Space Fan News #49: There Are More Planets than Stars in Our Galaxy

[sask523]

you right first imagination than proof

[sask523]

i have a mind boner about astronomy

[macschomo]

Sorry, 40 years ago I knew that already - I was 8. Every scientist told us we are very rare. But why the hack should that be? Cause they had no evidence or proof? They had no tools to observe the universe. But the only important tool is the brain. When you can't imagine things you can't see it. In my case imagination is first and second proof. Thanks to Herrn Heisenberg. Greets from Munich city of Heisenberg.

[stuchly1]

thoroughly enjoyable video!

[Dayvid1984]

thanks 4 the upload mr darnell i love ur vids and u brought up the first video u uploaded man i remember that vid,it blew my mind the first time i saw it and still does! it was so well narrated,the music was perfect! GO TD

[HuskerSeaofRed]

Great videos, thank you!! I am new to this channel and love it! Well actually I'm new to das cosmos all together and your videos have been great teaching tools for me. TY!

[8WholeThing]

Jupiter and Saturn have over 60 moons each so a Jupiter-size planet in the Goldilocks zone of a star is like dozens of potential life-harboring sites.

[darkminkus]

hey this gives alittle idddy bidddy bit of hope to solving the Drake equation

[chestypants78]

I just know I'm gonna end up watching your videos for hours tonight. Excellent videos. Better get out the beers. That massive, high res screen NASA have is 'out of this world'. :)

[cgzebra1]

The stars we all see in the sky is a decption by the devil.. A holographic projection to turn you away from the lord and ... LOL!!

[sugarcanegray]

I wonder if the 0.6 planet orbiting each star will harbour lif?

[LasseLMN]

Why don't every video on your channel have 250-400.000 views? This is the only channel where i look forward to the next video.

[yaklin104]

is it really that surprising that there are more planets than stars? i mean our star has 8 planets on its own and i find it hard to believe that other stars can't have multiple planets surrounding it, the only thing that surprised me is that each star doesn't have more planets on average.

[mbarbarelli]

@yaklin104 Most systems are binary, (or more) and they tend to fling off any planets that form.

[8WholeThing]

Does the ratio of stars with planets vary with distance from core of the galaxy?

[mbarbarelli]

@8WholeThing Not necessarily, but I think it's safe to say that the planets which might harbor life are less likely to be found nearer to the core.

[Evofusiontm]

with so many stars and so many planets, there's bound to be one with life in it. I wish we could live long enough to know. Anyways thanks for doing what you do Tony! This blew my mind completely.

[fauxpace]

@Evofusiontm I saw a video from a research group that stated they expect intelligent life to be discovered within the next 5 to 15 years, if it exists.

[mbarbarelli]

@Evofusiontm Isaac Asimov wrote a book called "Extraterrestrial Civilizations". Highly recommended. He builds a strong case for the assertion that there are probably about 1/2 million planets with intelligent life on them in this galaxy, but that they are on average 60ly apart.

[oakenguitar3]

that number 1.6 planets per star in the milky way stands out because the golden ratio is approximately 1.618.

[toulouse666]

I really wish YouTube would allow us to "super favorite" a video...

[questionsleadtotruth]

Fascinating!

[MomoBG2]

Dont Stop! Thats my weekly news cast I really care about.

[claton95]

Thanks, great video

[Odashiman]

What I still want to know is: how many of these are "Earth" planets... that is, a water-covered planet with a viable atmosphere capable of supporting life? One we have that number, we can begin to calculate the number of planets that host advanced-evolved hyper-intelligent organisms.

[Alphasys]

Nice to see actually confirmed what I always suspected to be true...

[LimmingKenny]

Is it possible that dark matter is planets too far away to detect?

[ahg337]

@LimmingKenny No.

[LimmingKenny]

@ahg337 any further elaborations?

[Clickeey]

Duck phone has been joined by Captain Kirk I see.

[pragma1700]

Mr. Darnell, thank you for your passion for astronomy. Your videos are inspiring. Keep it up! I love seeing new stuff pop up in my subscription box. :)

[sirjammer]

Space fan news, OR, as I like to call it, “Geek speak”. LOVE this stuff!

