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8 Planets That Shouldn_t Exist · Boring Science

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Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Boring Science to Sleep, a quiet
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place where science becomes slow, soft and easy to drift through. Tonight,
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you're going to gently explore the most horrifying planets ever discovered.
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Not to learn everything about them, and not to remember
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every number or distant name, but simply to notice how
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strangely different a planet can become when the familiar rules
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of heat, light, gravity and time are allowed to continue
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far beyond anything you know on Earth. Somewhere in the darkness,
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there are worlds almost completely hidden from light. Worlds where
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one side remains forever beneath a distant star. Worlds touched
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by the powerful energy of a dead star. And worlds
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so close to their suns that their own futures are
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slowly being changed. But there is nothing you need to
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do with any of this. You are safe where you are.
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There's nothing to solve. nothing to remember, and nowhere you
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need to go. Just listen. Let the room become quiet
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around you, and allow yourself to drift slowly through the
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darkness between the stars. Before you settle in, if you
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truly enjoy these calm journeys through interesting facts about science,
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you're welcome to like this video and subscribe, only if
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it feels right for you. And when you're ready, let
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me know in the comments where you're listening from, and
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what time it is right now. It's always a quiet
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joy to see how many places and moments gather here together.
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Now dim the lights, perhaps let a fan hum softly
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somewhere nearby, allow your body to become a little heavier
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against the bed, and let's slowly step away from Earth,
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toward a place where even darkness can become something extraordinary.
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You can imagine yourself drifting farther and farther from Earth,
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slowly enough that you never feel the movement, with the
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familiar blue world becoming smaller behind you, until even the
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light of our own sun begins to feel like one
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quiet point among many. There is no sound here, only
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darkness and the distant glow of stars. You continue outward,
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floating gently through the enormous space between one system and another,
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and after a while you begin to notice something curious
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about the world scattered through this darkness. Not every planet
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wants to be seen, Some reflect the light of their
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stars brightly, some glow with their own warmth, and some
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hide beneath thick layers of atmosphere. But there is one
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world that seems almost determined to disappear. Its name is
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Tres 2b. It is a giant planet, much larger than Earth,
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orbiting a yellow dwarf star roughly 718 light-years away from you.
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718 light-years is Even saying the distance slowly gives you
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a sense of how far away this quiet world really is.
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The light you imagine seeing from it has been travelling
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across space for centuries upon centuries before finally reaching your
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eyes in the story you are imagining now. And yet,
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when you look toward the planet itself, there is surprisingly
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little to see. Trees 2b is one of the darkest
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exoplanets known. An exoplanet, simply put, is a planet that
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orbits a star beyond our own solar system. And this
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particular planet has an unusual relationship with light. More than
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99% of the light that reaches it is absorbed rather
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than reflected back into space. You might imagine shining a
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small lamp toward an ordinary surface and watching some of
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that light return. Here, almost all of it simply seems
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to vanish. The star continues shining. the light continues travelling,
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and then the light reaches the planet, disappears into its atmosphere,
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and leaves behind almost nothing for the darkness around it
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to catch. So you drift a little closer in your imagination,
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not because you need to approach it, and certainly not
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because it would be safe to do so, but simply
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because you want to understand what such darkness might look like.
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At first, perhaps it looks like a shape cut out
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of the stars, a huge world, floating silently against the
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distant background, with its edges barely distinguishable from the darkness
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around it. It is not a black hole. It is
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not invisible. It is a planet, a huge hot world
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made mostly of gas, and beneath its almost completely dark
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appearance there is an extraordinary amount of heat. Its atmosphere
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reaches around 1,000 degrees Celsius. That is difficult to imagine
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from the quiet room where you are resting now. You
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know warmth as something gentle. The warmth of a blanket.
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The warmth of a cup resting between your hands. The
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warmth of sunlight passing through a window. But on Tres 2b,
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heat becomes something much more powerful. The upper atmosphere is
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so hot that the planet can produce a faint reddish
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glow of its own. So although the planet absorbs almost
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all of the light falling onto it, it is not
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perfectly black. Somewhere within that enormous darkness, there is a
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dim red warmth, like a tiny ember hidden beneath a
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thick layer of night. You do not need to see
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it clearly. Perhaps it is better that you cannot. You
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simply imagine the faintest reddish colour appearing for a moment,
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then fading back into the darkness. And around it, the
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stars remain distant and quiet. The strange thing about TRES-2b
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is that scientists do not have a completely satisfying explanation
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for why it is so dark. Something within its atmosphere
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must be absorbing an extraordinary amount of the incoming light.
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The exact nature of the material and processes responsible for
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this unusual darkness remains a subject of scientific investigation. You
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do not need to follow every detail. You can simply
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hold onto the image. Light arrives. Almost all of it disappears.
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A faint warmth remains, and the mystery stays quietly in
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the background. This is one of the gentle truths of astronomy. Sometimes,
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discovering a strange world does not mean immediately discovering every
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answer about it. Sometimes you find something unusual first, and
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only later begin to understand why it behaves that way.
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The universe leaves small, unfinished corners, and TRES-2b is one
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of them. The planet itself was discovered in the summer
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of 2006, and later observations allowed scientists to learn more
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about its unusual characteristics. It is considerably larger than Earth,
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with a mass a little more than one-fifth greater than
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Jupiter's mass, and a width somewhat larger than Jupiter's, but
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those measurements are almost secondary to the image it leaves behind.
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A giant world, a hot atmosphere, almost no reflected light,
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and a faint red glow hidden inside the darkness. You
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can let that image become slower now. Imagine yourself no
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longer approaching the planet, but simply floating beside it from
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a safe and impossible distance. There is nothing to hear,
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nothing to touch, no wind reaching you. no ground beneath
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your feet, only the gentle feeling of weightlessness, and the
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distant knowledge that an enormous atmosphere is moving somewhere in
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the dark. Perhaps you begin to notice how different this
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world is from Earth. Here on Earth, darkness usually means
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that the sun has gone below the horizon, night arrives,
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the air cools, the stars appear, and eventually morning returns.
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But darkness on Trees 2b is different. It is not
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simply the absence of daylight. It is part of the
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character of the planet itself. The world receives light, yet
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gives almost none back. It sits close to its star,
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bathed in energy, while still appearing almost completely dark from
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far away. And perhaps that is what makes it such
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a gentle place to begin our journey through the universe's
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more unsettling worlds. Nothing is chasing you. Nothing is exploding
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around you. Nothing is rushing toward you. There is simply
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a planet, quietly turning in the distant darkness, carrying a
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mystery inside its atmosphere. You can stay with that image
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for a little while. A dark planet, a distant star,
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a faint red warmth, and an enormous silence stretching between them.
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You are still here, resting safely where you are. The
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distant world does not need your attention. You do not
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need to solve its mystery. You can simply let the
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image become softer, as though the planet itself is slowly
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fading into the background. And as you drift there, another
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thought begins to form, very quietly. If a planet can
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become so dark while surrounded by starlight, what might happen
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when a world moves close enough to its star that
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darkness itself can no longer bring relief from the heat?
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Somewhere farther away, another planet is turning beneath permanent daylight,
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and slowly, gently, we can let our attention drift toward it.
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You can let the darkness of Trees 2B slowly disappear
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behind you now, as you continue drifting through the enormous
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quiet between the stars. The black planet becomes smaller, the
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faint red glow becomes softer, and somewhere ahead, another world
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begins to appear. At first, it is difficult to see
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the planet clearly. There is simply a star, shining with
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a steady golden light, and somewhere very close to that star,
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a small world moving through the brightness. Closer than you
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might expect, much closer. The planet is called 55 Cancri e.
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And if Tress 2b seemed strange because it almost disappeared
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into darkness, 55 Cancri e is strange for almost the
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opposite reason. This world lives so close to its star
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that there is very little opportunity for it to cool.
