Human exploration of the universe is progressing at an exciting pace, with regular advancements in the tools we use to study black holes, stars, quasars, and much more. Dive into some of the most mind-blowing observations and theories about physical reality with our curated resources on the physics of celestial objects.
Hours of research by our editors, distilled into minutes of clarity.
Their existence would reveal where Einstein’s theory breaks down and quantum gravity takes over. The prevailing idea—cosmic censorship—suggests these singularities are always hidden behind black hole horizons, shielding the rest of the universe from their unpredictability.
Complex synchronization and novel imaging algorithms transformed eight radio telescopes worldwide into an Earth-sized virtual observatory. Before the real thing, the team used synthetic data from fake sources—including one shaped like Frosty the Snowman—to test their imaging methods.
The supermassive black hole is 18 billion light-years away and emits radiation with the brightness of 100 trillion stars. It is so massive that light would take an entire week to travel from its edge to its center.
Discovered in the 1950s through their intense radio signals, they are fueled by supermassive black holes with prominent accretion disks. The disks emit extreme radiation that heats and expels gas, halting star formation and altering the future of their host galaxies.
According to the Doppler Effect, light from objects moving away from Earth shifts toward the red end of the electromagnetic spectrum, with the severity of the shift correlating to recession speed. Due to the universe's expansion, light from the most distant galaxies can be moved from ultraviolet to infrared.
Quasars form the core of active galaxies where supermassive black holes devour unimaginable amounts of matter. You can see a map of all 1.3 million of these objects with this 3D map. It was assembled with data from the Gaia spacecraft and shows how the spread of dark matter across space matches that described by the Cosmic Microwave Background.
How exactly does the moon move, and why does it move that way? In this ridiculously comprehensive interactive explainer, you can conduct experiments to see how the moon rotates and as it moves around the Earth, while learning how gravity works by controlling the path and speed of different objects. Dive into this beautiful, simple explainer to learn the basics on gravity and the moon.
In 1931, Georges Lemaître presented his radical idea that the universe came from a “primeval atom,” challenging the long-held belief that the universe had always existed. Einstein initially dismissed Lemaître’s work as having “abominable” physical insight, only to accept it later.
Rooted in Lemaître’s 1927 idea of a growing universe and confirmed by Hubble’s redshift data, the theory is backed by evidence like cosmic microwave background radiation—remnants of the universe’s fiery birth detected in the 1960s. The radiation was first misidentified as interference from pigeon droppings inside a telescope antenna.
While the James Webb telescope collects an astounding amount of scientific data, a major part of its allure is its ability to return stunning, high-resolution images. These images include nearby stars, distant galaxies, and some of the oldest structures in the universe.
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.