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- [Voiceover] They are capturing photons
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racing through space,
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measuring their energies,
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and pinpointing their sources.
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An army of high tech instruments
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including the Hubble Space Telescope,
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is peering into ever more
distant corners of the universe.
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They are reeling in
enormous volumes of data
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that scientists use within models
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to explain how galaxies took shape.
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How stars live and die.
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And how the universe
set the stage for life.
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What are we learning about the origins
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of our world and ourselves
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in this age of Hubble?
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There is a clarity, a brilliance to space
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that simply doesn't exist on Earth,
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wrote the astronaut Gus Grissom.
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Nowhere else can you realize so fully
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the majesty of our Earth and be so awed
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at the thought that it's only one
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of untold thousands of planets.
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For astronauts and stargazers,
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the universe beckons us to explore it
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and to wonder,
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how did it all come about
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and how do we fit in?
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Are there other worlds like
our own, rich with life?
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Today, these questions
are being raised anew
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by bold advances in the
science of astronomy.
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The Hubble Space Telescope
was launched in the year 1990,
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to capture the pristine
light of distant space.
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It led a fleet of space based telescopes,
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sent up to probe distant galaxies,
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black holes,
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stars,
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planets.
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The vantage of space allows satellites
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to capture light that
is blocked or distorted
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by Earth's atmosphere.
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From long-wave infrared light
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that passes through dust clouds,
revealing hidden structures
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in star forming regions or galaxies,
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to high energy x-rays,
from supernova explosions
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or the environments of black holes.
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By the time the light of
these objects reaches us,
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it has traveled millions
or even billions of years.
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It carries with it information about
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how the universe came to be what it is.
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Sending telescopes into space was part
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of a larger technological revolution.
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On mountaintops around the
world, scientists began building
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a new generation of giant telescopes.
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Among them, The Very Large Telescope array
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or VLT, in Chile.
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The Keck, Subaru and Gemini telescopes
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on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
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These high tech instruments are equipped
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with the largest mirrors ever built.
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They have to be nearly flawless
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to capture the trickle of photons
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from distant reaches of the universe.
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The VLT mirrors, for
example, are so smooth
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that if you blew one up
to the size of Paris,
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its surface would vary
by only a millimeter.
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To the powerful light gathering abilities
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of these precision
mirrors, scientists added
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computer programs and
sophisticated optics,
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designed to cancel out
distortions in starlight
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caused by turbulence in our atmosphere.
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The purpose?
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To gain the clarity of
space here on Earth.
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Scientists have now added
a powerful new weapon
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to their arsenal of discovery.
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Supercomputer programs that
use the laws of physics
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to simulate important cosmic events.
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They use these virtual telescopes
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to literally set the universe in motion.
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To test theories about
how the cosmos evolved
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on the largest scales,
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and how objects form and interact
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from immense galaxy clusters
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down to solar systems and planets.
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Among the most important
revelations in this age of Hubble
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is a deepening sense of
the scales and the forces
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that define the universe.
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Based on their view of the night sky,
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the ancient Greeks saw Earth
at the center of creation.
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The philosopher, Aristotle,
described a series
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of 55 celestial spheres, with each moving
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in a way that predicted the positions
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of planets or stars within them.
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The stars, he said, are
made of a pure substance
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not found on Earth,
thus, the outer spheres
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they inhabit are home to the Gods.
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Centuries later, scientists would learn
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that Earth revolves around the Sun,
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in an assemblage of
planets, a solar system.
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A century ago, they deduced that our Sun
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is one of billions of other stars
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moving around a disc-like
structure, the galaxy.
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What laid beyond this island universe?
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How far did space extend?
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Working with the new 100 inch telescope
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on California's Mount Wilson,
astronomer Edward Hubble
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and an assistant named Milt Humason,
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analyzed the life of
blurry patches of sky,
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known as nebulae.
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They found that these
patches were actually
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galaxies unto themselves,
located far beyond our Milky Way.
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Many of them in fact,
are moving away from us.
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The farther away they are,
the faster they are receiving.
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These findings sparked the rise
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of a whole new model of the universe.
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It's much larger than we imagined,
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filled with countless galaxies
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and growing larger all the time.
