At the National Geographic Society, our mission is to use the power of science, exploration, education and storytelling to protect and illuminate the wonder of our world..
National Geographic magazine is currently published in 40 local-language editions in many countries around the world.
Combined English and other language circulation is around 6.8 million monthly, with some 60 million readers..
The closest star is about 25,300,000,000,000 miles (39,900,000,000,000 kilometers) away, while the farthest stars are billions of times farther than that..
Measurements made by NASA's WMAP spacecraft have shown that the universe is 13.7 billion years old, plus or minus about 130,000 years..
The first documented records of systematic astronomical observations date back to the Assyro-Babylonians around 1000 BCE.
From this cradle of civilisation in Mesopotamia – in the southern part of present-day Iraq – astronomers had built up knowledge of the celestial bodies and recorded their periodic motions..
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena.
It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution..
Well over a century after our founding, National Geographic continues to reach and resonate with millions of people worldwide..
The most distant object ever seen from Earth may have just been discovered.
HD1 is an object estimated to lie around 13.3 billion light years away from our planet, placing it in an era when many chemical elements were yet to form.
If confirmed, it is more than two billion light years beyond the current record holder..
We are a global non-profit that funds the best and brightest individuals around the world dedicated to our mission to use the power of science, exploration, education, and storytelling to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world..
In September 2022, the magazine laid off six of its top editors.
In June 2023, the magazine laid off all of its staff writers, shifting to an entirely freelance-based writing model, and announced that beginning in 2024 it would no longer offer newsstand purchases..
Stars are huge celestial bodies made mostly of hydrogen and helium that produce light and heat from the churning nuclear forges inside their cores.
Aside from our sun, the dots of light we see in the sky are all light-years from Earth..
Astronomy is the study of everything in the universe beyond Earth's atmosphere.
That includes objects we can see with our naked eyes, like the Sun , the Moon , the planets, and the stars .
It also includes objects we can only see with telescopes or other instruments, like faraway galaxies and tiny particles..
The National Geographic Society has been inspiring people to care about the planet since 1888.
It is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational institutions in the world.
Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, and the promotion of environmental and historical conservation..
Journey to the Edge of the Universe..
National Geographic Global NetworksNational Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Entertainment and National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt .
National Geographic Partners, LLC is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns 73% of shares) and the namesake non-profit scientific organization National Geographic Society (which owns 27%)..
The life cycle of a star spans billions of years. As a general rule, the more massive the star, the shorter its life span. Birth takes place inside hydrogen-based dust clouds called nebulae. Over the course of thousands of years, gravity causes pockets of dense matter inside the nebula to collapse under their own weight. One of these contracting ma.
Some stars shine more brightly than others. Their brightness is a factor of how much energy they put out–known as luminosity–and how far away from Earth they are. Color can also vary from star to star because their temperatures are not all the same. Hot stars appear white or blue, whereas cooler stars appear to have orange or red hues. By plotting .
Massive stars eschew this evolutionary path and instead go out with a bang—detonating as supernovae. While they may appear to be swelling red giants on the outside, their cores are actually contracting, eventually becoming so dense that they collapse, causing the star to explode. These catastrophic bursts leave behind a small core that may become a.
Try stargazing.
Following a hunch that there might be a missing planet in between Mars and Jupiter
Early 19th-century astronomers serendipitously discovered the first asteroids.
Today
Spacecraft missions provide scientists a closer look at these important building blocks of our solar system.
It was not until the 16th century that Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus used mathematical and scientific reasoning to prove that planets rotated around the sun.
This heliocentric model is the one we use today.
In the 17th century
The telescope allowed people to examine the sun in detail.
In the Southern Hemisphere
The famous Southern Cross constellation is used as a point of orientation.
Meanwhile people in the north may rely on Polaris
Or the North Star
For direction.
Polaris is part of the well-known constellation Ursa Minor
Which includes
The famous star pattern known as the Little Dipper.
In 150 B.C.E.
Greek scholar Claudius Ptolemy created a geocentric model of the solar system in which the moon
And sun revolved around Earth.
It was not until the 16th century that Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus used mathematical and scientific reasoning to prove that planets rotated around the sun.
