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CARL SAGAN:
The cosmos is all that is,
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or ever was or ever will be.
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Come with me.
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NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON:
A generation ago,
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the astronomer Carl Sagan
stood here
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and launched hundreds
of millions of us
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on a great adventure--
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the exploration of the universe
revealed by science.
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It's time to get going again.
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We're about to begin a journey
that will take us
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from the infinitesimal
to the infinite,
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from the dawn of time
to the distant future.
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We'll explore galaxies
and suns and worlds,
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surf the gravity waves
of space-time,
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encounter beings that live
in fire and ice,
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explore the planets of stars
that never die,
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discover atoms
as massive as suns
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and universes smaller
than atoms.
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Cosmos is also a story about us.
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It's the saga of how wandering
bands of hunters and gatherers
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found their way to the stars,
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one adventure with many heroes.
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To make this journey,
we'll need imagination.
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But imagination alone
is not enough
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because the reality of nature
is far more wondrous
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than anything we can imagine.
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This adventure is made possible
by generations of searchers
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strictly adhering
to a simple set of rules:
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test ideas by experiment
and observation,
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build on those ideas
that pass the test,
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reject the ones that fail,
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follow the evidence
wherever it leads
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and question everything.
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Accept these terms,
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and the cosmos is yours.
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Now come with me.
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free from the shackles
of space and time,
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we can go anywhere.
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If you want to see
where we are in space,
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just look out the front window.
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In the dimension of time,
the past lies beneath us.
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Here's what Earth looked like
250 million years ago.
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If you want
to see the future, look up.
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And this is how it could appear
250 million years from now.
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If we're going
to be venturing out
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into the farthest reaches
of the cosmos,
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we need to know
our cosmic address,
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and this is the first line
of that address.
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We're leaving the Earth,
the only home we've ever known,
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for the farthest reaches
of the cosmos.
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Our nearest neighbor,
the Moon, has no sky,
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no ocean, no life--
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just the scars
of cosmic impacts.
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Our star powers the wind
and the waves
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and all the life on the surface
of our world.
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The Sun holds all the worlds
of the solar system
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in its gravitational embrace,
starting with Mercury...
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...to cloud-covered Venus,
where runaway greenhouse effect
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has turned it
into a kind of hell.
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Mars...
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a world with as much land
as Earth itself.
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A belt of rocky asteroids
circles the Sun
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between the orbits
of Mars and Jupiter.
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With its four giant moons
and dozens of smaller ones,
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Jupiter is like
its own little solar system.
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It has more mass than all
the other planets combined.
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Jupiter's Great Red Spot...
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a hurricane three times
the size of our whole planet
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that's been raging
for centuries.
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The crown jewel
of our solar system, Saturn,
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ringed by freeways
of countless orbiting
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and slowly tumbling snowballs--
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every snowball, a little moon.
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Uranus...
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and Neptune,
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the outermost planets,
unknown to the ancients
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and only discovered after
the invention of the telescope.
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Beyond the outermost planet,
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there's a swarm of tens
of thousands of frozen worlds.
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And Pluto is one them.
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(whooshing)
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Of all our spacecraft,
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this is the one that's traveled
farthest from home--
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Voyager 1.
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She bears a message
to a billion years from now,
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something of who we were,
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how we felt
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and the music we made.
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(Blind Willie Johnson's
"Dark Was the Night" playing)
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(Blind Willie Johnson humming)
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DEGRASSE TYSON:
The deeper waters
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of this vast cosmic ocean
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and their numberless worlds
lie ahead.
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("Dark Was the Night"
continues to play, then fades)
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DEGRASSE TYSON:
From out here, the Sun may look
like just another star.
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But it still exerts
its gravitational hold
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on a trillion frozen comets,
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leftovers from the formation
of the solar system
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nearly five billion years ago.
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It's called the Oort Cloud.
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No one has ever seen it before,
nor could they,
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because each one
of these little worlds
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is as far
from its nearest neighbor
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as Earth is from Saturn.
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This enormous cloud of comets
encloses the solar system,
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which is the second line
of our cosmic address.
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We've only been able to detect
the planets of other stars
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for a few decades,
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but we already know
that planets are plentiful--
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they outnumber the stars.
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Almost all of them will be
very different from Earth,
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and hostile
to life as we know it.
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But what do we know about life?
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We've met only one kind so far:
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Earthlife.
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See anything?
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Just empty space, right?
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Human eyes see
only a sliver of the light
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that shines in the cosmos.
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But science gives us the power
to see what our senses cannot.
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Infrared is
the kind of light made visible
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by night-vision goggles.
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Throw an infrared sensor
across the darkness...
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Rogue planet.
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World without a sun.
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Our galaxy has billions of them,
adrift in perpetual night.
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They're orphans, cast away
from their mother stars
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during the chaotic birth
of their native star systems.
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Rogue planets
are molten at the core
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but frozen at the surface.
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There may be oceans
of liquid water
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in the zone
between those extremes.
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Who knows what
might be swimming there?
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This is what the Milky Way
looks like in infrared.
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Every single dot,
not just the bright ones,
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is a star.
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How many stars?
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How many worlds?
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How many ways of being alive?
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Where are we in this picture?
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See that trailing outer arm?
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That's where we live--
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about 30,000 light-years
from the center.
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The Milky Way Galaxy
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is the next line
of our cosmic address.
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We're now a hundred thousand
light-years from home.
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It would take light,
the fastest thing there is,
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a hundred thousand years
to reach us from Earth.
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This is the Great Spiral
in Andromeda,
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the galaxy next door.
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We call our two giant galaxies
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and a smattering
of smaller ones
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the "local group."
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Can't even find our home galaxy
from out here.
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It's just one of thousands
in the Virgo Supercluster.
