Dr. BeckyIf you’re struggling, consider therapy with BetterHelp #ad. Click betterhelp.com/drbecky for a 10% discount on your first month of therapy with a credentialed professional specific to your needs. | Ever wondered how the Universe looks roughly the same in all directions? Because, technically, it shouldn't. It doesn't make sense. So does that mean we're missing something in our physics? Something like inflation? Or is the universe cyclical, going through Big Bangs and Big Crunches? Or does the speed of light vary with time?
00:00 - Introduction 03:51 - What actually is the cosmic microwave background? 05:15 - What is the cosmic horizon? 06:21 - What is the "horizon problem"? 08:27 - Inflation - a solution to the horizon problem? 10:12 - Cyclical Universe - a solution to the horizon problem? 11:12 - Varying the speed of light - a solution to the horizon problem? 12:03 - But what about the "crisis is comoslogy"? Is it something else? 12:34 - Bloopers
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
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📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
---
👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
---
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
The Horizon Problem | The Universes biggest UNSOLVED mysteryDr. Becky2024-02-15 | If you’re struggling, consider therapy with BetterHelp #ad. Click betterhelp.com/drbecky for a 10% discount on your first month of therapy with a credentialed professional specific to your needs. | Ever wondered how the Universe looks roughly the same in all directions? Because, technically, it shouldn't. It doesn't make sense. So does that mean we're missing something in our physics? Something like inflation? Or is the universe cyclical, going through Big Bangs and Big Crunches? Or does the speed of light vary with time?
00:00 - Introduction 03:51 - What actually is the cosmic microwave background? 05:15 - What is the cosmic horizon? 06:21 - What is the "horizon problem"? 08:27 - Inflation - a solution to the horizon problem? 10:12 - Cyclical Universe - a solution to the horizon problem? 11:12 - Varying the speed of light - a solution to the horizon problem? 12:03 - But what about the "crisis is comoslogy"? Is it something else? 12:34 - Bloopers
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
---
📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
---
👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
---
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukThe coolest JWST plot I’ve ever seen #shorts #astrophysics #jwstDr. Becky2024-04-15 | This is the coolest JWST plot I’ve seen so far! It shows redshift in action plotting all the spectrum in the GOODS field taken with NIRSpec. It’s from this research paper by D’Eugenio et al, (2024): arxiv.org/abs/2404.06531
#astronomy #spectra #nasawebbHas JWST SOLVED the crisis in cosmology?!Dr. Becky2024-04-11 | AD - Go to https://ground.news/drbecky to stay fully informed on Space and Science News. Subscribe through my link to get 40% off the Vantage plan for unlimited access this month only | Last weekend the lead researcher of a group using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to calculate the current rate of expansion of the Universe (aka the Hubble constant, H0) presented their results for the first time at an American Physical Society meeting. What they announced was not at all what everyone was expecting... DISCLAIMER: None of this work is published yet. It has not been peer reviewed. Take everything with a large pinch of scientific salt.
00:00 Introduction 03:17 AD Ground News 04:54 What is the Hubble Tension (aka the "crisis in cosmology")? 07:40 The possible explanations/solutions for the Hubble tension? 14:22 What Freedman et al. are claiming to have found with JWST 18:32 How does this compare to previous work on this with JWST? 20:30 What now? Is the “crisis in cosmology” really over? 22:57 Bloopers
📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
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📚 "The Year In Space" celebrating all things space in 2022 from me and the rest of the Supermassive Podcast team: geni.us/jNcrw
---
👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
---
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
---
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukWait, has JWST SOLVED the crisis in cosmology?! #shorts #astronomy #scienceDr. Becky2024-04-08 | At a meeting of the American Physical Society last Saturday there was a *very* interesting talk from Wendy Freedman - the lead researcher of a group using JWST to investigate the "crisis in cosmology" aka the Hubble Tension. This is one of the biggest problems in modern astrophysics, where our two main methods for calculating the expansion rate of the Universe don't agree. But now, this collaboration are claiming that with their JWST data, the two values DO agree and they've solved the Hubble Tension. That's despite the fact that we've heard from one JWST research group already who claimed that their JWST data made the crisis in cosmology WORSE. So what is going on?! Long video to follow this week... #astrophysics #cosmology #hubbletension
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukAre we finally getting some JWST crisis in cosmology results?! #shortsDr. Becky2024-04-05 | There's a meeting of the American Physical Society taking place this week and I spotted a *very* interesting talk from Wendy Freedman - the lead researcher of a group using JWST to investigate the "crisis in cosmology" aka the Hubble Tension. This is one of the biggest problems in modern astrophysics, where our two main methods for calculating the expansion rate of the Universe don't agree. We've heard from one research group already, but do we reckon this research group will announce anything? Is new physics on the horizon? #astrophysics #cosmology #hubbletension
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukHas JWST found evidence for the FIRST STARS to ever form in the Universe?Dr. Becky2024-04-04 | AD | To try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/drbecky and you'll get 20% off Brilliant's annual premium subscription. | One of JWST’s main goals has always been to find evidence of the first stars to form in the Universe. And this month there’s a paper been published by Maiolino and collaborators claiming to have found just that, around a galaxy known as GN-z11 (the previous record holder of most distant galaxy known). But claims of evidence of the first stars in the universe, aka population III stars, are not be made lightly. So in this video we’re going to chat about (1) what are population III stars? (2) why are they so important in the history of the universe? (3) the evidence that Maiolino et al. claim to have in GN-z11, and (4) what’s next to confirm/refute this?
Baade (1944; separation of stars into population I and II) - https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1944ApJ...100..137B Thornton Page (1966; first written use of"population III" stars) - science.org/doi/10.1126/science.151.3716.1411
JWST program 1181 - https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/phase2-public/1181.pdf JWST program 4426 - https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/phase2-public/4426.pdf JWST program 2926 - https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/phase2-public/2926.pdf My previous video on GN-z11 and the discussion over whether it has a growing supermassive black hole or not - youtube.com/watch?v=VDqdplEIXbE
00:00 Introduction 02:06 What are "Population III" stars (aka the first generation of stars) 05:43 Why are Population III stars so important in the history of the Universe? 08:24 New evidence for Population III stars from Maiolino et al 12:18 What's next to confirm/refute this claim of Population III stars? 14:09 Brilliant | AD 15:22 Bloopers
📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
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📚 "The Year In Space" celebrating all things space in 2022 from me and the rest of the Supermassive Podcast team: geni.us/jNcrw
---
👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
---
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
---
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukRenovating my new office PART 3 - building my desk #shortsDr. Becky2024-04-04 | My new desk finally got delivered for my new office space! I can finally work in there after a month of working at the dining room table and I'm so excited. Next up let's make this filming back drop more exciting.
