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Only Shooting Stars

2020-06-19 · explainer · Hank · 3:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature · mode: Curiosity & trivia · tags: self promotion, community lore

Hank explains that the shooting stars Earth runs into every day are tiny, mostly ancient bits of space dust (some older than the Sun, a few from the Moon, Mars or even Earth) and says he just wanted to look at ordinary shooting stars as a little beauty to be grateful for; then he shows his author copies of A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor and its first review.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — What shooting stars are: 50 tons a day of tiny, ancient space dust, older than Earth's rocks, some from the Moon, Mars or Earth itself

  • ★★ Hank says Earth crashes through on average around 50 tons of stuff a day; space is empty but Earth is big, and a visible shooting star takes little. — 00:00:00 · Earth
  • ★★ Hank says the speck you see as a shooting star is probably no bigger than a grain of sand. (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Almost everything Earth runs into is little rocks flung off comets or remnants of collisions between bodies in the solar system. — 00:00:21 · Earth
  • ★★ Earth's rocky surface is geologically young because tectonic activity keeps replacing it, so an average rock is probably not much older than 2 billion years and quite likely younger than dinosaurs. (hedged) — 00:00:21 · Earth
  • ★★★ Hank says nearly all the specks of dust and metal Earth runs into every day are older than the oldest rock on Earth. — 00:00:21 · Earth
  • ★★★ Many rocks on Earth recently fell from space, and the oldest particles on Earth, embedded in a meteorite, are over 7 billion years old, about 2 billion years older than the Sun. — 00:01:02 · Earth
  • ★★ Hank doesn't know what share of the daily dust is that old and doesn't think anyone does: it is burned up by the atmosphere, so we only get to watch it. (unsure) — 00:01:02 · Earth
  • ★★ Hank says that sometimes to learn about space we must go to it, but in the form of shooting stars it comes to us. — 00:01:30
  • ★★★ Hank says 0.2% of meteorites, meteoroids that land on Earth, come from the Moon or Mars, thrown up when big meteorites hit those bodies. — 00:01:30 · Mars, Earth
  • ★★ Hank says bits of Venus and Mercury have probably also landed on Earth, but none has ever been found. (hedged) — 00:02:06 · Earth
  • ★★ Some shooting stars Earth runs into are probably bits of Earth thrown up millions of years ago by massive collisions. (hedged) — 00:02:06 · Earth

00:02:30 — Just looking at ordinary shooting stars: billions of years of existence becoming a little beauty to be grateful for

  • ★★ Apollo 14 seems to have brought back from the Moon a rock that is actually from Earth, possibly the oldest Earth rock, flung there more than four billion years ago. (hedged) — 00:02:30 · Earth
  • ★★★ Hank just wanted to look at ordinary little shooting stars: ancient dust that hits the atmosphere so fast it glows, its billions of years becoming just another little beauty to be grateful for. — 00:02:30

00:03:08 — Author copies of A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, the Library Journal review, nerves, footage credit and tour/pre-order pointer

  • ★★★ Hank tells John his author copies of the book are in, with the actual words; it is a little longer than the first, not by design: there was just a lot of story to tell. — 00:03:08 · A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor
  • ★★ The book got its first review, from Library Journal, praising the adventurous, witty, compelling novel's sharp commentary on social media; Hank calls it fair. — 00:03:08 · A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor
  • ★★ Hank is super excited and pretty nervous about the book, hence watching shooting star videos. — 00:03:41
  • ★ Hank thanks Thomas Lindemann for letting him use his shooting star footage and links his channel. — 00:03:41
  • ★★ Hank points to the description for the digital book tour and how to preorder the book. — 00:03:41 · A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description lists the registration-only tour stops July 6-10 with John, Ashley C. Ford, Roman Mars and Cory Doctorow, plus the free July 7 YouTube launch. — video description · John Green
  • ★ In a comment Hank explains rock ages: atom arrangements in Earth's mantle and core are completely reformed, while in space they stay locked as when the solar system formed, or before. — creator comment · Earth

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor · meteor

Also: Organizations: Library Journal

Concepts: comet · dinosaur · meteorite · plate tectonics

Places: Earth · Mars · Mercury · Moon · Solar System · Sun (star) · Venus

Events: Apollo 14

Taking part: Ashley C. Ford · Cory Doctorow · Roman Mars

Only in the description or credits: All Star · Amazon · Barnes & Noble · Bookshop.org · The Town Hall · Thomas Lindemann · Waterstones

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