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On this scale,
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all the objects we see,
including the tiniest dots,
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are galaxies.
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Each galaxy contains
billions of suns
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and countless worlds.
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Yet, the entire
Virgo Supercluster itself
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forms but a tiny part
of our universe.
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This is the cosmos
on the grandest scale we know--
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a network
of a hundred billion galaxies.
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It's the last line
of our cosmic address...
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for now.
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Observable universe?!
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What does that mean?
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Even for us, in our
Ship of the Imagination,
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there's a limit to how far
we can see in space-time.
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It's our cosmic horizon.
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Beyond that horizon
lie parts of the universe
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that are too far away.
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There hasn't been enough time
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in the 13.8 billion year
history of the universe
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for their light
to have reached us.
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Many of us suspect
that all of this--
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all the worlds, stars,
galaxies and clusters
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in our observable universe--
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is but one tiny bubble
in an infinite ocean
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of other universes...
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...a multiverse.
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Universe upon universe.
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Worlds without end.
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Feeling a little small?
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Well, in the context
of the cosmos, we are small.
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We may just be little guys
living on a speck of dust,
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afloat in
a staggering immensity,
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but we don't think small.
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This cosmic perspective
is relatively new.
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A mere four centuries ago,
our tiny world was oblivious
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to the rest of the cosmos.
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There were no telescopes.
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The universe was only what you
could see with the naked eye.
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Back in 1599,
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everyone knew that the Sun,
planets and stars
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were just lights in the sky
that revolved around the Earth,
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and that we were the center
of a little universe,
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a universe made for us.
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There was only one man
on the whole planet
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who envisioned
an infinitely grander cosmos.
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And how was he spending
New Year's Eve
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of the year 1600?
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Why, in prison, of course.
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DEGRASSE TYSON: There comes
a time in our lives
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when we first realize we're not
the center of the universe,
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that we belong to something
much greater than ourselves.
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It's part of growing up.
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And as it happens to each of us,
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so it began to happen
to our civilization
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in the 16th century.
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Imagine a world
before telescopes,
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00:16:56,799 --> 00:16:59,033
when the universe
was only what you could see
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with the naked eye.
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00:17:00,602 --> 00:17:03,771
It was obvious that Earth
was motionless,
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00:17:03,806 --> 00:17:05,506
and that everything
in the heavens--
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the Sun, the Moon,
the stars, the planets--
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00:17:07,876 --> 00:17:10,712
revolved around us--
and then...
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00:17:10,746 --> 00:17:13,014
a Polish astronomer and priest
named Copernicus
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made a radical proposal:
The Earth was not the center.
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It was just one of the planets,
and, like them,
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it revolved around the Sun.
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Many, like the Protestant
reformer Martin Luther,
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took this idea as a scandalous
affront to Scripture.
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They were horrified.
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But for one man,
Copernicus didn't go far enough.
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His name was Giordano Bruno,
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and he was
a natural-born rebel.
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He longed to bust out of that
cramped little universe.
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Even as a young Dominican monk
in Naples,
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he was a misfit.
This was a time
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when there was
no freedom of thought in Italy.
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But Bruno hungered to know
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everything
about God's creation.
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He dared to read the books
banned by the Church,
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and that was his undoing.
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In one of them,
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an ancient Roman, a man dead
for more than 1,500 years
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whispered to him
of a universe far greater,
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one as boundless
as his idea of God.
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Lucretius asked the reader
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to imagine standing
at the edge of the universe
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and shooting an arrow outward.
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If the arrow keeps going,
then clearly,
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00:18:23,318 --> 00:18:26,187
the universe extends beyond
what you thought was the edge.
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00:18:26,221 --> 00:18:28,623
But if the arrow
doesn't keep going--
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say it hits a wall--
then that wall must lie
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00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:34,295
beyond what you thought
was the edge of the universe.
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00:18:34,329 --> 00:18:37,632
Now if you stand on that wall
and shoot another arrow,
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00:18:37,666 --> 00:18:40,368
there are only the same
two possible outcomes:
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00:18:40,402 --> 00:18:42,703
it either flies forever
out into space,
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or it hits some boundary
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where you can stand and shoot
yet another arrow.
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00:18:47,576 --> 00:18:50,144
Either way,
the universe is unbounded.
255
00:18:50,179 --> 00:18:53,447
The cosmos must be infinite.
256
00:18:53,482 --> 00:18:55,950
This made perfect sense
to Bruno.
257
00:18:55,984 --> 00:18:58,319
The God he worshipped
was infinite.
258
00:18:58,353 --> 00:19:02,190
So how, he reasoned, could
Creation be anything less?
259
00:19:02,224 --> 00:19:03,558
(door opens)
260
00:19:12,201 --> 00:19:13,201
(door opens)
261
00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:20,675
It was the last steady job
he ever had.
262
00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:26,881
(wind whistles softly)
263
00:19:30,085 --> 00:19:32,486
And then, when he was 30,
264
00:19:32,521 --> 00:19:36,157
he had the vision
that sealed his fate.
265
00:19:36,191 --> 00:19:38,659
In this dream,
he awakened to a world
266
00:19:38,694 --> 00:19:41,729
enclosed inside
a confining bowl of stars.
267
00:19:41,763 --> 00:19:44,765
This was the cosmos
of Bruno's time.
268
00:20:03,218 --> 00:20:05,786
He experienced
a sickening moment of fear,
269
00:20:05,788 --> 00:20:07,288
as if the bottom of everything
270
00:20:07,322 --> 00:20:09,924
was falling away
beneath his feet.
271
00:20:09,926 --> 00:20:12,426
But he summoned up his courage.
