Jonathan O'Callaghan
Quanta Magazine
United Kingdom
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Past articles by Jonny:
Astronomers Say They Have Spotted the Universe’s First Stars
Theory has it that “Population III” stars brought light to the cosmos. The James Webb Space Telescope may have just glimpsed them. → Read More
JWST Heralds a New Dawn for Exoplanet Science
The James Webb Space Telescope is opening an exciting new chapter in the study of exoplanets and the search for life beyond Earth → Read More
Webb Space Telescope Snaps Its First Photo of an Exoplanet
The grainy image of a “super-Jupiter” is a sign of what’s to come as the telescope’s exoplanet observations ramp up. → Read More
Black Hole Image Reveals Sagittarius A*
In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope released a historic image of a supermassive black hole in another galaxy. The follow-up — an image of Sagittarius A* — shows it shimmering at the center of our own. → Read More
NASA Spacecraft Will Visit Apophis, Once Earth’s Deadliest Asteroid Threat
After delivering extraterrestrial samples to Earth in 2023, OSIRIS-REx will embark on an extended mission to a potentially planet-threatening space rock → Read More
Secrets of the Moon’s Permanent Shadows Are Coming to Light
Robots are about to venture into the sunless depths of lunar craters to investigate ancient water ice trapped there, while remote studies find hints about how water arrives on rocky worlds. → Read More
SpaceX's Starship and NASA’s SLS Could Supercharge Space Science
Scientists are beginning to dream of how a new generation of super heavy-lift rockets might enable revolutionary space telescopes and bigger, bolder interplanetary missions → Read More
The First Rocket Launch from Mars Will Start in Midair
NASA’s Mars Ascent Vehicle will attempt a wildly unconventional liftoff to bring Red Planet samples back to Earth → Read More
Did Pebbles Build Earth and the Other Rocky Planets?
Over the past decade, researchers have completely rewritten the story of how gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn form. They’re now debating whether the same process might hold for Earth. → Read More
Solar ‘Superflares’ Rocked Earth Less Than 10,000 Years Ago—and Could Strike Again
Although our sun is considered a quiet star, it is now thought to have repeatedly pelted our planet with enormous eruptions in the not too distant past. Could another occur in the near future? → Read More
Neither Star nor Planet: A Strange Brown Dwarf Puzzles Astronomers
Brown dwarfs such as “The Accident” are illuminating the murky borderlands that separate planets from stars. → Read More
Brighter Than a Billion Billion Suns: Gamma-Ray Bursts Continue to Surprise
These ultrabright flashes have recently been tracked for days, upending ideas about the cataclysms that create them. → Read More
Squishy Neutron Star Setback Dampens Hopes of Exotic Matter
Groundbreaking results show that neutron stars of different masses may have the same size — upending astrophysical models. → Read More
China’s ‘Reckless’ Rocket Crash Is A Stark Reminder Of The Daunting Space Junk Problem
Earlier today, May 9, an uncontrolled piece of Chinese rocket debris crashed into the Indian Ocean, narrowly avoiding the Maldives. But how many more gambles can we take before a disaster occurs? → Read More
First in Flight: NASA Just Proved Flying on Mars Is Possible--Next Up Is the Solar System
With Ingenuity’s five successful flights on the Red Planet, aviation may find unexpected footing in the future of space exploration → Read More
Drama, What Drama? SpaceX Lands Starship For The First Time Amid $3 Billion Moon Contract Battle
Following protests from its competitors over a NASA Moon contract, SpaceX responded in the best way it knows how – by launching and landing another rocket. → Read More
Jeff Bezos And Elon Musk Trade Blows In Billion-Dollar NASA Moon Rocket Clash
NASA has been accused of 'moving the goalposts' in its selection of Elon Musk’s SpaceX to design a new lunar lander to take humans to the Moon, after a protest from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company. → Read More
Liftoff! SpaceX Launches Astronauts To Orbit Again
SpaceX has successfully launched its Crew-2 mission, carrying four humans to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA on the company’s third human spaceflight. → Read More
How Maxwell’s Demon Continues to Startle Scientists
The thorny thought experiment has been turned into a real experiment — one that physicists use to probe the physics of information. → Read More
Three Spacecraft Are About To Arrive At Mars. Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Them
Last July three spacecraft from the UAE, China, and the US launched to Mars. Now, after a journey of seven months, they’re all about to arrive. → Read More