The Dawn of ‘Dark Ages’ Astronomy
The universe’s light-starved early epochs, as well as the first stars and galaxies, lie beyond the reach of conventional observatories but could be revealed by a new generation of radio telescope arrays
What’s Inside Our Galaxy’s Darkest Place?
Barnard 68 is often mistaken for a hole in space, but it’s actually a dense, opaque cloud of dust—for now
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Why We Probably Won’t Find Aliens Anytime Soon
Odds are that we’re not truly alone in the cosmos. But practically speaking, we might as well be
Famous Star Hasn’t Formed Planets, and We Don’t Know Why
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
The Arecibo Message, Earth’s First Interstellar Transmission, Turns 50
In 1974 we beamed a radio transmission into space that changed the way we think about our place in the cosmos
What’s the Roundest Object in the Universe?
Finding a perfect sphere is actually pretty difficult
Alternate Timelines Can’t Help You, Quantum Physicists Say
The multiverse offers no escape from our reality—which might be a very good thing
Scientists Spy a ‘Dandelion’ Supernova around a ‘Zombie’ Star
A strange supernova remnant first appeared as a “guest star” seen in 1181 by sky watchers in China and Japan
Fastest Known Planetary System Might Have Been Pushed by Our Galaxy’s Supermassive Black Hole
This blazingly fast star is shooting through the Milky Way with a planet in tow
Something Is Wrong with Dark Energy, Physicists Say
Cosmic surveys suggest the force pulling the universe apart might not be constant after all
Why We Can’t Rule Out Alien Spaceships in Earth’s Atmosphere (Yet)
We can and should look harder for evidence of alien visitors to our solar system
This Equation Shows That the Universe Will Run out of Stars
The cosmos is dark. The Lilly-Madau diagram reveals that it will become much darker still