cosmology

This Mother’s Day weekend, the night sky offers a celestial tribute to femininity. On Sunday evening, the Moon—La Luna—shines brightly near Spica in Virgo, the zodiac’s only female figure. In the north, Cassiopeia, mother of Andromeda, forms a distinctive W-shape. Before dawn, Venus dazzles in the east, and just to her left, Andromeda adds a graceful touch to this skyward celebration of motherhood.

Science shows and websites often explore wild ideas about the cosmos, like multiverses or the possibility that we’re living in a computer simulation. Unlike reliable measurements — such as Mars’ rotation, which is constant and observable — cosmology relies heavily on models built from limited data. Claims like the universe becoming transparent 379,000 years after the Big Bang sound precise but are rooted in theory. With 96% of the universe made up of mysterious dark matter and dark energy, and the rest possibly infinite, our observations cover only a tiny portion. As a result, cosmology builds layered assumptions that frequently shift, like when scientists thought the universe’s expansion was slowing in 1997 — only to find the opposite a year later.

If you’re a fan of Seinfeld, you know that was always called a show about nothing.Well we won’t be nearly as funny as Jerry and the gang, but today’s…

What is left after a star explodes and dies? The answer is a neutron star.Dr. Victoria Kaspi, professor of astrophysics and cosmology at McGill…