WE'RE BACK WITH AMERICA'S SWEETHEART, NEIL deGRASSE
TYSON.
I WANT TO ASK YOU ABOUT ANOTHER ASTEROID.
THE HUBBLE RECENTLY POINTED AT AN ASTEROID THAT I THINK WAS
DISCOVERED A WHILE AGO, BUT NOW IT'S SORT OF INVESTIGATING IT.
IT'S AN ASTEROID THAT'S DESCRIBED AS RARE AND WORTH 10
QUINTILLION DOLLARS IN RAW MATERIALS.
WHAT'S GOING ON HERE, NEIL?
SHOULD I INVEST?
( LAUGHS ) >> NO, AND I'LL TELL YOU WHY.
OKAY, SO THAT CALCULATION-- BY THE WAY, SO THIS IS AN ASTEROID
THAT HAS IRON, NICKEL, GOLD, SILVER, PLATINUM --
>> Stephen: HOW BIG ARE WE TALKING HERE?
>> IT'S ABOUT 250 KILOMETERS ACROSS.
IT'S A BIG CHUNK OF ROCK.
IT'S ONE OF THE LARGEST ASTEROIDS IN THE ASTEROID BELT
WHICH IS WHY IT WAS DISCOVERED 150 YEARS AGO.
I THINK IT WAS THE 16th ASTEROID EACH DISCOVERED.
,000 THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF THEM AS OUR
TELESCOPES GOT BETTER.
HERE'S THE THING-- MANY ASTEROIDS, WE THINK, ARE
FRAGMENTS OF PLANETS THAT HAD TRIED TO FORM AND GOT MOST OF
THE WAY THERE, AND THEN GOT SLAMMED, AND THEN BROKE INTO
PIECES.
IF YOU ARE A NEWLY FORMED PLANET, YOUR FLUID AND HEAVY
THINGS FALL TO THE MIDDLE.
AND LIGHT THINGS FLOAT.
SO GRAVITY PRESIFTS THE HEAVY ELEMENTS FOR YOU.
THEN IT SLIDDIFIES, BREAKS APART, AND YOU HAVE AN ENTIRE
ASTEROID MADE OF JUST THE CORE OF THAT OBJECT THAT ONCE WAS.
>> Stephen: YEAH >> AND THAT CORE, IN THIS CASE,
IS ALL METAL, ALL METAL.
SO HERE'S THE THING-- YOU CAN SAY WHAT'S NICKEL WORTH AND
SILVER WORTH AND GOLD AND PLATINUM, ALL OF THIS, AND ADD
IT UP, YOU GET 10,000 QUADRILLION DOLLARS, AS LONG AS
IT STAYS OUT THERE.
SO, STEVE, YOU WANT TO LASSO THIS AND BRING IT BACK TO EARTH.
THAT'S THE END OF THE ECONOMY FOR EVERY ONE WERE THOSE
ELEMENTS BECAUSE IT WILL BE-- WE'LL HAVE SO MUCH OF IT, THE
PRICE WILL DROP TO NEAR ZERO.
>> Stephen: IF SOMETHING THAT SIZE HIT THE EARTH?
>> OH.
>> Stephen: NOT GOOD, HEY?
>> REALLY BAD.
>> Stephen: HARD, AND HARD, TOO.
>> THE DINOSAURS-- THE ONE THAT TOOK OUT THE DINOSAURS, THIS
WOULD MAKE THAT ASTEROID LOOK LIKE A PEBBLE.
>> Stephen: OKAY.
YOU MADE THIS REALLY LOVELY POST ON WHAT DAY WAS THIS?
YESTERDAY.
HERE IS-- YOU POSTED ABOUT A VERY SPECIAL PERSON VOTING THIS
WEEK.
WHAT'S GOING ON IN THIS PHOTO HERE, NEIL deGRASSE TYSON?
>> OKAY, I POSTED THAT.
THAT'S MY 92-YEAR-OLD MOTHER WHO WANTED TO MAKE SURE HER VOTE WAS
HEARD, AND WENT TO THE POLLING STATION, AND SHE LIVES IN
WESTCHESTER.
AND SHE WAS SECOND IN LINE, ALL RIGHT, AND GOT IN, AND IN THE
BACK OF THAT PHOTO, YOU CAN SEE IT'S 8:03.
THE POLLS OPENED AT 8:00, AND SHE VOTED.
AND YOU CAN SEE HER WITH HER SNEAKERS ON, SHE'S GOT HER MASK,
BCAUSE SHE LISTENS TO MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS AS WELL.
AND I JUST SAID, "THIS IS MY MOTHER VOTING IN PERSON, VOTING
EARLY SM OF THAT'S ALL I DID, I DIDN'T-- IT WAS JUST AN
OFFERING.
SHE'S 92.
WHAT'S YOUR EXCUSE.
>> Stephen: NEIL, THANKS SO MUCH FOR BEING HERE.
ALWAYS GREAT TO TALK TO YOU.
AS SOON AS THIS DAMN ELECTION IS OVER, THE FIRST THING I'M GOING
TO WATCH IS "COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS."
IT AIRS TUESDAYS ON FOX.
NEIL deGRASSE TYSON, EVERYBODY.