Chair was purchased from Slouch Desk was purchased from Lagoon (Woodman St James desk) Mac Studio with Studio Display was #gifted by Apple (on loan for 6 months)Total Solar Eclipse Monday 8th April 2024 #shortsDr. Becky2024-04-03 | Watch the long video on my channel all about WHEN, WHERE, WHAT, HOW, & WHY to watch the total solar eclipse where the Moon will pass in front of the Sun visible across Mexico, the USA, and Canada on Monday 8th April 2024 #eclipse2024 #eclipse #space
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukTotal Solar Eclipse 2024 - WHEN, WHERE, WHAT, HOW, & WHYDr. Becky2024-03-28 | AD | To try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/drbecky and you'll get 20% off Brilliant's annual premium subscription. | Here's all you need to know about the total solar eclipse visible across Mexico, the USA and Canada on Monday 8th April 2024 so you can make a plan for how and where to watch it.
DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT ATHE SUN. Please always double check that any eclipse glasses or camera lens/telescope filters you are using pass the ISO 12312-2 international standard and do not have any scratches on them by holding them up to a light in your house first (all you should be able to see through them is the filament of the light bulb).
00:00 Intro 00:30 WHEN is the total solar eclipse? 00:39 WHERE can I see the eclipse from? 02:11 WHAT is a total solar eclipse? 04:10 HOW can I safely watch the eclipse? 04:57 Eclipse glasses and how to find safe suppliers 06:37 Make a pinhole camera 06:47 Use a colander to view the eclipse 07:35 How to photograph the total solar eclipse 08:08 WHY should I care about the eclipse? What science can we learn (solar corona & Einstein's general relativity) 11:12 BRILLIANT | AD 12:33 Bloopers
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV Microphone used: Comica VM20 shotgun microphone
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📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
---
👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
---
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukPainting my new filming space and office! 🖥️ #shortsDr. Becky2024-03-25 | It's time to paint my new filming space, because this two-tone sad pink does not scream "we love astrophysics here!" to me at all. What do you think of the colour I went with in the end? I'm really excited to finally get some furniture soon for this space and we can start building up the backdrop for my videos.
#homeoffice #interiordesign
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukAn astrophysicist reacts to 3 Body Problem #shortsDr. Becky2024-03-22 | I got invited to the London premier of Netflix's new sci-fi show 3 Body Problem (created by the team from Game of Thrones and based on the books by Liu Cixin) and you know I can't turn off my astrophysics brain while I watch sci-fi, so as usual I had many thoughts while watching the first episode. So here's my initial reaction, from diffraction spikes on stars when the Universe is winking, to whether physicists would be happy or sad if theory suddenly stopped agreeing with experiments, to passing off the Super Kamiokande experiment in Japan as a particle accelerator in Oxford! #3bodyproblem #netflix #astrophysicist @Netflix
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukThe FASTEST growing supermassive black hole EVER found | Night Sky News March 2024Dr. Becky2024-03-21 | Ad: Go to https://ground.news/drbecky to read up on research and the way news interprets it for us. Sign up through my link to get 40% off unlimited access this month. | In this month's Night Sky News we're chatting all about how you can watch the total solar eclipse on the 8th April 2024 across Mexico, the USA, and & Canada, the importance of the space exploration milestone of Intuitive Machines and their Odysseus lander on the Moon, the hard decision NSF faces on whether to continue to fund the Thirty Meter Telescope in Hawaii or the Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile, and the fastest growing supermassive black hole that's ever been found! #astronomy #space #nasa
00:00 Intro 01:04 Mercury @ Greatest Eastern Elongation with Jupiter (24th March) 02:29 Saturn returns with Mars + Toenail Moon! (6th Apr) 03:32 TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE! (North America, 8th April) 06:08 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse (24th March) 06:39 Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks update! 08:41 Ground News 10:27 NASA Space Telescope Live 11:25 Odysseus IM-1 Moon landing 14:31 NSF given ultimatum to choose either TMT or GMT 20:51 NASA must cut budget to Chandra X-Ray Observatory 21:54 Fastest growing SMBH ever found! 30:09 Conclusion 31:21 Bloopers
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
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📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
---
👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
---
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukMy new filming space and office 🥳 #shortsDr. Becky2024-03-16 | My new filming and office space is here 🥳 and the first video has been filmed in it! I love interior design so I’ve been having fun planning all the rooms in our new house. I have a vision for how I want to decorate this space - I’m thinking a space-y blue paint colour as my filming backdrop, with some cool shelves that I can display all my favourite things on, maybe even light them with some LEDs! What would you do with this space? Let me know down in the comments below! Also, did anyone else hear how American my voice went when I said closet? I should’ve just called it a cupboard 😅Can gravitational waves INTERFERE with each other?Dr. Becky2024-03-14 | If you’re struggling, consider therapy with BetterHelp #ad. Click betterhelp.com/drbecky for a 10% discount on your first month of therapy with a credentialed professional specific to your needs. | Can gravitational waves interfere with each other? Either with constructive or deconstructive interference, just like water waves, sound waves, or light waves? They're waves yes, but they're not mechanical waves or electromagnetic waves like sound or light, so do they still behave like a wave?Thanks to the detections made by LIGO and VIRGO gravitational wave detectors of neutron star mergers we now have some idea, but can we observe this in the future in black hole mergers? And what does this mean for a theory of quantum gravity and the force carrier the graviton?
