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Universe Expansion
Is the multiverse real? It's one of the hottest questions in all of theoretical physics. We invited two astrophysicists to join the debate.
Life is possible because of asymmetries, such as an imbalance between matter and antimatter and the "handedness" (chirality) of molecules.
Out of all the galaxies we know, only a few little ones are missing dark matter. At last, we finally understand why.
The odds are slim, but the consequences would be devastating. Here's what would happen, plus how to avoid it.
If the electromagnetic and weak forces unify to make the electroweak force, maybe, at even higher energies, something even greater happens?
Nearly 200 orbital launches are scheduled for 2022.
With 1550 distinct type Ia supernovae measured across ~10 billion years of cosmic time, the Pantheon+ data set reveals our Universe.
The ten greatest ideas in science form the bedrock of modern biology, chemistry, and physics. Everyone should be familiar with them.
Yes, the Universe is expanding, but you might wonder, "How fast is it expanding?"
Please stop calling our Sun an "average star." It is philosophically dubious and astronomically incorrect.
The Universe has asymmetries, but that's a good thing. Imperfections are essential for the existence of stars and even life itself.
There really might be extraterrestrials out there, attempting to make contact. Here's how science, not fiction, is attempting to find them.
In scientific theories, the Multiverse appears as a bug rather than as a feature. We should squash it.
There are ~400 billion stars in the Milky Way, and ~2 trillion galaxies in the visible Universe. But what if we aren't typical?
The Universe is supposed to be the same everywhere and in all directions. So what's that giant "cold spot" doing out there?
Just 12 million light-years away, the galaxies Messier 81 and 82 offer a nearby preview of the Milky Way-Andromeda merger.
Is the Universe finite or infinite? Does it go on forever or loop back on itself? Here's what would happen if you traveled forever.
There are an estimated two trillion galaxies within the observable Universe. Most are already unreachable, and the situation only gets worse.
Hubble's deepest views of space revealed fewer than 10% of the Universe's galaxies. James Webb will change that forever.
Shooting star or piece of space dust?
In terms of the planets we've discovered, super-Earths are by far the most common. What does that mean for the Universe?
It is time to give the Russian cosmologist the credit he deserves.
With a new telescope on the horizon, we reflect on the best pictures of space that came before.
If you want to understand what the Universe is, how it began, evolved, and will eventually end, astrophysics is the only way to go.
At a fundamental level, nobody knows whether gravity is truly quantum in nature. A novel experiment strongly hints that it is.
In 1990, we only knew of the ones in our Solar System. Today, we know of thousands, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
We frequently say it's 2.725 K: from the light left over all the way from the Big Bang. But that's not all that's in the Universe.
There are two fundamentally different ways of measuring the Universe's expansion. They disagree. "Early dark energy" might save us.
The first supernova ever discovered through its X-rays has an enormously powerful engine at its core. It's unlike anything ever seen.
The Solar System isn't a vortex, but rather the sum of all our great cosmic motions. Here's how we move through space.