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You can imagine yourself approaching from a great distance, slowly
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enough that the star never becomes overwhelming. The closer you drift,
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the brighter the surroundings become. And then you begin to
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notice the planet. It is a rocky world, larger and
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heavier than Earth, with about eight times Earth's mass and
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a radius not quite twice that of our planet. Those
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numbers can remain distant for a moment. You do not
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need to picture eight Earths stacked together. Instead, simply imagine
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a world with a great deal of material beneath its surface,
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a substantial planet circling its star in an orbit so
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close that its entire journey around the star takes less
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than 18 hours. Less than 18 hours. While you are
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resting here, perhaps breathing slowly, this distant world could complete
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another journey around its star. And then another. And another.
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Its year is shorter than a quiet night of sleep.
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But the most unusual part is not simply how quickly
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it travels. It is the way the planet faces its star.
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One side of 55 Cancrii remains turned toward the light.
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The other side remains turned away. This is sometimes called
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tidal locking, but you do not need to hold on
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to the technical phrase. You can simply imagine a world
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with a permanent day and a permanent night. One hemisphere
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always looking toward the star. One hemisphere always looking away.
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There is no ordinary sunrise sweeping across the surface. no
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ordinary sunset, no gentle sequence of morning, afternoon, evening and
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night as you know it. The star remains in the
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same part of the sky, and the light keeps arriving.
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On the star-facing side, temperatures can reach around 2,400 degrees Celsius.
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You can let that number drift past without trying to
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calculate what it means. It is enough to imagine a
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surface where rock is exposed to to such extraordinary heat
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that the familiar ground beneath your feet begins to feel
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like a completely different substance. And yet, on the far side,
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the side facing away from the star, the planet does
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not become comfortably cold. Temperatures there may still reach around
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1300 degrees Celsius. Even the darkness is hot. That is
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perhaps the strangest image to keep with you. On Earth,
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darkness usually brings cooling. The sun disappears, the ground slowly
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releases some of its warmth, and the air becomes gentler.
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But here, night does not bring true relief. The star
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is hidden beyond the horizon, yet the planet remains deeply heated.
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You can imagine the two sides existing together. A bright
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hemisphere facing its star, a darker hemisphere turned towards space,
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and between them, an enormous planetary world, carrying heat from
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one side toward the other. The atmosphere, if we could
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somehow observe it closely, would not resemble the air around
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you now. Scientists have found evidence suggesting that material around
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this world can include gases such as hydrogen and helium,
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along with carbon. There is no need to imagine these
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as mysterious ingredients. They are familiar pieces of nature. Hydrogen, helium, carbon.
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the same basic elements that appear throughout stars, planets, clouds,
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rocks and living things. But once again, the universe reminds
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you that familiar ingredients can behave very differently when the
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surroundings become extreme. The heat may also be connected with
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volcanic activity. There are indications that 55 Cancri may have
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an active or changing surface, with material rising from deeper
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regions of the planet. and entering the surrounding atmosphere. Imagine
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tiny particles and gases drifting upward from a world that
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has been heated for an extraordinarily long time, not with
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the sudden drama of an explosion, simply rising, moving, cooling, circulating.
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The planet's atmosphere may contain clouds of fine material that
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help hold on to some of its heat and making
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it even more difficult for the world to release its
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warmth into space. So the planet becomes part of a
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slow cycle. Light arrives from the star. The surface absorbs
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the energy. Heat moves through the atmosphere. Material rises. Some
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energy escapes. And some remains. Again and again. Quietly. For ages.
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There is another possibility hidden much deeper inside this planet. Carbon.
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under enormous pressure and heat, can exist in different forms.
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Far below the surface, the carbon may take forms resembling
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graphite and diamond. You can imagine descending through the planet
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in your mind, though there is no need to actually
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travel there. The bright surface slowly disappears above you. The
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pressure increases. The temperature rises. And somewhere deep within the planet,
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carbon is being transformed by conditions far removed from anything
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you experience on Earth. The same basic element can become
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something soft and dark in one arrangement, and something extraordinarily
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hard and crystalline in another. It is a quiet reminder
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that matter does not have only one appearance. Change the pressure.
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Change the temperature. Change the surroundings. and familiar material can
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become something almost unrecognisable. You can let that thought rest
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for a moment, a world glowing beneath a nearby star,
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a world with permanent daylight on one side, permanent darkness
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on the other, a world where even the night remains
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intensely hot, a world where volcanoes may quietly feed material
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into the atmosphere, and perhaps, far beneath the surface, layers
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of carbon are being shaped by pressure, into forms that
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seem almost impossible when you first imagine them. And still,
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from far enough away, 55 Cancri A is only another
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small planet circling another star. The universe does not announce
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how extreme it is. There is no sign hanging in
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the darkness. No warning. Just a distant point of light,
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moving quietly through space. You can begin drifting away from
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it now. The glow becomes smaller. The heat becomes an
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image rather than a sensation. The permanent day and permanent
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night become two sides of a tiny world floating in
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the distance. And as you move farther away, you can
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begin to notice something else. So far, the worlds you
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have visited have been shaped by stars that are still shining.
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But there are other planets whose skies are illuminated by
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something much stranger. Not the calm light of an ordinary star.
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but the pulse of a stellar remnant, the dense remains
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of a star that has already died. And somewhere within
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that strange light, another planet continues its quiet journey. You
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can let the glowing world of 55 Cancrii slowly disappear
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behind you now. The intense light becomes smaller, the heat
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becomes distant, and the planet with its permanent day and
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permanent night disappears. fades into the enormous darkness between the stars.
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You continue drifting. There is no need to hurry. Nothing
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is chasing you, and there is nowhere you need to arrive.
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You are simply moving through space, gently, quietly, with the
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familiar warmth of Earth very far behind you. And after
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a while, the light ahead begins to change. This time,
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it is not the steady golden glow of an ordinary star.
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Something pulses. slowly, regularly, again and again, a quiet rhythm
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travelling through the darkness. You are approaching a strange planetary system,
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one that does not orbit an ordinary star in the
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way you might imagine. At its centre is a pulsar.
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The word may sound complicated, but the idea can be
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kept very simple. A pulsar is the incredibly dense remnant
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of left behind when a massive star reaches the end
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of its life. Long before you could imagine visiting this system,
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a star existed here. It lived. It shone. It changed.
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And eventually its life came to an extraordinary end. What
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remained was something much smaller than the original star, but
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enormously dense, spinning rapidly, and sending powerful energy outward into space.
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And somewhere around this strange object is a planet. Its
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name is Poltergeist. The planet is roughly 300 light-years away
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from Earth, and it is believed to have several times
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the mass of our own planet. But its size is
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not what makes it so interesting. Its story is. Because
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when you look at Poltergeist, you are looking at a
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planet whose very existence raises a quiet question. How did
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it get there? You can imagine the ancient system as
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it might once have been. A star shining normally, planets
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perhaps moving through its surroundings, everything following a familiar rhythm. Then,
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sometime in the distant past, the star changed. Its life ended.
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A tremendous stellar event transformed the system, and somehow, after
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all of that, a planet remained, or perhaps the planet
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came later. That possibility is one of the most fascinating
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parts of Poltergeist. Scientists have considered the idea that material
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left behind after the star's death could have gathered together again,
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slowly forming a new planet. Imagine a vast cloud of
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scattered material drifting through space. not rushing, not glowing brightly,
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just slowly moving, slowly gathering, tiny pieces meeting other pieces,
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dust and matter becoming larger structures. Over an enormous span
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of time, gravity quietly drawing material together, and eventually, perhaps,
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a new world taking shape, a planet born not during
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the calm childhood of a star, but after something much
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more dramatic had already happened. It is a strange idea,
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a world born from the remains of a stellar catastrophe.
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But there is another possibility. The object at the centre
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of the system may have formed through the coming together
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of two extremely dense stellar remnants called white dwarfs. A
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white dwarf is the compact remnant left behind by a
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star after much of its former life has passed. You
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do not need to picture the details. Just imagine two
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incredibly dense stellar remnants slowly approaching one another, their histories
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already written into their matter, eventually joining together and creating
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something capable of producing the strange pulses we observe today.
