You searched for cosmic queries - StarTalk Radio Show by Neil deGrasse Tyson : Cosmic Queries

May 7, 2024 – Season 15 Episode 27

Cosmic Queries – Bits of Spacetime with Janna Levin

Is gravity fundamental to the universe? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice explore quantum physics, the fourth dimension, whether H2O is water, and the many-worlds interpretation with theoretical cosmologist Janna Levin, PhD.

Combined observations from Chandra (purple), the Very Large Array (yellow) along with Hubble (red, green, and blue) have provided astronomers with a detailed new look at how galaxy and black hole formation may have occurred in the early Universe. The lack of a significant bulge of stars in the center of Henize 2-10, a galaxy with similar properties to those when the Universe was very young, indicates that black hole growth may be preceding the growth of the bulge. This differs from the relatively nearby Universe where the growth of galaxy bulges and supermassive black holes appear to happen in parallel.

Apr 12, 2024 – Season 15 Episode 22

Cosmic Queries – Black Hole Time Cloak with Charles Liu

Are black holes places or objects? Neil deGrasse Tyson and cohosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly answer grab-bag questions about distorting spacetime, Olbers’ Paradox, singularities, the shape of the universe, and more with astrophysicist Charles Liu.

$A vast galaxy cluster lurks in the centre of this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Like a submerged sea monster causing waves on the surface, this cosmic leviathan can be identified by the distortions in spacetime around it. The mass of the cluster has caused the images of background galaxies to be gravitationally lensed; the galaxy cluster has caused a sufficient curvature of spacetime to bend the path of light and cause background galaxies to appear distorted into streaks and arcs of light. A host of other galaxies can be seen surrounding the cluster, and a handful of foreground stars with tell-tale diffraction spikes are scattered throughout the image.This particular galaxy cluster is called eMACS J1823.1+7822, and lies almost nine billion light-years away in the constellation Draco. It is one of five exceptionally massive galaxy clusters explored by Hubble in the hopes of measuring the strengths of these gravitational lenses and providing insights into the distribution of dark matter in galaxy clusters. Strong gravitational lenses like eMACS J1823.1+7822 can help astronomers study distant galaxies by acting as vast natural telescopes which magnify objects that would otherwise be too faint or distant to resolve.$

Apr 2, 2024 – Season 15 Episode 20

Cosmic Queries – Planck Lengths to Supermassive Black Holes with Matt O’Dowd

Is space infinitely stretchable? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice explore fan grab bag questions about supermassive black holes, Planck lengths, and the gravitational wave background with extragalactic astrophysicist and host of PBS Spacetime, Matt O’Dowd.