Space Exploration

Space Exploration

Yes, NASA's Perseverance rover found organics on Mars. So did Curiosity. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean anything in the search for life.
how big is the universe
You would think that with all our technology, like the James Webb Space Telescope, we would know how big the Universe is. But we don't.
jwst cartwheel
The first set of James Webb's images blew us all away. In just 2 mere months, it's seen highlights that no one could have predicted.
FU orionis illustration
As recently as 1990, we didn't know of any planets beyond our Solar System. Today, with 5000+, we're deep into the weeds of how they form.
Following the advent of human space flight, NASA began naming missions after children of Zeus.
aliens
One book will gather all topics on the search for life in the Cosmos.
Spaceguard shows that we can manage risks to the extinction of humanity — if only we put our mind to it.
Remembering Frank Drake, who transformed the search for alien life & extraterrestrial intelligence into a full-fledged scientific endeavor.
apollo 8 earthrise
The last 70 years have taken us farther than the previous 70,000. But can we accomplish more than creating a record saying, "We were here?"
If your computer crashes, it might be due to a star that exploded somewhere in the Universe millions of years ago.
jwst
Hubble revolutionized astronomy more than once. Here's what we can expect from the James Webb Space Telescope.
Einstein's "happiest thought" led to General Relativity's formulation. Would a different profound insight have led us forever astray?
NASA was dangerously cavalier about the dangers of the shuttle launches.
sun gravity
With a telescope at just the right distance from the Sun, we could use its gravity to enhance and magnify a potentially inhabited planet.
overview effect
"You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it."
nasa merge black hole
We only detected our very first gravitational wave in 2015. Over the next two decades, we'll have thousands more.
JWST background galaxies Stephan's Quintet
We knew we'd find galaxies unlike any seen before in its first deep-field image. But the other images hold secrets even more profound.
bennu
The surface of asteroid Bennu is more like a plastic ball pit than the Moon.
"The surface is no longer a record of every impact the moon has ever had, because at some point, impacts were erasing previous impacts."
quantum communication
Quantum communication offers a surer path to sending an interstellar message, as well as receiving one. But can we do it?
eagle nebula stars
Even though the leftover glow from the Big Bang creates a bath of radiation at only 2.725 K, some places in the Universe get even colder.
The costs of such an endeavor would be extremely high, while the potential payoffs would be uncertain.
alien contact
The psychology of alien contact largely revolves around the concept of "otherness." We need to learn to be comfortable around strange things.
stars die
Like humans, stars die. The James Webb Space Telescope's early images already give us a lot of information about how this happens.
astronomy new era
Astronomy's roots rest in the very origins of humanity. We have always looked to the skies for answers. We are starting to get them.