272
00:20:20,469 --> 00:20:23,271
BRUNO: I spread
confident wings to space
273
00:20:23,305 --> 00:20:26,874
and soared toward the infinite,
leaving far behind me
274
00:20:26,909 --> 00:20:30,244
what others strained to see
from a distance.
275
00:20:30,279 --> 00:20:33,648
Here, there was no up,
no down, no edge,
276
00:20:33,715 --> 00:20:35,216
no center.
277
00:20:35,250 --> 00:20:38,653
I saw that the Sun
was just another star,
278
00:20:38,687 --> 00:20:42,623
and the stars were other Suns,
each escorted by other Earths
279
00:20:42,658 --> 00:20:44,258
like our own.
280
00:20:44,293 --> 00:20:47,561
The revelation
of this immensity was like
281
00:20:47,596 --> 00:20:49,030
falling in love.
282
00:20:52,501 --> 00:20:54,468
DEGRASSE TYSON:
Bruno became an evangelist,
283
00:20:54,503 --> 00:20:57,938
spreading the gospel
of infinity throughout Europe.
284
00:20:57,940 --> 00:21:01,509
He assumed that other lovers
of God would naturally embrace
285
00:21:01,526 --> 00:21:04,578
this grander and more glorious
view of Creation.
286
00:21:04,646 --> 00:21:07,648
BRUNO:
What a fool I was.
287
00:21:09,685 --> 00:21:11,352
DEGRASSE TYSON:
He was excommunicated
288
00:21:11,386 --> 00:21:13,287
by the Roman Catholic Church
in his homeland,
289
00:21:13,355 --> 00:21:15,756
expelled by the Calvinists
in Switzerland,
290
00:21:15,791 --> 00:21:17,992
and by the Lutherans
in Germany.
291
00:21:17,994 --> 00:21:21,028
Bruno jumped at an invitation
292
00:21:21,063 --> 00:21:23,898
to lecture at Oxford,
in England.
293
00:21:25,300 --> 00:21:27,134
At last, he thought,
294
00:21:27,169 --> 00:21:30,805
a chance to share his vision
with an audience of his peers.
295
00:21:30,839 --> 00:21:32,957
(laughter)
296
00:21:33,008 --> 00:21:34,875
(laughter continues)
297
00:21:34,910 --> 00:21:37,962
I have come to present
a new vision of the cosmos.
298
00:21:38,013 --> 00:21:41,048
Copernicus was right
to argue that our world
299
00:21:41,066 --> 00:21:42,783
is not the center
of the universe.
300
00:21:42,818 --> 00:21:44,852
The Earth goes around the Sun.
301
00:21:44,886 --> 00:21:47,355
It's a planet,
just like the others.
302
00:21:47,389 --> 00:21:49,457
But Copernicus
was only the dawn.
303
00:21:49,491 --> 00:21:51,659
I bring you the sunrise.
304
00:21:53,061 --> 00:21:55,129
The stars are other fiery suns,
305
00:21:55,131 --> 00:21:57,365
made of the same substance
as the Earth,
306
00:21:57,399 --> 00:22:00,401
and they have
their own watery earths,
307
00:22:00,435 --> 00:22:03,504
with plants and animals
no less noble than our own.
308
00:22:03,538 --> 00:22:05,806
Are you mad or merely ignorant?
309
00:22:05,841 --> 00:22:07,575
Everyone knows
there is only one world.
310
00:22:07,609 --> 00:22:10,077
What everyone knows is wrong.
311
00:22:10,112 --> 00:22:13,080
Our infinite God has created
a boundless universe
312
00:22:13,115 --> 00:22:14,982
with an infinite
number of worlds.
313
00:22:15,017 --> 00:22:17,018
Do they not read Aristotle
where you come from?
314
00:22:17,052 --> 00:22:18,753
Or even the Bible?
315
00:22:18,787 --> 00:22:23,391
I beg you, reject antiquity,
tradition, faith, and authority.
316
00:22:23,425 --> 00:22:24,692
Let us begin anew,
317
00:22:24,726 --> 00:22:26,727
by doubting
everything we assume
318
00:22:26,762 --> 00:22:27,862
has been proven.
Heretic!
319
00:22:27,896 --> 00:22:28,929
Infidel!
320
00:22:28,964 --> 00:22:30,831
Your God is too small.
321
00:22:30,866 --> 00:22:32,867
(scholars shouting angrily)
322
00:22:35,404 --> 00:22:38,773
DEGRASSE TYSON:
A wiser man would have
learned his lesson.
323
00:22:38,807 --> 00:22:42,109
But Bruno was not such a man.
324
00:22:42,144 --> 00:22:46,380
He couldn't keep his soaring
vision of the cosmos to himself,
325
00:22:46,415 --> 00:22:49,350
despite the fact that
the penalty for doing so
326
00:22:49,384 --> 00:22:52,386
in his world
was the most vicious form
327
00:22:52,421 --> 00:22:54,422
of cruel and unusual punishment.
328
00:22:58,276 --> 00:23:00,945
time
when there was no such thing
329
00:23:00,979 --> 00:23:02,913
as the separation
of church and state,
330
00:23:02,948 --> 00:23:05,483
or the notion that freedom
of speech was a sacred right
331
00:23:05,517 --> 00:23:07,451
of every individual.
332
00:23:07,486 --> 00:23:10,321
Expressing an idea that didn't
conform to traditional belief
333
00:23:10,355 --> 00:23:12,957
could land you in deep trouble.
334
00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:17,628
Recklessly, Bruno
returned to Italy.
335
00:23:17,662 --> 00:23:19,296
Maybe he was homesick.
336
00:23:19,331 --> 00:23:22,566
But still, he must have known
that his homeland
337
00:23:22,601 --> 00:23:24,668
was one of the most dangerous
places in Europe
338
00:23:24,703 --> 00:23:26,437
he could possibly go.
