Cosmology

Looking for the big picture?

It doesn’t get any bigger than cosmology: the science of how the universe began and developed. What is it made of? How is it structured? What is its eventual fate, billions of years in the future? Supercomputer models and observations from ever-larger telescopes on the ground and in space have transformed cosmology into a predictive science, providing evidence that the universe is expanding at an ever-increasing rate, propelled by a mysterious pressure called “dark energy.” 

Blog Post New Study IDs Nearby Star Systems That Can “See” Earth More than 2,000 star systems have been or will be in position to detect Earth transiting across the Sun over 10,000 years. June 23, 2021 Blog Post New Observations Point to Light Flare from Black Hole Merger A new study describes what might be the first light ever detected from a collision of two black holes. June 25, 2020 Video Exploring the Dark Universe: Cosmic Microwave Background Dr. Mordecai Mac Low discusses the energy left over from the Big Bang. Video Exploring the Dark Universe: Dark Energy Curator Mordecai-Mark Mac Low on dark energy. Blog Post Behind This Week’s News about the Big Bang Wondering what this week’s breaking story about the Big Bang theory means for our knowledge of our universe? March 19, 2014 Blog Post Help NASA Find a Planet A new citizen-science tool invites the public to help search for nearby worlds, including a possible undiscovered planet in our own... February 15, 2017 Video Exploring the Dark Universe: Dark Matter Curator Mordecai-Mark Mac Low on dark matter. Blog Post Detonating White Dwarfs as Supernovae New model explains how inspiraling dead stars can explode at a rate high enough to match the number of Type Ia supernovae seen in... October 4, 2016 Video Our Expanding Universe Recent discoveries prove that the universe is not static - it's expanding. Reading + Game How Did the Universe Begin? Find out how the Big Bang Theory came to be. Article Profile: Georges Lemaître, Father of the Big Bang When a Catholic priest and cosmologist first proposed that the universe began as a "primeval atom," it seemed preposterous. Reading Space and Time How do you describe your place in the 4th dimension? Video Gravitational Waves Detected LIGO detectors open a new window on the universe. Blog Post Watch for Rare Recurrent Nova Begins Amateur astronomers are watching a distant star that's due to erupt into a nova soon. August 16, 2016 Article Profile: Carl Sagan and the Quest for Life in the Universe From television and films to professional journals and best-selling books, Carl Sagan's influence was legendary. Audio Frontiers Lecture: Gravitons, Exotic Higgs Bosons, Or Nothing At All In this podcast, particle physicist James Beacham discusses what we’ve learned about gravitons, Higgs bosons, dark matter, and what’s... March 9, 2017 Audio SciCafe: When Black Holes Collide Astronomer Janna Levin discusses the first recordings of a gravitational wave - from black holes that collided 1.3 billion years... December 29, 2016 Article Case Study: The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation See how scientists detected a faint remnant glow that supports the Big Bang theory. Reading Meet the Universe's Main Attraction... Gravity Find out why a ball thrown in the air will return to the ground. Article Profile: Vera Rubin and Dark Matter Vera Rubin proposed that for every visible star in the observable universe, there are nine other invisible masses. Video 2016 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate: Is the Universe a Simulation? From sci-fi idea to serious debate. Audio Podcast: Probing Asteroids in Space with Harold C. Connolly Jr. How does studying asteroids help scientists protect Earth from possible collisions? March 7, 2019