The universe is nearly 14 billion years old, our solar system is 4.6 billion years old, life on Earth has existed for maybe 3.8 billion years, and humans have been around for only a few hundred thousand years. In other words, the universe has existed roughly 56,000 times longer than our species has.

Discover the universe: Learn about the history of the cosmos, what it's made of, and so much more.

universe, the whole cosmic system of matter and energy of which Earth, and therefore the human race, is a part. Humanity has traveled a long road since societies imagined Earth, the Sun, and the Moon as the main objects of creation, with the rest of the universe being formed almost as an afterthought.

When the universe was just 10 -34 of a second or so old — that is, a hundredth of a billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second in age — it experienced an incredible burst of expansion...

Here is the history of the universe according to cosmologists’ current theories. Around 13.8 billion years ago, the universe expanded faster than the speed of light for a fraction of a second, a period called cosmic inflation. Scientists aren’t sure what came before inflation or what powered it.

ViewSpace videos tell the stories of the planets, stars, galaxies, and universe, giving viewers the opportunity to experience space and Earth as seen with satellites and telescopes. Astronomy: Explore the sky with stories told through spectacular imagery from space telescopes.

Get a close-up look at our sun, nebulas and supernovas, capture by the Hubble Space Telescope. Listen via satellite to echoes of the Big Bang. See how "red Shift" among the stars suggests that our...

The universe is literally everything, the sum of all existence. It includes all matter, like stars and galaxies. The universe also includes all radiation and all other forms of energy.

Discover how the universe works, explore how it began and evolved, and search for life on planets around other stars as we seek to understand the universe and