The Universe

There are billions of stars in the Universe, but one alone dominates our celestial neighborhood, the Sun. It's so large that within its boundaries you could fit one million Earths, and so powerful that each second it churns out as much energy as one billion one-megaton hydrogen bombs.

It has been fifty years since man first ventured into space, but the greatest secrets are yet to be revealed. Mars is the planet in our solar system most similar to Earth despite otherworldly features such as the largest volcano in the Solar System. Rumors of life on Mars may be substantiated as NASA orbiters and rovers discover new evidence of frozen water just beneath the rusty soil.

The Earth has become a dangerous place to live in the Universe. It's only a matter of time before a cosmic force will annihilate the planet. At this very moment, NASA's top brass and other scientists are arming themselves with the latest technology to pre-empt an apocalyptic attack. And the enemy won't be terrorists launching nuclear weapons, but something possibly more deadly.

Half a billion miles from earth exists a mini solar system of over 60 moons rotating around a powerful planet of gas. It's flowing colors and spots hold strange beauty, but contain violent storms and jet streams. Could this big, bright ball of turbulent weather have been the star of Bethlehem?

It's so close...yet so far away. For thousands of years, mankind has found comfort in its presence. It's been a lantern for nighttime travelers...a timekeeper for farmers...and a location finder for sailors at sea. For some cultures, it's even been a god. It's the only cosmic body ever visited by human beings.

Take a high performance ride through the formation of the third planet from the Sun, Earth.

Scorched by their proximity to the sun, Mercury and Venus are hostile worlds.

Are the rings of Saturn a real celestial phenomenon or merely a cosmic Illusion?

To know our place in the universe take a look far, far away to the realm of Alien Galaxies.

Ignited by the power of the atom, burning with light, heat and wrath, stars are anything but peaceful.

New discoveries regarding the Outer Planets are creating a fundamental rethinking of our solar system. Uranus is a toxic combination of hydrogen, helium and methane.

Take a tour of the cosmic hot zones--black holes, galaxy mergers, gamma ray bursts and magnetars. Super massive black holes can literally "lasso" the Earth out of the solar system.

In a galaxy filled with a billion stars, in a universe filled with a hundred billion galaxies--are we alone? SETI--the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence--is a privately funded project using radio telescopes and optical telescopes to scan the stars for the answer to that question.