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Space
Space
Science
Sharmila Kuthunur

Just how dark is the universe? NASA's New Horizons probe gives us best estimate yet

Illustration of a spacecraft in deep space, with the milky way galaxy's glowing central bulge in the background.

Space looks black, but just how dark is it? 

It's a deceptively simple question that has puzzled astronomers since the 1960s. Now, thanks to data from NASA's New Horizons probe, they have arrived at the best-yet estimate of how dark — or rather, bright — deep space is: 100 billion times dimmer than the sunlight we see on Earth.

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