Astrophysics

Astrophysics

millennium simulation cosmic web slice
Human beings are tiny creatures compared to the 92 billion light-year wide observable Universe. How can we comprehend such large scales?
JWST just found its first transiting exoplanet, and it's 99% the size of Earth. But with no atmosphere seen, perhaps air is truly rare.
round
Red dwarf stars were supposed to be inhospitable. But TOI-700, now with at least two potentially habitable worlds, is quite the exception.
jwst deep field
JWST has seen more distant galaxies than any other observatory, ever. But many candidates for "most distant of all" are likely impostors.
Most of us have heard that the Sun is an ordinary, typical, unremarkable star. But science shows we're actually anything but average.
asteroid city
The authors call it "wildly theoretical" — but let's take a look, anyway.
dark matter
Though a single measurement is not enough to definitively decide the debate, this is a major win for dark matter proponents.
dark energy accelerated expansion
Yes, dark energy is real. Yes, distant galaxies recede faster and faster as time goes on. But the expansion rate isn't accelerating at all.
galaxies
We only need two numbers to understand why.
In 1920, astronomers debated the nature of the Universe. The results were meaningless until years later, when the key evidence arrived.
negative energy
Quantum mechanics has taught us that even empty space contains energy. "Negative energy" is the state of having less energy than empty space.
As time goes on, dark energy makes distant galaxies recede from us ever faster in our expanding Universe. But nothing truly disappears.
2023 space missions
2023 will see the launch of new rockets, the return of OSIRIS-REx, and a mission to Jupiter that could help us find extraterrestrial life.
map of universe
In the grand scheme of the cosmic story, a single year isn't all that significant. But over time, the annual changes really add up!
Since dark matter eludes detection, the mission will target sources of light that are sensitive to it.
ophiuchus x-ray largest explosion cavity
Ever since the Big Bang, cataclysmic events have released enormous amounts of energy. Here's the greatest one ever witnessed.
Lockman hole galaxy cluster herschel
All the things that surround and compose us didn't always exist. But describing their origin depends on what 'nothing' means.
Never stop looking at the skies in wonder.
Geminids
You can lead an overconfident chatbot to expert knowledge, but can it actually learn and assimilate new information?
globular cluster terzan 5
2022 was a year full of scientific discoveries and the dawn of the JWST. But Hubble's still going after 32 years. Here's the amazing proof!
As far as we know, it's only happened once to one unlucky person in Oklahoma.
JADES JWST z 13
Leaving Hubble in the dust, JWST has officially seen a galaxy from just 320 million years after the Big Bang: at just 2.3% its current age.
magnetic fields galaxy planck
The very dust that blocks our view of the distant, luminous objects in the Universe is responsible for our entire existence.
wolf rayet wr 31a
The most common element in the Universe, vital for forming new stars, is hydrogen. But there's a finite amount of it; what if we run out?
cosmic inflation
We thought the Big Bang started it all. Then we realized that something else came before, and it erased everything that existed prior.
The science fiction dream of a traversable wormhole is no closer to reality, despite a quantum computer's suggestive simulation.
wormholes
Perhaps wormholes will no longer be relegated to the realm of science fiction.