What is the universe made of? • 2015 • The Economist

32:02

To determine whether we're alone in the universe, astrobiologists look to Jupiter, Mars, and, closer to home, extreme environments on Earth.

2016 • Astronomy

50:00

Join a team of scientists as they launch a probe to actually touch the Sun. Then they make a surprise discovery on the tiny planet Mercury. An exhilarating real-life space adventure, revealing that our nearest star could pose a serious threat to our modern way of life.

2/8 • Secrets of the Solar System • 2020 • Astronomy

4:39

The shape, contents and future of the universe are all intricately related. We know that it's mostly flat; we know that it's made up of baryonic matter (like stars and planets), but mostly dark matter and dark energy; and we know that it's expanding constantly, so that all stars will eventually burn out into a cold nothingness. Renée Hlozek expands on the beauty of this dark ending.

TED-Ed • Astronomy

42:04

One of NASA's most ambitious missions, OSIRIS-REx, is investigating the asteroid Bennu in more detail than ever before, revealing how space rocks can kick-start life on other planets and how they could possibly hold answers to the secrets of the Solar System.

S8E6 • Space's Deepest Secrets • 2021 • Astronomy

60:25

Carl Sagan opens the program with a description of the cosmos and a "Spaceship of the Imagination" (shaped like a dandelion seed). The ship journeys through the universe's hundred billion galaxies, the Local Group, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Milky Way, the Orion Nebula, our Solar System, and finally the planet Earth. Eratosthenes' successful calculation of the circumference of Earth leads to a description of the ancient Library of Alexandria. Finally, the "Ages of Science" are described, before pulling back to the full span of the Cosmic Calendar. Note: This revised version of the series adds an introduction by Ann Druyan, in which she discusses some of the changes that occurred in the years after its broadcast.

1/13 • Cosmos: A Personal Voyage • 1980 • Astronomy

58:59

For two years BBC cameras have followed, Dr Sheperd Doeleman of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the work of the Event Horizon Telescope project team, a collective of the top scientific minds from around the world. The project combines radio observatories and telescope facilities from around the world to make up a virtual telescope with a diameter spanning the entire planet. This mega-telescope’s ultimate mission is to capture the first image ever of a black hole. Although the concept of black holes has been long assumed to be fact, the Event Horizon Telescope’s success would definitively prove the existence of this scientific phenomena for the first time – and provide clear visual evidence. The programme brings viewers into the laboratories, behind the computer screens and beside the telescopes of what may prove to be one of the great astrophysical achievements in human history.

2019 • Astronomy