1
00:00:03,820 --> 00:00:07,690
     NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON:
     <i> We pulled the stars</i>
      <i> from the skies...</i>

2
00:00:09,959 --> 00:00:12,961
     <i> ...and brought them</i>
        <i> down to Earth.</i>

3
00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:26,408
      <i> But at what cost?</i>

4
00:00:26,443 --> 00:00:29,578
      <i> When we turned on</i>
     <i> all these lights...</i>

5
00:00:29,612 --> 00:00:32,181
 <i> we lost something precious.</i>

6
00:00:32,215 --> 00:00:34,616
          The stars.

7
00:00:34,651 --> 00:00:38,020
              ¶ ¶

8
00:00:49,032 --> 00:00:51,400
              ¶ ¶

9
00:02:32,769 --> 00:02:34,636
      (flames crackling)

10
00:02:34,671 --> 00:02:38,440
       A long time ago,
 in a world lit only by fire,

11
00:02:38,474 --> 00:02:40,275
our relationship with the stars

12
00:02:40,310 --> 00:02:42,544
        was far more...

13
00:02:42,579 --> 00:02:44,046
           personal.

14
00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:45,747
 For thousands of generations,

15
00:02:45,782 --> 00:02:46,915
     <i> we watched the stars</i>

16
00:02:46,950 --> 00:02:48,984
<i> as if our lives depended on it.</i>

17
00:02:49,018 --> 00:02:51,420
      <i> Because they did.</i>

18
00:02:52,922 --> 00:02:55,457
<i> We humans were not the biggest,</i>

19
00:02:55,491 --> 00:02:56,825
the strongest, nor the fastest

20
00:02:56,860 --> 00:02:58,827
      of all the animals
     we competed against.

21
00:02:58,862 --> 00:03:00,829
        But we did have
    one thing going for us:

22
00:03:00,864 --> 00:03:02,598
       our intelligence.

23
00:03:02,632 --> 00:03:04,967
One aspect of that was a genius

24
00:03:05,001 --> 00:03:06,435
   for pattern recognition.

25
00:03:06,469 --> 00:03:09,137
      Night after night,
     we watched the stars.

26
00:03:09,172 --> 00:03:12,107
        And over time,
     our ancestors noticed

27
00:03:12,141 --> 00:03:15,310
 that the motions of the stars
 across the nights of the year

28
00:03:15,345 --> 00:03:17,112
   foretold changes on Earth

29
00:03:17,146 --> 00:03:19,982
  that threatened or enhanced
   our chances for survival.

30
00:03:20,016 --> 00:03:21,650
           In a time
     when our imaginations

31
00:03:21,684 --> 00:03:24,853
      were the only stage
  where stories came to life,

32
00:03:24,888 --> 00:03:26,622
before there were movies or TVs

33
00:03:26,656 --> 00:03:29,124
     or electronic devices
         of any kind,

34
00:03:29,158 --> 00:03:32,294
      every human culture
      connected the dots

35
00:03:32,328 --> 00:03:34,196
  to form their own pictures.

36
00:03:35,999 --> 00:03:38,867
   <i> These images became the</i>
 <i> illustrations of a storybook</i>

37
00:03:38,902 --> 00:03:42,704
   <i> that, on a deeper level,</i>
 <i> was also a survival manual.</i>

38
00:03:42,739 --> 00:03:45,807
 <i> The names and personalities</i>
     <i> of the gods, heroes,</i>

39
00:03:45,842 --> 00:03:47,976
         <i> farm animals</i>
     <i> or familiar objects</i>

40
00:03:48,011 --> 00:03:50,178
<i> varied from culture to culture.</i>

41
00:03:50,213 --> 00:03:54,616
<i> But there was one particularly</i>
   <i> gorgeous group of stars</i>

42
00:03:54,651 --> 00:03:58,353
 <i> known to the ancient Greeks</i>
       <i> and to us today</i>

43
00:03:58,388 --> 00:04:00,689
       <i> as the Pleiades,</i>

44
00:04:00,723 --> 00:04:04,192
    <i> a star cluster formed</i>
 <i> about 100 million years ago.</i>

45
00:04:04,227 --> 00:04:07,529
<i> Each of them is some 40 times</i>
    <i> brighter than our Sun.</i>

46
00:04:07,563 --> 00:04:10,532
<i> And Alcyone, the most luminous,</i>

47
00:04:10,566 --> 00:04:14,069
<i> outshines our Sun 1,000 times.</i>

48
00:04:14,103 --> 00:04:17,039
    <i> For ages, the Pleiades</i>
<i> have been used as an eye test</i>

49
00:04:17,073 --> 00:04:20,375
<i> for people all over the world.</i>

50
00:04:20,410 --> 00:04:23,245
       <i> If you could see</i>
    <i> at least six of them,</i>

51
00:04:23,279 --> 00:04:25,080
 <i> you were considered normal.</i>

52
00:04:25,114 --> 00:04:26,915
 <i> If you saw more than seven,</i>

53
00:04:26,950 --> 00:04:30,052
 <i> you were an ideal candidate</i>
   <i> for a warrior or scout.</i>

54
00:04:30,086 --> 00:04:33,221
 <i> Among the ancient Celts and</i>
 <i> Druids of the British Isles,</i>

55
00:04:33,256 --> 00:04:36,591
<i> the Pleiades were believed to</i>
<i> have a haunting significance.</i>

56
00:04:36,626 --> 00:04:38,493
   <i> On the night of the year</i>
       <i> that they reach</i>

57
00:04:38,528 --> 00:04:40,662
      <i> the highest point</i>
   <i> in the sky at midnight,</i>

58
00:04:40,697 --> 00:04:44,333
 <i> the spirits of the dead were</i>
 <i> thought to wander the Earth.</i>

59
00:04:44,367 --> 00:04:47,235
    <i> This is believed to be</i>
  <i> the origin of the holiday</i>

60
00:04:47,270 --> 00:04:49,338
    <i> once known as Samhain,</i>

61
00:04:49,372 --> 00:04:50,872
    <i> now called Halloween.</i>

62
00:04:50,907 --> 00:04:53,208
     <i> All over the Earth,</i>
      <i> our ancestors told</i>

63
00:04:53,242 --> 00:04:55,277
 <i> wonderful stories to explain</i>

64
00:04:55,311 --> 00:04:58,680
    <i> how the Pleiades came</i>
      <i> to be in the sky.</i>

65
00:04:58,715 --> 00:05:01,049
     For the Kiowa people
       of North America,

66
00:05:01,084 --> 00:05:03,218
it happened something like this.

67
00:05:05,455 --> 00:05:07,456
     (indistinct chatter)

68
00:05:10,927 --> 00:05:13,695
       <i> Long, long ago,</i>
       <i> some young women</i>

69
00:05:13,730 --> 00:05:15,797
<i> snuck away from their campsite</i>

70
00:05:15,832 --> 00:05:18,266
       <i> to dance freely</i>
      <i> beneath the stars.</i>

71
00:05:20,503 --> 00:05:22,904
              ¶ ¶

72
00:05:30,179 --> 00:05:31,713
        (bear roaring)

73
00:05:31,748 --> 00:05:32,948
       (women screaming)

74
00:05:48,331 --> 00:05:50,799
              (roaring)

75
00:05:50,833 --> 00:05:51,933
           (panting)

76
00:05:51,968 --> 00:05:53,668
        Rock, save us!

77
00:05:53,703 --> 00:05:57,272
    Rock, take pity on us!

78
00:05:57,306 --> 00:06:01,343
        DEGRASSE TYSON:
  <i> The rock heard their cries</i>
       <i> and grew taller.</i>

79
00:06:07,183 --> 00:06:11,520
<i> Until it became what is today</i>
 <i> known as the Devil's Tower.</i>

80
00:06:15,992 --> 00:06:20,262
 <i> The maidens were transformed</i>
<i> into the stars of the Pleiades,</i>

81
00:06:20,296 --> 00:06:23,899
  <i> which may be seen hanging</i>
<i> above the tower in midwinter.</i>

82
00:06:25,802 --> 00:06:28,103
      <i> The ancient Greeks</i>
 <i> also saw those seven jewels</i>

83
00:06:28,137 --> 00:06:30,205
      <i> as seven maidens,</i>

84
00:06:30,239 --> 00:06:33,809
<i> the seven daughters of Atlas,</i>

85
00:06:33,843 --> 00:06:36,545
<i> pursued not by bears, but by...</i>

86
00:06:36,579 --> 00:06:38,547
      <i> Orion the hunter,</i>

87
00:06:38,581 --> 00:06:41,516
  <i> who spied them when he was</i>
     <i> out walking one day.</i>

88
00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:54,162
<i> Orion became mad with desire.</i>

89
00:06:55,364 --> 00:06:56,364
            (gasps)

90
00:06:59,502 --> 00:07:01,136
      (maidens screaming)

91
00:07:01,170 --> 00:07:04,906
       <i> For seven years,</i>
 <i> he chased them relentlessly.</i>

92
00:07:06,509 --> 00:07:08,844
         <i> Exhausted...</i>
         Zeus, help us.

