For science-fiction enthusiasts, that’s a bit depressing. Space is big, and while the speed of light is incredibly fast to us ...

The light echo around the star V838 Monocerotis as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope in November 2005. When I was a teenager, I was—shockingly, I know—deeply nerdy. At a science-fiction convention, I ...

Some things we see in space appear to outpace light. Now we are learning to harness these bizarre optical illusions to ...

In Star Trek, the crew of the Enterprise could cross galaxies in the time it takes us to fly from Delhi to Dubai. While long considered pure science fiction, the show’s most fantastical invention, the ...

You know that scene in the film Contact where the “Machine” is spooling up, its three spinning rings kicking out crazy light and an electromagnetic field powerful enough to pitch nearby Navy ...

Exploring faster-than-light travel, Einstein’s special and general relativity, and the concept of stretching space-time for ...