Cosmology & Astrophysics Videos Hacker News Recommends

documentary#85

TIMELAPSE OF THE FUTURE: A Journey to the End of Time (4K)

melodysheep

“does a great job with visuals and voiceovers about what will happen over the next trillions x trillions of years”

13 HN recommenders · 2019–2025

explainer#133

The Solar Gravitational Lens will Map Exoplanets. Seriously.

Launch Pad Astronomy

“It's got some great graphics and visualisations, and is accessibly narrated.”

10 HN recommenders · 2020–2025

documentary#266

Powers of Ten™ (1977)

Eames Office

“a classic video that demonstrates the scale of the Universe from the micro to the macro perspectives”

9 HN recommenders · 2012–2025

lecture#339

'A Universe From Nothing' by Lawrence Krauss, AAI 2009

Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science

“There is also one of my favorite talks tangentially related by Lawrence Krauss.”

7 HN recommenders · 2009–2024

explainer#430

A new way to visualize General Relativity

ScienceClic English

“hands down the best visualization of general relativity I've seen.”

8 HN recommenders · 2020–2026

other#431

Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot

carlsagandotcom

“Puts everything in perspective, and makes everything feel insignificant”

5 HN recommenders · 2011–2026

explainer#528

The REAL Possibility of Mapping Alien Planets!

PBS Space Time

“Pretty good explanation of the technique and challenges involved”

4 HN recommenders · 2023–2024

explainer#747

Star Size Comparison 2

morn1415

“The combination of audio and content of this video gives me chills.”

5 HN recommenders · 2016–2022

explainer#781

What Everyone Gets Wrong About Gravity

Veritasium

“his videos on special [1] and general relativity [2] were real eye-openers for me”

7 HN recommenders · 2020–2025

explainer#793

How Far Are The Nearest Stars?

Cody'sLab

“maybe watch this video that illustrates the distance only to the closest star, let alone any further away”

3 HN recommenders · 2019–2025

lecture#854

Leonard Susskind on The World As Hologram | TVO Docs

TVO Docs

“IIRC these are very good videos to start with”

7 HN recommenders · 2013–2021

explainer#906

Civilizations at the End of Time: Iron Stars

Isaac Arthur

“My go-to entry point for exploring those kinds of questions was Isaac Arthur.”

4 HN recommenders · 2017–2022

explainer#914

4.5 Billion Years in 1 Hour

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

“This video puts things into perspective, mapping the whole of 4.5B years of Earth history to 1 hour”

4 HN recommenders · 2023–2025

explainer#952

Turning Earth Into a Telescope | The Terrascope

Cool Worlds

“An excellent video on this”

4 HN recommenders · 2020–2025

explainer#977

How to Move the Sun: Stellar Engines

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

“Out of every video Kurzgesagt has ever produced, my favorite is this one”

3 HN recommenders · 2020–2025

explainer#1060

How Time Becomes Space Inside a Black Hole | Space Time

PBS Space Time

“I think this is the cleanest explanation with actual visual representation.”

4 HN recommenders · 2018–2025

explainer#1082

dark matter is not a theory

Angela Collier

“If you're interested in learning more I recommend you watch "dark matter is not a theory”

5 HN recommenders · 2023–2024

explainer#1084

Civilizations at the End of Time: Black Hole Farming

Isaac Arthur

“I highly recommend the whole channel.”

4 HN recommenders · 2018–2023

explainer#1179

How to Understand What Black Holes Look Like

Veritasium

“Good video that correctly predicted the image and describes why it looks the way it does”

8 HN recommenders · 2019–2021

lecture#1228

Entanglement and Complexity: Gravity and Quantum Mechanics

Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics

“Mr.Susskind has a Stanford lecture on this topic detailing the physics in his own unique & awesome way”

4 HN recommenders · 2015–2023

explainer#1250

How To Terraform Venus (Quickly)

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

“There is a decent kurzgesagt video explaining what transforming a new planet would look like”

4 HN recommenders · 2021–2026

explainer#1268

The Moon's Orbit is WEIRD

minutephysics

“I can't explain better than minute physics, highly recommend”

4 HN recommenders · 2024–2026

lecture#1342

Black hole Firewalls - with Sean Carroll and Jennifer Ouellette

The Royal Institution

“explains the paradox and several different competing theories at a high level.”

3 HN recommenders · 2017–2022

explainer#1365

Should We Colonize Venus Instead of Mars?

PBS Space Time

“Don't miss the PBS Space Time episode suggesting we should colonize Venus instead of Mars which gives some good arguments and goes through the basics.”

