Space & Astrophysics
As we look to larger cosmic scales, we get a broader view of the expansive cosmic forest, eventually revealing the grandest views of all.
Our model of the Universe, dominated by dark matter and dark energy, explains almost everything we see. Almost. Here’s what remains.
In special relativity, the statement that two events happened at the same time is meaningless.
Should we be searching for life on other planets, or technology?
The anthropic principle has fascinating scientific uses, where the simple fact of our existence holds deep physical lessons. Don’t abuse it!
The false assumption the Multiverse relies on is that something which exists requires an explanation.
At their cores, stars can reach many millions or even billions of degrees. But even that doesn’t touch the hottest of all.
The key problem with the dark matter hypothesis is that nobody knows what form dark matter might take.
NASA was dangerously cavalier about the dangers of the shuttle launches.
There’s an extra source of massive “stuff” in our Universe beyond what gravitation and normal matter can explain. Could light be the answer?
If you have an old TV set with the “rabbit ear” antennae, and you set it to channel 03, that snowy static can reveal the Big Bang itself.
Unless you have a critical mass of heavy elements when your star first forms, planets, including rocky ones, are practically impossible.
There’s an extremely good chance that there is, or at least was, life on Mars. But is it native to Mars, or did it originate from Earth?
As technology advances, the use of laser weapons in space becomes more likely.
Not too hot, not too cold…
In all the Universe, only a few particles are eternally stable. The photon, the quantum of light, has an infinite lifetime. Or does it?
Dark matter has never been directly detected, but the astronomical evidence for its existence is overwhelming. Here’s what to know.
With a telescope at just the right distance from the Sun, we could use its gravity to enhance and magnify a potentially inhabited planet.
“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.”
We only detected our very first gravitational wave in 2015. Over the next two decades, we’ll have thousands more.
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.
The surface of asteroid Bennu is more like a plastic ball pit than the Moon.
The emergence of life in the universe is as certain as the emergence of matter, gravity, and the stars. Life is the universe developing a memory, and our chemical detection system could find it.
There are so many problems, all across planet Earth, that harm and threaten humanity. Why invest in researching the Universe?
Ever since the start of the hot Big Bang, time ticks forward as the Universe expands. But could time ever run backward, instead?
“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 offers a surer path to sending an interstellar message, as well as receiving one. But can we do it?
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.
We live in a four-dimensional Universe, where matter and energy curve the fabric of spacetime. But time sure is different from space!