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The cosmos is all there is,
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or ever was,
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or ever will be.
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Come with me.
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A generation ago,
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the astronomer Carl Sagan
stood here
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and launched hundreds
of millions of us
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on a great adventure...
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the exploration of the universe
revealed by science.
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It's time to get going again.
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We're about to begin a journey
that will take us
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from the infinitesimal
to the infinite,
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from the dawn of time
to the distant future.
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We'll explore galaxies
and suns and worlds,
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surf the gravity waves
of space-time,
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encounter beings that live
in fire and ice,
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explore the planets of stars
that never die,
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discover atoms
as massive as suns
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and universes smaller
than atoms.
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Cosmos is also a story about us.
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It's the saga of how wandering
bands of hunters and gatherers
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found their way to the stars,
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one adventure with many heroes.
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To make this journey,
we'll need imagination.
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But imagination alone
is not enough
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because the reality of nature
is far more wondrous
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than anything we can imagine.
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This adventure is made possible
by generations of searchers
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strictly adhering
to a simple set of rules...
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test ideas by experiment
and observation,
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build on those ideas
that pass the test,
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reject the ones that fail,
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follow the evidence
wherever it leads
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and question everything.
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Accept these terms,
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and the cosmos is yours.
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Now come with me.
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In this ship of
the Imagination,
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free from the shackles
of space and time,
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we can go anywhere.
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If you want to see
where we are in space,
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just look out the front window.
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In the dimension of time,
the past lies beneath us.
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Here's what Earth looked like
250 million years ago.
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If you want
to see the future, look up.
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And this is how it could appear
250 million years from now.
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If we're going
to be venturing out
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into the farthest reaches
of the cosmos,
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we need to know
our cosmic address,
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and this is the first line
of that address.
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We're leaving the Earth,
the only home we've ever known,
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for the farthest reaches
of the cosmos.
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Our nearest neighbor,
the Moon, has no sky,
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no ocean, no life...
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just the scars
of cosmic impacts.
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Our star powers the wind
and the waves
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and all the life on the surface
of our world.
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The Sun holds all the worlds
of the solar system
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in its gravitational embrace,
starting with Mercury...
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...to cloud-covered Venus,
where runaway greenhouse effect
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has turned it
into a kind of hell.
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Mars...
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a world with as much land
as Earth itself.
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A belt of rocky asteroids
circles the Sun
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between the orbits
of Mars and Jupiter.
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With its four giant moons
and dozens of smaller ones,
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Jupiter is like
its own little solar system.
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It has more mass than all
the other planets combined.
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Jupiter's Great Red Spot...
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a hurricane three times
the size of our whole planet
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that's been raging
for centuries.
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The crown jewel
of our solar system, Saturn,
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ringed by freeways
of countless orbiting
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and slowly tumbling snowballs...
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every snowball, a little moon.
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Uranus...
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and Neptune,
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the outermost planets,
unknown to the ancients
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and only discovered after
the invention of the telescope.
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Beyond the outermost planet,
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there's a swarm of tens
of thousands of frozen worlds.
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And Pluto is one them.
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Of all our spacecraft,
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this is the one that's traveled
farthest from home...
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Voyager 1.
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She bears a message
to a billion years from now,
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something of who we were,
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how we felt
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and the music we made.
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The deeper waters
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of this vast cosmic ocean
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and their numberless worlds
lie ahead.
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From out here, the
Sun may look like just another star.
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But it still exerts
its gravitational hold
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on a trillion frozen comets,
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leftovers from the formation
of the solar system
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nearly five billion years ago.
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It's called the Oort Cloud.
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No one has ever seen it before,
nor could they,
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because each one
of these little worlds
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is as far
from its nearest neighbor
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as Earth is from Saturn.
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This enormous cloud of comets
encloses the solar system,
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which is the second line
of our cosmic address.
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We've only been able to detect
the planets of other stars
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for a few decades,
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but we already know
that planets are plentiful...
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they outnumber the stars.
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Almost all of them will be
very different from Earth,
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and hostile
to life as we know it.
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But what do we know about life?
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We've met only one kind so far.
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Earthlife.
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See anything?
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Just empty space, right?
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Human eyes see
only a sliver of the light
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that shines in the cosmos.
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But science gives us the power
to see what our senses cannot.
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Infrared is
the kind of light made visible
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by night-vision goggles.
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Throw an infrared sensor
across the darkness...
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Rogue planet.
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World without a sun.
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Our galaxy has billions of them,
adrift in perpetual night.
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They're orphans, cast away
from their mother stars
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during the chaotic birth
of their native star systems.
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Rogue planets
are molten at the core
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but frozen at the surface.
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There may be oceans
of liquid water
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in the zone
between those extremes.
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Who knows what
might be swimming there?
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This is what the Milky Way
looks like in infrared.
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Every single dot,
not just the bright ones,
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is a star.
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How many stars?
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How many worlds?
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How many ways of being alive?
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Where are we in this picture?
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See that trailing outer arm?
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That's where we live...
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about 30,000 light-years
from the center.
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The Milky Way Galaxy
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is the next line
of our cosmic address.
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We're now a hundred thousand
light-years from home.
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It would take light,
the fastest thing there is,
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a hundred thousand years
to reach us from Earth.
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This is the Great Spiral
in Andromeda,
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the galaxy next door.
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We call our two giant galaxies
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and a smattering
of smaller ones
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the "local group."
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Can't even find our home galaxy
from out here.
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It's just one of thousands
in the Virgo Supercluster.
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On this scale,
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all the objects we see,
including the tiniest dots,
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are galaxies.
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Each galaxy contains
billions of suns
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and countless worlds.
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Yet, the entire
Virgo Supercluster itself
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forms but a tiny part
of our universe.