[c3llyc3ll1]

Mrdarnell u r awesome love ur vids wish u would do another one that shows something about the universe and narrat it

[TheBuckers2000]

Tatooine like planets xD

[LKRaider]

I think it was expected to be so, but it is great that it is being proven with real data now.

[GoreTorn16]

It really gets you thinking about what else is possible!

[YoLninYo]

Awesome work! we share the wonder with you! thanks for bringing it to us ... :)

[BlackSunSerenade]

160 billion planets... If only one in a million planets would harbor life that is still 160000 planets with life on it...

[Baronstone]

@BlackSunSerenade I honestly think that figure is probably on the very low side. When you take into account the number of habitable zone planets that kepler has found and use that as a basis to calculate the total number in our galaxy. Well you end up with 4.5 million planets that are in the right orbit around their star so that they might support life. Now that figure doesnt include moons of the gas giants that orbit in a stars habitable zone.

[docatomics]

..keep data alive space pals

~even is we loose the ability to read & deciminate

=lets the next crop make it all the way were we are failing

[Deadmo]

nice jacket :P

[roargronmo]

Ehmm... will this say that planets are "dark matter" ?

[jonsdlr]

im a bit taken Back by this news! as i can see are you..O_O

[Peggenhetti]

Cool!

[TheMrNinjakiller95]

Tony sounds like he would make an amazing radio host

[jonsdlr]

@TheMrNinjakiller95  true!

[krapptacular]

I'm still trying to understand how the crab supernova might have a planet or two. A pulsar might have planets, how strange indeed.

[grrttvndck]

a modern-day Carl Sagan

[DaRealFiberOptix]

was the title really news to anyone tho? we already know that we are aliens, so aliens exist. we already know that civilizations can grow 10,000 years past us in evolution, because were here now and all possible things that can happen will happen, also because of the time scales and how long we have survived intact until this point. god is just the realization of our own potential.

[shagoosty]

@DaRealFiberOptix Can I buy pot from you?

[DaRealFiberOptix]

@shagoosty absofrignlutely, but if you lived where I live, california, you wouldnt need me for herb. I try to type sativa stoner thoughts, why not spread a thought maybe someone takes 1% of it and uses it for a different 1.

[shagoosty]

@DaRealFiberOptix I live in califonia, I was making fun of your nonsensical comment.

[JtHih]

The title alone of this video made my day. Thank you Tony.

[jluislosada71]

Thank you from Madrid, Spain.

[Calmany37]

are there any planets around our nearest star

[Danny77uk]

Mind. Blown.

[krapptacular]

Yeah i tried to download one of those big pictures and my computer laughed at me. : )

I need that milky way picture.

[jumb0mumb0]

Can't wait to see what advances are to come in space exploration in the next 50 years. As of know, why know next to shit.

[silversobe]

These have been awesome!

[kenny8331]

is it news that there are more planets than stars? no fuckin shit.

[DrakIems]

I'm really enjoying your coverage this week, thanks!

[MarkArandjus]

Solving the the Drake equation one step at a time!

[erdal0]

they should stop financing nasa and first fix the economy. what do you have with exoplanets with a empty belly? we already know they exist.what is the point to waste money on it.

[bearfan3417]

@erdal0 you have to be a moron not to understand why this is important

[erdal0]

@bearfan3417 you are a moron because you cant explain the importance

[myusernameisluc]

@bearfan3417

His critique appears not to be on space exploration in general, but throwing tax money at it while the country is broke and in such economic trouble. If the need is high enough, it will be provided by someone. But now is not the time. It's not of any use if we walk the same path the roman empire did anyway.

[mrrkkemp]

@erdal0 You could fund an entire shuttle mission for the cost of a week of the Iraq war.

[erdal0]

@mrrkkemp so lets stop the iraq spending frenzy and nasa spending frenzy and fix the economy

[mrrkkemp]

@erdal0 If the US railed in it's military it'd have more money than it knew what to do with. It wouldn't have to cut anything else. The US spends several times more money on it's military than the rest of the entire planet put together. Even China's budget is dwarfed by comparison. Food, employment, schools, healthcare and scientific endeavour including NASA is what it should be spent on. Man does not live by bread alone.

