them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this is one of those classic cases where you know,

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reality just smacks the models right in the face. This

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near Earth asteroid, it's just referred to as twenty twenty

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five in the source material was found on July fourth,

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and then they observed it more closely in August twenty

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twenty five. It's pretty small, only about two hundred feet wide,

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and importantly, it has a very irregular shape, and.

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Speaker 1: Two hundred feet is small enough that its own gravity

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is incredibly weak. So in most scenarios, if you spin

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an object that size really fast, this centrifugal force should

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just overwhelm gravity and poof.

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Speaker 2: That's the scientist consensus. We basically had to throw out

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the window at this one. This asteroid was seen completing

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one full rotation every one point five.

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Speaker 1: To three minutes one and a half minute.

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Speaker 2: Yes, that rate is frankly bewildering to planetary scientists. For

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objects this size, speeds even approaching that usually mean catastrophic fragmentation.

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Its rotation speed puts it among the fastest spinning near

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Earth asteroids we have ever detected, and it is somehow

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surviving that immense rotational stress.

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Speaker 1: So we think about most of these small asteroids. The

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classic model is the rubble pile, right, just a loose

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collection of rocks and dust held together by their own

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weak gravity. Spinning a rubble pile that fast would be

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guaranteed destruction. So what does this thing have to be

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made of to survive that?

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Speaker 2: It completely changes the conversation from being about gravity to

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being about material strength. Its survival at that speed proves

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that twenty twenty five cannot be a loosely bound rubble pile.

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It has to be a single, solid, monolithic object. It

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has to have significant internal tensile strength, so.

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Speaker 1: It's basically one solid piece of rock.

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Speaker 2: We're talking about materials that are tough enough to withstand

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rotational forces. That would be like subjecting an astronaut to

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crushing g forces, but apply to cross a two hundred

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foot body.

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Speaker 1: That's fascinating because it means our models for say, impact mitigation,

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might need a serious update. If we assume all these small,

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weirdly shaped asteroids or soft targets, these rubble piles we

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can just nudge or break apart easily, we could be

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in for a rude awakening if the next big thread

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is one of these incredibly dense monolithic rotators exactly.

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Speaker 2: It forces us to diversify our thinking. A monolithic structure

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is incredibly rigid, Trying to disrupt it might require a

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completely different amount of energy than breaking up a rubble pile.

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It suggests that while the rubble pile concept is probably common,

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the universe also cooks up these incredibly tough, resilient cosmic bullets.

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This asteroid challenges the idea that size directly correlates with

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internal weakness. Even at just two hundred feet, this thing

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has structural integrity of something much much larger.

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Speaker 1: So we've covered our surprisingly well hidden and surprisingly tough neighbors.

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Now let's pull the camera back a bit and look

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at objects coming from truly outside our solar system or

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ones that survived trials that absolutely should have been lethal.

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Speaker 2: Right, and the arrival of three Atlas in twenty twenty

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five was a huge event, mainly because interstellar visitors are

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still incredibly rare. This comment was spotted just zooming through

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our solar system in July, and crucially, astronomers confirmed it

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was on a hyperbolic trajectory.

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Speaker 1: And that hyperbolic trajectory that's the smoking gun, isn't it.

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It means its path is so energetic, so fast relative

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to the Sun, that it's never going to get captured

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into an orbit. It came from outside, it.

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Speaker 2: Is the definitive proof. Yes, it means it came from

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some other corner of the Milky Way, passed through our neighborhood,

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and is now heading right back out into the galaxy's vastness,

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which means we only get this fleeting moment to observe it.

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But the data we managed to collect in that short

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time was staggering, especially when it came to its age.

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Speaker 1: Scaggering is an understatement. I mean the age estimate alone

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puts this object in a category we've what never really

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had physical access to before.

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Speaker 2: Scientists estimated three Atlas to be somewhere between seven and

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fourteen billion years old billion with a B yes, and

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our own solar system is only about four point six

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billion years old, which means this material was born before

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our Sun even existed. It's not just old, it's primordial.