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Over six decades later,
scientists launched
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Hubble's namesake,
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the telescope in space,
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to nail down the parameters
he helped define,
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the cosmic expansion rate,
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as well as a scale for
calculating distances.
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Knowing these two numbers
would allow astronomers
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to establish a timeline
for cosmic evolution,
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going all the way back to
the earliest moments of time.
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The starting point comes to
us courtesy of the so-called
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cosmic microwave background radiation,
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light emitted not long
after the universe was born.
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Reading this light, the COBE,
WMAP and Planck satellites
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showed that the universe began
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with widespread variations in its density.
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From this blotchy pattern,
gravity has sculpted
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the arrangement of galaxies
we now see in our telescopes.
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Our galaxy and its neighbors,
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are tied to a larger
grouping, the Virgo Cluster,
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some 50 million light years away.
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It's at the center of a supercluster,
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10,000 galaxies strong.
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From this intergalactic
hub, filaments of galaxies
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extend outward in all directions
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forming a vast luminous web.
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How far out does this cosmic web extend?
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How did it come to be
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and how will it evolve in the future?
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Astronomers sought answers and even
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more precise measurements
of cosmic expansion.
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Using a combination of Hubble
and ground based telescopes,
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they'd look for a type of sun-like star
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that had burned itself
out called a white dwarf.
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If one of these tiny dense remnants
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happens to orbit another
star or another white dwarf,
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it may begin to draw
mass from its companion.
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At a critical threshold,
it begins to undergo
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a thermonuclear reaction.
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Scientists at the University of Chicago
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and Argonne National
Lab have been simulating
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the chain of events that follows.
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Hot ash begins rising to the surface.
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As it breaks out, it
wraps around the star.
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A collision on the other
side triggers the explosion.
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These Type Ia supernovae are thought
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to all explode in the same way
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with the same luminosity
wherever they are in space.
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And because they are so bright,
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they are ideal for
measuring extreme distances.
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It's like looking at cars
with identical headlights,
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approaching on a highway.
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The dimmer they appear,
the farther away they are.
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But when astronomers began
looking at these cosmic beacons,
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they noticed something unexpected.
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They combined their brightness
with another measure,
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how far their light
had shifted to the red.
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The larger the shift,
the more the universe
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had expanded since the star had exploded.
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Some explosions look dimmer than expected
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based on their red shift.
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That meant their light had traveled
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an even greater distance to reach us.
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That led astronomers to conclude
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that the cosmic expansion rate
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was slower in the deep vast.
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It must have accelerated for the universe
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to reach its current size.
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The force causing space to
speed up is still unknown.
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Scientists refer to it as dark energy
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and it may be all around us.
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Far from being empty, the vacuum of space
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is filled with energy,
that constantly wells up
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in the form of particles
of opposite charge,
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matter and antimatter.
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According to a theory that
has gained wide acceptance,
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the universe began when this vacuum
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was somehow tipped into
a higher energy state,
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causing space and time
to suddenly inflate.
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Tiny fluctuations in the primordial energy
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generated pressure waves or ripples.
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They gave rise to density variations
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which gravity amplified over time
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into the web-like structures
seen in telescopes.
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Taking cosmic expansion into account,
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galaxies out at the edge
of the visible universe
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are 46 billion light years away from us,
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in each direction.
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There may be much more to it.
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The fury of cosmic
inflation would have caused
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the universe to go from atomic size
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to cosmological size within an infinite
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(indistinct) short time.
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The universe as a whole, would have grown
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to some 10 billion, trillion times
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the size of the observable universe.
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Put another way, the new theory says
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the whole universe is to
the observable universe,
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as the observable universe
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is to an atom.
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So where does that leave us
in the grand scheme of things?
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Since the discoveries of the
solar system and the galaxy,
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we find ourselves confined
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to an ever smaller corner of creation.
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And yet, in this age of Hubble,
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we have learned just how much
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we are a product to the universe
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and of a great cosmic continuum
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that reaches back to
the beginning of time.
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In a sense, our own story looms large.
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It began with the earliest
generation of stars and galaxies,
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at a time where the universe
was awash in hydrogen gas.
