41–60 of 95 results

Science-based Q&A

How Far is the Closest Star?

Barring the Sun, the closest star to Earth is a triple system called Alpha Centauri, which is over four light years away.

Astronomy Questions & Answers

How is Time Changed Inside a Black Hole?

Because black holes severely warp the fabric of spacetime, they have a curious effect on the passage of time as seen by an outside observer.

Supermassive black hole, NASA/JPL-Caltech

Science-based Q&A

Sizes of Black Holes: How Big is a Black Hole?

Black holes are singularities: points of infinitely small volume with infinite density. However, the amount of a mass concentrated in a black hole varies, and the mass determines how wide the black hole's sphere of influence is.

Astronomy Questions & Answers

How do black holes form?

Different types of black holes form through different processes.

Astronomy Questions & Answers

Are Black Holes Real? If so, Who Discovered Them?

The concept of a black hole was first contrived in by John Michell 1783. For a long time, many notable scientists, including Albert Einstein, believed black holes were merely theoretical. However, in the last century, astronomers have gathered a good deal of observational evidence for the existence of black holes.

conceptual image of a black hole

Astronomy Questions & Answers

What is a black hole?

A black hole is a region of space where the force of gravity is so strong that the escape velocity exceeds the speed of light.

Astronomy Questions & Answers

What's the Origin of the Universe? What happened during the Big Bang?

The Big Bang marked the beginning of the universe's expansion from a singularity — a single point that was infinitely small, infinitely hot, and infinitely dense. Cosmologists have designated several distinct eras for the universe's evolution from the first moments after the Big Bang to a billion years later.

Our expanding universe

Science-based Q&A

What is dark energy?

Cosmologists have invoked the concept of dark energy to explain the accelerated expansion of the universe, but the nature of dark energy remains one of the most pressing questions facing modern cosmology.

Science-based Q&A

Is there a center of the universe?

The universe began as a singularity that started expanding in the Big Bang. But the Big Bang was no regular explosion. Rather, space itself expanded, so there is no center of the entire universe. The observable universe, on the other hand, is a different story.

Science-based Q&A

How Many Galaxies Are There in the Universe?

Astronomers determine the number of galaxies in the universe by counting up the number visible in a tiny portion of the sky, and then accounting for all the regions of the observable universe. A 2013 study estimates that there are 225 billion galaxies in the observable universe.

Planck temperature map of universe

Astronomy Questions & Answers

What is the age of the universe?

Determining the age of the universe requires a knowledge of the universe's expansion rate, as well as its density and composition. Cosmologists currently set the age of the universe at about 13.77 billion years.

Science-based Q&A

The End of the Universe: What is our ultimate fate?

During the latter half of the 20th century, cosmologists narrowed the universe’s fate to three possibilities, and they all depend on its density.

Science-based Q&A

What are constellations?

In 1930, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) divided the sky into 88 constellations. Each constellation is defined by an imaginary boundary on the sky and named after a classical star pattern within those boundaries. So when we say a star is “in” a particular constellation, we mean it lies within the IAU-defined boundaries of that constellation.

Science-based Q&A

How Many Stars are There in the Universe?

By measuring the number and luminosity of observable galaxies, astronomers put current estimates of the total stellar population of the observable universe at roughly 70 billion trillion.

Science-based Q&A

What is the brightest star in the sky?

The brightest star in the sky is Sirius, also known as the “Dog Star” or, more officially, Alpha Canis Majoris, for its position in the constellation Canis Major.

Astronomy Questions & Answers

How Do Stars Die and How Long Do Stars Live?

Both the life and death of a star depend on its mass. Generally speaking, the more massive a star, the faster it burns its fuel and the shorter its life. The most massive stars meet their end in a supernova explosion after only a few million years of fusion, while the tiniest stars continue to feebly burn for upwards of a trillion years.

Science-based Q&A

What Is a Star?

A star is a luminous ball of gas held together by its own gravity. Nuclear fusion in its core supports the star against gravity and produces photons and heat. The Sun is the closest star to Earth.

Science-based Q&A

Why Do Stars Twinkle?

Though it wouldn’t work so well in the nursery rhyme, a star’s twinkling actually has a technical term, astronomical scintillation: the effect of our planet’s atmosphere on starlight.

Science-based Q&A

Asteroids: What Are They and Where Do They Come From?

Asteroids are rocky objects leftover from the solar system's formation, found primarily in the asteroid belt, a region of the solar system in between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Comet ISON (C/2012 S1)

Science-based Q&A

Comets: What Are They? Where Do They Come From?

Comets are suspected to be remnants of planet formation in the solar system about 4.6 billion years ago and primarily originate in the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud.