"In the beginning," "There was darkness" "And then, bang," "Giving birth to an endless" "Expanding existence" "Of time, space and matter." "Every day new discoveries" "Are unlocking the mysterious," "The mind-blowing," "The deadly secrets" "Of a place we call the universe." "Enormous asteroid impacts" "That rain death from the sky," "Entire planets colliding" "And turning worlds into dust," "A black hole" "That's been blowing away" "The rest of its galaxy" "For 100 million years," "And massive stars" "That rock the universe" "Like nothing else." "Get ready to be blown away" "In a countdown" "Of ten of the largest explosions" "In the cosmos." "These are the biggest blasts" "In the universe." "The Universe - 4x04 September 8, 2009" "They can not only" "Wipe out cities" "Filled with millions of people" "In the blink of an eye," "But can lay waste" "To entire continents, planets," "And even rip galaxies apart." "The universe is filled" "With tremendously" "Violent explosions" "And blasts and events." "The calm serenity" "Of life on earth" "Is, to some degree," "The exception, not the norm." "And whether" "They're massive collisions" "Or explosions of entire stars," "They all have important elements" "In common." "Really, another way" "To say explosion or blast" "Is just a big liberation" "Of energy all at once." "When you liberate" "A lot of energy in something" "That already has structure," "You tend to demolish" "The structure," "So that seems very destructive." "But the laws of nature will" "Take energy and reconstruct it" "Into some other form." "In 1994," "More than 20 pieces" "Of the shoemaker-levy 9 comet" "Pummeled Jupiter." "There were big black scars" "All across the face of Jupiter," "So large even" "That they could be seen clearly" "Even with amateur telescopes." "The largest comet fragment" "Was more than a mile wide," "And the force of its impact" "Was equal to 6 million megatons" "Of TNT." "That's about a hundred times" "Or more of the entire" "Nuclear arsenal of the world." "So if you took every bomb" "In every corner on earth" "And exploded it" "In one big explosion," "You wouldn't even begin to touch" "The power of this fragment" "Colliding into Jupiter." "But guess what..." "Even that type of power" "Isn't enough to qualify" "As one of the biggest blasts" "In the universe." "The first event" "To make the top ten" "Was many times more devastating." "The smallest blast on our list" "May still have been big enough" "To wipe out the dinosaurs" "By blocking out the sun" "With smoke and debris." "It's the Chicxulub impact," "The asteroid that crashed" "Into Mexico's Yucatan peninsula" "About 65 million years ago." "A 6-mile-wide space rock," "Taller than mount Everest" "And almost as wide," "Thundered into earth." "So I'm sitting" "In front of meteor crater" "In Arizona," "And this is about 3/4 of a mile wide." "So if we were to drive" "Across this at about 55 or 60 miles per hour," "It would take, like, a minute." "Well, the crater created" "By the asteroid that impacted" "The Yucatan peninsula," "It would take over two hours" "To drive it" "At about the same speed." "So you can imagine" "How much larger that crater is" "Than this one behind me." "The 112-mile-diameter crater" "Is big enough to fit" "New York City, Philadelphia" "And everything in-between" "Inside." "If it struck today," "About 12 million people" "Would be killed instantly," "Not to mention" "The damage and casualties" "That would spread" "Beyond the crater." "That's because the energy" "In every blast" "Is released in several ways," "Such as light," "During the blinding flash" "Of the impact," "And heat," "Capable of spreading wildfires" "Across much of the globe." "But with collisions," "Most of the devastation" "Comes from the energy of motion," "Known as kinetic energy," "Which creates the crater" "And the flying debris." "The energy in the impact" "That created the crater" "At Chicxulub" "Had to have been enormous," "Probably about 250 million megatons." "That's a lot of energy." "The largest bomb" "Ever exploded on earth" "Was 50 megatons," "So that compared to 250 million" "Gives you a sense." "It was also about 40 times greater" "Than the energy released" "By the largest" "Shoemaker-levy 9 comet fragment" "To hit Jupiter." "And figuring out" "The kinetic energy released" "In a huge asteroid impact" "Is all a matter of plugging" "Some very big numbers" "Into a simple equation." "The key thing to keep in mind" "When considering the energy" "In these kinds of collisions" "Is that the formula" "For what's called" "The kinetic energy," "The energy of motion, is..." "The mass and then" "The square of the velocities." "Mass is the weight" "Of the object" "And velocity is the speed" "It's traveling." "You can have" "A huge amount of