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This is the cosmos
on the grandest scale we know...
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a network
of a hundred billion galaxies.
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It's the last line
of our cosmic address...
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for now.
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Observable universe?!
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What does that mean?
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Even for us, in our
Ship of the Imagination,
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there's a limit to how far
we can see in space-time.
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It's our cosmic horizon.
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Beyond that horizon
lie parts of the universe
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that are too far away.
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There hasn't been enough time
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in the 13.8 billion year
history of the universe
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for their light
to have reached us.
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Many of us suspect
that all of this...
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all the worlds, stars,
galaxies and clusters
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in our observable universe...
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is but one tiny bubble
in an infinite ocean
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of other universes...
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...a multiverse.
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Universe upon universe.
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Worlds without end.
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Feeling a little small?
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Well, in the context
of the cosmos, we are small.
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We may just be little guys
living on a speck of dust,
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afloat in
a staggering immensity,
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but we don't think small.
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This cosmic perspective
is relatively new.
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A mere four centuries ago,
our tiny world was oblivious
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to the rest of the cosmos.
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There were no telescopes.
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The universe was only what you
could see with the naked eye.
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Back in 1599,
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everyone knew that the Sun,
planets and stars
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were just lights in the sky
that revolved around the Earth,
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and that we were the center
of a little universe,
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a universe made for us.
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There was only one man
on the whole planet
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who envisioned
an infinitely grander cosmos.
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And how was he spending
New Year's Eve
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of the year 1600?
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Why, in prison, of course.
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There comes a time in our lives
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when we first realize we're not
the center of the universe,
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that we belong to something
much greater than ourselves.
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It's part of growing up.
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00:16:48,566 --> 00:16:50,800
And as it happens to each of us,
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so it began to happen
to our civilization
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in the 16th century.
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00:16:55,172 --> 00:16:57,040
Imagine a world
before telescopes,
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00:16:57,074 --> 00:16:59,309
when the universe
was only what you could see
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00:16:59,343 --> 00:17:00,843
with the naked eye.
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00:17:00,878 --> 00:17:04,047
It was obvious that Earth
was motionless,
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00:17:04,081 --> 00:17:05,782
and that everything
in the heavens...
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00:17:05,816 --> 00:17:08,117
the Sun, the Moon,
the stars, the planets...
216
00:17:08,152 --> 00:17:10,987
revolved around us...
and then...
217
00:17:11,021 --> 00:17:13,289
a Polish astronomer and priest
named Copernicus
218
00:17:13,324 --> 00:17:17,293
made a radical proposal.
The Earth was not the center.
219
00:17:17,328 --> 00:17:19,796
It was just one of the planets,
and, like them,
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00:17:19,830 --> 00:17:21,798
it revolved around the Sun.
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00:17:21,832 --> 00:17:25,134
Many, like the Protestant
reformer Martin Luther,
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00:17:25,169 --> 00:17:28,137
took this idea as a scandalous
affront to Scripture.
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They were horrified.
224
00:17:30,441 --> 00:17:34,878
But for one man,
Copernicus didn't go far enough.
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00:17:34,912 --> 00:17:38,014
His name was Giordano Bruno,
226
00:17:38,048 --> 00:17:40,517
and he was
a natural-born rebel.
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00:17:40,551 --> 00:17:43,720
He longed to bust out of that
cramped little universe.
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00:17:43,754 --> 00:17:46,189
Even as a young Dominican monk
in Naples,
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00:17:46,223 --> 00:17:48,391
he was a misfit.
This was a time
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00:17:48,425 --> 00:17:50,727
when there was
no freedom of thought in Italy.
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00:17:50,761 --> 00:17:52,162
But Bruno hungered to know
232
00:17:52,196 --> 00:17:53,997
everything
about God's creation.
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00:17:54,031 --> 00:17:56,766
He dared to read the books
banned by the Church,
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00:17:56,801 --> 00:17:58,568
and that was his undoing.
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00:17:58,602 --> 00:18:00,603
In one of them,
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00:18:00,638 --> 00:18:04,741
an ancient Roman, a man dead
for more than 1,500 years
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00:18:04,775 --> 00:18:07,710
whispered to him
of a universe far greater,
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one as boundless
as his idea of God.
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00:18:14,885 --> 00:18:16,853
Lucretius asked the reader
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00:18:16,887 --> 00:18:19,255
to imagine standing
at the edge of the universe
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00:18:19,290 --> 00:18:21,257
and shooting an arrow outward.
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00:18:21,292 --> 00:18:23,560
If the arrow keeps going,
then clearly,
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00:18:23,594 --> 00:18:26,463
the universe extends beyond
what you thought was the edge.
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00:18:26,497 --> 00:18:28,898
But if the arrow
doesn't keep going...
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00:18:28,933 --> 00:18:31,601
say it hits a wall...
then that wall must lie
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00:18:31,635 --> 00:18:34,571
beyond what you thought
was the edge of the universe.
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00:18:34,605 --> 00:18:37,907
Now if you stand on that wall
and shoot another arrow,
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00:18:37,942 --> 00:18:40,643
there are only the same
two possible outcomes...
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00:18:40,678 --> 00:18:43,046
it either flies forever
out into space,
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00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:45,048
or it hits some boundary
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00:18:45,082 --> 00:18:47,817
where you can stand and shoot
yet another arrow.
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00:18:47,852 --> 00:18:50,420
Either way,
the universe is unbounded.
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00:18:50,454 --> 00:18:53,723
The cosmos must be infinite.
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This made perfect sense
to Bruno.
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00:18:56,260 --> 00:18:58,595
The God he worshiped
was infinite.
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00:18:58,629 --> 00:19:02,465
So how, he reasoned, could
Creation be anything less?
