CATEGORIES

DARK MATTER - WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

It’s eluded us for decades, but bubbles could be the answer to the universe’s most mysterious substance

DR BERNARD HARRIS JR. - “WE STILL NEED TO HAVE MORE DIVERSITY IN THE ASTRONAUT CORPS”

A veteran astronaut now serving as a flag bearer for STEM education, Dr Bernard Harris Jr. speaks to All About Space about his time as a Space Shuttle astronaut, coloured representation in the current astronaut corps and whether he’d still like to go to the Moon

Celestron Cometron FirstScope 76

Designed with the beginner or casual astronomer in mind, this tabletop telescope is portable, provides good views and doesn’t take up too much space

Arecibo Observatory

Prior to its decommissioning and sudden collapse, this huge dish made many invaluable contributions to astronomy

ALIEN WORLDS IN FARAWAY GALAXIES: EXTRAGALACTIC PLANETS

The search for alien worlds continues, with surprising consequences

Guion Bluford

He was the first African American astronaut to fly into space

MARTIAN MOONS EXPLORATION

Japan’s next sample-collection feat will be to the second and third closest natural satellites in the Solar System

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM THE CHALLENGER DISASTER

The first loss of a Space Shuttle and its crew was a preventable disaster, but it would go onto largely change NASA for the better

WHAT LIES BETWEEN NEUTRON STARS AND BLACK HOLES?

There has long been thought to be a mass gap between these two cosmic heavyweights, but does the theory need to be revised?

Meade ETX90 Observer

If you’re looking for a beginner’s telescope that shows you the night sky at the press of a button, this motorised instrument is ideal for you

DARK MATTER GALAXY DEBUNKED

Astronomers claimed a galaxy was 98 per cent dark matter… but they were wrong

IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE?

All About Space speaks to Stargazing Live co-host and astronomy-mad comedian Dara Ó Briain, who divulges how isolation has revealed the wonders of astrophotography, his memories of the BBC hit show and whether life could be out there somewhere in the cosmos

61 CYGNI THE STAR THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

In the newly released History of the Universe in 21 Stars (and 3 Imposters), the star 61 Cygni has been revealed to be the smoking gun in our understanding of the cosmos

Why Don't Mercury Or Venus Have Any Moons?

"For mercury it's pretty clear that there isn't much room for a moon in the stable region"

Wonder of its age

Nestled in the Northumbrian hills, Cragside looms large through the trees. JULIAN HUMPHRYS explores the extraordinary Victorian mansion and gardens which were masterminded by an equally extraordinary engineer

RICHARD THE RADICAL

For centuries Richard III has been cast as a diabolical despot who would stop at nothing in pursuit of power. But, argues Matt Lewis, in reality, Richard was a champion of the common man – and it was this that ultimately led to his downfall

Our Dangerous Devotion To The Second World War

The west’s enduring obsession with the battle against Nazism is hampering its efforts to meet the challenges of the modern world

A Taste For Strange Meats And Husbands' Buttocks

From chewing coal to salivating over starch and shells, pregnant women in early modern England were consumed by a number of outlandish cravings. Jennifer Evans explores how doctors made sense of these bizarre – and sometimes dangerous – desires

Georg Elser Hitler's Would-Be Killer

In the latest instalment of our occasional series profiling remarkable yet unheralded characters from history, Roger Moorhouse introduces a little-known carpenter-turned-assassin whose daring attempt to kill Hitler almost succeeded

THE RIGHT STUFF EXCLUSIVE - “WE WOULD NOT HAVE GONE TO THE MOON WITHOUT PROJECT MERCURY”

With an exciting new series about Project Mercury landing on Disney+, All About Space speaks to the show’s technical consultant, Robert Yowell, about bringing his space engineering expertise to the show

Six galaxies found trapped around a supermassive black hole

New data from the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile and other observatories gives astronomers a sense of black hole evolution when the universe was less than a billion years old.

Physicists attempt to break the rules of gravity

A new test of Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity has proved the iconic physicist right again – this time by reanalysing the famous first-ever picture of a black hole, which was released in April 2019.

WHAT'S BEHIND THE WOW! SIGNAL?

FOR OVER 40 YEARS ASTRONOMERS HAVE SOUGHT TO EXPLAIN A MYSTERIOUS ONE-OFF ‘ALIEN’ SIGNAL, BUT ARE WE NOW FINALLY CLOSE TO AN ANSWER?

IS THERE LIFE ON VENUS?

A discovery in the cloud decks of the hostile planet could be the smoking gun for astrobiologists

SCIENTISTS SPOT MAGNETARS' MISSING LINK

These magnetic stars might be more like pulsars than originally suspected

Moon tour - The far side of the Moon

What wonders can be found on the mysterious side of the Moon which we can never see?

ATHLETE

If we are to settle on other planets in the Solar System, we will need machines for heavy lifting in all manner of environments. NASA is working on such a robot already

Instant expert - HOW DOES A ROCKET WORK?

A rocket engine profits from one basic principle: as it propels material in one direction, it receives a kick in the other.

Astrophysics - How Are Gold, Silver And Bronze Created In The Universe?

Copper, which is the primary component of bronze, is created during supernova explosions at the end of the lives of massive stars, using existing nitrogen as a seed.

Star profile: Betelgeuse

The famous red giant will soon be coming to an explosive end