[djbb975]

@erdal0 try this..

w w w . teenink . c o m /opinion/environment/article/2­71337/The-Importance-of-Space-­Exploration-on-the-Future-of-t­he-Human-Race/

[erdal0]

@djbb975 that is bullshit. detailed knowledge about exoplanets is not going to help us. It is just a very expensive hobby of some assholes that the rest of the population is forced to sponsor with tax. Cut nasa spending to minimum. Only necessary things are allowed imo.

[Arikiel]

@erdal0 Do you realize how incredibly little we actually spend on NASA compared to things like the wars and corporate welfare? The space budget is chump change in contrast.

[erdal0]

@Arikiel That is not a good logic. We spend on war so that justifies that we shoot money into space. No, we stop funding NASA.

[milky1234123]

@erdal0

do you even know how much is spent on nasa and how much is private donations and such? Pleas eod researd before commenting thank you.

[bradfordbulls4lyf]

@erdal0 stop being on youtube and do your part then

[myusernameisluc]

@erdal0

Well said.

[christarasthegreat]

160 billion planets wow!!! i would so much like to visit all of them!

[tritonmole]

i dont feel lonely at all :)

[TheMasterAquarius]

Wow incredible ....

[lludd99]

keep looking up guys you wont find any aliens

[foely1]

Tony is looking pretty suave today.

[Vadalez8]

That information litterally made me sick! The possability of life and even intelligent life is growing at an alarming rate. This is truly an amazing time to be alive...

[surakon]

I am confident we will find a higher planet/star ratio in the future

[music2012]

There has to be billions of lost planets with no host star also that were flung out from their orbits from collisions and gravitational pull from other planets. 200 billion planets in our galaxy X 200 billion galaxies in our observable universe = 40,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets. Humans are still in the infancy stage, we have to completely change our way of thinking as a whole if we ever really want to explore space, it seems like an impossible task seeing how easily we screw things up.

[tdarnell]

@music2012 Good point, that's why I think 1.6 planets per star is a lower limit. The number of planets with NO star isn't even included in this survey.

Who knows how many of those there are!

[sorry8140]

@tdarnell yes, but are the planets with no star at all even relevant? i mean, if they have no source of heat then liquid water cant exist. and as far as we know, life cannot exist without water. so are these starless planets even worth noting?

[Jesuscopterapocalyps]

@tdarnell you mean star without planet, actually planets with no stars are thought to be higher than the ones orbiting a star

[Danny77uk]

@music2012 "it seems like an impossible task seeing how easily we screw things up."

Don't be so hard on the species! I'm not aware of any ducks sending space probes into space or operating space stations.

[Mrrzhw]

为什么我总是能看到303views？

[Films4You]

0:56 Looks a bit like the USS Starship Enterprise, when spun around, star tail pointing left... Huummm Space trying to tell us something LOL

[emman1185]

My mind= BLOWN

[JunkyHawk]

your the best, i love your videos. sometimes i get a tear in my eye beacuse of amazment and scale of the Universe.

[hunchaz]

Wow.....

[carella211]

That's a lot of fraking planets! All of a sudden I feel like you do when you're stuck in a crowded elevator. It's getting crowded in this galaxy!

[maggru91]

To think about this wonderful universe is breathtaking, but then you remember how petty humans are. We'll probably destroy ourselves before we ever get to spread into the universe :(

[DireStraitsInImpala]

@maggru91 At least other alien forms will be able to learn from the human mistakes lol

[SonOfTerra92]

@DireStraitsInImpala sorry , i meant that we shouldn't belittle ourselves, that was a typo error ...

[breakaleg10]

What are your thoughts on the three small planets found orbiting KOI-961?

[GeeKthatCaNfightHarD]

one of your best video's. makes you think...........THAT AVATAR COULD BE REAL!!!!.

all jokes aside really amazing.

[SuperJimbojames]

Tony you are a wonderful person who is spreading information and knowledge about our universe in a very easy to understand way. I Thank you!!!!

[bcta302]

Well I think it makes sense and it's obvious that there are more planets than stars in our galaxy... and highly possible in the whole universe.

I mean there are more fingers than hands and more hands than humans in the planet, right?

[KesselRunner606]

160 Billion planets?

Mind officially Blown!

[hla27b]

Exoplanets as common as grass? HOLY COWS!!!

