The BEST episodes of How the Universe Works
Every episode of How the Universe Works ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of How the Universe Works!
A users' guide to the cosmos, from the Big Bang to galaxies, stars, planets and moons: where did it all come from and how does it all fit together? A primer for anyone who has ever looked up at the night sky and wondered.
#3 - Secret History of Pluto
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/3/2017
Pluto is the subject, with an investigation into whether the planet has an underground ocean. 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 harbour life.
Watch Now:Amazon
#4 - Secret History of the Moon
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 8/18/2015
Our Moon is stranger than you think, and we reveal its incredible secrets. Can we thank the Moon for life on Earth? What explains the mysterious tunnels beneath its surface? Is a lunar base the key to humanity's future in space?
Watch Now:Amazon
#8 - Galaxies
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 5/10/2010
Galaxies, home to stars, planets and us, come in all shapes and sizes. Witnesses the evolution of galaxies; from clouds of cold gas floating in the voids of space 13 billion years ago, to the magnificent spirals that fill our night sky.
#9 - Birth of the Earth
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 8/29/2012
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?
#10 - Big Bang
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/25/2010
This is the greatest story ever told, the creation of everything us. The programme investigates how the Universe came into existence out of nothing, and how it grew from a miniscule point, smaller than an atomic particle, to the vast cosmos we see today.
#11 - Solar Systems
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 5/24/2010
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.
#12 - Comets: Frozen Wanderers
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 8/15/2012
We follow the odyssey of a comet as it sails through space, watching every move as it evolves from a chunk of ice and rock into an active nucleus engulfed in a gaseous haze. What we learn is a revelation; comets are even more mysterious than we imagined.
#13 - Asteroids: Worlds that Never Were
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 8/22/2012
From icy worlds with more fresh water than Earth to flying mountains of pure metal, asteroids shaped our past and promise much for the future. Could these enigmatic space rocks hold the key to how life in the Universe arises and is extinguished?
#14 - How the Universe Built Your Car
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 7/14/2015
Beneath the hood of your car lies the history of the Universe. The iron in your chassis, the gold in your stereo and the copper in your electronics all owe their existence to violent cosmic events that took place billions of years ago.
Watch Now:Amazon
#15 - Black Holes
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 5/2/2010
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.
#16 - Moons
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 5/24/2010
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.
#17 - Extreme Orbits: Clockwork and Creation
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 8/8/2012
We owe our existence to the stability of earth's orbit. But we are the freaks: everywhere else we look we find orbits are chaotic, unstable, and violent. Yet on the very largest scale, orbits are also a creative force, even constructing the fabric of the universe itself.
#18 - Planets from Hell
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 7/25/2012
Over the last twenty years we have discovered an extraordinary zoo of planetary nightmares outside our own solar system, all of them truly wild worlds, a collection of monsters. Now we must face the question: Is every planet out there a planet from hell?
#19 - Stars
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 5/10/2010
The story of how stars were made by the Universe and how Stars then went on to engineer everything else in that very universe. They changed the Universe by spawning further generations of stars, then planets and eventually the building blocks of life.
#20 - Supernovas
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/17/2010
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.
#21 - Planets
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/17/2010
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.
#22 - Earth, Venus's Evil Twin
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 7/21/2015
There is a hellish planet in our solar system; covered in thick dense clouds and roasted by colossal temperatures. Incredibly this is a vision of Earth's future. To understand how our world will be destroyed we need to look at Earth's evil twin Venus.
Watch Now:Amazon
#23 - Volcanoes: The Furnaces of Life
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 7/11/2012
Scientists are discovering volcanoes on worlds we once thought dead. From our nearest planetary neighbour to tiny moons billions of miles away, today we are discovering volcanoes on alien worlds. Are these worlds where, tomorrow, we might find life?
#24 - The Winds of Creation
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 7/18/2012
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.
#25 - Megaflares: Cosmic Firestorms
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 8/1/2012
The Universe is a magnetic minefield. Spinning star systems crackle and explode, magnetic monsters rip worlds apart, star-quakes shoot beams of devastating energy, and galactic flamethrowers fire gamma-rays half way across the Universe. Will we find Earth in the firing line?