energy" "For a massive enough" "Or fast enough object." "Considering that" "The Chicxulub asteroid" "Weighed nearly as much" "As mount Everest" "And was moving" "At over 50,000 miles an hour," "About 50 times faster" "Than a bullet from a revolver," "It's no wonder" "It was one of the biggest blasts" "In the universe." "But what about its effect" "On the structure" "Of the entire planet?" "An explosives expert" "Places a small charge" "Just under the skin" "Of a watermelon" "To simulate" "The type of energy released" "When this asteroid" "Slammed into earth." "As you can see, something" "That would be devastating to us" "Is not too devastating" "To the planet as a whole." "So there's still" "Plenty of room for the blasts" "To get bigger." "Luckily mars, and not earth," "Was the target of an asteroid 200 times larger than the one" "That slammed" "Into the Yucatan peninsula." "The asteroid" "That impacted mars" "About 3.9 billion years ago" "Was 1,200 miles wide." "Now, that's about" "The size of Pluto," "And if you imagine" "Most of the continental U.S.," "From Denver" "To the Florida panhandle" "And Chicago" "Down to the south of Texas," "Huge." "And that's just" "The size of the asteroid." "The crater," "Known as the Borealis basin," "Is another story." "The hole covers" "About 40% of the planet." "So the Borealis basin on mars" "Is about 5,300 miles wide." "Now, the crater behind me" "Is not even a mile wide." "So you can imagine" "Multiplying this" "By over 5,000 times" "And that's the size" "Of the impact crater on mars." "That's about the size" "Of the continent of Africa," "Amazingly huge." "While the speed" "Of the asteroid" "That smacked mars" "Wasn't much different" "Than the one" "That hit the Yucatan peninsula," "The mass was many times greater," "Leading to a much larger release" "Of energy." "It's probably" "About a million times" "More energetic, so it'd be" "About 250 million million" "Megatons of energy," "And that's a lot of energy." "And that's why you've got" "Such a big, big basin." "Something like that" "Hitting the earth today" "Would put the instant death toll" "In the billions" "And would probably wipe out" "All life on the planet" "Soon after." "But the next blast did blow" "An even bigger chunk of crust" "Off our planet," "Luckily," "Before life even existed here." "Instead of mars being a target," "Imagine an asteroid" "The size of mars" "Slamming into earth." "Most planetary scientists" "Believe that's exactly" "What happened" "Soon after the earth formed," "About 4.6 billion years ago." "It's known" "As the giant impactor theory," "Also nicknamed the big splat." "The early solar system" "Was a much busier place" "Than it is today." "Basically, it hadn't" "Settled down yet." "So there are lots of fragments" "Running around, producing" "All sorts of collisions" "Which ultimately produced" "The bodies we know today." "Earth was still" "A molten wasteland" "Devoid of life back then," "Which is a good thing," "Since the force" "Of that collision" "Would have ended life" "In its tracks." "So how did the planet recover" "From the most violent event" "In its history?" "Many of the biggest blasts" "In the universe are caused" "By comets and asteroids" "Slamming into planets." "These impacts can unleash" "Hundreds of times more energy" "Than the entire nuclear arsenal" "On earth." "But number 8 on our list" "Is even more powerful than that:" "A blast caused by a rock" "The size of a planet" "Slamming into earth." "It actually happened" "Soon after the earth had formed" "About 4.6 billion years ago" "When an object the size of mars," "Sometimes known as Theia," "Slammed into our world" "With catastrophic effects." "Compared to" "The Pluto-sized asteroid" "That smashed into mars," "The mars-sized rock" "That nailed earth" "Was more than" "Three times larger," "Releasing" "Much more kinetic energy." "The Theia impactor" "That knocked off" "The crust of earth" "Was probably about 10 times more powerful than" "The Borealis basin impactor." "But this incredibly" "Destructive force also had" "Some very important benefits." "So when Theia" "Impacted the earth," "It happened probably" "At a glancing blow" "And in doing so," "The iron cores" "Of the two planets" "Actually melded together," "And formed a larger iron core" "And a larger earth." "Now Theia's mantle probably" "Got completely blown off" "In this impact" "Because it's a little smaller" "Than earth" "And some of the earth's mantle" "Got own off." "So you have" "All this mantle debris" "Floating around, orbiting," "And it actually coalesced" "To form the moon." "The moon stabilized" "Earth's axis, preventing it" "From tilting wildly," "Which keeps" "Earth's climate steady." "It also slowed earth's rotation" "Over time to the 24-hour days" "We have