How Distant Stars Let Us See the Solar System Up Close

Occultations may sound spooky, but in actuality they can inform us of some of the most unknown parts of the universe.

Hosted by: Hank Green
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[KenrickLeiba]

I'm an amateur astronomer and I actually got to take part in observing a grazing occultation of the moon. Not sure my data ended up being much good. We were recording the disappearance and appearances with a tape recorder and using it to do the timings (we also have a SW radio time signal in the background). Unfortunately the wind noise made the recording vey hard to hear. T

[eatschmitt]

This video just serves to prove that at 36 I’m still immature enough to laugh at Uranus jokes even if they aren’t actually jokes.

[williandalsoto]

If you didn't laugh once during this video, I envy your maturity.

[llydrsn]

I promise myself that the day would come when I would be able to gather the strength not to laugh or even smirk the moment I hear the name Uranus on a science show.

[LewBearMusic]

That must've freaked them out "the star's just gone! The star's just disappeared and it hasn't gone behind the planet yet! Oh hell! It randomly turned into a black hole at just the wrong moment and now my research is rui...oh, there it is!"

[criskity]

It's amazing to think that occultations are the shadows of unimaginably distant objects passing over the earth.

[YellowFraggle]

Talking about Uranus's rings just had me audibly laughing out loud

[herbertkeithmiller]

During an annular eclipse of the sun I managed to see the mountains along the Moon's limb.
We used a 6 inch telescope to project an image onto a sheet of poster paper (the light level during the eclipse was low enough not to melt the telescop's innards). And in the gap between the Moon and the sun the mountains were clearly visible.

[overvieweffect]

1:58 congratulations to Hank for saying that without a single giggle! well, that we know of

[TheRexisFern]

Dang scientists and all their smart sciences. Measuring things in space with more things in space and then mapping parts of moons with eclipses and then there's all the numbers! Don't even get me started on the numbers, because they're long. Goodness, I love science.

[Seadalgo]

Ult - beyond, Occ -eye? Got it, language is so much more fun when it's stickobrix

[victorcercasin]

1:30 they pointed their telescopes at my what?

[YellowPenetrator]

sunrises and sunsets also make beautiful colors in our atmosphere

[gab.lab.martins]

Either change the planet's name, or don't expect any of us to act like adults.

[raphaelgarcia]

I was just thinking about how we’re studying exoplanets using occultations. Hank, per Futurama, I believe it’s pronounced “Urectum”.

[Boringpenguin]

ah yes, the size and width of uranus, it's truly one of life's mysteries
Of course we would have to point the telescope at uranus to find out

[jmanj]

This is exactly why you should Always know where Uranus is

[MaryAnnNytowl]

And this shows just how inventive and intelligent the human race really is! To think of trying this for the first time must've sounded crazy to others, but then... it worked!

Added to this is the fact that we still have a whole lot of asteroids out there in unknown places and unknown orbits – asteroids we need to learn about yesterday, if not sooner.

[serephis]

I really wonder how many takes it took for him to say "Uranus" that much without laughing... Because, let's be honest, we all did at least once during the video...

[Varizen]

How Old I am:
Hank: A Meteor/Asteroid in the shape of a kidney bean or letter "C"
Me: That looks more like a telephone to me... Wait... God dammit, half the audience of this channel thinks of smart phones when they think of phones, don't they...? Back in my day...