4 HN recommenders · 2016–2022

explainer#1419

The Fermi Paradox Compendium

Isaac Arthur

“He describes the Fermi Paradox and related concepts 100x better than anyone else.”

3 HN recommenders · 2017–2021

tutorial#1427

Telescope Building with John Dobson

Dobson Astro-Initiatives

“Here's a 90 minute youtube video on how to build one, with John Dobson himself”

4 HN recommenders · 2017–2025

other#1445

VLT (Very Large Telescope) HD Timelapse Footage

Nicolas Bustos

“the first time I really grasped that we're all together on a rock tumbling through the vastness of space”

2 HN recommenders · 2017–2026

explainer#1521

The Crisis in Cosmology

PBS Space Time

“PBS Space time has an excellent video on the topic”

3 HN recommenders · 2019–2021

explainer#1534

Is The Alcubierre Warp Drive Possible? | Space Time | PBS Digital Studios

PBS Space Time

“For a shorter 10 minute video, see this PBS Spacetime video”

3 HN recommenders · 2020–2023

explainer#1684

Are Space and Time An Illusion?

PBS Space Time

“they have an episode that would be a good place to start on warp drives”

3 HN recommenders · 2016–2020

explainer#1785

What Happens at the Event Horizon? | Space Time | PBS Digital Studios

PBS Space Time

“I think this is the cleanest explanation with actual visual representation.”

3 HN recommenders · 2019–2025

explainer#1813

Hawking Radiation

PBS Space Time

“explains it really well while keeping it accessible for non-physicists”

3 HN recommenders · 2019–2024

explainer#1820

The Halo Drive

Cool Worlds

“Prof. Kipping is well known for his Cool Worlds youtube channel, which is fantastic.”

3 HN recommenders · 2019–2023

explainer#1841

Why is the Solar System Flat?

minutephysics

“I like this video from minutephysics to get an intuitive sense for it”

3 HN recommenders · 2014–2025

explainer#1852

Do Events Inside Black Holes Happen?

PBS Space Time

“This is mind blowing...shatters my misconception of blackholes”

5 HN recommenders · 2016–2021

explainer#1856

'Oumuamua Is Not Aliens

PBS Space Time

“And I really recommend this PBS Space Time Video”

3 HN recommenders · 2018–2021

explainer#1877

The Fermi Paradox: Dark Forest Theory

Isaac Arthur

“His entire library on the Fermi Paradox is worth watching.”

2 HN recommenders · 2019–2024

demo#1894

The Known Universe by AMNH #datavisualization

American Museum of Natural History

“So eye opening”

3 HN recommenders · 2010–2020

lecture#2056

Leonard Susskind | "ER = EPR" or "What's Behind the Horizons of Black Holes?" - 1 of 2

Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics

“I found these lectures by Leonard Susskind very insightful”

3 HN recommenders · 2015–2023

demo#2079

Ptolemy and Homer (Simpson)

Santiago Ginnobili

“This is my favourite visualisation of this fact”

3 HN recommenders · 2013–2022

explainer#2102

Arcologies

Isaac Arthur

“Isaac Arthur's YouTube channel is full of speculation and plans for all kinds of possible or nearly-possible futures”

3 HN recommenders · 2018–2022

explainer#2111

Why Alien Life Would be our Doom - The Great Filter

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

“There is also a good video from Kurzgesagt explaining the great filter”

3 HN recommenders · 2018–2024

explainer#2134

Terence Tao on the cosmic distance ladder

3Blue1Brown

“For details, watch the video, it is really good.”

2 HN recommenders · 2025–2026

commentary#2161

harvard & aliens & crackpots: a disambiguation of Avi Loeb

Angela Collier

“I was surprised about myself that I watched the entire thing and I guess it's because of the high quality of the presentation”

5 HN recommenders · 2023–2025

podcast#2173

Unlocking UAP Mysteries: Economics, Aliens, and The Great Filter | Merged EP0109

Merged Podcast

“Grabby Aliens concept by Robin Hanson is an interesting new take on UFOs.”

3 HN recommenders · 2023

explainer#2224

The Holographic Universe Explained

PBS Space Time

“Here's a video that made me feel like I almost half-way understood one of the main underlying principles (AdS/CFT correspondence)”

2 HN recommenders · 2019–2022

interview#2235

Turning the Sun Into a Giant Telescope with Dr. Slava Turyshev

Fraser Cain

“It is the most interesting interview that I have seen in years, possibly ever.”

3 HN recommenders · 2022–2024

commentary#2271

that dark matter video aged like milk

Angela Collier

“these YouTube videos are a nice counterpoint to a lot of popular communication and discussion on dark matter”

3 HN recommenders · 2024