now." "Once again, to simulate" "The power of this blast," "An explosives expert" "Places a charge on a melon" "Representing earth." "Could this be the one" "That blows the melon away?" "Even though" "There's a lot of damage," "The basic structure" "Is still intact." "With the heat of the impact," "The earth and the debris" "Were both molten." "And that molten state" "Is the reason why" "The impact didn't leave" "A massive crater behind." "The molten earth" "Re-formed as a sphere" "And eventually cooled." "So is there any kind of impact" "That can turn a planet" "Into dust?" "Deep in space, two planets," "One the size of Venus," "The other, earth," "Are on a collision course." "They're rocky planets," "Possibly even harboring life." "Something in their solar system" "Has pulled them" "Out of their regular orbits" "And instead of a glancing blow," "They smash together" "In a head-on collision." "Anyone standing on those planets" "Would have witnessed" "A terrifying event." "You can imagine," "If you have a direct view" "Of the planet moving toward us," "That means the sky" "Would quickly fill completely" "With this planet" "About to impact," "And then it would be over" "Like that." "It would be such a rapid" "Extinction of life" "That you probably wouldn't" "Have time to think about it." "This isn't some" "Fictional doomsday scenario." "Some researchers think" "This massive blast" "Rocked the cosmos" "Within the last thousand years" "In a binary star system" "About 300 light-years away." "It's known as bd + 20-307," "In the constellation Aries." "It has a tremendous amount" "Of dust in it," "A million times more dust" "Than in our solar system." "We think that this dust" "May have been produced" "By the collision of two planets" "Roughly the size" "Of the earth and Venus," "Just head-on... whack!" "..." "Shattering each other," "Producing a tremendous amount" "Of dust." "It takes" "Enormous amounts of energy" "For two planets" "To pulverize each other" "Into dust." "Now instead of hundreds of times" "The world's nuclear arsenal," "We're talking millions of times" "Or even billions of times" "That energy." "With this even larger charge," "We're not just going to" "Break off a chunk of this melon," "We're gonna blow it" "To smithereens." "To smithereens." "But as terrifying" "And destructive" "As planetary collisions can be," "They're still much smaller than" "The different types of blasts" "That come from stars." "It's a whole new ballgame." "The main reason is that" "There's a lot more mass" "In a star" "Than any planet-sized object" "And then, there are all kinds" "Of mechanisms" "That can take place" "Involving nuclear fusion" "Or various processes" "That involve" "Gravitational collapse," "Which can drive a lot of energy" "As well." "One of these energetic blasts" "Is number 6 on our list." "Magnetars are rapidly spinning" "Neutron stars which form" "When stars several times larger" "Than our sun begin to die" "And collapse in" "Upon themselves." "Imagine if our 865,000-mile-wide sun" "Suddenly compacted" "To the 12-mi length" "Of the island of Manhattan." "All of that matter is condensed" "Into something so dense," "It's estimated to be 10 billion times stronger" "Than steel." "To give you an idea" "Of how incredibly dense" "Neutron star material is," "If this cap was filled" "With neutron star stuff," "It would weigh 100 billion tons on earth," "More than this hill," "As much as an entire mountain." "The magnetar name" "Comes from the fact" "That certain neutron stars," "For reasons" "That are still unknown," "Have the strongest" "Magnetic fields in the universe." "The magnetic field" "Of a magnetar" "Is exceptionally strong." "It can be 1,000 trillion times" "As strong as earth's" "Magnetic field." "That's fantastic." "The magnetic fields" "Are so intense" "That if a magnetar" "Suddenly appeared halfway" "Between the earth and the moo," "It would be strong enough" "To disrupt all the electronic" "Equipment on the planet" "Including stripping" "The information off" "Every credit card on earth." "And the reason magnetar flares" "Are so powerful" "Is that the magnetic fields" "Around certain areas" "Of the star sometimes" "Twist themselves so much" "That they can't twist anymore" "And suddenly release," "Like a spring." "The process is similar" "To a solar flare" "In that it's the magnetic field" "That's giving rise" "To the energy." "It's the shaking and tangling" "And sometimes the reconnection" "Of lines of force" "Going in different directions" "That gives the energy" "That powers the flare." "But unlike" "Planetary collisions," "Where kinetic energy dominates," "Magnetar flares shoot out" "Most of their energy" "As electromagnetic radiation," "In other words..." "Light," "And one magnetar flare" "In