257
00:19:18,115 --> 00:19:20,950
It was the last steady job
he ever had.
258
00:19:30,361 --> 00:19:32,762
And then, when he was 30,
259
00:19:32,797 --> 00:19:36,433
he had the vision
that sealed his fate.
260
00:19:36,467 --> 00:19:38,935
In this dream,
he awakened to a world
261
00:19:38,969 --> 00:19:42,005
enclosed inside
a confining bowl of stars.
262
00:19:42,039 --> 00:19:45,041
This was the cosmos
of Bruno's time.
263
00:20:03,494 --> 00:20:06,029
He experienced
a sickening moment of fear,
264
00:20:06,063 --> 00:20:07,564
as if the bottom of everything
265
00:20:07,598 --> 00:20:10,200
was falling away
beneath his feet.
266
00:20:10,234 --> 00:20:12,702
But he summoned up his courage.
267
00:20:20,745 --> 00:20:23,546
I spread
confident wings to space
268
00:20:23,581 --> 00:20:27,150
and soared toward the infinite,
leaving far behind me
269
00:20:27,184 --> 00:20:30,520
what others strained to see
from a distance.
270
00:20:30,554 --> 00:20:33,923
Here, there was no up,
no down, no edge,
271
00:20:33,958 --> 00:20:35,492
no center.
272
00:20:35,526 --> 00:20:38,928
I saw that the Sun
was just another star,
273
00:20:38,963 --> 00:20:42,899
and the stars were other Suns,
each escorted by other Earths
274
00:20:42,933 --> 00:20:44,534
like our own.
275
00:20:44,568 --> 00:20:47,837
The revelation
of this immensity was like
276
00:20:47,872 --> 00:20:49,305
falling in love.
277
00:20:52,777 --> 00:20:54,744
Bruno became an evangelist,
278
00:20:54,779 --> 00:20:58,181
spreading the gospel
of infinity throughout Europe.
279
00:20:58,215 --> 00:21:01,785
He assumed that other lovers
of God would naturally embrace
280
00:21:01,819 --> 00:21:04,854
this grander and more glorious
view of Creation.
281
00:21:04,889 --> 00:21:07,924
What a fool I was.
282
00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:11,628
He was excommunicated
283
00:21:11,662 --> 00:21:13,563
by the Roman Catholic Church
in his homeland,
284
00:21:13,597 --> 00:21:16,032
expelled by the Calvinists
in Switzerland,
285
00:21:16,067 --> 00:21:18,268
and by the Lutherans
in Germany.
286
00:21:18,302 --> 00:21:21,304
Bruno jumped at an invitation
287
00:21:21,339 --> 00:21:24,174
to lecture at Oxford,
in England.
288
00:21:25,576 --> 00:21:27,410
At last, he thought,
289
00:21:27,445 --> 00:21:31,081
a chance to share his vision
with an audience of his peers.
290
00:21:35,186 --> 00:21:38,254
I have come to present
a new vision of the cosmos.
291
00:21:38,289 --> 00:21:41,324
Copernicus was right
to argue that our world
292
00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:43,059
is not the center
of the universe.
293
00:21:43,094 --> 00:21:45,128
The Earth goes around the Sun.
294
00:21:45,162 --> 00:21:47,631
It's a planet,
just like the others.
295
00:21:47,665 --> 00:21:49,733
But Copernicus
was only the dawn.
296
00:21:49,767 --> 00:21:51,935
I bring you the sunrise.
297
00:21:53,337 --> 00:21:55,405
The stars are other fiery suns,
298
00:21:55,439 --> 00:21:57,641
made of the same substance
as the Earth,
299
00:21:57,675 --> 00:22:00,677
and they have
their own watery earths,
300
00:22:00,711 --> 00:22:03,780
with plants and animals
no less noble than our own.
301
00:22:03,814 --> 00:22:06,082
Are you mad or merely ignorant?
302
00:22:06,117 --> 00:22:07,851
Everyone knows
there is only one world.
303
00:22:07,885 --> 00:22:10,353
What everyone knows is wrong.
304
00:22:10,388 --> 00:22:13,356
Our infinite God has created
a boundless universe
305
00:22:13,391 --> 00:22:15,258
with an infinite
number of worlds.
306
00:22:15,293 --> 00:22:17,294
Do they not read Aristotle
where you come from?
307
00:22:17,328 --> 00:22:19,029
Or even the Bible?
308
00:22:19,063 --> 00:22:23,667
I beg you, reject antiquity,
tradition, faith, and authority.
309
00:22:23,701 --> 00:22:24,968
Let us begin anew,
310
00:22:25,002 --> 00:22:27,003
by doubting
everything we assume
311
00:22:27,038 --> 00:22:28,138
- has been proven.
- Heretic!
312
00:22:28,172 --> 00:22:29,205
Infidel!
313
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:31,107
Your God is too small.
314
00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:39,049
A wiser man
would have learned his lesson.
315
00:22:39,083 --> 00:22:42,385
But Bruno was not such a man.
316
00:22:42,420 --> 00:22:46,656
He couldn't keep his soaring
vision of the cosmos to himself,
317
00:22:46,691 --> 00:22:49,626
despite the fact that
the penalty for doing so
318
00:22:49,660 --> 00:22:52,662
in his world
was the most vicious form
319
00:22:52,697 --> 00:22:54,698
of cruel and unusual punishment.
320
00:22:58,803 --> 00:23:01,471
Giordano Bruno lived at a time
when there was no such thing
321
00:23:01,506 --> 00:23:03,440
as the separation
of church and state,
322
00:23:03,474 --> 00:23:06,009
or the notion that freedom
of speech was a sacred right
323
00:23:06,043 --> 00:23:07,978
of every individual.