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The exact story remains uncertain. And that uncertainty is important.
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Science does not always begin with a complete picture. Sometimes
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there is simply a planet, a strange star-like object, and
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a collection of observations. From these pieces, scientists slowly build
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possible stories. Some explanations fit better than others. Some remain uncertain.
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And as new observations arrive, the story can become clearer.
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For now, Poltergeist remains a quiet reminder that even the
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history of a planet can be mysterious. You can let
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yourself drift closer in imagination. The planet itself may not
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look frightening. There may be no enormous mountains of fire,
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no ocean of lava, no endless storm visible from your
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imagined distance. Instead, there is darkness, and somewhere at the
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centre of that darkness, the pulsar continues to spin. Its
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energy travels outward. Invisible streams of radiation move through space.
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You cannot hear them, You cannot feel them from where
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you are. You cannot simply look at them and understand
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their strength. And yet, they can have profound effects on
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the environment around the pulsar. This is a different kind
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of danger. On Earth, many of the things that can
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hurt you are things your senses can warn you about.
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You can feel heat. You can see bright light. You
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can hear thunder. You can feel a strong wind. But
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radiation can be different. it can move silently through space.
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There is no sound announcing its arrival, no gentle breeze
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against your skin, no visible wave crossing the darkness, only
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energy moving through an environment shaped by the remains of
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a dead star. And somewhere within that environment, Poltergeist continues
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its orbit. You can imagine the planet moving quietly around
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its strange central object, around and around, day after day,
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year after year, while the pulsar continues its steady rhythm,
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a pulse, then darkness, another pulse, then darkness again. The
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rhythm continues. And you can let that rhythm become almost
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like a distant heartbeat, not because the star is alive
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in any familiar sense, but because its rotation creates a
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pattern that repeats through the darkness. There is something strangely
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peaceful about repetition on such a scale. A dead star
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continues spinning. A planet continues moving. Radiation continues travelling outward.
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And time continues passing. Nothing needs to happen quickly. The
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universe can remain quiet, even when the physics surrounding a
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world is extreme. Poltergeist also reminds you that the death
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of a star does not necessarily mean the end of
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everything around it. Stars can die, but material can remain.
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New structures can form, new planets may appear, and worlds
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can continue their journeys beneath unfamiliar skies. So as you
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slowly drift away from Poltergeist, you might imagine the pulsar
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becoming smaller behind you. Its rhythmic flashes become fainter, the
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invisible energy remains somewhere in the distance, and the planet
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itself becomes only a tiny point moving through the dark.
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You leave behind a world whose greatest mystery remains. may
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not be what is happening to it now, but how
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it came to exist at all. And ahead of you
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the darkness begins to brighten again, not because another ordinary
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star is waiting there, but because you are approaching a
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world where the temperature becomes almost difficult to imagine, a
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planet circling a star so intensely hot that its own
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identity has become part of the mystery. And as you
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drift toward that distant glow, you can simply remain still,
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breathing slowly, remembering that you are safe, that there is
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nothing you need to do, and that the universe is
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large enough to contain worlds far stranger than anything you
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have ever imagined. You can let the faint rhythm of
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the pulsar disappear behind you. The little flashes become softer,
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the darkness grows deeper, and for a while there is
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almost nothing to see. You continue drifting through the space
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between stars. carried by no wind, touching nothing, with the
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quiet feeling of weightlessness surrounding you. Then, very gradually, a
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pale light begins to appear ahead. At first it is
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only a distant glow, then it becomes brighter and brighter still.
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You are approaching another planetary system, but this time the
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light does not come from an ordinary yellow star. The
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star ahead is much hotter. Its surface shines with an
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intense pale light, and close to it there is a
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small world moving incredibly quickly. This is Kepler-70b, and this
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world takes us into another form of planetary extremity. You
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have already seen darkness. You have seen permanent daylight. You
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have imagined a planet beneath the radiation of a dead star.
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Now you can simply imagine heat. Not the gentle warmth
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of sunlight through a window. Not the comforting warmth beneath
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a blanket. but a temperature so extreme that ordinary comparisons
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begin to lose their meaning. Kepler-70b has been described as
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reaching temperatures of roughly 6,800 degrees Celsius. You do not
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need to hold on to the number. Instead, imagine the
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idea behind it. Imagine matter existing under conditions where the
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word hot begins to feel almost too small. The world
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is orbiting a star known as Kepler-70. a very hot
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sub-dwarf star. The phrase may sound technical, so you can
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think of it simply as a star that has reached
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a later stage of its life and has become extraordinarily hot.
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Its light surrounds the nearby planet, and Kepler-70b travels very
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close to it, so close that its entire year lasts
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only about 345 minutes, less than six hours. You can
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rest your head on your pillow tonight, close your eyes,
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and simply breathe. During a period shorter than an ordinary
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night's sleep, this distant world can complete an entire journey
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around its star. And then it begins again. Around the star.
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Around and around. A tiny orbit inside an enormous universe.
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That contrast is perhaps one of the most beautiful things
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to imagine. The orbit is tiny compared with the distances
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between stars. and yet the planet is still travelling through
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a space that is almost impossible to comprehend. You can
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picture yourself floating far above the system, watching the little
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world move along its narrow path. There is no rushing feeling.
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Even though the planet is moving rapidly, your imaginary viewpoint
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remains still, You simply watch. The star remains at the centre.
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The planet traces its small path. And the vast darkness
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continues beyond them. There is something strangely peaceful about seeing
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an extreme system from far away. From a distance, even
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an extraordinary environment can look quiet. The star shines. The
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planet moves. Nothing needs to announce itself. And yet, close
30:05
to the star, the conditions are severe. The heat surrounding
30:09
Kepler-70b is so intense that the planet has become one
30:13
of the most unusual worlds ever discussed by astronomers. But
30:18
there is an important softness in the scientific story here.
30:22
Even when a world appears extraordinary … Scientists sometimes have
30:26
to remain cautious about what they truly know. Kepler-70b is
30:31
one of those cases. Its planetary status has been questioned,
30:36
and additional evidence has been considered necessary to establish exactly
30:40
what is producing the signals that were originally interpreted as
30:43
evidence for a planet. That uncertainty does not make the
30:46
story less interesting. In some ways, it makes it quieter.
30:51
you are not being asked to imagine that every detail
30:53
has already been settled. Instead, you can imagine scientists looking
30:58
at distant measurements, comparing patterns, watching how the light from
31:03
the star changes, and slowly asking what kind of object
31:08
could produce what they observe. Sometimes the universe gives you
31:12
an answer, sometimes it gives you a question, and sometimes
31:16
it gives you both at the same time. There is
31:19
also another world in this system, known as Kepler-70c. The
31:23
two objects have been observed in relation to one another,
31:27
and their apparent proximity adds another layer to the story.
31:31
You can imagine them as two small travellers moving through
31:34
the brilliant environment around their star, one very close, another
31:39
following its own path, the enormous star dominating the scene,
31:43
and beyond everything, the cold darkness of space. The contrast
31:48
is almost dreamlike. Heat and emptiness. Brightness and darkness. A
31:54
tiny planet moving quickly through an enormous silent universe. You
31:58
can allow your imagination to remain there for a moment.
32:02
Perhaps the star looks almost white from this distance. Perhaps
32:05
the planet is only a small shadow against its brightness.
32:09
You cannot hear anything. There is no roar, no crackling fire,
32:15
no sound at all. Space does not carry the noise
32:18
you might associate with such an extreme environment. That is
32:22
something easy to forget when imagining distant worlds. The universe
32:27
can be extraordinarily violent in its physical conditions while remaining
32:31
completely silent to you. A star can be unimaginably hot.
