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Brian Cox: Our universe is an enigma,
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an endless, inexhaustible paradox.
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It's largely...
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A dark, cold, and lifeless ocean.
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But within this ocean,
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there are islands...
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Blazing with light.
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Galaxies, trillions of them,
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Each one,
home to hundreds of billions of stars,
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and around many of these stars,
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there are planets,
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alien worlds,
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each incomprehensibl y strange.
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There are trillions
of planets in our universe
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and one of them
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nurtured beings capable of
contemplating this cosmic drama,
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miraculously improbable,
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brief candles flickering
against the eternal night.
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As darkness begins to fall,
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if you know that
all those points of light
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that appear one by one
in the darkening sky are distant suns,
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then it's impossible
not to be overwhelmed
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at the sheer scale
and majesty of it all.
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The universe
is infinite in all directions,
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and terrifying in all directions.
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But if you can overcome your fear,
then questions arise.
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And surely the most
profound question of all is,
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”how did all this come to be here?”
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That's a question
that's defined much of human history.
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But it's only in the last century or so
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that we've had the intellectual
and technical tools
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to interrogate nature directly
in search of an answer.
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And we've found
that it looks, for all the world,
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like there was a first moment in time,
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a beginning to the universe
13.8 billion years ago, the big bang.
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For all the world, but not quite,
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because we've begun to suspect
that there's more to it,
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and we've embarked on
a heroic quest to search for
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and to explore the time before the dawn.
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Neil Armstrong: [Can see
everything quite clearly. The light...
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It has a stark beauty all its own.
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♪ See me when I float like a dove
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♪ skies above...
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B uzz a ld ri n: Magnificent desolation.
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- Beautiful view.
- Armstro n g: Isn't that something?
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♪ Take me away ♪
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William an ders:
For all the people back on earth,
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the crew oprollo 8
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has a message that
we would like to send to you.
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In the beginning, god created
the heaven and the earth.
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And the earth was without form and void,
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and darkness was
upon the face of the deep.
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And god said, ”let there be light'j
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and there was light.
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And god saw the light that it was good.
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Cox: Since we first became
conscious of ourselves,
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We've looked to the heavens,
to those mysterious lights...
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Searching for answers.
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What is the universe?
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How did it come to be?
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And what is our place in the cosmos?
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Cox: We sometimes doubt
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the creation stories
that our ancestors told.
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But those ancient myths
conceal a profound truth.
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The clues to the origins of everything
can be found out there...
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In light which ripples to us
from beyond the stars.
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If we 're going to dare to know
about the origin of the universe,
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then we have to have some evidence.
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And the connection we have
with the deep past is light.
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See, light travels very slowly
on the universal scale,
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only 786, 000 miles a second.
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It takes light eight minutes
to journey from the sun to the earth.
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It takes four years for light
to journey from the next nearest star.
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And that means we see that star
as it was four years in the past.
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So, the further out
into the universe we look,
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the further back in time we look.
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And because we can look
way out into the distant universe,
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we can look back towards
the beginning of time.
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Man 1: Go ahead, Charlie.
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Man 2: Okay,
we have a go for release,
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and we 're gonna be a minute late.
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0ka y, Charlie.
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Cox: In the quest to find the origin
of the universe,
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we need a time machine.
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Man 2: This is discovery.
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Man 1: We concur, Charlie.
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Cox: A telescope so powerful,
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that can peer out
so far into the universe,
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that it can capture
the most ancient light...
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The telescope's released.
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Cox: And carry us back...
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Towards the dawn of time.
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Man 1: Okay, Charlie.
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Cox: The hubble space telescope
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has taken us on
an odyssey through the universe,
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Revealing its gods...
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And monsters.
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Our universe is a place of beauty...
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And terror.
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Hubble has shown us
visions of sublime creation...
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And images of awesome destruction,
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illuminating our journey
backwards in time...
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Towards the dawn.
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The Orion nebula, a stellar nursery,
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clouds of gas nurturing newborn stars
in the milky way.
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An image brought to us by light
that left the nebula 7,300 years ago.
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The pillars of creation,
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towering, delicate structures,
light years tall,
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7, 000 years ago.
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The Andromeda galaxy,
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a glittering island of a trillion suns,
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2.5 million years ago.
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A cosmic Rose,
galaxies colliding in a celestial dance,
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300 million years ago.
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But hubble's voyage
has taken us even further out
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into the uncharted ocean of space,
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Ever deeper into the darkness,
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Glimpsing countless ancient
and faraway galaxies.
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Wild, and primitive shoals of stars,
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lighting the way
to their primordial past,
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Until, finally, hubble approached
the farthest shore,
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A galaxy near the dawn of time.
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This is a galaxy called gn—z7 7,
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and it is one of the most
distant galaxies we've ever seen.
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This is light from some
of the first stars in the universe.
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It began itsjourney only
400 million years after the big bang,
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and it's taken 13.4 billion years
to reach us.
