One thing that has annoyed me recently being a lover of space and science is the increasing number and popularity of what I would call scripted, clickbait channels.
Now, I won’t name them here but the description below will help
Clickbait titles – Like What Scientists found on XXX will shock you, Insert the name of probe discovery will shock you, or similar
Clickbait thumbnails – You know the type, Joe Rogan, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Elon Musk, Nikolai Tesla, or Michio Haku appear in many. Maybe throw in aliens or ufos as well.
The actual video tends to be an ai voice read script and if you are lucky there might be the content you are looking for but it tends to be irrelevant pictures and clips with a random script.
You see shock, and horror these videos tend to be made the same way. It tends to depend on how lazy the channel owner is – you feed the script into an online site that suggests visual content based on the paragraph and at the end you can spew out a video using that content.
What is annoying is that these ‘videos’ gain millions of views on Youtube, allegedly and it looks like Youtube promotes them, probably because they are littered with ads. This can mean good video content is buried for the casual browser or user.
Considering Youtube’s holier-than-thou approach to content you would think that’s surprising but alas no really. It appears accuracy of content in space and science in general is not so important
So I tried to find some genuine channels for your enjoyment – not a definitive list but lets go.
Youtube Channels
Anton Petrov : https://www.youtube.com/@whatdamath
Not just about space but that is definitely one of the major subjects of the videos on this channel.
Well-researched and interesting videos avoid the dubious thumbnails and titles – well recommended
Over 3000 videos in total, they all seem to come in at around the 10 minutes mark
Astrum : https://www.youtube.com/@astrumspace
Again a variety of interesting videos on space-related subjects, avoids the dubious thumbnails and it certainly sounds like a real person
Videos are around the 15-minute mark but a couple of cracking longer ones on the channel. I especially enjoyed one on the Planet Mercury I recently watched that was longer.
Just over 290 videos to look at, so you’ll find something entertaining here
PBSSpaceTime : https://www.youtube.com/@pbsspacetime
A wide range of space-related videos on these channels, I’ve watched many and they seem to avoid clickbait thumbnails and are well-researched and interesting
Just watched a video about a Supernova which explained the facts about how dangerous they could be without any of the were all doomed titles, nice and educational
Over 350 videos will certainly keep you busy
Geographics – https://www.youtube.com/@geographics1340
This is one of Simon Whistlers’ numerous channels. It’s a mixture of content but here are some of the titles of videos that I found interesting, as you can see a lot of space-related content to enjoy.
Charon: Pluto’s Eerie Twin
Triton: Ice Volcanoes and Alien Oceans
Kuiper Belt: Realm of the Dwarf Planets
ldest Surface in the Solar System
Jupiter: Sculptor of the Planets
Ganymede: The Solar System’s Largest Moon
Mercury: The Impossible Planet
Shoemaker Levy 9: Jupiter’s Apocalyptic Comet
Venus: Earth’s Evil Twin
Io: A World of Ice and Fire
Planet Uranus: Probing the Ice Giant
Enceladus: Saturn’s Incredible Ocean Moon
Titan: Saturn’s Eerie Earth Like Moon
Ceres: Earth’s Mysterious Frozen Neighbor
Sagittarius A*: The Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole
The Moon: Earth’s Celestial Cousin
Europa: Is There Life on Jupiter’s Frozen Moon?
Summary
This is by no way a definitive list, I will add more and update after I look at videos on a channel but the channels above should at least whet your appetite