The most surprising discoveries from our universe – with Chris Lintott

Did you know that many profound discoveries about our universe have been made accidentally? Find out more with Chris Lintott.

Buy Chris' book 'Our Accidental Universe: Stories of Discovery from Asteroids to Aliens' here: https://geni.us/IEBBkkY
Watch the Q&A here:    • Q&A: The most surprising discoveries ...  

Join BBC Sky at Night presenter and Gresham Professor of Astronomy Chris Lintott as he unravels tales of peculiar accidents, remarkable individuals, and the occasional human oversight that have collectively shaped some of the most pivotal celestial revelations.

This lecture was recorded at the Ri on 21 March 2024.

00:00 Intro – our accidental universe
4:08 The incredible discovery made on Saturn’s moon Enceladus
13:27 Searching for life across the cosmos
19:16 Radio signals from across the universe?
29:06 Detecting possible structures around planets
39:51 Planetary ingestion – planets eating stars
45:11 Why conditions on Venus are so different from Earth
50:40 How NASA fixed the Hubble telescope in space
54:38 What Hubble discovered by accident

When capturing the first glimpses of the earliest galaxies, the Hubble Space Telescope was focused on a region of space presumed to be vacant. However, the image it produced was anything but – the iconic Hubble Ultra-Deep Field image revealed at least 10,000 galaxies.

Another astonishingly accidental discovery was the hidden story of Enceladus, one of Saturn’s myriad moons. Very little was known about Enceladus until NASA’s Cassini probe revealed its environment in more detail, including its capabilities as a potential haven for life.

The narrative continues with the revelation of pulsars, the remnants of colossal stars long extinguished. They were not uncovered through meticulous observation but rather as hidden gems within the unassuming data, disguised as background noise in the measurements of faint celestial radio signals.

As new observatories and state-of-the-art technology continue to develop, Chris calls for scientists to keep an open mind as the potential for discovery grows, allowing us to unravel the mysteries of the universe.

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Christopher John Lintott is a British astrophysicist, author and broadcaster. He is a Professor of Astrophysics in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford, and since 2023 is the Gresham Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, London. Lintott is involved in a number of popular science projects aimed at bringing astronomy to a wider audience and is also the primary presenter of the BBC television series The Sky at Night.

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