93
00:07:08,878 --> 00:07:11,346
     <i> they prayed to Zeus</i>
       <i> for deliverance.</i>

94
00:07:13,516 --> 00:07:17,986
 <i> Zeus, the king of the gods,</i>
     <i> felt sorry for them,</i>

95
00:07:18,020 --> 00:07:20,222
       <i> and transformed</i>
     <i> those seven maidens</i>

96
00:07:20,256 --> 00:07:23,525
      <i> into the Pleiades.</i>

97
00:07:31,067 --> 00:07:34,402
       But the gods are,
   if anything, capricious.

98
00:07:34,437 --> 00:07:38,006
     When Orion was killed
  by the sting of a scorpion,

99
00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:41,376
Zeus placed him in the sky where
  he could resume his pursuit

100
00:07:41,410 --> 00:07:43,345
of the seven gorgeous sisters.

101
00:07:43,379 --> 00:07:45,514
   Our ancestors, they wove

102
00:07:45,548 --> 00:07:47,082
brilliantly imaginative stories.

103
00:07:47,116 --> 00:07:49,551
     But they can bring us
    no closer to the stars

104
00:07:49,585 --> 00:07:50,919
       than our dreams.

105
00:07:50,953 --> 00:07:53,722
      It took yet another
      few thousand years

106
00:07:53,756 --> 00:07:56,024
until three brilliant scientists
     unlocked the secrets

107
00:07:56,058 --> 00:07:58,994
of the true lives of the stars.

108
00:08:08,905 --> 00:08:10,539
        DEGRASSE TYSON:
           <i> In 1901,</i>

109
00:08:10,573 --> 00:08:13,508
  <i> Harvard was a man's world.</i>

110
00:08:13,543 --> 00:08:16,278
   <i> But an astronomer named</i>
   <i> Edward Charles Pickering</i>

111
00:08:16,312 --> 00:08:17,979
       <i> broke that rule.</i>

112
00:08:20,883 --> 00:08:23,818
    Oh, Pickering's office
   is just down the hallway.

113
00:08:23,853 --> 00:08:26,021
             And that door over
        there leads to the room

114
00:08:26,055 --> 00:08:29,524
                 where he keeps
                 his computers.

115
00:08:40,269 --> 00:08:43,972
 We're supposed to call those
  women "computers," but, uh,

116
00:08:44,006 --> 00:08:46,575
I've heard more than one fellow
refer to those gals

117
00:08:46,609 --> 00:08:49,511
as "Pickering's Harem."
         (men laughing)

118
00:08:49,545 --> 00:08:51,880
        DEGRASSE TYSON:
     <i> Pickering assembled</i>
       <i> a team of women</i>

119
00:08:51,914 --> 00:08:54,883
     <i> to map and classify</i>
     <i> the types of stars.</i>

120
00:08:54,917 --> 00:08:58,353
 <i> One of them provided the key</i>
    <i> to our understanding </i>

121
00:08:58,387 --> 00:09:00,055
<i> of the substance of the stars.</i>

122
00:09:00,089 --> 00:09:02,891
  <i> And another devised a way</i>
     <i> for us to calculate</i>

123
00:09:02,925 --> 00:09:05,860
  <i> the size of the universe.</i>

124
00:09:05,895 --> 00:09:09,531
 For some reason, you probably
never heard of either of them.

125
00:09:09,565 --> 00:09:12,033
          Wonder why.

126
00:09:13,703 --> 00:09:15,036
  <i> That's Annie Jump Cannon,</i>

127
00:09:15,071 --> 00:09:17,372
   <i> the leader of the team.</i>

128
00:09:17,406 --> 00:09:19,274
   <i> Before she was through,</i>

129
00:09:19,308 --> 00:09:21,710
   <i> she catalogued a quarter</i>
     <i> of a million stars.</i>

130
00:09:23,412 --> 00:09:26,881
Number 11 is a B7.

131
00:09:26,916 --> 00:09:29,851
That's Alcyone in the Pleiades.

132
00:09:29,885 --> 00:09:32,387
        DEGRASSE TYSON:
   <i> Cannon lost her hearing</i>
<i> during a bout of scarlet fever</i>

133
00:09:32,421 --> 00:09:33,622
 <i> when she was a young woman.</i>

134
00:09:33,656 --> 00:09:37,058
      Number 12 is a B6.

135
00:09:37,093 --> 00:09:39,928
        DEGRASSE TYSON:
<i> That's Henrietta Swan Leavitt.</i>
       <i> She's also deaf.</i>

136
00:09:39,962 --> 00:09:43,898
     <i> And she's the other</i>
 <i> great scientist in the room.</i>

137
00:09:43,933 --> 00:09:47,102
  <i> Leavitt discovered the law</i>
  <i> that astronomers still use</i>

138
00:09:47,136 --> 00:09:48,870
  <i> more than a century later</i>

139
00:09:48,904 --> 00:09:50,739
   <i> to measure the distances</i>
         <i> to the stars</i>

140
00:09:50,773 --> 00:09:53,341
         <i> and the size</i>
    <i> of the cosmos itself.</i>

141
00:09:55,311 --> 00:09:58,213
  <i> Annie Jump Cannon sent out</i>
 <i> a Christmas card explaining</i>

142
00:09:58,247 --> 00:10:01,283
   <i> what she and her sisters</i>
     <i> were actually doing.</i>

143
00:10:01,317 --> 00:10:03,251
    <i> The light from a star</i>
          <i> is allowed</i>

144
00:10:03,286 --> 00:10:06,755
<i> to fall through a prism placed</i>
 <i> in the telescope, she wrote.</i>

145
00:10:06,789 --> 00:10:10,458
<i> Thus magnified, the starlight</i>
   <i> is split up into a band</i>

146
00:10:10,493 --> 00:10:12,894
<i> showing its component colors,</i>

147
00:10:12,928 --> 00:10:17,232
<i> the red rays going to one end</i>
 <i> and the violet to the other.</i>

148
00:10:17,266 --> 00:10:19,601
     <i> This is the spectrum</i>
         <i> of the star.</i>

149
00:10:19,635 --> 00:10:22,504
    <i> It shows the presence</i>
     <i> of fine, dark lines.</i>

150
00:10:22,538 --> 00:10:24,673
      <i> By comparing them</i>
       <i> with lines given</i>

151
00:10:24,707 --> 00:10:26,975
    <i> by glowing substances</i>
      <i> in the laboratory,</i>

152
00:10:27,009 --> 00:10:30,612
<i> we can determine that the same</i>
   <i> elements familiar to us</i>

153
00:10:30,646 --> 00:10:33,948
   <i> on the Earth also exist</i>
    <i> in the outermost star.</i>

154
00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:48,697
This is plate number
12358B.

155
00:10:54,003 --> 00:10:58,807
Number one at this plate
is a B-type star.

156
00:11:00,743 --> 00:11:04,512
Make that a B2.

157
00:11:06,515 --> 00:11:08,216
        DEGRASSE TYSON:
    <i> It took Cannon decades</i>

158
00:11:08,250 --> 00:11:10,118
         <i> to classify</i>
    <i> the spectral character</i>

159
00:11:10,152 --> 00:11:12,554
   <i> of hundreds of thousands</i>
           <i> of stars</i>

160
00:11:12,588 --> 00:11:15,123
   <i> according to the scheme</i>
      <i> that she devised.</i>

161
00:11:15,157 --> 00:11:17,559
      <i> Cannon discovered</i>
     <i> that the stars fell</i>

162
00:11:17,593 --> 00:11:21,663
 <i> into a continuous sequence</i>
  <i> of seven broad categories</i>

163
00:11:21,697 --> 00:11:23,998
 <i> according to their spectral</i>
        <i> line patterns.</i>

164
00:11:24,033 --> 00:11:26,368
     <i> Each was designated</i>
         <i> by a letter.</i>

165
00:11:26,402 --> 00:11:30,305
<i> But the spectral lines of two</i>
<i> stars in the same letter class</i>

166
00:11:30,339 --> 00:11:32,474
 <i> could differ in subtle ways,</i>

167
00:11:32,508 --> 00:11:34,676
      <i> minute variations</i>
     <i> that Cannon learned</i>

168
00:11:34,710 --> 00:11:36,378
  <i> to recognize from memory.</i>

169
00:11:36,412 --> 00:11:39,047
 <i> To distinguish these spectra</i>
      <i> from one another,</i>

170
00:11:39,081 --> 00:11:43,718
  <i> she assigned ten numerical</i>
<i> subcategories for each class.</i>

171
00:11:43,753 --> 00:11:46,554
       Annie Jump Cannon
     organized the stars,

172
00:11:46,589 --> 00:11:48,890
 but it would fall to another
     scientist to decipher

173
00:11:48,924 --> 00:11:51,192
the hidden meaning in her work.