particular" "Was strong enough to blind" "Satellites orbiting earth" "From 50,000 light-years away." "The biggest blasts" "In the universe" "Dwarf anything we can imagine" "On earth." "We're already" "Billions of times beyond" "The entire nuclear arsenal" "Of the world." "Number 6 on our countdown" "Are the flares that burst" "From incredibly magnetized" "Neutron stars," "Known as magnetars." "And one of the most powerful" "Ever observed from earth" "Released as much energy" "In just over a tenth of a second" "As our sun does" "In about 100,000 years." "The blast in 2004" "Came from a magnetar" "Known as sgr 1806-20," "In the constellation" "Sagittarius." "It's about 50,000 light-years" "Away from earth" "On the far side" "Of the milky way." "It was incredibly powerful." "All that energy" "Came in a tenth of a second." "It blasted the detectors" "In satellites" "That happened to be" "Flying around up there." "In fact, it was" "The brightest blast ever seen" "From an object" "Outside our solar system." "And yet, it was 50,000 light-years away." "But what does brightness" "Have to do" "With the power of the blast?" "So I'm standing" "In a dark room here" "And now I'm going" "To turn on a light bulb." "How bright" "That light bulb appears to me" "Depends on two factors." "It depends on how" "Intrinsically powerful" "Or luminous the light bulb is:" "Its wattage," "How much energy" "It puts out per second." "And it also depends" "On the distance" "Of the light bulb from me." "When I'm close" "To the light bulb," "I see that the light bulb" "Is bright." "If I move a factor of two" "Farther away," "Then in fact it looks" "A factor of four fainter." "That's the inverse square law" "Of light." "The power of the light bulb" "Has remained the same." "But by being twice as far away," "I get only 1/4 of the light" "Reaching my face and my eyes." "Astronomers measure" "The apparent brightness" "Of the star or the explosion." "They figure out its distance" "Through some other technique." "And from those two variables" "They figure out the power" "Or the luminosity of the source." "That light is released," "Not just in visible wavelengths," "But across" "The electromagnetic spectrum." "And any time researchers detect" "Gamma rays," "Like they do in magnetar flares," "They know" "It must be a big blast." "Gamma rays" "Are a type of light," "But a much more energetic light" "Than we see with our eyes." "So the spectrum of light" "That we're familiar with" "Goes from very low energy" "And through the visible part" "Of the spectrum," "The light that we see," "All the way out through x-rays" "Into this extremely" "High-energy component of light," "Which is called gamma rays." "Even a 1/10th of a second" "Short gamma-ray flare," "Like sgr 1806-20" "Would still be able to fry" "The earth with radiation" "From many light-years away," "As long as the full force" "Of the flare was aimed at earth." "But not all" "Of the biggest blasts" "In the universe are over" "In a fraction of a second." "2.6 billion light-years" "Away from earth," "A super-massive black hole," "Billions of times" "The mass of our sun," "Has been wreaking havoc" "In the center of a cluster" "Of galaxies." "Known as msa 735," "It's been shooting out" "Two continuous jets of particles" "In opposite directions." "Scientists believe" "The jets have been raging" "For the past" "Hundred million years," "Punching two huge bubbles" "Into the surrounding galaxies." "Msa 735 really" "Is the prototypical example" "Of a black hole blowing bubbles." "What we're seeing here" "Is giant cavities" "Being evacuated" "By these powerful jets." "They transport" "Vast sums of energy" "Down from the black hole" "Out to huge distances," "Maybe about" "A million light-years or so." "A million light-years" "Is 10 times wider" "Than our milky way galaxy," "Which means these jets" "Are powerful enough" "To create two very big bubbles." "The total energy" "Within these two bubbles" "Is stupendous," "Far exceeding any other amount" "Of concentrated energy" "That we know of" "In the universe." "However, it must be remembered" "That the energy was released" "Over 100 million years." "That means that per unit of time" "The total amount of energy" "Released wasn't all that big." "Still, the jets" "Are strong enough" "To shoot the particles out" "At millions of miles an hour," "About a quarter" "Of the speed of light." "The jets and resulting bubbles" "Only come from about 1%" "Of the most massive black holes" "In the universe." "That's because the forces" "Near these monsters are so huge" "That instead of" "Swallowing everything," "They actually end up" "Pushing some particles away." "It's important to emphasize" "That these giant explosions" "Are not the explosion" "Of the black hole itself," "But rather an