324
00:23:08,012 --> 00:23:10,847
Expressing an idea that didn't
conform to traditional belief
325
00:23:10,882 --> 00:23:13,483
could land you in deep trouble.
326
00:23:15,486 --> 00:23:18,155
Recklessly, Bruno
returned to Italy.
327
00:23:18,189 --> 00:23:19,823
Maybe he was homesick.
328
00:23:19,857 --> 00:23:23,093
But still, he must have known
that his homeland
329
00:23:23,127 --> 00:23:25,195
was one of the most dangerous
places in Europe
330
00:23:25,229 --> 00:23:26,963
he could possibly go.
331
00:23:26,998 --> 00:23:30,033
The Roman Catholic Church
maintained a system of courts
332
00:23:30,068 --> 00:23:31,868
known as the Inquisition,
333
00:23:31,903 --> 00:23:35,439
and its sole purpose
was to investigate and torment
334
00:23:35,473 --> 00:23:39,342
anyone who dared voice views
that differed from theirs.
335
00:23:42,380 --> 00:23:46,316
It wasn't long before Bruno
fell into the clutches
336
00:23:46,351 --> 00:23:48,218
of the thought police.
337
00:23:54,258 --> 00:23:56,893
This wanderer, who worshiped
an infinite universe,
338
00:23:56,928 --> 00:24:00,063
languished in confinement
for eight years.
339
00:24:00,098 --> 00:24:01,898
Through relentless
interrogations,
340
00:24:01,933 --> 00:24:04,634
he stubbornly refused
to renounce his views.
341
00:24:04,669 --> 00:24:06,203
Why was the Church willing
342
00:24:06,237 --> 00:24:09,906
to go to such lengths
to torment Bruno?
343
00:24:09,941 --> 00:24:11,975
What were they afraid of?
344
00:24:12,009 --> 00:24:15,212
If Bruno was right,
then the sacred books
345
00:24:15,246 --> 00:24:17,381
and the authority of the Church
346
00:24:17,415 --> 00:24:20,751
would be open to question.
347
00:24:20,785 --> 00:24:22,486
Finally, the cardinals
of the Inquisition
348
00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:24,421
rendered their verdict.
349
00:24:24,455 --> 00:24:26,023
You are found guilty
350
00:24:26,057 --> 00:24:28,892
of questioning the Holy Trinity
351
00:24:28,926 --> 00:24:31,595
and the divinity
of Jesus Christ.
352
00:24:31,629 --> 00:24:34,898
Of believing that God's
wrath is not eternal,
353
00:24:34,932 --> 00:24:36,400
that everyone will be saved.
354
00:24:36,434 --> 00:24:41,238
Of asserting the existence
of other worlds.
355
00:24:42,373 --> 00:24:45,275
All of the books
you have written
356
00:24:45,309 --> 00:24:48,779
will be gathered up and burned
in St. Peter's Square.
357
00:24:48,813 --> 00:24:52,382
Reverend Father,
these eight years of confinement
358
00:24:52,417 --> 00:24:53,950
have given me
much time to reflect.
359
00:24:53,985 --> 00:24:54,951
So...
360
00:24:54,986 --> 00:24:56,353
you will recant?
361
00:24:56,387 --> 00:24:58,355
My love and reverence
for the Creator
362
00:24:58,389 --> 00:25:02,025
inspires in me the vision
of an infinite Creation.
363
00:25:02,060 --> 00:25:05,629
You shall be turned over
to the Governor of Rome
364
00:25:05,663 --> 00:25:09,032
to administer
the appropriate punishment
365
00:25:09,067 --> 00:25:11,134
for those who will not repent.
366
00:25:13,237 --> 00:25:17,140
It may be that you
are more afraid
367
00:25:17,175 --> 00:25:20,510
to deliver this judgment
than I am to hear it.
368
00:26:28,646 --> 00:26:30,881
Ten years
after Bruno's martyrdom,
369
00:26:30,915 --> 00:26:33,350
Galileo first looked
through a telescope,
370
00:26:33,384 --> 00:26:36,019
realizing that Bruno
had been right all along.
371
00:26:36,054 --> 00:26:38,789
The Milky Way was made
of countless stars
372
00:26:38,823 --> 00:26:40,524
invisible to the naked eye,
373
00:26:40,558 --> 00:26:44,494
and some of those lights in the
sky were actually other worlds.
374
00:26:44,529 --> 00:26:46,797
Bruno was no scientist.
375
00:26:46,831 --> 00:26:49,299
His vision of the cosmos
was a lucky guess,
376
00:26:49,334 --> 00:26:51,802
because he had
no evidence to support it.
377
00:26:51,836 --> 00:26:55,072
Like most guesses, it could
well have turned out wrong.
378
00:26:55,106 --> 00:26:57,674
But once the idea
was in the air,
379
00:26:57,709 --> 00:26:59,743
it gave others
a target to aim at.
380
00:26:59,777 --> 00:27:01,378
If only to disprove it.
381
00:27:03,414 --> 00:27:07,084
Bruno glimpsed
the vastness of space.
382
00:27:07,118 --> 00:27:11,889
But he had no inkling of the
staggering immensity of time.
383
00:27:15,460 --> 00:27:18,529
How can we humans, who rarely
live more than a century,
384
00:27:18,563 --> 00:27:21,331
hope to grasp
the vast expanse of time
385
00:27:21,366 --> 00:27:23,567
that is the history
of the cosmos?
386
00:27:23,601 --> 00:27:28,372
The universe is
13.8 thousand million years old.
387
00:27:28,406 --> 00:27:30,774
In order to imagine
all of cosmic time,
388
00:27:30,808 --> 00:27:34,444
let's compress it
into a single calendar year.
