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Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered

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all the time just how many different kinds of stars are out there?

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I mean, they all look like tiny, tiny little like pinpricks of light.

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Right. But yeah, there's there's a whole universe of variety hidden in that in that twinkling.

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Absolutely. Yeah, we we tend to lump them all together as stars, but but they're incredibly diverse.

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Some are massive and burn bright, bright and fast. Oh, wow.

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While others are small and cool and lasting for billions of years.

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OK, so let's dive into this. I've got a stack of research here on all sorts of different stars,

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and I'm ready for my mind to be blown. What's the what's the most interesting thing you think

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we'll uncover in this deep dive? Well, we're going to journey from our own sun all the way to

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a star so large that it would engulf Saturn if it were in our solar system. Whoa. Along the way,

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we'll we'll explore the incredible power of nuclear fusion. OK, the mysteries of the sun's corona

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and the the dramatic deaths of stars that that seed the galaxy for new life.

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Welcome to Cosmos and a Pod Space and Astronomy series. All right, you've you've hooked me.

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So let's start with the basics. I know stars vary in size and temperature, but what else makes them

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so different? Well, their lifespans are dramatically different and and those lifespans are determined

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by their mass. So a star's mass dictates how much fuel it has and how quickly it burns through it.

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The bigger the star, the faster it lives and the more spectacular its death. So it's like a cosmic

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race against time. Exactly. A massive star might live for millions of years. Wow. While a smaller

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one can shine for billions, even trillions of years. Trillions. Wow. Yeah. That makes our sun's

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10 billion year lifespan seem like a blink of an eye. Yeah, it's it's pretty incredible. Let's

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talk about our own star, the sun. Sure. You know, I know it's it's a pretty average star. It is. But

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still it's still pretty amazing to me. What makes our sun tick? So the sun is what's called a main

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sequence star, which means it's in the prime of its life, steadily fusing hydrogen into helium in

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its core. And that fusion is a is a powerful process, releasing a tremendous amount of energy.

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Right. That we feel as light and heat here on Earth. It's it's mind blowing to think that all

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the energy that powers our planet comes from that nuclear furnace. Yeah. Millions of miles away.

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Absolutely. Yeah. It's our it's our lifeblood. And it's not just, you know, a uniform ball of

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fire either. Right. The sun has layers. It does. Each with its own. Absolutely. Unique characteristics

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and processes. Exactly. Right. I remember reading about the sun's corona. It's like a giant mystery,

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isn't it? It is. The corona is the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere. And what's bizarre is

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that it's millions of degrees hotter than the sun's surface. And scientists are still trying to

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understand why. I mean, it's it's a it's a like standing closer to a campfire and feeling colder

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than someone further away. That's right. It just doesn't make sense. It really doesn't. Yeah,

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there are a lot of theories. But the Parker Solar Probe is out there right now collecting data,

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trying to unravel this coronal heating mystery. I read that the Parker Solar Probe is the fastest

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human made object ever built. It's it's getting closer to the sun than anything we've ever sent

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before. Yeah. What's it what's it hoping to find out? So it's it's measuring the solar wind,

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which is the stream of charged particles that's constantly flowing from the sun.

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It's also studying the sun's magnetic field, which plays a big role in shaping the corona

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right and driving those solar winds. So it's not just about understanding our own sun,

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but also how stars in general interact with their with their surroundings. Precisely. What we learn

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from the Parker Solar Probe will help us understand the dynamics of other stars

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and how they impact the planets that orbit them. OK, that's that's a perfect segue to our next

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topic. Yeah. Other stars. So we've talked about our sun. But what about what about those red

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dwarfs I keep hearing about? Are they are they just miniature versions of the sun? Not quite.

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They're they're much smaller. OK. And cooler. And they burn their fuel much more slowly. OK.

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That means they have incredibly long lifespans. In fact, some red dwarfs are thought to live for

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trillions of years. Trillions. Trillions with a T. Wow. That that makes our sun's 10 billion

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year lifespan seem like a blink of an eye. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's amazing, isn't it? Yeah. And

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because they're because they're so long lived, some scientists believe red dwarfs might be ideal

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places to look for life. Right. Beyond Earth. Exactly. Because they provide a stable environment

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for planets to evolve over vast stretches of time, vast stretches of time. One example is Barnard Star,

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a nearby red dwarf. OK. Scientists believe there might be a planetary system around it. Oh, yeah.