ejection" "Of particles" "From near the black hole," "The vicinity of the black hole." "By colliding with one another," "They can, in some cases," "Be ejected out of the vicinity" "Of the black hole." "But how can" "This two-sided blast" "Possibly keep going" "For 100 million years?" "It's all a matter" "Of how much cosmic stuff" "Is available as planets and suns" "Are stretched and ripped apart" "Down to their very atoms" "And drawn towards" "The black hole." "So these jets" "That we've estimated" "Have been going on" "For about 100 million years" "Still have a huge amount of fuel" "Available to them." "That process can go on" "For an extremely long time," "Hundreds of millions of years." "Now imagine taking" "A big chunk of that energy" "And releasing it" "In less than two seconds." "That's what researchers believe" "Happens in..." "Gamma ray bursts" "Are more concentrated" "Than magnetar flares." "It+s a concentrated beam" "Of radiation, like a laser beam." "It comes out as a narrow stream." "The gamma rays in the beams" "Are also traveling much faster" "Than the particles coming out" "Of the black hole jets." "The observations show" "That the energy" "Is coming out in jets," "Moving at very close" "To the speed of light, 99.9999% the speed of light." "At that mind-bending speed," "In just a few tenths" "Of a second," "Short gamma ray bursts" "Can release as much energy" "As our sun does" "In millions of years." "But for years, scientists" "Couldn't figure out why" "Some gamma ray bursts were long," "Lasting many seconds" "Or even minutes," "While others were usually" "Only a fraction of a second." "Then one burst in 2005" "Led researchers" "To an exciting new theory" "About incredibly dense" "Neutron stars" "Annihilating each other." "The power" "Of manmade atomic bombs" "Is nothing compared" "To the galaxy-rattling" "Explosions in the cosmos." "As we continue counting down" "Ten of the biggest blasts" "In the universe," "These cataclysmic events" "Are now producing as much energy" "As our sun does" "In millions of years." "For years," "Scientists have been confident" "Of the source" "Of long gamma ray bursts," "Those that last over two seconds" "And sometimes erupt" "For many minutes." "They come from galaxies" "With massive stars." "And when certain" "Massive stars die," "They collapse, and then explode," "Blasting out" "Incredible amounts of energy" "As concentrated jets" "Of gamma rays." "But in 2005," "Detectors in space captured" "A powerful gamma ray burst" "That only lasted" "For a fraction of a second." "This was very exciting," "Because all the gamma ray bursts" "We'd seen before" "Were of the different variety:" "Longer, coming from galaxies" "Where massive stars were dying." "This was something different." "It was short" "And it came from a region" "Where no massive stars existed." "This burst came from a galaxy" "Thought to have some" "Incredibly dense neutron stars" "In binary pairs" "That orbit each other." "And scientists believe" "That the only way to generate" "Such a quick and powerful burst" "Of gamma rays" "Is if two neutron stars" "Engage in a deadly dance," "Orbiting closer and closer," "Then finally crash" "Into each other." "This is thought to be the moment" "When a black hole is born." "When the two neutron stars" "Finally touch," "One of the neutron stars" "Gets shredded into a disc" "And the thing that's left" "Is too big to be a neutron star." "There's no force in the universe" "That can hold up" "Two neutron stars," "So it collapses to a black hole." "The 2005 event," "Known as grb 050509b," "Since it was the second burst" "To occur on may 9th" "Of that year," "Was the first" "Short gamma ray burst" "Whose location was pinned down." "It didn't look" "Very bright from earth," "But that's because" "It was an astounding 2.2 billion light-years away." "Grb 0509b lasted" "Only about 40 milliseconds." "But in that time," "It released about as much energy" "As the sun will release" "In a hundred million years." "But the power" "Of colliding stars can't compete" "With the even larger amount" "Of energy released" "When an entire star explodes" "From the inside out." "When large stars die," "They don't just fizzle out" "Like our sun eventually will." "They will go out with a bang." "There are actually" "Several types," "But the two main ways" "A supernova explosion happens" "Is either when one star" "In a binary star system" "Swallows part" "Or all of its companion" "When a super-massive star" "Collapses in on itself" "And ejects its outer shell" "In the process." "Either way," "A mind-boggling amount of energy" "Is quickly released." "The energy of motion," "The kinetic energy," "Of the ejected material" "Can equal" "The total amount of energy" "That the sun will release" "Over its entire 