Keith Cooper
Keith Cooper is a freelance science journalist and editor in the United Kingdom, and has a degree in physics and astrophysics from the University of Manchester. He's the author of "The Contact Paradox: Challenging Our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence" (Bloomsbury Sigma, 2020) and has written articles on astronomy, space, physics and astrobiology for a multitude of magazines and websites.
Latest articles by Keith Cooper
![Coulntless stars and points of light in black space. In the center, a bright blue light shiens, radiating outward a faint blue hue.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/u7C7SQApreaoZrDBvBt8FT-320-80.jpg)
X-rays reveal secret gas in huge and distant galaxy cluster
By Keith Cooper published
The Euclid and XMM-Newton missions have combined to show the hidden, hot gas that fills an immense galaxy cluster 2.7 billion light-years away.
![A black and white image of the moon's surface. A large white pattern is seen in the middle-left and there are craters toward the right.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/dvQnYZtASeGPNUdwftbYpg-320-80.png)
Where do the moon's weird swirls come from? Scientists are trying to find out
By Keith Cooper published
Scientists are getting closer to explaining where bizarre lunar patterns that seem to have the involvement of magnetic fields come from.
![A stormy and reddish scene.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VERcevpfhPvZHHv67pGzUb-320-80.jpg)
Alien weather report: James Webb Space Telescope detects hot, sandy wind on 2 brown dwarfs
By Keith Cooper published
The JWST's infrared vision has seen deep into the stormy atmosphere of two brown dwarfs that form the third closest system to the sun.
![a giant pac-man like dome fully opens upward to the night sky, exposing the skeleton of the top of an extremely large telescope. The milky way and countless stars shine above.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/W5cZ9zmEnwKbX5kjmd5WWK-320-80.jpg)
How the last 25 years led to the rise of mega-telescopes
By Keith Cooper published
From exoplanets to the galaxies in the early universe, there's little that large telescopes on Earth can't see.
![Earth is in the center of this image surrounded by tons of blue dots in a relatively disk-like shape that represent satellites. Toward the right of the screen, a dot is traced with a yellow line as it just barely enters the satellite disk while flying past Earth.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ZN2MLRSc92EHh25Y2W5ebm-320-80.gif)
Asteroid Apophis will visit Earth in 2029, and this European satellite will be along for the ride
By Keith Cooper published
As Apophis passes closer to Earth than geosynchronous satellites in April 2029, the asteroid will hopefully be tracked by a new ESA mission called Ramses.
![The Draco dwarf is a faint, star-poor but dark-matter rich galaxy. Here we see Hubble zooming in on some of its stars.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ewuUtSYLYoMeU5QzPaQPMo-320-80.jpg)
Hubble Telescope tracks a dwarf galaxy's stars to map out dark matter
By Keith Cooper published
By measuring the motions of stars in the Draco dwarf galaxy, the Hubble Space Telescope was able to map the density profile of dark matter.
![a ball of grey boulders and rocks seen against the blackness of space](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ThWMPASDNMXYUdGid9AjSJ-320-80.jpg)
'Dark comets' may have given Earth its water long ago
By Keith Cooper published
'Dark comets,' which have no visible tail, could also explain the strange behavior of the interstellar object 'Oumuamua.
![Green shrubbery and sliver of road form a low horizon below a sunny blue sky. In the distance left of center, a short white rocket stands adjacent to a black tower. Much taller, right of center, reaching to the top of the image, a steel tower with black-barred extension arms reaching out near its base.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/DyvXuMKbgtxAEshbVMFzT7-320-80.jpg)
SpaceX rivals challenge Starship launch license in Florida over environmental, safety concerns
By Keith Cooper published
United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin have cited safety and environmental factors in challenges to SpaceX's launch license for Starship at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
![graphic illustration of a dyson sphere concept showing a partially constructed sphere with an orange glow emanating from inside.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/xaJhwHDTnk4YfFjbXQBHkF-320-80.jpg)
What are Dyson spheres, and how do we look for them?
By Keith Cooper last updated
Learn who first thought of the idea for Dyson spheres, as well as how they work and how we search for them with infrared telescopes.
![An artist's impression of the warped disk of the Milky Way, surrounded by a slightly flattened dark matter halo.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/H6pWUsGKAPxGZ799Zr3KLM-320-80.jpg)
Astronomers measure 'warp speed' of Milky Way galaxy
By Keith Cooper published
The Milky Way is warped, and the alignment of this warp is precessing backwards around the galaxy under the influence of a squashed dark matter halo.
![The Allen Telescope Array in Northern California is dedicated to astronomical observations and a simultaneous search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/rQqDksDevrxHLSD69iP6xM-320-80.jpg)
The great silence: Just 4 in 10,000 galaxies may host intelligent aliens
By Keith Cooper published
Without plate tectonics, oceans and continents, complex life that is able to invent and master advanced technology might never evolve.
