The Physics of the James Webb Space Telescope
Humanity has a new eye in the sky, with infrared sensors that will peer into the farthest reaches of the cosmos. Here’s how it works. ..
Humanity has a new eye in the sky, with infrared sensors that will peer into the farthest reaches of the cosmos. Here’s how it works. ..
New, high-resolution observations of a faint, fluffy galaxy suggest that dark matter’s not as ubiquitous as scientists thought. ..
Even ordinary actions, like tossing a tennis ball, can be extraordinarily complex to calculate. The trick is knowing what to leave out. ..
It’s hard enough to predict the outcome of ball collisions in a game of billiards. Do you also have to factor in a player’s effect on the cue ball? ..
Physicists have linked the “gravitational memory effect” to fundamental cosmic symmetries and a potential solution to the black hole information paradox. ..
We use video analysis to compare an animated liftoff to an actual one, proving that truth is more boring than fiction. ..
Leaping into an airborne cargo plane might not be impossible, but the numbers have to work out just right. ..
The trailer for the film Moonfall shows our satellite getting too close for comfort. Here are the physics of what it would take to push the moon out of orbit ..
In the movie’s video game world, a whole-body airbag protects Ryan Reynolds as he falls off of a building and onto a car. Would that … work? ..
Back in 1909, figuring out the charge of a single electron was a Nobel-worthy pursuit. Today, it’s a good lesson in understanding four key forces. ..