Discovery in Cosmology and Particle Physics • 2014 • episode "7/10" • Curiosity Retreats: 2014 Lectures

42:03

How does light escape from the sun? We take a journey from the centre of the sun, following the path of light. We witness its fiery birth from in the core, its 430,000 mile battle against gravity and magnetism, and its escape from the solar surface.

S3E1 • How the Universe Works • 2014 • Astronomy

58:56

The rocky planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars were born at the same time from the same material - yet have lived radically different lives. What immense forces are at play?

S1E1 • The Planets 2019 • 2019 • Astronomy

12:25

We’ve covered a lot of incredible stuff, but this week we’re talking about the weirdest objects in space: BLACK HOLES. Stellar mass black holes form when a very massive star dies, and its core collapses. The core has to be more than about 2.8 times the Sun’s mass to form a black hole. Black holes come in different sizes, but for all of them, the escape velocity is greater than the speed of light, so nothing can escape, not matter or light. They don’t wander the Universe gobbling everything down around them; their gravity is only really intense very close to them. Tides near a stellar mass black hole will spaghettify you, and time slows down when you get near a black hole — not that this helps much if you’re falling in.

33 • Crash Course Astronomy • 2015 • Astronomy

59:07

Richard Hammond takes on the ultimate engineering project. How on earth do you make a planet, or a solar system, a galaxy or even... a universe? To find out, he opens up his cosmic toolbox and builds each one piece by piece, from the top of an impossibly high tower. What does he need to construct the cosmos, and what happens if he gets it wrong? With eye-popping computer graphics, Richard discovers that it takes an entire universe to make our planet just right for us.

S1E2 • Richard Hammond Builds... • 2013 • Astronomy

52:37

Telescopes on six solar observation satellites are currently monitoring the sun. The satellites include Japan's Hinode and the SDO developed by the United States. Solar activity (flares, sunspots) is at its lowest since modern observation began - what implications does this have for our Earth?

11 • Cosmic Front • 2014 • Astronomy

49:59

Europa - an icy moon of Jupiter 485 million miles away from Earth - may be our best hope for finding alien life in our solar system. Everywhere we find water on Earth, we find life. What does this mean for the search for life beyond Earth? Scientists believe that on Europa there is a liquid ocean buried beneath its icy crust. To find out if this alien ocean holds life, well need to get there, penetrate the ice shell, and navigate in an alien sea. In this episode of Explorer, well plunge headlong into the challenges of discovery on an alien world. Well meet the scientists, adventurers, and engineers who are determined to launch a mission to Europa - and follow them through the challenges, frustrations, and triumphs that come with planning a distant mission to an alien world. Through high-end CGI and quests to the edge of our planet, well go on a journey to and alien moon called Europa. To answer the basic question: Are we alone in the universe?

2010 • Astronomy