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Nothing in the Universe is static. In the milky way, billions of stars orbit the galactic center. Some, like our sun, are pretty consistent, keeping a distance of around 30,000 light years from the galactic center, completing an orbit every 230 million years.  This dance is not an orderly ballet -  more like a skating rink filled with drunk toddlers. This chaos makes the galaxy dangerous. Our solar neighbourhood is constantly changing, with stars moving hundreds of kilometers every second.  Only the vast distances between objects protect us from the dangers out there. But we might get unlucky in the future. At some point we could encounter a star going supernova. Or a massive object passing by and showering earth with asteroids.  If something like this were to happen we would likely know thousands, if not millions of years in advance. But we still couldn’t do much about it.  Unless… we move our whole solar system out of the way.  

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How to Escape a Super Nova: Stellar Engines

Sources and further reading: https://sites.google.com/view/sources-stellar-engines Get your Stellar Engine Infographic Poster here: https://shop.kurzgesagt.org Nothing in the Universe is static. In the milky way, billions of stars orbit the galactic center. Some, like our sun, are pretty consistent, keeping a distance of around 30,000 light years from the galactic center, completing an orbit every 230 million years. This dance is not an orderly ballet - more like a skating rink filled with drunk toddlers. This chaos makes the galaxy dangerous. Our solar neighbourhood is constantly changing, with stars moving hundreds of kilometers every second. Only the vast distances between objects protect us from the dangers out there. But we might get unlucky in the future. At some point we could encounter a star going supernova. Or a massive object passing by and showering earth with asteroids. If something like this were to happen we would likely know thousands, if not millions of years in advance. But we still couldn’t do much about it. Unless… we move our whole solar system out of the way. Support us on Patreon so we can make more videos (and get cool stuff in return): https://www.patreon.com/Kurzgesagt?ty=h Steady: https://steadyhq.com/de/kurzgesagt Merchandise: https://shop.kurzgesagt.org Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/cRUQxz Facebook: http://bit.ly/1NB6U5O Twitter: http://bit.ly/2DDeT83 Instagram: http://bit.ly/2DEN7r3 Discord: https://discord.gg/cB7ycdv The Voice of Kurzgesagt: Steve Taylor: http://voice-pool.com/en/english/ The music of the video here: Soundcloud: https://bit.ly/34L3USG Bandcamp: https://bit.ly/38YgiC5 Youtube: https://bit.ly/2CZ6PeN Facebook: http://bit.ly/2qW6bY4 THANKS A LOT TO OUR LOVELY PATRONS FOR SUPPORTING US: Patrick Hall, Evan Wenden, riz, Nick Rose, Kevin, Patrick Huizinga, Mike Chang, Deddy Jobson, David Nir, Danny Mill, Kai Hebeler, Gabriel Averett, Pierre Xavier, Rohan Kapoor, Bray Demonbreun, Olivier L, Jared Capelle, Mike, Pierre Krenn, Kristofer Kirss, The Captain, Имяя Фамилияя, Marie Samira, Hekmon, Dsurian, Martina, William Wold, Carston Cook, Daniel Bruce, Milan Juza, michal pol, Dmitry Sadakov, Brian Tieskoetter, kagami suigin, Rosamelia, Amir Johnson, Spencer Byars, Jarrod Parsons, Tayler Martin, bmwniquester, Saito Nakamura, Arnulf Kraan, Emilia Liu, Roosevelt Perry, Frank Blood, Máté Szabó, Kasper Kylmälä, Zach Riddle, Damian Campbell, XeleX55, Johann Pardanaud, Cemil Urganci, 3theNet

Comments

Bradley Francis

Loved it! First thing I watched when I woke up

Hawkfrost

You asked your friend... For this video... And he got it peer reviewed and published. Dang! Sounds like an awesome concept! I wanna see a TV show or movie pick up this idea and run with it.

David Durant

Some full-on Isaac Arthur goodness!

Vipul Kapoor

I don't get one thing about the mirror. Why wouldn't it just get pushed away from the Sun? How would Sun get tugged along with it?

Dan Q

Gravity pulls the mirror and the sun closer together. But this is exactly counterbalanced by radiative forces (because we design the mirror carefully). Therefore, we can treat the sun and the mirror as a single system. That single system moves because of the photos reflected "around" the sun.

Vipul Kapoor

Is it exactly counterbalanced or the photon's push is a little bigger than the gravity's pull?

phoenix

Guys, this was one of the most awesome movie ever I loved it and the soundtrack is just amazing. Merry Christmas and a happy new year. You are amazing!

curt hesher

🤯 We can move the entire solar system if we just work together on it. Wait ... we have to cooperate? Now I know this is pipe dream.

AJ Canepa

Exactly counterbalanced but the majority of the reflected energy isn't reflected back at the sun but past it and used for propulsion.

Nahush Bhat

Please consider doing a collaboration with Arthur Isaac on Youtube!

Nate Schultz

LOVE the ides! U guys are so smart 😄

Turbo

I Love this video!

Todd J.

This was mind blowing! 🤯

Arthur Baillard

Nice video. Have heard about the Iter project ? If yes , will you intend to make a video about this project ? thank you for hard work. Wish you to be more reconize , more patreon off course and the essential : be happy : )