Jupiter and Saturn have over sixty moons each. The gas planets also have another special feature: rings. ibid.
Our solar system has eight planets and over three hundred moons. All circling the sun. How the Universe Works s1e7: Alien Solar Systems
Most of these newly discovered solar systems are nothing like our own. ibid.
Once Gravity takes over, the cloud begins to shrink sucking in more and more gas into an giant spinning disc. Gravity at the centre crushes everything into a dense super-hot ball. It gets hotter and hotter. Suddenly atoms in the gas begin to fuse. And a star ignites. ibid.
Astronaut [Don] Pettit had discovered something huge: in the zero gravity of space, particles of dust don’t float apart, they clump together. ibid.
The oort cloud is so far away light from the sun takes a full year to reach it. ibid.
Moving at one hundred and seven thousand kilometres per hour the Earth takes a year to orbit the sun. ibid.
In our own solar system there are just eight planets. But orbiting six of those planets are moons. Lots and lots of moons. More than three hundred of them. And each one of them is different. How the Universe Works s1e8: Alien Moons
Each moon is unique, but they all have one thing in common. All moons are natural satellites held in place by gravity. But moons do more than just orbit planets. They help stabilise the planets in their orbits and keep the machinery of the solar system running smoothly. ibid.
On the international space-station astronaut Don Pettit was experimenting in zero gravity. He put grains of salt and sugar inside a plastic bag, and instead of floating apart they began to clump together. This is how planets and moons build up. ibid.
The story of moons is the story of gravity. Gravity holds moons in orbit. It heats up their insides and shapes their surfaces. In the end it controls everything about moons, even their survival and destruction. ibid.
The planet with the most unusual moon system is Saturn. It’s spread out over 320,000 kilometres. Technically there are more than a billion moons orbiting Saturn. In fact they are what formed Saturn’s rings. ibid.
Before Cassini we thought there were only eight rings. Today we can see over thirty. ibid.
Our solar system is full of violence … Volcanoes destroy but they also create. Volcanoes shape and change our climate. Space probes and telescopes have discovered volcanoes on worlds once thought of as dead. Of volcanoes that exist on other worlds, could there be life too? How the Universe Works s2e1: Volcanoes: The Furnaces of Life, Science 2012
Venus: ‘We had a picture of Venus revealed. And boy, were we shocked! We found a scarred surface, a volcanic surface.’ ibid. Michio Kaku
Our universe is a violent place. Planetary winds rage at six times the speed of sound. Lightning storms stretch for thousands of kilometers. Dust storms engulf entire worlds. The largest storms can be on the scale of entire galaxies. The universe is a chaotic place. Earth has storms; other worlds have megastorms … Could storms be necessary for life itself? How the Universe Works s2e2: Megastorms: The Winds of Creation
Our universe is violent. The cosmos is full of hellish planets. Superhot worlds blistering at thousands of degrees. Frozen planets too cold for life. Worlds blasted by deadly radiation. How the Universe Works s2e3: Exoplanets: Planets from Hell
Our universe is violent and deadly. There are mega cosmic explosions everywhere. Solar flares millions of kilometres high erupt from the sun. Magnetic planets tear worlds apart. Stella explosions fire gamma rays halfway across the universe. Mega flares illuminate the universe. How the Universe Works s2e4: Megaflares: Cosmic Firestorms
Magnetars are the most magnetic objects in the universe. And this one surpasses them all: its magnetic field is one thousand trillion times stronger than our Sun’s … It’s unimaginably dense. ibid.
Space: a maelstrom of chaos and violence. The universe is a hostile place. Gravity the force in control drives extremes. Orbits hold everything together and tear it apart. Extreme orbits: masters of life and death in our universe. How the Universe Works s2e5: Extreme Orbits: Clockwork & Creation
Our solar system is unusual: elsewhere in the universe orbits are nothing like this: they are unstable, chaotic, even destructive. ibid.