339
00:23:26,471 --> 00:23:29,507
The Roman Catholic Church
maintained a system of courts
340
00:23:29,541 --> 00:23:31,342
known as the Inquisition,
341
00:23:31,376 --> 00:23:34,912
and its sole purpose
was to investigate and torment
342
00:23:34,946 --> 00:23:38,816
anyone who dared voice views
that differed from theirs.
343
00:23:41,853 --> 00:23:45,790
It wasn't long before Bruno
fell into the clutches
344
00:23:45,824 --> 00:23:47,691
of the thought police.
345
00:23:53,732 --> 00:23:56,367
This wanderer, who worshipped
an infinite universe,
346
00:23:56,401 --> 00:23:59,537
languished in confinement
for eight years.
347
00:23:59,571 --> 00:24:01,372
Through relentless
interrogations,
348
00:24:01,406 --> 00:24:04,108
he stubbornly refused
to renounce his views.
349
00:24:04,175 --> 00:24:05,676
Why was the Church willing
350
00:24:05,710 --> 00:24:09,380
to go to such lengths
to torment Bruno?
351
00:24:09,414 --> 00:24:11,449
What were they afraid of?
352
00:24:11,483 --> 00:24:14,685
If Bruno was right,
then the sacred books
353
00:24:14,719 --> 00:24:16,854
and the authority of the Church
354
00:24:16,888 --> 00:24:20,224
would be open to question.
355
00:24:20,258 --> 00:24:21,959
Finally, the cardinals
of the Inquisition
356
00:24:21,993 --> 00:24:23,894
rendered their verdict.
357
00:24:23,929 --> 00:24:25,496
CARDINAL BELLARMINE:
You are found guilty
358
00:24:25,530 --> 00:24:28,365
of questioning the Holy Trinity
359
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,068
and the divinity
of Jesus Christ.
360
00:24:31,102 --> 00:24:34,371
Of believing that God's
wrath is not eternal,
361
00:24:34,406 --> 00:24:35,873
that everyone will be saved.
362
00:24:35,907 --> 00:24:40,711
Of asserting the existence
of other worlds.
363
00:24:41,847 --> 00:24:44,748
All of the books
you have written
364
00:24:44,816 --> 00:24:48,252
will be gathered up and burned
in St. Peter's Square.
365
00:24:48,319 --> 00:24:51,856
Reverend Father,
these eight years of confinement
366
00:24:51,890 --> 00:24:53,424
have given me
much time to reflect.
367
00:24:53,458 --> 00:24:54,425
CARDINAL BELLARMINE:
So...
368
00:24:54,459 --> 00:24:55,826
you will recant?
369
00:24:55,861 --> 00:24:57,828
My love and reverence
for the Creator
370
00:24:57,863 --> 00:25:01,499
inspires in me the vision
of an infinite Creation.
371
00:25:01,533 --> 00:25:05,102
You shall be turned over
to the Governor of Rome
372
00:25:05,136 --> 00:25:08,506
to administer
the appropriate punishment
373
00:25:08,540 --> 00:25:10,608
for those who
will not repent.
374
00:25:10,642 --> 00:25:12,676
(crowd jeers)
375
00:25:12,711 --> 00:25:16,614
It may be that you
are more afraid
376
00:25:16,648 --> 00:25:19,984
to deliver this judgment
than I am to hear it.
377
00:25:52,250 --> 00:25:55,152
(crowd shouting)
378
00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:30,354
Ten years
after Bruno's martyrdom,
379
00:26:30,388 --> 00:26:32,823
Galileo first looked
through a telescope,
380
00:26:32,857 --> 00:26:35,492
realizing that Bruno
had been right all along.
381
00:26:35,527 --> 00:26:38,262
The Milky Way was made
of countless stars
382
00:26:38,296 --> 00:26:39,997
invisible to the naked eye,
383
00:26:40,031 --> 00:26:43,968
and some of those lights in the
sky were actually other worlds.
384
00:26:44,002 --> 00:26:46,270
Bruno was no scientist.
385
00:26:46,304 --> 00:26:48,772
His vision of the cosmos
was a lucky guess,
386
00:26:48,807 --> 00:26:51,275
because he had
no evidence to support it.
387
00:26:51,309 --> 00:26:54,545
Like most guesses, it could
well have turned out wrong.
388
00:26:54,579 --> 00:26:57,147
But once the idea
was in the air,
389
00:26:57,182 --> 00:26:59,216
it gave others
a target to aim at.
390
00:26:59,250 --> 00:27:00,851
If only to disprove it.
391
00:27:02,887 --> 00:27:06,557
Bruno glimpsed
the vastness of space.
392
00:27:06,591 --> 00:27:11,362
But he had no inkling of the
staggering immensity of time.
393
00:27:14,933 --> 00:27:18,002
How can we humans, who rarely
live more than a century,
394
00:27:18,036 --> 00:27:20,804
hope to grasp
the vast expanse of time
395
00:27:20,839 --> 00:27:23,040
that is the history
of the cosmos?
396
00:27:23,074 --> 00:27:27,845
The universe is
13.8 thousand million years old.
397
00:27:27,879 --> 00:27:30,180
In order to imagine
all of cosmic time,
398
00:27:30,281 --> 00:27:33,917
let's compress it
into a single calendar year.
399
00:27:46,064 --> 00:27:48,265
Cosmic
Calendar begins on January 1,
400
00:27:48,299 --> 00:27:50,267
with the birth of our universe.
401
00:27:50,301 --> 00:27:54,104
It contains everything that's
happened since then up to now,
402
00:27:54,139 --> 00:27:58,342
which on this calendar
is midnight, December 31.