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They are actively searching for signs of habitable worlds. It's fascinating to think about what

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what those planets might might be like. So we've got these small long lived red dwarfs on one end

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of the spectrum. What about the other end? What are some of the biggest, most powerful stars out

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there? Well, let's jump over to the Sirius binary system. You've probably seen Sirius A in the night

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sky. It's the brightest star visible from Earth. I think I have. It has a sort of bluish white glow.

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Yes. Right. It's a it's a much hotter and more massive star than our sun. But its companion,

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Sirius B, is a white dwarf. I remember reading about white dwarfs. They're the remnants of dead

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stars, aren't they? They are. Sirius B was once a star much larger than our sun, but it's now

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shrunk down to about the size of Earth. So it's incredibly dense. Extremely. A teaspoonful of

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white dwarf material would weigh tons on Earth. OK, that's that's mind boggling. So Sirius A is

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this blazing hot giant. Right. And Sirius B is its tiny, super dense companion. Right. It's like a

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tiny but heavy. Cosmic odd couple. That's a great analogy. And together, they illustrate the different

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stages of a star's life cycle. Sirius A is in its prime, while Sirius B is what's left after a star

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has burned through its fuel and shed its outer layers. Speaking of shedding layers. Yeah. I

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remember reading about a star called WR 102. Right. It's one of those incredibly rare and hot

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wolf-rayed stars. It is. It's a it's a it's a beast. Right. What's what's so special about it?

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Well, first of all, it's massive, much larger than our sun. But what's really fascinating is

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that it's in the process of shedding its outer layers. OK. Spewing out heavy elements. Heavy

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elements. What kind of elements are we are we talking about? Things like carbon and oxygen.

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The very elements that make up you, me and everything around us. Wait, so we owe our

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existence to these massive dying stars. In a way, yes. That's that's pretty profound. It is. It's a

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beautiful kind of cosmic connection. And WR 102 is. WR 102 is. Nearing the end of its life. It's

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nearing the end of its life. It's burning through its fuel at an incredible rate. And eventually

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it's going to explode as a supernova. A supernova. Yeah. Like one of those incredibly bright

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explosions that can outshine an entire galaxy. Exactly. And when it does, it will scatter all

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those heavy elements. OK. It's been creating out into space. Right. Seeding the galaxy for the

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formation of new stars and planets. So it's like a cosmic recycling program. You got it. Death

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leading to new life. Exactly. I'm sensing a theme here. Yeah, you're right. There is a theme. The

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death of a star is a is a spectacular event. Right. But it's also crucial for the evolution

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of the galaxy. Yeah. And WR 102 is just one example. OK. There are many other stars out there

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headed for a similar fate. Like Betelgeuse, right? Like Betelgeuse. Exactly. The famous red

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supergiant in Orion. The famous red supergiant in Orion, which is a massive star that's nearing the

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end of its life. Right. And it's one of the prime candidates for a supernova in the near future,

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astronomically speaking, of course. Well, I'm hoping it happens soon. Right. It would be

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amazing to witness a supernova. It would be an incredible sight. Betelgeuse would suddenly

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become one of the brightest objects in the night sky. Wow. Visible even during the day.

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So WR 102 and Betelgeuse are both giants. Yes. Headed for spectacular supernova explosions.

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Absolutely. But I remember reading about another another red giant, CW Leonis. What's its story?

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CW Leonis is a fascinating star because it's in the process of dying. OK. But in a more gradual

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way. It's shedding its outer layers, forming a beautiful planetary nebula. So it's like a

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cosmic artist painting the galaxy with stardust. Exactly. And as it sheds its layers, CW Leonis is

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enriching the surrounding space with all sorts of elements, including carbon, oxygen and nitrogen.

