headshot of temporary astronomy writer Liz Kruesi

Liz Kruesi

Liz Kruesi is a freelance science journalist who focuses on astronomy. She is based in Colorado. She has written about astronomy and space since 2005, and received the AAS High-Energy Astrophysics Division science journalism award in 2013. She holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisc.

All Stories by Liz Kruesi

  1. An illustration of one large blue star next to one small blue star with a thin stream of light passing between the two.
    Astronomy

    This extreme star might have huge tidal waves

    Gravitational forces between two orbiting stars might be creating huge waves of plasma on one of the stars that break and crash to the surface.

  2. A photo of stars with Galaxy IC 5249 in the center with a green oval around it.
    Astronomy

    A streak of light may not be a black hole fleeing its galaxy after all

    A suspicious trail of starlight may just be a spiral galaxy seen edge on, not stars that formed in the wake of a runaway supermassive black hole.

  3. NASA Rover Perseverance takes a selfie on Mars
    Space

    What has Perseverance found in two years on Mars?

    NASA's Perseverance rover has turned up volcanic rocks, signs of flowing water and some of the materials necessary for life.

  4. the uncrewed space capsule Orion floating in the Pacific Ocean, with round red airbags atop it as a crew in a boat in the background retrieves the capsule
    Space

    Artemis 1’s Orion capsule returned safely to Earth. What’s next?

    The first test flight in NASA’s return to the moon Artemis program ended well with the uncrewed capsule splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

  5. illustration of an astronaut on the moon
    Space

    Artemis I finally launched. Here’s what it means for human spaceflight

    The launch of NASA's Artemis I is a giant step toward sending humans back to the moon and heading beyond.

  6. illustration of a mini-Neptune exoplanet
    Astronomy

    Mini-Neptunes may become super-Earths as the exoplanets lose their atmospheres

    Starlight is eroding the atmospheres of a handful of gassy exoplanets that are a bit smaller than Neptune, gradually exposing the rocky cores within.

  7. a black container of dark faux asteroid soil and peat moss, held by a man wearing a gray shirt and jeans. There is a tiny chili pepper seedling poking through the dirt
    Planetary Science

    Astronauts might be able to use asteroid soil to grow crops

    Researchers grew romaine lettuce, chili pepper and pink radish plants in mixtures of faux asteroid soil and peat moss.

  8. Astronaut Chris Cassidy lifts weights on the International Space Station.
    Space

    Six months in space leads to a decade’s worth of long-term bone loss

    Even after a year of recovery in Earth’s gravity, astronauts who’d been in space six months or more still had bone loss equal to a decade of aging.

  9. illustration of galaxy A1689-zD1 showing warmer gas in yellow in the middle and cooler gas in red spreading out
    Astronomy

    An otherwise quiet galaxy in the early universe is spewing star stuff

    Seen as it was 700 million years after the Big Bang, the galaxy churns out a relatively paltry number of stars. And yet it’s heaving gas into space.

  10. the galaxy M81
    Astronomy

    Seven newfound dwarf galaxies sit on just one side of a larger galaxy

    Seven newly found dwarf galaxy candidates are stick to just one side of the large galaxy M81. Astronomers don’t know why.

  11. 31 milligrams of dark gray dust and debris from asteroid Ryugu in a white circular sample dish
    Planetary Science

    Samples of the asteroid Ryugu are scientists’ purest pieces of the solar system

    Samples Hayabusa2 brought to Earth from asteroid Ryugu are far fresher than similar types of meteorites that scientists have found.

  12. the MeerKAT observatory
    Astronomy

    A newfound, oddly slow pulsar shouldn’t emit radio waves — yet it does

    The highly magnetic neutron star rotates three times slower than the previous record holder, challenging the theorical understanding of these objects.