Things You Thought You Knew – Planet X

About This Episode

What is the three body problem? How will the universe end? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice break down the case of Planet X, why the three body problem is unsolvable, and prevailing theories on how the universe will come to an end.

Learn about the history of discovering planets and why it led scientists to believe in a Planet X. Discover how a prediction led to finding Neptune and Pluto. When did the idea of Planet X go away? Is there still a chance that there is an unknown planet orbiting in the darkness of our outer solar system?

Is the solar system unstable? Find out about Isaac Newton’s worries about the solar system, Pierre-Simon Laplace’s calculus, and perturbation theory. Would a binary star system be chaotic? What about a star system with three suns? Four suns? Five? Learn about the restricted three body problem and how the Jupiter-Earth-Sun system could be chaotic down the line.

What are the possibilities of how the universe will end? What does dark energy accelerating expansion lead to? Can you rip a quark apart? Learn about the heat death of the universe, the big rip, and whether the universe could recollapse on itself to create another big bang. Could there be infinite big bangs?

Thanks to our Patrons Micheal Brown, Naburos, Teresa Fiorenza, Afshin Odabaee, Liz Freedman, Grace Sakoda, Dean Klunk, Alex Deters, Craig Maier, and Jack Cater for supporting us this week.

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