interstellar travel

An artist's vision of the first interstellar object discovered in the solar system, 'Oumuamua.

Science

Scientists think they know why interstellar object 'Oumuamua moved so strangely

9:48pm March 22, 2023

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

A strange comet-like object discovered over five years ago was the first known visitor from another solar system. Its movement was so odd that scientists struggled to explain it, until now.

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Nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi, as seen on a 2001 USA postage stamp.

Science

On The Alien Question: Where Are They?

11:25am November 14, 2017

by Marcelo Gleiser

The great physicist Enrico Fermi asked this question in the 1950s. There are more than 50 possible "solutions" to Fermi's Paradox: Here, astrophysicist Marcelo Gleiser explores a few.

An image from the European Southern Observatory shows the sky around the bright star Alpha Centauri — which appears so large because of the telescope optics and photographic emulsion — taken from photos in the Digitized Sky Survey 2. Alpha Centauri is

Forget Starships: New Proposal Would Use 'Starchips' To Visit Alpha Centauri

2:44pm April 12, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

Physicist Stephen Hawking and billionaire Yuri Milner have announced a $100 million mission to prepare for interstellar exploration — with a stamp-size spacecraft, light sails and enormous lasers.