All SPACE OUT Articles

Recently NASA announced two brand-spanking new missions to our sister planet, Venus. This is the first time in over 40 years that Americans have led a mission to that enigmatic planet. What do they hope to find? Clues to our past…and answers to our future.

Our Milky Way galaxy is on a collision course. With destiny. With destruction. With fate. With our nearest neighbor, Andromeda. You can stream HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS on discovery+.

The internet and news media alike are abuzz with news about a radio buzz coming from Proxima Centauri, the nearest neighbor star to our sun a mere four and a quarter light-years away. That star happens to host a planet, called Proxima b (because we don’t have a cooler name for it yet), that sits in the habitable zone of its parent star. That means that the planet can potentially host liquid water, and where there’s liquid water there’s a chance for life.

It was all supposed to be great. On January 16th, NASA performed its first major test run in a long, long time. It was a test for the core stage of its upcoming Space Launch System (SLS), a beast of a rocket that will carry astronauts to the Moon, Mars, and more.

It’s that time of the year. Pumpkin spice and cinnamon lattes compete for our taste buds. Carols worm into our ears. Holiday greetings and pretty lights.And astronomers decide the fate of their field.

Want to see what’s behind a black hole? Easy. You just…stare at it. The whole thing is pretty weird to contemplate, but an excellent example of the space-bending (and mind-bending) powers of black holes.

ID2299, a galaxy 13.8 billion light years away, died far too young.

NASA’s Juno probe, the supremely awesome Jupiter orbiter, recently captured some stunning images of Ganymede, the largest moon of Jupiter, during the orbiter’s 34th trip around the giant.

The Milky Way is a giant, sprawling, beautiful spiral galaxy. It's also your home. Let's take a little tour.

All hail the James Webb, the ultra-powerful super-telescope for the next generation. Or for about 5-10 years when its fuel runs out.

On a typical muggy midwestern August evening in 1977, astronomers at the Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope got a big surprise. It was a signal so loud that it could only be described with one word: “wow!”

Something happens once you see the world from a different perspective. It's called the "Overview Effect". But what does that mean?

In a bowl, combine a tablespoon of hydrogen and a teaspoon of helium to a cup of dark matter. Add a pinch of neutrinos and sprinkling of radiation. Mix well to combine. Heat to several million Kelvin. When mixture has risen, leave to cool for 13 billion years.

The Milky Way is a giant, magnificent, truly transcendently beautiful spiral arm galaxy. It’s too bad we can’t get a decent picture of it. The problem is that we live inside it, and so astronomers have to work extra-hard to construct an accurate map.

Take a planet with the mass of, say, Saturn. You know, pretty big, but not ridiculously big. Just…normal big.