![a person stands in the center of the image and looks up to a green band of light in the sky.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/sp2p5yaKoYjs8yC9Gb3YvF-320-80.jpg)
Rare 'polar rain' aurora seen from Earth for the first time
By Keith Cooper published
Seen for the first time from the ground, the polar rain aurora produced an eerie green glow captured on camera in Norway.
![graphic illustration of the SDO on the left and a animation showing different views of the sun on the right.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/sgW9BujcGQjLcq2TfhTFR4-320-80.gif)
Solar Dynamics Observatory: Discovering the secrets of the sun's magnetic field
By Keith Cooper last updated
Reference Learn how the sun's secrets have been gradually revealed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.
![The Red Planet is seen against the darkness of space.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeLBJNnoVngsSXk8pfYpsG-320-80.jpg)
Mars is an asteroid punching bag, NASA data reveals
By Keith Cooper published
Small asteroids have the Red Planet in their crosshairs more often than not, as Mars lander's seismometer detects their impacts.
![closeup of an icy moon, whose white surface is crisscrossed by reddish-brown lines](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wEkX9JhAKJxyA62aVRGZGj-320-80.jpg)
If alien life exists on Europa, we may find it in hydrothermal vents
By Keith Cooper published
Cool to moderately warm hydrothermal vents circulating water through the seabed could sustain habitable conditions on moons such as Jupiter's Europa and Saturn's Enceladus for billions of years.
![A view towards the black hole in an X-ray binary and the X-rays we see that are reflected from the inner surface of the powerful outflow surrounding the hole.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/xPPtc9kNELMWStyEcBvS29-320-80.jpg)
Why is mystery object Cygnus X-3 so bright? Astronomers may now have the answer
By Keith Cooper published
The X-ray-emitting binary system Cygnus X-3 features a massive Wolf-Rayet star donating matter to a compact object, probably a black hole.
![An illustration of a purple and gray disk of gas and dust. In the center, a swirling jet protrudes upward.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/YLAoDTov8yWtUgiGTCmtV3-320-80.jpg)
Magnetic vortices may help feed supermassive black holes. Here's how
By Keith Cooper published
A spinning magnetic wind blows from supermassive black holes, paving the way for more matter to fall into them, scientists say.
![a giant crescent moon hangs like a dim red bowl in a darkening re-clouded sky. A dark hilly landscape stretches beneath.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/sYQbNJBVHyfYQVZnjZmh3E-320-80.jpg)
Why smaller planets are better at building large moons
By Keith Cooper published
The energy of moon-forming can have a big say in whether large or doomed smaller moons are built.
![a blazing blue ball of light bordered in white, with red/pink poles. Blue loops of light shoot out and back in large arches in dusty space.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zaMiR27J9pcEr82kGynDZX-320-80.jpg)
How neutron stars 'playing it cool' could unlock exotic physics
By Keith Cooper published
Neutron stars with surface temperatures millions of degrees cooler than expected rule out a swathe of possible models to describe the physics of such objects.
![a stunning spiral galaxy hangs dimly in the dark of space; a bright light at its center illuminates nearby gasses, swirling around in shades of pale blues, whites and crisp browns.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/jX3D2XiD9n8H8Ne8f6J4pi-320-80.jpg)
Hubble Telescope bounces back with glorious galaxy pic in '1-gyroscope mode'
By Keith Cooper published
The Hubble Space Telescope snapped a striking shot of the fluffy spiral galaxy NGC 1546, showing it can still observe the heavens in its new one-gyroscope mode.
![This illustration depicts two quasars in the process of merging. Using both the Gemini North telescope and the Subaru Telescope, a team of astronomers have discovered a pair of merging quasars seen only 900 million years after the Big Bang. Not only is this the most distant pair of merging quasars ever found, but also the first confirmed pair found in the period of the universe known as cosmic dawn.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/JCRNAiLLVysD4AnLJnrVE5-320-80.jpg)
How 2 quasars at the dawn of time could be a Rosetta stone for the early universe
By Keith Cooper published
The two active supermassive black holes are the most distant pair of quasars ever seen and shed more light on how the universe transformed into what it is today.
![a glowing blue star floats in space next to an earth-like planet of the same apparent size.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VbvtEC86eJzETkBfv2oXFb-320-80.jpg)
Life after stellar death? How life could arise on planets orbiting white dwarfs
By Keith Cooper published
Stellar death need not be the end for orbiting planets, which could see their ice melt as they move closer to the white dwarf that their star evolves into.
![dark orange and brown gas swirls in a disk around a black orb, which spews bright red gas upward. to its left, a smaller black point shoots a light gas upward too.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/AybqptU5kC7kEKBm5RCDc8-320-80.jpg)
At the heart of this distant galaxy lies not 1, but 2 jet-blasting black holes
By Keith Cooper published
The two black holes at the heart of the galaxy OJ 287 are true behemoths with masses of 18.35 billion and 150 million times the mass of our Sun.