The history of life on Earth took many meandering turns before it gave rise to us. When Earth first formed, all the raw ingredients for life — atoms, molecules, a potentially habitable planet […]
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Including where to go, and when, for the most spectacular views. Against the backdrop of a dark, clear night sky, you can see the Moon, planets, stars, the Milky Way, […]
Citizen scientists are advancing scientific knowledge.
In the aftermath of everything we’ve learned about what’s in the Universe, we can make much better estimates of how many alien civilizations are out there. In 1961, scientist Frank Drake […]
Astronomers were using images taken by Hubble Space Telescope to study a supernova when they detected an unusually strong source of light later determined to be a star.
Our best physical theories predict that a multiverse exists. But if we can’t test it, is it really scientific? The Universe is all there ever was, all there is, and […]
Our biases, preferences, and ideas of simplicity and elegance can get in the way. Here’s a scientific way to cut through them all. What are the rules governing reality? If you […]
When we place the known objects in the Solar System in order, four inner, rocky worlds and four, outer, giant worlds stand out. Traditionally, these were defined as planets. Will […]
A recent study points to the possibility that just 70,000 years ago, a star passed through our Solar System. How often does this happen, and what are the consequences? We […]
Dark energy tells us that the Universe’s expansion is accelerating. Here’s what that means for our disappearing Universe. One of the biggest surprises for humanity about the Universe is that […]
What can cause a ripple in both space and time? Neutron stars colliding. And what can observe that phenomenon? A two-mile-long laser.
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After a 16 year wait, the star SO-2 will speed past our galaxy’s supermassive black hole at 2.5% the speed of light. It will be the first-of-its-kind test of Einstein’s […]
Colonel Chris Hadfield talks to us about the formalities that astronauts have to use, and how it can help us here on earth.
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In the far future, the last star burns out, stellar corpses get violently ejected, and galaxies accelerate away. And then the fun begins. For centuries, the biggest questions about our Universe […]
They make up 95% of our Universe today, but they weren’t always so important. One of the most puzzling mysteries about the Universe is simply, “where is everything?” All that […]
Two major galaxies in the local group are already in the process of being devoured by us… and each other. The Milky Way is the second-largest galaxy in our local group, […]
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 […]
It took hundreds of thousands of years to make atoms for the first time. If things were just a little different, it could have taken an eternity. When it comes […]
The world’s getting hotter, and it’s getting more volatile. We need to start thinking about how climate change encourages conflict.
The ingredients for life are everywhere, but so far the only life we know of comes from Earth. Here’s how that might change. Ever since human beings first turned our eyes […]
If spacetime is like a fabric, and mass bends it, what flattens it back out again? Matter tells space how to curve, and curved space tells matter how to move. That’s […]
The result validate Einstein on a whole new scale, and pose serious problems for alternative, modified theories of gravity. In 1915, Albert Einstein put forth a new theory of gravity: General […]
A machine learning algorithm has shown it can discover planets from weak signals overlooked in the Kepler spacecraft’s database.
The possibilities were almost limitless, so why does everything line up? Our Solar System is an orderly place, with the four inner planets, the asteroid belt, and the gas giant worlds […]
The Flat Earth community revealed some of its newest theories and breakthroughs at its first convention in Birmingham, England last weekend.
If we want to reach for the stars, we have to start in our own backyard. By looking at the sky alone, we can see the apparent, angular sizes of […]
On January 20/21, half of Earth will experience a total lunar eclipse. For the first time in 19 years, this includes all of North and South America. When the Sun, Earth, […]
“Blue Moon, I saw you standing alone, without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own. ” — Rogers and Hart
Love being an intelligent, mobile, conscious being? Thank colliding neutron stars. They created all the gold in the universe, including the gold atoms that your brain can’t function without.
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One moment, every particle in the Universe was massless. Then, they weren’t anymore. Here’s how it happened. In the earliest stages of the hot Big Bang, the Universe was filled […]