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So it's it's contributing to the cosmic recycling program in in a different way. Exactly. Both

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Betelgeuse with its future supernova and CW Leonis with its gentle shedding of layers are showing us

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how stellar death is not an ending, but a new beginning. OK, you've you convinced me. No more

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no more morning dead stars. They're they're just moving on to a new a new chapter in the in the

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cosmic story. That's a great way to think about it. But but we haven't even talked about the real

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giants yet. We haven't. Right. You mentioned a star so large it would engulf Saturn. Right. If

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it were in our solar system. Tell me more about that. We're talking about Stevenson 218. OK. One

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of the largest known stars in the universe. Oh, it's a red supergent located in the Constellation

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Scutum. OK. And it's it's so vast it makes Betelgeuse look tiny. I can't even wrap my head around

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around that size. It's it's hard to fathom, isn't it? How how do stars like like Stevenson 218 even

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get so big? It's all about those incredible thermonuclear reactions happening in their cores.

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OK. Stars like Betelgeuse and Stevenson 218 aren't just fusing hydrogen into helium. Right. They've

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moved on to heavier elements like carbon and oxygen. So so they've leveled up in the cosmic

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fusion game. They have. And these heavier elements require even higher temperatures and pressures

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to fuse. OK. That that intense energy output. Yeah. Causes the star to swell to enormous

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proportions. But I'm I'm guessing there's a limit to how big a star can get. Right. They can't just

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keep, you know, expanding forever. Right. Eventually, even these supergents run out of fuel.

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Right. And when that happens, gravity takes over, causing the star's core to collapse. And and that's

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what leads to a supernova. Often, yes. But for the most massive stars, the core collapse can be so

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powerful that it forms a black hole. OK. Now we're now we're getting into some seriously heavy cosmic

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territory. I think I think we need to take a break here and let all this information sink in. I agree.

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We've we've covered a lot of ground from our own sun all the way to supergents and black holes.

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Yeah. It's it's amazing to think about the incredible variety of stars that populate the universe.

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Well, we're only halfway through our stack of research, so I'm sure there are many more surprises

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in store. Absolutely. There's still so much to explore in this deep dive into the lives and

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deaths of stars. Before we were talking about how even the largest stars eventually run out of fuel,

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it's it's like a cosmic balancing act, isn't it? Gravity versus fusion, creation versus destruction.

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It really is. It makes me wonder with all this talk about about supergents stars and and their

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dramatic deaths, can can planets even exist around them? I mean, wouldn't they just get swallowed up

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or blasted away? That's a that's a great question, and it's one that astronomers are still trying to

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answer. We haven't confirmed any exoplanets around supergents yet, but that doesn't mean they're not

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out there. So it's still possible. It's still possible. What about what about those intense

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stellar winds we talked about earlier? Wouldn't wouldn't they just strip away any planets that

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try to form? It's it's definitely a challenge. Those stellar winds are incredibly powerful

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and they they carry away a lot of material from the stars outer layers. Right. But remember,

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the universe is is full of surprises. We're constantly discovering new planets in unexpected

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places. So you're saying there's hope. I'm saying there's hope. I love that. I mean, it would be it

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would be incredible to to think about like what a planet would be like orbiting a supergents star.

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It would be a truly alien world. That's for sure. Imagine the sky. Yeah. Dominated by this colossal

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star. Yeah. Constantly changing as the star pulsates and sheds its layers. And what about

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what about the radiation? Wouldn't it be incredibly intense? Absolutely. Life as we know it

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would likely struggle and survive under such under such extreme conditions. Yeah. But who knows what

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kind of exotic life forms might evolve in such a harsh environment? Okay. Now you're just teasing

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me with with possibilities. But you mentioned that we haven't actually found any planets around

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supergents yet. So where where have we found planets? We've we've had a lot more success

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finding planets around smaller, cooler stars like red dwarfs. Right. In fact, one of the most

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promising systems is around a star called Wolf 1061. Wolf 1061. That that rings a bell. Isn't

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that the one with a with a planet in the habitable zone? You got it. Wolf 1061 c. Okay. Is a rocky

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planet. Okay. That orbits within its star's habitable zone. Right. The the region where

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temperatures are just right for liquid water to exist on the surface. So there's a chance for life

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as we know it on this planet. There's a chance. It's it's definitely an exciting target for future

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study. That's amazing. But I'm curious. Wouldn't wouldn't a planet around a red dwarf? Yeah.

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Experience some some unique challenges? It would. Red dwarfs are much cooler and fainter than our

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sun. So the habitable zone is much closer in. Okay. That means planets in the habitable zone

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are what we call tidally locked. Okay. With one side always facing the star and the other side

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always in darkness. So permanent daylight on one side and permanent night on the other. Pretty much.

