"The Moon goes around the Earth, the Earth goes around the Sun, the Sun goes around the centre of the Milky Way: a supermassive black hole. As you read this you are currently orbiting a black hole. Money might make the world go round, but black holes make the universe go round. Black holes are not just a curiosity; they are some of the most important objects for understanding how our universe works and how it came to be. And yet they are incredibly...

"This concise book introduces readers in the physical sciences (and beyond) to the exciting frontier topic of dark matter - a mysterious, non-luminous form of matter in the universe that is thought to account for about 27% of the mass-energy balance in the universe. Though dark matter has not yet been directly detected, its presence is implied by the fact that gravitational effects observed in galaxies cannot be explained unless they actually contain...

The birth and evolution of our solar system is a tantalizing mystery that may one day provide answers to the question of human origins. This book tells the remarkable story of how the celestial objects that make up the solar system arose from common beginnings billions of years ago, and how scientists and philosophers have sought to unravel this mystery down through the centuries, piecing together the clues that enabled them to deduce the solar system's...

When pizzeria owner's son requests a pizza with everything, his father helps him add sauce, a house, penguins, and more, until they accidentally create a pizza black hole.

It is one of humankind's greatest achievements. More than twelve billion miles away a tiny spaceship is leaving our Solar System and entering the void of deep space - the first human-made object ever to do so. Slowly dying within its heart is a nuclear generator that will beat for perhaps another decade before the lights on Voyager finally go out. But this little craft will travel on for millions of years, carrying a Golden Record bearing recordings...

As of today, we are still sending messages to the stars: messages that, so far, have not been answered. For more than 50 years, we've been unsuccessfully searching for any evidence of intelligent extraterrestrial life. But, the discovery of thousands of exoplanets has meant the hope of finding them is higher than ever. First contact with alien intelligence will become a reality in the future, so we must understand how to communicate. What kind of...

The Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array, or ALMA, is a vast array of radio telescopes and the most powerful observatory of its kind. ALMA is stationed in the Atacama Desert of Chile which is one of the world's best sites for observational astronomy because of the high altitude, nearly non-existent cloud cover, dry air and lack of light pollution and radio interference due to the small populations. ALMA peers into previously hidden regions...

Solar storms, eruptions from the Sun with the power of nuclear weapons, have the potential to hit earth in just two days. A direct hit would obliterate our technology, from satellites to our smart phones. We need advance warning. Follow the scientists working to help us prepare for the next big solar event.

Witness how asteroids, those rocky, mysterious celestial bodies, could become a new frontier for humanity in the near future. We are at the forefront of the modern day gold rush and Asteroids hold the key for private companies to launch into deep space. This mini-series looks at the science and engineering behind the companies leading that race.