32:36
A planet can be moving at tremendous speed. Radiation can
32:40
be crossing the darkness. And still, If you were floating
32:44
safely in the emptiness between them, you would hear nothing,
32:49
only silence. You can let that silence settle around you now.
32:53
The brightness of Kepler-70 slowly becomes less intense as you
32:57
imagine drifting away. The planet becomes smaller, its tiny orbit
33:02
becomes harder to distinguish. The enormous star remains behind you,
33:07
shining into the darkness. And once again, you find yourself
33:11
between worlds. You have seen a planet almost swallowed by darkness.
33:17
You have seen a rocky world beneath permanent sunlight. You
33:21
have passed a planet circling the remains of a dead star.
33:25
And now you have watched another world travel incredibly close
33:29
to a star so hot that its environment pushes the
33:32
meaning of planetary temperature toward an extreme. But there is
33:36
another kind of planetary ending waiting farther away. It does
33:40
not begin with darkness. It does not begin with volcanic heat.
33:45
It begins with gravity, a planet moving so close to
33:49
its star that the star itself is slowly reaching across space,
33:54
pulling material away from the world. And if you remain here,
33:58
quietly drifting, you can let yourself imagine that process not
34:02
as destruction, but as an extraordinarily slow change, a world
34:07
losing a little of itself, then a little more, while
34:10
the star continues to shine. while time continues to pass,
34:15
and while the universe remains, as always, almost completely silent.
34:23
You can let the brilliant light of Kepler-70 slowly fade
34:26
behind you. The strange, intensely hot world becomes smaller, its
34:31
tiny orbit disappears into the distance, and once again you
34:36
find yourself floating in the quiet space between stars. There
34:40
is nothing beneath you, nothing above you, Only the soft darkness,
34:45
stretching in every direction. You can remain here for a moment.
34:49
You are safe. There is nothing to do. You do
34:53
not need to understand everything. You can simply listen, breathe slowly,
34:58
and let the universe move at its own pace. Somewhere ahead,
35:02
another star begins to appear, and around that star, another
35:06
planet is moving. At first, it might seem like an
35:10
ordinary world, a distant planet. a distant star, another small
35:15
point of light among countless others. But as you drift closer,
35:19
you begin to notice something different. This planet is extremely
35:24
close to its star, closer than a comfortable planetary orbit
35:28
might suggest. So close that the relationship between the planet
35:32
and the star has become a slow conversation between gravity
35:37
and matter. The planet is called WASP-12b. It lies roughly
35:42
870 light-years away from Earth, and from your distant viewpoint
35:46
it may look peaceful, a small world, a bright star,
35:51
a dark background. But the planet is living in an
35:54
environment where its own star is gradually changing it. WASP-12b
35:59
is a gas giant, somewhat more massive than Jupiter and
36:03
considerably larger in radius. Its atmosphere reaches temperatures of roughly 2,200
36:09
degrees Celsius. Again, you do not need to imagine the
36:13
number precisely. Simply imagine a planet surrounded by such intense
36:18
heat that its atmosphere is no longer behaving in anything
36:21
like the calm air surrounding you now. The planet is enormous.
36:26
The star is enormous. And yet the distance between them
36:30
is surprisingly small. That closeness matters, because gravity never really stops.
36:37
Even from far away, gravity reaches across space. You can
36:41
think of it as a quiet pull, always present, always acting.
36:46
Here on Earth, you feel gravity gently holding you against
36:50
the surface. You hardly notice it most of the time.
36:54
You simply lie in bed. You stand. You walk. You breathe.
36:59
The pull is so familiar that it disappears into the
37:02
background of everyday life. Gravity has become part of a
37:08
much larger process. The star's gravity is strong enough to
37:13
pull on the planet's atmosphere, not all at once, not suddenly,
37:17
very slowly. Material from the outer layers of the planet
37:21
can be drawn away from the world and toward the star.
37:25
You can imagine the planet surrounded by a faint, enormous veil,
37:29
gas rising from the atmosphere, particles drifting outward, some remaining
37:34
near the planet. some gradually moving farther away, and some
37:39
eventually becoming part of the star, the planet is losing material,
37:44
a little at a time, so slowly that the process
37:47
would be almost impossible to notice if you were standing
37:51
nearby for only a few moments. But the universe has patience.
37:56
Millions of years can pass, then millions more, and a
38:00
process that seems tiny in one moment can become enormous.
38:04
when given enough time. This is one of the quiet
38:08
ideas that astronomy returns to again and again. Time changes
38:13
the meaning of small things. A single grain of dust
38:17
is almost nothing, but countless grains can become a cloud.
38:21
A tiny movement repeated for millions of years can reshape
38:25
a world. A little material leaving a planet can eventually
38:29
become the story of the planet itself. Wasp 12b is
38:33
part of that story. Its star is gradually stripping material away,
38:38
and the planet's closeness also affects its shape. A gas
38:42
giant in such an intense gravitational environment does not necessarily
38:47
remain perfectly round. The star's pull can stretch the planet slightly,
38:52
giving it a shape more like a world being gently
38:55
drawn toward the star. You can imagine a soft sphere
38:59
of gas, floating near a much larger source of gravity,
39:03
with one side being pulled a little more strongly than
39:06
the other. There is no need to picture a violent tearing.
39:10
The change is gradual, quiet, almost patient. The planet simply
39:16
responds to the forces around it. And perhaps that is
39:19
what makes the scene so strange. Nothing is happening quickly.
39:23
There is no dramatic moment. The star shines. The planet circles.
39:29
Gravity pulls. atmospheric material escapes, and time moves forward, over
39:36
and over. The planet's future is therefore not entirely open-ended.
39:41
Scientists estimate that WASP-12b has only a relatively short astronomical
39:46
future remaining, In roughly 10 million years, the planet is
39:51
expected to be completely destroyed as its orbit continues to
39:55
bring it into an increasingly destructive relationship with its star.
39:59
10 million years may sound unimaginably long to you, and
40:04
it is. Your entire life would occupy almost no space
40:08
within that span. Human history would occupy only a tiny moment.
40:14
Civilisations could rise and disappear. Continents could change, species could
40:20
come and go, and still, the planet would continue circling
40:24
its star, slowly losing material. Slowly changing, slowly approaching its
40:31
eventual end. From the viewpoint of a human lifetime, nothing
40:35
would seem to happen. From the viewpoint of the universe,
40:39
the story is already moving. You can let that thought
40:43
become soft now. A planet does not need to disappear
40:46
suddenly for its future to be certain. Sometimes an ending
40:50
can take millions of years. Sometimes the most dramatic changes
40:54
begin so gently that they are almost invisible. Wasp 12b
41:00
reminds you of this. It is not a world being
41:03
destroyed in one enormous instant. It is a world gradually
41:07
giving pieces of itself to the star beside it. A
41:11
little gas, a little atmosphere. a little more material, and perhaps, eventually,
41:17
the planet itself. You can imagine the material leaving the
41:20
atmosphere as a thin stream, stretching through the darkness between
41:25
planet and star. Not a river, not a storm, just
41:29
a faint movement of matter, a quiet trail, a small
41:33
change repeated across immense stretches of time. The planet remains,
41:38
the star remains, and the distance between them remains small.
41:43
You can drift farther away now. The planet becomes smaller.
41:47
The stream of escaping material becomes impossible to see. The
41:51
star becomes another point of light. And yet, somewhere in
41:55
that distant system, the process continues. Gravity continues its quiet work.
42:01
The planet continues its orbit. The atmosphere continues to change.
42:06
And time continues to pass. You can return your attention
42:10
gently to your breathing. The room around you is still.
42:14
Your body is resting. There is nothing you need to
42:17
carry with you from this distant world. You can simply
42:20
leave it behind, circling its star in the darkness. And
42:24
as you drift onward, another blue world begins to emerge
42:28
in the distance. At first, it looks almost beautiful. Blue. Bright. Peaceful.
