Space Exploration
Alone in a Crowded Milky Way
Even a galaxy teeming with star-hopping alien civilizations should still harbor isolated, unvisited worlds—and Earth might be among them
Stories by Caleb Scharf
Space & Physics
Guess the Rain's down on Titan
Archival Cassini images reveal a glinting surface and a seasonal property
Space & Physics
A Fantastic Journey through Cosmic Scales
A new, epic voyage through all known scales of reality charts the outer limits of existence, from the edge of the observable universe to the subatomic realm
Space & Physics
Eclipse: It's All about the Umbra
What makes a total solar eclipse seem so strange and awe-inspiring?
Space & Physics
Astronomers Measure How Fast a Supermassive Black Hole Is Spinning
To do so, they looked to a second black hole orbiting the first
Space & Physics
Cassini Reveals That Enceladus Is Embraced by a Web of Cracks
The Cassini mission's third-from-last flyby of the icy moon Enceladus reveals that a highly complex network of thin cracks covering the surface extend all the way into the northern polar region...
Space & Physics
Is Earth's Life Unique in the Universe?
To know whether life exists beyond Earth, we must come to terms with our own significance in the universe. Are we uniquely special or merely mediocre?
Space & Physics
How Black Holes Shape the Galaxies, Stars and Planets around Them
The matter-eating beast at the center of the Milky Way may actually account for Earth's existence and habitability
Space & Physics
How to find a habitable exoplanet: Don't look for one
Most planetary scientists will tell you that the objects they study are more complex and harder to categorize than almost anything else out there in the universe.
Extraterrestrial Life
We Are the Aliens
The emergence of the human “dataome” is like a sudden invasion of Earth