10-billion-year lifetime." "The binary star type" "Of supernova" "Is similar to a hydrogen bomb," "Where runaway nuclear fusion" "Leads to a massive explosion." "These are known as" "Type 1a supernovas," "And in 2003," "One of these blasts" "Flooded the cosmos" "With more light than an entire" "Galaxy of stars combined." "It was over 20 billion times" "More luminous than the sun" "For about two weeks." "And this all came" "From the explosion of something" "Not much bigger than the moon," "About 1.4 times" "The mass of the sun," "From a thermonuclear explosion," "From fusion." "For the core-collapse" "Type of supernova," "An incredible amount of power" "Is generated" "When the outer shell slams down" "And gets an extra kick" "From the denser core" "Of the star." "Imagine this ping-pong ball" "Represents that outer," "Lighter material of the star" "Whereas this super ball" "Represents the heavy inner core." "You can see" "That the ping-pong ball" "Actually doesn't really bounce" "That much on its own," "And there's the bounce" "Of the super ball." "But what you'll see is that" "When I send them down together," "The bounce" "Of the super ball back up" "Will propel the ping-pong ball" "Much higher." "And that's very much" "Like what happens" "In the supernova," "Where you have" "The heavy inner core" "Bouncing back out" "And meeting that light material" "And blowing it out." "In fact," "One supernova explosion in 2005," "Known as Sn 2005-AP," "Flashed brighter" "Than all the others" "For weeks on end." "But it didn't do any damage" "To earth because, luckily," "It was also 4.7 billion light-years away." "And like many" "Of the other blasts" "On the top ten list," "Supernovas don't just destroy." "A supernova is a little bit" "Like a recycling center." "There's a lot of material" "In those massive stars." "It's anything from eight times" "To over a hundred times" "The mass of our sun." "So there's a lot of material" "That's gonna be processed" "In those stars," "Just like there's a lot" "Of raw material" "Here at the recycling center" "That's going to be processed." "The matter in the universe" "Is dominated by light elements," "Like hydrogen and helium," "But the inside of a star" "About to go supernova" "Is the main source" "Of the various metals" "And other heavy elements" "We depend on for life." "Just like these materials" "Are being sorted" "Into different categories," "The star starts to process" "Heavier and heavier elements" "Starting with hydrogen," "Then helium, making heavier" "And heavier elements" "All the way up to iron," "When the fusion process stops." "Later on in its life," "When it becomes supernova" "With the aid" "Of the compression effect" "In the supernova," "The star will make" "Even heavier elements." "Just as these materials" "Are now packaged and processed" "And ready to leave" "The recycling center" "And go out into the world" "To be reused," "The materials that were made" "In the stars" "That were then finally cooked" "And blown out into the universe" "By the supernova process," "Those will be reused as well." "They may be used in other stars" "Or perhaps other planets." "The materials that we're made of" "Here on earth," "The materials" "Even in our bodies," "Those heavy elements" "Were made in supernovae." "While supernovas are" "Massive explosions themselves," "They can also trigger" "Secondary blasts" "With even more" "Concentrated energy." "The long gamma ray burst" "Comes out of the most powerful" "Supernova explosions." "They're as strong" "The short gamma ray bursts," "But since they last much longer," "Anywhere from two seconds" "To nearly half an hour," "They blast out" "Much more energy overall." "The long gamma ray bursts" "Are completely different beasts" "Compared to" "The short gamma ray bursts." "They're immensely more powerful," "Maybe up to around 10,000 times" "More powerful than" "The short-duration bursts." "These concentrated" "Jets of energy only come" "From supernova explosions" "Involving stars 30 or more times" "The mass of our sun." "And just like" "The short gamma ray bursts," "They're evidence" "Of the birth of a black hole." "Long gamma ray bursts" "Are in some sense a variety" "Of hyper-energetic supernova." "The iron core collapses," "As before, to a neutron star," "But too much material" "Falls down on it," "And it can't stay" "A neutron star." "The temperature rises" "To 10 billion degrees." "The luminosity" "In one cubic inch of this" "Is as big as the sun," "And this power can't flow out" "On the equator." "It gets focused," "Like in a shotgun blast," "Out the rotational axis" "Of the star." "So how much energy" "Do the most powerful" "Long gamma ray bursts release" "Compared to our sun?" "The answer is shocking." "We're at number 2" "In our countdown" "Of