Lisa Grossman

Lisa Grossman

Astronomy Writer

Lisa Grossman is the astronomy writer for Science News. Previously she was a news editor at New Scientist, where she ran the physical sciences section of the magazine for three years. Before that, she spent three years at New Scientist as a reporter, covering space, physics and astronomy. She has a degree in astronomy from Cornell University and a graduate certificate in science writing from UC Santa Cruz. Lisa was a finalist for the AGU David Perlman Award for Excellence in Science Journalism, and received the Institute of Physics/Science and Technology Facilities Council physics writing award and the AAS Solar Physics Division Popular Writing Award. She interned at Science News in 2009-2010.

All Stories by Lisa Grossman

  1. Planetary Science

    Never-before-seen dunes on Pluto spotted in New Horizons images

    Images from the New Horizons spacecraft reveal dunes on Pluto — but the sand-sized grains must have had an unusual boost to get moving.

  2. Astronomy

    Two-faced star reveals a pulsar’s surprising bulk

    An ultramassive pulsar is frying its stellar companion so that the star shows two different temperatures.

  3. Astronomy

    Astronomers scrutinized last year’s eclipse. Here’s what they’ve learned

    Astronomers observed the 2017 total solar eclipse from the ground and the air, and found some never-before-seen features of the sun’s atmosphere.

  4. Astronomy

    Plasma rain in the sun’s atmosphere falls in surprising places

    Scientists found rain in the sun’s corona where they didn’t expect it, which could help solve the mystery of why the corona is so hot.

  5. Planetary Science

    China is set to launch a satellite to support a future lunar rover

    China is set to launch a satellite to support a future lunar rover that will make the first-ever visit to the farside of the moon.

  6. Planetary Science

    Another hint of Europa’s watery plumes found in 20-year-old Galileo data

    A fresh look at old data suggests that NASA’s Galileo spacecraft may have seen a plume from Jupiter’s icy moon Europa in 1997.

  7. Astronomy

    The recipes for solar system formation are getting a rewrite

    A new understanding of exoplanets and their stars is rewriting the recipes for planet formation.

  8. Astronomy

    First 3-D map of a gas cloud in space shows it’s flat like a pancake

    An interstellar gas cloud dubbed the Dark Doodad Nebula looks like a wispy, thin cylinder. But it’s actually a flat sheet.

  9. Planetary Science

    Getting NASA’s Pluto mission off the ground took blood, sweat and years

    Alan Stern talks about the new book ‘Chasing New Horizons’ and what’s next for the spacecraft that got close to Pluto.

  10. Planetary Science

    NASA gets ready to launch the first lander to investigate Mars’ insides

    The InSight lander is launching to Mars on May 5 and is expected to be in position to sense seismic activity by early 2019.

  11. Planetary Science

    Last year’s solar eclipse set off a wave in the upper atmosphere

    The August 2017 solar eclipse launched a wave in the upper atmosphere that was detected from Brazil after the eclipse ended.

  12. Astronomy

    The latest star map from the Gaia spacecraft plots 1.7 billion stars

    The Gaia spacecraft’s latest data release brings the number of stars with precisely measured motions up from 2 million to more than 1.3 billion.