174
00:11:51,227 --> 00:11:53,194
  (ship's horn blows thrice)

175
00:11:53,229 --> 00:11:56,664
   <i> In the England of 1923,</i>
     <i> women were forbidden</i>

176
00:11:56,699 --> 00:11:59,033
        <i> from pursuing</i>
 <i> advanced degrees in science.</i>

177
00:11:59,068 --> 00:12:01,936
<i> But Cecelia Payne had attended</i>
     <i> a lecture in London</i>

178
00:12:01,971 --> 00:12:04,205
      <i> by the astronomer</i>
    <i> Sir Arthur Eddington,</i>

179
00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:06,841
     <i> the first scientist</i>
     <i> to provide evidence</i>

180
00:12:06,876 --> 00:12:08,510
<i> that Einstein's revolutionary</i>

181
00:12:08,544 --> 00:12:10,712
 <i> General Theory of Relativity</i>
         <i> was correct.</i>

182
00:12:10,746 --> 00:12:12,247
     <i> From that moment on,</i>

183
00:12:12,281 --> 00:12:13,948
    <i> she knew that nothing</i>
       <i> would deter her</i>

184
00:12:13,983 --> 00:12:16,451
 <i> from pursing her big dreams.</i>

185
00:12:17,953 --> 00:12:20,288
   <i> She resolved to emigrate</i>
         <i> to America,</i>

186
00:12:20,322 --> 00:12:22,624
   <i> where women had already</i>
      <i> gained the freedom</i>

187
00:12:22,658 --> 00:12:24,759
     <i> to study the stars.</i>

188
00:12:24,794 --> 00:12:27,796
 <i> Her application was accepted</i>
         <i> at Harvard.</i>

189
00:12:27,830 --> 00:12:30,231
<i> What she would discover there</i>
       <i> would challenge</i>

190
00:12:30,266 --> 00:12:32,434
  <i> one of the central beliefs</i>
        <i> of astronomy.</i>

191
00:12:32,468 --> 00:12:35,069
     <i> The resulting impact</i>

192
00:12:35,104 --> 00:12:38,440
      <i> would be the dawn</i>
   <i> of modern astrophysics.</i>

193
00:12:43,946 --> 00:12:45,747
        DEGRASSE TYSON:
    <i> As the decades passed,</i>

194
00:12:45,781 --> 00:12:48,983
<i> Annie Jump Cannon and her team</i>
   <i> kept sifting the stars,</i>

195
00:12:49,018 --> 00:12:50,819
     <i> checking each one's</i>
      <i> spectral signature</i>

196
00:12:50,853 --> 00:12:53,655
    <i> with a fleeting glance</i>
    <i> and then dropping them</i>

197
00:12:53,689 --> 00:12:55,490
<i> into one of seven categories.</i>

198
00:12:55,524 --> 00:12:58,326
     <i> They became hundreds</i>
     <i> of thousands of dots</i>

199
00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:01,663
  <i> in a larger picture which</i>
 <i> no one could yet understand.</i>

200
00:13:01,697 --> 00:13:06,568
 <i> Into this community of women</i>
        <i> came one more.</i>

201
00:13:07,970 --> 00:13:09,671
             Well, hello there.

202
00:13:09,705 --> 00:13:12,841
        You must be Miss Payne.

203
00:13:12,875 --> 00:13:14,142
                     We've been
               waiting for you.

204
00:13:14,176 --> 00:13:16,344
                    Come on in.

205
00:13:16,378 --> 00:13:19,047
        DEGRASSE TYSON:
   <i> Cecilia Payne had never</i>
  <i> experienced such kindness</i>

206
00:13:19,081 --> 00:13:21,616
<i> in a scientific setting before.</i>

207
00:13:21,650 --> 00:13:24,285
       <i> This sisterhood</i>
      <i> generously shared</i>

208
00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:26,387
  <i> the fruits of their labors</i>
          <i> with her,</i>

209
00:13:26,422 --> 00:13:28,223
        <i> and she turned</i>
      <i> their observations</i>

210
00:13:28,257 --> 00:13:31,793
      <i> into a radical new</i>
 <i> understanding of the stars.</i>

211
00:13:31,827 --> 00:13:34,929
     The two women became
        great friends.

212
00:13:34,964 --> 00:13:36,664
Cannon taught Payne everything
        she had learned

213
00:13:36,699 --> 00:13:38,199
    about stellar spectra.

214
00:13:38,234 --> 00:13:40,001
  And Payne began to analyze
         Cannon's data

215
00:13:40,035 --> 00:13:43,738
 to see if she could determine
the actual chemical composition

216
00:13:43,772 --> 00:13:45,974
and physical state of the stars.

217
00:13:46,008 --> 00:13:48,309
   She brought to this work
         her expertise

218
00:13:48,344 --> 00:13:50,178
        in theoretical
      and atomic physics.

219
00:13:53,015 --> 00:13:55,850
 <i> The most prominent features</i>
   <i> in the spectra of stars</i>

220
00:13:55,885 --> 00:13:57,585
     <i> showed the presence</i>
      <i> of heavy elements</i>

221
00:13:57,620 --> 00:14:01,556
 <i> such as calcium... and iron,</i>

222
00:14:01,590 --> 00:14:04,526
   <i> which are among the most</i>
<i> abundant elements in the Earth.</i>

223
00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:06,528
        So astronomers
      naturally concluded

224
00:14:06,562 --> 00:14:08,396
   that the stars were made

225
00:14:08,430 --> 00:14:10,365
     of the same elements
         as the Earth

226
00:14:10,399 --> 00:14:12,534
        and in roughly
     the same proportions.

227
00:14:12,568 --> 00:14:17,438
<i> In 1924, Henry Norris Russell</i>
         <i> was the dean</i>

228
00:14:17,473 --> 00:14:20,742
   <i> of American astronomers,</i>
<i> having made major contributions</i>

229
00:14:20,776 --> 00:14:23,111
     <i> to our understanding</i>
        <i> of the stars.</i>

230
00:14:23,145 --> 00:14:25,880
           RUSSELL:
        40 to 45 of the
       chemical elements

231
00:14:25,915 --> 00:14:27,749
  that we have here on Earth

232
00:14:27,783 --> 00:14:30,552
       are also present
  in the spectrum of the Sun.

233
00:14:30,586 --> 00:14:34,088
       So we can assume
that the composition of the Sun

234
00:14:34,123 --> 00:14:36,958
 resembles that of the Earth.

235
00:14:36,992 --> 00:14:40,461
 If one were to heat the crust
of the Earth to incandescence,

236
00:14:40,496 --> 00:14:44,065
  its spectrum would resemble
       that of the Sun.

237
00:14:58,647 --> 00:15:02,584
           Annie, I think I now
  understand what it all means.

238
00:15:02,618 --> 00:15:04,485
    All your years of work.

239
00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:05,753
           Tell me.

240
00:15:05,788 --> 00:15:07,388
                I've calculated
               what the spectra

241
00:15:07,423 --> 00:15:09,457
should look like
across a wide range

242
00:15:09,491 --> 00:15:11,125
of temperatures,
and they match

243
00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:13,962
          your system
 of classification perfectly.

244
00:15:13,996 --> 00:15:18,166
   The spectrum of any star
tells you exactly how hot it is.

245
00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:24,172
Your "O-B-A-F-G-K-M" is really
a temperature scale of the stars

246
00:15:24,206 --> 00:15:26,708
from the hottest to the coldest.

247
00:15:28,877 --> 00:15:31,679
  Here's the headline, Annie:
     Thanks to your work,

248
00:15:31,714 --> 00:15:33,748
I've discovered that the stars
   are made almost entirely

249
00:15:33,782 --> 00:15:35,416
    of hydrogen and helium.

250
00:15:35,451 --> 00:15:38,519
There's a million times more
hydrogen and helium

251
00:15:38,554 --> 00:15:40,688
than the metals
in the stars.

252
00:15:40,723 --> 00:15:43,358
I know, it sounds daft.

253
00:15:43,392 --> 00:15:45,426
       Are you certain?

254
00:15:45,461 --> 00:15:50,164
    Has anyone else checked
      your calculations?

255
00:15:50,199 --> 00:15:52,767
           Not yet,
  but it's all in my thesis,

256
00:15:52,801 --> 00:15:55,236
  which is already on its way
     to Professor Russell.

257
00:16:06,849 --> 00:16:08,883
          Poor woman.