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It's a physical link to the very earliest processes of

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the Milky Way.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so if this object is, let's say ten billion

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years old, it must have formed from those original massive

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clouds of hydrogen and helium that define the early galaxy.

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What is the composition of an object that predates our sun?

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Tell us about that that galactic nursery.

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Speaker 2: It gives us insights into something called metallicity, which in

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astronomy just means elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. Early

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galactic material is expected to be very low in metals

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because those heavy elements hadn't been forged yet by generations.

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Speaker 1: Of supernov So it's like a pure sample.

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Speaker 2: It's like finding a pristine artifact. Studying the composition of

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three atlasts, especially the ice and dust it sheds as

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it gets closer to the Sun, gives us a physical

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sample of that presolar low metallicity environment. It shows how

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matter has been continuously repurposed over unimaginable time scales and distances.

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Speaker 1: And its behavior was just as bizarre. Right. It was

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moving at an insane clip two hundred thousand kilometers per

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hour and displaying some really strange features.

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Speaker 2: The speed alone is impressive, but the observation of a

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clear anti tail alongside some unusual emissions was really complex. Now,

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anti tails can sometimes be a trick of perspective, where

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denser dust gets left behind in the comet's orbit and

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seems to point towards the Sun. Right, But a clear

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anti tail suggests a more complex interplay of outgassing and rotation.

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Maybe non uniform material is being ejected, or it's interacting

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with local magnetic fields. And because we've only ever definitively

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observed three of these interstellar objects, every little anomaly in

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a three atlass's behavior becomes a major data point for

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the future.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So from the ancient traveler, let's turn to a

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more local drama. A comet that simply refused to die.

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I'm talking about comet see twenty twenty five K one atlas.

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When this thing approached the Sun, all the models were predicting, well, vaporization,

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What was the specific danger it was facing.

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Speaker 2: It was discovered back in May twenty twenty five, and

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its fate was highly anticipated because of just how tight

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its orbit was. It reached perihelion, its closest approach to

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the Sun, on October eighth, and it came within fifty

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million kilometers of the Sun. To put that in perspective

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for you, the planet Mercury orbits that around fifty eight

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million kilometers. This comet was plunging inside Mercury's.

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Speaker 1: Orbit fifty million kilometers. That is incredibly close. At that range,

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you have the combined effects of the intense solar heating,

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which would just boil off all those volatile ices, and

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the gravitational sheer force from the Sun. That combination should

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have been enough to tear any loosely bound comet to shreds.

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Speaker 2: That was absolutely the expectation, and yet, in this spectacular

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defiance of all predictions, it not only survived that initial onslaught,

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but it emerged looking completely different. The sources described it

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transforming into a spectacular golden ruben and exhibiting a red

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brown golden color rarely seen in comets.

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Speaker 1: The color shift is what I find most intriguing, most

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commets we see are white or maybe blue or green

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because of sunlight reflecting off gases like carbon and cyanide.

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What kind of chemical composition would be left behind that

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would cause that rare golden color.

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Speaker 2: That is the million dollar question. The survival and the

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color change strongly suggests that this comet had a highly

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resilient refractory core, something made of heat resistant silicate materials

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or maybe even metallic compounds.

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Speaker 1: So all the icy stuff boiled off, and this is

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what was left underneath.

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Speaker 2: Exactly The golden hue likely came from these tougher materials

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being literally baked by the extreme solar heat. The icy

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layers were vaporized, stripping away the voltal compounds and leaving

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behind this denser, perhaps mineral rich core that reflected the

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sunlight with that red brown golden color. It showed this

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commet had a much higher internal density or toughness than

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astronomer's first thought.

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Speaker 1: It survived the solar inferno, But the sources say that

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this survival wall was ironically pretty short lived. It broke

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up shortly after its close pass. What does that tell

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us about the long term impact of that kind of

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extreme thermal stress.

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Speaker 2: It really speaks to the concept of delayed structural failure.

