WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.399 --> 00:00:07.719 Welcome to Bedtime Astronomy. Explore the wonders of the cosmos 2 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:12.279 with our soothing Bedtime Astronomie podcast. Each episode offers a 3 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:16.320 gentle journey through the stars, planets, and beyond, perfect for 4 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:20.239 unwinding after a long day. Let's travel through the mysteries 5 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.440 of the universe as you drift off into a peaceful 6 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:23.800 slumber under the night sky. 7 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:31.480 Picture and objects out in the freezing absolute void of space. 8 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:37.320 A massive, jagged, imposing chunk of material roughly the length 9 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:40.600 of eight American football fields, just laid end to end. 10 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:41.320 It's massive. 11 00:00:41.479 --> 00:00:45.200 Yeah, it is a literal mountain, drifting hundreds of millions 12 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:46.280 of miles away in the dark. 13 00:00:46.520 --> 00:00:49.439 And you know, normally, when we model the dynamics of 14 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:53.159 these celestial bodies, we envision them moving with this slow, 15 00:00:53.399 --> 00:00:54.640 ponderous grace, like a. 16 00:00:54.600 --> 00:00:57.159 Lazy tumble through the vacuum, exactly. 17 00:00:56.719 --> 00:00:58.399 A slow geologic tumble. 18 00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:02.399 But not this one, No, not even close. This absolute 19 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:06.280 behemoth is spinning so violently fast, completing a full three 20 00:01:06.359 --> 00:01:09.519 hundred and sixty degree rotation every one point eight eight minute. 21 00:01:09.319 --> 00:01:11.519 Which is just wild to even think about. 22 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:16.519 It completely shatters the fundamental mathematical models of astrophysical structural integrity. 23 00:01:16.599 --> 00:01:18.439 It really does. I mean, we were talking about angular 24 00:01:18.519 --> 00:01:21.359 momentum on a scale that turns a sub kilometer rock 25 00:01:21.799 --> 00:01:24.079 into well the equivalent of a blender blade the size 26 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:25.560 of the skyscraper. 27 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:27.920 Right, and by the classical rules of gravitational binding energy, 28 00:01:27.959 --> 00:01:28.959 it just shouldn't exist. 29 00:01:29.400 --> 00:01:33.200 No, it shouldn't. The sheer centrifical forces that its equator 30 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:36.879 should have overcome its internal gravity and ripped it apart 31 00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:40.599 into a massive, expanding cloud of space dust eons ago. 32 00:01:40.920 --> 00:01:41.760 But it's there. 33 00:01:42.359 --> 00:01:45.719 Yeah, The structural physics at play are completely unforgiving. 34 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:46.159 Huh. 35 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:48.599 When you look at the classical models of how we 36 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:52.400 understand bodies in the main asteroid belt, the math simply 37 00:01:52.439 --> 00:01:56.239 does not support an object of that mass surviving that 38 00:01:56.359 --> 00:01:58.760 kind of rotational stress. 39 00:01:58.519 --> 00:02:00.000 And yet the data is unequivaled. 40 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:04.400 It's out there, it's defying the classical limits of centrifugal force. 41 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:07.719 And its mere existence is forcing the astronomical community to 42 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:12.159 completely reconstruct the physical parameters of what is actually drifting 43 00:02:12.199 --> 00:02:15.560 around out there in our immediate cosmic neighborhood. Exactly so, 44 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:18.560 the mechanics of how a structure like that stays intact 45 00:02:18.680 --> 00:02:21.960 under such extreme torsion is exactly what we're getting into 46 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:22.759 today for you. 47 00:02:22.840 --> 00:02:23.960 A huge paradigm shift. 48 00:02:24.039 --> 00:02:27.400 Oh absolutely, We're looking at the breath taking and honestly 49 00:02:27.479 --> 00:02:31.520 structurally baffling early data emerging from the engineering and commissioning 50 00:02:31.560 --> 00:02:34.560 phases of the vers Reuben Observatory. 51 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:36.199 Right, which was just published in really twenty twenty six. 52 00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:38.919 And what we are really examining here is how the 53 00:02:39.080 --> 00:02:44.319 absolute bleeding edge of photometric engineering, specifically this massive three 54 00:02:44.360 --> 00:02:49.319 point two gigapixel LSST camera is fundamentally rewriting the textbooks 55 00:02:49.639 --> 00:02:50.080 and doing. 56 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:52.960 It before the observatory is even officially fully operational, which 57 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:53.759 is the crazy part. 58 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:58.680 Yeah, we are uncovering an entirely hidden population of indestructible, 59 00:02:58.919 --> 00:03:01.319 hyper spinning Main Belt asteroids, and. 60 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:04.439 We're looking down the barrel of an unprecedented flood of 61 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:06.919 real time astronomical data processing. 62 00:03:07.240 --> 00:03:10.319 It fundamentally alters the timeline of human observation. 63 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:14.000 The timeline aspect is precisely what makes the Ruben data 64 00:03:14.039 --> 00:03:14.840 so anomalous, I. 65 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:17.319 Think, because we aren't even looking at the main event yet, right. 66 00:03:17.719 --> 00:03:20.599 The Via Sea Ruben Observatory, which is situated high up 67 00:03:20.599 --> 00:03:22.479 in the Chilean andes on Sarah. 68 00:03:22.199 --> 00:03:24.159 Pachuon beautiful location by the way, oh. 69 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:27.520 Stunning, But it was explicitly engineered to conduct the legacy 70 00:03:27.560 --> 00:03:28.560 survey of space. 71 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:30.879 And time the LSST exactly. 72 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:33.080 And the entire architecture of the facility is built around 73 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:36.439 the eight point four meters some OWNI survey telescope. 74 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:37.599 Which, just to give you a sense of the light 75 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:40.080 gathering power, we're talking about an eight point four meter 76 00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:44.159 primary mirror is roughly the width of a three story building. 77 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:46.560 Yeah, and it was spin cast in a rotating furnace 78 00:03:46.599 --> 00:03:50.599 at the University of Arizona just to create this uniquely complex, 79 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:53.080 deeply curved honeycomb structure. 80 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:55.479 It's an engineering marvel all on its own. 81 00:03:55.400 --> 00:03:58.039 It really is. And attached to that optical assembly is 82 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:00.719 the LSST camera record. 83 00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:03.719 Holder for the largest digital camera ever constructed, right. 84 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:06.639 I mean, the focal plan alone consists of one hundred 85 00:04:06.680 --> 00:04:09.080 and eighty nine individual charge. 86 00:04:08.759 --> 00:04:10.560 Couple devices CCDs. 87 00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:14.159 Yeah, CCDs cool to minus one hundred degrees celsius to 88 00:04:14.199 --> 00:04:15.280 eliminate thermal noise. 89 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:16.759 Just massive scale. 90 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:22.959 But these paradigm shifting discoveries about indestructible, hyper spinning metallic mountains, 91 00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:26.160 they're entirely a byproduct of the commissioning. 92 00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:28.680 Phase, right, the engineering phase, and that's what highlights the 93 00:04:28.759 --> 00:04:32.360 sheer leap and technological capability here. Yeah, because the commissioning 94 00:04:32.360 --> 00:04:35.279 phase is essentially just the telescope clearing its throat. It's 95 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:39.519 a calibration run exactly. It's the engineering teams doing test patterns, 96 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:43.839 aligning the secondary mirrors, verifying the cryogenic cooling on those 97 00:04:43.879 --> 00:04:45.759 one hundred and eighty nine CCD, just. 98 00:04:45.720 --> 00:04:49.040 Making sure the initial data pipelines are actually passing information correctly. 99 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:52.560 They haven't even officially initiated the ten year continuous survey. 100 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:56.560 And the telescope is already generating a completely unmanageable dailuge 101 00:04:56.600 --> 00:04:58.000 of discoveries. 102 00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:01.639 Which naturally forces a necessary of valuation of historical sky 103 00:05:01.720 --> 00:05:05.800 surveys right solutely, because we've been conducting extensive mapping of 104 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:08.240 the sky for decades. 