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The Best Episodes of How the Universe Works

Every episode of How the Universe Works ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of How the Universe Works!

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A users' guide to the cosmos, from the Big Bang to galaxies, stars, planets and moons: where did it all come from and how does it all fit together? A primer for anyone who has

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    How the Universe Works Season 3 Episode 5 - Is Saturn Alive?
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #1 - Is Saturn Alive?

    S3:E5

    Saturn’s secrets are out. The ferocious weather, the evolving ring system and the discovery of active geology on Saturn’s moons has rewritten the textbooks. Scientists are looking for life on Saturn’s moons and they may have found it on Titan.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. How the Universe Works Season 3 Episode 6 - Weapons of Mass Extinction
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #2 - Weapons of Mass Extinction

    S3:E6

    Asteroids strike, planets collide, black holes blast out death rays, volcanoes erupt and ice engulfs the planet. These are the universe’s weapons of extinction. They’ve happened before - wiping out entire species, and they will happen again. Are we next?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. How the Universe Works Season 2 Episode 5 - Extreme Orbits - Clockwork and Creation
    9.0/10(1 votes)

    #3 - Extreme Orbits - Clockwork and Creation

    S2:E5

    We owe our existence to the stability of earth's orbit. But we are the freaks: everywhere else we look we find orbits are chaotic, unstable, and violent. Yet on the very largest scale, orbits are also a creative force, even constructing the fabric of the universe itself.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. How the Universe Works Season 2 Episode 7 - Asteroids - Worlds That Never Were
    9.0/10(1 votes)

    #4 - Asteroids - Worlds That Never Were

    S2:E7

    Asteroids wiped out the dinosaurs and may be back for us but they also built the Earth and may have brought life to its barren surface. Asteroids will shape our future as much as our past and scientists are striving to unlock their secrets.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. How the Universe Works Season 4 Episode 4 - Edge of the Solar System
    9.0/10(1 votes)

    #5 - Edge of the Solar System

    S4:E4

    Huge magnetic bubbles millions of miles wide; strange invisible matter, and a death star tearing through bands of icy comets, flinging them into violent orbits.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. How the Universe Works Season 6 Episode 5 - Uranus & Neptune: Rise of the Ice Giants
    9.0/10(1 votes)

    #6 - Uranus & Neptune: Rise of the Ice Giants

    S6:E5

    Uranus and Neptune are mysterious, icy worlds at the edge of our solar system, and new discoveries reveal that these strange planets might have helped start life on Earth.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of How the Universe Works

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  7. How the Universe Works Season 7 Episode 7 - Battle of the Dark Universe
    9.0/10(1 votes)

    #7 - Battle of the Dark Universe

    S7:E7

    Dark matter and dark energy are locked in an epic battle for control of the cosmos, and the winner will determine the fate of the universe. New discoveries might reveal which force will emerge victorious.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. How the Universe Works Season 3 Episode 4 - First Second of the Big Bang
    8.5/10(2 votes)

    #8 - First Second of the Big Bang

    S3:E4

    The first second of the Universe, the creation of everything when space, time, matter and energy burst into existence. It is the most important second in history, which seals the Universe’s fate and defines everything that comes after - including us.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. How the Universe Works Season 5 Episode 4 - Secret History of Pluto
    8.5/10(2 votes)

    #9 - Secret History of Pluto

    S5:E4

    The first close-up images of Pluto revealed unimaginable secrets of this mysterious frozen world. Now, scientists investigate if Pluto is home to a warm ocean of liquid water beneath its surface, and whether this underground ocean could harbor life.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. How the Universe Works Season 3 Episode 1 - Journey from the Center of the Sun
    8.0/10(1 votes)

    #10 - Journey from the Center of the Sun

    S3:E1

    How does light escape from the sun? We take a journey from the centre of the sun, following the path of light. We witness its fiery birth from in the core, its 430,000 mile battle against gravity and magnetism, and its escape from the solar surface.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. How the Universe Works Season 3 Episode 2 - The End of the Universe
    8.0/10(1 votes)

    #11 - The End of the Universe

    S3:E2

    How and when will the Universe end? Gravity and dark matter are poised to annihilate the Universe in a big crunch. Expansion and dark energy may tear it apart. Or, a phase transition could kill us tomorrow in a cosmic death bubble.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. How the Universe Works Season 3 Episode 3 - Jupiter: Destroyer or Savior?
    8.0/10(1 votes)

    #12 - Jupiter: Destroyer or Savior?