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When the first stars formed,
they began generating
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oxygen and carbon in their cores.
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Some exploded, generating heavier elements
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like iron or gold or magnesium,
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while spreading these
elements far and wide
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in the form of dust.
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This animation depicts a supernova
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spotted by Chinese astronomers
in the year 1054 AD.
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The star was utterly destroyed
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except for a spinning ultra dense core
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the size of a city, a neutron star
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and an expanding cloud of gas and dust.
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Still growing at a rate of
1,000 kilometers a second.
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Astronomers have been
poring over the Crab Nebula.
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What they found is that the filaments
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of matter that roared out of the blast
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contain large volumes of dust,
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an array of mostly carbon
or silicate compounds
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that absorb visible light.
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These solid particles are crucial
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for the formation of solar systems.
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Within the Crab Nebula,
there is enough dust
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to make some 30 to 40 thousand Earths.
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Over time, and after
countless stellar explosions,
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dust has collected in dense
pockets throughout our galaxy.
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But dust grains can be found throughout
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intergalactic space as well.
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Some might have come from
the earliest supernovas.
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There is another source as well.
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Since the 1960s, astronomers
have been studying
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bright beacons of light that shine
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from the centers of distant galaxies.
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A quasar's power source they found,
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is a black hole that
has grown to millions,
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even billions of times
the mass of our own Sun.
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00:23:14,700 --> 00:23:17,780
The thinking is, that magnetic fields
265
00:23:17,780 --> 00:23:20,829
beam off a disc of matter, then spiraling
266
00:23:20,829 --> 00:23:25,440
into the black hole, drawn
by its extreme gravity.
267
00:23:29,420 --> 00:23:33,300
These fields channel a portion
of the inflowing matter
268
00:23:33,300 --> 00:23:36,360
out into powerful particle beams.
269
00:23:41,060 --> 00:23:43,860
The jet is part of a larger rush of matter
270
00:23:43,860 --> 00:23:46,000
away from the black hole.
271
00:23:58,660 --> 00:24:03,660
You can see it in a large
spiral galaxy called NGC 3783,
272
00:24:06,780 --> 00:24:09,840
30 million light years from Earth.
273
00:24:17,860 --> 00:24:21,980
Astronomers use the Very Large
Telescope array in Chile's
274
00:24:21,980 --> 00:24:26,980
Atacama Desert to peer into
the core of this galaxy
275
00:24:27,060 --> 00:24:31,160
to study the environment of
a super massive black hole.
276
00:24:38,820 --> 00:24:42,260
From a disc of matter
flowing into the black hole,
277
00:24:42,260 --> 00:24:46,180
intense radiation had created a dusty wind
278
00:24:46,180 --> 00:24:50,040
that is moving up and
away from the black hole.
279
00:24:54,500 --> 00:24:59,340
The source of the dust is likely
generations of giant stars
280
00:24:59,340 --> 00:25:03,240
that lived and died in the
galaxy's central region.
281
00:25:09,700 --> 00:25:12,580
Black hole winds are
now thought to have had
282
00:25:12,580 --> 00:25:16,360
a major impact on the universe at large.
283
00:25:21,060 --> 00:25:25,360
You can see it in a simulation
of early cosmic evolution.
284
00:25:28,580 --> 00:25:33,580
From a starting point 12
million years after time zero,
285
00:25:33,580 --> 00:25:36,980
this computer simulation
shows the evolution
286
00:25:36,980 --> 00:25:41,980
of a cosmic patch, some 350
million light years across.
287
00:25:50,140 --> 00:25:53,220
Not every thing is known
about what happened
288
00:25:53,220 --> 00:25:56,136
including the nature
of a dominant substance
289
00:25:56,136 --> 00:25:58,560
known as dark matter.
290
00:26:05,180 --> 00:26:08,140
Within the volume of this simulation,
291
00:26:08,140 --> 00:26:11,500
tens of thousands of galaxies take shape
292
00:26:11,500 --> 00:26:14,800
all along the strands of the cosmic web.
293
00:26:19,820 --> 00:26:22,980
Where the filaments
intersect, something happens
294
00:26:22,980 --> 00:26:26,990
that will affect the
character of every galaxy,
295
00:26:26,990 --> 00:26:30,684
star and planet.
