The Universe is out there, waiting for you to discover it.
Our mission: to answer, scientifically, the biggest questions of all.
- What is our Universe made of?
- How did it become the way it is today?
- Where did everything come from?
- What is the ultimate fate of the cosmos?
For countless generations, these were questions without resolutions. Now, for the first time in history, we have scientific answers. Starts With A Bang, written by Dr. Ethan Siegel, brings these stories — of what we know and how we know it — directly to you.
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Featured
Why power generated through nuclear fusion will be the future, but not the present, solution to humanity’s energy needs.
It’s a strange idea to consider: that a tiny building block of matter, the atomic nucleus, holds the greatest potential for energy release.
And yet, it’s true; while electron transitions in atoms or molecules typically release energy on the order of ~1 electron-Volt, nuclear transitions between different configurations release energies a million times as great, on the order of ~1 Mega-electron-Volt.
Popular
From before the Big Bang to the present day, the Universe goes through many eras. Dark energy heralds the final one.
A wild, compelling idea without a direct, practical test, the Multiverse is highly controversial. But its supporting pillars sure are stable.
The surface and atmosphere is colored by ferric oxides. Beneath a very thin layer, mere millimeters deep in places, it’s not red anymore.
The first supernova ever discovered through its X-rays has an enormously powerful engine at its core. It’s unlike anything ever seen.
Just 13.8 billion years after the hot Big Bang, we can see 46.1 billion light-years away in all directions. Doesn’t that violate…something?
All Stories
It took Messier himself more than a decade to observe it, but the reward is a glimpse into the ancient Universe! Image credit: Daniel Verschatse, via http://www.astrosurf.com/antilhue/m55.htm. “The only thing […]
From A to Zucchini, learn how to get anything out! Image credit: The A-steam, via http://www.theasteam.co.uk/stain-odour-removal/. “You can clean your sword as much as you want but the blood still stains […]
If something went horribly wrong, could you possibly return to Earth? Image credit: ISRO. “I sometimes catch myself looking up at the Moon, remembering the changes of fortune in our […]
How the entire history of the Universe gave rise to us, in ten giant leaps. Image credit: Zosia Rostomian, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “It surprises me how disinterested we are […]
In theory, there’s a way to push the cosmic reset button. Here’s how. “Don’t be too proud of this technological terror you’ve constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is […]
How the demons and angels of our greatest minds advanced science. Image credit: Luis Royo Fantasy Art, via Photobucket user mikenolan78. When most people think of Einstein, they think of […]
Beyond our own galaxy, this ancient relic holds a key to our cannibalistic past. Image credit: NASA / Hubble / Wikisky. “A hungry man can’t see right or wrong. He […]
There’s nothing like signing up for a random chat… and winding up with an improv serenade! “I created this project for fun. Initially, I had no business goals with it. […]
Is there a way to see past the barrier the Universe puts up before it became transparent to light? Image credit: Mark Kamionkowski, of gravitational waves. “From earliest times, humans — explorers […]
How we discovered what the Universe was made of when it first formed. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/K. Getman et al.; IRL NASA/JPL-Caltech/CfA/J. Wang et al. “The nitrogen in our DNA, […]
How to destroy an Alderaan-sized planet. “What’s that star?It’s the Death Star.What does it do?It does Death. It does Death, buddy. Get out of my way!” –Eddie Izzard It’s one […]
At the bottom of the teapot in Sagittarius, the ancient giants burn for your pleasure. Image credit: REU program / NOAO / AURA / NSF. “I told my father that […]
An animal becomes so much more the instant you first love them. Image credit: me, of my first dog, Cordelia, back in 2008. “Dogs are our link to paradise. They […]
The physics of one of the rarest and most spectacular sunset sights ever seen! Image credit: © Mila Zinkova / Creative Commons. “It does no harm to the romance of […]
The largest structures in the Universe are phantasms, in the process of self-destructing. Image credit: NASA, N. Benitez (JHU), T. Broadhurst (Racah Institute of Physics/The Hebrew University), H. Ford (JHU), […]
How Worlds Thought in the 1960s to be Circling Barnard’s Star Turned out to be Illusions. Image via: http://www.wingmakers.co.nz/universe/extrasolar/Barnards.html. In this golden age of exoplanet discovery, it is hard to […]
At the top of the Teapot, a fantastic cluster dotted with Red Giants awaits. Image credit: © 2005–2009 by Rainer Sparenberg, via http://www.airglow.de/html/starclusters/m28.html. “The most difficult thing is the decision […]
Supermoons are both super and common, but they’re only a tiny slice of our nearest neighbor’s magnificent journey. Image credit: ESA / NASA and the International Space Station. “O, swear […]
How can salmon get upstream when their waters are blocked by dams? You’ve got to see this new innovation! Image credit: William Bain / flickr. “You ain’t supposed to get […]
The scariest of all possible fates results in the ultimate destruction of everything that ever was or will be. Image credit: Boren-Simon 2.8–8 ED POWERNEWT Astrograph Image Gallery. “Why do […]
Do you know all of them, and what makes them so bright? Image credit: source unknown, but it contains #7 and #9 on the list, via http://st.gdefon.com/wallpapers_original/wallpapers/428170_orion_yupiter_betelgejze_rigel_aldebaran_pleyady_y_7408x4602_(www.GdeFon.ru).jpg. “I’m hungry for […]
Letting data and evidence, not fears or ideology, guide you is harder than you’d imagine. Image credit: European XFEL, via http://www.xfel.eu/research/benefits/. “Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of […]
An ancient relic from the young Universe is covered in surprising riches near the galactic center. Image credit: Paul Chasse (astronewb11) of flickr, via https://www.flickr.com/photos/astronewb2011/7247070648/. “Ancients knew that you need […]
What happens when an artist decides to share her sketchbook with her four-year-old daughter? Image credit: Mica & Myla Hendricks, via their (fully funded) Kickstarter page. “If you can’t share, […]
If we came to be just a few billion years earlier, we’d never know. Image credit: Jean-Charles Cuillandre (CFHT) & Giovanni Anselmi (Coelum Astronomia), Hawaiian Starlight. “After all the ‘Universe’ […]
What every middle-to-high schooler should know. Image credit: Bayside STEM academy, via Stanford at https://ed.stanford.edu/news/new-design-thinking-curriculum-targets-middle-school-students. “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time […]
There’s plenty of gas, dust, planets and rocky bodies out there. Could some combination of them explain dark matter? Image credit: Chris Blake and Sam Moorfield, via http://www.sdss3.org/surveys/boss.php. “When a […]
Through a telescope, this swarm of star appears extremely oblate. But is it really? Image credit: via http://vilagbiztonsag.hu/keptar/displayimage.php?album=19&pid=19138. “If I take dust in my hand and ask you if that […]
How to turn the greatest NASA images in history into wallpaper, curtains, fabric and more! Image credit: Elinor Medezinski, Suprime-Cam/Subaru Telescope; ZwCl 0024–17. “I’m coming back in… and it’s the […]
And, in general, how would you be able to tell? Image credit: Mahdi Zamani, via http://www.twanight.org/newTWAN/guests_photos.asp?ID=5001660. “When I was ten all I knew was that I hated the weird words […]