Elizabeth Fernandez

Elizabeth Fernandez

Elizabeth is a freelance science writer. She has a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Texas at Austin and has worked with telescopes all around the world and in space. Now she writes on astronomy, physics, geology, mathematics, and science and technology in society. 

Latest articles by Elizabeth Fernandez

stalks of corn rise from the bottom, stretching halfway up the image, before a vast dark sky of stars.

Will the constellations ever change?

By Elizabeth Fernandez published

BepiColombo spotted an outpour of carbon and oxygen atoms in Venus' fragile magnetic environment

Constellations
The first sample of asteroid Ryugu received by NASA.

Life beyond Earth may form in the coldest depths of space, Ryugu asteroid samples reveal

By Elizabeth Fernandez published

PAHs may be able to form in cold regions of space, affecting what scientists think about the origins of planets and possibility of alien life.

Search for Life
a gaseous green nebula in the shape of a christmas tree

Watch the 'Christmas Tree Cluster' twinkle in X-rays (video)

By Elizabeth Fernandez published

The twinkling lights of the Christmas Tree Cluster tell us about the science going on there.

Stars
green and yellow auroras in the sky

Historic magnetic storms help scientists learn what to expect when one hits

By Elizabeth Fernandez published

Magnetic storms can create amazing auroras, but they also have the capacity to impact our power grid.

Climate Change
a large galaxy shown shining pink, with two nearby galaxies to the upper left. dots of far distant galaxies are littered about

Data science helps cross-check space discoveries 'across time and telescopes'

By Elizabeth Fernandez published

It’s not always easy to match objects from various telescopic surveys. A new method can change this, allowing objects to be matched in up to 100 different surveys.

Tech
A still from the video of the Europa lander undergoing testing.

Watch this Jupiter moon lander handle harsh terrain it may face on Europa (video)

By Elizabeth Fernandez published

Landing on Europa is a highly anticipated, possible NASA mission. Engineers recently tested how to successfully land a spacecraft on the icy moon.

The moon
An image of Uranus taken by Voyager 2 on Jan. 14, 1986.

Wonder what it's like to fall into Uranus? These scientists do, too

By Elizabeth Fernandez published

Wind tunnels show what a probe descending into the atmosphere of Uranus or Neptune would probably need to contend with. Such a probe is a high-priority mission for both NASA and ESA.

Uranus
a cone-shaped telescope in orbit above Earth

NASA's SPHEREx mission aims to map 450 million galaxies and 100 million stars

By Elizabeth Fernandez published

NASA has begun construction has started on SPHEREx, a new extraordinary mission that will map the sky in unprecedented detail and color.

Missions