Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to common questions about space, astronomy, Earth, science and the GpSpace website.
What is GpSpace?
GpSpace is a space and astronomy media brand covering science explainers, space missions, astronomy, planets, stars, black holes, telescopes, Earth and current space news.
What topics does GpSpace cover?
GpSpace covers space missions, astronomy, the Solar System, black holes, galaxies, stars, the Sun, Earth and space weather, telescopes, exoplanets and emerging discoveries.
Where can I watch GpSpace videos?
GpSpace videos are published on the official GpSpace YouTube channel and are also organized in the GpSpace Video Hub.
How often is Live News updated?
The Live News page checks the connected feeds automatically and the browser refreshes the displayed headlines about every 10 minutes. Feed availability can vary by source.
Are GpSpace Stories current news reports?
Stories are primarily evergreen explainers designed to answer foundational questions. Current events belong in the Live News section and are linked to their original sources.
What is a black hole?
A black hole is a region of spacetime with gravity strong enough that, inside its event horizon, signals cannot escape to the outside.
What is a light-year?
A light-year is a unit of distance: the distance light travels through vacuum in one year. It is not a unit of time.
Why is space dark?
Space appears dark because there is no atmosphere to scatter sunlight throughout the sky. Stars and other luminous objects still shine against that background.
Can humans live on Mars today?
No. Humans cannot currently live on Mars without life-support systems and protected habitats. Mars has a thin atmosphere, extreme cold and other major hazards.
Can a black hole swallow Earth?
A black hole does not pull objects from unlimited distances like a vacuum cleaner. If an object is far away, its gravity depends on its mass just like any other object with the same mass.
What is a Lagrange point?
A Lagrange point is a location in a two-body system where gravitational effects and orbital motion create useful regions for spacecraft operations. Sun–Earth L2 is especially useful for some space observatories.
Does a magnetic pole shift mean Earth will end?
No. Magnetic pole movement and a geomagnetic reversal are natural geophysical processes. A reversal would not mean the planet suddenly becomes uninhabitable.
How old is the universe?
The leading cosmological measurements put the age of the universe at roughly 13.8 billion years.
How do scientists find exoplanets?
Common methods include watching a star dim when a planet crosses in front of it and measuring the small motion of a star caused by an orbiting planet.
Does JWST see the Big Bang itself?
No. JWST observes very distant light from the early universe. It cannot directly see the instant of the Big Bang.