All Stories by Christopher Crockett
- Astronomy
Saturn’s 10th moon was the first satellite discovered in the modern space age
Fifty years ago, astronomers knew of 10 moons orbiting Saturn. Since then they’ve catalogued a diverse set of 62 satellites, with the help of the Cassini spacecraft.
- Astronomy
Gotcha: Fast radio burst’s home nabbed
For the first time, astronomers pinpoint a precise position on the sky for a fast radio burst, revealing that the outburst originated in a galaxy about 2.5 billion light-years away.
- Astronomy
More fast radio bursts detected from same location
Six more outbursts have been detected from a repeating source of radio waves somewhere outside of our galaxy.
- Planetary Science
Dawn spacecraft maps water beneath the surface of Ceres
Water ice sits just beneath the surface and within some permanently shadowed craters of the dwarf planet Ceres.
- Astronomy
Year in review: A planet lurks around the star next door
If people ever travel beyond the solar system, the newly discovered exoplanet around Proxima Centauri is likely to be a first stop.
- Astronomy
Magnetic stars could have created LIGO’s massive black holes
Strong magnetic fields could provide a way for massive stars to create heavy black holes when they die.
- Astronomy
Gaggle of stars get official names
The names of 227 stars have been formally recognized by the International Astronomical Union.
- Astronomy
Stellar vomiting produces dark galaxies, simulations suggest
Dark galaxies might owe their existence to multiple rounds of prolific star birth and death that eject gas and stretch out their homes, new simulations suggest.
- Planetary Science
Ice gave Pluto a heavy heart
Sputnik Planitia, the left half of Pluto’s heart-shaped region, might have been carved out by the weight of thick layers of ice built up billions of years ago.
- Astronomy
Star-starved galaxies fill the cosmos
Astronomers are detecting hundreds of galaxies that are almost devoid of stars. There are at least four theories on how they got that way.
- Astronomy
Giant gathering of galaxies discovered hiding on far side of Milky Way
An uncharted supercluster of galaxies lurks about 800 million light-years away, partly hidden by the Milky Way.
- Astronomy
Mysterious radio signals pack power and brilliance
The brightest fast radio burst has been detected, while another team reveals a previous burst might have carried gamma rays as well as radio waves across space.