389
00:27:46,570 --> 00:27:51,564
The cosmic calendar begins on January 1st
with the birth of our universe.
390
00:27:51,599 --> 00:27:54,249
It contains everything that's
happened since then,
391
00:27:54,284 --> 00:27:55,338
up to now,
392
00:27:55,373 --> 00:27:59,891
which on this calendar
is midnight December 31st.
393
00:27:59,926 --> 00:28:03,864
On this scale, every month
represents about a billion years.
394
00:28:03,899 --> 00:28:08,423
Every day represents nearly
40 million years.
395
00:28:08,458 --> 00:28:10,312
Let's go back as far as we can,
396
00:28:10,347 --> 00:28:13,494
to the very first moment
of the universe.
397
00:28:14,436 --> 00:28:18,351
January 1st, the Big Bang.
398
00:28:29,169 --> 00:28:32,291
It's as far back as
we can see in time...
399
00:28:32,964 --> 00:28:34,610
for now.
400
00:28:35,791 --> 00:28:40,528
Our entire universe emerged from
a point smaller than a single atom.
401
00:28:40,620 --> 00:28:43,589
Space itself exploded
in a cosmic fire,
402
00:28:43,623 --> 00:28:45,958
launching the expansion
of the universe
403
00:28:45,992 --> 00:28:48,360
and giving birth
to all the energy
404
00:28:48,394 --> 00:28:50,329
and all the matter
we know today.
405
00:28:50,363 --> 00:28:52,664
I know that sounds crazy,
406
00:28:52,699 --> 00:28:54,633
but there's strong
observational evidence
407
00:28:54,667 --> 00:28:56,268
to support the Big Bang theory.
408
00:28:56,302 --> 00:28:58,771
And it includes the amount
of helium in the cosmos
409
00:28:58,805 --> 00:29:02,441
and the glow of radio waves
left over from the explosion.
410
00:29:02,475 --> 00:29:04,943
As it expanded,
the universe cooled,
411
00:29:04,978 --> 00:29:09,848
and there was darkness
for about 200 million years.
412
00:29:09,883 --> 00:29:12,818
Gravity was pulling together
clumps of gas and heating them
413
00:29:12,852 --> 00:29:15,821
until the first stars
burst into light
414
00:29:15,855 --> 00:29:18,057
on January 10th.
415
00:29:22,996 --> 00:29:26,799
On January 13th,
these stars coalesced
416
00:29:26,833 --> 00:29:31,703
into the first small galaxies.
417
00:29:31,738 --> 00:29:34,540
These galaxies merged
to form still larger ones,
418
00:29:34,574 --> 00:29:37,910
including our own Milky Way,
419
00:29:37,944 --> 00:29:42,381
which formed about
11 billion years ago,
420
00:29:42,415 --> 00:29:45,250
on March 15th of the cosmic year.
421
00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:49,588
Hundreds of billions of suns.
422
00:29:49,622 --> 00:29:51,423
Which one is ours?
423
00:29:51,458 --> 00:29:53,659
It's not yet born.
424
00:29:53,693 --> 00:29:58,163
It will rise from the ashes
of other stars.
425
00:29:58,198 --> 00:30:01,400
See those lights
flashing like paparazzi?
426
00:30:01,434 --> 00:30:03,869
Each one is a supernova,
427
00:30:03,903 --> 00:30:07,039
the blazing death
of a giant star.
428
00:30:07,073 --> 00:30:10,442
Stars die and are born
in places like this one...
429
00:30:10,477 --> 00:30:12,344
a stellar nursery.
430
00:30:12,379 --> 00:30:14,046
They condense like raindrops
431
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:16,715
from giant clouds
of gas and dust.
432
00:30:16,750 --> 00:30:19,718
They get so hot
that the nuclei of the atoms
433
00:30:19,753 --> 00:30:22,254
fuse together deep within them
434
00:30:22,288 --> 00:30:25,457
to make the oxygen we breathe,
the carbon in our muscles,
435
00:30:25,492 --> 00:30:28,927
the calcium in our bones,
the iron in our blood,
436
00:30:28,962 --> 00:30:30,729
all of it was cooked
437
00:30:30,764 --> 00:30:34,233
in the fiery hearts
of long-vanished stars.
438
00:30:34,267 --> 00:30:37,970
You, me, everyone...
439
00:30:38,004 --> 00:30:42,441
we are made of star stuff.
440
00:30:44,244 --> 00:30:46,545
This star stuff
is recycled and enriched,
441
00:30:46,579 --> 00:30:48,113
again and again,
442
00:30:48,148 --> 00:30:50,816
through succeeding
generations of stars.
443
00:30:55,088 --> 00:30:57,456
How much longer until
the birth of our Sun?
444
00:30:57,490 --> 00:30:59,258
A long time.
445
00:30:59,292 --> 00:31:00,559
It won't begin to shine
446
00:31:00,593 --> 00:31:03,429
for another six billion years.
447
00:31:05,131 --> 00:31:08,100
Our Sun's birthday is August 31st
448
00:31:08,134 --> 00:31:09,935
on the Cosmic Calendar...
449
00:31:12,472 --> 00:31:14,740
...four and a half
billion years ago.
450
00:31:14,774 --> 00:31:17,242
As with the other worlds
of our solar system,
451
00:31:17,277 --> 00:31:20,346
Earth was formed
from a disk of gas and dust
452
00:31:20,380 --> 00:31:22,514
orbiting the newborn Sun.
453
00:31:22,549 --> 00:31:25,985
Repeated collisions produced
a growing ball of debris.
454
00:31:32,392 --> 00:31:33,792
See that asteroid?
455
00:31:33,827 --> 00:31:35,127
No, not that one.
