Lost in Space Game Night

Neil deGrasse Tyson (0:02)

Welcome to StarTalk, your place in the Universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk begins right now.

This is StarTalk. Neil deGrasse Tyson, your personal astrophysicist, and today is a special edition of StarTalk, because once again, StarTalk has collaborated with National Geographic Books to release our latest installment titled, Lost in Space, 5,000 Facts to Navigate the Universe. And this is being held by my co-author, Lindsey Nix Walker. Lindsey, hello.

Lindsey Nyx Walker (0:51)

Hello.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (0:52)

Hello, middle name Nix, N-Y-X.

Lindsey Nyx Walker (0:54)

That's right.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (0:55)

K-N-I-C-K-S.

Lindsey Nyx Walker (0:57)

No.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (0:57)

Nix.

Lindsey Nyx Walker (0:58)

No, no.

Lindsey Nyx Walker (0:58)

I had it before Nix were cool. So.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:02)

Nix is a mythological.

Lindsey Nyx Walker (1:04)

Nix is a Greek goddess.

She's supposedly the only goddess that Zeus feared. She is born of chaos and gave birth to dreams.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:14)

Oh, damn.

Paul Mecurio (1:15)

That's heavy stuff.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:15)

That's heavy stuff. Paul.

Paul Mecurio (1:17)

Yes.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:17)

Hey, dude.

Paul Mecurio (1:18)

Also a Greek mythology name, God of Pizza Delivery. Good to see you guys.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:26)

Well, welcome back to StarTalk.

Paul Mecurio (1:28)

Congrats on the book. Thank you. Very happy for you.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:30)

Thank you.

Paul Mecurio (1:31)

Lindsey carrying your ass, as usual.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:34)

So you cook up this episode. I had nothing to do with this.

Paul Mecurio (1:38)

I'm excited about this.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:40)

She put stuff together. I don't even know what I'm doing.

Lindsey Nyx Walker (1:42)

This is a StarTalk team effort. We've never done this before. This is StarTalk Chaos Edition. We have a wheel here. It's called Wheel of Neil. Take it for a spin. When it lands on something, can you spin it a little bit more enthusiastically? Thank you.

Lindsey Nyx Walker (1:58)

Exactly.

Paul Mecurio (1:59)

This is an assisted living facility.

Lindsey Nyx Walker (2:00)

Show some energy. Higher, lower.

Paul Mecurio (2:04)

Now, are we winning something at the end of the game? Do I get something? Do I get a watch, maybe, like a nice watch from my friend Neil?

Lindsey Nyx Walker (2:12)

Free tour of the museum.

Paul Mecurio (2:13)

Yes.

Lindsey Nyx Walker (2:15)

I have on this card numbers and facts. You have to tell me if the next number is higher or lower than the first number. To start, you're going to guess this number. The distance in feet that Alan Shepard hit a golf ball on the moon.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:29)

280 feet.

Lindsey Nyx Walker (2:31)

Great guess.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:32)

The moon's gravity is lower, will stay airborne longer. He's got a puffy suit, but he likes golf.

Paul Mecurio (2:39)

Right. And did the question include explain why?

Lindsey Nyx Walker (2:43)

No.

Paul Mecurio (2:44)

I'm going to say 350 feet.

Lindsey Nyx Walker (2:48)

Okay, you're both wrong. It is less than that. It is 120 feet.

Paul Mecurio (2:52)

What? I thought he hit it like 100 yards. I thought he hit it like a football field.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:56)

When you're on a smaller cosmic object, the horizon is closer to you.

Paul Mecurio (3:02)

But what does that have to do with how-

Neil deGrasse Tyson (3:03)

Because when you hit something a certain distance, it's like that's halfway to the horizon. But if the horizon isn't very far, your brain misinterprets what just happened.

Paul Mecurio (3:13)

But who calculated that num- It's an actual number. They looked where the thing hit the moon.

Lindsey Nyx Walker (3:19)

It should in theory go farther if you are not wearing a puffy spacesuit. But he had a huge spacesuit on. This is Apollo, one of the Apollo missions. They had gigantic spacesuit and it was one-handed. Right.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (3:30)

If there were a word for non-golfer, it would be me.

Lindsey Nyx Walker (3:34)

Yeah. You know what? Same. Is this number higher or lower than 120?

The wind speed in miles per hour at Uranus' equator. Higher or lower than 120?

Paul Mecurio (3:46)

It feels like it should be greater than 120 I'm going to go greater. 175 175 miles per hour.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (3:53)

I don't know this number, but Uranus is tipped on its axis like a lot.

And so the equator gets direct heat from the sun. It's got to be much higher than that. The sun drives convection and other air movement.

Paul Mecurio (4:08)

Okay, I want to correct my answer, please.