Christopher Crockett
Science News
Washington, DC, United States
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Past articles by Christopher:
Here is the first direct look at Neptune’s rings in more than 30 years
In 1989, the Voyager 2 spacecraft took the first pics of Neptune’s rings. Now, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is providing a more detailed look. → Read More
How radio astronomy put new eyes on the cosmos
A century ago, radio astronomy didn’t exist. But since the 1930s, it has uncovered cosmic secrets from planets next door and the faint glow of the universe’s beginnings. → Read More
‘Flashes of Creation’ recounts the Big Bang theory’s origin story
In ‘Flashes of Creation,’ author Paul Halpern tells the story of George Gamow , Fred Hoyle and their decades-long sparring match about the Big Bang. → Read More
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has begun its first science campaign
Now about 1 kilometer south of its landing spot, the rover has spotted several promising spots in its search for hints of ancient life. → Read More
This new image reveals a sunspot in unrivaled detail
An image taken by the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope — the largest solar observatory on Earth — provides the best look yet at a sunspot. → Read More
A ‘lake’ on Mars may be surrounded by more pools of water
Radar data hint at patches of liquid water beneath Martian polar ice, but some urge caution in interpreting results. → Read More
Earth’s building blocks may have had far more water than previously thought
Space rocks and dust from the inner solar system could have delivered enough water to account for all the H2O in the planet’s mantle. → Read More
Salty water might exist on Mars, but it’s probably too cold for life
Salty liquids may last for several hours on the Red Planet but be too chilly for any known microorganisms from Earth to survive, simulations suggest. → Read More
Interstellar comet Borisov has an unexpected amount of carbon monoxide
The second known visitor from outside the solar system has three times as much CO relative to H2O than any comet seen in the inner solar system. → Read More
New images of the sun reveal superfine threads of glowing plasma
Snapshots from NASA’s High-Resolution Coronal Imager show thin filaments of plasma not seen before in the sun’s outer atmosphere. → Read More
‘Oumuamua might be a shard of a broken planet
A new origin story for the solar system’s first known interstellar visitor suggests it may have been part of a world that got shredded by its star. → Read More
New fleets of private satellites are clogging the night sky
As private companies launch dozens of satellites at a time, researchers are assessing the impact on ground-based telescopes. → Read More
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin revealed stars’ composition and broke gender barriers
The book ‘What Stars Are Made Of’ celebrates the life of astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin. → Read More
A black hole eruption marks the most powerful explosion ever spotted
Hundreds of millions of years ago, a black hole blasted out roughly 100 billion times as much energy as the sun is expected to emit in its lifetime. → Read More
An ancient magma ocean may have once driven Earth’s magnetic field
Computer simulations of molten silicate under extreme temperatures and pressures may have just filled in a gap in the history of Earth’s magnetism. → Read More
What NASA’s InSight lander has learned about Mars’ magnetism and quakes
In its first 10 months, the InSight lander detected Marsquakes and an unexpectedly strong magnetic field at its landing site on the Red Planet. → Read More
An ancient galaxy grew massive — then oddly stopped making stars
After ferociously producing stars for a few hundred million years, this galaxy in the early universe gave up, and astronomers aren’t sure why. → Read More
ESA’s Solar Orbiter will be the first spacecraft to study the sun’s polar zones
ESA's Solar Orbiter is now on its way to the sun, beginning a nearly two-year journey. → Read More
This is the first fast radio burst known to have a steady beat
Brief blasts of radio energy from other galaxies keep stumping astronomers, but one seems to be on a 16-day cycle, a new clue in an ongoing puzzle. → Read More
The wobbling orbit of a pulsar proves Einstein right, yet again
Astronomers have found a pulsar’s orbit being rocked to and fro as a neighboring white dwarf whips up spacetime, in accordance with general relativity. → Read More