Light is faster than anything else in the known universe, though its speed can change depending on what it's passing through. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate ...

If the Sun were to spontaneously cease emitting light, we wouldn't know about it for about 8 minutes and 20 seconds. The light that's arriving here on Earth, right at this very moment, was emitted ...

In 1676, by studying the motion of Jupiter's moon Io, Danish astronomer Ole Rømer calculated that light travels at a finite speed. Two years later, building on data gathered by Rømer, Dutch ...

There are two fundamental classes of theories required to describe the entirety of the Universe. On the one hand, there's quantum field theory, which describes electromagnetism and the nuclear forces, ...

If there is an absolute law in the universe, it’s that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. For science-fiction enthusiasts, that’s a bit depressing. Space is big, and while the speed of ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

Chris Impey receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the Hearst Foundation. Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, ...

Michael Lam does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...

It is hard to remember that a lot of high tech research went on well before the arrival of electronic computers, lasers, and all the other things that used to be amazing but are now commonplace.

Astronomers have caught a supermassive black hole firing off a never-before-seen cosmic blast, a rapid X-ray flare followed ...

In the center of our Milky Way galaxy, scientists have spotted the fastest star ever detected, moving at more than 8% of the speed of light. Our galaxy's center features the supermassive black hole ...