PBS
Planet X Discovered?? + Challenge Winners!
Some funky orbits near the Kuiper Belt are hinting towards a brand new planet, the elusive ‘Planet X.’ Our friends Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin of Caltech are working hard to finally spot the potential gas giant through powerful...
PBS
Pulsar Starquakes Make Fast Radio Bursts? + Challenge Winners! | Space Time | PBS Digital Studios
Fast Radio Bursts were puzzling physicist for quite some time. They were thought to be the result of large cataclysmic events such as supernovae, but this theory was proven wrong when it was discovered that they could repeat themselves....
Be Smart
Why Are There 7 Days In a Week? EXPLAINED
Why does everyone use a 7 day week, and where did it come from? Where do the names of the days come from? And who can we blame for Mondays? Here’s the true story of one of the oldest human customs still in use today. It gets a little weird.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Three ways the universe could end - Venus Keus
Our universe started with the Big Bang, but how will it end? Explore cosmologists’ three possible scenarios: the Big Crunch, the Big Freeze and the Big Rip. -- We know about our universe’s past: the Big Bang theory predicts that all...
TED Talks
Robin Ince: Science versus wonder?
Does science ruin the magic of life? In this grumpy but charming monologue, Robin Ince makes the argument against. The more we learn about the astonishing behavior of the universe -- the more we stand in awe.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How to detect a supernova - Samantha Kuula
Just now, somewhere in the universe, a star exploded. In fact, a supernova occurs every second or so in the observable universe. Yet, we’ve never actually been able to watch a supernova in its first violent moments. Is early detection...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The life cycle of a neutron star - David Lunney
About once every century, a massive star somewhere in our galaxy runs out of fuel. No longer able to produce sufficient energy to maintain its structure, it collapses under its own gravitational pressure and explodes in a supernova. The...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How far would you have to go to escape gravity? - Rene Laufer
Every star, black hole, human being, smartphone and atom are all constantly pulling on each other due to one force: gravity. So why don’t we feel pulled in billions of different directions? And is there anywhere in the universe where...
Crash Course
Introduction to Astronomy
Welcome to the first episode of Crash Course Astronomy. Your host for this intergalactic adventure is the Bad Astronomer himself, Phil Plait. We begin with answering a question: "What is astronomy?"
Curated Video
The Science Behind Clairvoyance and Astrology: Debunking Myths
Dive into the intriguing world of clairvoyance and astrology to discover what science has to say about these ancient practices. This video explores how psychics and astrologers use techniques like cold reading and the Barnum effect to...
Curated Video
What Constellations Mean to Different Cultures
The stars have guided and entertained us for thousands of years. Here we explore some of the messages people have seen in the stars through the millennia and look forward to how we might relate to the stars in the future.
Neuro Transmissions
I gave fake personality tests, and people believed it.
You seem like the kind of person who would watch this video. ...or are you? Don't believe everything people say about you. With the recent popularity of astrology, disinformation, and pseudoscience, you may be at risk of falling victim...
Professor Dave Explains
Unpacking the Schrödinger Equation
We've talked about the Schrödinger equation before, but we really didn't dig into it with any depth at all. Now it's time to really get in there and do the math. What is the Hamiltonian operator? What is the time-independent Schrödinger...
Professor Dave Explains
Exploring the Gliese 667 System
As we continue our search for earth-like, potentially habitable worlds, we come across an interesting triple-star system called Gliese 667. The smallest of these three stars, Gliese 667 C, is a red dwarf with several planets, one of...
Professor Dave Explains
Types of Binary Star Systems
Our solar system has just one star in it, the sun. But this is actually not the most common situation for systems. Most systems are multi-star systems, with binary systems being extremely common. These are systems where two stars orbit...
Professor Dave Explains
Position and Momentum Operators in Quantum Mechanics
We've learned a bit about quantum mechanics from a strictly conceptual and qualitative standpoint. But now it's time to dig a little deeper. Quantum mechanics is mathematics, so if we want to understand it on a fundamental level, we have...
Professor Dave Explains
The Future of Space Travel: Fusion Engines, Warp Drives, and Wormholes
Okay, we've all dreamed about exploring the universe and finding our own little cosmic vacation bungalow. But these places are really far, so how can we get there? Not the way we go through space now, that's just too slow. Are there...
Astrum
Better than the James Webb Space Telescope? The Upcoming Extremely Large Telescope
Looking forward to the James Webb Space Telescope? Just wait until ESO's Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is completed.
Professor Dave Explains
Warped Spacetime, Gravitational Lensing, and Gravitational Waves (Corroborating General Relativity)
We learned a bit about general relativity and the curvature of spacetime, both earlier in this series, as well as in the modern physics course. But let's talk a bit more about the astronomical observations that corroborate this theory....
Astrum
How big can planetary systems get?
How big do you think our solar system is? Up until Pluto? A bit beyond? How big can other solar systems get?
Curated Video
The Skidi Star Chart: Native American Horoscope Par Excellence
A map of the heavens, the stunning Skidi Star Chart acted as a clock, a calendar, a compass – and shaped the cultural and spiritual lives of its creators, the Pawnee Tribe.
Astrum
Are we sending microbes to alien worlds? Panspermia
With all the focus on the Coronavirus, it made me wonder how viruses would cope in space generally. This led on to other questions like "do we contaminate other worlds with Earth based life?" and "can alien bacteria and viruses thrive...
Astrum
Why is space black?
Olber's Paradox. With so many stars in the universe, why is space black and not white with light?
Weird History
Why Elizabeth I Was A Badass Queen
Queen Elizabeth the first may have been a virgin who can’t drive but what most people don’t know is that she was one of the most brutally cut-throat and significant rulers England has ever had. A badass to some, a merciless imperialist...