the biggest blasts" "In the universe..." "They're the most powerful," "Concentrated beams of energy" "In the universe." "They release" "Many times more energy" "In a matter of seconds" "Or minutes" "Than our sun will produce" "In its entire 10-billion-year life span." "The key to their" "Devastating power" "Is focusing that energy" "In a narrow area." "A firearms expert" "Illustrates the point" "With two different shotguns." "First, a shorter gun" "Where the shot" "Spreads out quickly" "After leaving the barrel," "Unlike a gamma ray burst." "As you can see" "There's some damage" "To the melon, but not that much," "Because the shot was spread out" "And only some of it" "Hit the target." "Now our firearms expert" "Is switching to a longer barrel" "That keeps the shot concentrated" "In a tighter pattern" "As it goes downrange," "The same effect" "As a gamma ray burst." "Concentrating the shot" "Can be devastating." "It's a good thing for us" "That most gamma ray bursts" "Are millions or billions" "Of light-years away from earth" "And are pointed" "In the other direction." "It's believed" "That these concentrated jets" "Shoot out when massive stars" "Collapse into black holes." "And in 2008," "Scientists detected" "One of the strongest" "Gamma ray bursts on record," "Known as grb 080916c." "It lasted an incredible 23 minutes." "This grb was one of the most" "Exciting blasts ever seen," "Because the total power inferred" "From the observed brightness" "And the distance of the blast" "Exceeded that of any other known" "Grb up to that time." "Moreover, we can tell" "That energetic particles" "Were blasted out along two jets" "At 99.9999%" "Of the speed of light." "Grbs are so powerful" "Along the beam of particles" "And radiation" "That even ones" "That are thousands" "Of light-years away" "But pointing at us" "Could destroy" "Much of the life on earth." "But if long gamma ray bursts" "Are the most powerful explosions" "In the universe," "Then how could they be" "Number 2 on our list?" "Because the top spot" "Goes to something" "That didn't happen" "Within the universe," "But happened" "When the universe itself" "Was formed." "This mother of all blasts" "Is technically an expansion" "And not an explosion," "Since it was not a blast" "Within a defined area." "It wasn't an explosion" "That happened somewhere" "In space." "It's all of space." "It's the actual fabric" "Of space-time itself" "Coming into existence." "So in the concept" "Of a biggest blast," "It's as big as it gets." "It was the whole universe" "Blasting into existence." "And the speed" "And temperatures of the big bang" "Dwarf anything that happened" "Inside the universe" "Once it was formed." "Those temperatures" "Are beyond anything" "We can imagine." "They're trillions of degrees" "If you measured it" "In usual units," "So compared to many explosions," "Say, here on earth or a star" "Or what have you," "This is well beyond that." "Researchers believe" "That theoretically" "They can go back" "So close to the moment" "The big bang happened," "That a fraction of a second" "Doesn't come anywhere close" "To doing the time-scale justice." "The bang of the big bang" "Is a time in the early universe" "Known as inflation." "The size of the universe" "Went whoosh." "It just expanded so quickly," "Doubled in size many times" "Over a very, very short" "Interval of time." "This incredible inflationary" "Exponential state of expansion" "Lasted only" "A tiny fraction of a second," "A millionth of a millionth" "Of a millionth of a millionth" "Of a millionth of a millionth" "Of a second." "During this early expansion," "It seemed as if things" "Were moving faster" "Than Einstein's" "Universal speed limit," "The speed of light." "In fact," "It expanded so quickly" "That it was faster" "Than the speed of light." "That's okay." "That doesn't violate" "Einstein's theory of relativity." "Space itself can expand faster" "Than the speed of light." "No particle" "Can travel through space" "Faster than the speed of light," "But space itself" "Can and does expand faster" "Than the speed of light." "And the big bang" "Is the largest reminder of all" "That the biggest blasts" "In the universe," "These sudden releases of energy," "Do much more than destroy." "The creation of our universe," "The creation of the sunshine" "That comes out of stars" "And the creation of our own moon" "All came from this tremendous" "Liberation of energy" "All at once." "So there's a very intimate link" "Between matter" "Manifested in one way" "And then being destroyed" "And then re-emerging" "In a new way" "And, you know, here on earth," "It re-emerged as us." "And as the universe evolves," "Its biggest blasts" "Will continue to be both the destroyer of worlds" "and the creators of new possibilities."