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The initial close pass didn't immediately disintegrate it, but the

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intense uneven heating likely caused thermal shock. It probably created

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deep fissures and weaknesses within that newly exposed core.

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Speaker 1: Ah, so the damage was already done right.

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Speaker 2: Once it moved far enough away from the sun for

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that thermal stress to ease up a bit, the weakened

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structure just couldn't hold together anymore. It succumbed to its

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own internal stresses and broke up into several large pieces.

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We know at least three parts remained visible, which allowed

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for even more study of its golden remnants. It's a

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powerful lesson. Just because you survived the main event doesn't

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mean the stress didn't fundamentally and fatally alter you.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Moving from cosmic structural resilience to the fundamental laws

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of gravity, twenty twenty five delivered two absolutely monumental confirmations

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about black holes. The first one validates a theory that

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was nearly fifty years old, linking black holes two of

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all things, the laws of thermodynamics.

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Speaker 2: This was a landmark event. In January of twenty twenty five.

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Scientists use the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory LIGO to

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detect the gravitational waves that were generated when two black

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holes merging coalesced into a single gigantic object. Now LIGO

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has seen hundreds of these mergers, but this particular signal

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provided the hard numerical proof for Stephen Hawking's area theorem.

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Speaker 1: Let's get to the core of that theorem. Hawking proposed

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this back in the early nineteen seventies, and he theorized

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that the surface area of a black hole's event horizon

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can only ever increase after an event like a merger.

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They can never decrease. It's basically the black hole equivalent

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of the second law of thermodynamics, right, the one that

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says the total entropy or disorder of a system has

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to always increase over time.

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Speaker 2: That's exactly it. The surface area of the event horizon

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is directly proportional to its entropy, so if the area decreased,

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you'd be losing cosmic information, which challenges some really fundamental physics.

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This specific merger allowed for an unprecedented direct quantification of

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that change.

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Speaker 1: So what were the specific numbers? What did LEGO measure

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that actually confirm this This is where the theory hits

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the road with hard data.

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Speaker 2: The data was definitive before the collision. The combined surface

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area of the two individual black holes was calculated a

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two hundred and forty three thousand square kilometers.

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Speaker 1: Okay, two hundred and forty three thousand.

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Speaker 2: After the merger, the new resultant black hole had a

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surface area of four hundred thousand square kilometers.

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Speaker 1: So we went from two hundred forty three thousand to

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four hundred thousand. That is a substantial measurable increase. The

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new black hole didn't just inherit the mass, It actually

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increased the total system's entropy. To take a purely theoretical

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idea about entropy and gravitational boundaries, and then to actually

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measure it with an observatory like Lego, that must been

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a moment of just collective awe in the physics community.

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Speaker 2: It provided the first solid, robust observational evidence for the

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area theorem. It's a massive validation not just for Hawking's work,

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but for the entire framework of black hole thermodynamics. This

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confirmation really reinforces the idea that black holes are governed

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by laws that mirror classical thermodynamics. Cementing the role of

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entropy as this fundamental concept across all scales of the universe.

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The question shifts from is this true to okay, how

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else does this law manifest?

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Speaker 1: That was a confirmation of decades old physics. So now

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let's pivot to a discovery that actively challenges our current

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understanding of cosmic history, the so called impossible black hole

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that grew way too fast, way too soon.

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Speaker 2: This discovery, which centered on a super massive black hole

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in SMBH at the heart of a very distant galaxy

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named Caper's LRDZ nine, represents a critical challenge to our

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models of the early universe. The problem is simple that

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timing just doesn't add up.

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Speaker 1: So let's define that age problem again. How early are

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we talking? When did this thing show up?

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Speaker 2: Based on some very sophisticated cosmological redshift data, astronomers determined

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that this SMBH must have formed only five hundred million

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years after the Big Bang?

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Speaker 1: Only five hundred million.

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Speaker 2: Yes, this place is it firmly in the cosmic dawn

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an eerrow, when the universe was barely past its infancy.

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The first stars were just beginning to shine and come together.

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Speaker 1: And what was the scale of this, this infant black hole.