105 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:11.800 Centuries if you count early optical telescopes. 106 00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:13.519 Right, we had the Palamar Sky Survey, we have the 107 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:17.519 Sloan Digital Sky Survey pan stars in Hawaii, not. 108 00:05:17.560 --> 00:05:20.399 To mention orbital space telescopes for over thirty years. 109 00:05:20.519 --> 00:05:24.839 So if there are massive hyper spinning metallic needles in 110 00:05:24.879 --> 00:05:28.279 the Inner Solar System, the fact that they remained entirely 111 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:31.240 invisible until a commissioning run in twenty twenty five. 112 00:05:31.560 --> 00:05:35.040 It demands an explanation of the previous observational blind spots. 113 00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:36.720 Yeah, I mean, why are we just seeing this now? 114 00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:40.360 It's like it's like upgrading from peering through a tiny 115 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:43.040 people on your front door to suddenly having a massive 116 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:43.639 bay window. 117 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:44.879 That's a great way to put it. 118 00:05:44.959 --> 00:05:47.160 You suddenly realize your front yard is full of things 119 00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:48.519 you never even noticed were there. 120 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:51.480 Yeah, And to understand those historical blind spots, you really 121 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:55.920 have to look at the inherent compromises dictated by optical physics. 122 00:05:55.680 --> 00:05:59.160 And sensor limitations. Prior to the LSST. 123 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:03.759 Right, optical astronomy has been defined by this zero sum tradeoff. 124 00:06:03.560 --> 00:06:04.439 Like a seesaw. 125 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:07.240 Exactly, if you want to look incredibly deep into the 126 00:06:07.319 --> 00:06:10.240 universe a to capture the faint light of a distant 127 00:06:10.279 --> 00:06:14.240 galaxy or a very small, very dark rock in the 128 00:06:14.279 --> 00:06:15.800 outer asteroid belt. 129 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:18.839 You need a massive telescope with a long exposure time. 130 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:21.319 Right, But that heavily restricts your field of view to 131 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:23.639 a tiny, microscopic patch of the sky. 132 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:26.560 It's the equivalent of trying to map the entire Pacific 133 00:06:26.600 --> 00:06:29.360 Ocean while looking through a drinking straw exactly. 134 00:06:29.959 --> 00:06:32.519 And conversely, if you want a wide field of view 135 00:06:32.600 --> 00:06:35.879 to scan large swaths of the sky for moving objects, 136 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:38.279 you typically have to sacrifice aperture and. 137 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:41.600 Depth, so you only catch the brightest, most obvious objects. 138 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:45.439 Right. The engineering triumph of the Verric Rubin observatory is 139 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:47.920 that it violently eliminates that compromise. 140 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:49.600 It just throws it out the window. 141 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:54.600 Yeah, it achieves an unprecedented unification of three distinct observational parameters. 142 00:06:54.680 --> 00:06:58.959 Immense depth, a massive nine point six square degree. 143 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:03.079 Field of view, a relentless high frequency cadence. 144 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:04.279 The cadence is the key. 145 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:07.000 Yeah, The cadence is the variable that changes the game 146 00:07:07.079 --> 00:07:10.519 for transient and moving objects absolutely, because it's not just 147 00:07:10.600 --> 00:07:14.040 taking a wide deep picture. It's taking that same wide 148 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:16.879 deep picture of the exact same coordinates. 149 00:07:16.920 --> 00:07:19.279 Repeatedly with very little downtime. Right. 150 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:22.879 Previous surveys like pan stars were casting a very wide net, 151 00:07:23.160 --> 00:07:25.959 but the physical mesh of that net was too wide, and. 152 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:28.560 The temporal gap between casting the net on the same 153 00:07:28.600 --> 00:07:30.439 patch of sky was far too long. 154 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:33.319 So if you have an object that is incredibly faint, 155 00:07:33.399 --> 00:07:36.560 moving rapidly and changing its brightness profile, on a minute 156 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:37.959 by minute basis. 157 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:41.240 It easily slips through the temporal gaps of a slower survey, right. 158 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:46.040 But Ruben is essentially establishing a continuous, high definition optical 159 00:07:46.120 --> 00:07:49.680 dragnet across the entire southern hemisphere exactly. 160 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:52.759 And that high frequency optical dragnet is what captured the 161 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:56.120 benchmark anomaly that is currently dominating the discourse. The star 162 00:07:56.199 --> 00:07:59.439 of the show Mainbelt asteroid twenty five five. 163 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:02.920 Okay, let's lay out the precise physical parameters of twenty 164 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:06.000 twenty five m n forty five for everyone, because the 165 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:09.199 dimensions versus the kinematics are where the physics just totally 166 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:09.680 break down. 167 00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:10.399 They really do. 168 00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:14.639 The photometric data places its diameter at roughly seven hundred 169 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:16.040 and ten meters. 170 00:08:15.639 --> 00:08:18.879 So roughly zero point four four miles across a. 171 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:21.639 Big chunk of rock, But the kinematic data is the 172 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:26.079 absolute shocker. This seven hundred and ten meter mass is 173 00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:29.360 completing a full rotation every one point eight eight minutes, 174 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:32.440 which is saggering if you calculate that out. This structure 175 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:35.320 is undergoing roughly seven hundred and sixty five full rotations 176 00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:36.360 every single Earth. 177 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:39.360 Day, and that rotational period is what places twenty twenty 178 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:42.480 five m n forty five entirely outside the accepted boundaries 179 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:43.159 of the spin. 180 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:45.200 Barrier, the spin barrier for main belt asteroids. 181 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:48.279 Right, And to contextualize why a one point eight eight 182 00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:51.919 minute rotation is fundamentally impossible under classical models, we have 183 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:54.159 to look at what an asteroid of this size actually. 184 00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:56.039 Is, or what we thought it was exactly for. 185 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:00.440 The last few decades, especially reinforced by sample return to 186 00:09:00.679 --> 00:09:02.279 asteroids like Ryugu and Benu. 187 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:04.159 Incredible missions by the way, oh. 188 00:09:04.039 --> 00:09:07.759 Absolutely, but the consensus from those missions has been that 189 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:10.519 the vast majority of asteroids larger than a couple one 190 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:12.960 hundred meters are rubble piles. 191 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:17.120 Right. They're not solid, contiguous monoliths. 192 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:19.399 No, they are macroporous aggregates. 193 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:25.000 Essentially just floating loosely bound collections of boulders, silicates, pebbles, 194 00:09:25.039 --> 00:09:25.840 and dust. 195 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:29.360 Stuff that is just accreted together after ancient collisions. 196 00:09:29.440 --> 00:09:32.639 So the only force holding a rubble pile together is 197 00:09:32.679 --> 00:09:36.799 its own incredibly weak collective microgravity. 198 00:09:36.039 --> 00:09:39.000 Which means the structural integrity of the object is entirely 199 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:41.399 dependent on gravitational binding energy. 200 00:09:41.159 --> 00:09:44.360 And gravity at a sub kilometer scale is practically non existent. 201 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:46.279 Yeah, if you were standing on the surface of a 202 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:49.200 seven hundred meters rubble pile, the escape velocity would be 203 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:51.840 so low you could literally achieve orbit just by jumping. 204 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:54.039 That's a fun image. Just jump in You're in space. 