Comets are a celestial enigma. Comets could reveal the fundamental secrets of our universe. But they also threaten our very survival. Yet without comets we might not be here. How the Universe Works s2e6: Comets: Frozen Wanderers
Every comet is a frozen mass of rock and ice. ibid.
Comets are far more hostile and strange than we imagine. ibid.
Haley was fifteen kilometres long. ibid.
Asteroids are the Earth’s nemesis. They bombarded our world for billions of years. Yet asteroids are also a valuable resource: giant boulders rich with valuable metals that are icy with more fresh water than Earth. Asteroids help to create planets: without them our planet would not be here. They can create life but can destroy it too. How the Universe Works s2e7: Asteroids: Worlds that Never Were
Asteroids gathered into rock piles similar to two cars locked together. As more asteroids collided more rock piles grew … When asteroids reached mountain size gravity accelerated the process. ibid.
‘It’s only a question of when.’ ibid. Michelle Thaller
The Earth formed through a series of devastating catastrophes. An apocalyptic planetary collision. Millions of cosmic impacts. And one of the most powerful blasts in the universe – a supernova. Yet these cataclysms created the planet we know today. Could other planets have formed the same way? How the Universe Works s2e8: Birth of the Earth
For Earth to even exist it had to overcome astronomic odds. ibid.
On Earth all the conditions are just right for life. ibid.
Without Earth’s molten iron core none of us could survive. ibid.
Our planet’s last giant impact: Thea was the size of Mars ... The Earth just survived. ibid.
Without our large moon we might not even be here. ibid.
The moon ensures the Earth stays spinning at the same angle, and that steadies our climate. ibid.
Comets and icy asteroids can contain huge reserves of water. ibid.
Life such as ours needs a planet with the right temperature and size, a stabilizing moon, a protective magnetic field and just the right quantity of water – the conditions must be perfect. ibid.
Our star, our sun, its light and heat are essential for our world, essential for us. Beginning deep inside the sun we’ll detail the journey of a single particle of light, a photon. How the Universe Works s3e1: Journey from the Centre of the Sun, Discovery 2014
Deep inside the sun nuclear reactions are constantly occurring … It may have taken the light as much as a million years to escape from the sun’s raging interior. ibid.
The sun contains nearly 99.8% of all the matter in our solar system. ibid.
Our universe is definitely going to end. It’s just a question of how and when. The battle will be between two forces at the heart of the cosmos. Will gravity prevail? Or will expansion dominate and overcome? The end is coming and it could be sooner than you imagine. How the Universe Works s3e2: The End of the Universe
The universe isn’t gently advancing, its in a violent struggle. Two forces strive for control. ibid.
In the 1970s astronomers were completely stunned … The galaxies were spinning too fast, far too fast … Nine-tenths of their mass was missing … They called it dark matter … Astronomers have mapped out the distribution of dark matter using gravitational lensing … Dark matter fills the universe. ibid.
The acceleration baffled the scientists … The new energy seemed to be coming from nothing … dark energy. ibid.
The universe will end in one of two ways: the Big Rip or the Big Freeze. ibid.
So when did dark energy begin to control the universe? ibid.
As space expanded, dark energy increased in comparison with it. ibid.
The universe is heading for a Big Freeze. ibid.
A spontaneous glitch in the fabric of Space/Time could trigger a Phase Transition of Space. A tiny new universe that spreads out, replacing the old. It could happen because it has happened before. ibid.
Jupiter: A cosmic giant ruling the other planets. Hidden in its atmosphere lie the secrets of our solar system’s formation. And the creation of life. How the Universe Ends s3e3: Jupiter: Destroyer or Saviour?
Nitrogen made up 90% of Jupiter’s atmosphere … It was hotter and more turbulent that scientists had ever imagined. ibid.
What’s inside remains a mystery. ibid.
Is Jupiter losing its power? ibid.
A thousand time more massive than the Earth … This giant is getting smaller. ibid.
The most important second in history: the very first. Space and Time burst into existence creating the universe. This violent first second will define everything including us. How the Universe Works s3e4: First Second of the Big Bang
The Big Bang unfolded almost instantaneously. ibid.