Stories by Phil Plait

Almost everything we know about the cosmos is conveyed by photons traveling across vast distances

The human brain loves seeing patterns, even when they aren’t really there

Cosmic happenstance and biological evolution come together to create a road map to the stars

The latest images from Euclid, a European mission studying dark matter and dark energy, are spectacularly beautiful—and scientifically promising

We should—and must—take careful measure of what we name cosmic objects and the terms we use throughout science

The next time you snap a selfie, consider thanking an astronomer for your phone’s camera

The iconic star Polaris appears to be much younger than its true age. The secret: it’s eating another star

A supernova showering Earth with radioactive debris is a surprisingly common cosmic occurrence

How do astronomers find the darkest objects in the universe?

An exploding star is a catastrophe on a cosmic scale, but here on Earth we’re safe from such astral disasters—for now

The solar system’s outer limits aren’t as clear-cut as you might think

Someday an unlucky outburst from our sun could strike Earth and fry most of our electronics—and we’ve already had some too-close-for-comfort near misses

Perspective and subtle motion allows us to peek over the moon’s edge and into its far side

The search for a mysterious planetary body beyond Neptune has narrowed down its possible location—if it exists at all

The ocean’s twice-daily rise and fall is only the most obvious effect of tides—they slow Earth’s spin and shape stars and galaxies, too

To make the most of any total solar eclipse, put down your gadgets and bask in one of our solar system’s most glorious spectacles

Figuring out whether there are more stars in the universe than sand grains on Earth’s seashores requires math—and imagination

Quirks of orbital mechanics make a cadre of sun-orbiting asteroids appear to be moons of Earth

Snapshots of a plethora of planet-forming disks offer more than just eye candy—they also reveal some fundamental aspects of how worlds are born

Exorbitant launch costs and daunting engineering challenges make the dream of space-
based solar power look dicey for the space agency

The scale of the cosmos exceeds the bounds of human comprehension. But that doesn’t mean the universe is beyond our understanding

Maps of stellar motions can show whether the Milky Way will someday merge with the Andromeda galaxy—and a whole lot more

Without adding an extra day to February every four years, our calendar would get increasingly out of sync with the cosmos

Despite being some six billion kilometers away, the sun from Pluto would be a dazzling sight to behold—carefully, that is