Astrophysics

Astrophysics

An ufo flying over a forest.
12mins
There are a few theories as to why we’ve never found other intelligent life in our Universe. Physicist Brian Cox walks us through them.
LL Orionis bow shock nebula
The laws of physics don't prefer matter over antimatter. So how can we be certain that distant stars & galaxies aren't made of antimatter?
An artist's rendering of an alien planet and a red star.
Within the next few decades, we may well have hard evidence for the existence of alien life on worlds light-years distant from Earth.
satellite megaconstellation risk
Space weather poses a tremendous threat to all satellites, knocking all computer systems offline. Is that a recipe for Kessler syndrome?
A diagram of the solar system with the sun, earth, and uranus.
How can you maximize the amount of love and happiness in your life? One of history's greatest scientists found the answer: with math.
Abstract digital art of concentric ripples radiating from a glowing center, featuring shades of pink, purple, and orange against a dark background.
5mins
NASA’s Michelle Thaller explains what happens when the densest stars in the galaxy collide.
mars oceans
Chemical changes inside Mars' core caused it to lose its magnetic field. This, in turn, caused it to lose its oceans. But how?
most distant gravitational lens
A more distant galaxy liked the lens so much that it went and put a ring on it. Here's the science behind this remarkable cosmic object.
An artist's rendering of the earth and a spacecraft in space.
This measurement is crucial to confirm that one of the assumptions of Einstein’s theory of gravity is valid.
A man in a suit is pointing his finger at a yellow background, referencing string theory.
6mins
If Einstein couldn’t solve the theory of everything, could anyone? Physicist Michio Kaku explains what it would take.
cosmic inflation big bang dark ages
The hot Big Bang was an energetic, brilliantly luminous event. Today's Universe is alight with stars. But in between, the dark ages ruled.
NASA Fermi LAT pulsar gamma ray sky
An enormous amount of antimatter is coming from our galactic center. But the culprit probably isn't dark matter, but merely neutron stars.
An artist's impression of a group of planets in space detected via the doppler method.
Finding a tiny planet around bright stars dozens or hundreds of light-years from Earth is extremely difficult.
galaxy cluster PLCK G165.7+67.0 triply lensed supernova
Named "Supernova H0pe," it shows how JWST plus gravitational lensing can be used to solve the greatest puzzle facing astronomy today.
Nasa's nasa spacecraft observing annular eclipse.
An annular eclipse is coming to Earth on October 14, 2023. Six months later, a total solar eclipse is headed our way. Here's the reason why.
spiral galaxies MIRI PHANGS JWST
How does star-formation, occurring in small regions within galaxies, affect the entire host galaxy that contains it? JWST holds the answers.
Nasa image of a spiral galaxy that challenges cosmology.
Cosmology is unlike other sciences. When our view of the Universe changes, so does our understanding of philosophy and science itself.
hypermassive neutron star
Neutrons can be stable when bound into an atomic nucleus, but free neutrons decay away in mere minutes. So how are neutron stars stable?
Two starfish on the beach at sunset.
Scientists may have detected the somewhat smelly chemical dimethyl sulfide on a planet 120 light-years from Earth.
quantum gravity
Dark matter hasn't been directly detected, but some form of invisible matter is clearly gravitating. Could the graviton hold the answer?
baryon acoustic oscillations
A spherical structure nearly one billion light-years wide has been spotted in the nearby Universe, dating all the way back to the Big Bang.
black hole hawking
The matter that creates black holes won't be what comes out when they evaporate. Will the black hole information paradox ever be solved?
A wooden ladder extends downward from the top edge of the image against a blue sky with scattered white clouds.
6mins
A physicist discusses the boundaries of reality and experimentation.
SN 1987a JWST
In 1987, the closest supernova directly observed in nearly 400 years occurred. Will a pulsar arise from those ashes? JWST offers clues.
A blue background with a lot of blue lights is the worst prediction.
When it comes to predicting the energy of empty space, the two leading theories disagree by a factor of 100 googol quintillion.
An artist's impression of an asteroid approaching the earth.
The asteroid is expected to come within 140,000 miles of Earth — well inside the moon’s orbit.
universe bulk volume brane dimension
Three fundamental forces matter inside an atom, but gravity is mind-bogglingly weak on those scales. Could extra dimensions explain why?
nasa merge black hole
Newton thought that gravitation would happen instantly, propagating at infinite speeds. Einstein showed otherwise; gravity isn't instant.
Big bang diagram consensus crisis
There are a few clues that the Universe isn't completely adding up. Even so, the standard model of cosmology holds up stronger than ever.
stars omega centauri globular cluster
With ~400 billion stars in the Milky Way and 6-20 trillion galaxies overall, that makes for a lot of stars. But not as many as you'd think.