Nadia Drake

Former science writing intern and astronomy writer

All Stories by Nadia Drake

  1. Lopped Off

    In July, the Ecuadorean navy helped apprehend a fishing vessel within the waters of the Galápagos National Park. On board lay the carcasses of 379 sharks — including threshers, hammer­heads, Galápagos, blues and a mako. Nearly severed fins hung from the mutilated, slippery bodies. The fins were presumably destined for trade in Asian markets, where […]

  2. Space

    HiRISE clocks hurricane-speed winds on Mars

    Orbiting camera measures swirling gusts in dust devils.

  3. Space

    Saturn’s rings tell a comet’s tale

    Ripples made by a celestial impact 600 years ago can still be seen today.

  4. Astronomy

    A Shadowed Past

    Suspended in the sky, the moon has stared unblinking at the Earth for billions of years. But new work suggests the placid sphere’s two faces may belie a violent childhood — one that involved the death of a small celestial companion. The moon may also be lying about when it was born, by millions of […]

  5. Space

    Miniplanet sports megapeak

    The solar system’s second tallest mountain hides out in a crater at the south pole of the asteroid Vesta.

  6. Space

    Longer cosmic ruler based on black holes

    A new method promises to improve the precision of extreme astronomical distance measurements.

  7. Space

    Messenger from Mercury

    NASA orbiter returns images of odd landforms on the solar system's innermost planet.

  8. Planetary Science

    Fertile Frontiers

    The solar system’s spotted bully and its ringed sidekick are holding some tantalizing treasures in their gravitational clutches. Circling Jupiter and Saturn are more than a hundred moons, including some of the most promising hosts for extraterrestrial life in the solar system. Some scientists rank the Saturnian moon Enceladus as the best place in the […]

  9. Space

    On Kepler-16b, shadows come in pairs

    Astronomers discover a planet that orbits a pair of stars.

  10. Space

    Planet search finds lots of little guys

    The latest collection of extrasolar bodies to be revealed is rich in worlds not much bigger than Earth.

  11. Space

    Super-Earths may come in two flavors

    As more exoplanets are discovered, evidence emerges that worlds can be either fluffy or dense.

  12. Astronomy

    Star goes boom, telescopes zoom

    Astronomers have spotted a supernova in the Pinwheel Galaxy, the nearest such stellar explosion in decades.