All About Space

How measuring gravity on small scales help unite Einstein and the quantum world 26 We could have gotten to the Moon sooner than Apollo, but at what cost? 30 Whether you’ve been caught out or not, read our tips on spotting a fraud 60 Could the mathema

Scan the QR code with your device’s camera or download a free QR code reader app. Many iPhone and Android devices include these features When you see the AR ‘Scan Here’ logo on the page, use your phone to scan the QR code, which looks like this Hold

A failed supernova is a star – one far more massive than our Sun – which dies by collapsing into a black hole after a brilliant but short-lived explosion that could easily be missed. However, they’re so rare that the VASCO hunt is unlikely to have de

Schulze-Makuch specialises in astrobiology – the science of possible life elsewhere in the universe – at the Technical University of Berlin’s Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics. As an astrobiologist, how do you make predictions about the possible

A bright object visible on a 1950 USNO plate (left) is missing from a plate taken in 1993 (middle left), as well as modern SDSS (middle right) and Pan-STARRS (right) data. In this comparison, a faint star at the centre of the boxed area is present in

• Overseen by Colonel Harry Lee Evans • Report delivered on 25 April 1958 • Proposed a series of robotic and animal flights of a simple MISS capsule • Testing of larger MISSOPH capsule • MISSOPH III, a lifting-body craft for lunar and Earth orbital m

One of the most exciting prospects offered by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is the investigation of one of the universe’s most mysterious aspects: dark matter. Vera Rubin offered the first evidence that as much as 85 per cent of galaxies’ matter is t

The survey area that the system will image on a single filter over three nights The number of galaxies the observatory will view The weight of the observatory’s 3.2-gigapixel camera The telescope’s primary mirror size in metres Exposures the SST’s ca

Cerro Pachón, a mountain in Chile, was selected as the site for the observatory in 2006. The mountain’s dry nature and clear nights are perfect for conducting infrared observations. The mountain top is above Chile’s summer haze, maintaining a clear v

How unusual is Solar Cycle 25’s sunspot activity? Looking at sunspots as a non-physical index of solar activity, I think this solar cycle isn’t unusual, especially in the context of the prior cycle. This cycle’s sort of mimicking that. Even in the ea

19TH CENTURY When panpsychism was the default Western philosophy 95% Amount of dark matter thought to exist in the universe 1 Scientist Gregory Matloff believes panpsychism could help explain dark matter 20TH CENTURY When logical positivism largely t

Most scientists are materialists: they explain consciousness as causally dependent on physical processes and hold that only matter has been proven to exist. In other words, consciousness is a result of a material interaction between, as an example, t

Paranego’s discontinuity is an anomaly in stellar motion that has proven intriguing: red, cooler stars orbit our galaxy at a faster pace than blue, hotter ones. Scientists suppose the anomaly, based on data from the ESA’s Hipparcos mission which ran

Cost: £34.99 (approx. $48.60) From: thumbsup.com 1 Add some nostalgic flair to your home or office space with this NASA Retro Galaxy Lamp. This impressive rocket stands 50 centimetres (19.7 inches) tall and is the perfect gift for the space - or lava

Editor-in-Chief Gemma Lavender gemma.lavender@futurenet.com Art Editor Jonathan Wells Staff Writer Daisy Dobrijevic Production Editor Nikole Robinson Research Editor Baljeet Panesar Senior Art Editor Duncan Crook Photography Olly Curtis Stuart Atkins