Astrophysics

The Theory of Relativity, Then and Now

Albert Einstein's breakthrough from a century ago was out of this world. Now it seems surprisingly down-to-earth

Black Holes Might Catapult Rogue Supernovas Into Space

Like being fired from a slingshot at 4.5 million miles an hour

The observatory atop Mauna Kea

Hawaiians Are Protesting Construction of the World’s Largest Telescope

Native Hawai'ian activists say the volcano-top project is damaging sacred lands

This optical atomic clock uses strontium atoms to tell time.

Send Atomic Clocks to Space to Find Gravitational Waves

A new breed of the hyper-accurate clocks could help scientists detect the elusive ripples in space-time faster and cheaper

Black holes create and destroy galaxies, like this spiral galaxy in the constellation Dorado.

Technology from ‘Interstellar’ Could Be Useful to Scientists, Too

The movie’s visual effects are now being used for scientific research

Ask Smithsonian: How Does a Satellite Stay Up?

Meet a Harvard-Smithsonian researcher who monitors all the satellites and explains why they rarely fall

The sun sets behind the BICEP2 telescope at the South Pole.

Nope, We Have Not Detected Gravitational Waves (Yet)

Leaked news from teams studying the early universe says the signal hailed as our first peek at space-time ripples really is just dust

Scientists used to hypothesize that equipment from Australia's Parkes Observatory, shown here, was responsible for fast radio burst readings.

Astronomers Catch a Mysterious Burst of Energy in Action

It's the first time scientists have observed the strange radio pulse as it happened

Two New Studies Posit At Least Two New Planets Out Beyond Pluto

We may not be done learning about our own solar system

Scientists Can Tell How Old a Star Is by Observing How Fast It Spins

A newly proven method can pinpoint the age of stars with at least 90% accuracy

You can't spend your way out of this one, America

NASA Is Turning Black Friday Into "Black Hole Friday"

Because, in the end, even great savings won't save you from a singularity

An optical light image of a black hole’s jet from the galaxy M87

The Rotational Energy of Black Holes Spits Out Powerful Particle Streams

Researchers are getting closer to answering some heavy questions about how supermassive black holes work

How One Physicist’s Pursuit of the Cosmos Took Off in Antarctica

Francis Halzen’s amazing experiment heralds the beginning of a new era in astronomy

An artist's conception depicts WASP-43b's orbit around its star.

Exoplanet Has Winds That Blow at the Speed of Sound

WASP-43b wouldn't be a great place to live

Figuring out the mysteries of the universe, one galaxy collision at a time.

What Is the Universe? Real Physics Has Some Mind-Bending Answers

Science says the universe could be a hologram, a computer program, a black hole or a bubble—and there are ways to check

This year, Smithsonian magazine's festival is themed "Science Meets Science Fiction."

The Future is (Still) Here: Day Two of Smithsonian's Second Annual Conference

Instead of holding its own global fest this year, Nerd Nite descended on our nation's capital.

A combination of infrared and X-ray observations indicates that a surplus of massive stars has formed from a large disk of gas around Sagittarius A*.

Inside Black Holes

Three recent black hole events and how they shape our universe

Atlas V Launches the New Horizons Mission to Pluto.

Take a Peek Into the Future's Present With Our Live Coverage of Smithsonian's Two-Day Festival

The magazine's 2nd annual conference brings together experts, authors and visionaries in the fields of science, science fiction and technology.

Less than a mile from the South Pole, the Dark Sector Lab’s Bicep2 telescope (at left) searches for signs of inflation.

Listening to the Big Bang

Just-reported ripples in space may open a window on the very beginning of the universe

Supernova remnant Puppis A.

The Big “Gravitational Wave” Finding May Have Actually Just Been Some Dust

A supernova remnant interacting with interstellar dust could have caused the signals interpreted to be gravitational waves

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