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

    A volcano on Venus was spotted erupting in decades-old images

    A new look at old data reveals an eruption on Venus in the 1990s that was probably similar to Hawaii’s Kilauea eruption in 2018.

  2. Astronomy

    A runaway black hole has been spotted fleeing a distant galaxy

    A bright streak stretching away from a remote galaxy might be the light from stolen gas and new stars caught in the wake of an escaping black hole.

  3. Astronomy

    Newborn stars sculpt their galaxies in new James Webb telescope images

    Dark voids riddle the galaxies’ faces, highlighting previously invisible details about how new stars alter their locales.

  4. Astronomy

    Half of all active satellites are now from SpaceX. Here’s why that may be a problem

    Of the roughly 7,300 active satellites in Earth orbit, about 3,600 are part of SpaceX’s growing fleet of Starlink internet satellites.

  5. Astronomy

    The James Webb telescope found six galaxies that may be too hefty for their age

    The galaxies formed in the universe’s first 700 million years and may be up to 100 times more massive than predicted.

  6. Astronomy

    The James Webb telescope spotted the earliest known ‘quenched’ galaxy

    A galaxy dubbed GS-9209 ceased forming stars more than 12.5 billion years ago after a 200-million-year-long sprint.

  7. Astronomy

    The Kuiper Belt’s dwarf planet Quaoar hosts an impossible ring

    Quaoar’s ring lies outside the Roche limit, an imaginary line beyond which rings aren’t thought to be stable.

  8. Astronomy

    New data show how quickly light pollution is obscuring the night sky

    Tens of thousands of observations from citizen scientists spanning a decade show that the night sky is getting about 10 percent brighter every year.

  9. Planetary Science

    Enceladus is blanketed in a thick layer of snow

    Pits on the Saturnian moon reveal the surprising depth of the satellite’s snow, suggesting its plume was more active in the past.

  10. Astronomy

    The James Webb telescope found ‘Green Pea’ galaxies in the early universe

    The James Webb telescope spotted tiny “green” galaxies that might have helped trigger a dramatic cosmic makeover more than 13 billion years ago.

  11. Astronomy

    The James Webb Space Telescope wasn’t the only big space news in 2022

    DART crashed into an asteroid, Artemis went to the moon and we got a pic of our galaxy’s monstrous black hole. Space was a busy place this year.

  12. Astronomy

    The James Webb telescope is getting glimpses of small, far-off planets

    Hints of one exoplanet atmosphere’s chemical makeup and the discovery of a planet orbiting another star are two of the telescope’s early successes.