258
00:16:08,917 --> 00:16:12,153
        DEGRASSE TYSON:
      <i> Russell felt sorry</i>
      <i> for Cecilia Payne.</i>

259
00:16:12,187 --> 00:16:15,690
  <i> Her thesis appeared to him</i>
 <i> to be fundamentally flawed.</i>

260
00:16:23,265 --> 00:16:26,701
           RUSSELL:
   <i> It is clearly impossible</i>
   <i> that hydrogen should be</i>

261
00:16:26,735 --> 00:16:29,404
<i> a million times more abundant</i>
       <i> than the metals.</i>

262
00:16:33,609 --> 00:16:37,378
        DEGRASSE TYSON:
<i> Her carefully gathered evidence</i>
       <i> flew in the face</i>

263
00:16:37,413 --> 00:16:40,048
       <i> of conventional</i>
      <i> scientific wisdom.</i>

264
00:16:40,082 --> 00:16:42,016
   <i> "How could I be right,"</i>
          <i> she asked,</i>

265
00:16:42,051 --> 00:16:44,252
      <i> "if that must mean</i>

266
00:16:44,286 --> 00:16:47,255
  <i> that such a distinguished</i>
    <i> scientist was wrong?"</i>

267
00:16:48,957 --> 00:16:51,993
    <i> Despite her confidence</i>
<i> in the quality of her research,</i>

268
00:16:52,027 --> 00:16:55,096
<i> she caved and added a sentence</i>
        <i> to her thesis</i>

269
00:16:55,130 --> 00:16:58,099
       <i> that undermined</i>
    <i> its greatest insight.</i>

270
00:17:03,639 --> 00:17:05,073
    It would be four years

271
00:17:05,107 --> 00:17:07,842
    before Russell realized
     that Payne was right.

272
00:17:07,876 --> 00:17:11,012
        To his credit,
      as soon as he did,

273
00:17:11,046 --> 00:17:13,381
        he acknowledged
  that it was her discovery.

274
00:17:16,819 --> 00:17:20,621
<i> Payne's "Stellar Atmospheres"</i>
      <i> is widely regarded</i>

275
00:17:20,656 --> 00:17:22,757
    <i> as the most brilliant</i>
          <i> PhD thesis</i>

276
00:17:22,791 --> 00:17:24,592
  <i> ever written in astronomy.</i>

277
00:17:24,626 --> 00:17:28,963
 <i> It became the standard text</i>
        <i> in its field.</i>

278
00:17:28,997 --> 00:17:32,700
            PAYNE:
<i> I was to blame for not having</i>
      <i> pressed my point.</i>

279
00:17:32,735 --> 00:17:37,572
 <i> I had given in to authority</i>
 <i> when I believed I was right.</i>

280
00:17:37,606 --> 00:17:39,640
<i> If you are sure of your facts,</i>

281
00:17:39,675 --> 00:17:42,110
      <i> you should defend</i>
        <i> your position.</i>

282
00:17:43,512 --> 00:17:45,580
        DEGRASSE TYSON:
   The words of the powerful

283
00:17:45,614 --> 00:17:48,416
 may prevail in other spheres
     of human experience,

284
00:17:48,450 --> 00:17:52,420
but in science, the only thing
  that counts is the evidence

285
00:17:52,454 --> 00:17:54,922
         and the logic
    of the argument itself.

286
00:17:54,957 --> 00:17:58,326
Cecilia Payne's interpretation
of Annie Jump Cannon's sequence

287
00:17:58,360 --> 00:18:01,095
      of stellar spectra
    made it possible for us

288
00:18:01,130 --> 00:18:03,331
   to read the life stories
         of the stars

289
00:18:03,365 --> 00:18:07,335
and to trace the story of life
 itself back to its beginnings

290
00:18:07,369 --> 00:18:10,371
    in their fiery deaths.

291
00:18:16,295 --> 00:18:19,063
        DEGRASSE TYSON:
<i> There are many kinds of stars.</i>

292
00:18:19,098 --> 00:18:21,632
<i> Some are bright like the Sun.</i>

293
00:18:21,667 --> 00:18:23,768
        <i> Some are dim.</i>

294
00:18:23,802 --> 00:18:25,903
      <i> The greatest stars</i>
 <i> are ten million times larger</i>

295
00:18:25,938 --> 00:18:28,139
   <i> than the smallest ones.</i>

296
00:18:28,173 --> 00:18:30,741
      <i> Some stars are old</i>
      <i> beyond imagining,</i>

297
00:18:30,776 --> 00:18:33,945
 <i> more than ten billion years</i>
           <i> of age.</i>

298
00:18:33,979 --> 00:18:36,314
    <i> Others are being born</i>
          <i> right now.</i>

299
00:18:40,052 --> 00:18:43,020
        When atoms fuse
    in the hearts of stars,

300
00:18:43,055 --> 00:18:44,322
     they make starlight.

301
00:18:44,356 --> 00:18:46,257
  Stars are born in litters,

302
00:18:46,291 --> 00:18:49,927
 <i> formed from the gas and dust</i>
   <i> of interstellar clouds.</i>

303
00:18:49,962 --> 00:18:52,864
  <i> The mass of the individual</i>
      <i> stars in a litter</i>

304
00:18:52,898 --> 00:18:55,199
  <i> can range from the runts--</i>
       <i> not much larger</i>

305
00:18:55,234 --> 00:18:57,268
  <i> than the largest planets--</i>

306
00:18:57,302 --> 00:19:00,071
   <i> to the supergiant stars</i>
     <i> that dwarf the Sun.</i>

307
00:19:06,245 --> 00:19:10,148
 The stars in the nebula below
  Orion's Belt are newborns,

308
00:19:10,182 --> 00:19:11,883
around five million years old,

309
00:19:11,917 --> 00:19:15,119
      <i> and still swaddled</i>
     <i> in the gas and dust</i>

310
00:19:15,154 --> 00:19:17,321
   <i> that gave birth to them.</i>

311
00:19:17,356 --> 00:19:20,491
  <i> The stars in the Pleiades</i>
    <i> are already toddlers,</i>

312
00:19:20,526 --> 00:19:22,393
 <i> about 100 million years old.</i>

313
00:19:22,427 --> 00:19:24,529
 <i> They've shed their blankets</i>
       <i> of gas and dust,</i>

314
00:19:24,563 --> 00:19:26,464
   <i> but they're still bound</i>
           <i> together</i>

315
00:19:26,498 --> 00:19:28,399
   <i> by their mutual gravity.</i>

316
00:19:28,433 --> 00:19:30,334
     <i> Another few hundred</i>
        <i> million years,</i>

317
00:19:30,369 --> 00:19:32,970
   <i> and they'll drift apart</i>
 <i> and go their separate ways,</i>

318
00:19:33,005 --> 00:19:35,506
     <i> never to meet again.</i>

319
00:19:35,541 --> 00:19:39,143
   <i> Most of the stars of the</i>
 <i> Big Dipper are adolescents,</i>

320
00:19:39,178 --> 00:19:41,712
    <i> roughly half a billion</i>
          <i> years old.</i>

321
00:19:41,747 --> 00:19:44,315
<i> They've already drifted apart</i>
  <i> from their birth cluster,</i>

322
00:19:44,349 --> 00:19:47,385
 <i> although we can still trace</i>
    <i> their common ancestry.</i>

323
00:19:47,419 --> 00:19:50,821
<i> Eventually, they'll spread out</i>
 <i> around the Milky Way galaxy.</i>

324
00:19:50,856 --> 00:19:53,691
   <i> But most of the familiar</i>
        <i> constellations</i>

325
00:19:53,725 --> 00:19:57,061
    <i> are a mix of entirely</i>
       <i> unrelated stars,</i>

326
00:19:57,095 --> 00:19:58,863
    <i> some faint and nearby,</i>

327
00:19:58,897 --> 00:20:02,033
 <i> others bright and far away.</i>

328
00:20:04,570 --> 00:20:06,103
         <i> Our own Sun?</i>

329
00:20:06,138 --> 00:20:08,105
      <i> From the distance</i>
  <i> of even a few light-years,</i>

330
00:20:08,140 --> 00:20:11,542
       it's hard to find
    amidst the other stars.

331
00:20:11,577 --> 00:20:13,578
        It's that one.

332
00:20:15,214 --> 00:20:16,714
    Our Sun is middle-aged

333
00:20:16,748 --> 00:20:18,683
        and a long way
    from where it was born.

334
00:20:18,717 --> 00:20:20,384
       Its sister stars,

335
00:20:20,419 --> 00:20:22,186
     hatched from the same
      interstellar cloud,

336
00:20:22,221 --> 00:20:25,056
         are dispersed
    throughout the galaxy.

337
00:20:25,090 --> 00:20:27,725
       Many of them have
      their own planets.

338
00:20:27,759 --> 00:20:29,627
 Perhaps some of them nurture

339
00:20:29,661 --> 00:20:32,730
     the evolution of life
       and intelligence.