00:00 - Introduction 02:51 - What are gravitational waves? 04:31 - What do we mean by "interference" for waves? 06:56 - How do we know that gravitational waves should interfere with each other (in theory)? 09:06 - What does this mean for a theory of quantum gravity? 11:00 - How can we test this with observations? 13:58 - Bloopers
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
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📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
---
📚 "The Year In Space" celebrating all things space in 2022 from me and the rest of the Supermassive Podcast team: geni.us/jNcrw
---
👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
---
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukTWO Earth-like planets found in the HABITABLE ZONE (just 6% bigger than Earth!)Dr. Becky2024-03-07 | The holy grail of exoplanets research is to find an Earth-like planet in the habitable zone around its star (where it's not too hot and not too cold for life to exist) and then study its atmosphere with the James Webb Space Telescope to determine if life is present there. But to do that, we have to find these planets first. This is where the TESS mission comes in; this month a research paper was published claiming to have found TWO possible Earth-like planets in the habitable zone. The hope is that we can use JWST to study at least one of them.
00:00 - Introduction 00:51 - The TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission 02:06 - How we find exoplanets 03:59 - Why the majority of habitable zone planets are around M-dwarf stars 05:31 - The red dwarf star TOI-715 06:21 - The first planet found: TOI-715b 07:14 - The second planet candidate TIC 271971130.02 08:10 - Can we study their atmospheres with JWST? 10:46 - Bloopers
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7-IV
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📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://hyperurl.co/DrBecky
---
👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
---
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
When stars like the Sun die do their planets survive? In 5 billion years the Sun will swell into a red giant star, swallowing up the Earth, and maybe even Mars. But what about Jupiter and the rest of the gas giant planets? This month new research has been published, claiming to have found two exoplanets in orbit around two dead white dwarf stars with JWST. These planets are similar in mass to Jupiter, and orbit their stars at a distance similar to Saturn and Neptune in the Solar System.
Mullally et al. (2024; two exoplanets directly imaged around white dwarf stars) - arxiv.org/pdf/2401.13153.pdf JWST proposal 1911 - https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/phase2-public/1911.pdf
00:00 - Introduction 01:30 - Why we need JWST to do this 03:01 - How do you search for exoplanets? 04:06 - The two newly discovered planets 05:59 - Masses and orbits of the two planets 06:13 - What does this mean for the Solar System? 07:01 - AD Interactive learning with Brilliant 08:39 - Bloopers
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
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📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
---
📚 "The Year In Space" celebrating all things space in 2022 from me and the rest of the Supermassive Podcast team: geni.us/jNcrw
---
👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
---
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukWOW! Incredible new JWST images of 19 galaxies | Night Sky News February 2024Dr. Becky2024-02-22 | AD: Want to restore the planet's ecosystems and see your impact in monthly videos? The first 200 people to join Planet Wild with my code will get the first month for free at planetwild.com/drbecky/pines
AD: If you want to get to know them better first, check out their latest video: Restoring an ancient forest by doing the opposite of tree planting planetwild.com/drbecky/12
In this month’s night sky news episode we’re chatting about comet Pons Brooks, which might become a naked-eye comet, the European-Extremely Large Telescope in Chile moving its dome for the first time, ESA giving the go-ahead for the LISA gravitational wave detector, JWST finding a rare “dead” dwarf galaxy, and JWST revealing the dust structure in 19 galaxies in incredible detail.
Keep an eye on the brightness of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks here - https://cobs.si/comet/484/ More information on the total solar eclipse on 8th April 2024 - timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2024-april-8 Juno images from fly-by of Io - https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing?source=all&ob_from=&ob_to=&phases%5B%5D=PERIJOVE+58&perpage=100 More on the PHANGS project - https://phangs.stsci.edu/ PHANGS images released to public - webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2024/news-2024-105 Williams et al. (2024; PHANGS JWST galaxy images and processing pipeline) - arxiv.org/pdf/2401.15142.pdf Carleton et al. (2024; JWST finds isolated “dead” dwarf galaxy) - arxiv.org/pdf/2309.16028.pdf
See JWST observing schedules here - https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-execution/observing-schedules Get raw images from JWST and HST from the MAST archive here - https://mast.stsci.edu/portal/Mashup/Clients/Mast/Portal.html
00:00 Intro 01:07 "Micro”-Full Moon! 02:17 Venus, Mars, crescent Moon 03:43 Waxing crescent Moon + Jupiter! 04:21 Half-moon in Winter Hexagon 05:31 Post-Equinox conjunction of Venus & Saturn 06:51 Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks! 08:48 AD Planet Wild 10:32 E-ELT rotates dome 12:12 LISA adopted by ESA 15:15 Arno Penzias RIP 16:15 Ingenuity end of mission 16:30 Juno close flyby of Io 19:42 19 of the PHANGS JWST MIRI galaxies! 25:42 First-ever isolated “dead” dwarf galaxy discovered by JWST 30:21 Conclusion 31:56 Bloops
📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
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👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukValentines Day stargazing date ❤️ spot Jupiter & Pleiades #shortsDr. Becky2024-02-09 | Are you planning a stargazing date for your significant other around Valentine's Day? Or even for Galentine's Day? Well here's how to spot Jupiter and the Pleiades star cluster in the sky. Grab a blanket, lay it down on the ground, wrap up warm, and enjoy the wonder of the night sky together ❤️FOUND in the MASS GAP: The heaviest neutron star OR the lightest black hole?Dr. Becky2024-02-08 | Go to https://ground.news/drbecky to read up on research and the way news interprets it for us. Sign up through my link to get 30% off unlimited access this month. A new research study has claimed to have found an object in the elusive "mass gap" between the heaviest neutron star, and the lightest (i.e least heavy) black hole. Finding objects like this helps us refine our physics of when the collapse from neutron star to black hole happens - a limit known as the Tolman Oppenheimer Volkoff limit.
