Strange Stars | Space Time | PBS Digital Studios

What happens when matter can’t get any denser yet somehow does? The answer - it becomes “strange.” Strange Stars may be the most massive stellar remnant that is just shy of forming a black hole. And they could be even cooler than black holes.

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Neutron stars are made of a substance known as Neutronium. It was thought that this was the densest form of matter possible but some theoretical physicists believe that at the core of some neutron stars the Neutronium breaks down even further, into quark matter. It may even evolve one step further into “strange matter", the densest and most stable substance in the universe.

Previous Space Time episode:

How to Build a Black Hole

Written and hosted by Matt O’Dowd
Produced by Rusty Ward
Graphics by Grayson Blackmon

Comments answered by Matt:

Pixel Girl

FatFingerJack

Neil Upfalow

Loren Supernaw

Tabularasa0606

One Man Wolf Pack

Pipe2DevNull

[tibees]

I hope one day I can make videos half as good as these - because this is exactly the kind of stuff that interests me

[MarshallEubanks]

As a physicist who works in this area I have to commend the producers of this video. It is very well done.

[smacky]

I will donate money as soon as my poor ass can afford to.. I donated to my local NPR station this month already -_- YOU GUYS NEXT

[sketcharmslong]

"Degenerate matter... not like your parents would have used it."

Damn son, slammed

[HectorGonzalez-rczq]

"Monsters in the math, " good title for a book.

[SpecialEDy]

Donate on patreon to keep spacetime moving forward? What if I want to see spacetime move backwards? Is that physically possible?

[AtheistBelgium]

PBS Space Time, and Isaac Arthur, two of my favorite channels since late. Keep it coming, can't get enough (even if i sometimes don't understand half of it) Greetings from Belgium

[Master_Therion]

A star made of Strange Quarks is strange. Can a star be made of Charm Quarks? That would be charming.

[ChrisBrengel]

7:41 "Nearly 1000 years later--after some *small* technological advancements..."
That's called understatement, right?

[johntate]

It's when you hit 13:00 that you realise that this guy cannot be fazed by anything. Spacetime and 3Blue1Brown are my go-to sites for understanding anything in physics and maths. Where just about everybody else waters the material down or ducks a difficult argument here or there, these two just plough right through providing clear descriptions and explanations and not ducking anything. Hats off to both of them. Is there some kind of Feynman or Carl Sagan award for scientific communication they could be given?

[ThrottleKitty]

I'd love to see a video on Quasars and insanely large super-massive black holes colliding. These sort of primordial galaxy-sized events have always fascinated me. Quasars really start to blur the line between a swarm of celestial bodies like a galaxy and a singular celestial body like a star, and are of such a massive scale. The "quasar cluster" that if I am correct still holds the position as the largest structure we've ever discovered in the universe would be an interesting subject as well. As well as how it deified basically all our assumptions of the limits of how big things could be.

[MostlyPennyCat]

On the streets:
_Will propose grand unified theory for food_

[joshnolan]

So much in these videos goes over my head... why can't I stop watching them?

[tardiscommand]

Always love the thumbnails this channel has. They’re like epic clickbait ones, yet not clickbait. Kinda refreshing.

[boboblacksheep]

The word Quark Epoch has been replaced by 'Quack' Epoch in subtitles in 6:36.
If someone has pulled off such a prank, hats off.

[HunterRodrigez]

when astrophysicist call something strange... then you know that it is *REALLY* strange

[wcsxwcsx]

He seems to be speaking a little slower and with a little less energy, at a pace that makes it easier to absorb what he says.

[QBasicTNN]

I'm inspired. I'm gonna write a screenplay for a movie called "Strange Matter", starring Lorenzo Lamas and Richard Harrison. It'll have physics stuff in it, but also ninjas.

[tysondennis]

“Monsters lurking in the math” makes me think of mathematical equations that summon demons.

[Hypernova]

I've heard before how pulsars can be spinning thousands of times per second. It made me think of how light (cosmic speed limit) can circle the Earth about 7 1/2 times per second. So these pulsars would have to be under so many kilometers across to not be spinning faster than light. And of course, I've also heard about these pulsars being the size of a city, which makes them extremely dense.

Just thought it was a neat reminder of how awesome science is, and how using the scientific method can lead to such great discoveries and insight ^_^