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.

Last Updated: 3/17/2024Network: Science ChannelStatus: Continuing
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Galaxies
star
8.20
618 votes

#1 - 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.

Directors: Louise Say
Watch Now:Amazon
The First Oceans
star
8.18
132 votes

#2 - The First Oceans

Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 8/25/2015

For years, scientists suspected that the oceans came from molecules delivered to Earth from distant stars by asteroids, but a new discovery suggests that their true origins may be more exotic.

Watch Now:Amazon
Secret History of Pluto
star
8.16
105 votes

#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
Secret History of the Moon
star
8.09
143 votes

#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
Big Bang
star
8.08
803 votes

#5 - 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.

Directors: Louise Say
Watch Now:Amazon
Birth of the Earth
star
8.05
180 votes

#6 - 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?

Directors: George Harris
Watch Now:Amazon
Dawn of Life
star
8.04
151 votes

#7 - Dawn of Life

Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 8/11/2015

Discovering how life on Earth came to be; the possibility that life on Earth come from another planet.

Watch Now:Amazon
Monster Black Hole
star
8.02
191 votes

#8 - Monster Black Hole

Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 7/28/2015

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.

Watch Now:Amazon
Forces of Mass Construction
star
8.01
139 votes

#9 - Forces of Mass Construction

Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 9/1/2015

Scientists attempt to understand how this strange force of magnetism works.

Watch Now:Amazon
When Supernovas Strike
star
8.00
72 votes

#10 - When Supernovas Strike

Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/15/2019

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.

Watch Now:Amazon
Journey to a Black Hole
star
8.00
44 votes

#11 - Journey to a Black Hole

Season 9 - Episode 1 - Aired 3/24/2021

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.

Watch Now:Amazon
Solar System Special
star
8.00
33 votes

#12 - Solar System Special

Season 11 - Episode 5 - Aired 4/2/2023

New discoveries have rewritten the complex history of our solar system.

Watch Now:Amazon
Solar Systems
star
7.99
570 votes

#13 - 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.

Directors: Lorne Townend
Watch Now:Amazon
Edge of the Solar System
star
7.97
181 votes

#14 - Edge of the Solar System

Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 8/4/2015

Huge magnetic bubbles millions of miles wide; strange invisible matter, and a death star tearing through bands of icy comets, flinging them into violent orbits.

Watch Now:Amazon
Hunt for Dark Matter
star
7.95
41 votes

#15 - Hunt for Dark Matter

Season 10 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/20/2022

Dark Matter is thought to be the cosmic glue that holds the universe together, yet the search for it continues to eluded scientists today.

Watch Now:Amazon
Black Holes
star
7.94
695 votes

#16 - 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.

Directors: Peter Chinn
Watch Now:Amazon
Cassini's Final Secrets
star
7.91
54 votes

#17 - Cassini's Final Secrets

Season 7 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/12/2019

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.

Watch Now:Amazon
Did the Big Bang Really Happen?
star
7.89
62 votes

#18 - Did the Big Bang Really Happen?

Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/12/2019

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.

Watch Now:Amazon
Asteroids - Worlds that Never Were
star
7.88
162 votes

#19 - 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?

Directors: George Harris
Watch Now:Amazon
Battle of the Dark Universe
star
7.84
51 votes

#20 - Battle of the Dark Universe

Season 7 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/19/2019

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.

Watch Now:Amazon
Mystery of Spacetime
star
7.84
68 votes

#21 - Mystery of Spacetime

Season 6 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/13/2018

Spacetime is the secret structure that controls the universe, and this strange four-dimensional substance controls time, light, and energy. It will also determine how the universe will end.

Watch Now:Amazon
Moons
star
7.83
480 votes

#22 - 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.

Directors: Shaun Trevisick
Watch Now:Amazon
Nightmares of Neutron Stars
star
7.83
86 votes

#23 - Nightmares of Neutron Stars

Season 7 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/8/2019

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.

Watch Now:Amazon
Life & Death on the Red Planet
star
7.81
80 votes

#24 - Life & Death on the Red Planet

Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired 1/24/2017

The evolution of life on Mars before a series of cataclysmic events transformed the planet from a watery world to a hostile one; scientists believe life will find a way to continue despite the setbacks.

Watch Now:Amazon
Hunt for Alien Life
star
7.81
53 votes

#25 - Hunt for Alien Life

Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/26/2019

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.

Watch Now:Amazon