00:00 - Introduction 02:06 - Ground News 03:38 - How you calculate the maximum mass of a neutron star 06:19 - The Tolman-Oppenhimer-Volkoff limit 08:42 - How Barr and collaborators found this mass gap object 10:27 - How Barr and collaborators worked out the object's mass 13:07 - Can we tell if its a heavy neutron star or a lightweight black hole? 16:38 - Outro 16:58 - Bloopers
📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
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👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukAstrophysicist Overthinks Rick & Morty - THE MULTIVERSEDr. Becky2024-02-01 | Secure your privacy with Surfshark! Enter coupon code DRBECKY for an extra 3 months free at https://surfshark.deals/DRBECKY
The sci-fi TV show Rick & Morty uses the idea of a multiverse in its episodes and its a brilliant story. But in terms of the science, does it check out? Well there are two main ways of interpreting the idea of a multiverse in physics (both hypothetical and unproven), either (i) the quantum mechanics many worlds interpretation, or (ii) the bubble universes from eternal inflation. So which one does Rick & Morty explore? And how does it compare to other sci-fi shows employing the idea of a multiverse like Everything Everywhere All At Once, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, Spider-Man: No Way Home, His Dark Materials, Doctor Who, Community (Remedial Chaos Theory and the darkest timeline), and Sliding Doors.
00:00 - Introduction 02:06 - AD Surfshark 03:30 - History of Multiverse idea 04:22 - Quantum Mechanics Many Worlds interpretation 08:15 - Bubble Universes (Eternal Inflation interpretation) 11:09 - Where is your doppelgänger in each interpretation? 12:33 - Which multiverse interpretation holds in Rick & Morty canon? 13:21 - Overthinking the portal gun (how far can you jump with it?) 14:19 - Being picky with the multiverse in Rick & Morty (and Everything Everywhere all at Once) 15:40 - The most scientifically "accurate" multiverse uses in sci-fi (Community, Sliding Doors, The Midnight Library) 16:53 - Outro 18:13 - Bloopers
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
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📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
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👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukIngenuity helicopter on Mars damages rotor blade, and is no longer able to fly #shortsDr. Becky2024-01-26 | Sadly the Ingenuity helicopter (aka Ginny) on Mars has damaged its rotor blade and can no longer fly. Originally designed to be a proof of concept and undergo just 5 flights on Mars, it’s now completed 72 in nearly 3 years and flown 14 times further than anyone ever planned, helping the Perseverance rover (aka Percy) pick out routes across the Martian surface. Here’s to the next helicopter mission in the Solar System: Dragonfly, which will launch in 2028 to visit Saturn’s largest moon Titan.
#astronomy #nasa #perseveranceJWST rules out MOST LIKELY culprit for Crisis in Cosmology | Night Sky News January 2024Dr. Becky2024-01-25 | If you’re struggling, consider therapy with BetterHelp #ad. Click betterhelp.com/drbecky for a 10% discount on your first month of therapy with a credentialed professional specific to your needs. In this episode of Night Sky News we're chatting about the latest results from the AAS243 meeting including the Big Ring megastructure of galaxies, the most distant fast radio burst, and of course the latest from JWST on the "Crisis in Cosmology" (aka the Hubble Tension) which has ruled out the most likely culprit that we all had our money on. Is it time for some new physics?
📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
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👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukNewly discovered Big Ring mega-structure of galaxies breaks our best model of the UniverseDr. Becky2024-01-19 | More about the "Big Ring", how it was found and why it breaks our best model of the Universe coming in this month's Night Sky News video for January. Subscribe son you don't miss out! #shorts #cosmology #astrophysics
👩🏽💻 I’m Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don’t know. If you’ve ever wondered about something in space and couldn’t find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.Neptune is not as blue as you think - reprocessed Voyager 2 images reveal true colourDr. Becky2024-01-18 | Go to https://ground.news/drbecky to stay fully informed. Subscribe through my link to get 30% off the Vantage plan for unlimited access this month only.
In 1989 the Voyager 2 space probe flew past Neptune and took the canonical image that we're so used to seeing. BUT the blue colour in that image we're so familiar with is actually a FALSE colour. Not what you'd see with your eyes if you were that close. Now those images have been reprocessed with some new data that allows us to make a TRUE colour image, and it turns out Uranus and Neptunes look more like twins...
00:00 - Introduction 01:34 - AD - Ground News 03:12 - How Voyager 2 took its images: "false colour" vs "true colour" 05:30 - Why the Neptune images were processed so blue 08:21 - How (and why) the images have been reprocessed 11:18 - The main reason for the Irwin et al. (2024) paper - Uranus' seasonal changes 13:35 - Bloopers
Video filmed on Sony ⍺ 7 IV
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📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://hyperurl.co/DrBecky
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📚 "The Year In Space" celebrating all things space in 2022 from me and the rest of the Supermassive Podcast team: geni.us/jNcrw
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👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
---
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukNo, JWST has not discovered aliens... #shorts #aliens #jwstDr. Becky2024-01-17 | Just clarifying some comments I made in an earlier video that got picked up and twisted by UFO enthusiasts and then again in the media! Remember, any future claims of a potential biosignature detection of a molecule in an exoplanet atmosphere means it *could* be due to life but also could be unknown chemistry. The jump from there to aliens is ridiculous and what's more, it's bad science communication.
#astronomy #nasa
👩🏽💻 I’m Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don’t know. If you’ve ever wondered about something in space and couldn’t find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.JWST made the crisis in cosmology even WORSE (AGAIN) #shortsDr. Becky2024-01-12 | Check out the THREE new papers from one of the teams investigating the crisis in cosmology with the James Webb Space Telescope:
I'll be covering this more in this month's Night Sky News episode due out Thursday 25th January 2024. Subscribe so you don't miss it!
#spacetelescope #JWST #cosmology
👩🏽💻 I’m Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don’t know. If you’ve ever wondered about something in space and couldn’t find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.JWST & the BIG DEBATE on GN-z11: one of the most distant galaxies in the UniverseDr. Becky2024-01-11 | To try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/drbecky - the first 200 of you will get 20% off Brilliant's annual premium subscription.
One of the most distant galaxies known GN-z11 has been observed many times by JWST in it’s first few years of observations but that data isn’t as clear cut as we hoped. There’s a debate going on (led by two camps; one in Cambridge and one in Oxford) over whether GN-z11 has a growing supermassive black hole or not. Either way it has big implications for our understanding of how galaxies and black holes evolve together in the early Universe.
