Scott Alan Johnston
Keck's new Planet Hunter Instrument Comes Online, Searching for Smaller, More Earth-Sized Exoplanets
There’s a new planet hunter in town, and it’s got its sights set on nearby Earth-sized planets in the galactic…
The Smallest Radar Ever Sent to Space Will Probe the Interior of Dimorphos After its Impact From DART
Are miniature probes the future of deep space exploration? (more…)
Planets Make it Harder to Figure out a Star’s age
Estimating stellar age has always been a challenge for astronomers. Now, a certain class of exoplanets is making the process…
Satellites can now Measure the Thickness of Ice Sheets all Year Long
Artificial intelligence can do more than paint planets as bowls of soup. It’s now helping researchers acquire better climate change…
We Still Have no Idea if it's Safe to be Pregnant in Space
Can humans reproduce in space? The short answer is that we don’t know. The long answer is maybe, but there…
A New Map Shows how Solar Winds Rain Down Everywhere on Mars
In a joint effort between NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft and the United Arab Emirates’ Emirates Mars mission (EMM), scientists have observed…
The First Crops on Mars Should be Alfalfa and Cyanobacteria. Then Comes Tastier Plants
Mark Watney can keep his potatoes. Real astronauts should grow alfalfa. (more…)
Lunar Rocks Have Earth's Noble Gases Trapped Inside. More Evidence That the Moon Came From the Earth
Piecing together the history of the Solar System from the traces left behind isn’t easy. Bit by bit, however, we’re…
An Interstellar Meteor Struck the Earth in 2014, and now Scientists Want to Search for it at the Bottom of the Ocean
Back in 2014, an object crashed into the ocean just off the coast of Papua New Guinea. Data collected at…
The Mars Sample Return Mission Will Take Two Helicopters to the Red Planet to Help Retrieve Samples
NASA’s upcoming Mars Sample Return mission plan just received a glow-up: it will now carry a pair of twin helicopters,…