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Yeah. That would make for some some extreme weather patterns. It would. Yeah. And red dwarfs are also

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known for their their frequent and powerful flares. Okay. Which could be harmful to life.

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So so it's a mixed bag, right? Potential for for habitability but also some some serious challenges.

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Exactly. It just goes to show that that finding another earth out there is going to be a lot more

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complicated than just looking for, you know, planets in the habitable zone. Right. There

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there's so many factors to consider. Yeah. From the type of star to the planet's atmosphere

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and magnetic field. It makes you appreciate. It does. Just how how special our own planet is.

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It really does. But let's not get too distracted by the the search for life. Okay. We still have

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a lot more to uncover about stars themselves. Right. Before we were talking about Stevenson

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218. Right. One of the largest known stars. Enormous. It's it's mind-boggling to think about a star

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that vast. It is. And and it raises an important question. Yeah. Where where do stars like that

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even come from? Right. How are they born? So we know stars form from clouds of of gas and dust.

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Right. But I'm guessing it takes a lot more. Yeah. Than just a little cloud to create a

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supergiant. Yeah. Supergiant are born in vast dense clouds of gas and dust. Okay. Called stellar

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nurseries. Stellar nurseries. And one of the closest and most active stellar nurseries is

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the Orion cloud. Oh I've heard of the the Orion cloud. It's it's visible to the naked eye isn't

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it? It is. If you look at the constellation Orion. Okay. The Orion cloud appears as a fuzzy patch

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below Orion's belt. So so when I'm when I'm looking at that at that fuzzy patch. Yeah. I'm

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I'm actually seeing a place. You're seeing. Where stars are being born. Where stars are being born.

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That's incredible. But what's what's actually happening inside that cloud. Right. How how does

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a star go from a cloud of gas and dust to a blazing ball of fire? It starts with gravity. Over millions

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of years gravity pulls the gas and dust in the cloud together causing it to collapse. Okay. As

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the cloud collapses it heats up and eventually the core gets hot enough to ignite nuclear fusion.

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So it's it's like a cosmic pressure cooker squeezing the cloud until a star ignites. That's

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a great analogy. And the birth of a star. Yeah. Is anything but quiet. Right. These these stellar

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nurseries are filled with all sorts of amazing phenomena like herbig harrow objects. Herbig

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harrow objects. I remember reading about those. They're like cosmic jets. Right. Exactly. As the

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newborn star spins. Yeah. It shoots out powerful jets of material from its poles. Okay. These

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jets slam into the surrounding gas. Right. Creating shock waves. Right. That heat up the gas and make

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it glow. So so it's like the the star is clearing a a path for itself announcing its its arrival to

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the universe. In a way. Yes. It's a spectacular sight. It is. These herbig harrow objects can

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stretch for light years carving carving their way through the nebula illuminating it with with

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viagra colors. It's beautiful. It's like the universe is is putting on a fireworks display

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to celebrate the birth of a of a new star. A cosmic celebration indeed. Yeah. And it's happening

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all the time. What? In stellar nurseries across the galaxy. But the Orion cloud isn't just a

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a birthplace for stars. That's right. It's also a graveyard. It's also a graveyard. A graveyard.

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But we were just talking about about stellar nurseries. It's both within the Orion cloud.

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You'll find remnants of stars that have already lived their lives and exploded as supernovas.

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Right. One of the most striking features is something called Barad's Loop. Barad's Loop.

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That name sounds sounds familiar. Yeah. What what is it? It's a it's a massive looping structure of

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gas and dust. Okay. That was shaped by multiple supernova explosions over millions of years. So

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the the shock waves from from those explosions sculpted the cloud into this into this loop.

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Exactly. It's a testament to the immense power of of supernovae and how they can they can shape the

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very structure of the galaxy. But but Barad's Loop isn't just a static structure. It's it's still

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evolving. Okay. As new stars form within it. And the shock waves from past supernovae continue to

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to ripple through the cloud. It's it's like a cosmic dance. It is. With creation and destruction.

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Yeah. Constantly interacting and influencing each other. Beautifully put. The Orion cloud is a

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dynamic. Yeah. Ever changing region of space. Right. A microcosm of the universe itself.

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This has been an incredible journey so far. From our own sun to to giant stars and supernova

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explosions. Yeah. Stellar nurseries and even even the possibility of of planets around. Yeah.

