headshot of Associate News Editor Christopher Crockett

Christopher Crockett

Associate News Editor

Christopher Crockett is an Associate News Editor. He was formerly the astronomy writer from 2014 to 2017, and he has a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California, Los Angeles.

All Stories by Christopher Crockett

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. Astronomy

    Gaggle of stars get official names

    The names of 227 stars have been formally recognized by the International Astronomical Union.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. 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.

  12. Astronomy

    Interactive map reveals hidden details of the Milky Way

    Gleamoscope, an interactive map, lets you explore the Milky Way galaxy and the nearby universe in many different electromagnetic frequencies.