[805Franco]

Most people like to read a book before going to bed, I like to watch a Tony Darnell video before I go to bed.

[805Franco]

There was once an ant named Tony and he always showed the other ants in the colony how much bigger the rest of their world was... and the ones that didn't spontaneously combust from all the information deemed him The Great Ambassador of Scientific Knowledge!

These videos are great! Keep makin them!

[Tethloach1]

I wonder if any aliens ever visited our planet hey we(earth) have been around 4.5 billion years + there is 160 billion planets. a small (2-4)few aliens could have easily arrived and exploited us it's just a hunch, looking at society and how crazy it is anything is believable, but still people are so dogmatic its sad.

[Xellith]

Tony should get an award for increasing public understanding.

[SpartanStig117]

160 billion..kinda makes u feel small doesn't it

[Tethloach1]

@SpartanStig117 No not really size is irrelevant, we know that we are small but were still more complicated than stars, a star is far easier for nature to from rather than a human, if you disagree thats because you assume humans are made4 in 9 months when infact if you start from scrath it would take 4billion years of evolution. some people disagree because they dont see the bigger picture.

[turbomarde]

Tdarnell makes fire rubbing 2 ice cube

[ddddoris]

Um =0 ....WOW!! 

[OSemeador]

mind = blown :)

[aocvvcephei]

Your video about the hubble deep field is just amazing...

[XXXPopeBenedictXVI]

It's nice to see mr Darnell as excited as a school boy.

[njimko23]

Do those numbers include the planets that are just drifting between stars?

[SecularMentat]

We need faster engines to get us to the stars..... yesterday.

[SonOfTerra92]

The journey of science is definitely the journey of the dethroning of the human ego from cosmic centre stage ... today , we've been knocked down another notch ... but look at the bright side. If we do get to colonize the stars, everyone gets their own palnet =)

[Kruemel9522]

@SonOfTerra92 not sure if the inhabitants of those planets would be so pleased...^^

[tdarnell]

@SonOfTerra92 Well said. :-)

[ZoeHannahan]

@SonOfTerra92 dibs on mars, it's mine!!

[filthyfun]

Sweet!

[Th0usandMaster]

This is the first time I wish i'm immortal! or at least live long enough to travel there! Imagine those unique animals on those planets! Just thinking about that makes me excited!

[mcsdaver]

Amazing finds.

Think of what we will find when the Web telescope is out there sending new info.

Amazing time to be alive.

This is the fastest way to see what is out there.

Looking into the past as everything is so very far away.

[Sakanakao]

I guess I always assumed that planets were this common, but it's amazing that we finally have evidence for it.

[tdarnell]

@Sakanakao My thoughts exactly. If this isn't blowing your mind, you're not thinking about this enough.

1.6 planets per star is a lower bound to be sure. As out detection techniques improve, I predict that number will converge to something closer to 8, like in our Solar System

[InnSewerAnts]

How could one be surprised about there being so many planets? I always assumed that,thinking it was the logical conclusion, our biggest example of a solar systems has 8 planets and some dwarf planets, 1 planet of which has life for certain and some moons might harbor simple life as well. So tbh I wonder where this empty dead planetless star systems myth ever came from, because it doesn't even fit with our observable examples even before we could actually check for exoplanets?

[Kruemel9522]

@InnSewerAnts maby the dead star systems myth comes from the religions because it was once thought that the humans are the only "inteligent" liveform in the univers and that the earth is in the center of the univers too

[tdarnell]

@InnSewerAnts This may seem obvious, but we can't just assume that something is true until we look.

I've always said the same thing many people are commenting on here, that OF COURSE there must be more planets that stars. But we couldn't say with certainty that this was the case, could we?. Now we have evidence backing up our assumptions.

To me, the big deal is WHAT THIS MEANS in our perception of ourselves.

[InnSewerAnts]

@tdarnell I didn't say we should assume, I said I am surprised at the surprise and that surprise is basically there because we assumed something that flew completely in the face of the only thing we did know, our own solar system. So your argument is fine about no assumption, as an amateur scientist I completely agree, but my question stands even more so then. Also I love your video's but you do know caps is screaming in chat/comments right? :)

[tdarnell]

@InnSewerAnts Sorry, I tend to use caps that way for emphasis rather than a volume change. My apologies if I came across as shouting.