00:00 Introduction 01:46 The data we have from JWST: what is a spectrum? 04:34 The argument for GN-z11 having a growing SMBH (Cambridge group) 06:28 The argument against GN-z11 having a growing SMBH (Oxford group) 10:34 How can we tell? More observations with MIRI planned 12:49 Brilliant 14:02 Bloopers
📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
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📚 "The Year In Space" celebrating all things space in 2022 from me and the rest of the Supermassive Podcast team: geni.us/jNcrw
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👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
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🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukAn Astrophysicist reacts to funny SPACE MEMES | PART 5Dr. Becky2024-01-05 | Become a Planet Wild member today at planetwild.com/drbecky/tanzania and use the code DRBECKY for your first month's subscription free on me. If you want to get to know Planet Wild better first, check out their latest mission video on how they're using honeybees to save elephants and protect farmers’ crops in Tanzania: planetwild.com/drbecky/10
00:00 - Introduction 00:45 - Meme 1: buying a telescope leads to clouds 04:37 - Meme 2: Pluto ISN'T A PLANET 06:14 - Meme 3: Voyager Golden Records and JWST ? 09:21 - Meme 4: Curiosity vs Perseverance on Mars 11:13 - Meme 5: Great Wall of China from Space 12:23 - Meme 6: Death of the Sun 14:46 - Planet Wild AD 16:01 - Bloopers
📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
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📚 "The Year In Space" celebrating all things space in 2022 from me and the rest of the Supermassive Podcast team: geni.us/jNcrw
---
👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
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🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukThe TOP 5 space news stories of 2023Dr. Becky2023-12-28 | There's been some BIG astronomy news stories this year, but somehow I managed to whittle it down to my top 5 and count them down in this video. Do you agree with my top 5? Or do you think something else should have made the cut? Let me know in the comments below!
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.uk⚠️ The ISS looks a lot like Santas sleigh ✨ #shorts #astronomyDr. Becky2023-12-22 | The International Space Station could be passing over your house on Christmas Eve or Christmas day morning. It's incredibly bright and moves very fast, so a lot of people can confuse it for Santa Claus' sleigh. Luckily, @NASA have a website where you can double check what time and where to look for it for your location: spotthestation.nasa.gov
👩🏽💻 I’m Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don’t know. If you’ve ever wondered about something in space and couldn’t find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.An ULTRA-HIGH energy cosmic ray hit Earth | Night Sky News Dec 2023Dr. Becky2023-12-21 | In this month's Night Sky News episode we're chatting about the Amaterasu cosmic ray particle that hit the Earth with 813 billion times more energy than a typical cosmic ray particle! Plus there's three new exoplanet research articles released this past month from the first planet forming system spotted outside the Milky Way in the Large Magellanic Cloud, to a "perfect" 6 planet system all in resonance with each other, and a new paper claiming we sadly don't have any evidence for exomoons. And of course there's all the details on how you can spot the Quadrantids meteor shower in January, and the International Space Station in December.
JWST proposal 1947 - https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/phase2-public/1947.pdf McLeod et al. (2023; massive young star with dusty disk in Large Magellanic Cloud) - nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06790-2 Luque et al. (2023; "perfect" 6 exoplanet system in resonance) - arxiv.org/pdf/2311.17775.pdf Heller & Hippke (2023; no exomoon evidence) - nature.com/articles/s41550-023-02148-w Teachey et al. (2018; exomoon Kepler-1625b i) - iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aa93f2 Kipping et al. (2022; exomoon Kepler-1708b i) - nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01539-1 Telescope Array collaboration et al. (2023; Amaterasu particle discovery) - arxiv.org/pdf/2311.14231.pdf Bird et al (1995; "Oh My God" particle) - https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1995ApJ...441..144B Sakaki et al. (2001; second highest energy CR detected) - https://galprop.stanford.edu/elibrary/icrc/2001/proceedings/ICRC2001/papers/ici6938_p.pdf
00:00 Intro 00:53 Winter Solstice! 01:58 Moon & Jupiter & Pleiades 02:57 Xmas Full Moon in Winter Hexagon 03:10 ⚠️ ISS Fly-over on Xmas morning! 🎅 04:08 Venus in the early morning sky 04:29 Quadrantids Meteor Shower 05:58 Saturn & Toenail Moon! 06:53 SN Cassiopeia A imaged by JWST 08:30 Trouble with Hubble 10:24 First extragalactic proto-protoplanetary disk spotted 13:17 Six exoplanets in "perfect" resonance 18:23 Past exomoon discovery appears unlikely 20:17 Ultra-high energy cosmic ray hits Earth 28:18 Conclusion 29:11 Bloopers
📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
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👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukThe biggest EVER scientific search for ALIENS outside our galaxy | Breakthrough Listen ProjectDr. Becky2023-12-14 | Go to brilliant.org/drbecky to get a 30-day free trial and the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual subscription! Searching for aliens might sound like something from sci-fi, but there are legitimate scientific searches for signs of life beyond Earth in the Universe. Either through biosignatures in planet atmospheres, or for technosignatures of advanced civilisations. The largest ever search for technosignatures is being conducted by the Breakthrough Listen project, and this month they published their latest research searching for extra-galactic signals from beyond our Milky Way. Turns out this is getting harder and harder to do with each passing year as more satellites are launched into orbit around Earth. In particular, SpaceX’s Starlink is once again causing trouble for us astronomers…
Choza et al. (2023; breakthrough listen search for extra-galactic technosignatures) - https://seti.berkeley.edu/galaxies/choza.pdf Kardashev (1964; definition of Kardashev civilisations) - https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1964SvA.....8..217K Gajjar et al. (2021; technosignature search in the centre of the Milky Way) - arxiv.org/pdf/2104.14148.pdf Wlodarczyk-Sroka et al. (2021; Breakthrough Listen project for stars in the Milky Way) - arxiv.org/pdf/2006.09756.pdf Tremblay & Tingay (2020; search for technosignatures in the Vela region) - arxiv.org/pdf/2009.03267.pdf Klein et al. (1988; radio spectrum of M82) - https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1988A%26A...190...41K
00:00 - Introduction 00:59 - Biosignatures in the search for aliens 02:00 - Technosignatures in the search for aliens 02:53 - The Breakthrough Listen project 04:15 - Extra-galactic technosignatures 04:59 - Kardashev Type-II civilisations & Dyson Spheres 06:55 - The Doppler Drift search method 09:24 - The results from Choza et al. (2023) - no evidence for technosignatures 10:50 - Could AI spot anything that’s been missed? 12:00 - Radio Frequency Interference from satellites (like SpaceX’s Starlink) 13:51 - Brilliant 15:12 - Bloopers
Video filmed with a Sony Alpha 7 IV
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📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://hyperurl.co/DrBecky
---
📚 "The Year In Space" celebrating all things space in 2022 from me and the rest of the Supermassive Podcast team: geni.us/jNcrw
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👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com LAST SHIPPING DATES FOR CHRISTMAS: AUSTRALIA & NZ: 30th November 2023 AFRICA & ASIA: 4th December 2023 EU: 8th December 2023 USA & CANADA: 9th December 2023 UK: 18th December 2023 (Priority shipping 20th December 2023)
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukThe Geminids Meteor Shower peaks on December 13th 2023 (spot them at the weekend too!) #shortsDr. Becky2023-12-08 | The Geminids Meteor Shower is nature’s own Christmas lights show! Every year it peaks in mid-December (We’d 13th December in 2023) and this year especially is set to be spectacular with no moonlight to spoil the show. If you can get somewhere dark you could see up to 120 meteors per hour! That’s 2 shooting stars per minute. These will still be visible on the nights around the 13th, so if you have some time this weekend or next to head outside and stargaze: do it! You don’t need any kit to see this, you just need to lie back, look up and enjoy the show! #meteor #shootingstar #shorts
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukJWST shows the early Universe is DIFFERENT than we thought (thats a good thing!)Dr. Becky2023-12-07 | Go to https://ground.news/drbecky to stay fully informed. Subscribe through my link to get 30% off the Vantage plan for unlimited access this month only.