403
00:27:58,376 --> 00:28:00,744
On this scale, every month
404
00:28:00,779 --> 00:28:02,780
represents about
a billion years.
405
00:28:02,814 --> 00:28:06,950
Every day represents
nearly 40 million years.
406
00:28:06,985 --> 00:28:09,086
Let's go back as far as we can,
407
00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:12,790
to the very first moment
of the universe.
408
00:28:12,824 --> 00:28:14,758
January 1.
409
00:28:14,793 --> 00:28:16,727
The Big Bang.
410
00:28:26,604 --> 00:28:31,075
It's as far back
as we can see in time...
411
00:28:31,109 --> 00:28:33,110
for now.
412
00:28:34,646 --> 00:28:36,814
Our entire universe emerged
413
00:28:36,848 --> 00:28:39,550
from a point smaller
than a single atom.
414
00:28:39,584 --> 00:28:42,553
Space itself exploded
in a cosmic fire,
415
00:28:42,587 --> 00:28:44,922
launching the expansion
of the universe
416
00:28:44,956 --> 00:28:47,324
and giving birth
to all the energy
417
00:28:47,358 --> 00:28:49,293
and all the matter
we know today.
418
00:28:49,327 --> 00:28:51,628
I know that sounds crazy,
419
00:28:51,663 --> 00:28:53,597
but there's strong
observational evidence
420
00:28:53,631 --> 00:28:55,232
to support the Big Bang theory.
421
00:28:55,266 --> 00:28:57,735
And it includes the amount
of helium in the cosmos
422
00:28:57,752 --> 00:29:01,405
and the glow of radio waves
left over from the explosion.
423
00:29:01,439 --> 00:29:03,907
As it expanded,
the universe cooled,
424
00:29:03,942 --> 00:29:08,812
and there was darkness
for about 200 million years.
425
00:29:08,847 --> 00:29:11,782
Gravity was pulling together
clumps of gas and heating them
426
00:29:11,816 --> 00:29:14,785
until the first stars
burst into light
427
00:29:14,819 --> 00:29:17,020
on January 10.
428
00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:25,763
On January 13,
these stars coalesced
429
00:29:25,797 --> 00:29:30,667
into the first small galaxies.
430
00:29:30,702 --> 00:29:33,504
These galaxies merged
to form still larger ones,
431
00:29:33,538 --> 00:29:36,874
including our own Milky Way,
432
00:29:36,908 --> 00:29:41,345
which formed about
11 billion years ago,
433
00:29:41,379 --> 00:29:44,214
on March 15 of the cosmic year.
434
00:29:46,084 --> 00:29:48,552
Hundreds of billions of suns.
435
00:29:48,586 --> 00:29:50,387
Which one is ours?
436
00:29:50,421 --> 00:29:52,623
It's not yet born.
437
00:29:52,657 --> 00:29:57,127
It will rise from the ashes
of other stars.
438
00:29:57,162 --> 00:30:00,364
See those lights
flashing like paparazzi?
439
00:30:00,398 --> 00:30:02,833
Each one is a supernova,
440
00:30:02,867 --> 00:30:06,036
the blazing death
of a giant star.
441
00:30:06,038 --> 00:30:09,406
Stars die and are born
in places like this one--
442
00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:11,308
a stellar nursery.
443
00:30:11,342 --> 00:30:13,010
They condense like raindrops
444
00:30:13,044 --> 00:30:15,679
from giant clouds
of gas and dust.
445
00:30:15,713 --> 00:30:18,682
They get so hot
that the nuclei of the atoms
446
00:30:18,716 --> 00:30:21,218
fuse together deep within them
447
00:30:21,252 --> 00:30:24,421
to make the oxygen we breathe,
the carbon in our muscles,
448
00:30:24,455 --> 00:30:27,891
the calcium in our bones,
the iron in our blood,
449
00:30:27,926 --> 00:30:29,693
all of it was cooked
450
00:30:29,727 --> 00:30:33,197
in the fiery hearts
of long-vanished stars.
451
00:30:33,231 --> 00:30:36,934
You, me, everyone--
452
00:30:36,968 --> 00:30:41,405
we are made of star stuff.
453
00:30:43,208 --> 00:30:45,509
This star stuff
is recycled and enriched,
454
00:30:45,543 --> 00:30:47,077
again and again,
455
00:30:47,111 --> 00:30:49,780
through succeeding
generations of stars.
456
00:30:54,052 --> 00:30:56,420
How much longer until
the birth of our Sun?
457
00:30:56,454 --> 00:30:58,222
A long time.
458
00:30:58,256 --> 00:30:59,523
It won't begin to shine
459
00:30:59,557 --> 00:31:02,392
for another six billion years.
460
00:31:04,095 --> 00:31:07,064
Our Sun's birthday is August 31
461
00:31:07,098 --> 00:31:08,899
on the Cosmic Calendar...
462
00:31:11,436 --> 00:31:13,704
...four and a half
billion years ago.
463
00:31:13,738 --> 00:31:16,206
As with the other worlds
of our solar system,
464
00:31:16,241 --> 00:31:19,309
Earth was formed
from a disk of gas and dust
465
00:31:19,344 --> 00:31:21,478
orbiting the newborn Sun.
466
00:31:21,512 --> 00:31:24,948
Repeated collisions produced
a growing ball of debris.
467
00:31:31,356 --> 00:31:32,756
See that asteroid?
468
00:31:32,790 --> 00:31:34,091
No, not that one.
469
00:31:34,125 --> 00:31:35,792
The one over there.
470
00:31:35,827 --> 00:31:39,563
We exist because the gravity
of that one next to it
471
00:31:39,597 --> 00:31:42,733
just nudged it
an inch to the left.
472
00:31:42,767 --> 00:31:44,768
What difference
could an inch make
473
00:31:44,802 --> 00:31:46,837
on the scale the solar system?