205 00:09:54.519 --> 00:09:58.600 Right. But because the gravitational binding energy is so fragile, 206 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:03.080 there's a rigid, mathematically defined speed limit for how fast 207 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:05.519 a rubble pile can rotate before. 208 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:08.879 The outward centrifical acceleration at the equator exceeds the inward 209 00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:11.120 gravitational acceleration exactly. 210 00:10:11.159 --> 00:10:14.159 We call this critical threshold the spin barrier, right, and 211 00:10:14.200 --> 00:10:18.039 the formula for critical density dictates that for typical silicate 212 00:10:18.120 --> 00:10:22.879 rubble piles, the absolute maximum rotation rate sits right around 213 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:23.759 two point two. 214 00:10:23.559 --> 00:10:25.320 Hours, so one hundred and thirty two minute. 215 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:29.120 Right. If a macroporous asteroid spins even a fraction faster 216 00:10:29.240 --> 00:10:31.480 than one rotation every one hundred and thirty two minutes, 217 00:10:31.799 --> 00:10:33.960 the centrifugal forces dominate. 218 00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:35.759 The object loses cohesion, the. 219 00:10:35.720 --> 00:10:39.720 Rocks at the equator achieve escape velocity, and the entire 220 00:10:39.799 --> 00:10:42.919 structure simply dissipates into a trailing cloud of debris. 221 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:45.919 I always picture it like spinning a completely wet tennis ball. 222 00:10:45.960 --> 00:10:46.159 You know. 223 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:47.559 Oh that's a perfect analogis you. 224 00:10:47.480 --> 00:10:50.279 Spin it slowly, the water stays on, but you spin 225 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:53.399 it fast enough and eventually the water just violently flies 226 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:57.120 off in every direction. But the mathematics of centrifugal force, 227 00:10:57.159 --> 00:11:01.240 specifically mass time's angular velocity square where times the radius, 228 00:11:01.639 --> 00:11:04.759 means that the outward force increases exponentially as you drop 229 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:05.679 the rotation time. 230 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:07.879 Yes, it's not a linear scale, right, So. 231 00:11:07.799 --> 00:11:10.039 We aren't looking at an object flirting with the one 232 00:11:10.120 --> 00:11:11.440 hundred and thirty two minute barrier. 233 00:11:11.559 --> 00:11:11.639 No. 234 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:14.039 Twenty twenty five m n forty five is rotating in 235 00:11:14.120 --> 00:11:14.840 under two minutes. 236 00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:17.879 It is rotating more than seventy times faster than the 237 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:20.279 maximum theoretical limit for a rubble pile. 238 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:22.879 Which is exactly why it hasn't disintegrated into a cloud 239 00:11:22.919 --> 00:11:23.519 of space dust. 240 00:11:23.639 --> 00:11:26.759 Well why hasn't it. If the gravitational binding energy is 241 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:30.720 outmatched by a factor of seventy then gravity is entirely 242 00:11:30.840 --> 00:11:33.240 relevant to this object's cohesion. 243 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:36.600 Completely irrelevant the internal physical strength required to hold that 244 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:39.639 mass together against that level of angular momentum. 245 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:42.440 It's more akin to the tensile strength required to build 246 00:11:42.440 --> 00:11:43.559 a space elevator cable. 247 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:45.919 Yeah, we're no longer talking about gravity. We're talking about 248 00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:48.039 extreme material ten cell strength. 249 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:50.720 That is the inescapable conclusion the physics demand. 250 00:11:50.919 --> 00:11:53.000 It is the fact that twenty twenty five m N 251 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:57.679 forty five survives this rotational stress profile definitively proves that 252 00:11:57.720 --> 00:12:00.000 it possesses immense internal cohesive strength. 253 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:02.919 It categorically cannot be a rubble pile. 254 00:12:03.159 --> 00:12:06.840 No, it represents a completely different class of physical object. 255 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:11.320 Which completely invalidates the ubiquitous rubble pile paradigm for objects 256 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:12.559 in this size regime. 257 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:15.960 It really forces a total rethink of asteroid anatomy. 258 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:19.240 Right because if it's not a loosely accreted pile of silicates, 259 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:22.080 the immediate question is material composition. 260 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:22.879 What is it made of? 261 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:28.240 Exactly what specific material can withstand that sheer rotational stress 262 00:12:28.279 --> 00:12:32.320 without fracturing. We are obviously looking at something contiguous, and. 263 00:12:32.279 --> 00:12:36.279 The structural requirements drastically narrow down the compositional possibilities. Y 264 00:12:36.840 --> 00:12:40.200 The baseline hypothesis is that it could be a monolithic 265 00:12:40.279 --> 00:12:44.080 chunk of highly competent, unfractured silicate. 266 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:45.039 Rock okay, solid rock. 267 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:50.399 Alternatively, some models suggest an intensely cohesive, tightly packed clay 268 00:12:50.519 --> 00:12:56.120 like material bound by complex hydration processes like cosmic cement exactly. However, 269 00:12:56.200 --> 00:12:59.279 the most physically robust hypothesis and the one that effortlessly 270 00:12:59.320 --> 00:13:02.240 satisfies the extrain ten cyle strength requirements, is that we 271 00:13:02.279 --> 00:13:04.159 are looking at a solid metallic. 272 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:07.360 Core composed primarily of an iron nickel alloy. 273 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:12.240 Right. Furthermore, the photometric analysis published by Dmitri Vavalov and 274 00:13:12.279 --> 00:13:15.320 the research team adds a critical geometric complication. 275 00:13:15.559 --> 00:13:16.600 Oh the shape. 276 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:19.879 Yeah, the light curve amplitude of twenty twenty five m 277 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:22.600 n forty five. In case that the object is not 278 00:13:22.759 --> 00:13:24.480 remotely spherical. 279 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:26.159 It is highly elongated. 280 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:29.559 Its aspect ratio suggests its effective length could actually approach 281 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:32.600 a full kilometer across its longest axis. 282 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:37.039 Wait, so the morphological reality is a one kilometer spinning needle. Yes, 283 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:40.200 The physics of that geometry make the survival of the 284 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:43.080 object even more astounding. Oh, absolutely, Because if you have 285 00:13:43.159 --> 00:13:46.279 an elongated structure rotating around its center of mass once 286 00:13:46.279 --> 00:13:50.399 every one point eighty eight minutes, the centripetal acceleration acting 287 00:13:50.440 --> 00:13:53.159 on the far tips of that one kilometer needle is 288 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:56.519 orders of magnitude higher than if it were a compact sphere. 289 00:13:56.600 --> 00:13:58.240 The leverage is insane, right. 290 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:01.399 The sheer mechanical shearing forces acting on the center of 291 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:04.759 the object would snap almost any standard terrestrial rock right 292 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:05.399 in half. 293 00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:06.399 Just cleanly break it. 294 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:09.559 The fact that a one kilometer structure remains intact under 295 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:12.399 those shearing forces heavily points totum metallic composition. 296 00:14:12.679 --> 00:14:15.200 It really does. We are talking about the kind of 297 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:19.159 crystalline iron nickel structures like the Woodman Stetton patterns we 298 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:21.080 see in certain meteorites. 299 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:23.159 Right, those beautiful crosshatch patterns. 300 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:27.200 Exactly, and those only form when molten metal cools incredibly 301 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:28.840 slowly over millions of. 302 00:14:28.919 --> 00:14:32.519 Years, which brings us directly to the implications for early 303 00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:33.840 Solar System evolution. 304 00:14:34.279 --> 00:14:38.879 Because you do not spontaneously form a one kilometer solid 305 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:42.519 chunk of highly structured iron nickel alloy from the gentle 306 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:44.480 accretion of protoplanetary dust. 307 00:14:44.679 --> 00:14:46.519 No, you need a forge for that, right. 308 00:14:47.080 --> 00:14:50.279 Monolithic structures with that level of density and tensile strength 309 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:53.440 are the physical byproducts of planetary differentiation. 