Space

The James Webb Space Telescope was launched December 25, 2021, with tools allowing it to peer billions of years back in time. The successor space telescope to NASA's highly touted Hubble, the Webb's infrared imaging capability is 100 times superior to Hubble's, enabling it to capture more objects at a further distance. This visual explainer its unprecedented equipment and traces its peculiar solar orbit 1 million miles from Earth.

The largest black hole in the universe is the ultramassive TON 618 which is 18 billion light-years away and shines with the brightness of 100 trillion stars. The black hole's mass is equivalent to a jaw-dropping 66 billion suns. But not all black holes are so massive—some are 150 solar masses, and others, known as primordial black holes, are hypothesized to be as tiny as a proton (at a dense 2 trillion pounds). Explore the various sizes of black holes with this incredible video.

While the idea of humans living on Mars has long been the realm of futurists and science fiction, the concept is rapidly becoming a realistic effort. But what happens once we reach the surface? The planet is cold, dry, and the virtually nonexistent atmosphere means solar radiation is constantly raining on the surface. There is one possibility—terraforming, or gradually transforming the atmosphere until it resembles Earth.

One of the most counterintuitive aspects of quantum mechanics is that it describes the world as a set of probabilistic outcomes. Among other philosophical questions is whether the nature of quantum fluctuations may give rise to the science fiction-like possibility of multiple universes. Listen to physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson explore the concept of the multiverse in this ten-minute video.

Roughly 80 percent of the world's oceans remain unexplored, but as researchers learn more about these parts of the Earth, the more helpful they become to those looking to explore space. The hadal zone of the Earth's seas is one of the harshest environments on Earth, with massive water pressure, no light, and extremely cold temperatures. But NASA experts say such conditions are analogous to those on Jupiter's moon Europa, with its 100-mile deep ocean.

The vast majority of space exploration has resulted from the deployment of single-use rockets, massive engines which fall to the ocean after delivering their payload. SpaceX has revolutionized the industry with its Falcon 9 reusable rocket, cutting launch costs in half or more. Learn about the rocket's design, its engines, and how it slows to 10 miles per hour just before landing on its ocean barges.