Astronomers watched 35 explosive outbursts from a rare repeating “fast radio burst” (FRB) as it shifted in frequency like a “cosmic slide whistle,” blinking in a puzzling pattern never seen before.
FRBs are millisecond-long flashes of light from beyond the Milky Way that are capable of producing as much energy in a few seconds as the sun does in a year. FRBs are believed to come from powerful objects like neutron stars with intense magnetic fields — also called magnetars — or from cataclysmic events like stellar collisions or the collapse of neutron stars to form black holes. Complicating the FRB picture, a few FRBs are “repeaters” that flash from the same spot in the sky more than once, while the majority burst once and then vanish.
Learning how empty s[pace is makes me uncomfortable. I watched a Kuzgesagt video last year about how the universe is expanding from all points and we’ll never be able to travel to other galaxies.
I just hope one day we create a warp engine of some kind to make interstellar travel possible. Right now it feels like we’re marooned on an island surrounded by dangerous ocean.
Kurzgesagt is a fantastic channel, but they don’t focus on space, which would take them from a 10/10 to a 12/10 in my opinion.
If you want some more existential dread, fascination, or just to go “huh. Didn’t know that”, there’s History of the Universe, SEA, Learning Curve, and a few others I’m sure would get recommended.
Some like Kosmos can get a bit sensational from time to time, but they also have solid videos.
PBS Space Time has a couple videos that were interesting to me but their format and voices don’t mesh with me personally, not entirely sure why.