456
00:31:35,161 --> 00:31:36,829
The one over there.
457
00:31:36,863 --> 00:31:40,599
We exist because the gravity
of that one next to it
458
00:31:40,634 --> 00:31:43,769
just nudged it
an inch to the left.
459
00:31:43,803 --> 00:31:45,804
What difference
could an inch make
460
00:31:45,839 --> 00:31:47,873
on the scale the solar system?
461
00:31:47,907 --> 00:31:50,809
Just wait, you'll see.
462
00:31:52,379 --> 00:31:54,179
The Earth took
one hell of a beating
463
00:31:54,214 --> 00:31:56,048
in its first billion years.
464
00:31:59,486 --> 00:32:02,354
Fragments of orbiting debris
collided and coalesced,
465
00:32:02,389 --> 00:32:04,990
until they snowballed
to form our Moon.
466
00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:10,696
The Moon is a souvenir
of that violent epoch.
467
00:32:10,730 --> 00:32:13,732
If you stood on the surface
of that long ago Earth,
468
00:32:13,767 --> 00:32:16,468
the Moon would have looked
a hundred times brighter.
469
00:32:16,503 --> 00:32:18,671
It was ten times
closer back then,
470
00:32:18,705 --> 00:32:23,409
locked in a much more intimate
gravitational embrace.
471
00:32:23,443 --> 00:32:26,378
As the Earth cooled,
seas began to form.
472
00:32:26,413 --> 00:32:29,481
The tides were
a thousand times higher then.
473
00:32:29,516 --> 00:32:32,718
Over the eons,
tidal friction within Earth
474
00:32:32,752 --> 00:32:34,853
pushed the Moon away.
475
00:32:40,727 --> 00:32:43,429
Life began
somewhere around here,
476
00:32:43,463 --> 00:32:45,531
September 21st,
477
00:32:45,565 --> 00:32:48,601
three and a half billion
years ago on our little world.
478
00:32:48,635 --> 00:32:50,402
We still don't know
how life got started.
479
00:32:50,437 --> 00:32:52,071
For all we know,
480
00:32:52,105 --> 00:32:54,106
it may have come from
another part of the Milky Way.
481
00:32:54,140 --> 00:32:55,941
The origin of life
482
00:32:55,976 --> 00:32:59,211
is one of the greatest
unsolved mysteries of science.
483
00:33:02,816 --> 00:33:04,850
That's life cooking,
484
00:33:04,885 --> 00:33:07,419
evolving all
the biochemical recipes
485
00:33:07,454 --> 00:33:11,123
for its incredibly
complex activities.
486
00:33:11,157 --> 00:33:16,695
By November 9th,
life was breathing, moving,
487
00:33:16,730 --> 00:33:20,599
eating, responding to
its environment.
488
00:33:20,634 --> 00:33:23,536
We owe a lot
to those pioneering microbes.
489
00:33:23,570 --> 00:33:25,604
Oh, yeah... one other thing.
490
00:33:25,639 --> 00:33:28,974
They also invented sex.
491
00:33:32,412 --> 00:33:34,580
December 17th was quite a day.
492
00:33:34,614 --> 00:33:37,049
Life in the sea really took off,
493
00:33:37,083 --> 00:33:39,218
it was exploding
with a diversity
494
00:33:39,252 --> 00:33:41,220
of larger plants and animals.
495
00:33:41,254 --> 00:33:46,358
Tiktaalik was one of the first
animals to venture onto land.
496
00:33:48,261 --> 00:33:51,630
It must have felt
like visiting another planet.
497
00:33:53,133 --> 00:33:55,501
Forests, dinosaurs,
498
00:33:55,535 --> 00:33:57,837
birds, insects,
499
00:33:57,871 --> 00:34:01,240
they all evolved
in the final week of December.
500
00:34:01,274 --> 00:34:03,108
The first flower...
501
00:34:03,143 --> 00:34:07,446
bloomed on December 28th.
502
00:34:10,851 --> 00:34:13,586
As these ancient forests
grew and died
503
00:34:13,620 --> 00:34:15,588
and sank beneath the surface,
504
00:34:15,622 --> 00:34:18,457
their remains transformed
into coal.
505
00:34:18,492 --> 00:34:21,093
300 million years later,
506
00:34:21,127 --> 00:34:24,430
we humans are burning
most of that coal to power
507
00:34:24,464 --> 00:34:27,533
and imperil our civilization.
508
00:34:32,506 --> 00:34:33,873
Remember that asteroid
back in the formation
509
00:34:33,907 --> 00:34:35,541
of the solar system...
510
00:34:35,575 --> 00:34:37,710
the one that got nudged
a little to the left?
511
00:34:37,744 --> 00:34:40,045
Well, here it comes.
512
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:42,515
It's 6:24 AM
513
00:34:42,549 --> 00:34:46,852
on December 30th
on the Cosmic Calendar.
514
00:34:53,860 --> 00:34:55,795
For more than
a hundred million years,
515
00:34:55,829 --> 00:34:58,030
the dinosaurs were lords
of the Earth,
516
00:34:58,064 --> 00:35:00,800
while our ancestors,
small mammals,
517
00:35:00,834 --> 00:35:02,968
scurried fearfully underfoot.
518
00:35:03,003 --> 00:35:05,371
The asteroid changed all that.
519
00:35:05,405 --> 00:35:07,206
Suppose it hadn't
been nudged at all.
520
00:35:07,240 --> 00:35:09,041
It would have missed
the Earth entirely,
521
00:35:09,075 --> 00:35:11,343
and for all we know, the
dinosaurs might still be here
522
00:35:11,378 --> 00:35:12,978
but we wouldn't.
