Cosmic Queries – Cosmic Collisions

About This Episode

What happens when two galaxies collide? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic cohost Chuck Nice answer questions about The Big Bang, The Big Rip, asteroids, quarks, and all things that go BOOM. How do explosions work? 

How much of the universe is just things slamming into things? Neil explains aurora borealis and what we would do if an asteroid was headed towards Earth. Why are all craters perfect circles? Learn about how high speed impacts work, kinetic energy versus binding energy, and why you won’t find a rock in the center of a crater after an impact. 

With all these explosions, how noisy is space? How do sound waves work? Is there such a thing as the music of a black hole? What happens to the event horizons of colliding black holes? We explore human senses, the sound of the sun, and synesthesia. Are there other ways to present data to utilize our other senses? Would Star Wars be a silent movie? 

What happens when two galaxies collide? Neil describes the beautiful ballet of two galaxies colliding, which objects hit each other and which don’t. What happens to dark matter in this collision? How long does it take to complete the collision? Could the Big Bang and the Big Rip be causally related? When will the Big Rip happen, if it does? Find out what happens if you try to split up pairs or quarks. Finally, was our Big Bang someone elses Big Rip? 

Thanks to our Patrons badutjelek2000, Dominik Appl, Justin Quinones, Sandra Makela, REGAN MCGEE, Dana S., Howard Clemetson, George Sharabidze, GR 只, and RK Threethreethree for supporting us this week.

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free.