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When you think about that, this light
journeyed through the universe,
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and after nine billion years
of itsjourney, the earth formed.
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And then, during the whole history
of our planet,
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it completed the last third of
itsjourney and entered our telescopes.
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So, this is an image
from the edge of time.
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Gn—z7 7 was one
of the very first galaxies,
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formed at a time when the universe
itself was taking shape,
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shortly after the big bang.
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Gn—z7 7 was a strange galaxy
by today's standards.
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T wenty-five times
smaller than the milky way,
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But filled with enormous, violent stars.
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Lurking alongside these volatile giants,
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there were other things,
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delicate objects struggling
in the maelstrom,
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Some of the first planets
in the universe.
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These were strange, primordial worlds,
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and over the horizon
of one of them, a sun Rose,
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Marking a new chapter
in the history of the universe,
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The beginnings of a relationship
between stars and planets...
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That would, billions of years later,
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on a faraway world,
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lead to the origin of life.
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Now, we don't know when or where
the first dawn broke in the universe.
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But what we do know is that
the first dawn was not the first moment.
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The stars and planets
had to come from somewhere.
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So, the first dawn was
preceded by long, dark night.
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Astronomers call this era
the cosmic dark ages.
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If we continue to journey back in time,
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we 'd see shadows
fall across the universe.
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The galaxies would disappear.
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The first primitive stars
would be extinguished...
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One by one...
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And darkness truly would
be upon the face of the deep.
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Here in the impenetrable gloom
of the cosmic dark ages,
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our quest to understand
the origins of the universe...
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Would seem to end.
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So, how can we peer
into the cosmic dark ages
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to explore the origin of the universe?
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Well, perhaps counter-intuitively,
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the light from the stars
can still guide us
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because that starlight has been
travelling across the universe
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for millions or even billions
of yea rs to reach us,
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and information about the way
the universe has changed and evolved
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becomes imprinted in that starlight.
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The stars have illuminated
our voyage through time.
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But their light can't guide us
directly across the dark ages.
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Instead, their light can be used
to build maps of the universe
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in space and time...
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That allow us to navigate...
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Towards the moment of creation.
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Cox: And the most valuable light of all
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comes from very particular stars in
the spectacular swansong of their lives.
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Stars exist
in a permanent state of conflict
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because the force of gravity
is relentless.
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Left to its own devices, it will crush
anything and everything without limit.
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But fortunately,
other forces come into play.
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As a star collapses, its core heats up
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and turns into
a giant nuclear fusion reactor.
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Hydrogen is converted into helium
that releases energy
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which creates a pressure
which holds the star up.
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But stars like our sun
burn hundreds of millions
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of tons of hydrogen
into helium every second.
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And although they are big,
they're not infinite in size.
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Stars, just like human beings,
have a lifetime.
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They are subject
to the relentless march of time.
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And for stars like our sun,
the collapse continues
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until it produces a new
and exotic type of star
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known as a white dwarf.
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White dwarfs are strange beasts,
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the fading remains of stars,
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super dense, planetary-sized cores,
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usually composed entirely
of carbon and oxygen.
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Stars that were once a million times
the size of our planet,
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00:22:37,961 --> 00:22:41,081
crushed to the size of the earth,
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subjecting the carbon
to extreme pressures,
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and making white dwarfs,
in effect, stellar diamonds.
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These diamond stars
are critically balanced,
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able to resist the relentless
inwards pull of gra vity.
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But only just.
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And that can make them
ticking time bombs.
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In 2078, hubble was in orbit.
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The telescope focused
on a galaxy far, far away,
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Hunting for a distant white dwarf
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that we knew was coming to the end
of its extraordinary life.
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For millions of years,
the white dwarf had remained hidden,
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Locked in orbit around
a much biggest star,
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a red giant.
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As they circled each other,
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00:24:52,081 --> 00:24:56,921
the white dwarf's gravity drew in
gas and plasma from the red giant.
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00:25:05,281 --> 00:25:07,321
The mass of the white dwarf increased...
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00:25:11,321 --> 00:25:13,601
Until it approached a critical limit...
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00:25:19,481 --> 00:25:21,761
Known as the chandrasekhar mass...
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00:25:26,641 --> 00:25:28,241
And surpassed it...
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Triggering a colossal
thermonuclear reaction.
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The white dwarf detonated...
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In a gigantic explosion
called a supernova
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That millions of light years away,
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was detected by hubble.
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00:26:18,681 --> 00:26:20,121
That white dwarf star,
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or to be more precise, the supernova
that it became, has a name.
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00:26:24,921 --> 00:26:27,801
It's called sn 2078gv.
229
00:26:28,521 --> 00:26:33,041
And even though it is
70 million light years away,
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it is so bright
that we could make a movie on it.
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I mean, imagine now, this is a star
the size of a planet
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ending its life with a flash of light
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that's as bright as five billion suns.
