universe

The Bullet Cluster, originally detected using weak lensing

“Weak Lensing” Helps Astronomers Map the Mass of the Universe

By making galaxies a little bit brighter, it points the way to elusive galaxies and lets us detect that most mysterious of substances: dark matter

Telescope array

The Hunt for High-Energy Photons Takes Place From a Mountaintop in Mexico

A new telescope built from water tanks might help answer some of the biggest questions in astronomy

This is a hypothetical set of possible universes.

Can Physicists Ever Prove the Multiverse Is Real?

Astronomers are arguing about whether they can trust this untested—and potentially untestable—idea

Galaxy NGC 1600

Supermassive Black Holes May Be More Common Than Previously Thought

Astronomers have found a huge black hole in a "cosmic backwater," opening the possiblity there could be many more in the universe

This image was taken inside the Large Hadron Collider just a few months before its launch in 2008.

Inside the Atom Smasher at CERN

What you can see on a tour of the largest particle collider in the world

CSIRO's Compact Array telescope picked the Fast Radio Burst's afterglow.

Astronomers Finally Tracked a Strange Radio Wave Burst to Its Source

With new insights into radio waves, scientists may be able to measure the mass of the universe

This visualization, built using data from the Planck satellite, shows the swirls of the Milky Way's magnetic field. The orange region represents the galactic plane.

Where Are All the Aliens? Taking Shelter From the Universe's Radiation

Earlier life-forms across the cosmos may have faced thousands to millions of times the cosmic ray dose that we do today

Poltergeist and Quijote Are Among the New Approved Names for Alien Planets

People in 45 countries submitted ideas for naming exoplanets and their host stars after legends and literature

The Universe’s Oldest Stars Likely Lit Up Way Later Than Once Thought

Data gathered by the European Space Agency’s Planck telescope indicates that the universe was dark for about 550 million years after the big bang

Hubble snapped this incredibly detailed view of the "Pillars of Creation" to help mark its 25th anniversary.

Top Space Pictures of the Week, From a Hubble Icon to Hungry Black Holes

Ghostly pillars, a dark nebula and a galaxy herd starred in some of the best image-driven stories released at a recent astronomy meeting

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

From the Editor

From the Editor

Why Carl Sagan is Truly Irreplaceable

No one will ever match his talent as the “gatekeeper of scientific credibility”

An artist's rendition of the Big Bang.

What Astronomers Are Still Discovering About the Big Bang Theory

A half-century after it was confirmed, the theory still yields new secrets

The Andromeda Galaxy

What Does the Future of the Universe Hold?

The collision of our galaxy with the Andromeda galaxy is billions of years away, but it’s never too early to wonder what will happen

A selection of a new image of distant galaxies in the COSMOS field. Click to see the whole view.

Picture of the Week: A Deep View of the Universe

A new survey of a slice of the distant reaches of the universe reveals 200,000 galaxies

What bits of the universe are legal to own?

A Quick Guide to Owning the Universe

If someone tries to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge, you know it's a hoax. But what about a meteorite, moon or star?

Investigators with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey have created the biggest 3-D map of the distant universe ever made.

A 3-D Map of the Universe, No Glasses Required

Investigators at the Sloan Digital Sky Survey track changes in the sky and some of the universe’s great mysteries

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Neutron Star May Have Superfluid at Its Core

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More Stars in the Universe

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