I guess I'm confused about your point. I'm not so much surprised as I am thunderstruck by the notion of what this means about our place in the universe. When we were just thinking about the POSSIBILITY (emphasis) that planets were common, we can also just say, 'well we don't know for sure' and not have to think further.

We can't do that anymore

[kablamo9999]

I thought there were 200-400 billion stars in the Milky Way?

[SomedaysDreamersBC]

1AM is quickly becoming my favourite time of the day... Usually a Tdarnell video can be seen around this time. Well this week in any case (c= 160 billion planets t hats just mind blowing... Yeah we're DEFINITELY the only game in town.... Some back water planet....

[SomedaysDreamersBC]

PS Tony that video you first loaded is still the benchmark for awesome on youtube. I always end up back there ALWAYS.

[pipinho114]

@SomedaysDreamersBC drake equation redefined

[NICOLECALDERERO61]

obviously... exoplanets are quite hard to find before lucky microlensing helped us a lot, i believe almost all if not all stars have at least a few planets or at least some moon-like meteors being caught up around the stars' gravitational pull and I believe yes, i think the Drake Equation is to be officially proven true pretty soon, CARL SAGAN??? OF COURSE!!! CARL SAGAN IS ALWAYS RIGHT!!!

[SomedaysDreamersBC]

@NICOLECALDERERO61 Carl Sagan....friend to you and me.

[BeardedBill86]

@NICOLECALDERERO61 The drake equation is flawed though, it's a bit of a funny subject for scientists on a lunch break, but not really to be taken seriously.

[Elis60660]

160 billion planets... that is so freakin amazing.

[NICOLECALDERERO61]

Tony really has this amazing deep and very cool voice...

[zarkoff45]

That there are so many planets in the galaxy doesn't surprise me, it just means our own solar system is typical in that regard. Yet, it is still breath taking to contemplate even though not a surprise and we are still left with the real mystery -- the Fermi Paradox: If planets are common, and if intelligent life is somewhat common (as suggested by those super Earths), then we should have been visited or contacted by now. So, why haven't aliens openly visited or contacted us yet?

[zarnell]

@zarkoff45 according to the history channel they already have in ancient times lol

[BeardedBill86]

@zarkoff45 Because our calculations are obviously flawed, we have confirmation bias and incomplete date.

[toughlightyear]

@zarkoff45 because the planets are lightyears away from each other. if we imagine that they tried to communicate us through radio waves or something like that, we may not be having the technology to detect the signals. Even if assume that we have all required technology, how long it has been existing?

if the aliens are really intelligent they wud just stay away from the people who are ready to kill each other in the name of race, religion, nation etc.

[themax37]

@toughlightyear They could also be at the same level of technology as us but technology went through an entirely different evolution. Maybe they explored alternate things we overlooked in the past. Maybe they are like humans when it comes to religion and things like that and think they are special. Gets me excited to think about because we can't even imagine the possibilities.

[Rabastan]

Well I think isn't that surprising that tiny exoplanets are more common than the larger ones. It seems that nature everywhere tends to create more small objects than large objects. 160 billion exoplanets... The first thing in my mind was: Fermi paradox. Love your videos, Tony!

[tdarnell]

@Rabastan I know we all intuitively felt that there were more planets than stars, I felt it too. But 'feeling' something must be right and actually finding evidence that bears that out is....Well...

That is a different ballgame entirely.

[djungbremen]

So is there already something like Moore's Law for finding exoplanets?

[Intelmarble]

So...Where are they?!

[EmperorZeldar]

@Intelmarble Try observing tiny planets that have no source of light and distinguish them from stars. That's how planet discovery works.

[Intelmarble]

@EmperorZeldar I meant...Where is everybody?

[Albyint]

Carl Sagan once said, there will be a sunrise of 400 billion stars, now its that + tons of planets!!!!!! Im super excited!!!!

[rockorsario]

So Drake equation and Carl Sagan were right?

[eruption323]

How many of those books in the background have you read?

[Kariakas]

Your spoiling us, we can get used to daily videos.

[macadymac]

I love your videos. Helps me forget about all the BS in society.