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Countless stars illuminate the night sky. In our galaxy alone, there are over 100 billion stars. It's believed that immediately after the universe was created, there wasn't even a single star. There was only darkness. The "First Stars" that sparkled in space ended this Dark Age. Recent research has revealed that these stars dramatically changed the nature of the universe. The universe, as we know it now, with galaxies, planets and life, was created by these great stars. Get ready for new revelations about the first stars.
About a decade ago, a mysterious bronze disk with astronomical markings was discovered in Germany. It's 30 centimeters in diameter and 5 centimeter thick and is inlaid with gold decorations of the sun, the moon and stars. Named the Nebra Sky Disc after the place where it was found, this disk is surprisingly old. Studies suggest it was made some 3,600 years ago. Furthermore, the latest scientific analyses of the designs embossed into it revealed the amazing astronomical knowledge of ancient people. The hidden mysteries of the world's oldest known astronomical device are now coming to light.
Could Mars have ever harbored life? Thanks to NASA's latest Mars rover Curiosity, scientists are finding clues to this profound question since the rover made an extraordinary landing on the red planet in August 2012. For the first time in Mars exploration, Curiosity drilled into Martian rocks and investigated the subsurface chemistry in detail. It turned out that underneath the highly oxidized red surface was "grey Mars" material determined to have life-supporting potential. This program tracks the first year of Curiosity's adventure, and confirms an ancient environment to support life on Mars.
The Orion Nebula is a beautiful sight in the night sky. One of the visionaries behind the Hubble Space Telescope, Dr. Robert O'Dell, has been studying Orion for more than 50 years. When he and his team focused Hubble on Orion, they discovered that the nebula is a giant stellar nursery giving birth to new stars and planets. Their groundbreaking research also revealed the three-dimensional shape of the nebula and the actual location where stars are formed. Based on this research, a dynamic CGI reconstruction of the Orion Nebula takes us on an exciting adventure deep inside this stellar nursery to witness stars and planets dramatically bursting into existence.