310 00:14:54.279 --> 00:14:57.039 So early in the chaotic formation of the Solar System, 311 00:14:57.080 --> 00:14:59.919 there are these massive protoplanets. 312 00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:02.960 Planetesimals, large enough that their own radioactive decay and gravitational 313 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:05.480 pressure caused them to completely melt, and. 314 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:08.320 During this molten phase, the heavy elements like iron and 315 00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:11.799 nickel sank to the center to form a dense metallic core. 316 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:14.679 While the lighter silicates floated up to form a rocky 317 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:15.639 mantle in crust. 318 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:18.799 So to get a one kilometer shard of that pure 319 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:22.360 core material drifting freely in the main belt. 320 00:15:22.200 --> 00:15:26.480 You require a violent, catastrophic mechanism to strip away hundreds 321 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:28.399 of kilometers of solid rock mantle. 322 00:15:28.600 --> 00:15:33.039 Exactly, these hyper spinning monoliths are likely the surviving shrapnel 323 00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:34.639 of utterly destroyed worlds. 324 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:36.559 It's a bit poetic earlier it is. 325 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:41.480 If two massive differentiated protoplanets collided at high velocity during 326 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:44.080 the chaotic early days of the Solar System. 327 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:46.480 The impact would have shattered their mantles and fractured their 328 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:48.559 exposed metallic cores into fragments. 329 00:15:48.679 --> 00:15:51.200 So twenty twenty five Men forty five is in all 330 00:15:51.240 --> 00:15:54.600 probability a fractured piece of a dead world's heart just 331 00:15:54.759 --> 00:15:57.720 wandering the inner Solar System for the last four billion years. 332 00:15:57.879 --> 00:16:00.759 It is the ultimate survivor of a cosmic dema coalition Derby. 333 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:03.960 I love that a cosmic demolition Derby, But what makes 334 00:16:04.039 --> 00:16:07.240 this finding so destabilizing to current models is the scale 335 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:09.840 of the population, right, Because if twenty twenty five M 336 00:16:09.879 --> 00:16:12.879 and forty five was a singular anomaly, just one random 337 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:16.399 iron needle tumbling through the dark, it could be categorized 338 00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:18.399 as a statistical outlier. 339 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:20.440 A freak accident of celestial mechanics exactly. 340 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:23.919 But the data unequivocally demonstrates that it is not alone, 341 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:24.879 far from it. 342 00:16:24.919 --> 00:16:28.559 And this is where the sheer, unadulterated processing power of 343 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:31.000 the Reuben observatory pipeline becomes the focus. 344 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:34.559 Because this entire revelation the destruction of the spin barrier 345 00:16:34.600 --> 00:16:39.000 consensus was derived from a microscopic sliver of observation. 346 00:16:38.519 --> 00:16:41.840 Time, which is wild. The researchers pulled this data from 347 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:44.759 just ten hours of active observation. 348 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:47.200 Spread out over seven nights during April and May of 349 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:48.159 twenty twenty five. 350 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:52.440 In that incredibly brief ten hour window, Reuben identified nearly 351 00:16:52.519 --> 00:16:56.879 two thousand previously unknown Main Belt asteroids. 352 00:16:56.240 --> 00:17:00.720 And roughly nineteen hundred of those were confirmed as entirely discoveries. 353 00:17:00.919 --> 00:17:03.799 The yield from that ten hour window is just staggering, it. 354 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:06.680 Really is, and embedded within that sample of nineteen hundred 355 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:12.039 new objects was an entire, previously undetected population of extreme rotators. 356 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:13.000 A whole hidden population. 357 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:17.960 Yes, the photometric pipelines identified nineteen super fast rotators. 358 00:17:17.400 --> 00:17:20.559 Meaning asteroids that cleanly and undeniably violate the two point 359 00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:21.599 two hour spin. 360 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:24.920 Barrier exactly, and even more profoundly, the pipeline flagged three 361 00:17:25.079 --> 00:17:26.759 ultrafast rotators. 362 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:29.519 Which are massive objects completing full rotations entirely under the 363 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:30.200 five minute. 364 00:17:29.960 --> 00:17:33.920 Marks under five minutes. The specific kinematic profiles of these 365 00:17:34.119 --> 00:17:39.759 ultrafast objects establish a definitive gradient of structural integrity across 366 00:17:39.799 --> 00:17:40.440 the main belt. 367 00:17:40.519 --> 00:17:41.599 Right, it's not just one. 368 00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:45.440 Rock exactly beyond our benchmark of twenty twenty five m 369 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:48.599 N forty five. The pipeline flagged twenty twenty five MJ 370 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:52.519 seventy one, exhibiting a rotation period of approximately one point 371 00:17:52.599 --> 00:17:53.279 nine minutes. 372 00:17:53.799 --> 00:17:56.680 You look at twenty twenty five mk forty one rotating 373 00:17:56.680 --> 00:17:57.880 every three point eight minutes. 374 00:17:57.960 --> 00:18:00.400 We've got twenty twenty five MV seventy one sitting at 375 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:01.440 roughly thirteen. 376 00:18:01.160 --> 00:18:03.960 Minutes, and twenty twenty five mg fifty six at about 377 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:04.720 sixteen minutes. 378 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:07.960 And these are all objects hundreds of meters in diameter which. 379 00:18:07.799 --> 00:18:11.440 Completely inverts the assumed rarity of these monolithic structures. 380 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:15.920 Right, we are looking at a scenario where highly cohesive, indestructible, 381 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:19.359 hyper spinning fragments are not statistical anomalies. 382 00:18:19.400 --> 00:18:22.559 They are a highly common, ubiquitous population within the main belt. 383 00:18:22.599 --> 00:18:25.640 They were simply invisible to previous surveys because our sensor 384 00:18:25.640 --> 00:18:28.480 integration times were too slow and our cadence to relax. 385 00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:30.640 Exactly, we just weren't looking fast enough. 386 00:18:30.680 --> 00:18:35.039 But identifying the population immediately introduces a secondary kinematic puzzle, 387 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:37.519 the why. Right, we know what they are, and we 388 00:18:37.640 --> 00:18:40.880 know they possess the tensile strength to survive the rotation. 389 00:18:40.759 --> 00:18:45.079 But what is the precise physical mechanism injecting that massive 390 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:48.119 amount of angular momentum into these specific bodies? 391 00:18:48.359 --> 00:18:50.960 What is spinning up a one kilometer mass of iron 392 00:18:51.079 --> 00:18:52.240 to a two minute rotation? 393 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:56.559 Well, to isolate the mechanism driving that extreme angular momentum, 394 00:18:56.880 --> 00:19:00.000 you really have to analyze the long term thermodynamic environment 395 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:03.559 of the solar system. Okay, there are kinetic mechanisms, of course. 396 00:19:04.119 --> 00:19:07.200 A highly off center oblique impact from a smaller piece 397 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:10.480 of debris can transfer substantial angular momentum. 398 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:12.519 Basically spinning the object up like a billiard. 399 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:15.759 Ball, right, And for objects whose orbits intersect the inner planets, 400 00:19:16.119 --> 00:19:20.200 title sheer forces during close planetary encounters can also induce 401 00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:21.799 rapid rotation, but. 402 00:19:21.799 --> 00:19:24.720 Those are situational exactly statistically. 403 00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:28.160 The most elegant, pervasive and continuous mechanism acting on the 404 00:19:28.200 --> 00:19:31.400 main belt is a subtle thermodynamic interaction known as the 405 00:19:31.720 --> 00:19:32.480 RP effect. 406 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:35.240 The RP effect that's an acronym, right, Yes. 407 00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:38.920 It stands for the Yarkovsky Okey for Zevsky Paddac effect. 408 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:42.200 Which combines the orbital drift theories of Yarkovski with the 409 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:45.680 rotational torque mechanics developed by the latter three physicists. 410 00:19:46.119 --> 00:19:50.200 That's right, and the thermodynamics of the YOURP effect represent 411 00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:56.240 one of the most counterintuitive yet mathematically beautiful mechanisms in astrophysics, because. 