Astrophysics

Astrophysics

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 much dark matter
If dark matter exists in a large halo in our galaxy, made up of particles, then it's passing through us constantly. But how much?
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.
A Mars-like visual.
Our research on a Martian meteorite provides new clues about early surface conditions on the red planet.
is the multiverse real
Is the multiverse real? It's one of the hottest questions in all of theoretical physics. We invited two astrophysicists to join the debate.
Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy
“When molecules misbehave, it can lead to great insight.”
chirality
Life is possible because of asymmetries, such as an imbalance between matter and antimatter and the "handedness" (chirality) of molecules.
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.
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal holds nearly one-fourth of Earth's fresh surface water and is the most scientifically interesting lake on our planet.
Hopewell mound
A study proposes that an ancient trading network, called the Hopewell tradition, may have been wiped out by what is known as a cosmic airburst.
With 1550 distinct type Ia supernovae measured across ~10 billion years of cosmic time, the Pantheon+ data set reveals our Universe.
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?
asymmetry
The Universe has asymmetries, but that's a good thing. Imperfections are essential for the existence of stars and even life itself.
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?
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.
CMB cold spot
The Universe is supposed to be the same everywhere and in all directions. So what's that giant "cold spot" doing out there?