February 23, 2020 8:37 pm

Monday, Neil deGrasse Tyson Answers Questions on Black Holes and Dark Energy

If there was a StarTalk Radio secret formula it might look something like this: Neil deGrasse Tyson + Chuck Nice + Cosmic Queries on Mysteries of the Universe = a great episode. Lucky for you, this week’s episode has that and a lot more.

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice are back together again to answer fan-submitted Cosmic Queries on black holes and dark energy. If you like in-depth intellectual answers on the mysteries of the universe, then this episode is right up your alley. We start with a simple question: how do we know there’s a black hole at the center of our galaxy? You’ll learn how we measure black holes. Neil reminds us of the Copernican principle, and why the more massive the entire galaxy, the more massive the black hole in its center.

Can a small black hole orbit a bigger black hole? We answer this with a thought experiment: what if the Earth were transformed into a black hole? Would it still orbit the sun? You’ll find out more about electron degeneracy, neutron stars, and pulsars, and learn whether a black hole can re-ignite back into star once it loses enough mass through Hawking radiation.

We ponder if a black hole can be turned into a weapon. Chuck has a great idea for a science fiction story involving a killer black hole until Neil reminds him that they kind of already did that in Star Trek. Discover more about the inside of a black hole. And of course, it wouldn’t be a show about black holes if we didn’t talk about the epic space film Interstellar.

We explore how big an impact dark energy has on everyday life. We discuss if we can manipulate dark energy or dark matter into fuel or some other resource. You’ll hear about the albedo effect and investigate whether a black hole can consume spacetime itself. All that, plus, we ponder what’s at the center of a supercluster.

Please join us tomorrow for Cosmic Queries – Black Holes and Dark Energy at 3pm ET right here on our website, as well as on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and TuneIn. If you’re a StarTalk+ Patron or an All-Access subscriber, you can watch or listen to this episode ad-free at 3pm, too.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
-Ian Mullen