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Last broadcast on Mon, 23 Jan 2012, 23:00 on BBC HD (see all broadcasts).
Synopsis
In the third episode, Professor Brian Cox takes on the story of the force that sculpts the entire universe - gravity.
Gravity seems so familiar, and yet it is one of the strangest and most surprising forces in the universe. Starting with a zero gravity flight, Brian experiences the feeling of total weightlessness, and considers how much of an effect gravity has had on the world around us.
But gravity also acts over much greater distances. It is the great orchestrator of the cosmos. It dictates our orbit around the sun, our relationship with the other planets in our solar system, and even the way in which our solar system orbits our galaxy.
Yet the paradox of gravity is that it is actually a relatively weak force. Brian takes a face distorting trip in a centrifuge to explain how it is that gravity achieves its great power, before looking at the role it plays in one of the most extraordinary phenomena in the universe - a neutron star. Although it is just a few kilometres across, it is so dense that its gravity is 100, 000 million times as strong as on Earth.
Over the centuries our quest to understand gravity has allowed us to understand some of the true wonders of the universe, and Brian reveals that it is scientists' continuing search for answers that inspires his own sense of wonder.
Professor Brian Cox at the Very Large Array on the plains of New Mexico
Consisting of 27 radio telescopes it is one of the world's premier astronomical radio observatories. Using long wavelengths of light, astronomers can look through the dusty regions of space to the centre of galaxies like the Milky Way, enabling them to study parts of the Universe that can not be seen in visible light.
Credits
- Series Producer
- James Van Der Pool
- Presenter
- Brian Cox
- Director
- Chris Holt
- Producer
- Chris Holt
- Executive Producer
- Jonathan Renouf
Broadcasts
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Sun 20 Mar 201121:00
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Sun 20 Mar 201121:00
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Mon 21 Mar 201101:30
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Tue 22 Mar 201119:00
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Tue 22 Mar 201119:00
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Wed 23 Mar 201119:00
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Thu 24 Mar 201120:00
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Tue 14 Jun 201100:25
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Mon 4 Jul 201123:00
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Wed 6 Jul 201101:00
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Wed 28 Dec 201119:00
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Thu 29 Dec 201100:50
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Mon 23 Jan 201223:00
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