Discovery Channel - How the Universe Works Series 2 (2012) Part 5 Extreme Orbits - Clockwork and Creation

How the Universe Works Series 2

The universe is made up of wondrous statistics that detail the incredible range between large and small, near and far, and light and dark – but what any of these inexact terms really describe is still open to debate. We are surrounded by laws that govern everything – determining the colour of the stars, the gravity controlling our solar system and the beginning and end of the universe itself.

Part 5: Extreme Orbits - Clockwork and Creation

Orbits are the dynamics that drive the universe. From the smallest asteroid to the largest super-cluster, everything in the universe is in orbit. We owe our very existence to the stability of earth's orbit — it gave us life and keeps us safe. But we are the freaks. Everywhere else we look we find orbits are chaotic, unstable, and violent. Beyond our solar system we find planets that are blow-torched, stars that eat each other, and black holes that destroy everything in their path. Yet on the very largest scale, orbits are also a creative force. clashing galaxies give birth to new stars and new worlds. on the galactic scale orbits even construct the fabric of the universe itself.

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