Browse all episodes of How the Universe Works

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.

Big Bang

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.

Black Holes

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

Galaxies

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

Stars

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.

Supernovas

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.

Planets

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.

Solar Systems

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.

Moons

Are we alone in the Universe? What makes Earth so different? Part of the answer is our volcanoes. without them we would not be here either. Today we are discovering volcanoes on alien worlds. Are these worlds where, tomorrow, we might find life?

Volcanoes - The Furnaces of Life

Destructive weather forces are symptoms of Earth's creative energy. In our quest to discover if we are alone in the universe, we shouldn't just look for worlds, we should look for weather;  find that megastorm, and maybe we will find alien life.

Megastorms - The Winds of Creation

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?

Exoplanets - Planets from Hell

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?

Megaflares - Cosmic Firestorms

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.

Extreme Orbits - Clockwork and Creation

As time machines from the early universe, comets could hold the key to unlock the secrets of the cosmos, and may even be the origin of life itself. In this episode, we learn that comets are even more mysterious and fascinating than we had ever imagined.

Comets - Frozen Wanderers

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.

Asteroids - Worlds That Never Were

The Earth was formed by a series of cataclysms without which we would not exist. Could the same events have created other earth-like planets elsewhere in the Universe inhabited by creatures like us?

Birth of the Earth

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.

Journey from the Center of the Sun

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.

The End of the Universe

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.

Jupiter: Destroyer or Savior?

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.

First Second of the Big Bang

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.

Is Saturn Alive?

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?

Weapons of Mass Extinction

What built the Milky Way? New research might now have the answer, revealing an unlikely hero. At the heart of our galaxy sits a super massive black hole, one of the most destructive objects in the Universe. Could it be our creator?

Did a Black Hole Build the Milky Way?

One day, a cosmic disaster will make life on Earth impossible. To survive, we must find a new home amongst the stars. Scientists are already developing new propulsion systems to take us to these distant worlds.

Our Voyage to the Stars

Is there another Earth out there with liquid oceans, rocky continents and life like us? Astronomers seek the answer with spectroscopy, direct imaging and telescopes. They hope to find evidence of atmospheres, magnetospheres and signs of life.

The Search for a Second Earth

Beneath the hood of your car lies the history of the Universe. The iron in your chassis, the gold in your stereo and the copper in your electronics all owe their existence to violent cosmic events that took place billions of years ago.

How the Universe Built Your Car

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

Earth, Venus's Evil Twin

A look inside the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way to discover terrifying secrets about parallel universes, wormholes, and space-time.

Monster Black Hole

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.

Edge of the Solar System

Discovering how life on Earth came to be; the possibility that life on Earth come from another planet.

Dawn Of Life

The incredible secrets of the moon are revealed; the moon might be responsible for life on Earth.

Secret History of the Moon

For years, scientists suspected that the oceans came from molecules delivered to Earth from distant stars by asteroids, but a new discovery suggests that their true origins may be more exotic.

The First Oceans

Scientists attempt to understand how this strange force of magnetism works.

Forces of Mass Construction

From the furthest reaches of space to our own cosmic backyard, we count down the discoveries that changed everything we know about our universe.

Most Amazing Discoveries

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.

Mystery of Planet 9

Recent discoveries could explain how supermassive black holes grow so big, one of the universe's most mysterious questions. Neither dark matter nor cannibalism can fully explain these monsters, but the latest science might finally provide an answer.

Black Holes: The Secret Origin

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.

Secret History of Pluto

The universe is home to real-life Death Stars that could destroy planet Earth. The latest science reveals the terrifying secrets of NASA's six deadliest: vampire stars, supernovas that can vaporize a planet, and unpredictable stars gone rogue.

Stars That Kill

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.

The Universe's Deadliest

Life once existed on Mars, but a series of devastating mass extinctions have made present-day life nearly impossible. The latest science shows how Martian life keeps bouncing back as it transforms from a watery world like Earth into a desert planet.

Life and Death on the Red Planet

Dark matter is the biggest mystery of the cosmos. Scientists know that it has been vital to our universe since its birth, and new discoveries reveal that it could create black holes, cause mass extinctions, and might even shape life on Earth itself.

The Dark Matter Enigma

Discoveries of new planets have revealed countless worlds much stranger than Earth. Some of these worlds don't have stars, others are made out of diamonds. Will we ever find a planet like Earth, or are these distant worlds stranger than fiction?

Strangest Alien Worlds

New discoveries are challenging everything we know about black holes, and astronomers are beginning to question if they even exist. The latest science tries to explain how they work and what they look like, despite the fact we've never actually seen one.

