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 theories behind the Big Bang suggest the process of the universe beginning to the creation of stable, neutral atoms took just half a million years. But the transition from such atoms to star formation took surprisingly much longer, upwards of 100 million years. Why? This deep dive explores the science behind the unique physical composition of the so-called cosmic dark ages.
Moon phases are caused by the sun's light illuminating different portions of the moon's surface. The moon has a day side and a night side, which change as it rotates. The phases—from new moon to waning crescent—occur as the moon travels through its orbit, with each phase revealing a different amount of the illuminated side. The moon's orbit and Earth's tilt contribute to additional motions and phenomena, such as libration and earthshine. Additionally, the moon can be visible during the day, particularly during the first and last quarter phases. This illustrated article accessibly explains this basic celestial phenomena.
Meteor showers derive from Earth's annual passing through the debris trail of a comet in its orbit around the sun. The most popular showers are named after the constellation near where they show up at their peak—for example, the Perseids appear to fall from the formation Perseus. Thousands of objects from the size of a grain of sand to small boulders light up in the atmosphere 60 miles above the Earth's surface, traveling at roughly 30,000 mph. This short video provides a basic overview of what causes meteor showers and how humans have interpreted them over the centuries.
Life can only arise in incredibly specific conditions, an abundance of certain substances like water and phosphorus, lots of time, and the right proximity to a heat-and-light-providing star. These two experts on evolution of life say above all, life requires luck. Here's a list of eight ingredients to life.
A New Mexico telescope has captured astronomical data for two decades to compile this map of the universe. Starting from earth and ending at the "edge" of the universe, it shows one slice of the cosmos: a total of 200,000 galaxies.
While James Burke was filming the 1978 docuseries "Connections" at the site of a rocket launch, he pulled off a perfectly-timed gesture without use of a green screen. Some say its the greatest live shot ever in TV history.
Asteroids are zinging by our planet regularly, and some of them you can see without a telescope. Here's a regularly updated list of the next five asteroid approaches.
Christopher Nolan's 2014 sci-fi action film "Interstellar" relies on real science for its wild space-time travel. This infographic dives into the physics basis of the fictionalized Gargantua black hole, the relativity effect, and more.
NASA’s real-time science encyclopedia of deep space exploration. Our scientists and hardworking robots are exploring the wild frontiers of our solar system.
This interactive module allows students to explore the science of Earth’s deep history, from its formation 4.5 billion years ago to modern times.