474
00:31:46,871 --> 00:31:49,773
Just wait, you'll see.
475
00:31:51,342 --> 00:31:53,126
The Earth took
one hell of a beating
476
00:31:53,177 --> 00:31:55,012
in its first billion years.
477
00:31:58,449 --> 00:32:01,318
Fragments of orbiting debris
collided and coalesced,
478
00:32:01,352 --> 00:32:03,954
until they snowballed
to form our Moon.
479
00:32:06,124 --> 00:32:09,660
The Moon is a souvenir
of that violent epoch.
480
00:32:09,694 --> 00:32:12,696
If you stood on the surface
of that long ago Earth,
481
00:32:12,730 --> 00:32:15,432
the Moon would have looked
a hundred times brighter.
482
00:32:15,450 --> 00:32:17,634
It was ten times
closer back then,
483
00:32:17,669 --> 00:32:22,372
locked in a much more intimate
gravitational embrace.
484
00:32:22,407 --> 00:32:25,342
As the Earth cooled,
seas began to form.
485
00:32:25,376 --> 00:32:28,445
The tides were
a thousand times higher then.
486
00:32:28,479 --> 00:32:31,682
Over the eons,
tidal friction within Earth
487
00:32:31,716 --> 00:32:33,817
pushed the Moon away.
488
00:32:39,691 --> 00:32:42,392
Life began
somewhere around here,
489
00:32:42,427 --> 00:32:44,494
September 21,
490
00:32:44,529 --> 00:32:47,564
three and a half billion
years ago on our little world.
491
00:32:47,598 --> 00:32:49,366
We still don't know
how life got started.
492
00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:51,034
For all we know,
493
00:32:51,069 --> 00:32:53,070
it may have come from
another part of the Milky Way.
494
00:32:53,104 --> 00:32:54,905
The origin of life
495
00:32:54,939 --> 00:32:58,108
is one of the greatest
unsolved mysteries of science.
496
00:33:01,779 --> 00:33:03,814
That's life cooking,
497
00:33:03,848 --> 00:33:06,383
evolving all
the biochemical recipes
498
00:33:06,417 --> 00:33:10,020
for its incredibly
complex activities.
499
00:33:10,121 --> 00:33:15,659
By November 9,
life was breathing, moving,
500
00:33:15,693 --> 00:33:19,563
eating, responding to
its environment.
501
00:33:19,597 --> 00:33:22,499
We owe a lot
to those pioneering microbes.
502
00:33:22,533 --> 00:33:24,568
Oh, yeah-- one other thing.
503
00:33:24,602 --> 00:33:27,938
They also invented sex.
504
00:33:31,376 --> 00:33:33,543
December 17 was quite a day.
505
00:33:33,578 --> 00:33:36,013
Life in the sea really took off,
506
00:33:36,047 --> 00:33:38,181
it was exploding
with a diversity
507
00:33:38,216 --> 00:33:40,183
of larger plants and animals.
508
00:33:40,218 --> 00:33:45,322
Tiktaalik was one of the first
animals to venture onto land.
509
00:33:47,225 --> 00:33:50,594
It must have felt
like visiting another planet.
510
00:33:52,096 --> 00:33:54,464
Forests, dinosaurs,
511
00:33:54,499 --> 00:33:56,800
birds, insects,
512
00:33:56,834 --> 00:34:00,203
they all evolved
in the final week of December.
513
00:34:00,238 --> 00:34:02,072
The first flower...
514
00:34:02,106 --> 00:34:06,410
bloomed on December 28.
515
00:34:09,814 --> 00:34:12,549
As these ancient forests
grew and died
516
00:34:12,583 --> 00:34:14,551
and sank beneath the surface,
517
00:34:14,585 --> 00:34:17,421
their remains transformed
into coal.
518
00:34:17,455 --> 00:34:20,057
300 million years later,
519
00:34:20,091 --> 00:34:23,393
we humans are burning
most of that coal to power
520
00:34:23,428 --> 00:34:26,496
and imperil our civilization.
521
00:34:26,531 --> 00:34:28,932
(whooshing)
522
00:34:31,469 --> 00:34:32,836
Remember that asteroid
back in the formation
523
00:34:32,870 --> 00:34:34,504
of the solar system--
524
00:34:34,539 --> 00:34:36,673
the one that got nudged
a little to the left?
525
00:34:36,707 --> 00:34:39,009
Well, here it comes.
526
00:34:39,043 --> 00:34:41,478
It's 6:24 a.m.
527
00:34:41,512 --> 00:34:45,816
on December 30
on the Cosmic Calendar.
528
00:34:45,850 --> 00:34:47,317
(impact thundering)
529
00:34:52,824 --> 00:34:54,758
For more than
a hundred million years,
530
00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:56,993
the dinosaurs were lords
of the Earth,
531
00:34:57,028 --> 00:34:59,763
while our ancestors,
small mammals,
532
00:34:59,797 --> 00:35:01,932
scurried fearfully underfoot.
533
00:35:01,966 --> 00:35:04,334
The asteroid changed all that.
534
00:35:04,368 --> 00:35:06,169
Suppose it hadn't
been nudged at all.
535
00:35:06,204 --> 00:35:08,004
It would have missed
the Earth entirely,
536
00:35:08,039 --> 00:35:10,307
and for all we know, the
dinosaurs might still be here
537
00:35:10,341 --> 00:35:11,942
but we wouldn't.
538
00:35:11,976 --> 00:35:14,945
This is a good example
of the extreme contingency,
539
00:35:14,979 --> 00:35:17,714
the chance nature, of existence.
540
00:35:19,383 --> 00:35:22,652
The universe is already
more than 13 and a half
541
00:35:22,687 --> 00:35:24,054
billion years old.
