Latest Articles
The ‘Beautiful Confusion’ of the First Billion Years Comes Into View
Astronomers are reveling in the James Webb Space Telescope’s discoveries about the formative epoch of cosmic history.
The Best Neighborhoods for Starting a Life in the Galaxy
Some neighborhoods in the Milky Way may be better suited for making habitable planets than others.
In the Milky Way’s Stars, a History of Violence
Our galaxy's stars keep a record of its past. By reading those stories, astronomers are learning more about how the Milky Way came to be — and about the galaxy we live in today.
Standard Model of Cosmology Survives a Telescope’s Surprising Finds
Reports that the James Webb Space Telescope killed the reigning cosmological model turn out to have been exaggerated. But astronomers still have much to learn from distant galaxies glimpsed by Webb.
![An array of images of protoplanetary disks with bright suns at the centers surrounded by rings, arcs, filaments and spirals.]](https://www.quantamagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Planet-Formation_520x292.jpg)
Astronomers Reimagine the Making of the Planets
Observations of faraway planets have forced a near-total rewrite of the story of how our solar system came to be.
The Cosmologist Who Dreams in the Universe’s Dark Threads
Cora Dvorkin discovered new possibilities for what dark matter could be. Now she’s devising unorthodox ways to identify it.
Toward a Grand Unified Theory of Snowflakes
Snow crystals come in two main types. The “pope” of snowflake physics has a new theory that explains why.
Wandering Space Rocks Help Solve Mysteries of Planet Formation
After an interstellar asteroid shot past the sun, scientists realized that there’s probably a lot of itinerant rocks out there.
As Planet Discoveries Pile Up, a Gap Appears in the Pattern
Astronomers are puzzling over a paucity of planets in the galaxy measuring between 1.5 and two times Earth's size.