Uploads from Dr. Becky

Currently Playing: A DECAGON shaped storm raging on Saturn | Night Sky News September 2026

AD | Check out KiwiCo for engaging projects that inspire the next generation of crafters, scientists, and engineers! Go to http://kiwico.com/astrodrbecky and use code ASTRODRBECKY to get 50% off your first monthly crate | Welcome back to Night Sky News for September 2026 with me, astrophysicist Dr Becky Smethurst! In this episode we’re chatting about the discovery of a decagon shape at Saturn’s south pole, an update on the Roman Space Telescope after its launch, a claim of a potential dark matter detection by particle physicists, and that announcement of a potential solution to one of the most famous equations in maths and physics by AI, along with what you can see in the night sky stargazing in the next few weeks. Papers mentioned: Lux-Zeppelin collaboration (2026) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.02823 Sánchez-Lavega et al. (2026) - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aee4251?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F Barbosa Aguiar et al. (2010) - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0019103509004382 OpenAI’s Navier Stokes solution claim: https://openai.com/index/navier-stokes-solution/ Godfrey (1988) - Paywalled - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0019103588900759 Walmsley et al. (2022) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2102.08414 Previous videos: Saturn’s hexagon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCpis-SiZ0c Videos mentioned: Numberphile @numberphile : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERBVFcutl3M Up and Atom @upandatom : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvTHBXyXM2I Dr Becky channel AI usage policy - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vStmr3DkZmm5jIiKLbrGKn8jWRsYs957J0ptBjZiQtDWkEFklykAzNqmMvmFaIvCeFqPswQYuk8gy6k/pub 00:00 - Introduction - 01:11 - Stargazing 08:35 - NASA's Roman launch 12:33 - Dark matter detection? 17:06 - Navier Stokes solved by AI? 24:24 - A decagon discovered on Saturn 30:56 - Bloopers Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV Video edited by Martino Gasparrini: martino.freelance@gmail.com Video produced by Marina Hui & Dr Becky Smethurst --- 📚 My book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky --- 👕 My merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): https://dr-becky.teemill.com/ --- 🎧 Royal Astronomical Society Podcast that I co-host: podfollow.com/supermassive --- 🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video! --- 👩🏽‍💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars. http://drbecky.uk.com