Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Giuseppe Donatiello Venus Jupiter
In our Solar System, even the two brightest planets frequently align in our skies. But only rarely is it spectacularly visible from Earth.
All human development, from large cities to small towns, shines light into the night sky.
borexino
If you're a massless particle, you must always move at light speed. If you have mass, you must go slower. So why aren't any neutrinos slow?
universe bulk volume brane dimension
Unless you confront your theory with what's actually out there in the Universe, you're playing in the sandbox, not engaging in science.
NASA spitzer infrared
JWST's revolutionary views arrive in high-resolution at infrared wavelengths. Without NASA's Spitzer first, it wouldn't have been possible.
Drake equation
The Fermi paradox (along with the subsequent Drake equation) is so difficult that even brilliant thinkers can make little dent in it.
dark energy
Dark energy is one of the biggest mysteries in all the Universe. Is there some way to avoid "having to live with it?"
Nothing in this Universe is eternal — not even the stars.
qcd fields color anticolor
Protons and neutrons are held together by the strong force: with 3 colors and 3 anticolors. So why are there only 8 gluons, and not 9?
Some of them have survived the wilds of space for billions of years.
Roger Penrose conformal cyclic cosmology
Nobel Laureate Roger Penrose, famed for his work on black holes, claims we've seen evidence from a prior Universe. Only, we haven't.
UNCOVER NIRCam mosaic
An incredible composite image of Pandora's Cluster, Abell 2744, simultaneously showcases both our impressive knowledge and vast ignorance.
Curiosity rover on Mars
We may have discovered alien life already but rejected the evidence too quickly because it seemed false at first glance.
JWST NIRCam Tarantula Nebula
The glorious sights that JWST keeps revealing are less than a millionth of the whole Universe. Just imagine what else is out there.
EHT event horizons
Since its observation discovery in the 1990s, dark energy has been one of science's biggest mysteries. Could black holes be the cause?
From the Big Bang to dark energy, knowledge of the cosmos has sped up in the past century — but big questions linger.
hubble image
It is a story with nebulous beginnings and no discernible end.
NASA cassini saturn rings shadow eclipse
The secret ingredient is violence, and it just might indicate that "moonmoons" aren't as uncommon as most astronomers think.
halo evolve cosmic time millennium II
Generations ago, cosmologists asserted that the Universe might not just be the same in all directions, but at all times. But is that true?
Ghosts of andromeda molecular clouds
A fascinating 90 minute podcast between Dr. Ivanna Escala and Ethan Siegel on Starts With A Bang!
A red-orange background with atom-like scribbles
The answer to the age-old philosophical question of whether there is meaning in the Universe may ultimately rest upon the power of information.
John Templeton Foundation
timeline of the universe history
From the earliest stages of the hot Big Bang (and even before) to our dark energy-dominated present, how and when did the Universe grow up?
The solution involves the infamous Navier-Stokes equations, which are so difficult, there is a $1-million prize for solving them.
Earth exoplanet direct imaging degraded
NASA has finally chosen which flagship mission, like Hubble and JWST, will launch in ~2040. Detecting alien life is now a reachable goal.
Bullet Cluster separation mass gravity x-ray lensing
19 years ago, the Bullet Cluster provided an empirical proof for dark matter. Even today, modified gravity still can't explain it.
A bright flash of light in the Universe
In general relativity, white holes are just as mathematically plausible as black holes. Black holes are real; what about white holes?
Laser guide star
Air currents in our atmosphere limit the resolving power of giant telescopes, but computers and artificial stars can sharpen the blur.
astronaut looking at Earth-like planet
We are traveling in a realm that once exclusively belonged to the gods. Space travel will force humanity to rethink everything.
The Universe isn't as "clumpy" as we think it should be.
galaxy RXJ2129-z8HeII
The Universe certainly formed stars, at one point, for the very first time. But we haven't found them yet. Here's what everyone should know.