Remember those overmassive galaxies that JWST found that people claimed proved "the big bang never happened?" when in reality it was just that we couldn't explain how they'd got so big? Well, turns out those galaxies probably aren't that massive after all. In this video we're chatting about how new JWST observations have found evidence that galaxies in the early Universe form different types of stars at different rates to in the Milky Way (called the Initial Mass Function of stars). This then has knock on effects on the calculation of the masses of these distant galaxies...
** REFERENCES ** Cameron et al. (2023; top-heavy IMF evidence in early Universe) - arxiv.org/pdf/2311.02051.pdf Steinhardt et al. (2023; idea proposed for bottom-heavy IMF for early universe) -arxiv.org/pdf/2208.07879.pdf Boylan-Kolchin (2023; massive galaxies tension with λ CDM) - arxiv.org/pdf/2208.01611.pdf Labbé et al. (2023; 6 massive galaxies in JWST data) - arxiv.org/pdf/2207.12446.pdf Rana (1987; the initial mass function of stars) - https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1987A%26A...184..104R
JWST observing schedules: https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-execution/observing-schedules JWST data archive (with public access!): https://mast.stsci.edu/portal/Mashup/Clients/Mast/Portal.html Twitter bot for JWST current observations: twitter.com/JWSTObservation
00:00 - Introduction 01:46 - Ground News AD 03:19 - How we calculate the masses of galaxies & what's an IMF 07:02 - What's a top-heavy IMF and why it solves JWST's "over-massive" galaxy problem 08:48 - Evidence for a top-heavy IMF in the early Universe 12:51 - Some caveats and what's next... 15:56 - Bloopers
Video filmed on Sony ⍺ 7 IV
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📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://hyperurl.co/DrBecky
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukPurple splotches in new Euclid space telescope images: real objects or ghosts? #shorts #astronomyDr. Becky2023-12-01 | What are the weird purple splotches in the new Euclid space telescope images? They’re sadly not an undiscovered space object but a “ghost” in the image caused by re-reflection of light inside the telescope back onto the detector. It’s most noticeable when there’s a very bright object like a nearby star and it affects blue light more.New study just made the crisis in cosmology WORSEDr. Becky2023-11-30 | Go to brilliant.org/drbecky to get a 30-day free trial and the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual subscription! The so called “crisis in cosmology” (or Hubble tension) is the biggest problem in astrophysics right now, with two main methods for calculating the expansion rate of the Universe, which completely disagree with eac†teemh other. This month a new study came out pointing out that the Milky Way is found in the Laniakea supercluster of galaxies, a very dense part of the Universe. This throws off our measurements of the velocities with which galaxies appear to be moving away from us due to the expansion rate of the Universe, and if you take this into account properly, you end up making the “crisis in cosmology” WORSE than before…
And yeah, w’re all aware this doesn’t exactly constitute a real crisis.
00:00 - Introduction: what’s the “crisis in cosmology”? 03:10 - What is the Laniakea cluster and why is it important? 05:58 - How much does Laniakea affect the rate of expansion you measure? 09:06 - Caveats on this research 10:34 - Upcoming JWST data that should solve the “crisis” 11:40 - Outro 12:06 - Brilliant 13:23 - Bloopers
#crisisincosmology #hubbletension #JWST
Video filmed with a Sony Alpha 7 IV
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📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://hyperurl.co/DrBecky
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📚 "The Year In Space" celebrating all things space in 2022 from me and the rest of the Supermassive Podcast team: geni.us/jNcrw
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👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com LAST SHIPPING DATES FOR CHRISTMAS: AUSTRALIA & NZ: 30th November 2023 AFRICA & ASIA: 4th December 2023 EU: 8th December 2023 USA & CANADA: 9th December 2023 UK: 18th December 2023 (Priority shipping 20th December 2023)
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukEuclid vs JWST vs Hubble diffraction spike star shapes #astronomy #science #shortsDr. Becky2023-11-28 | Check out the @europeanspaceagency website to take a look at the images yourself! https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid/Euclid_s_first_images_the_dazzling_edge_of_darkness
The first science images from the Euclid Space Telescope were released last month and they are INCREDIBLE! Of course, lots of you had questions about why the shape of the diffraction spikes around the bright stars were different from either the Hubble Space Telescope or the James Webb Space Telescope, and it’s all to do with the structure of each telescope and how the light moves around it.