296
00:26:38,529 --> 00:26:43,320
Gigantic bubbles of hot gas
begin to expand outward.
297
00:26:54,660 --> 00:26:59,340
They form when matter flows
into large central galaxies
298
00:26:59,340 --> 00:27:03,020
and gets blasted out by
super massive black holes,
299
00:27:03,020 --> 00:27:05,240
lurking in their cores.
300
00:27:10,220 --> 00:27:13,259
In time, these hot bubbles push out
301
00:27:13,259 --> 00:27:16,080
well beyond the central galaxies.
302
00:27:21,940 --> 00:27:25,460
This has the effect of
limiting the amount of gas
303
00:27:25,460 --> 00:27:28,160
that can fall into central regions,
304
00:27:31,300 --> 00:27:34,140
allowing smaller galaxies like ours
305
00:27:34,140 --> 00:27:36,532
to form on the periphery.
306
00:27:40,460 --> 00:27:44,900
The bubbles spread huge
volumes of gas and dust
307
00:27:44,900 --> 00:27:48,080
created in earlier generations of stars.
308
00:27:57,780 --> 00:28:00,540
Galaxies all around the universe
309
00:28:00,540 --> 00:28:03,760
bear witness to this dusty legacy.
310
00:28:15,620 --> 00:28:19,740
The bright central region of
the famous Pinwheel Galaxy
311
00:28:19,740 --> 00:28:23,400
is surrounded by dark, dusty lanes.
312
00:28:37,219 --> 00:28:41,100
In spiral galaxies, the most common type,
313
00:28:41,100 --> 00:28:44,260
hot winds from exploding stars help push
314
00:28:44,260 --> 00:28:47,440
these clouds towards the periphery,
315
00:28:52,660 --> 00:28:56,280
as well as above and
below their flat discs.
316
00:29:03,500 --> 00:29:06,100
You can see evidence of this in our view
317
00:29:06,100 --> 00:29:09,200
into the disc of the Milky Way galaxy.
318
00:29:12,158 --> 00:29:15,340
Dark dust lanes and ominous clouds
319
00:29:15,340 --> 00:29:18,280
dominate our view into the disc,
320
00:29:19,180 --> 00:29:22,720
while tendrils of dust reach far above it.
321
00:29:26,420 --> 00:29:29,580
Here, above the plane of the galaxy,
322
00:29:29,580 --> 00:29:32,500
just 400 light years from Earth
323
00:29:32,500 --> 00:29:37,500
is a dense irregular cloud
of dust called Lupus 4.
324
00:29:43,700 --> 00:29:47,900
Our Sun, our solar system likely formed
325
00:29:47,900 --> 00:29:50,160
in a cloud like this.
326
00:29:54,300 --> 00:29:56,820
Lupus 4 may one day give rise
327
00:29:56,820 --> 00:30:01,360
to a star cluster like NGC 3590,
328
00:30:02,700 --> 00:30:05,340
a region of dust and glowing gas
329
00:30:05,340 --> 00:30:07,840
near the plane of the galaxy.
330
00:30:11,420 --> 00:30:15,760
These young stars were probably
all born at the same time,
331
00:30:17,740 --> 00:30:19,920
within the same cloud.
332
00:30:27,820 --> 00:30:30,860
The manufacture and spread of dust
333
00:30:30,860 --> 00:30:34,320
is an ongoing process in our galaxy.
334
00:30:40,180 --> 00:30:42,920
Consider the Carina Nebula,
335
00:30:44,500 --> 00:30:48,646
located 7,500 light years away,
336
00:30:48,660 --> 00:30:52,960
it spans some 250 light years across.
337
00:31:00,940 --> 00:31:05,380
At its center is the
giant star, Eta Carinae,
338
00:31:05,380 --> 00:31:08,380
one of the largest and most unstable stars
339
00:31:08,380 --> 00:31:10,440
known in our galaxy.
340
00:31:14,940 --> 00:31:17,100
It is surrounded by an expanding
341
00:31:17,100 --> 00:31:20,180
bipolar cloud of dust and gas,
342
00:31:20,180 --> 00:31:25,120
known as the Homunculus,
or Little Man in Latin.
