All Stories by Christopher Crockett
-
SpaceNew fleets of private satellites are clogging the night sky
As private companies launch dozens of satellites at a time, researchers are assessing the impact on ground-based telescopes.
-
SpaceCecilia Payne-Gaposchkin revealed stars’ composition and broke gender barriers
The book ‘What Stars Are Made Of’ celebrates the life of astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin.
-
SpaceA black hole eruption marks the most powerful explosion ever spotted
Hundreds of millions of years ago, a black hole blasted out roughly 100 billion times as much energy as the sun is expected to emit in its lifetime.
-
Planetary ScienceAn ancient magma ocean may have once driven Earth’s magnetic field
Computer simulations of molten silicate under extreme temperatures and pressures may have just filled in a gap in the history of Earth’s magnetism.
-
SpaceWhat NASA’s InSight lander has learned about Mars’ magnetism and quakes
In its first 10 months, the InSight lander detected Marsquakes and an unexpectedly strong magnetic field at its landing site on the Red Planet.
-
SpaceAn ancient galaxy grew massive — then oddly stopped making stars
After ferociously producing stars for a few hundred million years, this galaxy in the early universe gave up, and astronomers aren’t sure why.
-
SpaceESA’s Solar Orbiter will be the first spacecraft to study the sun’s polar zones
ESA's Solar Orbiter is now on its way to the sun, beginning a nearly two-year journey.
-
SpaceThis is the first fast radio burst known to have a steady beat
Brief blasts of radio energy from other galaxies keep stumping astronomers, but one seems to be on a 16-day cycle, a new clue in an ongoing puzzle.
-
SpaceThe wobbling orbit of a pulsar proves Einstein right, yet again
Astronomers have found a pulsar’s orbit being rocked to and fro as a neighboring white dwarf whips up spacetime, in accordance with general relativity.
-
SpaceThese are the most detailed images of the sun ever taken
First images from the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope reveal details on the surface of the sun three times as small as ever seen.
-
SpaceAs NASA’s Spitzer telescope’s mission ends, here’s a look back at its discoveries
For more than 16 years, the Spitzer Space Telescope has witnessed the births and deaths of stars, charted the Milky Way, found faraway worlds and more.
-
Planetary ScienceFor the first time, an asteroid has been found nearer to the sun than Venus
A space rock dubbed 2020 AV2, found in close orbit around the sun, probably got there after a series of close encounters with rocky planets.