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Astronomy
Despite the brilliance of these cosmic beacons, only 1% of a core-collapse supernova's energy is observable. The other 99% is in neutrinos.
With nearly 400 black hole events from gravitational waves, we can begin to infer their origins. At least two different populations emerge.
The history of atoms in the Universe is our own history: without them, there would be no us. So how do we piece their cosmic story together?
The LIGO facilities in the U.S. are the most sensitive gravitational wave detectors in the world. Their future remains uncertain.
At "only" 25 meters in diameter, the Giant Magellan Telescope is the smallest of three current projects. That might make all the difference.
Over 800,000 fireworks explode in under an hour in the world's largest fireworks shows. How do natural auroral displays compare in energy?
65 million years ago, a massive asteroid struck Earth, causing a mass extinction. Without advance warning, could anyone have spotted it?
With ~400 billion stars in the Milky Way and 6-20 trillion galaxies overall, that makes for a lot of stars. But not as many as you'd think.
The first one, NGC 1052-DF2, was mired in controversy. With four examples now, there only remains one possible escape. What does nature say?
Over 10 billion years in the past, an ultra-massive galaxy cluster lenses objects behind it. That has big implications for dark matter.
At 240 million light-years away, galaxy NGC 1277 hasn't formed new stars in over 10 billion years. Could it contain the first stars' ashes?
We live on Earth, orbiting the Sun, part of our Solar System, within the Milky Way. But what's our membership status on even larger scales?
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS has an ancient age, but not for the reason most commonly touted. These three lines of evidence are far stronger.
Globular clusters are some of the most ancient cosmic relics that still survive in our Milky Way today. Famed Terzan 5 isn't one of them.
With targets from all across the Universe, focusing a space telescope — with so many moving parts — is challenging, but doable. Here's how.
Despite their rarity, boron and beryllium can both be detected within white dwarf atmospheres. What does their presence and abundance imply?
Introducing Big Think’s first-ever poster — a stunningly detailed infographic of the universe from its earliest moments to the present day.
This 11-point scale aims to reduce the number of "false alarm" sightings so scientists can focus on harder-to-explain reports.
The Universe took a great many steps to create not just life, but intelligent life, here at home. What can we say about life beyond Earth?
Vast arrays of planets, stars, black holes, galaxies, and more populate our Universe. Within each category, differences can be astounding.
Contracting gas clouds don't just make a single star, but a spectrum, with all different masses. Early on, that spectrum differed. But why?
It's the Universe's ultimate chicken-and-egg question: what came first, the galaxy or the black hole? One Little Red Dot proves the answer.
In 2016, humanity announced our first successful gravitational wave detection. 10 years and 389 events later, here's how far we've come.
The Astro2020 decadal report set the USA's agenda for space and ground-based astronomy. Here in 2026, we're clearly on the wrong course.
Despite all that we've discovered, Earth remains the only planet definitively known to possess life. Here's how to find a second example.
Astronomers study our cosmic history through stellar and galactic archaeology. But we can't conduct archaeology in space. At least, not yet.
Light pollution now steals a pristine night sky from the majority of humanity. The rise of LED lighting, primarily since 2014, is to blame.
Messier 77 is one of the largest nearby spiral galaxies, with an active, brilliant core. Here's what JWST's incomparable eyes saw inside it.
A relatively tiny world in the Kuiper belt, just 500 km in diameter, has an atmosphere after all, joining Pluto. Here's what we know today.
Only nearby objects appear to the naked eye. With telescopes of all types, especially in space, we've smashed those records many times over.