The Universe

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

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 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