Scientific surprises are often how science advances. But more often than not, they’re just bad science. When you’re a scientist, getting an unexpected result can be a double-edged sword. The best […]
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As time goes on, every galaxy beyond our local group will speed away from us faster and faster. And yet, more will keep appearing. The farther away a galaxy is […]
The Solar System’s outermost, undisputed planet wasn’t discovered until the 19th century. Here’s how you can easily find it yourself this December. There’s no greater scientific thrill than discovering something […]
It’s been called the biggest conundrum in all of cosmology, and recent measurements just add to the confusion. One of the most puzzling facts about the Universe is that different […]
Lasers, mirrors, and computational advances can all work together to push ground-based astronomy past even the limits of Hubble. One of the most profoundly remarkable properties about our atmosphere is that […]
Galactic mergers should push gas and dust into the centers of galaxies. So why are these two so quiet? Scientists have studied the closest, largest, brightest galaxies to Earth for centuries. […]
Two massive clouds of dust in orbit around the Earth have been discussed for years and finally proven to exist.
The images themselves will take your breath away, but the science we can extract from them is truly revolutionary and spectacular. Dark matter may be one of the most mysterious […]
Whether you caught or missed the eclipse of January 20/21, 2019, here’s what you need to know for all the ones you’ll ever view again. On January 20/21, 2019, a very […]
The dream of multi-messenger astronomy is to seen an event with gravitational waves, neutrinos, and light all together. The newest candidate just might get us there. When it comes to cataclysmic […]
Just because an idea is fashionable doesn’t mean it’s relevant for our Universe. One of the greatest unsolved puzzles in all of science is dark energy. The Universe isn’t just […]
Despite being 28 years old and having a gyroscope failure, Hubble still delivered these 10 amazing snapshots in 2018. Year after year since its 1990 launch, Hubble keeps revolutionizing our view […]
Many of them are spinning at nearly the speed of light. When you do the math, there’s no other way it could have been. Take a look out there at the […]
In all the Universe, there’s only one Earth. But can we find the other worlds that are like ours? Even though the ingredients for life have been confirmed to be practically […]
For generations, planet formation was only a theory. As 2018 comes to an end, here’s the evidence of what’s going on. The theory of planet formation has been around for a […]
It’s a great ambition of science enthusiasts all over the globe. It’s also a terrible idea. If you want to take the most pristine, unpolluted images of the Universe, your best […]
LIGO just announced the second neutron star-neutron star merger ever seen in gravitational waves. It doesn’t match the first. On August 17, 2017, an event occurred that forever changed how we […]
It’s one thing to find a galaxy that “shouldn’t exist.” It’s quite another to learn why it does. Above a certain size, spiral galaxies shouldn’t exist. A single major merger — where two […]
From newborn planets to entire galaxies, we’re seeing the Universe as never before. The idea of a modern telescope is simple: collect light from a distant object, at high resolution, and […]
It’s one of the two best meteor showers of the year. Don’t let the full Moon stop you. Every year, as the Earth intercepts the debris streams of comets and asteroids […]
Our outer Solar System, from Jupiter to Neptune, isn’t unique after all. In the early 1990s, scientists began detecting the first planets orbiting stars other than the Sun: exoplanets. The easiest […]
Star production peaked three billion years after the Big Bang.
If you understand gravity well enough, you might not even need a telescope to revolutionize astronomy. In science, advances arise at the intersection of theory and real-world observation. One of […]
Different methods of measuring the expansion rate give different values. This one linchpin is key. In science, different methods of measuring the same properties should yield the same results. The expanding […]
Every mechanical failure brings Hubble one step closer to its demise. But despite the recent setback, it’s still got plenty of life left. If you want to view the distant Universe […]
If you’re wondering whether the blast wave or the radiation would kill us first, you’re asking the wrong question. As far as raw explosive power goes, no other cataclysm in […]
How can physics on the smallest scales affect what the Universe does on its largest ones? Cosmic inflation holds the answer. On a macroscopic level, the Universe appears to be entirely […]
The quest for the ultimate vacuum just got taken to the next level thanks to a new technique: the quantum squeezer. One of the most understated frontiers in all of […]