SoT 348: Massive Stars Are Fluffy!
Channel: Science on Top
Date: 2019-12-13

SoT 348: Massive Stars Are Fluffy!
https://scienceontop.com/348

As unprecedented bushfires ravage Australia, Forbes published an article declaring koalas are "functionally extinct". And while they do face considerable threats, the situation is not quite that dire.

Chinese scientists have discovered a black hole that, according to our current understanding of black-hole formation, is so large it shouldn’t exist. Called LB-1, the black hole has a mass 70 times that of our sun, three times more massive than previously thought possible.

Parked in space and deactivated since 2017, the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft has long finished it's scientific mission. But it's still making discoveries, detecting dozens of tiny impacts on the spacecraft and giving valuable data about cosmic dust.

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This episode contains traces of the cast and creators of The Expanse, now on Jeff Bezos' Amazon Prime, talking with engineers from Jeff Bezos' space company, Blue Origin.

https://scienceontop.com/348

Chapters:
00:01:22 No, koalas are not 'functionally extinct', but they are in trouble https://www.newscientist.com/article/2203655-no-koalas-are-not-functionally-extinct-but-they-are-in-trouble/
00:12:04 A surprisingly big black hole might have swallowed a star from the inside out, and scientists are baffled http://theconversation.com/a-surprisingly-big-black-hole-might-have-swallowed-a-star-from-the-inside-out-and-scientists-are-baffled-127795
00:25:37 LISA Pathfinder got whacked by dozens of hypervelocity 'comet crumbs' https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/lisa-pathfinder-got-whacked-by-dozens-of-hypervelocity-comet-crumbs