The Andromeda Galaxy, just part of a finely tuned universe.
Flickr/NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton, B.F. Williams, and L.C. Johnson (University of Washington), the PHAT team, and R. Gendler
New research out this month has led to speculation that the acceleration of the expanding universe might not be real after all. So what’s really going on?
Michael Quinton, Edinburgh Napier University; David Benyon, Edinburgh Napier University e Dr Iain McGregor, Edinburgh Napier University
Sonification is a technique for converting data into sound. It could transform the study of distant worlds.
Light from the universe’s first galaxies destroyed the hydrogen atoms that formed during the Big Bang.
NASA, ESA, R. Ellis (Caltech), and the UDF 2012 Team
The observation of gravitational waves from a second black hole merger implies there are many more black holes in the universe than scientists had previously anticipated.
Artist’s impression of the Square Kilometre Array.
SKA Project Development Office and Swinburne Astronomy Productions/wikimedia
If some of the laws of physics were only infinitesimally different, we would simply not exist. It almost looks like the universe itself was built for life. But how can that be?
Black holes will be all that remains before the universe enters heath death. But the story doesn’t end there…
NASA/ESA/wikimedia
In about 10100 years, the universe will have passed away in a tragic ‘heat death’. But don’t despair, eventually random conscious brains may pop out in empty space to shake things up.
A colour image of G63349, one of the galaxies in the survey, created using near-infrared (VISTA telescope) and optical (Sloan telescope) data collated by the GAMA survey. (The bright green object is a nearby star.)
ICRAR/GAMA
Why the Breakthrough Listen project is a step in the right direction in our hunt for life beyond Earth.
Understanding how galaxies are arranged could be the key to figuring what causes the expansion of the universe.
ESA/Hubble, NASA and S. Smartt (Queen's University Belfast)
The Square Kilometre Array is the world’s largest telescope – what will it do and how does it work?
How do we think about something we can’t see and don’t experience in our everyday lives, but seems to be pushing our universe apart ever faster?
NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth, D. Magee, and P. Oesch (University of California, Santa Cruz), R. Bouwens (Leiden University), and the HUDF09 Team
Einstein’s theory of gravity says dark energy must be out there, accelerating the expansion of our universe. But what is it and how can we try to figure out more about it?
The Hubble Space Telescope hovers at the boundary of Earth and space.
NASA
Twenty-five years on and the Hubble Space Telescope is still taking some amazing images. But there have been a few glitches over the years, right from day one.
Elliptical galaxies, like this one, are burnt out and no longer making stars.
Judy Schmidt and J Blakeslee (Dominion Astrophysical Observatory)
Tanya Hill, Museums Victoria Research Institute; Amanda Bauer, Australian Astronomical Observatory e Sarah Brough, Australian Astronomical Observatory
What happens to a galaxy when it runs out of the stuff needed to forge new stars?
Looking for dark matter in the galaxy collisions such as in Abell 2744, dubbed Pandora’s Cluster.
X-ray: NASA/CXC/ITA/INAF/J.Merten et al, Lensing: NASA/STScI; NAOJ/Subaru; ESO/VLT, Optical: NASA/STScI/R.Dupke