412 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:59.720 The premise is that ambient sunlight photons with absolutely zero 413 00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:03.319 rest to mass can exert enough physical torque to spin 414 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:07.160 a billion ton metallic mountain up to a two minute. 415 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:08.720 Rotation, which sounds impossible. 416 00:20:08.839 --> 00:20:13.079 It requires a deep dive into radiation pressure and anisotropic 417 00:20:13.160 --> 00:20:13.920 thermal emission. 418 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:17.160 It entirely revolves around the principles of thermal inertia and 419 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:18.160 photon momentum. 420 00:20:18.200 --> 00:20:19.480 Okay, break that down for us. 421 00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:22.920 So while pocons are massless, they carry momentum governed by 422 00:20:22.920 --> 00:20:23.559 their energy. 423 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:24.079 Right. 424 00:20:24.200 --> 00:20:27.759 When solar radiation impacts the surface of an irregularly shaped asteroid, 425 00:20:27.960 --> 00:20:31.680 the surface material absorbs that electromagnetic energy and. 426 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:35.519 Heats up like asphalt on a sunny day, exactly, And. 427 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:38.759 As the asteroid naturally rotates, that heated surface area turns 428 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:41.400 away from the sun and faces the near absolute zero 429 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:42.720 temperatures of deep space. 430 00:20:42.920 --> 00:20:46.799 So to maintain thermodynamic equilibrium, the asteroid radiates that stored 431 00:20:46.839 --> 00:20:50.039 heat energy back into space in the form of infrared photons. 432 00:20:50.359 --> 00:20:54.960 Right. But because the asteroid is a jagged, asymmetrical fragment 433 00:20:55.079 --> 00:20:58.920 like our one kilometer needle, with ridges, craters, and massive 434 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:00.480 structural deformities, that. 435 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:04.160 Thermal radiation is not emitted uniformly in all directions exactly. 436 00:21:04.359 --> 00:21:09.079 The andisotropic or uneven geometry of the asteroid means the 437 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:12.440 infrared photons are emitted at various angles relative to the 438 00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:13.799 asteroid's center of mass. 439 00:21:14.119 --> 00:21:18.240 So every single infrared photon radiating off a tilted ridge 440 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:21.720 carries away a microscopic fraction of momentum and. 441 00:21:21.720 --> 00:21:25.279 In the frictionless vacuum of space. This acts exactly like 442 00:21:25.319 --> 00:21:30.000 an array of incredibly weak, continuous thrusters mounted asymmetrically across 443 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:30.920 the asteroid. 444 00:21:30.599 --> 00:21:32.880 Surface, creating a microscopic net torque. 445 00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:35.359 Yes now, over the span of a few days or 446 00:21:35.400 --> 00:21:39.279 even years, this thermal torque is entirely negligible. 447 00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:39.799 You wouldn't even notice it. 448 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:41.799 But the RP effect is cumulative. 449 00:21:41.960 --> 00:21:42.400 Ah. 450 00:21:42.440 --> 00:21:46.119 When you apply that continuous asymmetrical thermal thrust over timescale 451 00:21:46.119 --> 00:21:48.880 of tens or hundreds of millions of years, it gradually 452 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:51.200 and relentlessly accelerates the asteroids rotation. 453 00:21:51.319 --> 00:21:53.759 It's like a slow motion thermodynamic motor. 454 00:21:53.799 --> 00:21:58.079 Exactly taking a slowly tumbling monolithic shard and spinning it 455 00:21:58.160 --> 00:22:01.359 up until it hits a blistering two minute rotational velocity. 456 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:04.799 The implication that solar radiation is acting as a continuous 457 00:22:04.839 --> 00:22:09.599 thermodynamic engine for millions of main belt objects is just profound. 458 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:10.759 It's elegant physics. 459 00:22:10.839 --> 00:22:14.079 But the confirmation of that dynamic relies on an observational 460 00:22:14.119 --> 00:22:17.079 premis that warrants some scrutiny. I think, oh, for sure, 461 00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:20.039 if we are utilizing the RP effect to explain the 462 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:24.160 angular momentum and we are definitively categorizing these bodies by 463 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:27.720 their specific rotational velocities, like twenty twenty five m n 464 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:31.119 forty five at exactly one point eight eight minutes. 465 00:22:31.319 --> 00:22:34.759 How are the octal centers actually deriving that kinematic data? 466 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:37.160 Exactly? We are dealing with the objects that are under 467 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:40.640 a kilometer wide sitting hundreds of millions of miles away. Right, 468 00:22:40.839 --> 00:22:43.519 Even with an eight point four meter primary mirror and 469 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:47.680 a three point two gigapixel CCD array, the optical resolution 470 00:22:47.799 --> 00:22:50.799 cannot physically resolve the surface geography of these rocks. 471 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:51.839 No, not even close. 472 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:54.359 They do not appear as spinning mountains. They appear as 473 00:22:54.359 --> 00:22:56.599 a single subpixel point of light on a dark. 474 00:22:56.440 --> 00:22:57.599 Background, just to dot. 475 00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:00.880 So what is the specific data pipeline one that translates 476 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:04.319 a single dot of light into a highly precise three 477 00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:06.759 dimensional kinematic and morphological model. 478 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:11.079 Well, the solution to that observational limitation relies on a 479 00:23:11.160 --> 00:23:15.680 highly sophisticated photometric technique known as light curve inversion. 480 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:16.480 What curbs. 481 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:19.519 Yeah, you are perfectly correct that the telescope is not 482 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:23.440 resolving the surface or the physical shape. The LSST camera 483 00:23:23.519 --> 00:23:27.079 is not capturing video of a tumbling rock right with 484 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:31.640 the cryogenic CCDs are exceptionally engineered to capture is highly 485 00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:37.519 precise photometry the exact quantifiable amplitude of the light bouncing 486 00:23:37.559 --> 00:23:38.720 off that object. 487 00:23:38.359 --> 00:23:40.119 Because the asteroid is illuminated by the. 488 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:42.920 Sun right and the amount of photons that reflects toward 489 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:45.519 Earth is strictly proportional to the amount of surface area 490 00:23:45.559 --> 00:23:47.000 it exposes to our line of sight. 491 00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:50.319 Okay, so if we take the elongated one kilometer needle 492 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:54.240 geometry of twenty twenty five forty five, as it rotates 493 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:57.000 in the vacuum, the cross sectional area facing the Earth 494 00:23:57.039 --> 00:24:00.480 is constantly changing. When the broad one kilometer side of 495 00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:04.160 the needle is perpendicular to the telescope, it reflects a 496 00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:08.279 massive amount of solar radiation and the photometric brightness peaks right. 497 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:11.960 But forty five seconds later, when the narrow, jagged tip 498 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:15.000 of the needle rotates to face the Earth, the reflective 499 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:17.759 surface area drastically shrinks. 500 00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:20.319 And the apparent brightness drops significantly. 501 00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:23.720 Precisely, and the data pipeline continuously measures that flux in 502 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:26.440 apparent magnitude and plots it against time. 503 00:24:26.680 --> 00:24:28.759 The resulting graph is the light curve. 504 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:31.440 Yes, I mean think of a lighthouse. 505 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:34.279 Oh, I like this a rotating lighthouse from one hundred 506 00:24:34.279 --> 00:24:35.519 miles away exactly. 507 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:38.400 But imagine the lighthouse is shaped like a lumpy potato. 508 00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:40.400 Okay, a lumpy potato lighthouse, right. 509 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:43.079 You can't see the potato itself. But by timing the 510 00:24:43.119 --> 00:24:45.519 flashes of light, how long they last, how bright they get, 511 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:48.200 you know exactly how fast it's spinning and can guess 512 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:48.799 its shape. 