Space & Physics

Odds are that we’re not truly alone in the cosmos. But practically speaking, we might as well be

The more exciting, transformative and revolutionary a science result appears, especially if it comes out of nowhere, the more likely it is to be dead wrong. So approach science headlines with a healthy amount of skepticism and patience

Called Olbers’ paradox, the seemingly simple mystery of the sky’s darkness is something that stumped astronomers for centuries

Samples from the far side of the moon gathered by China’s Chang’e 6 mission record eons of tumultuous lunar history

The sixth test flight of SpaceX’s giant rocket ended with a fiery splashdown rather than a clean “chopstick” catch

The far side of the moon offers grounds for compromise between advocates and opponents of lunar development

The nearby star Vega, featured in the 1997 movie Contact, appears to have a smooth disk devoid of giant planets for reasons we can’t explain

In 1974 we beamed a radio transmission into space that changed the way we think about our place in the cosmos

The Chandra X-ray Observatory is facing closure. Shutting it down would be a loss to science as a whole

Finding a perfect sphere is actually pretty difficult

On the 50th anniversary of the “Arecibo message,” we present a reflection on humankind’s first attempt to send a transmission to intelligent life in the cosmos.

Visual artist Anna Von Mertens looks to astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt and her vision of the universe for inspiration