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00:26:53,281 --> 00:26:56,961
Now, although supernova like these
only shine for a few days,
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00:26:57,041 --> 00:27:01,441
they cast a profound light
out across the universe.
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00:27:06,481 --> 00:27:09,481
We've given a name to
the sorts of superno va hubble saw.
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00:27:11,561 --> 00:27:14,201
They're called type 7a supernovae
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00:27:17,361 --> 00:27:21,961
and they're common enough to allow us
to map the evolution of the universe.
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00:27:28,681 --> 00:27:32,201
Type 1A supernovae
really are nature's gift to us
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because they all explode
in the same way.
241
00:27:35,321 --> 00:27:37,801
That means that they all shine
with the same brightness.
242
00:27:38,201 --> 00:27:42,201
And that means that if we see one
that's dimmer, it must be farther away.
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00:27:42,281 --> 00:27:43,681
And that allows us to measure
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00:27:43,761 --> 00:27:46,401
the distance to the galaxy
that contains the supernova.
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And because they shine so bright,
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00:27:48,721 --> 00:27:52,521
we can see them
tens of billions of light years away.
247
00:27:52,601 --> 00:27:54,881
That means that we can measure
the distance to galaxies
248
00:27:54,961 --> 00:27:59,681
all the way out towards the edge
of the observable universe.
249
00:28:04,681 --> 00:28:08,201
But there's other information
encoded in the light.
250
00:28:33,841 --> 00:28:36,681
When we look at the light
from distant supernova explosions,
251
00:28:37,761 --> 00:28:41,881
we see something very interesting,
and very surprising,
252
00:28:41,961 --> 00:28:44,321
because the light
from every single supernova
253
00:28:44,401 --> 00:28:48,081
that's not in our neighbourhood
is redder that it should be.
254
00:28:48,161 --> 00:28:51,081
The further away the supernova,
the redder the light.
255
00:28:51,161 --> 00:28:52,481
It's called a redshift.
256
00:28:52,841 --> 00:28:55,241
Now, light has a wavelength,
257
00:28:55,321 --> 00:28:59,041
and the longer the wavelength,
the redder the light.
258
00:28:59,121 --> 00:29:00,681
So, the explanation is that,
259
00:29:00,761 --> 00:29:05,001
during the time the light has been
travelling from the supernova to us,
260
00:29:05,081 --> 00:29:09,961
space itself has been stretching,
and that stretched the light.
261
00:29:10,521 --> 00:29:14,361
And that means that
the universe is expanding.
262
00:29:18,481 --> 00:29:22,761
In our quest to find the origin
of the universe, this is a vital clue.
263
00:29:25,281 --> 00:29:27,761
Because if the universe
is expanding today,
264
00:29:28,841 --> 00:29:32,201
then, tomorrow,
everything will be farther apart.
265
00:29:37,201 --> 00:29:42,081
And it follows that, yesterday,
everything was closer together.
266
00:29:44,241 --> 00:29:46,601
So, if we want to understand
how it all began,
267
00:29:50,281 --> 00:29:52,161
we have to wind back time
268
00:29:55,081 --> 00:29:57,321
through billions of yesterdays.
269
00:30:01,961 --> 00:30:05,441
We have to go back to a time
before the earth and the sun,
270
00:30:17,321 --> 00:30:20,681
To a time before the galaxies,
271
00:30:26,441 --> 00:30:30,441
And all the while,
the universe is shrinking,
272
00:30:33,281 --> 00:30:39,281
getting ever smaller,
denser, and hotter,
273
00:30:40,521 --> 00:30:45,161
until we arrive at the most famous
moment in the history of the universe.
274
00:31:10,001 --> 00:31:12,601
Our universe is a place
of infinite variety.
275
00:31:20,721 --> 00:31:23,601
There are galaxies of exquisite beauty,
276
00:31:27,761 --> 00:31:30,521
stars of stupendous power,
277
00:31:34,961 --> 00:31:40,001
and planets...
Countless brave new worlds.
278
00:31:57,001 --> 00:31:59,521
Galaxies, stars, and planets
279
00:31:59,601 --> 00:32:02,841
are the things that make
our universe remarkable.
280
00:32:09,441 --> 00:32:13,561
They are the things that make it
more than a barren expanse.
281
00:32:22,521 --> 00:32:26,441
How did a universe of light and life
282
00:32:26,521 --> 00:32:30,441
emerge from the cataclysm
of the big bang?
283
00:32:35,401 --> 00:32:37,601
Unfortunately, we don't know.
284
00:32:37,681 --> 00:32:40,721
We don't even know
if the universe had a beginning.
285
00:32:40,801 --> 00:32:44,481
But we do know a great deal
about how the universe evolved
286
00:32:44,561 --> 00:32:48,001
from a very different state
a long time in the past.