513 00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:51.680 By analyzing the periodicity of the peaks and troughs in 514 00:24:51.720 --> 00:24:55.680 that light curve, the system mathematically derives the exact rotational 515 00:24:55.720 --> 00:24:57.359 period to fractions of a second. 516 00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:59.799 But the light curve inversion process goes far beyond just 517 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:03.440 pinematic timing. Yeah. By mapping the specific slopes of the curve, 518 00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:06.759 like how sharply the light drops off, or the asymmetry 519 00:25:06.759 --> 00:25:10.839 between the primary and secondary brightness peaks, astronomers can solve 520 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:12.000 the inverse problem. 521 00:25:12.119 --> 00:25:16.119 They can utilize complex algorithms to reconstruct a rough three 522 00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:18.640 dimensional wire frame of the asteroid's shape. 523 00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:21.839 Furthermore, by observing how the light curve alters its amplitude 524 00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:24.960 over several months as the Earth in the asteroid shift 525 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:27.039 their relative orbital positions. 526 00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:30.000 We can determine the orientation of the asteroid's rotational pull 527 00:25:30.039 --> 00:25:33.759 in three dimensional space exactly. But wait, calculating those parameters 528 00:25:33.799 --> 00:25:36.440 requires an assumption of uniform albiedo, doesn't it. 529 00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:37.759 That's the tricky part. 530 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:42.480 Yes, If the object is a differentiated monolithic fragment, wouldn't 531 00:25:42.519 --> 00:25:46.119 the reflectivity of the surface heavily skew the light curve? 532 00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:47.240 It absolutely could. 533 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:50.240 Like if one side of the asteroid is a highly 534 00:25:50.279 --> 00:25:53.440 reflective iron nickel alloy and the other side is coated 535 00:25:53.480 --> 00:25:56.079 in dark carbonaceous chondrite dust. 536 00:25:56.319 --> 00:25:59.799 A brightness peak might simply indicate a highly reflective material 537 00:25:59.799 --> 00:26:02.759 facing us rather than a larger surface area. 538 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:06.720 Right, So how does the Ruben photometry pipeline differentiate between 539 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:09.599 geometric cross section and surface composition? 540 00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:13.720 That is exactly where the multiband photometric capabilities of the 541 00:26:13.839 --> 00:26:16.039 LSST camera become essential. 542 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:17.720 Ah, the optical filters. 543 00:26:17.799 --> 00:26:20.960 Yeah, the camera doesn't just measure raw photon counts. It 544 00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:25.319 observes through a complex array of six distinct optical filters 545 00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:28.240 ranging from ultraviolet to near infrared. 546 00:26:28.519 --> 00:26:33.880 Because different materials reflect different wavelengths of light with varying efficiencies. 547 00:26:33.160 --> 00:26:37.880 Precisely, an iron rich metallic surface will yield a distinctly 548 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:41.960 different spectral signature across those six filters compared to a 549 00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:44.160 dark carbonaceous silicate surface. 550 00:26:44.359 --> 00:26:47.119 So by cross referencing the amplitude of the light curve 551 00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:50.920 across multiple specific wavelengths, the data pipeline can filter out 552 00:26:50.920 --> 00:26:53.480 albedo variations from geometric variations. 553 00:26:53.559 --> 00:26:57.559 Yes, in this initial commissioning sample alone, the algorithms were 554 00:26:57.559 --> 00:27:01.119 able to extract not just precise rotation periods and elongated 555 00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:05.200 shape estimates, but also rough color, emetric and compositional data 556 00:27:05.240 --> 00:27:07.759 for seventy six distinct asteroids. 557 00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:11.160 Which really just highlights the staggering computational sensitivity of the 558 00:27:11.319 --> 00:27:12.359 entire apparatus. 559 00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:12.960 Mind blowing. 560 00:27:13.240 --> 00:27:16.799 To measure a one point eighty eight minute periodic fluctuation, 561 00:27:17.480 --> 00:27:21.839 correct for albedo variations across six spectral bands, and map 562 00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:24.720 it to a sub kilometer object hundreds of millions of 563 00:27:24.759 --> 00:27:25.680 miles away. 564 00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:28.759 It requires a margin of error that is practically microscopic. 565 00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:31.920 It requires an optical system that can take continuous high 566 00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:37.720 definition exposures while completely mitigating atmospheric distortion and thermal sensor noise. 567 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:40.319 And the fact that the engineering teams achieve this level 568 00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:44.000 of data fidelity during a mere calibration run is astonishing. 569 00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:47.960 It is, and it perfectly contextualizes the sheer scale of 570 00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:51.599 the data processing architecture required to operate the Ruben Observatory. 571 00:27:51.640 --> 00:27:54.839 Oh definitely, because while finding nineteen hundred new asteroids in 572 00:27:54.920 --> 00:27:58.480 ten hours of observation is a massive scientific victory. 573 00:27:58.200 --> 00:28:01.119 In the context of the observatori's OULTI capability, it is 574 00:28:01.160 --> 00:28:02.559 practically a rounding error. 575 00:28:02.759 --> 00:28:06.920 Right. To truly comprehend the paradigm shift Reuben represents, we 576 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:10.200 have to examine the systemic stress test conducted on February 577 00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:11.559 twenty four, twenty twenty six. 578 00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:12.880 Yes, the deluge. 579 00:28:12.920 --> 00:28:16.200 On that single night of observation, the automated pipelines processed 580 00:28:16.200 --> 00:28:20.039 and issued approximately eight hundred thousand real time astronomical alerts. 581 00:28:20.279 --> 00:28:23.160 The magnitude of eight hundred thousand alerts in a single 582 00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:28.880 night is well, it's difficult to contextualize within the framework 583 00:28:28.920 --> 00:28:29.960 of historical astronomy. 584 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:31.039 It's just unprecedented. 585 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:34.079 To understand the computational achievement, we have to define what 586 00:28:34.200 --> 00:28:38.039 constitutes an alert within the LSST data architecture. 587 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:39.079 Okay, let's define it. 588 00:28:39.240 --> 00:28:41.720 The Reuben Observatory does not operate on a traditional model 589 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:45.480 where astronomers manually download images to search for anomalies. 590 00:28:45.640 --> 00:28:47.359 Nobody is sitting there squinting at a. 591 00:28:47.319 --> 00:28:50.720 Screen, right, That would take lifetime. Yeah, The entire process 592 00:28:50.759 --> 00:28:55.079 is dictated by advanced machine learning and automated image subtraction. 593 00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:56.000 Pipelines image subtraction. 594 00:28:56.079 --> 00:28:58.400 Yet, every time the telescope captures an exposure of a 595 00:28:58.440 --> 00:29:03.200 specific coordinate in the sky, a supercomputer instantly aligns that 596 00:29:03.319 --> 00:29:06.799 new image with a deep historical template image of the 597 00:29:06.880 --> 00:29:08.359 exact same coordinates. 598 00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:12.480 So the system then mathematically subtracts the static background exactly. 599 00:29:12.680 --> 00:29:17.039 Every galaxy, every stationary star, every known nebula is removed from. 600 00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:20.000 The data, so the system is exclusively looking for the delta. 601 00:29:20.359 --> 00:29:23.240 It isolates anything that has moved, anything that has altered 602 00:29:23.279 --> 00:29:27.000 its photometric brightness, or anything that has spontaneously appeared in 603 00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:29.319 the sky that wasn't there in the template. 604 00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:32.640 Image precisely, and any isolated delta triggers an alert. Got it, 605 00:29:32.839 --> 00:29:36.000 But these alerts are not compiled into some daily digest. No, 606 00:29:36.200 --> 00:29:39.519 they are packaged with their precise coordinates, light curves, and 607 00:29:39.640 --> 00:29:45.160 historical photometric data and broadcasts globally to astronomical broker systems 608 00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:48.000 within roughly sixty to one hundred and twenty seconds of 609 00:29:48.039 --> 00:29:49.240 the telescope. 610 00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:50.759 Shutter closing within two minutes. 611 00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:55.079 Yes, and these alerts encompass a vast spectrum of astrophysical 612 00:29:55.079 --> 00:29:56.240 phenomena known as. 613 00:29:56.279 --> 00:29:59.319 Transience, transience meaning things that change. 