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Speaker 2: It's estimated to weigh up to three hundred million times

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the mass of our Sun, and that is the central paradox.

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How do you get to three hundred million solar masses

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in just five hundred million years? The standard model of

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black hole growth, which relies on a creting gas, suggests

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that rate of growth is basically impossible.

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Speaker 1: Why is that growth rate considered impossible under standard physics?

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What's the limiting factor?

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Speaker 2: The key constraint is something called the Eddington limit. When

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a black hole is feeding, the immense energy that's released

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by the infalling matter in the form of radiation creates

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an outward pressure. The Eddington limit defines the maximum rate

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an object can accrete matter before that outward radiation pressure

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literally blows away the surrounding gas, which essentially starves the

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black hole.

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Speaker 1: So it's a natural shut off al it is.

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Speaker 2: And to reach three hundred million solar masses in only

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five hundred million years, this object would have had to

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consistently feed at or even near its Eddington limit for

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its entire existence. According to our simulations, that's highly highly improbable.

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Speaker 1: So if the conventional mechanism of this slow constrained feeding

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can't explain it. What was the radical alternative the study

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author's reposed.

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Speaker 2: Their conclusion was stark early black holes grew much faster

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than we thought possible. This suggests a couple of alternative

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mechanisms must have been at play. First, maybe the initial

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seeds of these supermassive black holes were much larger than

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we assume. They didn't start as small stellar mass black

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holes of say ten solar masses. Maybe they collapsed directly

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from colossal pristine gas clouds, creating what are called direct

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collapse black holes that could start out at hundreds of

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thousands of solar masses.

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Speaker 1: It completely changes the starting line of the race.

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Speaker 2: It does. The second alternative is that the conditions in

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the very early universe, maybe an unusually dense supply of

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gas with low metallicity that could cool very efficiently, allowed

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the object to somehow get around or even briefly exceed

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the Eddington limit, allowing for what we call supercritical accretion.

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Either way, this discovery forces a fundamental rewrite of the

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timeline for cosmic structure formation and the initial conditions needed

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to build the most massive objects in the universe. It

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basically proves our early universe models, while elegant, were just

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too slow.

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Speaker 1: We've challenged local mechanics, we've confirmed gravitational laws, and we've

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rewritten early cosmology. So now let's go to the truly colossal,

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jaw dropping scale. We're talking about the massive scaffolding that

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holds the universe together and the boundary breaking discoveries we

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made at the very edges of existence.

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Speaker 2: This next discovery is about order on a scale that

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is almost unimagined. Scientists detected a massive dark matter filament.

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They called it a cosmic thread that stretches for fifty

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million light years, And the revelation wasn't just the size,

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it was the observation that this entire filament is spinning.

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It is arguably the largest single spinning object ever found

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in the universe.

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Speaker 1: Fifty million light years. That's a distance that almost defies

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human comprehension when we talk about rotation on that scale.

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Is it just sort of a general messy movement or

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is this highly organized and coordinated.

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Speaker 2: It's incredibly coherent. This filament is located about one hundred

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and forty million light years away, and it contains this

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dense collection of matter roughly three hundred galaxies in total,

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and the key finding is twofold. First, the large scale

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filament structure itself is rotating. Second, the individual galaxies that

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are embedded within the filament are also rotating in the

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same direction.

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Speaker 1: That coordinated movement is so critical it suggests this isn't

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just a random cluster of galaxies bumping into each other.

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It's a single massive dynamicsist. It's not just a collection

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of threads, it's a spinning rope.

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Speaker 2: And this really highlights the dominant role of dark matter.

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These filaments are thought to be the vast skeletal structure

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of the universe, made up mostly of dark matter, with

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normal matter the visible galaxies just kind of clinging to

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this invisible scaffolding. The fact that the rotation is coordinated

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across fifty million light years strongly suggests that the dark

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matter is the gravitational engine that's forcing this coherence. It's

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the silent majority dictating the dynamics of the visible universe,

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guiding the motion of hundreds of galaxies all at once.