542
00:35:24,088 --> 00:35:25,889
Still no sign of us.
543
00:35:25,923 --> 00:35:30,060
In the vast ocean of time
that this calendar represents,
544
00:35:30,094 --> 00:35:33,163
we humans only evolved
within the last hour
545
00:35:33,197 --> 00:35:38,201
of the last day
of the cosmic year.
546
00:35:43,574 --> 00:35:47,310
11:59 and 46 seconds.
547
00:35:47,312 --> 00:35:51,548
All of recorded history occupies
only the last 14 seconds,
548
00:35:51,582 --> 00:35:54,317
and every person
you've ever heard of
549
00:35:54,352 --> 00:35:56,353
lived somewhere in there.
550
00:35:58,222 --> 00:36:02,192
All those kings and battles,
migrations and inventions,
551
00:36:02,194 --> 00:36:06,663
wars and loves,
everything in the history books
552
00:36:06,697 --> 00:36:08,732
happened here,
in the last seconds
553
00:36:08,766 --> 00:36:10,834
of the Cosmic Calendar.
554
00:36:10,868 --> 00:36:13,036
But if we want to explore
555
00:36:13,070 --> 00:36:15,605
such a brief moment
of cosmic time...
556
00:36:18,242 --> 00:36:20,310
...we'll have to change scale.
557
00:36:37,528 --> 00:36:39,963
We are newcomers to the cosmos.
558
00:36:39,997 --> 00:36:44,401
Our own story only begins on the
last night of the cosmic year.
559
00:36:44,435 --> 00:36:47,804
It's 9:45 on New Year's Eve.
560
00:36:47,838 --> 00:36:50,240
Three and a half
million years ago,
561
00:36:50,274 --> 00:36:54,177
our ancestors, yours and mine,
left these traces.
562
00:36:55,546 --> 00:36:59,182
We stood up,
and parted ways from them.
563
00:36:59,217 --> 00:37:01,117
Once we were standing
on two feet,
564
00:37:01,152 --> 00:37:04,287
our eyes were no longer
fixated on the ground.
565
00:37:04,322 --> 00:37:07,958
Now we were free
to look up in wonder.
566
00:37:10,561 --> 00:37:13,029
For the longest part
of human existence,
567
00:37:13,064 --> 00:37:16,800
say the last 40,000 generations,
568
00:37:16,834 --> 00:37:18,635
we were wanderers,
569
00:37:18,669 --> 00:37:21,838
living in small bands
of hunters and gatherers,
570
00:37:21,872 --> 00:37:24,507
making tools, controlling fire,
571
00:37:24,542 --> 00:37:26,509
naming things,
572
00:37:26,544 --> 00:37:30,880
all within the last hour
of the Cosmic Calendar.
573
00:37:39,023 --> 00:37:42,492
To find out what happens next,
we'll have to change scale
574
00:37:42,526 --> 00:37:45,695
to see the last minute
of the last night
575
00:37:45,730 --> 00:37:48,732
of the cosmic year.
576
00:37:48,766 --> 00:37:50,734
11:59.
577
00:37:50,768 --> 00:37:53,403
We're so very young on
the time scale of the universe
578
00:37:53,437 --> 00:37:56,039
that we didn't start painting
our first pictures
579
00:37:56,073 --> 00:37:59,643
until the last 60 seconds
of the cosmic year,
580
00:37:59,677 --> 00:38:03,179
a mere 30,000 years ago.
581
00:38:11,422 --> 00:38:13,990
This is when
we invented astronomy.
582
00:38:14,025 --> 00:38:17,226
In fact, we're all descended
from astronomers.
583
00:38:17,228 --> 00:38:20,597
Our survival depended on
knowing how to read the stars
584
00:38:20,631 --> 00:38:22,932
in order to predict
the coming of the winter
585
00:38:22,967 --> 00:38:25,568
and the migration
of the wild herds.
586
00:38:25,603 --> 00:38:28,571
And then,
around 10,000 years ago,
587
00:38:28,606 --> 00:38:31,574
there began a revolution
in the way we lived.
588
00:38:31,609 --> 00:38:34,844
Our ancestors learned
how to shape their environment,
589
00:38:34,879 --> 00:38:37,247
taming wild plants and animals,
590
00:38:37,281 --> 00:38:40,250
cultivating land
and settling down.
591
00:38:40,284 --> 00:38:42,852
This changed everything.
592
00:38:42,887 --> 00:38:44,854
For the first time
in our history,
593
00:38:44,889 --> 00:38:48,258
we had more stuff
than we could carry.
594
00:38:48,292 --> 00:38:50,694
We needed a way
to keep track of it.
595
00:38:50,728 --> 00:38:52,896
At 14 seconds to midnight,
596
00:38:52,930 --> 00:38:56,399
or about 6,000 years ago,
we invented writing.
597
00:38:56,434 --> 00:38:58,902
And it wasn't long
before we started recording
598
00:38:58,936 --> 00:39:00,637
more than bushels of grain.
599
00:39:00,671 --> 00:39:02,639
Writing allowed us
to save our thoughts
600
00:39:02,673 --> 00:39:05,909
and send them much further
in space and time.
601
00:39:05,943 --> 00:39:08,311
Tiny markings on a clay tablet
602
00:39:08,346 --> 00:39:11,581
became a means for us
to vanquish mortality.
603
00:39:11,615 --> 00:39:14,718
It shook the world.
604
00:39:14,752 --> 00:39:17,821
Moses was born
seven seconds ago.
605
00:39:17,823 --> 00:39:20,757
Buddha, six seconds ago.
606
00:39:20,791 --> 00:39:23,660
Jesus, five seconds ago.
