All Stories by Christopher Crockett
- Planets
Pluto hosts ice mountains, data suggest
Geologic activity appears to have been reshaping Pluto, erasing craters and more.
- Planets
Picture This: Pluto hearts us
As a little spacecraft flies by Pluto, it is snapping up high resolution images and collecting unparalleled data.
- Space
News Brief: Latest supernova is also super-brightest
The light from stellar fireworks in a galaxy far, far away has just reached Earth. It comes from a star that exploded in a massively bright flash.
- Planets
Visiting Pluto
Pluto has long been little more than a dark spot in the sky. Now NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is about to fly by this dwarf planet. Along the way, it will collect unprecedented data on it.
- Space
Students sent instrument to Pluto
The student-built dust counter on NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is measuring how much grit and debris orbits out beyond Neptune.
- Planets
Cosmic collision may have given birth to Pluto’s moons
Hubble Space Telescope photos reveal that the Pluto family may have formed from debris left behind after something slammed into the dwarf planet.
- Space
Radio telescope picks up signals from intelligent life
Astronomers tracked down the source of perytons, mysterious radio bursts. They had at first seemed to emanate from Earth’s atmosphere. Probing now suggests the life forms responsible had a penchant for leftovers.
- Space
Mini-sats: The trick to spying Earth-bound asteroids?
NASA is supposed to begin nonstop screening by 2020 for all asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth. Some astronomers now think the only way to affordably meet that deadline is by using mini-satellites
- Planets
Something’s cooking on Saturn’s moon
Grit in one of Saturn’s rings likely formed in hot water on the planet’s ice-covered moon Enceladus. That suggests conditions on this moon might be able to support life.
- Space
Astronomers spy fastest speeding star
A few stars have been spotted departing our galaxy. The fastest of these might have been propelled by another exploding star, a new study finds.
- Space
Black holes are on collision course
But be patient. The distant galactic smashup is still some million years away.
- Physics
Light robs galaxy of star-making gas
Stars form from clouds of hydrogen and other gases. Astronomers have found the light from newborn stars can drive off that gas. That action can starve a galaxy of the ingredients needed to make more stars.
