Astronomy

Astronomy

ai drone meteorite
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.
A black-and-white abstract image featuring a dense field of small dots and a central dark oval, evoking the mysterious allure of black holes, surrounded by a lighter, glowing area.
To understand the edges of our universe, we’ll need to explore the edges of our own philosophies.
John Templeton Foundation
planets march 2022
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.
existence of God
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.
how many planets
Shortly after planet Earth formed, life took a permanent hold on our surface. But just how common is such an outcome?
hot big bang
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.
largest planet
There's a limit to how large planets can be, and it's only about double the radius of Jupiter. At least, so far.
hottest planet
Despite being the closest planet to the Sun, Mercury "only" reaches 800 °F at its hottest. Venus is always hotter, even at night.
amateur astronomy
Professional astronomy images are the gold standard. But this Large Magellanic Cloud composite is the amateur community's best image ever.
Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy
“When molecules misbehave, it can lead to great insight.”
galaxies without dark matter
Out of all the galaxies we know, only a few little ones are missing dark matter. At last, we finally understand why.
James Webb Space Telescope
Once science operations begin for James Webb, we'll never look at the Universe the same way again. Here's what everyone should know.
A rocket launching into space.
Nearly 200 orbital launches are scheduled for 2022.
space expanding
Yes, the Universe is expanding, but you might wonder, "How fast is it expanding?"
average star
Please stop calling our Sun an "average star." It is philosophically dubious and astronomically incorrect.
Milky Way center
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.
There really might be extraterrestrials out there, attempting to make contact. Here's how science, not fiction, is attempting to find them.
einstein critics
Einstein's theories of relativity faced fierce opposition. One critic claimed he was attempting to subvert the scientific method.
parallel universe
In scientific theories, the Multiverse appears as a bug rather than as a feature. We should squash it.
how many stars
There are ~400 billion stars in the Milky Way, and ~2 trillion galaxies in the visible Universe. But what if we aren't typical?
isaac newton
From physics and alchemy to theology and eschatology, Isaac Newton’s research was rooted in a personal pursuit of the Divine.
big bang
There are an estimated two trillion galaxies within the observable Universe. Most are already unreachable, and the situation only gets worse.
James Webb Hubble
Hubble's deepest views of space revealed fewer than 10% of the Universe's galaxies. James Webb will change that forever.
super-Earth
In terms of the planets we've discovered, super-Earths are by far the most common. What does that mean for the Universe?
A color-enhanced image of Jupiter using data from the JunoCam camera..
With a new telescope on the horizon, we reflect on the best pictures of space that came before.
astrophysics ALMA
If you want to understand what the Universe is, how it began, evolved, and will eventually end, astrophysics is the only way to go.