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Around other stars. Yeah. We've we've covered so much ground. But but I know we're not done yet.

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Right. What what else is in store for us in this in this deep dive into the world of stars.

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Yeah. So we've talked about you know stars being born living their lives and eventually dying

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sometimes in those in those spectacular supernova explosions. Right. But what happens after a

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supernova. Yeah. What what's left behind. Well that depends on the mass of the star. Okay.

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For smaller stars like our sun. Right. The the core collapses into a white dwarf. We we talked

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about Sirius B earlier. Yeah. Which is a great example of a white dwarf. Right. Those incredibly

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dense remnants about the size of Earth. Exactly. But what about what about those supergents the

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ones that go supernova. What what happens to their cores. So for those massive stars the core

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collapse is is much more violent. Okay. It can create a neutron star an even denser object packed

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with neutrons. Okay. Imagine imagine cramming the mass of the sun into something the size of a city.

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Okay. My mind is officially blown. Yeah. They're they're pretty incredible. A a teaspoon full of

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neutron star material would weigh billions of tons. Right. You got it. Neutron stars are are

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some of the most extreme objects in the universe. Wow. They have incredibly strong magnetic fields.

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Yeah. And spin rapidly emitting beams of radiation that that sweep across space like a lighthouse.

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We we detect these beams as pulsars. So those those rapidly flashing stars we sometimes see

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are actually neutron stars. Exactly. Each flash is a is a pulse of radiation from the

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rotating neutron star. Okay. It's it's like a cosmic beacon. Yeah. Sending out signals across

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vast distances. That's amazing. But you mentioned that there's something even more extreme than a

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than a neutron star. Right. What what happens when the core collapses so powerful that it it

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goes beyond even a neutron star. That's when we get a black hole. Yeah. It's a region of space time

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where gravity is so strong that nothing not even light can escape. Black holes are always a bit

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mind boggling to me. Yeah. They're they're hard to wrap your head around. They're like like cosmic

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vacuum cleaners sucking in everything that gets too close. Well that's that's a common misconception.

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Black holes don't actually suck things in. Oh they have a strong gravitational pull. But it's

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it's the same kind of gravity that keeps us on earth. Right. And the earth orbiting the sun. So

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if I were to like get too close to a black hole I wouldn't I wouldn't get sucked in like spaghetti.

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Not exactly. You would you would experience extreme tidal forces. Okay. That would stretch

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you out. Okay. A process known as spaghettification. But it's it's the intense gravity. Yeah. That

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would be the problem. Not any kind of sucking force. Okay. Well that's that's slightly reassuring

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but still I think I'll keep my keep my distance from from black holes. I think that's a wise

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decision. But but black holes are are an integral part of the universe that play a role in the

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evolution of galaxies and the distribution of matter throughout space. It's amazing how everything

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is is interconnected. It is. From the smallest particles to the to the largest structures in

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the universe. Right. And it all goes back to to stars. They're the building blocks the engines

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that that drive the evolution of the cosmos. Beautifully said. And this deep dive has has

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only scratched the surface. Right. Of what we know about stars. There's there's still so much to

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explore so many mysteries to unravel. I completely agree. And I have a feeling we'll be we'll be

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revisiting the topic of stars many times in future episodes. I'm sure we will. Yeah. There's there's

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always something new to discover something new to learn about these celestial wonders. Well this

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deep dive has been a truly incredible journey. It has. We've we've learned about the diversity of

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stars. Right. Their life cycles their dramatic deaths and and the remnants they they leave

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behind. It's it's left me with a with a sense of awe and wonder about the the vastness and complexity

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of the universe. And and that's what we we hope to inspire with Cosmos in a pod. A sense of curiosity

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a desire to learn more about the cosmos and our place within it. Absolutely. So to our listeners

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if you've enjoyed this journey through the world of stars be sure to follow and subscribe to Cosmos

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in a pod. And don't forget to check out our YouTube channel for even more cosmic adventures.

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As always we'd we'd love to hear from you. Absolutely. Leave us a review share your thoughts

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on this episode and and let us know what cosmic mysteries you'd like us to explore next. So until

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next time keep looking up keep asking questions and keep exploring the vast awe inspiring universe

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around us. Clear skies.