Cosmology

The Monk who Believed in Aliens

Giordano Bruno was a monk on a mission. He believed life existed outside of the Earth, that the sun wasn't the center of the Universe, and that the Virgin Mary wasn't a virgin. The Church fried him for such beliefs, and now there's a crater...

Panspermia and the Origin of Life on Earth

Where did life on Earth originate? Did it form directly on our world billions of years ago? Or instead, was it an accidental gift from amongst the stars, reaching our planet on star dust?

The Shape of the Universe and Human Perception

How does our inability to perceive reality completely impact our perception of the shape of the universe?

Elementary Particles of the Standard Model

The Standard Model of physics includes 12 fermions, 12 gauge bosons, and the Higgs boson. It's a combination of quantum chromodynamics and the electroweak theory with the addition of the Higgs mechanism. All it needs now is gravity.

The Ptolemaic System of Understanding the Universe

Sometimes, ideas hold great power and Claudius Ptolemy's second century treatise on astronomy was a big hit with civilization for over a thousand years. It was complex, but it solved a lot of problems. As science matured, civilization found it could...

The Four Forces of Physics

According to physics, there are four basic forces in the Universe: gravity, electromagnetism, the strong force, and the weak force. To learn more about them, we must look at them from a particle physics perspective.

How Big Are the Largest Black Holes and How Do Astronomers Detect Them?

Much remains to be learned about black holes, though experts are trying their best to understand them. One area of interest is the search for the biggest black hole in the Universe.

What is Cosmology?

Cosmology is the study of the Universe and man's place within it. Human existence is intertwined with the understanding and existence of the Universe. Cosmology attempts to analyze this connection between what we know to be true and what we believe...

Galaxy Supercluster Complexes: Filaments of Space

Matter in space ranges in size from subatomic particles to galaxy superclusters. In fact, there are larger objects than those—complexes of superclusters called walls or sheets. These structures, as much as one billion light-years across, resemble...

Understanding the Structure of a Black Hole

Black holes are a dynamic structure within the confines of the universe. To understand the different parts, one must look at each one and discover its place within the whole. By defining a black hole's existence, the true nature of the universe can...