340
00:20:32,764 --> 00:20:34,865
       Most of the stars
       in our night sky

341
00:20:34,900 --> 00:20:38,536
   actually orbit around one
  or more stellar companions.

342
00:20:38,570 --> 00:20:40,071
      With the naked eye,

343
00:20:40,105 --> 00:20:41,639
     we usually can't see
      the fainter members

344
00:20:41,673 --> 00:20:43,908
        in such double
  and multiple star systems.

345
00:20:46,645 --> 00:20:48,546
 <i> On a world with three suns,</i>

346
00:20:48,580 --> 00:20:50,481
   <i> the nights would be rare</i>

347
00:20:50,515 --> 00:20:54,151
 <i> and the days might alternate</i>
    <i> between red and blue.</i>

348
00:21:00,659 --> 00:21:03,394
      <i> It is the destiny</i>
    <i> of stars to collapse.</i>

349
00:21:03,428 --> 00:21:05,396
       <i> Of the thousands</i>
       <i> of stars you see</i>

350
00:21:05,430 --> 00:21:07,565
       <i> when you look up</i>
      <i> at the night sky,</i>

351
00:21:07,599 --> 00:21:08,899
 <i> every one of them is living</i>

352
00:21:08,934 --> 00:21:11,068
        <i> in an interval</i>
    <i> between two collapses:</i>

353
00:21:11,103 --> 00:21:13,938
<i> an initial collapse of a dark,</i>
    <i> interstellar gas cloud</i>

354
00:21:13,972 --> 00:21:15,573
      <i> to form the star,</i>

355
00:21:15,607 --> 00:21:18,142
     <i> and a final collapse</i>
     <i> of the luminous star</i>

356
00:21:18,176 --> 00:21:20,911
          <i> on its way</i>
    <i> to its ultimate fate.</i>

357
00:21:20,946 --> 00:21:22,613
 Gravity makes stars contract,

358
00:21:22,648 --> 00:21:24,849
    unless some other force
          intervenes.

359
00:21:24,883 --> 00:21:28,185
 The Sun is a great, big ball
     of incandescent gas.

360
00:21:28,220 --> 00:21:31,155
 The super hot gas in its core

361
00:21:31,189 --> 00:21:33,190
        pushes the Sun
      to expand outward.

362
00:21:33,225 --> 00:21:36,027
       At the same time,
     the Sun's own gravity

363
00:21:36,061 --> 00:21:38,095
 pulls it inward to contract.

364
00:21:38,130 --> 00:21:40,831
     And our Sun is poised
   between these two forces

365
00:21:40,866 --> 00:21:42,700
    in a stable equilibrium

366
00:21:42,734 --> 00:21:45,870
        between gravity
       and nuclear fire,

367
00:21:45,904 --> 00:21:47,371
  a balance it will maintain

368
00:21:47,406 --> 00:21:49,707
for another four billion years.

369
00:21:49,741 --> 00:21:52,043
        But as the Sun
      consumes hydrogen,

370
00:21:52,077 --> 00:21:55,012
 its core very slowly shrinks,

371
00:21:55,047 --> 00:21:58,516
     and the Sun's surface
gradually expands in response.

372
00:21:58,550 --> 00:21:59,984
    It happens very slowly,

373
00:22:00,018 --> 00:22:01,485
        imperceptibly,

374
00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:03,220
        over the course
     of millions of years.

375
00:22:03,255 --> 00:22:05,323
 But in about a billion years,

376
00:22:05,357 --> 00:22:07,291
        the Sun will be
     ten percent brighter

377
00:22:07,326 --> 00:22:09,493
       than it is today.

378
00:22:12,164 --> 00:22:14,131
      Ten percent may not
       sound like much,

379
00:22:14,166 --> 00:22:18,169
      but that extra heat
will have a big effect on Earth.

380
00:22:25,277 --> 00:22:27,912
 When the Sun finally exhausts
       its nuclear fuel

381
00:22:27,946 --> 00:22:30,581
         four or five
    billion years from now,

382
00:22:30,615 --> 00:22:34,218
       its gas will cool
  and the pressure will fall.

383
00:22:34,252 --> 00:22:35,653
      The Sun's interior

384
00:22:35,687 --> 00:22:37,188
can no longer support the weight

385
00:22:37,222 --> 00:22:38,856
     of the outer layers,

386
00:22:38,890 --> 00:22:42,226
   and the initial collapse
         will resume.

387
00:22:42,260 --> 00:22:44,095
    Nothing lasts forever.

388
00:22:44,129 --> 00:22:46,597
      Even the stars die.

389
00:22:46,631 --> 00:22:48,899
        Helium, the ash

390
00:22:48,934 --> 00:22:50,868
     of ten billion years
      of hydrogen fusion,

391
00:22:50,902 --> 00:22:53,104
   has built up in the core.

392
00:22:53,138 --> 00:22:55,673
     With no nuclear fire
    to sustain its weight,

393
00:22:55,707 --> 00:22:58,175
      the core collapses
  until it becomes hot enough

394
00:22:58,210 --> 00:23:01,545
    to start fusing helium
    into carbon and oxygen.

395
00:23:01,580 --> 00:23:03,180
      The core of the Sun

396
00:23:03,215 --> 00:23:05,416
      is now much hotter
      than it was before.

397
00:23:05,450 --> 00:23:08,185
Its atmosphere rapidly expands.

398
00:23:08,220 --> 00:23:11,288
 Over the next billion years,
     it'll become bloated

399
00:23:11,323 --> 00:23:13,791
    to more than 100 times
      its original size--

400
00:23:13,825 --> 00:23:16,927
       a red giant star.

401
00:23:19,931 --> 00:23:22,133
  <i> It will envelop and devour</i>

402
00:23:22,167 --> 00:23:24,735
    <i> the planets Mercury...</i>

403
00:23:27,272 --> 00:23:29,640
       <i> ...and Venus...</i>

404
00:23:34,012 --> 00:23:36,113
  <i> ...and possibly the Earth.</i>

405
00:23:38,116 --> 00:23:39,950
     <i> I like to think that</i>

406
00:23:39,985 --> 00:23:42,486
  <i> tens of millions of years</i>
<i> before that far distant future,</i>

407
00:23:42,521 --> 00:23:45,723
    <i> if there still be life</i>
        <i> born of Earth,</i>

408
00:23:45,757 --> 00:23:49,360
 <i> it will have found new homes</i>
       <i> among the stars.</i>

409
00:23:51,329 --> 00:23:53,397
      <i> Once the Sun burns</i>
     <i> through its helium,</i>

410
00:23:53,432 --> 00:23:55,599
<i> it will become highly unstable,</i>

411
00:23:55,634 --> 00:23:58,536
 <i> casting off its outer layers</i>
         <i> into space.</i>

412
00:24:00,939 --> 00:24:02,673
 <i> The exposed, super hot core</i>

413
00:24:02,707 --> 00:24:04,408
 <i> will flood its surroundings</i>

414
00:24:04,443 --> 00:24:06,811
       <i> with high-energy</i>
      <i> ultraviolet light.</i>

415
00:24:09,047 --> 00:24:12,883
    <i> The atoms will perform</i>
  <i> a wild, fluorescent dance.</i>

416
00:24:19,057 --> 00:24:21,959
    <i> The Sun will collapse</i>
       <i> like a soufflé,</i>

417
00:24:21,993 --> 00:24:25,129
    shrinking a hundredfold
   to the size of the Earth.

418
00:24:25,163 --> 00:24:27,798
      And at that point,
   the Sun will be so dense

419
00:24:27,833 --> 00:24:30,367
that its overcrowded electrons
        will push back,

420
00:24:30,402 --> 00:24:32,670
     stopping any further
         contraction.

421
00:24:32,704 --> 00:24:34,438
      The kernel of light
         at the center

422
00:24:34,473 --> 00:24:37,875
     will be the only part
   of the Sun that endures,

423
00:24:37,909 --> 00:24:41,345
      a white dwarf star
 that will go on shining dimly

424
00:24:41,379 --> 00:24:44,048
for another 100 billion years.

425
00:24:44,082 --> 00:24:46,383
        Will the beings
     of a distant future,

426
00:24:46,418 --> 00:24:48,819
         sailing past
     this wreck of a star,

427
00:24:48,854 --> 00:24:53,724
   have any idea of the life
and worlds that it once warmed?