    S3:E3

    Beneath Jupiter's clouds lie our solar system's deepest secrets: from its violent youth, through the birth of life to the death of the sun. Scientists are discovering that the solar system, the Earth and every living thing exists because of Jupiter.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. How the Universe Works Season 4 Episode 2 - Earth, Venus's Evil Twin
    8.0/10(1 votes)

    #13 - Earth, Venus's Evil Twin

    S4:E2

    An examination of Venus; and what it may indicate about Earth's future.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. How the Universe Works Season 5 Episode 2 - Mystery of Planet 9
    8.0/10(1 votes)

    #14 - Mystery of Planet 9

    S5:E2

    Scientists have discovered a mysterious ninth planet on the very edge of our solar system. Ten times the size of Earth, this strange world could have moons with extraterrestrial life.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. How the Universe Works Season 5 Episode 6 - The Universe's Deadliest
    8.0/10(1 votes)

    #15 - The Universe's Deadliest

    S5:E6

    The universe is a dangerous place, and we explore the deadliest spots in the cosmos. Between earth and the edge of the universe, there are a million ways to die, and our crash test dummy is on a mission to reveal the worst.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. How the Universe Works Season 1 Episode 3 - Galaxies
    7.8/10(5 votes)

    #16 - Galaxies

    S1:E3

    The evolution of galaxies, from clouds of cold gas floating in space 13 billion years ago, to the vast gravitationally bound systems of today.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. How the Universe Works Season 1 Episode 5 - Supernovas
    7.7/10(3 votes)

    #17 - Supernovas

    S1:E5

    Stars are not eternal; they are dying in unimaginably large explosions called supernovas. Second only to the Big Bang, these explosions are where creation and destruction meet. Only now have we begun to understand how these wonders in our sky work.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. How the Universe Works Season 1 Episode 8 - Moons
    7.7/10(3 votes)

    #18 - Moons

    S1:E8

    Moons come in every possible shape and size. Home to incredible natural phenomena like gigantic geysers and colossal volcanoes, moons also offer perhaps the best chance of finding alien life in the Universe - and they probably exist in the billions.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. How the Universe Works Season 1 Episode 2 - Black Holes
    7.6/10(5 votes)

    #19 - Black Holes

    S1:E2

    Black Holes, the most powerful destroyers in the Universe, the most mysterious phenomena in the heavens. For years they were only speculation, now modern astronomy is proving them frighteningly real and showing that they may well shape everything we see.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. How the Universe Works Season 1 Episode 4 - Stars
    7.6/10(5 votes)

    #20 - Stars

    S1:E4

    Examining the birth of stars, and how their creation changed the cosmos for ever, leading to planets and life itself.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. How the Universe Works Season 1 Episode 1 - Big Bang
    7.5/10(6 votes)

    #21 - Big Bang

    S1:E1

    The programme investigates how the Universe came into existence out of nothing, and how it grew from a minuscule point, smaller than an atomic particle, to the vast cosmos we see today.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. How the Universe Works Season 1 Episode 6 - Planets
    7.5/10(4 votes)

    #22 - Planets

    S1:E6

    There are just eight planets in our solar system, but there could be a hundred billion planets in our Milky Way galaxy alone. This show follows the journey of planets as they grow from grains of dust to the magnificently diverse worlds we see today.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. How the Universe Works Season 2 Episode 4 - Megaflares - Cosmic Firestorms
    7.5/10(2 votes)

    #23 - Megaflares - Cosmic Firestorms

    S2:E4

    The Universe is a magnetic minefield. Spinning star systems crackle and explode, magnetic monsters rip worlds apart, star-quakes shoot beams of devastating energy, and galactic flamethrowers fire gamma-rays half way across the Universe. Will we find Earth in the firing line?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. How the Universe Works Season 2 Episode 3 - Exoplanets - Planets from Hell
    7.0/10(2 votes)

    #24 - Exoplanets - Planets from Hell

    S2:E3

    We once thought that the only planets were in our solar system. We have found many other planets but they are nothing like we expected, from deep-frozen, toxic snowballs, to scorched and boiling nightmares. Is every planet out there a planet fom Hell?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. How the Universe Works Season 1 Episode 7 - Solar Systems
    6.7/10(3 votes)

    #25 - Solar Systems

    S1:E7

    Is our solar system unique? Since the first discovery of a planet orbiting another star, some 280 alien solar systems have been identified. It's only by looking at solar systems far beyond our own, that we can understand how remarkable our universe is.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Best Episodes Summary

"Is Saturn Alive?" is the best rated episode of "How the Universe Works". It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 8/6/2014. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Weapons of Mass Extinction".