287
00:32:48,081 --> 00:32:50,881
We know that 13.8 billion years ago,
288
00:32:50,961 --> 00:32:55,081
this space that I'm standing in now
and the space you're standing in now
289
00:32:55,161 --> 00:32:58,521
and all the space out to the edge
of the observable universe
290
00:32:58,601 --> 00:33:03,441
containing two trillion galaxies
was very hot and very dense,
291
00:33:03,521 --> 00:33:05,681
and has been expanding ever since.
292
00:33:06,161 --> 00:33:10,921
Now, that implies that way back,
everything was closer together,
293
00:33:11,001 --> 00:33:14,041
everything was contained
in a very small speck.
294
00:33:14,121 --> 00:33:16,601
But how small was that speck?
295
00:33:17,201 --> 00:33:18,761
How did it come to be?
296
00:33:19,121 --> 00:33:23,321
Well, we used to think
that the universe emerged in that state,
297
00:33:23,401 --> 00:33:26,041
very hot and very dense
at the beginning of time,
298
00:33:26,121 --> 00:33:28,841
and we used to call that the big bang.
299
00:33:28,921 --> 00:33:34,321
But now, we strongly suspect
that the universe existed before that.
300
00:33:34,401 --> 00:33:39,881
And in that sense, it is possible
to speak of a time before the big bang.
301
00:33:50,081 --> 00:33:53,841
So, what was the universe like
before the big bang?
302
00:33:58,361 --> 00:34:02,561
The first thing to say
is that it was very strange.
303
00:34:07,641 --> 00:34:11,441
There was no matter.
304
00:34:11,521 --> 00:34:14,961
All that existed was spacetime
305
00:34:15,041 --> 00:34:17,961
and energy, an ocean of energy,
306
00:34:19,201 --> 00:34:23,321
almost still, but gently rippling.
307
00:34:33,881 --> 00:34:35,281
Before the big bang,
308
00:34:35,361 --> 00:34:39,841
the universe was a cold,
alien, featureless place.
309
00:34:43,761 --> 00:34:48,201
Picture it as a near still ocean
of energy filling the void.
310
00:34:49,081 --> 00:34:51,321
Although it contained no structures,
311
00:34:51,401 --> 00:34:56,561
that energy did have an effect
on space. It caused it to stretch.
312
00:34:59,361 --> 00:35:02,001
Not the gentle expansion we see today,
313
00:35:02,081 --> 00:35:05,281
but unimaginably violent expansion.
314
00:35:05,361 --> 00:35:08,201
That expansion is known as inflation.
315
00:35:12,201 --> 00:35:17,481
Think of a speck,
a tiny, insignificant patch of space,
316
00:35:23,321 --> 00:35:27,881
Insignificant, except that
many billions of years later,
317
00:35:28,561 --> 00:35:33,441
this speck would have grown to
become our entire observable universe.
318
00:35:36,881 --> 00:35:41,241
The speck expanded at a phenomenal rate,
319
00:35:41,321 --> 00:35:43,801
an exponential expansion...
320
00:35:47,001 --> 00:35:48,841
That lasted...
321
00:35:49,881 --> 00:35:55,481
Just a few billion, billion, billion,
billionths of a second.
322
00:35:59,281 --> 00:36:01,801
Now, the speck continued to expand
323
00:36:01,881 --> 00:36:04,161
until it was about
the size of this cave.
324
00:36:04,241 --> 00:36:07,761
And then, inflation
drew rapidly to a close,
325
00:36:07,841 --> 00:36:11,081
and all the energy in that ocean
that was driving the expansion
326
00:36:11,161 --> 00:36:14,921
was dumped into space
and formed the ingredients
327
00:36:15,001 --> 00:36:18,041
of everything
in our observable universe.
328
00:36:18,121 --> 00:36:21,961
I mean, imagine that.
A space about this size
329
00:36:22,041 --> 00:36:26,281
filled with enough energy
to form two trillion galaxies.
330
00:36:27,321 --> 00:36:28,961
That's what we call the big bang.
331
00:36:39,041 --> 00:36:41,281
So the big bang was not,
332
00:36:41,361 --> 00:36:44,881
as we commonly imagine,
some kind of explosion.
333
00:36:47,881 --> 00:36:52,521
It was actually
a transformation of energy into matter.
334
00:36:59,801 --> 00:37:03,881
And the fossilised remains
of these momentous events,
335
00:37:03,961 --> 00:37:08,481
the memory of the rippling ocean
of energy that drove inflation
336
00:37:08,561 --> 00:37:11,681
became imprinted into our universe.
337
00:37:13,121 --> 00:37:17,561
In fact, these fossilised ripples
shaped our universe,
338
00:37:18,521 --> 00:37:23,681
influencing where each galaxy
and star emerged,
339
00:37:23,761 --> 00:37:26,881
each planet and moon.
340
00:37:31,161 --> 00:37:33,481
But how do we know all this?
