Astrophysics

The sun sets behind the BICEP2 telescope at the South Pole.

Nope, We Have Not Detected Gravitational Waves (Yet)

Leaked news from teams studying the early universe says the signal hailed as our first peek at space-time ripples really is just dust

Scientists used to hypothesize that equipment from Australia's Parkes Observatory, shown here, was responsible for fast radio burst readings.

Astronomers Catch a Mysterious Burst of Energy in Action

It's the first time scientists have observed the strange radio pulse as it happened

Two New Studies Posit At Least Two New Planets Out Beyond Pluto

We may not be done learning about our own solar system

Scientists Can Tell How Old a Star Is by Observing How Fast It Spins

A newly proven method can pinpoint the age of stars with at least 90% accuracy

You can't spend your way out of this one, America

NASA Is Turning Black Friday Into "Black Hole Friday"

Because, in the end, even great savings won't save you from a singularity

An optical light image of a black hole’s jet from the galaxy M87

The Rotational Energy of Black Holes Spits Out Powerful Particle Streams

Researchers are getting closer to answering some heavy questions about how supermassive black holes work

How One Physicist’s Pursuit of the Cosmos Took Off in Antarctica

Francis Halzen’s amazing experiment heralds the beginning of a new era in astronomy

An artist's conception depicts WASP-43b's orbit around its star.

Exoplanet Has Winds That Blow at the Speed of Sound

WASP-43b wouldn't be a great place to live

Figuring out the mysteries of the universe, one galaxy collision at a time.

What Is the Universe? Real Physics Has Some Mind-Bending Answers

Science says the universe could be a hologram, a computer program, a black hole or a bubble—and there are ways to check

This year, Smithsonian magazine's festival is themed "Science Meets Science Fiction."

The Future is (Still) Here: Day Two of Smithsonian's Second Annual Conference

Instead of holding its own global fest this year, Nerd Nite descended on our nation's capital.

A combination of infrared and X-ray observations indicates that a surplus of massive stars has formed from a large disk of gas around Sagittarius A*.

Inside Black Holes

Three recent black hole events and how they shape our universe

Atlas V Launches the New Horizons Mission to Pluto.

Take a Peek Into the Future's Present With Our Live Coverage of Smithsonian's Two-Day Festival

The magazine's 2nd annual conference brings together experts, authors and visionaries in the fields of science, science fiction and technology.

Less than a mile from the South Pole, the Dark Sector Lab’s Bicep2 telescope (at left) searches for signs of inflation.

Listening to the Big Bang

Just-reported ripples in space may open a window on the very beginning of the universe

Supernova remnant Puppis A.

The Big “Gravitational Wave” Finding May Have Actually Just Been Some Dust

A supernova remnant interacting with interstellar dust could have caused the signals interpreted to be gravitational waves

One small chunk of one small slice of one portion of the absolutely massive photo of the Milky Way captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope.

This 6 GB Photo of the Milky Way Is As Stunning As It Is Massive

Over the past 10 years the Spitzer Space Telescope captured this gorgeous infrared panorama of the Milky Way

The supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* is at the center of the Milky Way.

We’re About to Watch As a Supermassive Black Hole Tries to Gobble a Gas Cloud

A huge cloud of dust is on a collision course with the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way

An artist's rendering of the Big Bang.

A New Cosmic Discovery Could Be The Closest We’ve Come to the Beginning of Time

Scientists detect the signature of gravitational waves generated in the first moments of the Big Bang

The planet Kepler-22b, shown in this artwork, is the right size and distance from its star to support liquid water, and perhaps life.

The Search for Life Across the Universe

Smithsonian astrophysicist Jeremy Drake explains how the question changed from "if" life will be found elsewhere to "when" and "where"

Dr. Woosuk Bang, a Ph.D. candidate at the time of this photograph, prepares his doctoral thesis experiment on the Texas Petawatt laser. Earlier experiments with terawatt class lasers proved that clusters of gaseous molecules could be converted into ion energy. Dr. Bang's experiment, among the first to be conducted with the Texas Petawatt, created an ion plasma of sufficient temperature and density to catalyze neutron fusion reactions.

Adventures In Laser Science

A photo series by Austin-based photographer Robert Shults casts physicists and their everyday life in the lab in a sci-fi B-movie light

SM0313 is the little star right in the center.

This is the Oldest Star We’ve Ever Seen

SM0313 was part of the second wave of star formation

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