Are Black Holes Real?

Planets that orbit two suns instead of one might be deadly hell worlds, but new discoveries reveal that sci-fi star systems with binary stars might be optimal places for alien life.

Twin Suns: The Alien Mysteries

Our solar system hides a dark and violent past, and new discoveries reveal that Earth and the planets were formed from the destruction of strange alien worlds that came before us.

Dark History of the Solar System

The Milky Way is dying, and using the latest science and discoveries, experts are investigating what's killing it.

Death of the Milky Way

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.

Uranus & Neptune: Rise of the Ice Giants

Mercury is a deadly world, facing attacks from the Sun, comets, and other planets, and even though it's the smallest planet in our solar system, it has a dangerous secret a dangerous secret that might one day threaten life on Earth.

Secret History of Mercury

Quasars are the brightest and most powerful objects in our universe, and though they have shaped the cosmos, they might ultimately destroy everything that exists.

The Quasar Enigma

Our solar system is home to hundreds of strange, tiny worlds called dwarf planets, and new discoveries reveal the secrets of these mysterious places.

Strange Lives of Dwarf Planets

Scientists are using cutting-edge technology to stop an asteroid apocalypse, and for the first time, mankind is closer than ever to keeping Earth safe from these killer space rocks.

War on Asteroids

Spacetime is the secret structure that controls our universe, and this strange four-dimensional substance controls time, light, and energy. It will also determine how our universe will end.

Mystery of Spacetime

Neutron stars are strange and violent phenomena that defy the laws of physics, and new discoveries reveal that these bizarre nightmares are far more deadly than we ever thought, with the power to destroy planets and even other stars.

Nightmares of Neutron Stars

Supernovas are the violent death of giant stars, and new discoveries reveal that these cataclysmic events create the elements that are essential to all life in the universe.

When Supernovas Strike

Interstellar space is the space between the universe's stars and new discoveries reveal that it's not empty and unremarkable as previously thought, but filled with weird objects and strange phenomena that might hold the darkest secrets of our cosmos.

The Interstellar Mysteries

Black holes are not the violent monsters people think they are, and new discoveries reveal that they might have been essential to creating stars, giving light, and building the universe itself.

How Black Holes Made Us

Nebulas are the strange structures of cosmic gas and dust where stars are born and die, and new discoveries reveal the secrets of these mysterious places.

Secret World of Nebulas

New discoveries are causing astronomers to question if the Big Bang really happened, and using the latest science, they investigate if it wasn't just the start of our universe but many mysterious multiverses.

Did the Big Bang Really Happen?

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.

Battle of the Dark Universe

The latest discoveries suggest life beyond this planet; scientists investigate if earth's life began elsewhere in the universe, and whether humans need to evolve to know for sure.

Hunt for Alien Life

New discoveries have revealed thousands of exoplanets beyond our solar system. Some resemble earth enough that one could be a new home for humanity. Even with cutting-edge technology, finding the perfect one is the scientific challenge of the age.

Finding the New Earth

For twenty years, NASA's Cassini spacecraft revealed the strange secrets of Saturn until it vaporized in its atmosphere in a blaze of glory. But today its legacy lives on, as fresh data from the probe helps scientists make brand-new discoveries.

Cassini's Final Secrets

If a massive asteroid collides with earth, it could end life on our planet as we know it; new discoveries and cutting-edge tech reveal just how close we are to apocalypse and what it would take for the world's leading space agencies to stop it.

Asteroid Apocalypse: The New Threat

NASA is on a mission to send humans to Mars within just 15 years, but to reach this next frontier of space exploration, experts must discover new technology and cutting-edge science that protects astronauts from the Red Planet's deadliest killers.

NASA's Journey to Mars

The discovery of extraterrestrial life might face an impossible challenge: the physics of the universe itself; but using cutting-edge tech, experts might be on the verge of a groundbreaking find -- and the evidence could already be in hand.

Hunt for Alien Evidence

Our universe's stars are dying off faster than new ones are born, and using the latest technology, experts investigate the secrets of the last stars of the cosmos and what this stellar apocalypse means for life on earth.

Death of the Last Stars

Time travel might be more possible than we ever imagined, and today, cutting-edge technology and the latest research into black holes and wormholes is helping experts get steps closer to discovering how to travel through time.

Secrets of Time Travel

NASA's Juno spacecraft is part of a cutting-edge mission to explore the mysteries of Jupiter, and as this mighty probe is pummeled with deadly radiation, it gathers new data that could change everything we know about the solar system's biggest planet.