523
00:35:13,013 --> 00:35:15,981
This is a good example
of the extreme contingency,
524
00:35:16,016 --> 00:35:18,751
the chance nature, of existence.
525
00:35:20,420 --> 00:35:23,689
The universe is already
more than 13 and a half
526
00:35:23,723 --> 00:35:25,091
billion years old.
527
00:35:25,125 --> 00:35:26,926
Still no sign of us.
528
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:31,097
In the vast ocean of time
that this calendar represents,
529
00:35:31,131 --> 00:35:34,200
we humans only evolved
within the last hour
530
00:35:34,234 --> 00:35:39,238
of the last day
of the cosmic year.
531
00:35:44,611 --> 00:35:48,347
11:59 and 46 seconds.
532
00:35:48,382 --> 00:35:52,585
All of recorded history occupies
only the last 14 seconds,
533
00:35:52,619 --> 00:35:55,354
and every person
you've ever heard of
534
00:35:55,389 --> 00:35:57,390
lived somewhere in there.
535
00:35:59,259 --> 00:36:03,195
All those kings and battles,
migrations and inventions,
536
00:36:03,230 --> 00:36:07,700
wars and loves,
everything in the history books
537
00:36:07,734 --> 00:36:09,769
happened here,
in the last seconds
538
00:36:09,803 --> 00:36:11,871
of the Cosmic Calendar.
539
00:36:11,905 --> 00:36:14,073
But if we want to explore
540
00:36:14,107 --> 00:36:16,642
such a brief moment
of cosmic time...
541
00:36:19,279 --> 00:36:21,347
...we'll have to change scale.
542
00:36:38,211 --> 00:36:40,579
We are newcomers to the cosmos.
543
00:36:40,613 --> 00:36:45,017
Our own story only begins on the
last night of the cosmic year.
544
00:36:45,051 --> 00:36:48,420
It's 9:45 on New Year's Eve.
545
00:36:48,454 --> 00:36:50,856
Three and a half
million years ago,
546
00:36:50,890 --> 00:36:54,793
our ancestors, yours and mine,
left these traces.
547
00:36:56,162 --> 00:36:59,798
We stood up,
and parted ways from them.
548
00:36:59,832 --> 00:37:01,733
Once we were standing
on two feet,
549
00:37:01,768 --> 00:37:04,903
our eyes were no longer
fixated on the ground.
550
00:37:04,937 --> 00:37:08,573
Now we were free
to look up in wonder.
551
00:37:11,177 --> 00:37:13,645
For the longest part
of human existence,
552
00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:17,416
say the last 40,000 generations,
553
00:37:17,450 --> 00:37:19,251
we were wanderers,
554
00:37:19,285 --> 00:37:22,454
living in small bands
of hunters and gatherers,
555
00:37:22,488 --> 00:37:25,123
making tools, controlling fire,
556
00:37:25,158 --> 00:37:27,125
naming things,
557
00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:31,496
all within the last hour
of the Cosmic Calendar.
558
00:37:39,639 --> 00:37:43,108
To find out what happens next,
we'll have to change scale
559
00:37:43,142 --> 00:37:46,311
to see the last minute
of the last night
560
00:37:46,346 --> 00:37:49,348
of the cosmic year.
561
00:37:49,382 --> 00:37:51,350
11:59.
562
00:37:51,384 --> 00:37:54,019
We're so very young on
the time scale of the universe
563
00:37:54,053 --> 00:37:56,655
that we didn't start painting
our first pictures
564
00:37:56,689 --> 00:38:00,259
until the last 60 seconds
of the cosmic year,
565
00:38:00,293 --> 00:38:03,795
a mere 30,000 years ago.
566
00:38:12,038 --> 00:38:14,606
This is when
we invented astronomy.
567
00:38:14,641 --> 00:38:17,809
In fact, we're all descended
from astronomers.
568
00:38:17,844 --> 00:38:21,213
Our survival depended on
knowing how to read the stars
569
00:38:21,247 --> 00:38:23,549
in order to predict
the coming of the winter
570
00:38:23,583 --> 00:38:26,184
and the migration
of the wild herds.
571
00:38:26,219 --> 00:38:29,187
And then,
around 10,000 years ago,
572
00:38:29,222 --> 00:38:32,190
there began a revolution
in the way we lived.
573
00:38:32,225 --> 00:38:35,460
Our ancestors learned
how to shape their environment,
574
00:38:35,495 --> 00:38:37,863
taming wild plants and animals,
575
00:38:37,897 --> 00:38:40,866
cultivating land
and settling down.
576
00:38:40,900 --> 00:38:43,468
This changed everything.
577
00:38:43,503 --> 00:38:45,470
For the first time
in our history,
578
00:38:45,505 --> 00:38:48,874
we had more stuff
than we could carry.
579
00:38:48,908 --> 00:38:51,310
We needed a way
to keep track of it.
580
00:38:51,344 --> 00:38:53,512
At 14 seconds to midnight,
581
00:38:53,546 --> 00:38:57,015
or about 6,000 years ago,
we invented writing.
582
00:38:57,050 --> 00:38:59,518
And it wasn't long
before we started recording
583
00:38:59,552 --> 00:39:01,253
more than bushels of grain.
584
00:39:01,287 --> 00:39:03,255
Writing allowed us
to save our thoughts
585
00:39:03,289 --> 00:39:06,525
and send them much further
in space and time.
586
00:39:06,559 --> 00:39:08,927
Tiny markings on a clay tablet
587
00:39:08,962 --> 00:39:12,197
became a means for us
to vanquish mortality.
588
00:39:12,232 --> 00:39:15,334
It shook the world.
589
00:39:15,368 --> 00:39:18,437
Moses was born
seven seconds ago.
590
00:39:18,471 --> 00:39:21,373
Buddha, six seconds ago.
