Carolyn Collins Petersen
With Martian air, Dirt, and Sunshine, It Should be Possible to Make Iron on Mars
When the first humans reach Mars, they'll probably live in habitats that were there ahead of time or in habs…
Dwarf Galaxies Found Without Influence From Dark Matter
Ask astronomers about dark matter and one of the things they talk about is that this invisible, mysterious "stuff" permeates…
JWST Turns Its Gaze on the Cartwheel Galaxy
The Cartwheel Galaxy, also known as ESO 350-40, is one disturbed-looking piece of cosmic real estate. To look at it…
Stellar Flybys Leave a Permanent Mark on Newly Forming Planetary Systems
What do UX Tauri, RW Aurigae, AS 205, Z CMajoris, and FU Orionis have in common? They're young stellar systems…
Earth’s Magnetic Field Almost Completely Collapsed 550 Million Years Ago
More than half a billion years ago, Earth experienced an almost-complete collapse of its magnetic field. It began in the…
Engineers are Testing how VIPER can Handle the Gnarliest Lunar Terrain
NASA's getting ready to send a VIPER to the Moon. Not the popular sports car but a rugged vehicle that…
The Heaviest Neutron Star Ever Seen Got There by Feasting on its Companion
Life's not too good if you're the companion of a black widow. Here on Earth, spiders by that name feast…
The Sun is Eroding Asteroids
Asteroids have been around since early solar system times. However, just because they are ancient bits of history doesn't mean…
Hubble Sees a Mirror Image of the Same Galaxy Thanks to Gravitational Lensing
It's been an amazing couple of weeks for fans of gravitational lensing. JWST grabbed the headlines with a spectacular infrared…
The Deepest Known Canyon in the Solar System, Seen From Space
Solar system worlds beyond Earth have amazing surface features. Thanks to planetary science missions, we see images of canyons, craters,…