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Expert Voices

SPACE.com invites experts in space exploration, science & technology to provide insightful commentary and informed perspective on news, current events, innovations, big ideas and ongoing research. Expert Voices includes Op-Ed analysis and opinion as well as interesting observations from the field and space exploration efforts around the world.

Related Topics: Expert Voices - Don Lincoln, Expert Voices - Leroy Chiao, Expert Voices - Paul Sutter, Expert Voices - Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Expert Voices - The Kavli Foundation 

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Countless galaxies in the universe imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Is there anything beyond the universe?

By Paul Sutter published

What's beyond the known limits? What lies outside the boundary of the universe? The answer is — well, it's complicated.

The locations of 115 candidate free floating planets in the region between Upper Scorpius and Ophiuchus.

Rogue planets: How wandering bodies in interstellar space ended up on their own

By Joanna Barstow published

Finding more and more exoplanets to study has, as we might have expected, widened our understanding of what a planet is.

This is a still frame from the short film "A Trip to the Moon."

Moon-crashing SpaceX rocket will create new crater – here's what we should worry about

By David Rothery published

It’s not often that the sudden appearance of a new impact crater on the Moon can be predicted, but it’s going to happen on March 4, when a derelict SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will crash into it.

Artist's illustration of the DSCOVR satellite attached to its SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage shortly after launch in February 2015.

A rogue rocket is on course to crash into the moon. It won't be the first.

By Alice Gorman published

Some astronomers say the collision is "not a big deal," but to a space archaeologist like me it's quite exciting.

Our demonstrably spherical Earth.

How to debate a flat-Earther

By Paul Sutter published

Some people around the world believe our planet is flat. Here's the (surprising) truth about debating them.

Artist's depictions of some of the exoplanets discovered by NASA's Kepler mission.

The James Webb Space Telescope will map the atmosphere of exoplanets

By Louis-Philippe Coulombe published

With the Webb telescope, it will be possible to apply the mapping methods available to us to measure the three-dimensional variation of exoplanet atmospheres.

Engineering teams celebrate at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore as the second primary mirror wing of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope unfolds, before beginning the process of latching the mirror wing into place, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has reached its final destination. Let's celebrate the team that got it there (op-ed)

By Thomas Zurbuchen published

The successes notched by Webb, the biggest and most complex space telescope ever launched, reflect the grit and unity of thousands of people who worked together to place it in the heavens.

This abstract illustration depicts a bubble-like multiverse.

The Higgs boson could have kept our universe from collapsing

By Paul Sutter published

The Higgs boson particle could have kept our universe from collapsing within a larger multiverse, physicists say.

An artist's depiction of the first identified interstellar object to visit our solar system, 'Oumuamua.

Will we ever know the true nature of 'Oumuamua, the first interstellar visitor?

By Paul Sutter published

Astronomers have proposed lots of ideas to explain 'Oumuamua's odd characteristics, and we're unlikely ever to find out which one is correct.

In this illustration, a neutrino interacts with Antarctic ice, shedding a muon in the process. As that muon moves at ultrafast speed, it leaves a telltale trail of blue light, known as Cherenkov radiation.

The mystery deepens: Ghostly neutrinos and fast radio bursts don't come from the same place

By Paul Sutter published

Knowing if high-energy neutrinos and FRBs came from the same place on the sky would help explain the origins of both. But alas, they do not.

Image of the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field, which captures galaxies beyond counting.

Do we live in a simulation? The problem with this mind-bending hypothesis.

By Paul Sutter published

Does the simulation hypothesis offer a compelling argument, or is it just interesting food for thought? Let's find out.

Artist's illustration of potentially habitable exoplanet Proxima b, which orbits the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri.

What really makes a planet habitable? Our assumptions may be wrong

By Paul Sutter published

How common are ice-covered planets like Hoth from "Star Wars," and might they be capable of hosting life? As usual, the answer is, it depends.

In this illustration, a neutrino interacts with Antarctic ice, shedding a muon in the process. As that muon moves at ultrafast speed, it leaves a telltale trail of blue light, known as Cherenkov radiation.

Astronomers propose building a neutrino telescope — out of the Pacific Ocean

By Paul Sutter published

The Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment would turn a massive swath of the Pacific Ocean into nature's own neutrino detector.

This illustration shows the diamond rain on Neptune.

Yes, there is really 'diamond rain' on Uranus and Neptune

By Paul Sutter published

Hiding beneath the outer layers of some planets, there may be something spectacular: a constant rain of diamonds.

Researchers have found over 75,000 of the brightest black holes.

Some black holes are anything but black – and we've found more than 75,000 of the brightest ones

By Sabine Bellstedt, Jessica Thorne published

New research has road-tested a way to spot some of the most voracious black holes of all, making it easier to find them buried deep in the hearts of distant galaxies.

The James Webb Space Telescope will rest in space at Lagrange Point 2, a spot directly behind Earth from the sun's perspective. There, the instrument will make powerful observations of far-off celestial bodies; the telescope's infrared view will be able to penetrate interstellar dust.

James Webb telescope: How it could uncover some of the universe's best-kept secrets

By Martin Barstow published

If all goes according to plan, the James Webb Space Telescope, launched on Christmas Day 2021 after years of delays, will usher in a new era of astronomy.

The eight toroid magnets of the ATLAS detector at CERN.

2021: a year physicists asked, 'What lies beyond the Standard Model?'

By Aaron McGowan published

The Standard Model explains the physics of how the world works. But in 2021, physicists started probing fundamental gaps in this long-established concept.

The International Space Station, as photographed by the crew of SpaceX's Crew-2 mission during a 360-degree fly-around of the orbiting lab on Nov. 8, 2021.

Space law hasn’t been changed since 1967 – but the UN aims to update laws and keep space peaceful

By Michelle L.D. Hanlon, Greg Autry published

An artist's depiction of a galaxy with a quasar at its center.

Massive simulation of the universe probes mystery of ghostly neutrinos

By Paul Sutter published

How do you test theories of the universe? By building gigantic supercomputers and simulating the evolution of the cosmos.

Saturn's moons Prometheus, Pandora and Epimetheus can be seen among the planet's rings in this image from the Cassini spacecraft. New views of Pan, Dasphnis, Atlas, Pandora and Epimetheus have suggested possible reasons for the strange shapes and colors of those moons.

Curious Kids: What are the rings around planets made of?

By Maggie Lieu published

Lots of us are familiar with pictures of the planet Saturn and its unmistakable ring.