591
00:39:21,407 --> 00:39:24,276
Jesus, five seconds ago.
592
00:39:24,310 --> 00:39:27,713
Mohammed, three seconds ago.
593
00:39:27,747 --> 00:39:31,116
It was not even two seconds ago
that, for better or worse,
594
00:39:31,150 --> 00:39:34,453
the two halves of the Earth
discovered each other.
595
00:39:34,487 --> 00:39:36,722
And it was only
in the very last second
596
00:39:36,756 --> 00:39:39,725
of the Cosmic Calendar
that we began to use science
597
00:39:39,759 --> 00:39:42,895
to reveal nature's secrets
and her laws.
598
00:39:42,929 --> 00:39:45,631
The scientific method
is so powerful
599
00:39:45,665 --> 00:39:47,633
that in a mere four centuries,
600
00:39:47,667 --> 00:39:50,969
it has taken us from Galileo's
first look through a telescope
601
00:39:51,004 --> 00:39:54,473
at another world to leaving
our footprints on the Moon.
602
00:39:54,507 --> 00:39:58,977
It allowed us to look out
across space and time
603
00:39:59,012 --> 00:40:04,750
to discover where
and when we are in the cosmos.
604
00:40:04,784 --> 00:40:09,321
We are a way for
the cosmos to know itself.
605
00:40:09,355 --> 00:40:11,657
Carl Sagan guided
the maiden voyage of Cosmos
606
00:40:11,691 --> 00:40:13,425
a generation ago.
607
00:40:13,459 --> 00:40:15,627
He was the most successful
science communicator
608
00:40:15,662 --> 00:40:17,129
of the 20th century,
609
00:40:17,163 --> 00:40:19,898
but he was first and foremost
a scientist.
610
00:40:19,933 --> 00:40:23,435
Carl contributed enormously
611
00:40:23,470 --> 00:40:25,637
to our knowledge
of the planets.
612
00:40:25,672 --> 00:40:28,640
He correctly predicted
the existence of methane lakes
613
00:40:28,675 --> 00:40:30,642
on Saturn's giant moon Titan.
614
00:40:30,677 --> 00:40:33,946
He showed that the atmosphere
of the early Earth
615
00:40:33,980 --> 00:40:36,915
must have contained
powerful greenhouse gases.
616
00:40:36,950 --> 00:40:40,919
He was the first to understand
that seasonal changes on Mars
617
00:40:40,954 --> 00:40:43,422
were due to windblown dust.
618
00:40:43,456 --> 00:40:44,990
Carl was a pioneer
619
00:40:45,024 --> 00:40:46,425
in the search
for extraterrestrial life
620
00:40:46,459 --> 00:40:49,328
and intelligence.
621
00:40:49,362 --> 00:40:52,631
He played a leading role in
every major spacecraft mission
622
00:40:52,665 --> 00:40:55,134
to explore the solar system
during the first 40 years
623
00:40:55,168 --> 00:40:57,536
of the Space Age.
624
00:40:59,305 --> 00:41:02,174
But that's not all he did.
625
00:41:04,410 --> 00:41:08,514
This is Carl Sagan's
own calendar from 1975.
626
00:41:10,483 --> 00:41:13,485
Who was I back then?
627
00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:16,321
I was just a 17-year-old kid
from the Bronx
628
00:41:16,356 --> 00:41:18,724
with dreams
of becoming a scientist,
629
00:41:18,758 --> 00:41:22,060
and somehow the world's most
famous astronomer found time
630
00:41:22,095 --> 00:41:24,897
to invite me to Ithaca,
in upstate New York,
631
00:41:24,931 --> 00:41:26,698
and spend a Saturday with him.
632
00:41:26,733 --> 00:41:30,135
I remember that snowy day
like it was yesterday.
633
00:41:30,170 --> 00:41:31,970
He met me at the bus stop
634
00:41:32,005 --> 00:41:34,873
and showed me his laboratory
at Cornell University.
635
00:41:34,908 --> 00:41:39,344
Carl reached behind his desk
and inscribed this book for me.
636
00:41:43,082 --> 00:41:45,751
"For Neil, a future astronomer.
637
00:41:45,785 --> 00:41:47,586
Carl."
638
00:41:47,620 --> 00:41:51,023
At the end of the day, he drove
me back to the bus station.
639
00:41:51,057 --> 00:41:53,025
The snow was falling harder.
640
00:41:53,059 --> 00:41:55,027
He wrote his phone number...
his home phone number...
641
00:41:55,061 --> 00:41:58,530
on a scrap of paper and he said,
"If the bus can't get through,
642
00:41:58,565 --> 00:42:02,367
call me and spend the night
at my home with my family."
643
00:42:02,402 --> 00:42:05,204
I already knew I wanted
to become a scientist,
644
00:42:05,238 --> 00:42:07,606
but that afternoon,
I learned from Carl
645
00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:09,875
the kind of person
I wanted to become.
646
00:42:09,909 --> 00:42:13,545
He reached out to me
and to countless others,
647
00:42:13,580 --> 00:42:18,050
inspiring so many of us
to study, teach and do science.
648
00:42:18,084 --> 00:42:20,452
Science is
a cooperative enterprise,
649
00:42:20,487 --> 00:42:22,855
spanning the generations.
650
00:42:22,889 --> 00:42:27,192
It's the passing of a torch from
teacher to student to teacher,
651
00:42:27,227 --> 00:42:30,696
a community of minds
reaching back to antiquity
652
00:42:30,730 --> 00:42:32,698
and forward to the stars.
653
00:42:32,732 --> 00:42:35,534
Now, come with me.
654
00:42:35,568 --> 00:42:38,971
Our journey is just beginning.