All Stories by Lisa Grossman
- Space
Wild art? No, it’s a radio image of the heart of our Milky Way
Eyelash-like radio filaments accent the brightest feature in this image — a supermassive black hole.
- Space
The long-awaited James Webb Space Telescope has a big to-do list
The James Webb Space Telescope has been in the works for so long that new fields of science have emerged for it to study.
- Space
Astronomers may have found first known planet in another galaxy
The spiral-shaped Whirlpool galaxy may be home to the first planet spotted outside our own Milky Way galaxy.
- Space
Explainer: Calculating a star’s age
Scientists can figure out a star's mass or composition pretty easily. Determining how old that star is, however, is a lot harder.
- Planets
NASA’s Perseverance rover grabbed its first Martian rocks
Two finger-sized pieces of stone drilled from a basalt rock are the first bits of Mars ready to be brought to Earth.
- Planets
Pluto is no longer a planet — or is it?
In the 15 years since Pluto lost its status as a planet, some scientists continue to use whatever definition works best for them.
- Space
Here’s an easier new way to weigh a black hole
The timing of flickers in the gas and dust of a black hole’s accretion disk correlates to its mass, a new study finds.
- Space
Huge arc of galaxies is surprising and puzzling cosmologists
The arc appears to violate a cosmic rule that on such large scales, matter will be evenly distributed.
- Space
The Milky Way’s ‘yellowballs’ are clusters of baby stars
The mysterious cosmic objects — first spotted by citizen scientists — turn out to be infant stars of various masses.
- Planets
The Perseverance rover split CO2 on Mars to make breathable air
This oxygen-making experiment shows that astronauts could one day make air to breathe and to help fuel their ride back home.
- Space
Raindrops on alien worlds will obey Earth-like rules
Their size will be similar no matter what they’re made of or on which planet they fall, a new analysis finds.
- Space
Ingenuity helicopter makes history by flying on Mars
The copter's 40-second-long flight in the Red Planet’s thin air is only the first in a planned series of daring flights.
