Henrietta Leavitt and the end of the universe

Unexplainable

Vox

Science, Natural Sciences, Life Sciences

4.6 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 18 January 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the early 1900s, Henrietta Leavitt made one of the most important discoveries in the history of astronomy: a yardstick to measure distances to faraway stars. Using this tool, scientists eventually transformed our understanding of the universe. They realized space was expanding, that this expansion was accelerating, and that ultimately, everything will end. This episode originally ran on June 30, 2021. For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's January. It's a new year. We've all made our New Year's resolutions. So we wanted to take a step back and look ahead. A pretty big step back. And an even bigger look ahead. Past this year, actually, past the next few thousand years. We wanted to look ahead as far as we possibly can.
0:24.0	So we're going to share one of our favorite episodes with you this week.
0:27.3	It starts in a park in Brooklyn,
0:29.7	and it ends at the end of the universe.
0:43.3	Do do, do do do do holding a bike Ooh a bicarphone.
0:44.3	Someone should make a bicarphone.
0:49.3	Bird!
0:53.3	Hello. I'm coming from the lake. Oh, oh, oh, oh, wait. Hey, look to your life. Bird? Hello?
0:55.5	I'm coming from the lake.
0:57.1	Oh, oh, wait.
0:58.6	Hey, look to your left.
1:00.3	I see you.
1:01.6	All right.
1:04.6	Wait, I'm going to turn on my recorder.
1:05.5	Give me a second.
1:08.4	Okay.
1:12.4	So, no, I'm, here we are.
1:13.9	Prospect Park.
1:16.9	New York City, clear Tuesday night.
1:22.0	And I brought you here because I want you to try a little thought experiment with me.
1:22.4	Okay.
1:31.6	So with the approximately four stars, five stars, oh, that's a plane, the approximately four stars that we can see in the size. It is a plane.
	...

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