343
00:31:28,020 --> 00:31:30,340
Astronomers believe it was expelled
344
00:31:30,340 --> 00:31:33,380
during what they called the Great Eruption
345
00:31:33,380 --> 00:31:37,640
in the years 1838 to 1845.
346
00:31:40,740 --> 00:31:45,340
With a mass over 100
times that of our Sun,
347
00:31:45,340 --> 00:31:48,480
this star could explode at anytime.
348
00:31:51,900 --> 00:31:56,220
And yet, in the larger
cloud of dust and gas,
349
00:31:56,220 --> 00:31:59,800
stars are being born at a fever pitch.
350
00:32:07,540 --> 00:32:10,859
Here, a pillar of dust is being eroded
351
00:32:10,859 --> 00:32:13,720
by a torrent of ultra violet light
352
00:32:14,340 --> 00:32:17,320
from hot, massive stars nearby.
353
00:32:23,900 --> 00:32:28,720
A dense region at the top
resists these scouring winds,
354
00:32:30,460 --> 00:32:33,920
giving a young star time to incubate.
355
00:32:40,980 --> 00:32:44,020
Gas and dust flowing into the star
356
00:32:44,020 --> 00:32:48,120
are being blasted out in
jets coming from its poles.
357
00:32:53,220 --> 00:32:56,140
Of all the constellations, few attract
358
00:32:56,140 --> 00:32:59,160
more admirers than Orion.
359
00:33:05,860 --> 00:33:09,160
Within it is a stargazer's dream,
360
00:33:10,220 --> 00:33:15,220
the Great Orion Nebula, a
luminous castle of gas and dust,
361
00:33:16,380 --> 00:33:19,680
1,300 light years away.
362
00:33:21,060 --> 00:33:24,800
It's roughly the size of
a full moon on the sky.
363
00:33:26,820 --> 00:33:30,760
At its heart is a star
cluster called the Trapezium,
364
00:33:30,940 --> 00:33:34,680
a brilliant formation first
discovered by Galileo.
365
00:33:37,740 --> 00:33:41,220
It pumps out a wind of
ultra violet radiation
366
00:33:41,220 --> 00:33:44,360
that causes the
surrounding region to glow.
367
00:33:49,220 --> 00:33:53,300
These large stars emit
streams of charged particles
368
00:33:53,300 --> 00:33:57,380
that collide with dust clouds
forming a frothy landscape
369
00:33:57,380 --> 00:33:59,600
of arcs and bubbles.
370
00:34:02,460 --> 00:34:04,900
These winds are also disrupting the growth
371
00:34:04,900 --> 00:34:08,120
of hundreds of solar
systems in the making.
372
00:34:15,460 --> 00:34:18,420
Despite these winds, some solar systems
373
00:34:18,420 --> 00:34:20,840
still manage to come to life.
374
00:34:23,300 --> 00:34:25,660
Using the Hubble Space Telescope,
375
00:34:25,660 --> 00:34:27,580
scientists have been drawing them out
376
00:34:27,580 --> 00:34:30,520
of their bright and hazy surroundings.
377
00:34:41,300 --> 00:34:43,940
Thousands of solar systems are being born
378
00:34:43,940 --> 00:34:47,120
in and around the Orion Nebula,
379
00:34:48,500 --> 00:34:53,500
in a rich chemical soup provided
by large exploding stars.
380
00:34:58,020 --> 00:35:01,300
Amid all the dust, scientist have detected
381
00:35:01,300 --> 00:35:03,760
huge volumes of water.
382
00:35:04,620 --> 00:35:06,360
Where does it come from
383
00:35:07,127 --> 00:35:09,000
and how does it form?
384
00:35:10,460 --> 00:35:15,120
In some cases, water is the
by-product of a star's death.
385
00:35:16,620 --> 00:35:19,660
When a medium sized star like our Sun
386
00:35:19,660 --> 00:35:22,500
uses up the hydrogen in its core,
387
00:35:22,500 --> 00:35:26,680
it becomes unstable,
shedding its outer layers.
388
00:35:30,060 --> 00:35:33,662
The Helix Nebula is a
star that has puffed out
389
00:35:33,662 --> 00:35:37,440
into a colorful ring of
glowing gas and dust.
