Astronomy

The series of fortunate astrophysical events that gave us Ceres.

Cosmologists are using secondary signatures from the cosmic microwave background to map the universe’s hidden matter.

One question for Jillian Scudder, astrophysicist and author of “The Milky Way Smells of Rum & Raspberries.”

The time is now to prepare for the cosmic object that could spell our end.

One question for Miguel Aragon, a computational physicist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Extraterrestrial life doesn’t need to be intelligent to be worth finding.

One question for Paul Sutter, a theoretical cosmologist at Stony Brook University.

One question for Joseph Silk, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University.

The defining problem in the search for ET.

Early scientists didn’t know it, but we do now: The void in the universe is alive.

There was a lot more to this year than stunning images.

A recent gamma-ray burst known as the BOAT—“brightest of all time”—appears to have produced a high-energy particle that shouldn’t exist. For some, dark matter provides the explanation.