PBS
What New Science Would We Discover with a Moon Telescope?
In order to see the faint light from objects in deepest space, astronomers go to the darkest places on the planet. In order to listen to their quite radio signals, they head as far from any radio-noisy humans as possible. But there’s...
Be Smart
What Could We See with a Planet-Sized Telescope?
The James Webb Telescope just took a photo of a newly discovered exoplanet. Exciting stuff but the raw image just looks like a small, faint dot—not a fully detailed world. The question is, just how big would a telescope need to be to...
SciShow
The Most Important Explosion in History
Not long after the supernova of 1604, the telescope was invented. But astronomers would have to wait nearly FOUR CENTURIES to witness the next supernova that was visible to the naked eye. It was 1987, and a blue supergiant in the Large...
SciShow
This Giant Space Flower Could Help Us Find A New Earth
Over the past three decades, astronomers have discovered thousands of planets beyond our solar system. But while some of them might be the right size and mass to be some kind of Earth 2.0, we don't know if any of them is truly...
TED Talks
Are we alone in the universe? We're close to finding out | Lisa Kaltenegger
Astrophysicist Lisa Kaltenegger explores the thrilling possibility of discovering life beyond Earth, highlighting how cutting-edge technology like the James Webb Space Telescope lets us analyze distant planets for signs of life in...
SciShow
Our Galaxy May Be 10 Times Bigger Than We Thought
The Milky Way is often described as measuring 100,000 light years across and containing the mass of a trillion Suns. But our home galaxy is actually far bigger, and might be much less massive. Astronomers aren't sure what the exact stats...
SciShow
Is JWST Living Up to the Hype?
The James Webb Space Telescope is the most ambitious space observatory ever launched, and nobody hyped it more than us. So is it putting in work? Oh, boy, yes. Yes it is.
SciShow
Goodbye SOFIA, Thanks for All the Discoveries
SOFIA or The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy is coming to an end, but let's look back on some of the amazing discoveries of this flying telescope.
SciShow
Goodbye, SOFIA, the Telescope That Actually Flew
In 1997, NASA bought a Boeing 747SP for what might be both a super cool and super absurd purpose. Turn it into SOFIA, a flying telescope.
SciShow
How to Supersize a Telescope | Compilation
Telescopes can get pretty big, incredibly big actually. Unbelievably big. So here's a compilation about how we managed to get them that size and how that size helps us to see.
SciShow
The Future of the Search for Life
Astronomers have found more than 5,000 planets in the last three decades, but that’s not nearly as exciting as potentially coming across the first extraterrestrial creatures. And we may finally be in a position to make that discovery.
SciShow
Great Minds: Conny Aerts, the Starquake Professor
While doing some light reading of data from a telescope, Conny Aerts made a breakthrough that allowed her to lead the charge in the field of asteroseismology and win her the 2022 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics.
SciShow
What's Going to Space in 2023?
2022 was a pretty exciting year for space science, but what news might we expect in the coming year?
SciShow
JWST: Looking Beyond The Pretty Pictures
The James Webb Space Telescope isn't just for finding Pinterest worthy pictures, we're finding some amazing details in the sometimes blurry background photos.
SciShow
This Toxic Liquid Telescope from the 1850s Is Finally Useful
Sometimes looking into a pool of a toxic liquid holds the secrets of the universe–or maybe just this one time.
SciShow
The Biggest Star In The Universe Is Too Small
R136a1 is the most massive star that astronomers have ever discovered. It's so massive you might think the laws of physics wouldn't allow it. But it turns out that its current mass estimate is actually so low that it threatens our...
SciShow
How Many Suns Can One Planet Have?
Earth and the other seven planets in our solar system have only one star: the Sun. Years ago, astronomers found the first exoplanet that had two stars. They also found one with three stars. And four. Just how many stars can one planet have?
PBS
Science of the James Webb Telescope Explained!
You’ve probably heard about the James Webb Space Telescope and seen some cool pictures. But why should astronomers have all the fun? How do we get to use this new toy ourselves?
PBS
The Quasar from The Beginning of Time | STELLAR
Recently, the oldest quasar ever seen was discovered by the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii, the Magellan Telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, as well as the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona. In this first episode of the...
PBS
The Real Science of the EHT Black Hole
So, how do you take a picture of a black hole? The beast in question is the supermassive black hole in the center of this – the M87 elliptical galaxy. It has an estimated mass of several billion times that of the Sun, which gives it an...
SciShow
Why Are Saturn’s Rings Younger Than Saturn?
Saturn's rings are younger than Saturn, and the most spectacular sight in the Solar System is also disappearing. How do we know? By running our finger through some cosmic dust.
SciShow
Microscope: The Tube That Changed the World
Humans have long known that glass bends light. However, it took us awhile to figure out that stacking lenses in a tube would open up a whole new world to science, finally allowing us a peek at the microscopic.
SciShow
The Truth About 10 Famous Inventions
Did Thomas Edison invent the lightbulb? I mean... kind of... but also... no. Every great, world-changing invention is the culmination of efforts by dozens or hundreds of people, spanning decades or centuries.