EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES AND EVENTS

A black hole is a region of space packed with so much mass that its own gravity prevents anything from breaking away. Although we can’t see a black hole, telescopes can observe the material around...

What happens when a star dies? It varies! Some stars die slowly, giving off puffs of gas and dust before collapsing to form small white dwarf stars. Much larger stars die suddenly in powerful explosions...

Scientists know more about what dark matter isn’t than what it is. We know dark matter exists because of its gravitational effects on objects we do see – objects that emit or reflect light....

When galaxies are drawn toward each other by gravity, stars and planets can pass by each other unharmed, but the gas and dust between stars collide. The gas is compressed and heated, setting off waves...

By observing at the same area of the sky for extended periods, space-based telescopes have the ability to capture faint light that left distant objects in the universe billions of years ago, but is only...

Light is packed with information! By using specialized instruments on telescopes, researchers can stretch light into a rainbow (known as a spectrum) to analyze its properties. Explore how scientists analyze...

If you have ever used manual camera controls to photograph in low light, you know that the darker it is, the longer the exposure needs to be. Keeping the camera shutter open longer allows more light to...

Human eyes have evolved to detect the rainbow of colors that make up visible light – but it is only one form of light. There are other types of electromagnetic radiation that human eyes cannot see....

Researchers have detected thousands of planets orbiting stars other than the Sun. The data show that these planets are even more varied than the planets and moons in our solar system. They range from small...

Scientists have detected thousands of exoplanets: planets orbiting stars other than the Sun. We have seen only a few exoplanets directly, but we can detect them by measuring the effects they have on the...

Not all stars shine consistently! Some stars temporarily increase in brightness for several days or weeks, while others have periodic changes in brightness. In other examples, stars change in brightness...

Stars are formed as part of an amazing recycling process, in which gravity shapes new stars from the gas and dust expelled by old stars. What happens as they form? Slide through several examples, including...