607
00:39:23,694 --> 00:39:27,097
Mohammed, three seconds ago.
608
00:39:27,131 --> 00:39:30,500
It was not even two seconds ago
that, for better or worse,
609
00:39:30,534 --> 00:39:33,837
the two halves of the Earth
discovered each other.
610
00:39:33,871 --> 00:39:36,106
And it was only
in the very last second
611
00:39:36,140 --> 00:39:39,109
of the Cosmic Calendar
that we began to use science
612
00:39:39,143 --> 00:39:42,278
to reveal nature's secrets
and her laws.
613
00:39:42,296 --> 00:39:45,014
The scientific method
is so powerful
614
00:39:45,049 --> 00:39:47,016
that in a mere four centuries,
615
00:39:47,051 --> 00:39:50,353
it has taken us from Galileo's
first look through a telescope
616
00:39:50,355 --> 00:39:53,857
at another world to leaving
our footprints on the Moon.
617
00:39:53,891 --> 00:39:58,361
It allowed us to look out
across space and time
618
00:39:58,396 --> 00:40:04,134
to discover where
and when we are in the cosmos.
619
00:40:04,168 --> 00:40:08,705
SAGAN:
We are a way for the cosmos
to know itself.
620
00:40:08,739 --> 00:40:11,040
Carl Sagan guided
the maiden voyage of Cosmos
621
00:40:11,075 --> 00:40:12,809
a generation ago.
622
00:40:12,843 --> 00:40:15,011
He was the most successful
science communicator
623
00:40:15,045 --> 00:40:16,513
of the 20th century,
624
00:40:16,547 --> 00:40:19,282
but he was first and foremost
a scientist.
625
00:40:19,316 --> 00:40:22,819
Carl contributed enormously
626
00:40:22,837 --> 00:40:25,054
to our knowledge
of the planets.
627
00:40:25,056 --> 00:40:28,057
He correctly predicted
the existence of methane lakes
628
00:40:28,059 --> 00:40:30,026
on Saturn's giant moon Titan.
629
00:40:30,044 --> 00:40:33,329
He showed that the atmosphere
of the early Earth
630
00:40:33,364 --> 00:40:36,299
must have contained
powerful greenhouse gases.
631
00:40:36,333 --> 00:40:40,303
He was the first to understand
that seasonal changes on Mars
632
00:40:40,370 --> 00:40:42,806
were due to windblown dust.
633
00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:44,374
Carl was a pioneer
634
00:40:44,408 --> 00:40:45,809
in the search
for extraterrestrial life
635
00:40:45,843 --> 00:40:48,711
and intelligence.
636
00:40:48,713 --> 00:40:52,015
He played a leading role in
every major spacecraft mission
637
00:40:52,049 --> 00:40:54,517
to explore the solar system
during the first 40 years
638
00:40:54,585 --> 00:40:56,920
of the Space Age.
639
00:40:58,689 --> 00:41:01,558
But that's not all he did.
640
00:41:03,794 --> 00:41:07,897
This is Carl Sagan's
own calendar from 1975.
641
00:41:09,867 --> 00:41:12,869
Who was I back then?
642
00:41:12,903 --> 00:41:15,705
I was just a 17-year-old kid
from the Bronx
643
00:41:15,739 --> 00:41:18,107
with dreams
of becoming a scientist,
644
00:41:18,142 --> 00:41:21,444
and somehow the world's most
famous astronomer found time
645
00:41:21,479 --> 00:41:24,280
to invite me to Ithaca,
in upstate New York,
646
00:41:24,315 --> 00:41:26,082
and spend a Saturday with him.
647
00:41:26,116 --> 00:41:29,519
I remember that snowy day
like it was yesterday.
648
00:41:29,553 --> 00:41:31,354
He met me at the bus stop
649
00:41:31,388 --> 00:41:34,257
and showed me his laboratory
at Cornell University.
650
00:41:34,291 --> 00:41:38,728
Carl reached behind his desk
and inscribed this book for me.
651
00:41:42,466 --> 00:41:45,134
"For Neil, a future astronomer.
652
00:41:45,169 --> 00:41:46,970
Carl."
653
00:41:47,004 --> 00:41:50,406
At the end of the day, he drove
me back to the bus station.
654
00:41:50,441 --> 00:41:52,408
The snow was falling harder.
655
00:41:52,426 --> 00:41:54,410
He wrote his phone number--
his home phone number--
656
00:41:54,445 --> 00:41:57,914
on a scrap of paper and he said,
"If the bus can't get through,
657
00:41:57,948 --> 00:42:01,751
call me and spend the night
at my home with my family."
658
00:42:01,785 --> 00:42:04,587
I already knew I wanted
to become a scientist,
659
00:42:04,622 --> 00:42:06,990
but that afternoon,
I learned from Carl
660
00:42:07,024 --> 00:42:09,259
the kind of person
I wanted to become.
661
00:42:09,293 --> 00:42:12,929
He reached out to me
and to countless others,
662
00:42:12,963 --> 00:42:17,433
inspiring so many of us
to study, teach and do science.
663
00:42:17,468 --> 00:42:19,836
Science is
a cooperative enterprise,
664
00:42:19,870 --> 00:42:22,238
spanning the generations.
665
00:42:22,273 --> 00:42:26,576
It's the passing of a torch from
teacher to student to teacher,
666
00:42:26,610 --> 00:42:30,079
a community of minds
reaching back to antiquity
667
00:42:30,114 --> 00:42:32,081
and forward to the stars.
668
00:42:32,116 --> 00:42:34,918
Now, come with me.
669
00:42:34,952 --> 00:42:38,354
Our journey is just beginning.
670
00:43:04,248 --> 00:42:38,354
Captioned by
Media Access Group at WGBH
access.wgbh.org