--- title: The Science Behind Fireworks - And the Galaxy description: How do fireworks work? The same way the universe does. canonical: https://time.com/3943140/science-fireworks-galaxy-astronomy/ author: Salima Koroma article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-01T14:57:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T05:32:27.000Z article:section: Science og:title: Explore the Science Behind Fireworks—and the Galaxy og:description: How do fireworks work? The same way the universe does og:url: https://time.com/3943140/science-fireworks-galaxy-astronomy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b6dee84fd8e3776/69885943cd1bba72de6fc165/fireworks-still.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4928 og:image:height: 2772 og:image:alt: Fireworks illuminate the night sky above og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Explore the Science Behind Fireworks—and the Galaxy twitter:description: How do fireworks work? The same way the universe does twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b6dee84fd8e3776/69885943cd1bba72de6fc165/fireworks-still.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Science of Why We Love Fireworks > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=28dc7584-4699-4d42-a8e7-b30e872baedf&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Science Behind Fireworks and the Galaxy [Watch (HLS stream): The Science Behind Fireworks and the Galaxy](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xqifFnsn.m3u8) (1:28)  _Published 2015-07-01. How do fireworks work? The same way the universe does._ by [Salima Koroma](https://time.com/author/salima-koroma/) and [Ainissa Ramirez](https://time.com/author/ainissa-ramirez/) Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:32 AM UTCPublished: Jul 1, 2015 2:57 PM UTC by [Salima Koroma](https://time.com/author/salima-koroma/) and [Ainissa Ramirez](https://time.com/author/ainissa-ramirez/) Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:32 AM UTCPublished: Jul 1, 2015 2:57 PM UTC To you and me, watching fireworks is an age-old pastime best spent with people you love. But to astronomers, seeing those beautiful colors light up the night sky—like they will across the world on New Year’s Eve—means something entirely different. The chemistry that enables people to see the array of colors during a fireworks show, is the same chemistry that allows astronomers to see stars and planets hundreds of light years away. Watch materials scientist Ainissa Ramirez explain how this is possible. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Fireworks. Pretty exciting stuff. they've been around since the seventh century in China. What you might not know is that the different colors that we see are a result of different chemistries. You see if you want red, green, blue or yellow, that's strontium, barium, copper or sodium. If you want white, well that can be titanium or aluminum. So here I have a fireworks right here. So what's going on inside? Well inside of the element are atoms. And inside of the atom are electrons. And the electrons get really excited with all of the heat. Woohoo! But what happens is they can't handle that energy, so they give that energy off, and that energy comes off as light. The light that we see. The different colors that come off as a result of different chemistries, we can think about actually as a fingerprint. So, astronomers use this to their benefit What they do is with their special telescopes they look at planets. They can see different colors and from the different colors they can sense what is in the environment. So you see fireworks are really interesting for us on earth but there also interesting for looking at the galaxy as well. 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