614 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:03.039 Right near Earth, asteroids streaking across the field of view. 615 00:30:03.160 --> 00:30:07.000 It flags cataclysmic variables where a white dwarf is siphoning 616 00:30:07.039 --> 00:30:10.319 matter from a companion star and igniting in a sudden nova. 617 00:30:10.920 --> 00:30:14.920 It captures the exact moment a distant supermassive black hole 618 00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:18.440 flares as it title disrupts and consumes a wandering star. 619 00:30:18.680 --> 00:30:21.839 It detects the massive initial optical flash of a star 620 00:30:21.960 --> 00:30:24.960 collapsing into a supernova in a galaxy billions of light 621 00:30:25.039 --> 00:30:25.480 years away. 622 00:30:25.720 --> 00:30:30.440 And the system successfully isolated, categorize, and broadcast eight hundred 623 00:30:30.519 --> 00:30:32.920 thousand of these transient events in a single evening. 624 00:30:33.480 --> 00:30:36.720 But the truly staggering reality of that February twenty fourth 625 00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:39.079 milestone is that it was merely a fraction of the 626 00:30:39.079 --> 00:30:40.480 system's eventual output. 627 00:30:40.599 --> 00:30:40.720 Oh. 628 00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:43.400 Absolutely, When the ten year Legacy Survey of Space and 629 00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:48.160 Time initiates its primary operations, the alert pipeline is explicitly 630 00:30:48.200 --> 00:30:52.680 engineered to process and distribute up to seven million alerts per. 631 00:30:52.599 --> 00:30:58.319 Night seven million distinct real time astrophysical anomalies every single 632 00:30:58.319 --> 00:30:59.240 time the Earth rotates. 633 00:30:59.319 --> 00:31:01.400 It's hard to even rep If your head around that number. 634 00:31:01.160 --> 00:31:05.000 The computational bottleneck completely shifts. The challenge is no longer 635 00:31:05.079 --> 00:31:05.799 gathering the light. 636 00:31:05.960 --> 00:31:09.519 The challenge is building an algorithmic architecture capable of filtering 637 00:31:09.599 --> 00:31:11.799 a torrent of data that no human being could ever 638 00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:13.000 hope to manually review. 639 00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:15.839 The transition from a few thousand alerts per night in 640 00:31:15.920 --> 00:31:18.960 legacy surveys to seven million alerts per night in the 641 00:31:19.079 --> 00:31:23.279 LSST era, it forces a total reliance on massive cloud 642 00:31:23.319 --> 00:31:24.279 based broker. 643 00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:26.720 Systems like Anta reason Allarcy exactly. 644 00:31:27.079 --> 00:31:30.839 These automated brokers ingest the massive fire hose of Ruben 645 00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:35.839 data and utilize highly trained convolutional neural networks to instantly 646 00:31:35.880 --> 00:31:37.160 classify the transience. 647 00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:39.160 They separate the noise from the signal. 648 00:31:39.519 --> 00:31:43.240 Right. If the neural network identifies the specific photometric signature 649 00:31:43.279 --> 00:31:47.400 of an early stage type as supernova, it instantly pings 650 00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:50.759 robotic spectroscopic telescopes across. 651 00:31:50.359 --> 00:31:53.799 The globe, commanding them to automatically pivot and capture the 652 00:31:53.880 --> 00:31:58.000 chemical spectra of the explosion before the initial light curve fades. 653 00:31:58.039 --> 00:32:02.279 It fundamentally transforms the methodolology of astronomical observation. 654 00:32:01.960 --> 00:32:06.000 From studying static historical photographs of the universe to interacting 655 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:10.319 with a dynamic, high definition real time movie of the cosmos. 656 00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:14.799 We are actively transitioning from cosmic archaeology to cosmic live streaming. 657 00:32:14.799 --> 00:32:16.440 That's a great way to put it. But we must 658 00:32:16.440 --> 00:32:20.279 address the systemic application of this massive data architecture jeckev. 659 00:32:20.319 --> 00:32:21.880 Why does it matter right exactly? 660 00:32:22.079 --> 00:32:25.480 A highly detailed analysis of the Youurp effect, metallic core 661 00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:30.400 differentiation and automated transient brokers is fascinating on the theoretical level, 662 00:32:30.680 --> 00:32:31.319 But how. 663 00:32:31.160 --> 00:32:36.119 Does this immense influx of highly precise kinematic and morphological 664 00:32:36.200 --> 00:32:40.000 data apply to the immediate survival of the terrestrial biosphere? 665 00:32:40.400 --> 00:32:43.240 Because the structural and pegrity profile we mapped out for 666 00:32:43.359 --> 00:32:47.440 twenty twenty five N forty five has profound and immediate 667 00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:50.400 implications for the discipline of planetary defense. 668 00:32:50.160 --> 00:32:53.279 Well, the structural data is arguably the most critical metric 669 00:32:53.319 --> 00:32:55.160 for near Earth object impact mitigation. 670 00:32:55.400 --> 00:32:58.440 The core mandate of planetary defense is the early detection, 671 00:32:58.839 --> 00:33:02.559 precise character is ation an eventual deflection of any asteroid 672 00:33:02.599 --> 00:33:04.160 identified on a collision course. 673 00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:06.839 With Earth, and for the last twenty years, the prevailing 674 00:33:06.839 --> 00:33:10.640 deflection models heavily assumed that a hazardous impactor would likely 675 00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:13.799 be one of the macro porous rubble piles we discussed earlier. 676 00:33:13.880 --> 00:33:16.079 The aggregate gravel pit models. 677 00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:18.880 Right, and the physics of deflecting a highly porous aggregate 678 00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:22.119 object present massive engineering challenges. 679 00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:24.279 Because if you launch a kinetic impactor similar to the 680 00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:27.880 spacecraft utilized in the Dart mission and intentionally ram it 681 00:33:27.960 --> 00:33:30.640 into a rubble pile at extreme velocity. 682 00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:32.200 The momentum transfer is highly inefficient. 683 00:33:32.480 --> 00:33:35.759 The kinetic energy of the spacecraft is absorbed and dissipated 684 00:33:36.039 --> 00:33:40.119 by the extensive empty void space and the shifting regulif 685 00:33:40.160 --> 00:33:42.400 between the loosely bound boulders. 686 00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:45.400 Right the impact craters, the surface compresses the dust and 687 00:33:45.480 --> 00:33:48.359 perhaps creates a localized plume of ejecta, but. 688 00:33:48.400 --> 00:33:52.599 The overall delta V the change in velocity required to 689 00:33:52.640 --> 00:33:57.000 push the asteroid off its orbital trajectory, is severely dampened 690 00:33:57.000 --> 00:33:58.319 by the object's porosity. 691 00:33:58.440 --> 00:34:02.200 The physics of momentum transfer often represented in these calculations 692 00:34:02.279 --> 00:34:05.400 by the beta factor, which measures the enhancement of momentum 693 00:34:05.400 --> 00:34:06.720 from impact ejecta. 694 00:34:06.759 --> 00:34:10.239 It's entirely dependent on the structural cohesion of the target body. 695 00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:13.760 Exactly, if the Ruben observatory is conclusively proving that a 696 00:34:13.880 --> 00:34:17.480 significant percentage of main belt and by extension, near Earth 697 00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:19.800 objects are not highly pores rubble. 698 00:34:19.559 --> 00:34:23.840 Piles, but are in fact monolithic, densely packed silicates or 699 00:34:23.880 --> 00:34:27.599 solid iron nickel cores spinning at extreme velocities. 700 00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:29.639 The mathematical parameters of deflection change entirely. 701 00:34:29.719 --> 00:34:32.960 It is the kinetic difference between firing a projectile into 702 00:34:33.000 --> 00:34:36.159 a massive pile of sand versus firing a projectile into 703 00:34:36.199 --> 00:34:36.960 a solid anvil. 704 00:34:37.039 --> 00:34:38.280 That's the perfect analogy. 705 00:34:38.599 --> 00:34:41.840 If you execute a kinetic impact on a highly cohesive 706 00:34:42.039 --> 00:34:46.599 monolithic iron core, the kinetic energy does not dissipate into 707 00:34:46.679 --> 00:34:47.719 empty void space. 708 00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:52.320 No, the energy transfer is efficiently across the rigid crystalline structure. 709 00:34:51.880 --> 00:34:54.719 Of the metal, resulting in a much higher conservation of 710 00:34:54.840 --> 00:34:56.840 angular and linear momentum. 711 00:34:57.039 --> 00:34:59.159 You can actually push the object to off course with 712 00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:01.239 a high degree of matil mathematical predictability. 713 00:35:01.320 --> 00:35:05.679 However, the severe consequence of that structural density applies directly 714 00:35:05.719 --> 00:35:08.400 to the impact scenario itself, doesn't it Yes. 715 00:35:08.760 --> 00:35:14.199 Unfortunately, if a mitigation attempt fails, the atmospheric entry physics 716 00:35:14.199 --> 00:35:17.199 of a metallic monolith are vastly more destructive than a 717 00:35:17.280 --> 00:35:19.159 rubble pile of identical mass. 718 00:35:18.880 --> 00:35:22.639 Because a loosely bound aggregate of silicates will experience massive 719 00:35:22.679 --> 00:35:26.360 aerodynamic ram pressure as it hits the Earth's atmosphere at 720 00:35:26.360 --> 00:35:28.039 cosmic velocities. 721 00:35:27.559 --> 00:35:31.039 It will likely undergo catastrophic aer burst fragmentation high in 722 00:35:31.079 --> 00:35:34.519 the stratosphere, dissipating its kinetic energy in a massive shockway, 723 00:35:34.559 --> 00:35:37.840 which is bad. But a one kilometer solid iron core 724 00:35:38.119 --> 00:35:41.159 possesses the tensile strength to survive the extreme heat and 725 00:35:41.199 --> 00:35:44.039 pressure of atmospheric entry entirely intact. 726 00:35:43.760 --> 00:35:44.639 It will not fragment. 