Your essential guide to the many breathtaking wonders of the universe
22 April 2023
An abridged inventory of everything there is in the universe – from rogue planets and exomoons to supernovae, supermassive black holes and the cosmic web.
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Premium
A spotter's guide to the Milky Way's most badly behaved stars
18 December 2019
There are around a hundred billion stars in the Milky Way, and most are rather humdrum – but the oddballs are so strange that they challenge our understanding of physics
We don’t need stars to navigate space - black holes work way better
5 December 2018
If you want to find your way across the universe, forget using stars or GPS. The light from quasars billions of light years away can guide us and even help here on Earth
10 mysteries of the universe: What makes monster stars?
19 September 2018
Mega-stars hundreds of times the mass of our sun lurk in a galaxy nearby. We don’t know how they formed – but they could make the cosmos a richer brew for life
10 mysteries of the universe: How will it all end?
19 September 2018
Supernovae are violent stellar explosions that pepper the cosmos. Studying them revealed the enigma of dark energy – a force that will determine the universe's fate
Why weird star systems are where we'll find alien life
18 July 2018
In the hunt for life beyond Earth, we've been looking for planets and stars like our own. But that is flawed – and a new plan promises answers in our lifetimes
Mystery of the cosmic dawn: What’s eating the first starlight?
9 May 2018
A shoestring experiment in the Australian outback has seen the signal of the very first stars – and a weird effect astronomers are struggling to explain
Mission Icarus: Inside the daring plan to touch the sun
27 March 2018
The Parker Solar Probe is about to unlock the secrets of our star by flying into its fiery atmosphere – a mission that will push technology to the limit
Suns and daughters: The family tree that may unite all the stars
7 February 2018
The chemical make-up of stars tells us a lot about their explosive family history. Unlocking those secrets could reveal how the galaxy got its shape
Eight great accidents in scientific discovery
3 August 2017
Scientists looking for one thing sometimes stumble upon the unexpected. Here are some lucky breaks, from the cold depths of space to the heat of the bedroom