When NASA Met Jupiter

We don't yet know where the edge of the universe is or what happens there; but thanks to cutting-edge technology and new discoveries, experts might finally reveal the secrets of the phenomena that can be found in deepest reaches of the cosmos.

Edge of the Universe

The center of the Milky Way is home to strange and deadly phenomena that we don't yet understand, but using the latest science, experts are revealing how the supermassive black hole our galaxy's core shapes life on Earth.

Monsters of the Milky Way

Earth's journey through the universe is a perilous one, and new discoveries reveal that our planet is heading toward a mysterious area of the cosmos that could eject us out of the Milky Way and into oblivion.

Earth's Death Orbit

Journey to the heart of the M87 supermassive black hole, the first and only black hole ever photographed, and explore the mystery of how it grew so large, what lies inside, and how it controls the entire galaxy.

Journey to a Black Hole

Experts embark on a ground-breaking mission to land on a comet.

Mission to a Comet

A brand-new NASA mission to the Sun reveals cutting-edge discoveries about Earth's star; as the Parker Solar Probe dives through the Sun's atmosphere, what it finds challenges everything known about this strange place.

Secrets Of The Sun

New discoveries reveal the power of microscopic alien organisms.

Aliens of the Microcosmos

Dead stars called white dwarfs may be the key to understanding the cosmos.

Curse of the White Dwarf

Galaxies are locked in continual combat across the universe, and our own Milky Way will face its biggest opponent ever, the Andromeda Galaxy, in a titanic and deadly struggle that could create a new and unrecognizable super galaxy.

War of the Galaxies

The galaxy is full of stars ready to explode into supernovas, a stellar detonation powerful enough to destroy all life on Earth; it's an event that hasn't occurred in 400 years, and the search is on to locate which star may be next.

The Next Supernova

Neutrinos are the most mysterious particles in the universe, and they power some of the most explosive events in the cosmos; new discoveries reveal how these ghosts pass through objects undetected and why they could be the reason humans exist.

Secret Lives Of Neutrinos

New discoveries reveal an astonishing supermassive black hole that was born during the earliest days of the cosmos, and finding out how this giant grew so large so quickly may help to explain the very formation of the universe itself.

Birth of Monster Black Holes

Gravitational waves are helping scientists explore the cosmos in revolutionary, new ways, and the discoveries they make are revealing the universe’s greatest mysteries.

Gravitational Waves Revealed

New discoveries reveal the secrets of mysterious alien worlds.

Mystery of Alien Worlds

New research reveals an intergalactic network known as the Cosmic Web.

Secrets of the Cosmic Web

Experts attempt to determine where cosmic rays originate in the universe.

Curse of the Cosmic Rays

Physicists attempt to determine if Dark Matter could actually exist.

Hunt for Dark Matter

Experts explore how Earth's disastrous history led to human evolution.

Dark History of Earth

Experts explore the elusive endeavor of determining the age of the cosmos.

Hunt for the Universe's Origin

Experts explore the ultimate, ongoing mission of the Voyager spacecraft.

Voyager's Ultimate Mission

Discover how Saturn's moons could rewrite the rules of the Solar System.

The Moons of Saturn

Mars is infested with robots, orbiting the planet and roaming the Martian surface on a mission to uncover its secrets; now, Perseverance joins this dedicated group of machines to uncover if there is, or was ever, life on the Red Planet.

A Robot's Guide to Mars

The collision of two supermassive black holes is the most violent event that can occur in the universe; experts explore where a black hole's energy originates and what really happens when the two most powerful objects in the cosmos clash.

Most Violent Event in the Universe

In a fictional scenario set in 2029, an asteroid hurtling towards Earth at 40,000 mph will reduce New York to ashes; examining the hypothetical, experts weigh in to determine what could happen, and how it might be stopped.

Asteroid: Countdown to Catastrophe

New discoveries have rewritten the history of the solar system, revealing a complex and violent story that begins with the birth of the Sun from the debris of a massive galactic collision, to its eventual fate as a lone zombie star.

Solar System Special

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 ever looked up at the night sky and wondered.

All Episodes of How the Universe Works

All Episodes of How the Universe Works

Season 1

Big Bang

Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 4/25/2010

Black Holes

Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 5/2/2010

Galaxies

Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 5/10/2010

Stars

Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 5/10/2010

Supernovas

Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 5/17/2010

Planets

Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 5/17/2010

Solar Systems

Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 5/24/2010

Moons

Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 5/24/2010