428
00:25:13,695 --> 00:25:15,763
        DEGRASSE TYSON:
<i> The psychedelic death shrouds</i>

429
00:25:15,797 --> 00:25:18,799
<i> of ordinary stars are fleeting,</i>

430
00:25:18,833 --> 00:25:22,169
         <i> lasting only</i>
  <i> tens of thousands of years</i>

431
00:25:22,204 --> 00:25:25,606
    <i> before dissipating in</i>
<i> the interstellar gas and dust</i>

432
00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:27,675
   <i> from which the new stars</i>
        <i> will be born.</i>

433
00:25:32,180 --> 00:25:34,582
         <i> The stars in</i>
     <i> a binary star system</i>

434
00:25:34,616 --> 00:25:36,684
  <i> can have a different fate.</i>

435
00:25:36,718 --> 00:25:39,853
  <i> Sirius, the brightest star</i>
      <i> in the night sky,</i>

436
00:25:39,888 --> 00:25:42,957
       <i> has a very faint</i>
     <i> stellar companion--</i>

437
00:25:42,991 --> 00:25:44,358
        <i> a white dwarf.</i>

438
00:25:44,392 --> 00:25:46,293
 <i> It was once a Sun-like star.</i>

439
00:25:46,328 --> 00:25:49,096
     <i> Someday, when Sirius</i>
       <i> runs out of fuel</i>

440
00:25:49,130 --> 00:25:50,931
   <i> and becomes a red giant,</i>

441
00:25:50,966 --> 00:25:53,767
  <i> it will shed its substance</i>
    <i> onto the white dwarf.</i>

442
00:25:53,802 --> 00:25:56,870
     <i> The intense gravity</i>
       <i> of the companion</i>

443
00:25:56,905 --> 00:25:58,505
    <i> will attract that gas,</i>

444
00:25:58,540 --> 00:26:00,941
       <i> pulling it into</i>
      <i> a spiraling disk.</i>

445
00:26:00,976 --> 00:26:03,110
         <i> When the gas</i>
     <i> from the larger star</i>

446
00:26:03,144 --> 00:26:05,112
    <i> falls onto the surface</i>
     <i> of the white dwarf,</i>

447
00:26:05,146 --> 00:26:08,048
       <i> it will trigger</i>
     <i> nuclear explosions.</i>

448
00:26:11,853 --> 00:26:13,721
<i> The greatest burst will release</i>

449
00:26:13,755 --> 00:26:16,490
  <i> 100,000 times more energy</i>
        <i> than the Sun.</i>

450
00:26:18,260 --> 00:26:21,328
<i> Each one of those star bursts</i>
     <i> is called a "nova,"</i>

451
00:26:21,363 --> 00:26:24,565
  <i> from the Latin for "new."</i>

452
00:26:24,599 --> 00:26:27,501
     A star about 15 times
    as massive as the Sun,

453
00:26:27,535 --> 00:26:30,471
        one like Rigel,
      the blue supergiant

454
00:26:30,505 --> 00:26:32,573
   that forms the right foot
           of Orion,

455
00:26:32,607 --> 00:26:34,408
has a different fate in store.

456
00:26:34,442 --> 00:26:38,045
Its collapse will not be stopped
 by the pressure of electrons.

457
00:26:40,181 --> 00:26:43,384
      The star will keep
     falling in on itself,

458
00:26:43,418 --> 00:26:46,420
       until its nuclei
     become so overcrowded

459
00:26:46,454 --> 00:26:48,889
     that they push back.

460
00:26:51,192 --> 00:26:54,228
    Rigel will shrink down
     about 100,000 times,

461
00:26:54,262 --> 00:26:57,564
  until there's no space left
      between the nuclei

462
00:26:57,599 --> 00:26:59,800
  and it can shrink no more.

463
00:27:04,572 --> 00:27:06,006
   At that point, it ignites

464
00:27:06,041 --> 00:27:10,044
        a more powerful
nuclear reaction: a supernova.

465
00:27:15,417 --> 00:27:16,950
    Most stellar evolution

466
00:27:16,985 --> 00:27:19,053
        takes millions
     or billions of years.

467
00:27:19,087 --> 00:27:20,788
   But the interior collapse

468
00:27:20,822 --> 00:27:23,691
   that triggers a supernova
 explosion takes only seconds.

469
00:27:23,725 --> 00:27:27,194
     What remains will be
       an atomic nucleus

470
00:27:27,228 --> 00:27:29,897
  the size of a small city--

471
00:27:29,931 --> 00:27:33,767
a rapidly rotating neutron star
       called a pulsar.

472
00:27:46,448 --> 00:27:47,915
   <i> But for a star more than</i>

473
00:27:47,949 --> 00:27:49,917
     <i> 30 times as massive</i>
         <i> as the Sun--</i>

474
00:27:49,951 --> 00:27:52,920
     <i> a star like Alnilam,</i>
      <i> in Orion's Belt--</i>

475
00:27:52,954 --> 00:27:55,889
  <i> there will be no stopping</i>
        <i> its collapse.</i>

476
00:27:55,924 --> 00:27:57,624
   <i> In a few million years,</i>

477
00:27:57,659 --> 00:27:59,426
<i> when Alnilam runs out of fuel,</i>

478
00:27:59,461 --> 00:28:01,462
 <i> it, too, will go supernova.</i>

479
00:28:01,496 --> 00:28:04,832
<i> The imploding core of Alnilam</i>

480
00:28:04,866 --> 00:28:08,335
      <i> will be so massive</i>
 <i> that not even nuclear forces</i>

481
00:28:08,370 --> 00:28:11,338
    <i> will be strong enough</i>
  <i> to hold off its collapse.</i>

482
00:28:11,373 --> 00:28:14,241
    <i> Nothing can withstand</i>
        <i> such gravity.</i>

483
00:28:14,275 --> 00:28:16,543
     <i> And such a star has</i>
   <i> an astonishing destiny.</i>

484
00:28:21,349 --> 00:28:23,317
<i> It will continues to collapse,</i>

485
00:28:23,351 --> 00:28:25,919
     <i> crossing a boundary</i>
        <i> in space-time</i>

486
00:28:25,954 --> 00:28:28,122
 <i> called the "event horizon,"</i>

487
00:28:28,156 --> 00:28:30,190
  beyond which we cannot see.

488
00:28:30,225 --> 00:28:32,292
      <i> When it traverses</i>
        <i> that frontier,</i>

489
00:28:32,327 --> 00:28:35,562
     <i> the star will vanish</i>
    <i> completely from sight.</i>

490
00:28:37,465 --> 00:28:40,100
<i> It will be inside a black hole,</i>

491
00:28:40,135 --> 00:28:42,836
    <i> a place where gravity</i>
         <i> is so strong</i>

492
00:28:42,871 --> 00:28:46,306
<i> that nothing, not even light,</i>
         <i> can escape.</i>

493
00:28:50,979 --> 00:28:52,179
     <i> But there's an even</i>

494
00:28:52,213 --> 00:28:53,447
      more dramatic fate

495
00:28:53,481 --> 00:28:55,516
that awaits a rare kind of star.

496
00:28:55,550 --> 00:28:57,684
      There's one of them
        in our galaxy.

497
00:28:57,719 --> 00:29:00,220
       It's so unstable
      that when it goes,

498
00:29:00,255 --> 00:29:03,690
  it won't become a mere nova
         or supernova.

499
00:29:03,725 --> 00:29:06,226
    It'll become something
    far more catastrophic:

500
00:29:06,261 --> 00:29:08,529
         a hypernova.

501
00:29:08,563 --> 00:29:11,365
      And it could happen
       in our lifetime.

502
00:29:22,343 --> 00:29:25,179
<i> There are few places on Earth</i>
     <i> to get a better view</i>

503
00:29:25,213 --> 00:29:28,248
       <i> of the night sky</i>
 <i> than the Australian Outback.</i>

504
00:29:30,051 --> 00:29:32,386
         No buildings,

505
00:29:32,420 --> 00:29:35,322
    no cars, streetlights,
       nothing out here;

506
00:29:35,356 --> 00:29:37,191
   just lots of starlight...

507
00:29:37,225 --> 00:29:39,560
 and the occasional kangaroo.

508
00:29:39,594 --> 00:29:41,161
          You can get
   a particularly good view

509
00:29:41,196 --> 00:29:43,063
of the Milky Way from down here.

510
00:29:43,097 --> 00:29:44,765
   The center of our galaxy

511
00:29:44,799 --> 00:29:46,400
    rises high in the sky,

512
00:29:46,434 --> 00:29:48,435
and it arches across the heavens

513
00:29:48,470 --> 00:29:51,104
  like the backbone of night.

514
00:29:51,139 --> 00:29:52,873
  We live in a spiral galaxy.

515
00:29:52,907 --> 00:29:54,875
       And when we look
       at the Milky Way,

516
00:29:54,909 --> 00:29:58,846
we're seeing light from billions
 of stars in its spiral disk.

517
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:01,281
   And under this beautiful
           dark sky,

518
00:30:01,316 --> 00:30:04,918
you can see that the Milky Way
isn't a uniform band of light.

519
00:30:04,953 --> 00:30:08,055
    There are dark patches,
   breaks in the starlight.

520
00:30:08,089 --> 00:30:11,959
 Those dark patches are caused
     by interstellar dust.

521
00:30:11,993 --> 00:30:15,596
The dust blocks the starlight,
    and there's lots of it.