👩🏽💻 I’m Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we mknow things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don’t know. If you’ve ever wondered about something in space and couldn’t find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
#euclid #ESA #astrophysics #shorts #astronomy #astrophysics #science #starsJWST finds most distant supermassive black hole known (and its WAY BIGGER than should be possible)Dr. Becky2023-11-23 | Go to https://ground.news/drbecky to get access to reliable information all in one place. Subscribe through my link to get 40% off unlimited access during their biggest sale of the year. Sale ends November 30.
One of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics is how supermassive black holes form in the early Universe and grow to be SO supermassive. There's a limit to how fast they can grow in mass, so they shouldn't exist so early in the Universe's history. Yet the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Chandra X-ray observatory have together just found the most distant supermassive black hole known (at a redshift of z=10.3, meaning the Universe was just 450 million years old when the light left that galaxy). The best estimate we have of the black hole's mass puts it at about the same mass as it's galaxy! Suggesting that perhaps the black hole formed FIRST as direct collapse black hole and then the galaxy of stars formed around it... essentially solving the astrophysics equivalent of: "what came first the chicken or the egg? "
00:00 - Introduction 02:51 - Ground News 04:23 - The different formation theories for SMBHs (including direct collapse) 08:14 - How Bogdán et al. found UHZ1, the most distant SMBH known 12:26 - How Bogdán et al. calculated the black hole mass of UHZ1 14:33 - Why the black hole to stellar mass ratio gives evidence for direct collapse black holes 17:25 - Some caveats and what’s next 22:02 - Bloopers
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
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📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
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👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
---
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukThe first SCIENCE IMAGES from the Euclid Space Telescope: all the details! | Night Sky News Nov 2023Dr. Becky2023-11-16 | If you’re struggling, consider therapy with BetterHelp #ad. Click betterhelp.com/drbecky for a 10% discount on your first month of therapy with a credentialed professional specific to your needs. In this month’s Night Sky News episode for November 2023 we’re chatting about the first science images from the brand new Euclid telescope, plus the latest updates from JWST. Including how JWST has spotted a kilonova that’s produced the rare element Tellurium, and how JWST has found evidence to support “pebble drift” hypothesis of planet formation. As usual we'll also be chatting about what you can see in the night sky in the next few weeks, including how to spot the upcoming Geminids meteor shower - one of the best of the whole year!
More information from ESA on the Euclid Space Telescope - https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid Euclid Consortium team blog - euclid-ec.org/blog
📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
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👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
---
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukObserving Jupiter & Saturn through a telescope in the Maldives #shortDr. Becky2023-11-13 | What do Jupiter and Saturn look like to your eyes when you look through a telescope? Well I tried to capture just that on my recent trip to Soneva Fushi in the Maldives where they have an observatory with a 14” telescope tucked away in the jungle far from light pollution @discoversoneva #ad #gifted
The telescope reveals stripes on Jupiter and its four biggest moons. And of course Saturn’s rings 💛🪐
👩🏽💻 I’m Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don’t know. If you’ve ever wondered about something in space and couldn’t find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.HUGE blow for alternate theory of gravity MONDDr. Becky2023-11-09 | Go to https://sponsr.is/cs_drbecky and use code DRBECKY to save 25% off on subscription today. Thanks to Curiosity Stream for sponsoring today’s video. A new research study was published this month claiming to have completely ruled out an alternate theory of gravity called MOND, that doesn’t need dark matter to explain our observations of the Universe. They used the same data that four other research studies have used in the last couple of years, but used a more rigorous method, and their results now contradict the findings of those other papers. So what is going on here?
Banik & Zhao (2022; review of all the evidence for MOND) - arxiv.org/pdf/2110.06936.pdf Hernandez, Jiménez & Allen (2012; proposed test of MOND using GAIA data) - arxiv.org/pdf/1105.1873.pdf Milgrom (1983; first MOND paper) - https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1983ApJ...270..365M
00:00 - Introduction 01:39 - Curiosity Stream - AD 03:08 - What is MOND? 05:56 - What is the wide binary test? 08:31 - What have previous studies found? 09:34 - How have Banik et al. ruled out MOND? 14:00 - Why Banik et al. think the viral Chae results are unreliable 15:10 - Why this isn't evidence for dark matter 16:24 - Outro & thank you 17:13 - Bloopers
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
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📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
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📚 "The Year In Space" celebrating all things space in 2022 from me and the rest of the Supermassive Podcast team: geni.us/jNcrw
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👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukThe first SCIENCE IMAGES from the Euclid Space Telescope 🤯#shortsDr. Becky2023-11-07 | Check out the @europeanspaceagency website to take a look at the images yourself! https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid/Euclid_s_first_images_the_dazzling_edge_of_darkness
The first science images from the Euclid Space Telescope were released today and they are INCREDIBLE! Unlike JWST or Hubble which both focus on details in small areas of sky, Euclid looks at a large area of sky all at once giving incredible images which will be used to map the positions and distances of billions of galaxies in the universe. Astrophysicists will use this map to study where dark matter is in the universe and how the expansion rate of the universe has changed with time.What do Jupiter & Saturn look like through a telescope? | Vlog Maldives Soneva Fushi October 2023Dr. Becky2023-11-05 | In October of 2023 I travelled to Soneva Fushi in the Maldives where they have an amateur observatory with a 14" telescope. While I was there I wanted to try and capture what Jupiter and Saturn look like to your eyes when you look down the telescope. I managed to attach my camera to the back of the telescope and was amazed at what I captured. I was invited to Soneva Fushi @discoversoneva to give stargazing tours to guests at the observatory in the evenings and had a wonderful trip (the trip was gifted in exchange for the stargazing evenings, I was not required to make this video but wanted to anyway!) - check out the resort here: soneva.com/resorts/soneva-fushi
00:00 - Introduction 01:17 - The telescope at Soneva Fushi 02:45 - How I captured this with my camera and a telescope 04:31 - Jupiter 07:08 - Saturn 09:32 - Outro
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV & an iPhone 13 Pro
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📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
---
📚 "The Year In Space" celebrating all things space in 2022 from me and the rest of the Supermassive Podcast team: geni.us/jNcrw
---
👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
---
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukJWST investigates failed supernova - did it form a black hole?Dr. Becky2023-10-19 | Back in 2009 a star flared in brightness and then completely disappeared. The best explanation we had at the time was that the star had skipped supernova entirely and collapsed straight down into a black hole. But now the James Webb Space Telescope has taken a look and found something there in infrared light that doesn't seem to have changed brightness at all. So what else could it be? And why does this cause so many problems for explaining the "red supergiant problem"?
