Journey into the Cosmos — Season 1, Episode 5: Visit the Monsters of the Sky, Namely Supernovae, Pulsars, Quasars and Black Holes

Episode synopsis

The Noos spaceship continues its adventure in space: from one end of the universe to the other to observe those stars with characteristics so surprising and unusual that they've been nicknamed the monsters of space. Today's episode features encounters with vampire stars, whose extremely strong gravitational pull sucks matter from nearby stars until they disintegrate; stellar twins, born from the same gas cloud; black holes that swallow everything that passes by; and supernovae, stars collapsed by matter weighing thousands of tons per cubic millimeter. Alberto Angela joins us from Chaco Canyon, a city abandoned hundreds of years ago where rock carvings depict the explosion of a supernova; and from Socoro, also in New Mexico, one of the world's largest astronomical observatories; before explaining Einstein's theory of relativity from the National Institute for Nuclear Physics in Frascati.

About Journey into the Cosmos

Seven episodes explore the fascinating adventure of the universe. Scientific rigor is complemented by spectacular images created with the aid of cutting-edge technology and special effects, films, animated fact sheets, and astronomical instruments. Piero Angela connects with a replica of himself in space, AstroPiero. A second correspondent, Alberto Angela, connects with the study from astrophysics laboratories and observatories around the world.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1Landing on the Moon, visiting Venus, Visiting and Descending into the Sun
• E2Exploration of Mars and the Moon Phobos, Asteroid Encounter, Flyby of Jupiter and Io
• E3Visiting Saturn, Titan, Uranus, Neptune, and the Oort Cloud
• E4Journey to the Outer Solar System
• E6Man in Space and the Possibility of Adaptation
• E7Life in Space