How the Universe Works Episode Rating Graph
Apr 2010 - present
Apr 2010 - present
8.6
Browse episode ratings trends for How the Universe Works. Simply click on the interactive rating graph to explore the best and worst of How the Universe Works's 94 episodes.
S1 Ep6
8.1
17th May 2010
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.
S1 Ep4
8.0
10th May 2010
Examining the birth of stars, and how their creation changed the cosmos for ever, leading to planets and life itself.
S1 Ep5
8.0
17th May 2010
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.
S1 Ep3
8.0
10th May 2010
The evolution of galaxies, from clouds of cold gas floating in space 13 billion years ago, to the vast gravitationally bound systems of today.
S11 Ep5
8.0
2nd Apr 2023
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.
S1 Ep1
8.0
25th Apr 2010
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.
S1 Ep2
8.0
2nd May 2010
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.
S9 Ep1
8.0
24th Mar 2021
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.
S7 Ep2
8.0
15th Jan 2019
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.
S1 Ep7
7.9
24th May 2010
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.
S1 Ep8
7.9
24th May 2010
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.
S7 Ep10
7.9
12th Mar 2019
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.
S10 Ep3
7.8
20th Mar 2022
Physicists attempt to determine if Dark Matter could actually exist.
S7 Ep6
7.8
12th Feb 2019
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.
S7 Ep1
7.8
8th Jan 2019
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.
S2 Ep8
7.8
29th Aug 2012
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?
S2 Ep3
7.8
25th Jul 2012
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?
S6 Ep10
7.8
13th Mar 2018
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.
S4 Ep3
7.8
28th Jul 2015
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.
S7 Ep8
7.8
26th Feb 2019
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.
S5 Ep7
7.8
24th Jan 2017
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.
S3 Ep3
7.8
23rd Jul 2014
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.
S7 Ep7
7.8
19th Feb 2019
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.
S3 Ep7
7.8
20th Aug 2014
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?
S8 Ep6
7.8
6th Feb 2020
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.
S4 Ep5
7.8
11th Aug 2015
Discovering how life on Earth came to be; the possibility that life on Earth come from another planet.
S11 Ep3
7.8
19th Mar 2023
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.
S8 Ep7
7.8
13th Feb 2020
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.
S9 Ep9
7.0
19th May 2021
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.
S8 Ep3
7.3
16th Jan 2020
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.
S9 Ep4
7.3
14th Apr 2021
New discoveries reveal the power of microscopic alien organisms.
S9 Ep10
7.3
26th May 2021
Gravitational waves are helping scientists explore the cosmos in revolutionary, new ways, and the discoveries they make are revealing the universe’s greatest mysteries.
S5 Ep3
7.4
6th Dec 2016
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.
S11 Ep2
7.4
12th Mar 2023
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.
S8 Ep5
7.4
30th Jan 2020
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.
S9 Ep7
7.4
5th May 2021
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.
S9 Ep3
7.4
7th Apr 2021
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.
S5 Ep8
7.4
31st Jan 2017
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.
S6 Ep4
7.4
30th Jan 2018
The Milky Way is dying, and using the latest science and discoveries, experts are investigating what's killing it.
S6 Ep2
7.4
16th Jan 2018
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.
S9 Ep8
7.5
12th May 2021
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.
S10 Ep1
7.5
6th Mar 2022
New research reveals an intergalactic network known as the Cosmic Web.
S10 Ep2
7.5
13th Mar 2022
Experts attempt to determine where cosmic rays originate in the universe.
S2 Ep6
7.5
15th Aug 2012
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.
S2 Ep2
7.5
18th Jul 2012
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.
S7 Ep5
7.5
5th Feb 2019
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.
S6 Ep6
7.5
13th Feb 2018
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.
S3 Ep4
7.5
30th Jul 2014
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.
S6 Ep5
7.5
6th Feb 2018
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.
S4 Ep8
7.5
1st Sep 2015
Scientists attempt to understand how this strange force of magnetism works.
S4 Ep2
7.5
21st Jul 2015
An examination of Venus; and what it may indicate about Earth's future.
S6 Ep1
7.5
9th Jan 2018
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.
S11 Ep4
7.5
26th Mar 2023
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.
S6 Ep9
7.6
6th Mar 2018
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.
S2 Ep1
7.6
11th Jul 2012
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?
S5 Ep4
7.6
3rd Jan 2017
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.
S1 Ep1
8.0
25th Apr 2010
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.
S1 Ep2
8.0
2nd May 2010
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.
S1 Ep3
8.0
10th May 2010
The evolution of galaxies, from clouds of cold gas floating in space 13 billion years ago, to the vast gravitationally bound systems of today.
S1 Ep4
8.0
10th May 2010
Examining the birth of stars, and how their creation changed the cosmos for ever, leading to planets and life itself.
S1 Ep5
8.0
17th May 2010
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.
S1 Ep6
8.1
17th May 2010
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.
S1 Ep7
7.9
24th May 2010
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.
S1 Ep8
7.9
24th May 2010
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.
Loading...
The first episode of How the Universe Works aired on April 25, 2010.
The last episode of How the Universe Works aired on April 02, 2023.
There are 94 episodes of How the Universe Works.
There are 11 seasons of How the Universe Works.
Yes.
How the Universe Works is set to return for future episodes.