From roughly 60 miles above the Earth's surface to farther than light has traveled during the entire age of the universe, space has captured human imagination for millennia. Explore the final frontier with the best resources curated from across the internet.
Hours of research by our editors, distilled into minutes of clarity.
The Crab Nebula is the remnants of a dying star that went supernova . First spotted a thousand years ago by Chinese and Japanese astronomers, and likely Native Americans as well. Its original bright light has long since faded, but you can see it in different light wavelengths through this interactive website.
Radiation donuts might summon up a certain television cartoon character's favorite snack, but they're something else entirely. Also known as Van Allen belts, these zones of radiation arise from charged particles emitted from the sun and subsequently captured by the Earth's magnetic field. Understanding the underlying physics of the Van Allen belts is critical to modern-day telecommunications.
For perspective on the universe's absolute massiveness, watch this four-minute video. Beginning at a facility in Germany, the "camera" pulls back revealing the surrounding countryside, Germany itself, Europe, the Earth, and so on. At one point stars form galaxies and galaxies, at a distance, become as seemingly "small" as the individual stars.
The Kuiper Belt is a collection of extraterrestrial objects that might've been a planet if it hadn't been for Neptune. Still, the belt is a fascinating collection of dwarf planets, rocks, ice, and comets. Extending beyond Neptune's orbit, the Kuiper Belt provides an endless selection of interesting objects and anomalies for astronomers to explore.
The sun is our biggest source of heat and light, but how does this massive powerhouse continue to produce such amazing energy? Basically, it's a fusion reactor. At its core the sun produces all that solar energy through hydrogen fusing and converting into helium, over and over again. Learn more about the entire amazing and explosive process here.
Outside the protective atmosphere of Earth, astronauts are constantly bombarded by radiation, which, among other dangers, increases the risk cancer. While those of us on Earth can mitigate the effects of similar radiation by limiting exposure,...
From space radiation to isolation, humans struggle when it comes to traveling and living in space. What does this mean for long-term spaceflight? This hour-long podcast episode attempts to answer that question while detailing five major spaceflight hazards.
Astronaut Bruce McCandless was the first person to ever float freely in space, completely untethered from a shuttle. How did he enter the field? What are his thoughts on current space travel? Listen to his experience and opinion firsthand in this 19-minute video.
One of the more remarkable things—among many remarkable things—about the big bang is how matter seemingly won out over antimatter. Int that initial moment of creation and annihilation, it turns out, neutrinos may well have pushed the universe toward forming matter over antimatter. This New York Times article delves deeply, asking several scientists for their input.
A timeline for everything, from the Big Bang to the beginnings of life on Earth. This article lays out, in spans of billions of years, what was happening in the universe as it became the universe. Starting from the Planck era, the earliest known meaningful time, to the probable "Big Crunch" 30 billion years from now, see how the universe has existed and persisted.