42:36
Almost familiar. But appearances can be misleading. because beneath that
42:41
beautiful colour is an atmosphere filled with winds moving at
42:45
astonishing speeds, and clouds carrying material that would be far
42:49
from gentle. A world where something resembling rain may fall
42:54
from the sky, but where the rain is made from
42:56
the ingredients of glass. And slowly, without hurry, you can
43:02
let your imagination drift toward that distant blue light. You
43:08
can let the distant glow of WASP-12b become smaller now.
43:12
The star remains behind you, bright and patient, while the
43:16
planet slowly disappears into the darkness. Somewhere far away, its
43:21
atmosphere continues to drift toward the star, carrying tiny pieces
43:26
of the planet with it. But you do not need
43:28
to watch. You can simply move onward, the darkness around
43:32
you grows quiet again, and for a while there is
43:35
nothing but the soft feeling of floating through space. Then, gradually,
43:40
a new colour begins to appear. Blue. At first it
43:44
is only a tiny point, then a little larger. A
43:48
quiet blue world suspended against the blackness. From here, it
43:53
looks almost familiar. You might think of Earth. Blue oceans.
43:58
Blue skies. Soft colours beneath distant sunlight. And perhaps... If
44:04
you were approaching this planet without knowing anything about it,
44:08
you might imagine that it was peaceful. The world is
44:11
called HD 18973b. It is about 63 light-years from Earth,
44:18
and it is a gas giant, somewhat larger than Jupiter.
44:22
Its orbit around its star takes only about two and
44:24
a half days. Two and a half days. A complete year.
44:29
on this distant world passes almost as quickly as a
44:33
long weekend on Earth. And because the planet is so
44:36
close to its star, it is very likely that the
44:39
same side always faces the star. Again, you can leave
44:44
the technical language behind. Just imagine one side always looking
44:49
toward the light, the other side always turned toward the darkness.
44:54
The same sky, the same star, again and again. but
44:59
the beautiful blue colour begins to feel different when you
45:02
learn what may be moving through that atmosphere. The winds
45:06
on HD 18973b can become extraordinarily fast. The source describes
45:13
winds carrying tiny particles of silicate, with speeds reaching around 8,700
45:19
kilometres per hour. You can let that number pass gently
45:23
through your imagination. There is no need to calculate it.
45:27
Just picture an atmosphere. where the air itself moves with
45:31
astonishing speed, carrying microscopic grains through the sky. The planet's
45:36
beauty begins to take on another meaning. The blue colour
45:40
is no longer simply the colour of a peaceful ocean,
45:43
it is the colour of an atmosphere moving under extreme conditions.
45:48
And then there is the rain. If you have ever
45:51
listened to rain against a window, you know how comforting
45:55
it can be. A soft pattern, a quiet tapping, Drops
45:59
gathering on glass, the world outside becoming slightly blurred, but
46:04
rain on HD 18973b would be nothing like that. The
46:09
source describes precipitation involving molten glass produced by the extreme
46:14
heat and unusual composition of the atmosphere. You can imagine
46:19
the idea softly, tiny particles suspended in the atmosphere, heat
46:24
surrounding them, wind carrying them through the sky. and eventually,
46:30
material falling downward in a form very different from the
46:34
gentle rain you know. There is no need to make
46:37
the image violent. From a great distance, it would simply
46:41
be part of the planet's strange weather. The atmosphere moves,
46:46
the clouds form, particles travel, material falls, and the cycle continues.
46:53
The day side of the planet can reach around 930
46:55
degrees Celsius. Even the night side remains above roughly 425
47:01
degrees Celsius. So once again, darkness does not mean cold.
47:08
The night side is still intensely warm. The star may
47:12
have disappeared below the horizon, but the planet continues holding
47:16
enormous amounts of heat. You can imagine standing nowhere near
47:20
the surface, because there would be nowhere safe for you
47:22
to stand, but simply floating far above the atmosphere, watching
47:27
the contrast between the bright side and the darker side.
47:31
The bright hemisphere receives the star's energy, the dark hemisphere
47:36
releases some of that warmth toward space, and somewhere between them,
47:41
the atmosphere carries material and heat from one region toward another,
47:46
a slow planetary circulation hidden inside a world that appears,
47:50
from far away, almost serene. Scientists began studying this planet
47:56
soon after its discovery. In observations made with the Hubble
48:00
Space Telescope in 2007, researchers found evidence of a hazy atmosphere,
48:06
a soft veil, a layer of fine material surrounding the planet.
48:11
And when the planet passes between Earth and its star,
48:14
the atmosphere can appear to take on a reddish hue.
48:17
It is a subtle effect. From such an enormous distance,
48:21
the planet remains only a small point of light, yet
48:25
within that tiny point there is an entire atmosphere, clouds, haze, heat, wind, particles,
48:34
and perhaps chemical processes that are still not completely understood.
48:38
The observations have also indicated the presence of water vapour, oxygen,
48:43
and methane in the atmosphere, along with carbon monoxide on
48:47
the planet's dayside. You can hear those names simply as names.
48:52
Water vapour. Oxygen. Methane. Carbon monoxide. There is no need
48:58
for formulas. No symbols. No equations. Just familiar pieces of matter,
49:05
appearing in an unfamiliar place. And this is where the
49:08
story becomes especially quiet. Because sometimes, the most interesting thing
49:14
about a strange planet is not the danger itself. It
49:18
is the question, that the danger creates. Additional observations found
49:23
traces of methane behaving in an unusual fluorescent state, meaning
49:28
that it can release energy as a faint form of
49:31
infrared radiation. The source material describes this unusual behaviour as
49:37
as an indication of some atmospheric activity that has not
49:41
yet been fully explained. You can imagine the atmosphere as
49:44
a vast, dim room. Inside it, molecules are moving. Light
49:49
is arriving from the star. Energy is being absorbed and released.
49:54
And somewhere within all that motion, something produces a faint
49:58
signature that scientists can detect from 63 light years away.
50:03
They cannot simply walk into the atmosphere and look around.
50:07
They cannot collect a sample in their hands. Instead, they
50:11
watch the light. They study tiny changes. They compare one
50:15
observation with another. And slowly, from these delicate traces, they
50:20
build a picture of what might be happening. That is
50:24
one of the beautiful things about studying distant worlds. A
50:27
planet can be impossibly far away and still leave a
50:31
small fingerprint in the light reaching Earth. A tiny change
50:35
in brightness. a slight shift in colour, a subtle pattern
50:39
in the atmosphere, and from those fragments you begin to
50:43
see a world. Not perfectly, not completely, but enough to
50:48
realise that something extraordinary is there. You can let the
50:51
blue planet remain in your imagination now. Perhaps it is
50:55
becoming smaller again, the clouds soften, the blue colour fades
51:00
into the surrounding darkness, the enormous winds continue somewhere far below.
51:06
The strange precipitation continues, the atmospheric haze remains suspended around
51:11
the planet, and the faint chemical signals continue moving through
51:15
the atmosphere, quietly waiting for another observation. You do not
51:20
need to solve the mystery, you can simply leave it there.
51:24
A beautiful blue planet, a hot atmosphere, winds moving with
51:29
astonishing speed, rain unlike any rain on Earth. and tiny
51:33
clues that something unusual is happening within the air. It
51:37
is a strange combination, beauty and danger, stillness and motion,
51:43
familiar colours surrounding unfamiliar conditions, and perhaps, as you drift
51:48
farther away, you begin to notice something reassuring. The universe
51:53
contains worlds that can look peaceful, while hiding environments far
51:58
beyond anything life on earth could comfortably endure. And yet
52:02
you are here, resting quietly on your own small world,
52:06
beneath an atmosphere that lets you breathe, beneath a sky
52:09
that can bring ordinary rain, in a place where darkness
52:13
can actually bring coolness. Earth begins to feel a little
52:17
more remarkable, not because the universe is empty of possibilities,
52:22
but because among all those possibilities, this small blue world
52:26
happens to be home, and somewhere behind you, The distant
52:30
blue planet continues turning beneath its strange sky, while the
52:34
light from its star travels silently through space. You can
52:41
let the blue glow of HD 18973b slowly fade behind you.