341
00:37:36,921 --> 00:37:39,841
How do we know
that there was a big bang?
342
00:37:41,321 --> 00:37:43,321
How do we know there were
343
00:37:43,401 --> 00:37:47,041
ripples in an ocean of energy
before the big bang?
344
00:37:54,241 --> 00:37:55,761
The answer is...
345
00:37:58,481 --> 00:38:00,121
Cox: That we've seen them.
346
00:38:52,681 --> 00:38:55,721
Cox: Planck scanned the entire cosmos
347
00:38:58,041 --> 00:38:59,601
looking for light.
348
00:39:10,841 --> 00:39:14,121
Not light from galaxies or stars,
349
00:39:16,961 --> 00:39:19,681
but light from the beginning of time.
350
00:39:48,121 --> 00:39:50,961
This is a photograph
of the distant past.
351
00:39:51,321 --> 00:39:53,361
It's the most ancient light
in the universe.
352
00:39:53,441 --> 00:39:58,401
This is light that's travelled for
almost 13.8 billion years to reach us.
353
00:39:58,921 --> 00:40:01,121
It's a photograph of the entire sky,
354
00:40:01,201 --> 00:40:05,481
a celestial sphere, if you like,
every direction that we can look,
355
00:40:05,561 --> 00:40:08,321
and it's been laid flat
so we can see it all.
356
00:40:09,121 --> 00:40:12,321
It's called the cosmic microwave
background radiation,
357
00:40:12,401 --> 00:40:14,681
and it's an almost featureless glow.
358
00:40:14,761 --> 00:40:18,161
There were no stars
and no galaxies in this universe.
359
00:40:18,961 --> 00:40:20,561
Now, you might ask the question,
360
00:40:20,641 --> 00:40:23,401
"well, if there were
no stars and there were no galaxies,
361
00:40:23,481 --> 00:40:25,441
"then, where's the light coming from?"
362
00:40:25,521 --> 00:40:29,361
The answer is, the light
is coming from the universe itself.
363
00:40:29,441 --> 00:40:32,681
Because this is only a few hundred
thousand years after the big bang,
364
00:40:32,761 --> 00:40:35,041
so, the universe was hot.
365
00:40:35,121 --> 00:40:39,681
So, what you're seeing here
is the afterglow of the big bang.
366
00:40:55,641 --> 00:41:00,481
The most revealing thing
about this picture is the detail,
367
00:41:08,561 --> 00:41:09,881
The variation.
368
00:41:21,921 --> 00:41:23,361
This pattern is one of
369
00:41:23,441 --> 00:41:26,921
the most important discoveries
in all of human history
370
00:41:27,001 --> 00:41:30,121
because it represents
one of the necessary steps
371
00:41:30,201 --> 00:41:32,521
in the story of how we came to be here.
372
00:41:42,641 --> 00:41:46,881
See, that still ocean of energy
that drove the rapid expansion
373
00:41:46,961 --> 00:41:51,841
of space during inflation
could not be entirely still.
374
00:41:52,161 --> 00:41:54,241
There had to be ripples in the ocean.
375
00:41:54,321 --> 00:41:58,441
It's a consequence of the laws
of nature, as we understand them.
376
00:42:04,801 --> 00:42:08,601
And those ripples in the ocean
were imprinted into our universe
377
00:42:08,681 --> 00:42:12,761
through the big bang
that emerged as those areas
378
00:42:12,841 --> 00:42:16,081
of slightly different density
in the young universe.
379
00:42:17,961 --> 00:42:21,721
And then, as the universe
continued to expand and cool,
380
00:42:21,801 --> 00:42:24,481
the regions that were
slightly denser collapsed
381
00:42:24,561 --> 00:42:27,761
to form the first stars and galaxies.
382
00:42:28,641 --> 00:42:31,921
50, without those ripples,
we would not exist.
383
00:42:36,841 --> 00:42:40,641
But there's one more extraordinary thing
about these ripples.
384
00:42:41,841 --> 00:42:44,641
And that's the fact
that we predicted them
385
00:42:44,721 --> 00:42:47,441
before we knew they existed.
386
00:42:49,561 --> 00:42:53,881
And then, we ventured into space
to test our theory.
387
00:42:54,881 --> 00:42:59,601
Planck's observation of the afterglow
of the big bang is strong evidence
388
00:42:59,681 --> 00:43:02,641
for our outlandish creation saga,
389
00:43:04,441 --> 00:43:10,281
the story of the speck,
the ripples, and inflation.
390
00:43:16,081 --> 00:43:19,001
These ripples, then,
are the seeds of our creation,
391
00:43:19,081 --> 00:43:21,921
and we dared to guess that they exist
392
00:43:22,001 --> 00:43:24,881
from our vantage point here,
on a small planet
393
00:43:24,961 --> 00:43:29,241
13.8 billion years
after the moment of creation.
