TV series
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.
Streaming, rental and purchase options
Checked Jul 22, 2026
How the Universe Works is available to stream on DirecTV On Demand, Discovery+ (Via Amazon Prime), HBO (Via Hulu), HBO Max, Max (Via Amazon Prime), Philo, YouTube TV, and Plex in United States. You can also buy it from Amazon, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home. Use the direct links below to open the provider.
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.
Choose an episode, then use the watch options above for the show.
Episode 1
Are we alone in the Universe? What makes Earth so different? Part of the answer is our volcanoes. without them we would not be here either. Today we are discovering volcanoes on alien worlds. Are these worlds where, tomorrow, we might find life?
Where to watch How the Universe Works
Episode 2
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.
Where to watch How the Universe Works
Episode 3
We once thought that the only planets were in our solar system. We have found many other planets but they are nothing like we expected, from deep-frozen, toxic snowballs, to scorched and boiling nightmares. Is every planet out there a planet fom Hell?
Where to watch How the Universe Works
Episode 4
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?
Where to watch How the Universe Works
Episode 5
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.
Where to watch How the Universe Works
Episode 6
As time machines from the early universe, comets could hold the key to unlock the secrets of the cosmos, and may even be the origin of life itself. In this episode, we learn that comets are even more mysterious and fascinating than we had ever imagined.
Where to watch How the Universe Works
Episode 7
Asteroids wiped out the dinosaurs and may be back for us but they also built the Earth and may have brought life to its barren surface. Asteroids will shape our future as much as our past and scientists are striving to unlock their secrets.
Where to watch How the Universe Works
Episode 8
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?
Where to watch How the Universe WorksEpisode information updated Jul 24, 2026
Erik DellumsHimself - Narrator
Mike RoweNarrator
Hakeem Muata OluseyiSelf - Astrophysicist
ScienceUnited States
DiscoveryUnited States
DiscoveryUnited StatesMore shows like How the Universe Works.