52:47
The distant winds become quieter, the strange clouds disappear into
52:51
the darkness, and the blue planet becomes only a small
52:54
point of light, turning somewhere far behind you, You continue drifting. Slowly, quietly.
53:02
There is no need to hurry. You are safe where
53:05
you are, resting beneath your own familiar sky. While far
53:09
beyond Earth, other worlds continue following their ancient paths. And now,
53:14
another planet begins to appear. This one is not blue.
53:19
Its light is warmer, more orange. And as you move
53:22
closer in imagination, the world seems almost to glow. Its
53:27
name is K2141b. It is about 200 light-years from Earth,
53:33
orbiting an orange dwarf star. The planet itself is rocky,
53:38
about five times as massive as Earth, with a radius
53:41
around one and a half times that of our own world.
53:44
But its size is not what makes it extraordinary. It
53:48
is the strange contrast between its two sides. The planet
53:53
orbits its star so closely that it completes a full
53:56
journey in only about six and a half hours, a
54:00
little longer than the time you might spend watching a movie,
54:03
a little shorter than an ordinary night's sleep. And because
54:07
it remains so close to its star, one side is
54:10
thought to remain permanently turned toward the light. You can
54:14
imagine that side now, always facing the star, always receiving
54:19
its warmth, always beneath the same distant sun. The temperature
54:23
there can rise to around 3,000 degrees Celsius. At such temperatures,
54:29
ordinary rock can no longer remain comfortably solid. Many metals
54:34
can melt. Some materials can even become vapour. And beneath
54:38
that permanent light, the surface of K2141b may contain something
54:44
that is difficult to imagine on a planet. An ocean.
54:48
But not an ocean of water. An ocean of lava.
54:52
A vast region of molten rock, glowing beneath the intense
54:56
light of its star. You can imagine it from a
54:58
great distance. A dark planet, with one hemisphere illuminated by
55:03
an enormous orange star. Across the bright side, the surface
55:08
may shimmer with molten material. There is no crashing of
55:12
waves here. No cool ocean breeze. No soft shore. The
55:17
movement is slower and heavier. Rock itself has become fluid.
55:22
And above that surface, the atmosphere may be just as unusual.
55:26
The extreme heat can cause some of the materials found
55:30
in rocks to become vapour, metals, silicate minerals. The familiar
55:35
ingredients of solid ground, transformed by temperature into something that
55:40
can drift through the atmosphere. You can imagine tiny particles
55:44
and vapour rising from the glowing surface. They move upward,
55:49
they spread, and then they begin their journey toward the
55:53
darker side of the planet. Because while one hemisphere remains
55:56
intensely hot, the other side receives far less direct light.
56:00
The contrast is enormous. Bright heat on one side, deep
56:04
cold on the other. A world divided between two very
56:08
different environments. And between those environments, the atmosphere must respond.
56:14
Warm material moves away from the hot side. Cooler material
56:18
moves back. The planet becomes a place of continuous circulation.
56:23
The source describes winds reaching around 1.75 km per second,
56:28
roughly five times the speed of sound. You do not
56:32
need to calculate what that means. Just imagine air moving
56:36
so quickly that the atmosphere itself becomes a powerful planetary current.
56:40
Yet from far away, everything would still appear silent. Space
56:45
does not carry the roar. You would not hear the winds.
56:49
You would not hear the molten rock. you would simply
56:52
see a distant world glowing beneath its star. And perhaps
56:56
this is where the planet becomes especially dreamlike. Imagine the
56:59
hot material reaching the darker hemisphere. As it travels away
57:04
from the star, the vapour begins to cool. Some of
57:07
it can condense. Some of the material may fall back
57:11
toward the surface. The source describes this as a possible
57:15
cycle in which vaporised metals and silicates travel toward the night-side, condense,
57:22
and return as fiery precipitation, eventually flowing back toward the
57:27
molten region. You can imagine that cycle continuing. Heat, movement, cooling, condensation, return,
57:36
then heat again. The planet becomes a slow planetary circulation.
57:41
Material rises from the glowing surface. It moves through the atmosphere.
57:46
It reaches cooler regions. It falls. And eventually, the intense
57:52
heat transforms it once more. Nothing is wasted. Nothing remains still.
57:58
The same material can change its form again and again.
58:02
Solid rock. Molten rock. Vapour. Condensed material. Then molten rock
58:08
once more. A continuous transformation beneath a distant star. And yet,
58:14
there is something almost calming about imagining the repetition. The
58:18
planet does not need to rush. Its cycle may continue
58:22
for immense periods of time. The star shines, the lava
58:26
remains hot, the atmosphere moves, the cooler side receives material,
58:31
and the cycle begins again. You can drift above the
58:34
planet now, far beyond the atmosphere. The glowing hemisphere appears
58:39
like a soft ember. The dark hemisphere fades into space.
58:43
Between them, an invisible circulation connects the two, heat moving
58:48
toward darkness. Material, returning toward heat. A world constantly changing,
58:55
yet always following the same broad rhythm. It is very
58:59
different from earth. Here, rock generally stays rock. Water can
59:04
become ice, liquid water, or vapour, but the ground beneath
59:09
you usually remains. remains solid. On K2141b, under the extraordinary
59:14
conditions described in the source, even the materials that form
59:18
the planet's surface can become part of the atmosphere. The
59:22
boundary between ground and sky becomes less clear. The surface
59:27
can feed the atmosphere. the atmosphere can return material to
59:31
the surface. The planet becomes a single connected system, and
59:36
perhaps that is one of the quiet lessons hidden inside
59:39
these extreme worlds. A planet does not have to resemble
59:43
Earth to obey the same broad physical principles. Heat moves,
59:48
matter changes, gravity gathers, atmospheres circulate, stars provide energy, and
59:55
time allows all of these processes to continue. You can
59:58
slowly drift away now. The orange star becomes smaller. The
1:00:03
glowing planet becomes quieter. The imagined lava ocean fades into
1:00:08
a distant point. And the strange rain of planetary material
1:00:12
continues somewhere far behind you. You are back in the
1:00:15
darkness between worlds. For a moment, everything feels empty. But
1:00:21
perhaps empty is not the right word. Because even here,
1:00:25
in the darkness, distant planets are turning. Stars are shining,
1:00:30
atmospheres are moving, and worlds that seem impossible from the
1:00:34
comfort of Earth are quietly following the same physical laws
1:00:38
that shape the air around you, the ground beneath you,
1:00:42
and the stars above you. There is one final idea
1:00:46
waiting among these distant worlds. After seeing darkness, permanent fire, radiation,
1:00:53
planetary destruction, glass rain, and molten rock, It becomes tempting
1:00:58
to think of these planets only as dangerous places, but
1:01:02
perhaps their deeper importance is something gentler. They are reminders
1:01:06
that the universe can create enormous variety from the same
1:01:10
basic ingredients. And as you continue drifting through the quiet,
1:01:14
you can begin to look back at all these strange
1:01:17
worlds not as nightmares, but as distant experiments written naturally
1:01:21
into the fabric of the cosmos. You can let the
1:01:27
glowing surface of K2141B slowly disappear behind you. The molten
1:01:32
world becomes smaller. The orange light of its star fades
1:01:36
into the surrounding darkness. And once again, you are floating
1:01:41
between worlds. Perhaps you can imagine the journey behind you now.
1:01:45
A world almost completely hidden from light. A rocky planet
1:01:49
with one side locked beneath permanent daylight. A planet orbiting
1:01:54
the remains of a dead star. a world heated to
1:01:57
temperatures almost beyond imagination, a planet slowly giving its atmosphere
1:02:03
to its star, a blue world where powerful winds may
1:02:06
carry tiny particles through the sky, and a rocky world
1:02:10
where material from the surface can become part of the atmosphere,
1:02:14
moving through an endless cycle between heat and darkness. Each
1:02:19
world is different, and yet, beneath all those differences, the
1:02:24
same quiet forces are present. Light. Heat. Gravity. Motion. Matter. Time.