00:00 - Introduction 01:18 - The Red Supergiant Problem 04:52 - What has JWST found observing N6946-BH1? 06:49 - If it's not a "failed supernova" black hole - what else could it be? 09:18 - Follow up JWST observations are planned 09:57 - Bloopers
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
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📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
---
📚 "The Year In Space" celebrating all things space in 2022 from me and the rest of the Supermassive Podcast team: geni.us/jNcrw
---
👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
---
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukTop tips for stargazing: dark sky sites let you see more stars #shortsDr. Becky2023-10-13 | #AD Check out @Canopyandstars for cabins under the stars - I stayed at their Ursabear cabin recently which even had its own telescope! To appreciate the night sky in all its glory you need to get away from light pollution and then give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness. That way you’ll see even more stars in the night sky 🌌
#stargazing #astronomy #astrophysics #nightsky #stars #planets #cabins #travel #forest #weekendescape #tJWST found LONE planets in the Orion Nebula and we can’t explain them | Night Sky News October 2023Dr. Becky2023-10-12 | Go to https://ground.news/drbecky for breaking science news and compare coverage. Sign up or subscribe through my link before Oct 23, 2023 for 30% off unlimited access to get reliable information all in one place.
00:00 Intro 00:54 Annual Solar Eclipse on 14th Oct! 02:47 Jupiter Opposition 3rd November! 04:08 Spot Saturn! 04:18 Orionids Meteor Shower on 20th/21st October 05:09 Venus at Greatest Western Elongation, 23rd October 05:59 AD 07:22 Nobel Prize in Physics 10:08 Antimatter falls down, not up! 10:40 Perseverance spots huge Martian Dust Devil 12:10 Chandrayaan 3 Update 12:48 OSIRIS-REx Sample Returned 16:59 Native Carbon on Europa 22:35 JUMBOs in Orion / Trapezium Cluster 28:43 Bloopers
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukThere’s 38 signed copies of my book in Heathrow Airport Terminal 3 #shortsDr. Becky2023-10-10 | There’s 38 signed copies of my book “A Brief History of Black Holes” in the WH Smith’s of Heathrow Airport Terminal 3! 🥳 thanks to the staff who were so lovely and let me sign them @whsmith @LHRHeathrow
👩🏽💻 I’m Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don’t know. If you’ve ever wondered about something in space and couldn’t find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
#books #authors #blackholes #astronomy #physics #science #publicationday #paperbackTop tips for viewing the Moon through a telescope #shorts #ADDr. Becky2023-10-06 | #AD The best cabins to escape to come with their own telescopes! 🔭 recently I got to stay with @Canopyandstars at the Ursabear cabin on the edge of Exmoor National Park (a designated dark sky site) in Devon. It was set up perfectly for stargazing (like all the Canopy & Stars cabins are) and I had great fun observing the quarter Moon 🌗 the best time to observe the Moon with a telescope is when it’s not full, and the shadow line known as the “terminator” throws up lots of detail on all the craters. Have you managed to see the Moon through a telescope yet? Or escape to somewhere with darker skies? If not, check out the cabins that @Canopyandstars have!
#astrotourism #moon #telescope #observing #stargazing #cabins #woods #forest #darksky #astronomy #science #space #escapism #ad #paidpromotionbHow MASSIVE can a STAR get?Dr. Becky2023-10-05 | Go to brilliant.org/drbecky to get a 30-day free trial and the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual subscription! We know there's a limit to how small a star can be, but is there a limit to how BIG stars can get? Is there some aspect of Physics that limits how big they can grow, or do big stars just get rarer and rarer so we're less likely to see them? The biggest star we've ever found is R136a1 at around 200 times heavier than the Sun, and that is very challenging for our models of star formation to explain...
Salpeter (1955; first analysis of the IMF) - https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1955ApJ...121..161S Hopkins (2018; review on the IMF) - arxiv.org/abs/1807.09949 Larson & Starrfield (1971; the limit from models of star formation) - https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1971A%26A....13..190L Nakano (1989; increasing the limit with models of star formation) - https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1989ApJ...345..464N Jijina & Adams (1996; increasing the limit with models of star formation) - https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1996ApJ...462..874J Feast, Thackery & Wesselink (1960; catalogue of stars in the Magellanic Clouds) - academic.oup.com/mnras/article/121/4/337/2602312 Ebbets & Conti (1982; R136a1 is 2000 times the mass of the Sun?) - Bestenlehner et al. (2020; mass estimate of R136a1) - arxiv.org/pdf/2009.05136.pdf Kalari et al. (2002; new estimate of mass of R136a1) - arxiv.org/pdf/2207.13078.pdf Weidner & Kroupa (2003; limit from star clusters) - arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0310860.pdf
00:00 - Introduction 00:50 - The Initial Mass Function of stars with a lower and upper limit? 03:00 - Simulating stars forming - is there a physical process limiting the mass? 05:19 - Finding the most massive star known R136a1 07:35 - If we don't find more massive stars, does that mean there's really a limit? 07:57 - How can JWST help solve this problem? 09:06 - Brilliant 10:15 - Bloopers
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
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📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky
---
📚 "The Year In Space" celebrating all things space in 2022 from me and the rest of the Supermassive Podcast team: geni.us/jNcrw
---
👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com rebeccasmethurst.co.ukI guessed who would win the Nobel Prize in Physics 2023! #shortsDr. Becky2023-10-03 | The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2023 was awarded to Anne L’Huillier, Ferenc Krausz & Pierre Agostini for their work on attosecond Physics to observe electrons moving so you can watch chemical reactions in real time! It’s notoriously difficult to predict who will win the Nobel Prize but I called it 3 days earlier 😂 I am incredibly smug today.
👩🏽💻 I’m Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don’t know. If you’ve ever wondered about something in space and couldn’t find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.