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Speaker 1: To help visualize that scale, the sources mention a specific

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substructure within it, a row of fourteen galaxies spanning five

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point five million light years long in about one hundred

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and seventeen thousand light years wide, all inside this larger

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spinning filament. That level of organized structure on a universal scale,

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it just fundamentally challenges the idea that the largest structures

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are chaotic.

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Speaker 2: It forces cosmologists to refine their simulations of how structure forms.

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A lot of early models of the cosmic ward predicted

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these filaments would be relatively static or maybe chaotic, but

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observing such a colossal, dynamically organized, rotating structure indicates that

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rotational energy plays a far more significant role in the

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assembly of large scale cosmic architecture than we previously modeled.

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The universe, even at its largest scales, has these balletic, choreographed.

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Speaker 1: Movements from that spinning structure. Let's look at something that

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represents the destructive yet also evolutionary side of galactic interactions.

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A million light year long bridge of stellar destruction. This

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involves the galaxy cluster Able three sixty sixty.

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Speaker 2: Seven right Able three six sixty seven is about seven

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hundred million light years from Earth. In twenty twenty five,

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scientists spotted this faint glow forming a vast bridge between

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two of the major galaxies in that cluster. This glow

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is the observational proof of what we call galactic cannibalism.

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Speaker 1: And what exactly is making that glow? Are we looking

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at gas or dust or something else.

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Speaker 2: We're seeing stars stray stars. Specifically, the glow comes from

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stars that are being gravitationally ripped toa or tidally stripped

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from their home galaxy by the intense competing gravity of

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a neighboring galaxy in the cluster. And this bridge of

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stellar debris spans an incredible one million light years, so.

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Speaker 1: We're literally observing a cosmic mugging in progress, where one

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massive object is actively pulling the contents right out of another.

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But if this process is ongoing, what does the bridge

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itself tell us about the clusters past the bridge?

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Speaker 2: Is fossil evidence These title tales and stellar bridges, they

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don't last forever. They disperse over hundreds of millions of years.

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So research is determined that the existence and the specific

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shape of this million light year structure mean that a

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ball three six x sixty seven wasn't formed all at once.

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It's the result of a merger between two smaller distinct

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galaxy clusters that happened about a billion years ago. The

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stellar bridge is the leftover evidence of that violent billion

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year old cosmic collision that.

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Speaker 1: Is just profound. It's like finding a massive impact crater

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on Earth and being able to definitively date the collision

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that caused it. This observation gives astronomers a verifiable mechanism

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for how these large galaxy clusters evolve through these violent,

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messy mergers that leave behind these stunning trails of stars.

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Speaker 2: Now we can transition from the largest structures to some

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of the rarest satellites. We've identified nearly six thousand exoplanets,

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but the search for an eximoon a moon orbiting a

477
00:24:21,839 --> 00:24:25,839
planet outside our Solar system has been incredibly elusive until

478
00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:28,640
twenty twenty five. That is when a group of scientists

479
00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:30,920
propose the first really strong candidate.

480
00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:35,079
Speaker 1: Why are exomoons so incredibly difficult to confirm? They both

481
00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:36,960
have to be just massive for us to even have

482
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:38,000
a chance of seeing them.

483
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:40,920
Speaker 2: They are inherently difficult because their signal is, well, it's

484
00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:44,160
a secondary signal. When we're observing a distant system, we're

485
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:46,519
looking for these tiny changes in the light from a transit,

486
00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:50,359
or these slight gravitational tugs. An ximoon's effect is minuscule

487
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:53,039
compared to its massive host planet and both their light

488
00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:56,119
years away. Any signal is usually just buried in the

489
00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:57,799
noise from the primary planet's orbit.

490
00:24:58,039 --> 00:25:01,160
Speaker 1: So tell us about this candidate system the masses involves

491
00:25:01,279 --> 00:25:02,839
sound absolutely staggering.

492
00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:07,160
Speaker 2: This potential exomoon orbits a massive Jupiter like exoplanet called

493
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:10,720
HD two over a six' eight nine THREE, b which

494
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:12,559
is about one hundred and thirty three light years From.