1:02:32
You can let those words become softer now. There is
1:02:36
no need to remember them. They are simply part of
1:02:38
the background of the universe, working whether you notice them
1:02:42
or not. And somewhere ahead, another star begins to glow.
1:02:47
This star is extraordinary. It is much hotter than our sun,
1:02:52
with a surface temperature of more than 10,000 degrees Celsius.
1:02:57
And close to it, a gas giant is moving through
1:03:00
the intense light. The planet is called Kelt 9b. It
1:03:05
orbits extremely close to its star, completing a full journey
1:03:09
in only about a day and a half. From far away,
1:03:12
you might see a bright star with a tiny planet
1:03:16
moving around it. But that small planet is living in
1:03:19
one of the most intense environments we have encountered. its
1:03:22
atmosphere can reach temperatures of roughly 4,300 degrees Celsius, and
1:03:28
deeper layers may become even hotter. You can simply imagine
1:03:31
the atmosphere glowing with heat. The planet is not a
1:03:35
ball of ordinary gas anymore, at least not in the
1:03:38
familiar sense. Under such conditions, some of the materials in
1:03:43
its atmosphere can become vaporised. Even substances associated with solid
1:03:48
metals on Earth can exist there in a completely different form.
1:03:53
The star shines. The planet absorbs that energy. The atmosphere
1:03:58
becomes intensely hot, and slowly some of the atmosphere begins
1:04:03
to escape. You can imagine a thin veil surrounding the planet.
1:04:07
Not a thick cloud. Not a storm. Just an enormous,
1:04:11
faint trail of material stretching away from the world. The
1:04:15
star's powerful wind pushes some of that material outward. and
1:04:20
then gravity begins to shape the escaping gas. Some remains
1:04:24
near the planet, some drifts farther away, some may eventually
1:04:28
be drawn toward the star. The planet is slowly losing
1:04:32
part of itself, again. The same quiet process you saw
1:04:36
around WASP-12b appears here in another form. A star gives energy,
1:04:43
a planet absorbs it. The atmosphere responds, and some of
1:04:47
that atmosphere escapes into space. According to the source, estimates
1:04:51
suggest that KELT-9b could lose as much as 68 times
1:04:56
the mass of Earth over a billion years. That number
1:05:00
is enormous. But the process itself is slow. You can
1:05:04
think of it as a long, almost invisible exhalation. The
1:05:08
planet breathes out material, the star continues shining, space receives
1:05:13
what escapes, and time keeps moving. Eventually, The planet could
1:05:18
lose much of its atmosphere and become something very different
1:05:22
from the gas giant it is today. But even this
1:05:25
future may never fully unfold. The star itself is evolving.
1:05:30
Long before the planet could necessarily lose everything, its host
1:05:34
star may reach a later stage of its own life
1:05:37
and expand or otherwise change dramatically, potentially destroying the nearby
1:05:43
worlds around it. So the future of a planet is
1:05:46
is not always controlled by the planet alone. A world
1:05:50
can be changed by its star. And the star can
1:05:53
eventually be changed by time. Everything is connected. Everything moves.
1:05:59
Everything has a history. You can drift farther away now.
1:06:03
The intense star becomes smaller. Kelt 9b becomes a faint point.
1:06:08
The escaping atmosphere becomes invisible. And the entire system settles
1:06:13
into the distance. Perhaps now you can begin to look
1:06:17
back at the worlds you have visited. Tress. 2B was dark.
1:06:22
55 Cancri E was hot. Poltergeist lived beneath the radiation
1:06:27
of a pulsar. Kepler-70B existed in an environment of extraordinary heat.
1:06:34
Wasp-12B was slowly being stripped by its star. HD-18973B. appeared
1:06:42
beautiful while hiding violent atmospheric conditions. K2141b transformed rock into
1:06:50
vapour and back again, and KELT9b showed how a star
1:06:55
can gradually pull an atmosphere away from its planet. These
1:06:58
worlds can sound frightening when described one by one, but
1:07:03
together they tell a quieter story. The universe does not
1:07:06
have a single recipe for making a planet. A planet
1:07:10
can be a cold stone, A cloud of gas. A
1:07:13
glowing volcanic world. A dark giant. A body beneath a pulsar.
1:07:19
A world surrounded by strange clouds. A planet slowly losing
1:07:23
itself to its star. And perhaps there are countless others
1:07:27
that are stranger still. Some have not yet been discovered.
1:07:31
Some may be too faint for our instruments. Some may
1:07:35
be hidden by the brightness of their stars. And some...
1:07:39
may exist in forms that scientists have not yet imagined.
1:07:43
This is why these hostile worlds matter. They are not
1:07:47
simply cosmic curiosities. They allow scientists to study what happens
1:07:52
when familiar physical processes are pushed toward extreme conditions. Heat
1:07:57
becomes extraordinary. Gravity becomes dominant. Atmospheres begin to escape. Clouds
1:08:05
behave differently. Matter changes form. Stars reshape the worlds around them,
1:08:12
and by observing these distant planets, scientists can learn more
1:08:16
about how planetary systems evolve. Sometimes the strangest planets teach
1:08:20
you the most about ordinary ones, because when you see
1:08:24
a world with almost no reflected light, you begin to
1:08:27
appreciate how unusual Earth's bright atmosphere is. When you see
1:08:31
a planet with permanent daylight and enormous heat, you begin
1:08:35
to notice the quiet comfort of Earth's changing days and nights.
1:08:40
When you imagine an atmosphere being stripped away by a star,
1:08:44
you become a little more aware of the atmosphere surrounding
1:08:47
you now. That thin layer of air above your head,
1:08:50
so ordinary, so familiar, so easy to forget. Yet it
1:08:55
is part of what makes Earth a place where life
1:08:58
can exist. You can return to that thought now. Your
1:09:02
own room. Your own bed. The gentle weight beneath your body.
1:09:07
The quiet air around you. Perhaps there is a faint
1:09:11
sound somewhere nearby. A fan. A distant vehicle. The soft
1:09:16
movement of the building around you. these things are very
1:09:19
small compared with the worlds you have visited. And yet
1:09:22
they are enough. You do not need a molten ocean.
1:09:26
You do not need a star thousands of times more energetic.
1:09:30
You do not need an atmosphere filled with unfamiliar chemistry.
1:09:33
You only need this quiet moment, this small world, this
1:09:38
ordinary air, this gentle night. Far away, those other planets
1:09:43
continue their journeys. Stars continue to shine. Gas continues to drift.
1:09:49
Gravity continues to pull. Heat continues to move. And time
1:09:54
continues carrying everything forward. You can let yourself become quieter now.
1:10:00
The planets do not need you to watch them. The
1:10:02
stars do not need you to understand them. The universe
1:10:06
will continue without effort. And perhaps that is the most
1:10:09
peaceful thought of all. There are billions upon billions of
1:10:13
worlds beyond your reach. each following its own slow path
1:10:18
through space, each shaped by the light of its star,
1:10:22
by gravity, by matter, and by time. Some are beautiful,
1:10:27
some are dark, some are unbearably hot, some are slowly disappearing,
1:10:33
and some may still be waiting to be discovered. You
1:10:36
can simply drift with that possibility, not wondering urgently what
1:10:40
comes next, not searching for an answer, just allowing the
1:10:45
thought to remain somewhere at the edge of your awareness.
1:10:48
There are still worlds out there, still stars, still distant
1:10:53
atmospheres moving beneath unfamiliar skies. And perhaps, somewhere in that
1:10:59
enormous darkness, another planet is turning quietly around another star,
1:11:04
carrying a story that no telescope has completely revealed yet.
1:11:08
You are safe. There is nothing to do. Just listen.
