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Astronomy
From life on Earth to the planet itself, there are four ways our planet will actually experience "the end," no matter how we define it.
From the tablets of the Babylonians to the telescopes of modern science, humans have always looked to the skies for fundamental answers.
Galactic archaeology has uncovered a spectacular find: the Milky Way already existed more than 13 billion years ago.
To answer any physical question, you must ask the Universe itself. But what happens when the answers aren't around anymore?
Even a tiny sliver of the Universe can reveal the cosmic story of what's out there and how it came to be the way it is today.
The closest star system to Earth, just over 4 light-years away, has three stars and at least one Earth-sized planet. Is it time to go there?
In 1990, we only knew of the planets in our own Solar System. Today, the exoplanet count is more than 5000. Here's what we've learned.
When we started imaging the Universe with Hubble, every star had four "spikes" coming from it. Here's why Webb will have more.
Aerial drone footage was sent to an AI trained to track down space rocks.
The far infrared reveals both the coldest and hottest gas in the Universe, and can teach us what no other wavelength range can.
60% of all potentially dangerous asteroids remain undetected.
To understand the edges of our universe, we’ll need to explore the edges of our own philosophies.
John Templeton Foundation
In the night sky for March of 2022, only stars and the Moon, not planets, will greet you. The real show, however, arrives just before dawn.
Despite all that we've learned about the Universe, there remain unanswered, and possibly unanswerable, questions. Could "God" be the answer?
Astronomers used supercomputers and an international network of antennas to create the stunning map.
Shortly after planet Earth formed, life took a permanent hold on our surface. But just how common is such an outcome?
When we look out at the Universe, even with Hubble, we're only seeing the closest, biggest, brightest galaxies. Here's where the rest are.
There's a limit to how large planets can be, and it's only about double the radius of Jupiter. At least, so far.
Despite being the closest planet to the Sun, Mercury "only" reaches 800 °F at its hottest. Venus is always hotter, even at night.
Professional astronomy images are the gold standard. But this Large Magellanic Cloud composite is the amateur community's best image ever.
“When molecules misbehave, it can lead to great insight.”
Out of all the galaxies we know, only a few little ones are missing dark matter. At last, we finally understand why.
The odds are slim, but the consequences would be devastating. Here's what would happen, plus how to avoid it.
The Kardashev scale ranks civilizations from Type 1 to Type 3 based on energy harvesting.
Once science operations begin for James Webb, we'll never look at the Universe the same way again. Here's what everyone should know.
Nearly 200 orbital launches are scheduled for 2022.
Yes, the Universe is expanding, but you might wonder, "How fast is it expanding?"
Please stop calling our Sun an "average star." It is philosophically dubious and astronomically incorrect.
65 million years ago, an asteroid strike caused the 5th great mass extinction. Could we save Earth, today, from a similar event?
As viewed by the MeerKAT telescope, this radio view of the Milky Way blows away every other way we've ever seen our home galaxy.