495
00:25:12,559 --> 00:25:16,039
Earth and to emphasize the scale, here the exoplanet itself

496
00:25:16,079 --> 00:25:17,319
has the mass of twenty eight.

497
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:19,880
Speaker 1: Jupiters twenty, eight so it's a super giant.

498
00:25:19,599 --> 00:25:22,559
Speaker 2: Planet it, Is and the potential exouin candidate is arounder

499
00:25:22,599 --> 00:25:23,799
point Four jupiter.

500
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:26,839
Speaker 1: Masses so a moon that's almost half the mass of Our.

501
00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:29,079
Jupiter that's barely a moon that's almost the second planet

502
00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:31,559
orbiting the first. ONE i guess that underscores why this

503
00:25:31,599 --> 00:25:34,000
specific candidate is even, detective but so massive it gives

504
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:36,240
off a, distinct though still very faint.

505
00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,000
Speaker 2: Signal it's the sheer scale that gives us a fighting

506
00:25:39,079 --> 00:25:42,400
chance for. Confirmation if this finding holds, up it would

507
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:45,279
be the first confirmed, exomoon and it would open up

508
00:25:45,279 --> 00:25:48,880
an entirely new field of. Study, however the sources were

509
00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:52,960
very careful to include the necessary critical. Caveat the findings

510
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:57,119
still need to be confirmed through further, observation probably through

511
00:25:57,160 --> 00:26:01,519
gravitational modeling or seeing repeat. Transits the stakes are huge

512
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:04,880
because a confirmation would prove that the same satellite formation

513
00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:08,960
processes we see Here moon's orbiting planets are common across the.

514
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:11,960
Speaker 1: Galaxy and, finally we wrap up with an observation that

515
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:14,960
captures the very beginning of the, end the first moments

516
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,920
of a star's violent. Death getting that kind of snapshot

517
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:19,920
has to be a matter of pure luck and perfect.

518
00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:23,519
Speaker 2: Timing it is truly like hitting the cosmic. Lottery scientists

519
00:26:23,599 --> 00:26:27,039
at The European Southern observatory THE, eso captured what they're

520
00:26:27,079 --> 00:26:29,240
calling the first moments of a dying star for the

521
00:26:29,319 --> 00:26:32,119
very first. Time, now the actual observation was made in

522
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:35,000
twenty twenty, four but the key analysis and the findings

523
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:37,839
were officially released in twenty twenty, five which cemented it

524
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:39,240
as one of the year's most important.

525
00:26:39,279 --> 00:26:42,880
Speaker 1: Revelations why is capturing that very initial stage of a

526
00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:46,359
supernova so? Difficult we see the aftermath all the.

527
00:26:46,319 --> 00:26:49,200
Speaker 2: Time because the core collapse and the rebound that triggers

528
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:53,319
the supernova is instantaneous on a cosmic. Scale when the core,

529
00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:56,759
collapses a shockwave races to the, surface and the resulting

530
00:26:56,839 --> 00:27:00,880
light explosion expands so rapidly that it just overwhelms any

531
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:04,119
visual detail of the star's initial. Structure to catch the

532
00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:07,480
earliest ephemeral stage means catching the star right as its,

533
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:11,160
surfaces meeting that violent, end but before the explosion is fully, luminous.

534
00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:13,440
Speaker 1: And that ephemeral stage it gives us information about the

535
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:15,920
mechanics of the explosion that we'd miss if we only

536
00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:17,559
see the light curve after the fact.

537
00:27:17,839 --> 00:27:22,079
Speaker 2: Exactly this observation gave astronomers a critical real time peek

538
00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:25,319
into the immediate geometry of the. Explosion it shows us

539
00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:28,519
how the star is tearing itself. Apart is the explosion perfectly,

540
00:27:28,559 --> 00:27:32,359
symmetrical or is the shockwave propagating unevenly because of internal

541
00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:36,680
rotation or magnetic. Fields the specific shape and expansion dynamics

542
00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,759
they captured in those first moments are vital for validating

543
00:27:39,759 --> 00:27:43,359
our theoretical models of how massive stars, die particularly the

544
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:47,079
models involving core collapse. Mechanisms it helps us understand the

545
00:27:47,079 --> 00:27:50,319
transition from a stable star to a catastrophic runaway.

