Starts With A Bang

A dense starfield, with various colored stars shimmering through a dark cloud-like formation, lies against a deep black background in the mysterious zone of avoidance.
The Universe is out there, waiting to be discovered

Our mission is to answer the biggest questions of all, scientifically.

What is the Universe made of? How did it become the way it is today? Where did everything come from? What is the ultimate fate of the cosmos?

For most of human history, these questions had no clear answers. Today, they do. Starts With a Bang, written by Dr. Ethan Siegel, explores what we know about the universe and how we came to know it, bringing the latest discoveries in cosmology and astrophysics directly to you.

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Ethan Siegel is an award-winning PhD astrophysicist and the author of four books, including The Grand Cosmic Story, published by National Geographic.

Full Profile
A bald man with a long beard and handlebar mustache gestures with his hands against a backdrop of an upside-down cityscape wearing a purple shirt.
Groupthink in science isn’t a problem; it’s a myth
Scientists are notoriously resistant to new ideas. Are they falling prey to groupthink? Or are our current theories just that successful?

Ethan Siegel

solar system model
Three images of the Ring Nebula reveal its true shape: visible light (left), infrared (center), and a composite with contour lines (right) showcasing different details of the nebula's intricate structure.
The Ring Nebula, a bright, circular planetary nebula, is created by a dying Sun-like star. After centuries, we finally know its true shape.
JWST MIRI NIRCam SMACS 0723
Since mid-2022, JWST has been showing us how the Universe grows up, from planets to galaxies and more. So, what's its biggest find of all?
proton internal structure
A proton is the only stable example of a particle composed of three quarks. But inside the proton, gluons, not quarks, dominate.
Six mesmerizing images, bathed in red hues, reveal distant galaxies—JWST's little red dots. Each is precisely labeled: CEERS 14448, NGDEEP 4321, PRIMER-COS 10539, CEERS 20320, JADES 9186, and PRIMER-UDS 17818—alongside their corresponding redshift values.
The discovery of ultra-bright, ultra-distant galaxies was JWST's first big surprise. They didn't "break the Universe," and now we know why.
A supermassive black hole caught turning on reveals a mesmerizing cosmic dance, with bright streams of light and colorful gases swirling around it against a starry backdrop.
Seven years ago, an outburst in a distant galaxy brightened and faded away. Afterward, a new supermassive black hole jet emerged, but how?
A vibrant cosmic scene reveals a galaxy with bright jets of energy, hottest stars twinkling vividly amidst scattered stars against a dark backdrop.
Here in our Universe, stars shine brightly, providing light and heat to planets, moons, and more. But some objects get even hotter, by far.
A bright star emits light in a field of smaller, scattered stars against a dark sky.
Most stars shine with properties, like brightness, that barely change at all with time. The ones that do vary help us unlock the Universe.