394
00:43:30,081 --> 00:43:35,281
And then, because we're scientists,
we decided to launch a spacecraft
395
00:43:35,361 --> 00:43:39,961
out into space, and capture
the oldest light in the universe.
396
00:43:40,041 --> 00:43:43,241
And we saw that our guess was correct.
397
00:43:44,001 --> 00:43:46,921
We dared to imagine
a time before the dawn,
398
00:43:47,001 --> 00:43:51,961
and we proved that
our creation story is not a myth.
399
00:43:59,321 --> 00:44:05,161
So, here is the creation story
as told by science.
400
00:44:08,721 --> 00:44:11,761
In the beginning,
there was an ocean of energy
401
00:44:12,361 --> 00:44:16,561
that drove a rapid expansion
of space known as inflation.
402
00:44:18,561 --> 00:44:20,041
There were ripples in the ocean.
403
00:44:25,041 --> 00:44:29,961
As inflation ended, the ocean of energy
was converted into matter,
404
00:44:31,801 --> 00:44:33,321
then the big bang.
405
00:44:40,081 --> 00:44:43,881
And the pattern of the ripples
was imprinted into our universe...
406
00:44:45,401 --> 00:44:48,241
As regions of slightly different density
407
00:44:48,321 --> 00:44:53,441
in the hydrogen and helium gas
that formed shortly after the big bang.
408
00:45:14,601 --> 00:45:16,921
The denser regions of gas collapsed...
409
00:45:20,881 --> 00:45:22,841
To form the first stars...
410
00:45:36,441 --> 00:45:37,921
And the first galaxies.
411
00:45:42,161 --> 00:45:44,201
And nine billion years later,
412
00:45:47,641 --> 00:45:50,841
a new star formed in the milky way...
413
00:45:53,081 --> 00:45:54,721
The sun.
414
00:46:02,881 --> 00:46:05,601
The star was joined by eight planets...
415
00:46:07,721 --> 00:46:10,521
Including earth.
416
00:46:16,601 --> 00:46:21,961
And nearly 73.8 billion years
after it all began,
417
00:46:22,721 --> 00:46:24,721
we emerged...
418
00:46:26,641 --> 00:46:29,161
Blinking into the light.
419
00:46:59,241 --> 00:47:01,681
Man:
"To see the earth as it truly is,
420
00:47:01,761 --> 00:47:06,401
”small and blue and beautiful
in that eternal silence where it floats,
421
00:47:06,481 --> 00:47:09,801
”is to see ourselves
as riders on the earth together,
422
00:47:10,761 --> 00:47:14,441
”brothers on that bright loveliness
in the eternal cold,
423
00:47:15,361 --> 00:47:19,241
”brothers who know now
they are truly brothers. ”
424
00:47:24,601 --> 00:47:26,521
Cox: We all have moments of wonder.
425
00:47:28,001 --> 00:47:29,681
We all dream.
426
00:47:31,281 --> 00:47:35,281
Our thoughts float free,
soaring across the earth
427
00:47:36,161 --> 00:47:38,961
and out into a canopy of stars.
428
00:47:42,881 --> 00:47:47,561
In our most reflective moments,
I think we all understand that
429
00:47:47,641 --> 00:47:51,801
small, though we are,
we are connected to the universe.
430
00:47:53,401 --> 00:47:56,241
We are collections of simple atoms,
431
00:47:57,881 --> 00:48:00,441
but atoms arranged remarkably,
432
00:48:03,601 --> 00:48:08,801
with the urge to explore the universe,
and to comprehend it,
433
00:48:14,361 --> 00:48:19,801
And celebrate our own place
in this great cosmic saga.
434
00:48:25,881 --> 00:48:30,201
And if we follow that saga back,
it takes us on a pilgrimage...
435
00:48:34,201 --> 00:48:36,641
To a time before the dawn,
436
00:48:41,801 --> 00:48:47,441
And to strange ripples that existed
in a universe before our own.
437
00:48:59,761 --> 00:49:02,401
I think we all must wonder
about the meaning of it all.
438
00:49:03,321 --> 00:49:06,041
What does it mean to be human?
Why do we exist?
439
00:49:06,121 --> 00:49:08,001
Why does anything exist at all?
440
00:49:08,881 --> 00:49:11,921
These do not sound
like scientific questions.
441
00:49:12,001 --> 00:49:15,961
They sound like questions
for philosophy or theology, even.
442
00:49:16,601 --> 00:49:18,721
But I think
they are scientific questions
443
00:49:18,801 --> 00:49:23,681
because they're questions about nature,
they're questions about the universe
444
00:49:24,081 --> 00:49:27,561
and the way to understand the universe
is to observe it.
445
00:49:27,641 --> 00:49:31,561
And we've seen ripples in the most
ancient light in the universe,
446
00:49:31,641 --> 00:49:35,161
laid down by events
that happened before the big bang.
447
00:49:35,241 --> 00:49:40,721
We've seen billions of galaxies written
across the sky in a giant cosmic web.