522
00:30:17,332 --> 00:30:19,800
    Most cultures looked up
         at the stars

523
00:30:19,834 --> 00:30:21,134
    and connected the dots

524
00:30:21,169 --> 00:30:23,303
    to form familiar images
          in the sky.

525
00:30:23,338 --> 00:30:25,439
        Constellations.

526
00:30:30,612 --> 00:30:32,946
   But the Aboriginal people
         of Australia

527
00:30:32,981 --> 00:30:35,115
 saw a pattern in the darkness

528
00:30:35,149 --> 00:30:37,217
running through the Milky Way.

529
00:30:37,252 --> 00:30:39,953
 They saw an emu, a large bird

530
00:30:39,988 --> 00:30:42,256
   native to this continent.

531
00:30:42,290 --> 00:30:46,193
       Not in the stars,
 but in the absence of stars.

532
00:30:49,364 --> 00:30:52,099
    There are so many ways
   to look at the night sky.

533
00:30:52,133 --> 00:30:55,135
 For a million years or more,
    we've watched the sky.

534
00:30:55,169 --> 00:30:56,837
     And a lot's happened
         in that time.

535
00:30:56,871 --> 00:31:00,741
Supernova explode in our galaxy
     about once a century.

536
00:31:00,775 --> 00:31:03,810
     If we could compress
all those nights of stargazing

537
00:31:03,845 --> 00:31:05,612
     into a single minute,

538
00:31:05,647 --> 00:31:08,215
  this is what we would see.

539
00:31:13,221 --> 00:31:15,355
       Now, if our eyes
       were telescopes,

540
00:31:15,390 --> 00:31:18,091
  if they were light buckets
    as big as wagon wheels

541
00:31:18,126 --> 00:31:21,762
and our vision was not limited
  to just one kind of light,

542
00:31:21,796 --> 00:31:26,199
  then this is the Milky Way
         we would see.

543
00:31:26,234 --> 00:31:28,936
A galaxy in near-infrared light

544
00:31:28,970 --> 00:31:31,104
with streaming tendrils of dust

545
00:31:31,139 --> 00:31:33,807
        hurled outward
by those exploding supernovas,

546
00:31:33,841 --> 00:31:35,809
silhouetted against a backdrop

547
00:31:35,843 --> 00:31:38,645
      of countless stars.

548
00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:41,615
 About 7,500 light-years away,

549
00:31:41,649 --> 00:31:43,850
in another part of our galaxy,

550
00:31:43,885 --> 00:31:46,019
 there is a place of upheaval

551
00:31:46,054 --> 00:31:48,488
  on an inconceivable scale.

552
00:31:55,129 --> 00:31:58,265
  This is the Carina Nebula.

553
00:31:58,299 --> 00:32:00,701
    A star-making machine.

554
00:32:04,505 --> 00:32:08,475
    It takes a ray of light
     50 years to cross it.

555
00:32:11,512 --> 00:32:14,848
  The titanic stars born here

556
00:32:14,882 --> 00:32:17,117
     sear the surrounding
         gas and dust

557
00:32:17,151 --> 00:32:20,153
       with their fierce
    ultraviolet radiation.

558
00:32:20,188 --> 00:32:22,623
   When a massive star dies,

559
00:32:22,657 --> 00:32:25,892
it blows itself to smithereens.

560
00:32:28,563 --> 00:32:31,264
  Its substance is propelled
      across the vastness

561
00:32:31,299 --> 00:32:33,300
  to be stirred by starlight

562
00:32:33,334 --> 00:32:35,602
  and gathered up by gravity.

563
00:32:35,637 --> 00:32:37,471
         Stars to dust

564
00:32:37,505 --> 00:32:40,307
      and dust to stars.

565
00:32:40,341 --> 00:32:43,210
        In the cosmos,
      nothing is wasted.

566
00:32:45,346 --> 00:32:49,249
  But there's an upper limit
 to how massive a star can be.

567
00:32:51,586 --> 00:32:53,987
   Back in the 17th century,
      when Edmond Halley

568
00:32:54,022 --> 00:32:56,690
  crossed the equator to map
 the southern constellations,

569
00:32:56,724 --> 00:32:59,960
      Eta Carinae seemed
 like just another faint star.

570
00:32:59,994 --> 00:33:02,796
   But in 1843, Eta Carinae

571
00:33:02,830 --> 00:33:05,532
  suddenly became the second
  brightest star in the sky,

572
00:33:05,566 --> 00:33:08,235
   outshined only by Sirius.

573
00:33:08,269 --> 00:33:10,871
         And it's been
   flipping out ever since.

574
00:33:13,341 --> 00:33:15,509
  <i> That dumbbell-shaped cloud</i>

575
00:33:15,543 --> 00:33:18,745
   <i> is the expanding remnant</i>
        <i> of that event.</i>

576
00:33:23,284 --> 00:33:26,353
        <i> At its center</i>
      <i> is one crazy star.</i>

577
00:33:26,387 --> 00:33:28,255
    <i> Talk about unstable--</i>

578
00:33:28,289 --> 00:33:30,223
         <i> Eta Carinae</i>
    <i> is at least 100 times</i>

579
00:33:30,258 --> 00:33:31,858
  <i> more massive than the Sun,</i>

580
00:33:31,893 --> 00:33:35,162
       <i> and pouring out</i>
<i> five million times more light.</i>

581
00:33:35,196 --> 00:33:40,667
 <i> It's pushing the upper limit</i>
    <i> of what a star can be.</i>

582
00:33:40,702 --> 00:33:43,503
     <i> What's more, there's</i>
  <i> evidence that Eta Carinae </i>

583
00:33:43,538 --> 00:33:47,274
   <i> is being gravitationally</i>
 <i> tormented by an evil twin--</i>

584
00:33:47,308 --> 00:33:50,343
     <i> another massive star</i>
      <i> in orbit around it</i>

585
00:33:50,378 --> 00:33:54,247
    <i> as close as Saturn is</i>
         <i> to the Sun.</i>

586
00:33:54,282 --> 00:33:58,218
<i> The core of a supermassive star</i>
   <i> pours out so much light</i>

587
00:33:58,252 --> 00:34:01,755
<i> that the outward pressure can</i>
<i> overwhelm the star's gravity.</i>

588
00:34:01,789 --> 00:34:04,224
  <i> If a star is too massive,</i>

589
00:34:04,258 --> 00:34:06,893
    <i> its radiation pressure</i>
    <i> overpowers its gravity</i>

590
00:34:06,928 --> 00:34:09,763
  <i> and blows the star apart.</i>

591
00:34:11,566 --> 00:34:13,533
    The fate of Eta Carinae
          was sealed

592
00:34:13,568 --> 00:34:15,969
       when it was born
    millions of years ago.

593
00:34:16,003 --> 00:34:18,071
When it finally does blow up--

594
00:34:18,106 --> 00:34:20,407
        and who knows,
     maybe it already has;

595
00:34:20,441 --> 00:34:23,143
after all, we're looking at it
  by light that left the star

596
00:34:23,177 --> 00:34:25,645
       7,500 years ago--

597
00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:29,616
 it will be a cataclysm unlike
  anything we've seen before.

598
00:34:29,650 --> 00:34:31,585
         A hypernova.

599
00:34:43,531 --> 00:34:46,500
  <i> An explosion so powerful,</i>
    <i> it'll make a supernova</i>

600
00:34:46,534 --> 00:34:49,402
   <i> seem like a firecracker</i>
        <i> by comparison.</i>

601
00:34:49,437 --> 00:34:51,605
         <i> If there are</i>
     <i> nearby solar systems</i>

602
00:34:51,639 --> 00:34:55,942
 <i> with planets harboring life,</i>
   <i> their days are numbered.</i>

603
00:34:55,977 --> 00:34:59,279
       A hypernova spews
so much radiation into space--

604
00:34:59,313 --> 00:35:02,582
        not just light,
  but X-rays and gamma rays--

605
00:35:02,617 --> 00:35:04,618
 that planets that are dozens

606
00:35:04,652 --> 00:35:06,987
      or perhaps hundreds
      of light-years away

607
00:35:07,021 --> 00:35:08,955
       could be stripped
     of their atmospheres

608
00:35:08,990 --> 00:35:11,625
and bathed in deadly radiation.

609
00:35:11,659 --> 00:35:13,126
     It would wreak havoc

610
00:35:13,161 --> 00:35:15,862
         in thousands
    of nearby star systems.

611
00:35:15,897 --> 00:35:18,532
       Right about now,
you're probably asking yourself,

612
00:35:18,566 --> 00:35:20,967
        "Are we safe?"

613
00:35:21,002 --> 00:35:23,336
   If Eta Carinae blows up,

614
00:35:23,371 --> 00:35:26,006
    what happens to Earth?