390
00:35:41,180 --> 00:35:44,060
A tiny remnant of the original star,
391
00:35:44,060 --> 00:35:47,180
called a white dwarf, scours the ring
392
00:35:47,180 --> 00:35:50,620
with harsh ultraviolet light that destroys
393
00:35:50,620 --> 00:35:54,640
particular compounds,
including carbon monoxide.
394
00:35:58,420 --> 00:36:02,900
The oxygen that's set free
combines with hydrogen
395
00:36:02,900 --> 00:36:06,080
in a molecule that forms water.
396
00:36:09,340 --> 00:36:13,080
Dying stars are not the
only source of water.
397
00:36:17,140 --> 00:36:20,180
750 light years from Earth,
398
00:36:20,180 --> 00:36:24,942
a protostar called L1448MM
399
00:36:24,942 --> 00:36:28,340
is shooting matter out in high speed jets
400
00:36:28,340 --> 00:36:31,200
containing oxygen and hydrogen.
401
00:36:33,300 --> 00:36:36,940
When these molecules reach
a cooler environment,
402
00:36:36,940 --> 00:36:41,700
they form water, at a
rate 100 million times
403
00:36:41,700 --> 00:36:44,520
the flow of the Amazon River.
404
00:36:50,380 --> 00:36:52,980
Water then becomes part of the dynamic
405
00:36:52,980 --> 00:36:55,520
of a solar system's birth.
406
00:36:58,380 --> 00:37:01,583
Scientists have sought to
better understand the formation
407
00:37:01,583 --> 00:37:06,080
of planets by simulating
it in a supercomputer.
408
00:37:20,158 --> 00:37:23,720
Gravity causes a central
region to collapse
409
00:37:24,660 --> 00:37:27,360
and dust and gas to flow in.
410
00:37:30,460 --> 00:37:34,720
It forms a disc that swirls
around the newborn star.
411
00:37:39,620 --> 00:37:43,580
Along the way, water acts like a glue,
412
00:37:43,580 --> 00:37:47,260
allowing dust grains
to form larger bodies,
413
00:37:47,260 --> 00:37:52,260
from rocks to comets,
asteroids and fiery planets.
414
00:38:19,303 --> 00:38:21,940
Up on the high deserts of Chile,
415
00:38:21,940 --> 00:38:24,629
astronomers have been using the Atacama
416
00:38:24,629 --> 00:38:28,460
Large Millimeter/submillimeter
Telescope Array
417
00:38:28,460 --> 00:38:33,460
to peer into the turbulent
environments of newly born stars.
418
00:38:38,903 --> 00:38:42,900
One of them, 450 light years away,
419
00:38:42,900 --> 00:38:45,880
is known as HL Tauri.
420
00:38:49,260 --> 00:38:52,620
The star is no more
than a million years old
421
00:38:52,620 --> 00:38:55,100
but there are signs that planet formation
422
00:38:55,100 --> 00:38:57,280
is already underway.
423
00:38:59,220 --> 00:39:03,340
Its hot core is cocooned
in a cloud of gas and dust,
424
00:39:03,340 --> 00:39:05,320
the solar nebula.
425
00:39:06,380 --> 00:39:08,660
As matter flowed into the star,
426
00:39:08,660 --> 00:39:12,560
it has settled into a protoplanetary disc.
427
00:39:16,100 --> 00:39:19,740
This disc has a series of telltale grooves
428
00:39:19,740 --> 00:39:24,120
where the gravity of planets
has begun to sweep up the dust.
429
00:39:29,900 --> 00:39:34,580
Dust within the solar nebula
carries all the material needed
430
00:39:34,580 --> 00:39:39,560
to build a planet like ours,
including organic compounds.
431
00:39:48,060 --> 00:39:51,200
So, how did Earth get its water?
432
00:39:56,620 --> 00:39:59,760
The answer may begin with our star.
433
00:40:04,380 --> 00:40:08,500
As the Sun vents heat from
nuclear burning in its core,
434
00:40:08,500 --> 00:40:11,340
it generates a steady wind of protons
435
00:40:11,340 --> 00:40:14,680
that reach to the edges
of the solar system.