448
00:49:40,801 --> 00:49:44,321
And we've seen thousands of planets
orbiting around distant stars,
449
00:49:44,401 --> 00:49:46,841
worlds beyond imagination.
450
00:49:47,441 --> 00:49:49,561
Now, the lesson to me is clear.
451
00:49:49,681 --> 00:49:54,641
We won't answer the deepest questions by
being introverted, by looking inwards.
452
00:49:54,721 --> 00:49:58,561
We will answer them by lifting
our gaze above the horizon
453
00:49:58,641 --> 00:50:02,481
and looking outwards
into the universe beyond the stars.
454
00:50:03,081 --> 00:50:07,601
We used to look to the sky
and see only questions.
455
00:50:07,681 --> 00:50:10,041
Now, we're beginning to see answers.
456
00:50:43,001 --> 00:50:45,241
Kimberly arcan d:
Hubble is a very special telescope.
457
00:50:45,321 --> 00:50:47,521
It's kind of like
the celebrity telescope
458
00:50:47,601 --> 00:50:49,681
and for a really good reason.
459
00:50:50,361 --> 00:50:54,681
It was the first time that we were
able to launch such a powerful,
460
00:50:54,761 --> 00:50:56,961
large optical telescope into space.
461
00:50:59,681 --> 00:51:03,481
Mason: The earth's atmosphere
kind of blurs out lots of our images.
462
00:51:03,561 --> 00:51:05,321
And so, by putting
the telescope in space,
463
00:51:05,401 --> 00:51:09,641
we get these precise,
crystal clear images of our universe.
464
00:51:09,721 --> 00:51:13,601
Man: Three, two, one, and lift-off
465
00:51:13,681 --> 00:51:17,041
of space shuttle discovery
with the hubble space telescope,
466
00:51:17,121 --> 00:51:19,601
our window on the universe.
467
00:51:19,721 --> 00:51:23,721
Carole haswell: The feeling that you get
when the space shuttle takes off,
468
00:51:23,801 --> 00:51:28,041
there's just a sort of...
The sound and the vibrations,
469
00:51:28,121 --> 00:51:30,681
it's just incredibly awe-inspiring.
470
00:51:34,641 --> 00:51:36,441
Man: All rocket boosters
have done their job.
471
00:51:36,721 --> 00:51:38,961
Man 1: Go ahead Charlie.
472
00:51:39,721 --> 00:51:41,261
Man 2: Okay,
we have a go for release,
473
00:51:41,281 --> 00:51:42,921
and we 're gonna be a minute late.
474
00:51:59,201 --> 00:52:01,801
Haswell: We were all sort of
sitting on the edge of our seats,
475
00:52:01,881 --> 00:52:03,841
waiting for the very first images
476
00:52:03,921 --> 00:52:06,961
where hubble is showing us
what it can see in the universe,
477
00:52:07,881 --> 00:52:12,361
and that turned into
an unexpectedly long wait.
478
00:52:15,161 --> 00:52:16,681
Newsreader: Engineers have discovered
479
00:52:16,761 --> 00:52:19,401
that the giant telescope
has a warped mirror,
480
00:52:19,481 --> 00:52:22,601
which means the images
sent back to NASA are distorted.
481
00:52:24,881 --> 00:52:29,321
Haswell: We had this very, very
precisely engineered mirror,
482
00:52:29,401 --> 00:52:33,921
but it had been very precisely
engineered to the wrong shape.
483
00:52:37,041 --> 00:52:40,601
For the first three years in the life
of the hubble, it wasn't producing
484
00:52:40,681 --> 00:52:43,641
the wonderful images
that everyone had expected.
485
00:52:45,881 --> 00:52:48,921
Haswe ll: The solution
was the same solution
486
00:52:49,001 --> 00:52:52,081
to the fact that, as a kid,
I couldn't read the blackboard.
487
00:52:52,161 --> 00:52:55,801
The solution was basically
to fit the telescope
488
00:52:55,881 --> 00:52:59,801
with corrective optics,
or something analogous to spectacles.
489
00:52:59,881 --> 00:53:02,321
Man: And we have a go
for main engine start.
490
00:53:02,881 --> 00:53:07,401
Five, four, three, two, one,
491
00:53:08,561 --> 00:53:11,841
and we have lift off
lift off of the space shuttle endeavou r
492
00:53:11,921 --> 00:53:15,361
on an ambitious mission
to service the hubble space telescope.
493
00:53:15,721 --> 00:53:17,961
Jeff Hoffman: It's kind ofamazing
that we have to be able
494
00:53:18,041 --> 00:53:22,801
to position this optical equipment to
an accuracy of better than a millimetre,
495
00:53:22,881 --> 00:53:26,761
something that we 'd have trouble doing
even on the ground, in your bare hands.
496
00:53:27,481 --> 00:53:30,441
Man: Firm handshake
with mr hubble's telescope.
