20 amazing answers to curious QUESTIONS about the COSMOS

THE UNIVERSE IS FULL OF MYSTERIOUS PHENOMEN AND INCREDIBLE OBJECTS, AND WE'RE LEARNING MORE ABOUT THEM EVERY DAY

- WORDS SCOTT DUTFIELD

WHAT'S AT THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE?

It’s a question that sort of undoes itself when asked. To imply that the universe has an edge would mean that there's something beyond it. But if we consider the universe to include everything that exists, then it isn’t possible for it to have an ‘edge’. What we know about the universe is that it’s continually expanding from an event known as the Big Bang. Without any boundary or edge, the universe could be one of two things — it’s either infinitely expanding or the universe is finite, but its geometry is causing it to fold back in on itself.

DID EARTH EVER HAVE RINGS?

Around 468 million years ago, Earth might have looked similar to Saturn. In a period of increased meteorite bombardment called the Ordovician impact event, Earth was subjected to countless impacts. In 2024, scientists from Monash University in Australia investigated 21 craters around the world with a hunch that a long-lost ring might be the source of these ancient meteorite strikes. What they discovered was that the craters all occurred on continents that, at the time of the Ordovician impact event, would have been within 30 degrees of the equator. The researchers concluded that the craters formed from impacts of rocky debris that came from a single asteroid that collided with Earth and broke apart. The resulting space rubble may have gathered as a ring of debris circling Earth’s equator, much like the rings around modern-day Saturn. Researchers estimate that the debris ring may have been around 7.7 miles wide, and over millions of years would have gradually fallen to Earth.

CAN STARS BECOME PLANETS?