Is “now” just an illusion? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Paul Mecurio answer questions on the Higgs Field, dark energy, and the feasibility of Dyson spheres with astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi.NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: https://startalkmedia.com/show/hubble-trouble-with-hakeem-oluseyi/Thanks to our Patrons Omar Video, Dan Carson, Joy Jack, Christine Bryant, Andrea Andrade, mahmoud hassan, Kyal Murray, Mercedes Dominguez, Christopher Rogalski, Eric De Bruin, Telmore, Gabe Ramshaw, James Edward Humphrey, Laurel Herbert, AJ Chambers, Bill WInn, Mayson Howell, Julianne Markow, Manthan Patel, Sonya Ponds, Depression Rawr, David Leys, Garon Devine, Vishal Ayeppun, BIIZZxGaming, Kurt Clark, Max Goldberg, Beth McDaniel, Shelby Staudenmaier, Kinnick Sutton, Jane von Schilling, Joanne karl, Walter Kinslow, and Eric Johnston for supporting us this week. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of StarTalk Radio ad-free and a whole week early.Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.
Chapter 1: Who is featured in this StarTalk episode?
So Paul. Yes. Dr. O came back to my office. Oh, he's the man. He's the man, Dr. O. He knows his stuff. Man, we love it. He's in charge of a lot of acronyms. Wait till you hear the acronyms.
Right, and his expertise in the universe, cosmology, dark matter, dark energy. Dark energy. It's the future of the field on StarTalk, coming right up. Welcome to StarTalk, your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk begins right now. This is StarTalk. Neil deGrasse Tyson here, your personal astrophysicist. I got with me Paul Mercurio. What's up, my man?
Good to see you.
Always great to be back. Love you, man. Love you.
Yeah, you're a comedian and you got a show on Broadway or off-Broadway or traveling.
It was off Broadway and then Broadway. Now we're out on the road. Out on the road. And it's called Permission to Speak.
One man show and you interact with the audience and stuff?
Yeah, yeah. It's about stories from people, from me. Frank Oz is directing it. We love Frank Oz. Created Yoda. Try being directed by Yoda.
He's never wrong. Well, we're going to do Cosmic Queries today.
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Chapter 2: What is Hakeem Oluseyi's role in astrophysics?
Remember, GNU's not Unix? GNU? Oh, yeah. GNU, Linux, Unix, you guys aren't that old. Okay, never mind. It's the white hair. So here's the thing, before this. He's not nerdy enough. I was working on a satellite called the Supernova Acceleration Probe, and now I'm working on the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe. No, you're working on Earth related to the probe, not working on the probe.
Did I misuse the word on?
Yes, you did. Okay. This is awesome. So why is the word acceleration in the probe?
Because essentially what happens is the sun accelerates particles, right? It creates this bubble. That's the solar wind. The solar wind, right? But it's moving fast. It is supersonic, right? The heliosphere.
Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean supersonic if it's moving through the vacuum of space? Space. Is it exactly a vacuum?
Oh, it's approximately a vacuum.
It's approximately a vacuum. Yes, it is. Okay, so cool. So it's moving faster than the speed of sound would be in that very reduced vacuum.
Exactly. And what happens is, is that, you know, so it's almost like a boundary where information only travels one way, which is out. That's the heliopause, isn't it? No, the heliopause is what I'm getting to. So just like the example that's given is when you run water.
Let him catch up with you.
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Chapter 3: What are the goals of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific?
Everybody knows that, Neil.
Yeah. So Nancy Grace Roman, going back to the ASP, she valued the ASP so much that when she passed away recently, she left the organization a few million dollars. Whoa. Yeah, yeah.
Okay, well listen. Astronomers have millions of dollars?
Nancy Grace Roman had millions of dollars. We're going to jump to the next. That was a great question, James. We're going to jump to the next one. Adam Omelon. Hi, Dr. Tyson and Dr. Olusi. Adam from Poland here. First of all, I am a big fan of everything Dr. Tyson is involved in. I love his books, all his programs he's been on.
My question is about the ability to detect various particles in the atmospheres of very distant planets. We know that the light is altered as it travels towards us, but how exactly does this happen?
Absorption spectrum. Yeah. Yeah. So it happens in two ways. So what's absorbing what? So what happens is that when you look at a transit of an exoplanet, so that means that it'll go in front of its star, right? And so at that time, the light from the star will pass through the atmosphere of the planet.
Through the edges of the planet. Yeah. All right, so we're with you. You have this transit, and the planet is moving across the surface. Now, you don't see that. You don't see it. You just see light.
So I'm getting light in my telescope. So as that planet is going in front of a star, if it has an atmosphere, the light from the star passes through the planet's atmosphere and that light interacts with that atmosphere around the edges. That light interacts. And so certain wavelengths of light aren't going to make it out the other side. They're going to be absorbed.
By the chemistry of the atmosphere. By the chemistry of the atmosphere. But remember, the star has its own spectrum as well. So you get a spectrum of the star by itself. You get a spectrum when the light is passing through the planet's atmosphere and you subtract them. And what's left over is a spectrum of the planet.
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