497
00:53:31,161 --> 00:53:33,221
Woman: We copy that...
498
00:53:33,241 --> 00:53:37,121
The vice president and I
wanted to call you and congratulate you
499
00:53:37,201 --> 00:53:39,681
on one of the most spectacular
space missions in our history.
500
00:53:43,481 --> 00:53:48,201
Arcand: And when hubble opened
its eyes after they were corrected,
501
00:53:48,281 --> 00:53:52,521
the views that we were able to get
from that telescope changed forever
502
00:53:52,601 --> 00:53:57,441
the way we understood and visualised
the universe that we live in.
503
00:54:02,801 --> 00:54:07,121
The pictures are remarkable.
The trouble with hubble is over.
504
00:54:12,521 --> 00:54:15,441
David kaiser: It's really hard
to remember what it was like
505
00:54:15,521 --> 00:54:17,481
before we had
the hubble space telescope.
506
00:54:17,961 --> 00:54:20,761
We've gotten so used to these
extraordinary photographs
507
00:54:20,841 --> 00:54:23,841
of the near, of the far,
of the very, very far.
508
00:54:29,001 --> 00:54:30,961
Mason: I think, any time I look at
a hubble image,
509
00:54:31,041 --> 00:54:32,841
my mind gets blown a little bit.
510
00:54:34,561 --> 00:54:38,641
I was the kid that had, like, printouts
of hubble images in their locker.
511
00:54:43,801 --> 00:54:48,481
Anybody, whether they have the heart
of an astronomer or soul of a poet,
512
00:54:48,561 --> 00:54:51,241
they're going to find things
in the images from hubble
513
00:54:51,321 --> 00:54:55,201
that just appeal to them
from the point of pure wonder.
514
00:55:06,201 --> 00:55:08,641
Haswell: Hubble has
not only done the things
515
00:55:08,721 --> 00:55:12,041
that people expected and hoped it would,
516
00:55:12,121 --> 00:55:13,921
but it's actually done a lot of things
517
00:55:14,001 --> 00:55:16,281
that nobody would have
dared to dream of.
518
00:55:19,561 --> 00:55:20,861
Kaiser: One of the biggest discoveries
519
00:55:20,881 --> 00:55:23,361
that came from using
the hubble space telescope
520
00:55:23,441 --> 00:55:25,641
is that, not only is our universe
getting bigger,
521
00:55:25,721 --> 00:55:29,641
it's not just expanding and stretching,
it's actually getting bigger faster.
522
00:55:33,121 --> 00:55:37,561
We can well imagine that the universe
is going to continue to expand
523
00:55:37,641 --> 00:55:41,481
and get so big that, eventually,
the galaxies will just disappear.
524
00:55:41,561 --> 00:55:46,281
They'll be so far away from us and
moving so rapidly that we have no hope
525
00:55:46,361 --> 00:55:49,841
of seeing any light from them,
and that's a real possibility
526
00:55:49,921 --> 00:55:51,921
for what could happen in the future.
527
00:55:55,241 --> 00:55:56,781
Kaiser: We still have these mysteries of
528
00:55:56,801 --> 00:56:01,401
what's really driving
this new phase of accelerated expansion,
529
00:56:01,481 --> 00:56:04,321
and we're building new tools
to try to refine those questions.
530
00:56:19,641 --> 00:56:23,001
Larry gladney: The hubble telescope
which was a marvel for its time
531
00:56:23,081 --> 00:56:26,201
is really far behind
what we would design today.
532
00:56:30,361 --> 00:56:34,401
It will be completely outclassed
by the next generation telescope,
533
00:56:34,481 --> 00:56:38,761
the James webb space telescope,
which will see even deeper than hubble.
534
00:56:43,001 --> 00:56:47,241
Haswell: And that will give us
unprecedented detailed views.
535
00:56:47,321 --> 00:56:51,241
We can use it to see through
some of the very dense,
536
00:56:51,321 --> 00:56:55,601
murky dust clouds and actually see
stars in the process of forming.
537
00:56:56,881 --> 00:57:01,281
We also can use it to look further
and further back in time.
538
00:57:03,641 --> 00:57:07,161
That's going to be a very, very exciting
story which is going to unfold,
539
00:57:07,241 --> 00:57:09,561
I think, within
the next three or four years.
540
00:57:21,161 --> 00:57:24,481
Hubble is still king
because it's still a big observatory
541
00:57:24,561 --> 00:57:27,561
in comparison
to what we've had in space before.
542
00:57:28,841 --> 00:57:31,801
Hubble is a unique instrument
for making discoveries that
543
00:57:31,881 --> 00:57:34,201
no other telescope
could possibly ha ve made.
544
00:57:39,441 --> 00:57:42,041
I think, when you think
about an image of space,
545
00:57:42,121 --> 00:57:44,361
when you think about space,
you think of a hubble image.
44434
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