The planet Mars undergoes dramatic changes in its axial tilt on a timescale of hundreds of thousands of years. This is unlike Earth, whose axial tilt is stabilised by the presence of our Moon. As a result, Mars experiences significant changes in climate. This illustration shows cutaways through the ...Read more.

Big Bang, conceptual image. Computer illustration representing the origin of the universe. The term Big Bang describes the initial expansion of all the matter in the universe from an infinitely compact state 13.7 billion years ago. The initial conditions are not known, but less than a second after t ...Read more.

Artwork of a black hole seen from an orbiting planet. A black hole is a region of spacetime where the gravity is so powerful that not even light can escape them. They are created when massive stars die. This one is surrounded by an accretion disc of material, the light from which is warped by the st ...Read more.

Illustration of a coronal mass ejection emanating from the Sun. These events, CMEs for short, are powerful releases of solar charged particles (plasma) and magnetic field, travelling on the solar wind. When a CME hits Earth, it can cause a geomagnetic storm which disrupts the planet’s magnetospher ...Read more.

Abstract image of the Earth, with the continents represented by a matrix of dots. ...Read more.

Digital illustration showing a cave on the Moon, with the Earth visible from the opening. Caves have been known on the Moon for some time. Some of them are where lava tubes have collapsed in places, revealing the interior. They would make good places for human habitats. ...Read more.

Humans have been sending space probes, satellites and general miscellaneous materials into orbit around our planet since the late 1950s. Most of these remain in orbit even now, having long served their purpose and been deactivated or else damaged beyond repair. As a result the space around the plane ...Read more.

Humans have been sending space probes, satellites and general miscellaneous materials into orbit around our planet since the late 1950s. Most of these remain in orbit even now, having long served their purpose and been deactivated or else damaged beyond repair. As a result the space around the plane ...Read more.

Humans have been sending space probes, satellites and general miscellaneous materials into orbit around our planet since the late 1950s. Most of these remain in orbit even now, having long served their purpose and been deactivated or else damaged beyond repair. As a result the space around the plane ...Read more.

Humans have been sending space probes, satellites and general miscellaneous materials into orbit around our planet since the late 1950s. Most of these remain in orbit even now, having long served their purpose and been deactivated or else damaged beyond repair. As a result the space around the plane ...Read more.

Europa is one of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter, and the second closest to the planet (after Io). Its surface is a shell of fractured ice but very few craters, as the latter are eradicated by surface movements of the ice almost as soon as they are created. ...Read more.

Europa is one of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter, and the second closest to the planet (after Io). Its surface is a shell of fractured ice but very few craters, as the latter are eradicated by surface movements of the ice almost as soon as they are created. ...Read more.

Europa is one of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter, and the second closest to the planet (after Io). Its surface is a shell of fractured ice but very few craters, as the latter are eradicated by surface movements of the ice almost as soon as they are created. ...Read more.

Illustration of the Europa Clipper spacecraft orbiting Europa, a moon of Jupiter, which is seen in the background. The Europa Clipper launched in October 2024, and aims to conduct detailed observations of Jupiter's moon Europa. Europa is believed to have vast saltwater oceans beneath its ice crust, ...Read more.

Illustration of the Europa Clipper spacecraft orbiting Europa, a moon of Jupiter, which is seen in the background. The Europa Clipper launched in October 2024, and aims to conduct detailed observations of Jupiter's moon Europa. Europa is believed to have vast saltwater oceans beneath its ice crust, ...Read more.