615
00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:29,209
        <i> Rest assured,</i>
   <i> Earth will be just fine.</i>

616
00:35:29,243 --> 00:35:31,611
          <i> Remember,</i>
   <i> we're 7,500 light-years</i>

617
00:35:31,646 --> 00:35:33,313
    <i> away from Eta Carinae.</i>

618
00:35:33,347 --> 00:35:35,448
  <i> The intensity of radiation</i>
         <i> from a star,</i>

619
00:35:35,483 --> 00:35:37,317
   <i> even an exploding star,</i>

620
00:35:37,351 --> 00:35:39,553
      <i> falls off rapidly</i>
        <i> with distance.</i>

621
00:35:39,587 --> 00:35:42,989
    <i> But still, Eta Carinae</i>
     <i> in its death throes</i>

622
00:35:43,024 --> 00:35:44,991
  <i> will put on quite a show.</i>

623
00:35:45,026 --> 00:35:47,494
  <i> It will light up the night</i>
  <i> of the southern hemisphere</i>

624
00:35:47,528 --> 00:35:49,863
     <i> with the brightness</i>
      <i> of a second moon.</i>

625
00:35:49,897 --> 00:35:54,167
 <i> The most dramatic swan song</i>
       <i> a star can sing.</i>

626
00:35:59,507 --> 00:36:02,175
        <i> Our ancestors</i>
     <i> worshipped the Sun.</i>

627
00:36:02,210 --> 00:36:05,245
<i> And they were far from foolish.</i>

628
00:36:05,279 --> 00:36:08,982
      It makes good sense
 to revere the Sun and stars,

629
00:36:09,016 --> 00:36:11,384
because we are their children.

630
00:36:11,419 --> 00:36:14,855
   The silicon in the rocks,
    the oxygen in the air,

631
00:36:14,889 --> 00:36:18,725
    the carbon in our DNA,
 the iron in our skyscrapers,

632
00:36:18,759 --> 00:36:21,027
   the silver in our jewelry

633
00:36:21,062 --> 00:36:24,865
    were all made in stars
    billions of years ago.

634
00:36:24,899 --> 00:36:28,568
    Our planet, our society
       and we ourselves

635
00:36:28,603 --> 00:36:31,071
         are stardust.

636
00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:35,775
       Well, what is it
  that makes the atoms dance?

637
00:36:35,810 --> 00:36:38,545
       How is the energy
     of a star transformed

638
00:36:38,579 --> 00:36:41,581
        into everything
  that happens in the world?

639
00:36:41,616 --> 00:36:43,850
        What is energy?

640
00:36:43,885 --> 00:36:45,552
      We're awash in it.

641
00:36:45,586 --> 00:36:48,355
   When hydrogen atoms fuse
        inside the Sun,

642
00:36:48,389 --> 00:36:50,056
    they make helium atoms.

643
00:36:50,091 --> 00:36:52,559
     And this fusion emits
       a burst of energy

644
00:36:52,593 --> 00:36:55,862
that can wander inside the Sun
     for ten million years

645
00:36:55,897 --> 00:36:58,365
     before making its way
        to the surface.

646
00:36:58,399 --> 00:37:00,901
And once there, it's free to fly

647
00:37:00,935 --> 00:37:03,103
     straight from the Sun
         to the Earth

648
00:37:03,137 --> 00:37:05,772
       as visible light.

649
00:37:05,806 --> 00:37:08,942
      If it should strike
    the surface of a leaf,

650
00:37:08,976 --> 00:37:11,912
it will be stored in the plant
      as chemical energy.

651
00:37:11,946 --> 00:37:13,947
          Sunshine...

652
00:37:13,981 --> 00:37:15,849
        into moonshine.

653
00:37:26,127 --> 00:37:28,528
     (both speak Italian)

654
00:37:35,269 --> 00:37:38,972
  I can feel my brain turning
the chemical energy of the wine

655
00:37:39,006 --> 00:37:41,141
  into the electrical energy
        of my thoughts

656
00:37:41,175 --> 00:37:42,909
 and directing my vocal chords

657
00:37:42,944 --> 00:37:45,679
to produce the acoustic energy
         of my voice.

658
00:37:45,713 --> 00:37:48,148
Such transformations of energy

659
00:37:48,182 --> 00:37:50,750
   are happening everywhere
         all the time.

660
00:37:50,785 --> 00:37:52,419
           Energy from our star

661
00:37:52,453 --> 00:37:54,454
                drives the wind
                  and the waves

662
00:37:54,488 --> 00:37:56,289
                   and the life
                     around us.

663
00:37:56,324 --> 00:37:59,759
 How lucky we are to have this
  vast source of clean energy

664
00:37:59,794 --> 00:38:03,697
      falling like manna
   from heaven on all of us.

665
00:38:03,731 --> 00:38:05,632
     To Annie Jump Cannon,

666
00:38:05,666 --> 00:38:07,300
    Henrietta Swan Leavitt

667
00:38:07,335 --> 00:38:08,969
       and Cecilia Payne

668
00:38:09,003 --> 00:38:11,938
     for blazing the trail
    to modern astrophysics.

669
00:38:11,973 --> 00:38:15,875
    And to all the sisters
          of the Sun.

670
00:38:21,816 --> 00:38:25,785
      <i> There's no refuge</i>
  <i> from change in the cosmos.</i>

671
00:38:25,820 --> 00:38:28,655
 Some ten or 20 million years
           from now,

672
00:38:28,689 --> 00:38:30,957
it'll seem for a cosmic moment

673
00:38:30,992 --> 00:38:34,694
 as if Orion is finally about
  to catch the seven sisters.

674
00:38:34,729 --> 00:38:37,297
    But before he has them
       in his clutches,

675
00:38:37,331 --> 00:38:41,001
  the biggest stars of Orion
      will go supernova.

676
00:38:41,035 --> 00:38:44,137
Orion's pursuit of the Pleiades
       will finally end,

677
00:38:44,171 --> 00:38:45,638
     and the seven sisters

678
00:38:45,673 --> 00:38:48,508
      will glide serenely
     into the waiting arms

679
00:38:48,542 --> 00:38:50,910
       of the Milky Way.

680
00:38:53,581 --> 00:38:56,349
     <i> We on Earth marvel--</i>
       <i> and rightly so--</i>

681
00:38:56,384 --> 00:38:59,185
        <i> at the return</i>
     <i> of our solitary Sun.</i>

682
00:38:59,220 --> 00:39:01,554
      <i> But from a planet</i>
       <i> orbiting a star</i>

683
00:39:01,589 --> 00:39:03,556
<i> in a distant globular cluster,</i>

684
00:39:03,591 --> 00:39:06,693
           <i> a still</i>
  <i> more glorious dawn awaits.</i>

685
00:39:07,962 --> 00:39:10,096
       <i> Not a sunrise...</i>

686
00:39:10,131 --> 00:39:13,066
      <i> but a galaxy rise.</i>

687
00:39:13,100 --> 00:39:17,170
       <i> A morning filled</i>
    <i> with 200 billion suns.</i>

688
00:39:17,204 --> 00:39:20,173
 <i> The rising of the Milky Way.</i>

689
00:39:20,207 --> 00:39:23,910
   <i> An enormous spiral form</i>
 <i> with collapsing gas clouds,</i>

690
00:39:23,944 --> 00:39:27,580
<i> condensing planetary systems,</i>
    <i> luminous supergiants,</i>

691
00:39:27,615 --> 00:39:31,518
   <i> stable middle-aged suns,</i>
  <i> red giants, white dwarfs,</i>

692
00:39:31,552 --> 00:39:33,953
<i> planetary nebulas, supernovas,</i>

693
00:39:33,988 --> 00:39:36,923
        <i> neutron stars,</i>
     <i> pulsars, black holes</i>

694
00:39:36,957 --> 00:39:39,459
        <i> and, there is</i>
    <i> every reason to think,</i>

695
00:39:39,493 --> 00:39:43,763
     <i> other exotic objects</i>
<i> that we have yet to discover.</i>

696
00:39:43,798 --> 00:39:47,634
      <i> From such a world,</i>
  <i> high above the Milky Way,</i>

697
00:39:47,668 --> 00:39:50,303
      <i> it would be clear,</i>
      <i> as it is beginning</i>

698
00:39:50,337 --> 00:39:52,539
  <i> to be clear on our world,</i>

699
00:39:52,573 --> 00:39:56,876
<i> that we are made by the atoms</i>
        <i> and the stars,</i>

700
00:39:56,911 --> 00:39:58,945
 <i> that our matter and our form</i>

701
00:39:58,979 --> 00:40:03,583
   <i> are forged by the great</i>
     <i> and ancient cosmos,</i>

702
00:40:03,617 --> 00:40:06,286
   <i> of which we are a part.</i>

703
00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:06,286
         Captioned by
 <font color="#00ffff"> Media Access Group at WGBH</font>
        access.wgbh.org

