Sharing stories from John Woodrow Cox, Sarah Blaskey, and Matt McClain; Daphne Chouliaraki Milner and Marcia Bjornerud; Susan Choi; Henry Wismayer; and Susannah Pratt.
astronomy
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Unseen Fury of Solar Storms
“Lurking in every space weather forecaster’s mind is the hypothetical big one, a solar storm so huge it could bring our networked, planetary civilization to its knees.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
What Happens Once We Spot the Asteroid That Will Hit Earth?
“This year, the alert system for defending the planet against incoming space rocks was activated for the first time. It won’t be the last.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Searchers
“[T]he work being done at JPL is the most inspiring research and exploration being done by any humans on our planet.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Weird Space That Lies Outside Our Solar System
Launched in the 1970s, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 — the first two spacecraft and human-made objects to leave our solar system — have reached interstellar space and now beam back images from this mysterious region.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Feature, Nonfiction, Story
What Falls to Earth
Grieving the mysterious death of her father, Susanna Space seeks refuge in the study of meteors.
Posted inEditor's Pick, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction
What Falls to Earth
Grieving the mysterious death of her father, Susanna Space seeks refuge in the study of meteors.
Posted inFeature
The Hunt for Planet Nine
What will it take to find the biggest missing object in our solar system?
Posted inArts & Culture, Nonfiction, Quotes, Science & Nature
The Telescope That Sees into the Heart of Hawaii
Trevor Quirk reports on how native Hawaiians protested the construction of a telescope on spiritual grounds — the presence of which cuts to the very question of who gets to decide what happens on Hawaiian soil — and who the soil belongs to.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Practical Cartography: I Am Mapped, Therefore I Am
Lois Parshley’s wide-ranging, fascinating story on mapping the unmapped — from black holes, to the bottom of the sea, to the populations of the Congo and Haiti — looks at not just the science of map-making, but the morality.