Astronomy

Astronomy

every square degree
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?
round
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.
james webb spikes
When we started imaging the Universe with Hubble, every star had four "spikes" coming from it. Here's why Webb will have more.
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.
black hole hit Earth
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.
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.
bernardinelli-bernstein
65 million years ago, an asteroid strike caused the 5th great mass extinction. Could we save Earth, today, from a similar event?
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.
new satellites
With launch costs dropping and enormous numbers of new satellites filling the sky, can't we just do it all from space?
parallel universe
In scientific theories, the Multiverse appears as a bug rather than as a feature. We should squash it.