An Astrophysicist's Top 10 Unsolved Mysteries

Here's my top 10 in no particular order, let me know in the comments if you think I've missed anything!

1. What’s inside a black hole?
2. What’s the Universe expanding into?
3. What is dark energy?
4. What’s dark matter made of?
5. Where is all the antimatter?
6. What happened in the first 10^-43 seconds of the Universe?
7. What came first: the galaxy or the black hole?
8. What causes fast radio bursts?
9. Why does the Sun’s magnetic field flip?*
10. Does life exist on other planets?

* See pinned comment below on possible explanation of this due to planetary alignments. Note this is still a hypothesis, not an accepted theory so this question still remains on my list.

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👩🏽‍💻 Dr Becky Smethurst is an astrophysicist researching galaxies and supermassive black holes at Christ Church at the University of Oxford.

[DrBecky]

A few of you have pointed out that Anton Petrov (and recently SciShow Space) did a video on a possible explanation for the 11-year solar cycle to do with the alignment of Venus-Earth-Jupiter every 11 years or so. That idea comes from a paper that was published last year that looked into a few other explanations for the cycle as well, but it's still only a hypothesis, not a fully accepted theory, so I've still included "Why does the Sun's magnetic field flip every 11 years?" in my list.

[SrinivasanAnanth]

Happy birthday!

What's inside a black hole is a 3D library-like tesseract created by 5D beings so that an unsuspecting human who falls into it can communicate with his daughter.

[aner_bda]

After no. 1 I was expecting a different clip of "No one knows." after each question. I was not disappointed. 😄

[kchum]

Oh my god, I just recently found your channel and subscribed because I am pursuing a physics degree with dreams of being an astrophysicist and- I just watched this and we have the same exact take on extraterrestrial life. I just posted this long blurb on Reddit about this exact thing.
I really needed the little pep talk at the end, wow. Thank you

[eamonia]

You've done it again, Doc. This might be one of my new favorite videos on YouTube. Thanks for all your hard work, we all greatly appreciate it :)

[Shifter-ST]

Aliens: "It's never earthers."

[Stan-Ran]

Becky "it's NEVER Aliens"

Aliens "Hold my beer"

[johngolding]

Hi Dr Becky, why havnt I seen your videos before, your 10 unanswered questions was brilliant and easy to understand because of your choice of language and down to earth style. I will be going over all them over the next few weeks, keep them coming.

[yavorshopov]

Luv your podcast, listening to it all day, every day at work, all episodes at least a dozen times!Keep up the great work feeding our curiosity

[noelwalterso]

Can't believe YouTube decided to stuff an advert for a magical good luck bracelet into the middle of your excellent video.

[Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

_"DIVIDE BY ZERO"_ sounds like a great name for a band...😉

[roopapandit]

i love your lectures on the theoretical possibilities and realities of the universe! i just dont feel i could confidently do the math and physics like to some people it comes so naturally. i wish i had a second shot at school and maybe if i was interested enough i would have tried more. but i was never exposed to astronomy in school. all of the physics math and sciences we learned were void of astronomy, so i never got a chance to consider that aspect of science, even though technically i knew it existed. im happy for you that you discovered your lifelong excitement for astrophysics. i guess at a time i had a teacher for a non-science class that was an astrophysicist but again we did not discuss her expertise in that class. this is so awesome and i hope you are proud.

[sentientdesign]

Dr. Bex, we are truly blessed. You are so great at making the cosmos accessible, really can't sing your praises high enough.

[DanielSanchez-itki]

Hello Becky. A follower from Nicaragua here. I've always been a science enthusiast and now I've been taking my first steps in amateur astronomy with a small and very basic telescope during the last months. I've recently discovered this channel and I'm truly loving your videos a lot. Please keep doing them !

[DanielJStromme]

I just asked many of these questions, on one of Dr. Becky's previous videos... as though she's listening specifically to me! I'm honored!

[thatguywhocallsmebill]

Thanks Dr Rebecca. Really interesting topic. Your knowledge, enthusiasm and obvious passion is infectious. Unfair that you're so smart, charismatic and beautiful. Rare combination tbh. Take care x

[andyboybennett]

"The long-running joke in astrophysics is that we don't understand magnetic fields." Boy, those astrophysicists really crack me up. :)

[simonbox]

I am feeling very restless at this moment and space videos always calm me down. So, Thanks.

[phillipcuff]

I love watching your clips. Love how excited you get talking about space. It’s nice

[farleyredfield]

Becky you make the facts so interesting. Your hair and dimples are so attractive. And your accent is Ausie? I just enjoy watching you. Thank you for being here.