436
00:40:22,140 --> 00:40:24,420
This wind encounters dust particles
437
00:40:24,420 --> 00:40:27,100
that are wafting through the solar system,
438
00:40:27,100 --> 00:40:30,320
attracted by the gravity of planets.
439
00:40:34,927 --> 00:40:38,460
Some 40 thousand tonnes of dust and rocks
440
00:40:38,460 --> 00:40:41,320
rain down onto the Earth each year,
441
00:40:43,020 --> 00:40:46,020
leftovers from the birth
of the solar system
442
00:40:46,020 --> 00:40:48,720
four to five billion years ago.
443
00:40:53,780 --> 00:40:56,940
Interplanetary dust has
long been known to carry
444
00:40:56,940 --> 00:41:00,100
organic or carbon compounds,
445
00:41:00,100 --> 00:41:03,680
able to survive the journey
through Earth's atmosphere.
446
00:41:07,740 --> 00:41:10,840
Scientists recently found something else
447
00:41:11,620 --> 00:41:14,280
on the dust particles themselves.
448
00:41:19,340 --> 00:41:23,660
Hydrogen ions or protons
from the solar wind
449
00:41:23,660 --> 00:41:25,640
strike these particles.
450
00:41:30,940 --> 00:41:33,700
When these protons interact with oxygen
451
00:41:33,700 --> 00:41:38,500
and silicate mineral grains,
they form H2O molecules
452
00:41:38,500 --> 00:41:41,160
which then cling to the particles.
453
00:41:45,340 --> 00:41:49,020
This process was documented
in lunar dust grains
454
00:41:49,020 --> 00:41:51,800
picked up by Apollo astronauts.
455
00:41:56,260 --> 00:41:58,740
It may be the source of water ice
456
00:41:58,740 --> 00:42:01,980
that has collected in the
bottom of some lunar craters
457
00:42:01,980 --> 00:42:04,880
and just strewn about lunar landscapes.
458
00:42:09,700 --> 00:42:13,700
In addition to watery dust
raining down onto the Earth,
459
00:42:13,700 --> 00:42:17,180
this may explain how comets and asteroids
460
00:42:17,180 --> 00:42:20,220
were able to generate stores of water
461
00:42:20,220 --> 00:42:23,200
and to bring them down to Earth.
462
00:42:25,460 --> 00:42:29,340
Given that water is created
and spread so readily,
463
00:42:29,340 --> 00:42:33,200
it's not surprising that it
pervades our own solar system.
464
00:42:38,260 --> 00:42:41,780
At its edges, Pluto, and its moon Charon,
465
00:42:41,780 --> 00:42:44,620
are lined with a thick
layer of frozen methane
466
00:42:44,620 --> 00:42:46,400
and water ice.
467
00:42:54,060 --> 00:42:56,620
The blue planets, Neptune and Uranus,
468
00:42:56,620 --> 00:42:58,820
get their color from the methane clouds
469
00:42:58,820 --> 00:43:01,680
that make up their frigid atmospheres.
470
00:43:04,780 --> 00:43:09,780
Within, charged particles
circulate in a sea of liquid water
471
00:43:10,100 --> 00:43:13,880
producing electrical
currents and magnetic fields.
472
00:43:20,540 --> 00:43:23,060
Within the folds of Saturn's rings
473
00:43:23,060 --> 00:43:25,480
are countless particles of ice.
474
00:43:30,460 --> 00:43:33,980
Hovering just above them
is the moon, Enceladus,
475
00:43:33,980 --> 00:43:36,940
with an icy surface that
makes it one of the brightest
476
00:43:36,940 --> 00:43:39,760
objects in the entire solar system.
477
00:43:43,060 --> 00:43:46,660
The Cassini Spacecraft
detected jets of water ice
478
00:43:46,660 --> 00:43:49,000
shooting out of its south pole.
479
00:43:50,060 --> 00:43:54,080
Scientists believe they are
coming from an interior ocean,
480
00:43:55,180 --> 00:43:58,760
launched by the squeezing
action of Saturn's gravity.