1:11:12
Breathe slowly. and drift. The distant worlds can remain out there,
1:11:18
and here, on Earth, you can rest. And so, our
1:11:25
journey drifts quietly toward its end. You have travelled through
1:11:29
darkness and light, through worlds of immense heat, strange atmospheres,
1:11:34
powerful winds, molten rock, invisible radiation, and stars that slowly
1:11:41
reshape the planets around them. You have seen worlds that
1:11:44
seem almost impossible. And yet, they are real places, or
1:11:50
at least real possibilities written into the distant light reaching
1:11:54
our telescopes. Now you can let all of those distant
1:11:57
worlds become smaller. You do not need to remember their names.
1:12:02
You do not need to remember their temperatures. You do
1:12:05
not need to remember how quickly they orbit their stars,
1:12:09
or how unusual their atmospheres may be. You can simply
1:12:13
allow the images to fade. The darkness of Tress 2B
1:12:17
can become a soft point of shadow somewhere far away.
1:12:21
The glowing surface of 55 Cancri E can slowly disappear
1:12:26
into the distance. The quiet pulses of the pulsar can
1:12:30
become fainter and fainter. The extraordinary heat surrounding Kepler 70B
1:12:36
can soften into a distant glow. Wasp 12B can continue
1:12:41
its slow orbit, gradually giving some of its atmosphere to
1:12:45
its star. The blue atmosphere of HD 18973b can remain
1:12:51
far away, with its strange clouds and enormous winds moving
1:12:56
silently beneath the light of its star. K2141b can continue
1:13:02
its endless cycle of heat, vapour, cooling and return, and
1:13:07
KELT 9b can remain close to its brilliant star, slowly
1:13:11
losing pieces of its atmosphere into space. All of these
1:13:15
worlds are moving, all of them are changing, but none
1:13:18
of them needs your attention now. You can rest. There
1:13:22
is nothing to solve. There is nowhere you need to go.
1:13:26
You are safe. The universe is allowed to remain mysterious.
1:13:31
You can simply listen and drift. Perhaps, after seeing so
1:13:36
many hostile worlds, you begin to notice your own surroundings
1:13:40
in a slightly different way. The air around you may
1:13:43
feel ordinary. It is probably something you rarely think about.
1:13:48
You breathe in, you breathe out. The atmosphere around you
1:13:52
is gentle enough to become invisible. You do not have
1:13:55
to think about its composition. You do not have to
1:13:58
think about pressure or temperature. You simply breathe. And somewhere
1:14:03
above you, beyond the walls and beyond the clouds, The
1:14:06
same atmosphere gradually becomes part of the larger sky. Above
1:14:11
the sky is space, and beyond that space are stars,
1:14:15
and beyond those stars are other stars, and somewhere among
1:14:18
them are planets that no human being has ever seen directly.
1:14:22
Some may be cold, some may be warm, some may
1:14:25
be surrounded by clouds, some may have oceans, some may
1:14:29
have enormous storms, some may orbit two stars. Some may
1:14:34
circle the remains of stars that died long ago. And
1:14:37
perhaps there are worlds that are unlike anything you have imagined.
1:14:41
You do not need to know what they are. It
1:14:44
is enough to know that they may be there. That
1:14:47
thought can remain unfinished. Softly unfinished. Like a sentence that
1:14:52
does not need its final word. Because science is not
1:14:56
only about collecting answers. Sometimes it is about becoming comfortable
1:15:01
with questions. A distant planet can appear as a tiny
1:15:05
change in starlight, a faint shadow, a subtle movement, a
1:15:10
small signal hidden inside enormous amounts of darkness. And from
1:15:15
that tiny clue, you can begin to imagine an entire world.
1:15:20
You can imagine clouds, you can imagine winds, you can
1:15:23
imagine mountains, you can imagine oceans of material that could
1:15:28
never exist here on Earth. But even while imagining those
1:15:32
distant worlds, you can return to something very simple. Your breathing.
1:15:37
The quiet surface beneath you. The gentle darkness of the room.
1:15:41
The familiar temperature of the air. You are here. And
1:15:45
Earth is here. Among all the worlds we have imagined tonight,
1:15:50
this one remains extraordinary in a very quiet way. It
1:15:54
does not need to rain molten glass. It does not
1:15:57
need to orbit a pulsar. It does not need an
1:16:00
atmosphere thousands of degrees hot. It does not need to
1:16:03
glow like a distant ember. It simply allows you to exist.
1:16:08
You can rest beneath its atmosphere. You can close your eyes.
1:16:12
You can hear the soft sounds around you. Perhaps the
1:16:15
room is almost completely quiet. Perhaps there is a fan
1:16:19
turning somewhere. Perhaps distant traffic passes outside. Perhaps there is rain.
1:16:25
Perhaps there is only the faint sound of your own breathing.
1:16:29
All of these sounds belong to your small corner of
1:16:31
the universe, and somewhere unimaginably far away, a star is
1:16:36
shining on a planet that may never know Earth exists.
1:16:41
Another planet may be circling another star, another atmosphere may
1:16:45
be slowly escaping, another world may be forming clouds from
1:16:50
materials that behave strangely under enormous heat, and all of
1:16:54
it is happening without noise, without urgency. without needing to
1:16:59
be witnessed. That may be one of the gentlest things
1:17:03
about the universe. So much can happen without asking anything
1:17:07
from you. Stars can burn, planets can turn, atmospheres can move,
1:17:14
galaxies can drift, light can cross enormous distances, and you
1:17:19
can simply sleep. The universe does not require your attention
1:17:23
to continue. You can let go of it for tonight.
1:17:26
The distant planets will still be there. The stars will
1:17:30
still shine, the invisible forces will continue their quiet work,
1:17:34
and time will continue moving, as it always has, slowly, patiently,
1:17:40
without hurry. Perhaps tomorrow, another distant world will be discovered.
1:17:45
Perhaps a telescope will detect another tiny change in the
1:17:49
light of a star. Perhaps scientists will find another planet
1:17:53
stranger than any of the worlds you imagine tonight. A
1:17:57
world with an atmosphere unlike anything known before. A world
1:18:01
circling a star in an unexpected way. A world that
1:18:05
changes what you thought a planet could be. But you
1:18:08
do not need to discover it tonight. Tonight, you can
1:18:11
leave some mysteries unopened. You can let the unknown remain
1:18:15
comfortably unknown. And perhaps that is where the journey truly
1:18:18
becomes quiet. Not when every question has an answer, but
1:18:22
when you no longer need every question to have one.
1:18:25
So breathe slowly. Let your body become heavy. Let the
1:18:29
bed support you. Let the room become softer around you.
1:18:33
You can stop following the distant planets now. You can
1:18:36
stop imagining their stars. You can stop thinking about their
1:18:40
strange atmospheres. The universe can continue without you watching. And
1:18:45
you can rest. Far away, the planets continue turning. Far away,
1:18:51
the stars continue shining. Far away, light continues travelling through
1:18:56
the enormous darkness. And here, on this small blue world,
1:19:01
you can simply be still. There is nothing to do,
1:19:05
nothing to solve, nothing to reach. Just listen and drift.
1:19:10
and rest. Whether you are still listening beneath the quiet
1:19:13
glow of your screen, or already floating somewhere between dreams
1:19:18
and distant stars, thank you for travelling here tonight through
1:19:22
silent galaxies, ancient worlds, strange atmospheres, and the quiet physical
1:19:28
laws that shape everything around you. If this wandering brought
1:19:32
you a little calm, you are welcome to subscribe, or
1:19:35
share it with someone who could use a gentler night
1:19:38
beneath the cosmos. For now, rest well. The stars will
1:19:43
keep shining. The planets will keep turning. The strange worlds
1:19:47
will keep drifting through the darkness. And the universe will
1:19:51
carry on softly around you while you sleep. Good night.
1:19:55
And somewhere, very far away, another distant world continues its
1:19:59
quiet journey beneath another unfamiliar star.