There's a killer lurking in our galaxy, a star ready to explode into a supernova. Seen from Earth, a supernova in the Milky Wave would have a terrible beauty. But for us, it could be fatal. In a few seconds, it can release as much energy as the sun will over its entire lifetime. It could be anywhere. It is nearly impossible to predict where and when the next supernova will happen. The hunt is on to find the next supernova before it finds us.

Our world, our solar system, our universe, none of it would exist without a ghostly particle called the neutrino. They are our early warning system whenever there's trouble in the universe. Neutrinos trigger star-killing explosions, supernovas. Neutrinos can answer so many questions, from why do we exist to how was the universe created. Neutrinos can be the very reason that we exist at all. The more we understand these elusive particles, the more we can gain insight into how the universe works.

Supermassive black holes are the engines that power our universe and one of the major players in the evolution of galaxies. They're in fact the driving force at the heart of nearly every galaxy in the cosmos. Now, a new mystery has emerged about the oldest supermassive black holes. We see supermassive black holes in the very early universe. And we don't understand how they grew so large so quickly. We have clues about their formation but, can we solve the mystery of this supermassive growth spurt?

In astronomy, we've been looking at different kinds of light and opening up the universe a little bit more of the time. But then in 2015, the roof came off. Something happened that changed everything, the ability to see waves in space and time itself. Gravitational waves help us roll back the clock to the dawn of time, discover epic cosmic collisions, on make Earth-shaking discoveries. Gravitational waves are the biggest game changer since the invention of the telescope. We have a completely new universe to view now. A new exploration of space is just beginning.

Humans have long gazed up at the night sky, wondering whether other lifeforms and intelligences could be thriving on worlds far beyond our own. But over the last few decades, ultra-sensitive telescopes and dogged detective work have transformed alien planet-hunting from science fiction into hard fact. We expected to find worlds similar to the planets in our own solar system, but we instead discovered a riot of exotic worlds. Vivid animation based on data from the most successful planet hunter of them all, the Kepler space telescope, brings these worlds into view: puffy planets with the density of polystyrene, unstable worlds orbiting two suns and 1,000-degree, broiling gas giants with skies whipped into titanic winds.
But perhaps the most startling discovery was the number of worlds that may be contenders for a second Earth, at the right distance from their sun to have that ingredient so crucial for life as we know it, liquid water. Amongst them, we witness the most tantalizing discovery of all: a so-called ‘super-Earth’, situated in the Goldilocks zone - the area just the right distance from a sun to potentially support life - and with the faint signal of water in its atmosphere.

Professor Brian Cox continues his epic exploration of the cosmos by looking at the faint band of light that sweeps across the night sky - our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The Sun is just one of almost 400 billion stars that form this vast, majestic disk of light, our own home in the universe. Thanks to a cutting-edge space we’re finally able to reveal the Milky Way’s dramatic history and predict its cataclysmic future.
Our galaxy started out a fraction of the size it is today, and Gaia telescope has revealed how it grew over the eons. Beautifully rendered VFX based on the very latest Gaia data has uncovered the remarkable story of our galaxy’s evolution. As our young galaxy encountered rival galaxies, it experienced a series of violent growth spurts and intense periods of cataclysmic change while battling to survive. Each time our galaxy feeds, a new era of star formation begins, fuelled by incoming torrents of fresh gas and energy. And there is another collision to come. Another, larger galaxy is coming our way. Andromeda is heading straight for us at a quarter of a million miles per hour. The Milky Way’s long-term fate is in the balance.