546
00:27:50,319 --> 00:27:53,359
Speaker 1: Event so if we synthesize everything we've, covered it feels

547
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:56,279
like twenty twenty five was the year of defying. Expectations

548
00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,720
it was the year of impossible, survival where commet baked

549
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:02,960
gold near The sun proved far more resilient than its icy.

550
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:05,799
Cousins it was the year of impossible speed seen in

551
00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:09,200
asteroid spinning without just fragmenting in black, holes growing three

552
00:28:09,279 --> 00:28:11,279
hundred million times the mass of The sun in just

553
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:12,480
five hundred million.

554
00:28:12,559 --> 00:28:15,759
Speaker 2: Years and, crucially twenty twenty five was the year where

555
00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:19,680
theories that were half a century, old Like hawking's area,

556
00:28:19,759 --> 00:28:24,279
theorem were finally confirmed with tangible physical evidence captured by

557
00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:28,720
instruments Like. Lego these, discoveries from a local quasi moon

558
00:28:28,799 --> 00:28:32,920
trailing us for sixty years to massive cosmic filaments spinning

559
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:36,799
across fifty million light, years they fundamentally challenged the boundaries

560
00:28:36,839 --> 00:28:37,359
we thought we.

561
00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:40,319
Speaker 1: Understood it feels like we are constantly finding that the

562
00:28:40,319 --> 00:28:43,519
theoretical impossibilities we might have written off or simply objects

563
00:28:43,559 --> 00:28:46,720
we hadn't been clever enough or lucky enough to. Find

564
00:28:46,799 --> 00:28:49,519
yet it means the universe is far more inventive than

565
00:28:49,559 --> 00:28:51,240
our mathematical models sometimes.

566
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:54,119
Speaker 2: Allowed, for and it raises an important and continuous question

567
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:57,279
for critical thinking in. Science if twenty twenty five showed

568
00:28:57,319 --> 00:28:59,400
us that things we thought were restricted by speed limits

569
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,119
or stability, requirements we're just hiding in plain sight or

570
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:05,599
growing faster than we ever. Anticipated what known cosmic theory

571
00:29:05,599 --> 00:29:07,160
do you think is next in line to be either

572
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:09,720
validated or completely upended by a bizarre?

573
00:29:09,759 --> 00:29:13,720
Speaker 1: Discovery, yeah will The James Web Space telescope find evidence

574
00:29:13,799 --> 00:29:17,039
of life on an exoplanet we previously ruled out because

575
00:29:17,039 --> 00:29:21,519
OF i don't, know gravitational, Instability or will gravity waves

576
00:29:21,559 --> 00:29:25,200
reveal something completely new about the nature of dark, energy

577
00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:28,279
which is still the most mysterious substance in the. Cosmos

578
00:29:28,319 --> 00:29:28,839
we want you.

579
00:29:28,799 --> 00:29:31,920
Speaker 2: To really consider the weight of these. Findings if speed

580
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,680
limits and structural resilience are constantly being tested by, observation

581
00:29:36,359 --> 00:29:39,200
what long held assumption about the universe do you believe

582
00:29:39,279 --> 00:29:40,200
is about to be proven?

583
00:29:40,279 --> 00:29:43,880
Speaker 1: Wrong share your ponderables with. Us thank you for joining

584
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:47,799
us on this deep exploration of twenty twenty five's strangest cosmic.

585
00:29:47,839 --> 00:29:50,400
Speaker 2: Observations we hope this was a thrilling look into the

586
00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:52,119
threads of the cosmos that keep us all.

587
00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:54,640
Speaker 1: Captivated we'll see you next time On Thrilling. Threads