481
00:44:02,540 --> 00:44:05,189
The largest planet, Jupiter, harbors
482
00:44:05,189 --> 00:44:07,960
its own storehouse of water.
483
00:44:10,192 --> 00:44:12,860
The storms that drift along its surface
484
00:44:12,860 --> 00:44:15,900
are the result of water
vapor rising and falling
485
00:44:15,900 --> 00:44:17,760
like thunderstorms.
486
00:44:22,580 --> 00:44:27,320
Beyond Jupiter's roiling
atmosphere lies a water world,
487
00:44:28,700 --> 00:44:31,720
Jupiter's second moon, Europa.
488
00:44:35,500 --> 00:44:38,260
Its bright, smooth
surface is criss-crossed
489
00:44:38,260 --> 00:44:41,540
by channels and grooves,
carved out by shifts
490
00:44:41,540 --> 00:44:46,540
in an ocean of liquid water
or slushy ice that lies below.
491
00:44:53,340 --> 00:44:57,180
The faint emissions of
water jets illustrated here
492
00:44:57,180 --> 00:45:00,760
were recently picked up by
the Hubble Space Telescope.
493
00:45:13,180 --> 00:45:16,920
Then there's Earth, a water planet.
494
00:45:19,340 --> 00:45:22,500
Vast, interconnected bodies of water,
495
00:45:22,500 --> 00:45:26,760
the oceans cover 71% of its surface.
496
00:45:31,782 --> 00:45:35,660
And now, scientists have
detected whole oceans
497
00:45:35,660 --> 00:45:38,800
hidden in rocks deep inside the planet.
498
00:45:46,900 --> 00:45:50,060
The story of dust and water is central
499
00:45:50,060 --> 00:45:53,680
to our understanding
of how life can arise.
500
00:45:59,940 --> 00:46:04,280
These two components can be
found throughout the galaxy.
501
00:46:08,460 --> 00:46:11,680
But does life inevitably follow?
502
00:46:18,420 --> 00:46:22,480
For now, Earth remains our only data point
503
00:46:24,140 --> 00:46:28,060
among the thousands, even
billions of habitable worlds
504
00:46:28,060 --> 00:46:30,040
that may be out there.
505
00:46:35,180 --> 00:46:38,980
The age of Hubble has
brought a new appreciation
506
00:46:38,980 --> 00:46:41,220
of how we emerged in a universe
507
00:46:41,220 --> 00:46:44,040
that is immense beyond imagining.
508
00:46:48,660 --> 00:46:51,800
We have only begun to discern its limits.
509
00:46:58,500 --> 00:47:02,260
New data supports theories
of how the universe began
510
00:47:02,260 --> 00:47:04,640
in a furious expansion.
511
00:47:15,300 --> 00:47:17,820
Because science is fundamentally concerned
512
00:47:17,820 --> 00:47:20,940
with events that repeat in nature,
513
00:47:20,940 --> 00:47:24,060
some inflationary theories
place our universe
514
00:47:24,060 --> 00:47:27,120
in an even broader cosmic landscape.
515
00:47:30,740 --> 00:47:35,380
The idea is that universes,
like frothy bubbles,
516
00:47:35,380 --> 00:47:38,800
extend out into the voids of infinity.
517
00:47:52,020 --> 00:47:55,580
The age of Hubble has
brought incredible advances
518
00:47:55,580 --> 00:47:58,240
in our understanding of the universe.
519
00:48:03,740 --> 00:48:07,663
It is surely only the
beginning of a long quest
520
00:48:07,663 --> 00:48:10,520
to know how it all fits together,
521
00:48:13,220 --> 00:48:15,240
where we came from
522
00:48:18,820 --> 00:48:21,260
and what the stars may tell us
523
00:48:21,260 --> 00:48:25,160
of our place in the
spread of time and space.
524
00:48:31,820 --> 00:48:35,180
For astronauts and other stargazers,
525
00:48:35,180 --> 00:48:39,320
there is both a sense
of wonder and connection
526
00:48:40,020 --> 00:48:43,240
as we lock our gaze on the heavens,
527
00:48:46,220 --> 00:48:49,240
searching for the secrets of creation
528
00:48:51,140 --> 00:48:54,320
emblazoned on the night sky.
39830
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