Stories by Caleb A. Scharf

Processed images from the Akatsuki spacecraft reveal beautiful details of this strange world 

The answer is a little more complicated than you might expect

One year, so much science. Here's the third of three spectacular, but less widely seen images from the near and far universe

One year, so much science. Here's the second of three spectacular, but less widely seen images from the near and far universe

One year, so much science. Here's the first of three spectacular, but less widely seen, images from the near and far universe

Any good space opera needs to take place in a version of reality that, although not necessarily scientifically accurate, at least makes some kind of sense

Where do you test part of the landing system for Mars 2020? High above Earth, of course

A toothpick proves that nobody's getting to the stars very quickly using conventional rocketry

Radar maps of asteroids reveal an array of gnarled, bumpy, and bizarre objects

Talking to the rest of the universe takes a whole lot of patience

Caleb Scharf, director of Columbia University’s Astrobiology Center talks about his latest book, The Zoomable Universe: An Epic Tour through Cosmic Scale, from Almost Everything to Almost Nothing, and the OSIRIS-REx space mission.

Largely forgotten today, but probably still out there

Seldom shown images from the Apollo missions still evoke powerful responses

A simple thought experiment that will shock the socks off you

Reality as we know it spans 63 orders of magnitude in scale, and now all of that is in one book

The second-closest, properly sunlike star seems to be at least as interesting as the Alpha Centauri stars

Echoing a famous experiment, the OSIRIS-REx mission treats Earth as a target of opportunity

We've got a doomsday clock, how about a set of running odds on what happens to us?

It's hardly the most pressing concern for Earth, but there might be a way to forewarn ourselves

The mechanics of two 40-year-old spacecraft

And it's not even from Earth

The end of the Cassini mission is presaged by unique and extraordinary images

Earth may get great solar eclipses, but they don't happen all the time

Astrophysical events may have a hard time sterilizing Earth-analogue worlds, based on the example of water bears. But is it this simple?