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A blue shell of gas resembling a bubble fills the lower left half of the image. Regions of dust and gas glowing in yellow, green, and orange fill the rest of the image.

Ground-Based Image of Carina Nebula

A disk of gas fills the view of this illustration. At the center there is a black dot, which is a black hole, with a thin white line, which is a jet, extending to the top of the image. There are uneven spirals of orange gas that overlap one another from the black dot, extending off the frame. The spirals are whitest toward the center, becoming light orange and progressively darker shades of orange toward the edges of the image. At the top left corner is the surrounding black of space.

Physics of the Cosmos

The Physics of the Cosmos (PhysCOS) Program seeks to answer some of the deepest questions about the universe. How do matter and energy behave in the most extreme corners of the cosmos — near black holes, neutron stars, and the first moments after the Big Bang? What forces set the universe in motion and continue to shape its growth? What are the hidden ingredients — dark matter and dark energy — that make up most of the universe but remain invisible to us? PhysCOS seeks to uncover these mysteries, helping us better understand the cosmos and our place within it.

Answering the hard questions

How does the universe work?

PhysCOS brings together physics and astronomy to explore some of the biggest mysteries of the universe. It looks at Einstein’s theory of gravity, what spacetime really is, how matter and energy behave in the most extreme places in the cosmos, what shaped the early universe and drives its growth, and what dark matter and dark energy are made of.

A large, black circle representing a black hole occupies the right third of the frame in this illustration. Thick, clumpy orange streaks arc above and below it, essentially surrounding it. The top arc extends down to the lower left and then curves around in front of the black hole to form a disk that is tilted toward the viewer. Near the inner edge of the disk, several bright, whiter spots have blue filaments looping above them, representing flares. The words “Artist’s Concept” appear in the bottom left corner in gray.

Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

Latest News & Events

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)’s Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (CAA) provides an independent, authoritative forum…

We would like to invite you to the first Habitable Worlds Observatory Science Interest Group (HWO SIG) virtual seminar on…

PhysCOS will be organizing or involved with multiple activities at the 247th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, taking place…

The 2nd Physics of the Cosmos Early Career Workshop took place on 23-25 September 2025. If you attended, we hope…

Agenda Topic Speaker HWO SIG Welcome Vivian U Update from TMPO Giada Arney SAG Process Karl Stapelfeldt SAG Highlight #1:…

Galactic Cosmic-Ray Nuclei Searches Theory/Modeling Time Speaker 14:00 – 14:20 TDB 14:20 – 14:40 Priya Ghosh, Nuclear Astrophysicist at NASA…

Advancing Community Observing Plans for Rapid Follow-Up of Explosive Transients

We are pleased to announce the 4th TDAMM Workshop to be held October 27-30, 2025 in Huntsville, Alabama.

This image depicts a gamma-ray burst caused by the merger of two neutron stars.

Featured Videos

XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission)

Watch this video to learn more about XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission), a collaboration between JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and NASA.

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Explore the unusual eruption of 1ES 1927+654, a galaxy located 236 million light-years away in the constellation Draco. A sudden reversal of the magnetic field around its million-solar-mass black hole may have triggered the outburst.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Music: "Water Dance" and "Alternate Worlds" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.

A Black Hole's Magnetic Reversal

A rare and enigmatic outburst from a galaxy 236 million light-years away may have been sparked by a magnetic reversal, a spontaneous flip of the magnetic field surrounding its central black hole.

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NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, shown in this illustration, launched into Earth orbit in November 2004. The satellite investigates gamma-ray bursts, the most energetic explosions in the universe. Swift observes the sky in visible, ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma-ray light. Its name reflects its ability to rapidly follow up on interesting objects in the sky. Swift also studies supernova explosions, star-shredding black holes in other galaxies, comets, stellar remnants called neutron stars, and other cosmic phenomena. In 2018, NASA renamed Swift in honor of the late Neil Gehrels, who helped develop the mission and served as its principal investigator for 13 years.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle)

Black Hole Snack Attack

Using NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which launched in 2004, scientists have discovered a black hole in a distant galaxy repeatedly nibbling on a Sun-like star.

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Illustration of LISA Pathfinder

LISA Pathfinder’s Stunning Success

LISA Pathfinder was launched on Dec. 3, 2015, and began orbiting a point called Earth-sun L1, roughly 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth in the sun's direction, in late January 2016.

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Eye on Infinity: NASA Celebrates Hubble’s 35th Year in Orbit

After more than three decades of perusing the universe, Hubble remains a household name — the most well-recognized and scientifically productive telescope in history. The Hubble mission is a glowing success story of America’s technological prowess, unyielding scientific curiosity, and a reiteration of our nation’s pioneering spirit.

Composite shows portions of four Hubble images from left to right. First, the left half of Mars in shades of orange, blues, and browns. Second, a tiny portion of the Rosette Nebula shows very dark gray material against a translucent blue background. Third, a portion of planetary nebula NGC 2899 looks like the number three in shades of red and orange. Fourth, the center of barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335 has a milky yellow center that forms a bar surrounded by the beginnings of blue star-filled spiral arms.

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Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

James Webb Space Telescope

Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Chandra

Space Telescope