Plot Synopsis

Using high-definition computer animations, THE UNIVERSE explores planets, stars and other celestial bodies from the sun to the edge of the universe. Like the recent destructive impact on Jupiter reported to be by a comet or asteroid nearly the size of Earth, new phenomena are being discovered almost daily. Scientists are finding new planets and views into the deepest reaches of space, breaking new ground in understanding the universe and its mysteries. THE UNIVERSE returned for its eighth season on Saturday, March 1, 2014 at 10pm ET/PT on H2. In Season 8, this series took on a new title, THE UNIVERSE: ANCIENT MYSTERIES SOLVED, while turning its attention to some of Earth's mysteries, such as Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids. The ninth season of UNIVERSE -- its second season with the title THE UNIVERSE: ANCIENT MYSTERIES SOLVED -- premiered on Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 9pm ET/PT on History. The season opener, "Omens of Doom," featured the appearance of certain astronomical events that meant something big and something bad was coming -- at least to our ancestors. They were portends of death, plague, famine, or war. But what were they really seeing? And how did fear of these objects in the sky actually change the course of history?
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On Saturday, May 23, 2015 at 9pm ET/PT, History premiered the Season 9 finale of THE UNIVERSE: ANCIENT MYSTERIES SOLVED. In the season ender, "Roman Engineering," new archaeological evidence, confirmed by NASA data and recreated in virtual reality, suggests that early Roman emperors mastered architecture and astronomy to make the Sun create strange special effects for reasons both political and personal. One set up an obelisk and altar that blocked the Sun on the anniversary of Julius Caesar's murder, another built a domed room that bathed him in sunlight on certain days, and the Emperor Hadrian designed the Pantheon to mark cosmic events like equinoxes, and turned the central oculus of the temple dome into his own personal spotlight, but for what nefarious purposes? The answers are hidden in ancient ruins...and among the stars.