Collection
Out of This World: How We’re Solving the Mysteries of Space
![Earth’s Vital Signs: A View from Space](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/500bf3dc-ebf5-413d-a5de-c4dee4e94520/41196196930_a42b960594_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=1457%2C0%2C1467%2C2196&w=400)
The past two years have been the hottest ever recorded on Earth. Hundreds of gigatonnes of ice have been lost in Greenland and Antarctica and levels of trapped greenhouse gas...
![Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/4595568c-32d6-45c8-87a6-b416c908d7a8/9176157008_47e900c008_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C251%2C6016%2C3389&w=400)
Do we owe our existence to a thin disk of matter in the plane of the Milky Way that caused a minor space perturbation that resulted in a major earthquake that in turn killed t...
![Space Time Ripples and Einstein's Legacy](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/8335bd9b-e72f-4980-ab81-1173f14078d0/27880176052_d0b197700a_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C72%2C3888%2C2188&w=400)
Headline news was made in 2016 when the detection of gravitational waves, caused by the collision of two black holes, was confirmed by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-W...
![Thousands of New Worlds](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/7a07f777-9453-4784-9a0f-5d43f4936834/27891628541_fd618181e1_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C398%2C3888%2C2188&w=400)
Through a powerful narrative that’s sure to inspire wonder and awe, Lisa Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute, shares her research on newly discovered planets out...
![The Search for Life Beyond Earth](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/af95cd03-684b-4d20-82b1-62556a61c7cf/27867249782_c57ab409a0_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=1935%2C0%2C1724%2C2592&w=400)
Are we alone? It’s an age-old quandary, and no discussion of space would be complete without addressing the possibility of life beyond Earth. Science and technology have accel...
![Deep Dive: Space—Why We Explore](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/888ea9b5-3f40-4a95-a146-6ee74ebadb7d/27859273412_d9a18ec2d0_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=423%2C1062%2C6560%2C3690&w=400)
What is the universe made of and why don't we know what it's made of? From the esoteric to the concrete.
![Black Hole Blues and Other Songs From Outer Space](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/1a587def-2d6b-4e9b-a1ae-7db14e0781e0/27859178942_7f117338a1_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C614%2C7360%2C4145&w=400)
Black holes are dark. That’s their essence. Being dark against a dark sky and a shadow against a bright sky are the defining features that earned them a name. A telescope has...
![New Horizons and the Exploration of Pluto](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/63150978-4a15-4f27-9523-5830bf7fa4c4/27327479173_448128962d_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C635%2C6016%2C3381&w=400)
The fastest spacecraft ever launched, NASA’s New Horizons left Earth on January 19, 2006, headed for Pluto and the Kuiper Belt at 36,373 mph. Hurling three billion miles from...
![From the Big Bang to Black Holes: Time, the Universe, and Everything](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/db359fad-3032-47e3-92dc-c2d99f2f7454/14511009006_c1c603052b_o1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C154%2C7360%2C4145&w=400)
Astrophysicist and writer Janna Levin offers an epic tour through time from the beginning of the universe in a big bang, through black holes, past the emergence of life on at...