Astronomy

Astronomy

A dense field of stars and galaxies is visible against a black background, with some bright stars showing lens flares.
The COSMOS-Web survey is now complete, combining JWST and Hubble infrared data. Its spectacular views show us the Universe as never before.
A green planet with rings is shown against a starry black background, with shadowy humanoid figures visible inside the planet’s outline.
Long before the search for biosignatures, scientists imagined a cosmos teeming with intelligent life.
Bright star at the center of a blue nebula radiates mass energy, surrounded by numerous smaller stars, with diffraction spikes visible from the brightest stars.
All stars shine due to an internal source of energy. Usually, it's nuclear fusion: converting mass into energy. What makes them most bright?
A vintage-style illustration of a celestial scene, echoing science fiction by scientists, features a textured black planet and a whimsical moon with an eye, all enclosed in a pale green border against a starry background.
What happens when scientists "write what they know"? Some amazing science fiction stories.
A man in a blazer holds up a yellow card with black line drawings and gestures with his other hand against a plain background.
8mins
"There is interesting ethical questions about how we should actually conduct ourselves in [a space colonization] exploration phase."
Photons come in every wavelength you can imagine. But one particular quantum transition makes light at precisely 21 cm, and it's magical.
An artist's rendering of an alien planet and a red star.
A Cambridge-based team claims to find molecules on an exoplanet that are only produced by life on Earth. Don't fall for the unfounded hype.
Illustration of three planets orbiting a star, with colored bands indicating the habitable zone; text reads "FINDING LIFE Habital Zone.
18mins
"There's a long history of people claiming planets which look Earth-like, Earth 2.0, Earth twins."
In all the known Universe, Earth is the only planet known to have native life. What should guide us in expanding humanity beyond our world?
black hole baby universe
Perhaps no existential question looms larger than that of our ultimate cosmic origins. At long last, science has provided the answers.
A vast view of deep space, captured in one of NASA's most important images, displays numerous galaxies of varying shapes and colors against a dark backdrop scattered with distant stars.
The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990, was originally seen as a colossal mistake. This one image, taken in 1995, changed everything.
A person sits in front of a white backdrop, surrounded by a cosmic map with galaxies and celestial objects.
2hr 18mins
"Asking the question of, "Where did the entire universe come from?" is no longer a question for poets and theologians and philosophers. This is a question for scientists, and we have some amazing scientific answers to this question."
uranium oxide oklo nuclear reactor
Planets can create nuclear power on their own, naturally, without any intelligence or technology. Earth already did: 1.7 billion years ago.
The spiral galaxy, surrounded by dim stars and interstellar dust, stands out against a dark background, shining brighter than astronomers once imagined.
The most famous Hubble images show glittering stars and galaxies amidst the black backdrop of space. But more was captured than we realized.
planetary nebulae
In around 7 billion years, we expect the Sun to run out of fuel, dying in a planetary nebula/white dwarf combination. Is that for certain?
A glowing orange planet casts a shadow in space amid a backdrop of stars.
Exoplanets can exist anywhere around their parent stars, even so close that they evaporate or disintegrate. Even the rocky ones.
Two visualizations map the cosmos, displaying color-coded cosmic microwave background radiation. Blue and orange patches indicate temperature variations across a spherical and an oval projection.
It's difficult to project a sphere onto a flat, two-dimensional surface. All maps of the Earth have flaws; the same is true for the cosmos.
We understand many things about our Universe, and our home within it, extremely well. The number of stars in the Milky Way isn't among them.
A colorful, spinning galaxy with a bright orange core, existing for 12 billion years, is surrounded by smaller galaxies and star clusters against a black space background.
Large, massive, rotating galaxies like the Milky Way are common today. So how could one form a mere ~2 billion years after the Big Bang?
A person in a suit sits on a chair against a cosmic background with galaxies and stars.
1hr 33mins
"Many astronomers are really driven by the search for Earth twins because I think deep down the natural endpoint of this whole goal of looking for planets is to answer the question, are we alone?"
globular cluster terzan 5
For centuries, even after we knew the Sun was a star like any other, we still didn't know what it was made of. Cecilia Payne changed that.
From the vastness of space, Earth at night reveals its exo-earth beauty, with illuminated continents showcasing a tapestry of lights across North and South America. Major cities and regions emerge from the glowing darkness, painting a vivid picture against the backdrop of oceans.
Even from a single pixel, multiwavelength data taken over time can reveal clouds, icecaps, oceans, continents, and even signs of life.
Colorful galaxy with dark dust lanes and bright stars, set against a deep space background.
Someday, we'll look back and see a young galaxy forming stars for the first time. JADES-GS-z14-0, the farthest ever, isn't early enough.
Two side-by-side images of the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula showcase different views with vibrant colors and star-filled backgrounds, embodying the great paradox of beauty within science.
Our scientific instruments are constantly improving, revealing nature's workings as never before. Without them, we'll remain in the dark.
Gloved hands hold an open book titled "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection" by Charles Darwin, a seminal work exploring the origin of life, published in London by John Murray, 1859.
These books helped build the empirical case that life's origins differ from those described in myths and legends.
A grid of six Hubble Space Telescope images showcases different types of colorful nebulae with intricate shapes against a starry backdrop.
Some nebulae emit their own light, some reflect the light from stars around them, and some only absorb light. But that's just the beginning.
A tilted spiral galaxy gracefully tipped towards the viewer reveals a bright core and dark, dusty rings, set against the infinity of deep blue space.
When we see spiral galaxies, some are face-on, others are edge-on, but most are tipped at an angle. But which side is closest to us?
Composite image of spiral galaxy NGC 300. Left: wide view with area highlighted. Right: close-up of highlighted area. Bottom: magnified star field view. NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team.
The tiniest galaxies of all are the most susceptible to violence by their larger, bullying siblings. That's why we need them in isolation.
A red star is at the center, with five orbiting paths marked by yellow dots, resembling exoplanets around the nearest single star, set against a starry night backdrop that illustrates a planetary system.
Barnard's star, the closest singlet star system to ours, has long been a target for planet-hunters. We've finally confirmed it: they exist!
Text "Cosmic Origins" over a bright, colorful explosion effect with star-like patterns in the background.
Since the dawn of history, humans have pondered our ultimate cosmic origins. Now in the 21st century, science has gone beyond the Big Bang.