If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Four recent findings have redefined our place in space, revealing that the cosmic universe we find ourselves in is vaster, stranger and altogether more wondrous than we had known. “The Search for Planet X” describes the mounting evidence that a “super Earth” up to 10 times as massive as our own world may lurk beyond Pluto. “Our Place in the Cosmos” depicts one of the largest known structures in the universe—an extraordinarily giant conglomerate of galaxies that includes our own Milky Way. “The Emptiest Place in Space” recounts the recent discovery, farther out, of a “supervoid” extending 1.8 billion light-years across that is surprisingly devoid of matter. And in one of the most talked-about findings of the year, scientists are viewing our cosmic surroundings with a new set of eyes thanks to the first detection of gravitational waves—products of colliding black holes.
It’s Time to Stand Up for Science
If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.
I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.
If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.