727 00:35:44.840 --> 00:35:47.880 It will deliver the entirety of its kinetic energy directly 728 00:35:47.920 --> 00:35:51.760 into the Earth's crust, resulting in a massively deep impact 729 00:35:51.800 --> 00:35:56.320 crater and catastrophic global seismic and climatic consequences. 730 00:35:56.559 --> 00:36:01.360 So Reuben's capacity to utilize precise multiband photometry to instantly 731 00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:06.280 characterize the density, structural cohesion, and exact rotational state of 732 00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:09.800 a newly discovered object within minutes of its detection. 733 00:36:09.559 --> 00:36:12.719 It is a profound leap forward in planetary risk assessment. 734 00:36:12.800 --> 00:36:16.039 The system allows us to instantly differentiate between a loosely 735 00:36:16.079 --> 00:36:19.679 bound kinetic sponge and a solid iron cannonball. 736 00:36:19.239 --> 00:36:21.519 Which is information you really want to have before you 737 00:36:21.599 --> 00:36:22.840 launch an interception mission. 738 00:36:23.079 --> 00:36:27.360 Absolutely, But alongside the immediate requirements of planetary defense, there 739 00:36:27.400 --> 00:36:30.440 is the broader macro level application of this data to 740 00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:31.880 the study of cosmic history. 741 00:36:32.320 --> 00:36:34.599 Right because we discussed how these monolithic fragments are the 742 00:36:34.639 --> 00:36:37.119 shattered cores of differentiated protoplanets. 743 00:36:37.280 --> 00:36:40.280 So by mapping the sheer volume of these extreme rotators 744 00:36:40.320 --> 00:36:43.559 across the main belt, we are essentially tracing the exact 745 00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:47.159 isotopic and structural blueprints of the early Solar System. 746 00:36:47.280 --> 00:36:50.559 These fast rotators serve as pristine kinetic time capsules. 747 00:36:50.840 --> 00:36:54.159 The fact that a one kilometer shard of iron survived 748 00:36:54.239 --> 00:36:57.599 the catastrophic collisions of the Early Solar System. 749 00:36:57.440 --> 00:37:01.880 Endure the chaotic gravitational migrations of Jupiter and Saturn during 750 00:37:01.880 --> 00:37:03.679 the Late Heavy bombardment. 751 00:37:03.400 --> 00:37:06.599 And withstood millions of years of extreme thermal torque from 752 00:37:06.639 --> 00:37:08.159 the Arp effect. 753 00:37:07.880 --> 00:37:10.280 It means it holds an unbroken physical record of our 754 00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:11.960 system's violent deccretion phase. 755 00:37:12.119 --> 00:37:15.599 So by utilizing the Ruben pipelines to map their precise 756 00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:21.280 orbital parameters, categorize their specific rotational velocities and analyze their 757 00:37:21.400 --> 00:37:23.320 multi BAM spectral compositions. 758 00:37:23.760 --> 00:37:27.599 Astrophysicists can reverse engineer the kinematic models of the early 759 00:37:27.639 --> 00:37:28.360 Solar System. 760 00:37:28.519 --> 00:37:32.280 We can determine exactly how many protoplanets formed, precisely where 761 00:37:32.280 --> 00:37:35.559 they were located, and what specific collisional events led to 762 00:37:35.599 --> 00:37:36.239 their destruction. 763 00:37:36.719 --> 00:37:40.079 It provides the physical evidence required to validate complex orbital 764 00:37:40.159 --> 00:37:44.039 dynamics models like the Nice model, which theorizes the dramatic 765 00:37:44.119 --> 00:37:45.679 migration of the giant planets. 766 00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:48.920 The perspective articulated by lead researcher Sarah green Street from 767 00:37:48.960 --> 00:37:52.840 the University of Washington and nor Lab perfectly synthesizes the 768 00:37:52.880 --> 00:37:54.519 impact of the Reuben architecture. 769 00:37:54.719 --> 00:37:58.719 Yeah Her analysis enters on the reality that Ruben's unprecedented 770 00:37:58.760 --> 00:38:05.400 combination of vast spatial breath, deep photometric sensitivity, and relentless 771 00:38:05.480 --> 00:38:09.920 temporal cadence captures the precise phenomena that historically slip through 772 00:38:09.920 --> 00:38:11.079 the observational gaps. 773 00:38:11.239 --> 00:38:14.440 We are crossing a threshold where entirely new classes of 774 00:38:14.480 --> 00:38:18.079 astrophysical phenomena are actively being categorized. 775 00:38:18.400 --> 00:38:22.960 The extreme kinematic profiles that we previously assumed were statistical. 776 00:38:22.360 --> 00:38:25.960 Impossibilities, like a solid metallic needle, spinning hundreds of times 777 00:38:26.000 --> 00:38:26.320 a day. 778 00:38:26.519 --> 00:38:30.360 They are rapidly being recognized as foundational, commonplace components of 779 00:38:30.400 --> 00:38:31.960 our solar system's architecture. 780 00:38:32.199 --> 00:38:35.920 We simply lacked the optical and computational machinery necessary to 781 00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:37.320 observe them, and it. 782 00:38:37.239 --> 00:38:40.280 Is vital to reiterate that the data set fundamentally dismantling 783 00:38:40.360 --> 00:38:43.840 our understanding of asteroid morphology was extracted from a mere 784 00:38:43.880 --> 00:38:46.960 ten hours of early engineering calibration ten hours. When the 785 00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:51.239 LSST fully initiates its decade long survey, processing millions of 786 00:38:51.280 --> 00:38:54.320 alerts per night, the volume of newly discovered Main Belt 787 00:38:54.320 --> 00:38:56.480 and Near Earth objects will reach into the hundreds of 788 00:38:56.480 --> 00:38:57.599 thousands annually. 789 00:38:57.719 --> 00:39:01.320 The sheer scale of the morphological and kinematic data we 790 00:39:01.320 --> 00:39:04.840 are about to ingest will require a continuous rewriting of 791 00:39:04.920 --> 00:39:06.400 astrophysical consensus. 792 00:39:06.480 --> 00:39:09.480 The structural parameters of the universe are about to be 793 00:39:09.519 --> 00:39:12.280 mapped with a terrifying level of precision. 794 00:39:12.039 --> 00:39:15.000 To synthesize the massive scope of the data we've explored today. 795 00:39:15.519 --> 00:39:20.239 We initiated this analysis with a singular, mathematically defiant anomaly. 796 00:39:19.880 --> 00:39:23.320 A subklometer mass of material drifting in the Main Belt 797 00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:27.719 subjected to such extreme angular momentum that it completes a 798 00:39:27.719 --> 00:39:30.880 full rotation every one point eight eight minutes. 799 00:39:30.639 --> 00:39:34.360 A kinematic profile that entirely shattered the accepted parameters of 800 00:39:34.400 --> 00:39:36.519 the two point two hour spin barrier and. 801 00:39:36.599 --> 00:39:40.719 Force the realization that we are observing highly cohesive, potentially 802 00:39:40.760 --> 00:39:42.599 metallic monoliths. 803 00:39:42.280 --> 00:39:46.840 The shattered, indestructible remnants of long dead protoplanetary cores. 804 00:39:46.599 --> 00:39:49.639 Right and from that single benchmark, we extrapolated a hidden 805 00:39:49.679 --> 00:39:52.039 massive population of these extreme rotators. 806 00:39:52.119 --> 00:39:56.559 They're incredible velocities, slowly and relentlessly accelerated over millions of 807 00:39:56.639 --> 00:40:00.599 years by the asymmetrical thermal emission of the r P effect, and. 808 00:40:00.679 --> 00:40:04.119 The entirety of this paradigm shift was captured by a 809 00:40:04.239 --> 00:40:08.320 revolutionary three point two gigapixel optical architecture in the Chilean 810 00:40:08.320 --> 00:40:11.920 Andes that is currently just running its baseline calibrations. 811 00:40:11.440 --> 00:40:15.320 Preparing to flood global data brokers with a relentless torrent 812 00:40:15.400 --> 00:40:19.079 of seven million astronomical transient alerts every single. 813 00:40:19.000 --> 00:40:21.719 Night, transitioning our view of the cosmos from a static 814 00:40:21.760 --> 00:40:25.719 image to a highly dynamic, real time kinematic map. 815 00:40:25.920 --> 00:40:28.880 It represents a fundamental evolution in human observation. 816 00:40:29.199 --> 00:40:32.679 We are moving beyond the era of passive localized sky 817 00:40:33.039 --> 00:40:36.960 mapping into an era of active, systemic real time monitoring 818 00:40:37.320 --> 00:40:40.320 of a highly complex, kinetically aggressive universe. 819 00:40:40.440 --> 00:40:43.719 The observational capabilities are truly entering a new epoch, and 820 00:40:43.760 --> 00:40:46.320 I want to leave you with one final, deeply intricate 821 00:40:46.360 --> 00:40:49.679 mechanism to consider. Yeah, we spend significant time analyzing the 822 00:40:49.679 --> 00:40:53.800 thermodynamics of the YRRP effect. The verified physical reality that 823 00:40:53.840 --> 00:40:57.920 the microscopic momentum of ambient solar radiation, the gentle, almost 824 00:40:57.960 --> 00:41:01.079 imperceptible transfer of heat and infrared f botons can act 825 00:41:01.079 --> 00:41:03.360 as a continuous thermodynamic. 826 00:41:02.639 --> 00:41:07.119 Motor, slowly and silently spinning a billion ton mountain of 827 00:41:07.199 --> 00:41:10.920 solid metal up to a blistering one point eighty eight 828 00:41:11.000 --> 00:41:13.559 minute rotational velocity over millions of years. 829 00:41:13.639 --> 00:41:16.800 It is an ambient force, so incredibly subtle, yet so 830 00:41:17.079 --> 00:41:19.360 unimaginably powerful given enough time. 831 00:41:19.679 --> 00:41:20.320 So true. 832 00:41:20.639 --> 00:41:23.639 So if the sheer pressure of starlight can dictate the 833 00:41:23.719 --> 00:41:27.880 extreme angular momentum of the most dense, indestructible objects in 834 00:41:27.920 --> 00:41:33.480 our solar system, what other invisible, microscopic, thermodynamic or gravitational 835 00:41:33.519 --> 00:41:36.480 forces are currently operating across the cosmos? 836 00:41:36.599 --> 00:41:37.639 It really makes you wonder 837 00:41:37.760 --> 00:41:42.239 What other delicate, highly complex mechanisms are actively shaping, accelerating, 838 00:41:42.239 --> 00:41:45.400 and destroying the seemingly inert mass at the absolute darkest 839 00:41:45.480 --> 00:41:48.280 edges of our solar system, completely outside the bounds of 840 00:41:48.280 --> 00:41:51.199 our current physical models, waiting for a camera sensitive enough 841 00:41:51.199 --> 00:41:52.480 to finally capture the data.