Latest articles by Robert Lea
Watch Artemis 2 fly through space in real time with this telescope livestream
A Virtual Telescope Project livestream aims to track NASA's Artemis 2 Orion spacecraft after launch — here's how to watch it as it travels through space.
Satellite spies SpaceX Starlink before it breaks apart | Space photo of the day for April 1, 2026
SpaceX Starlink spacecraft was seen prior to breaking up in orbit by a satellite.
Saturn's magnetic field is curiously warped, and one of its moons may be to blame
"A better understanding of Saturn’s environment is especially urgent now as plans for our return to Saturn and its moon Enceladus start to be developed."
This star-forming galaxy is blowing out powerful winds topping 2 million mph
NASA's XRISM X-ray spacecraft has clocked 2 million mph winds ripping out of a distant galaxy bursting with star formation.
Record-breaking 'space laser' erupts from merging galaxies 8 billion light-years away
Astronomers have spotted the most distant and brightest "space laser" ever seen, and it's blasting from a galaxy collision that occurred when the universe was half its current age.
100 new alien worlds: Scientists find hidden haul in data from NASA exoplanet-hunting spacecraft
Astronomers have discovered an additional 100 new worlds in data collected by NASA's exoplanet-hunting spacecraft TESS, thanks to an innovative AI program.
Scientists finally solve century-old mystery of star with unexpected X-ray emissions
Astronomers have used the XRISM X-ray spacecraft to discover a star being devoured by a stellar companion, solving a mystery that has baffled scientists for over 100 years.
Scientists discover mirror of our solar system in 2 exoplanets forming around a star
Astronomers have spotted two planets forming around a distant infant star, offering a time capsule into see what the solar system looked like billions of years ago.
Scientists find 2 'failed stars' that may have a second chance to shine bright — by getting together
"Failed star" brown dwarfs may get a second chance to shine by colliding and merging to birth a new star.
Could our universe exist because black holes ate up all the antimatter?
Did primordial black holes born during the Big Bang swallow the universe's antimatter, allowing matter to dominate the cosmos?
Astronomers missed a space explosion as powerful as a billion suns — until they spotted its echo
A cosmic explosion with an energy equivalent to the output of a billion suns went unnoticed by astronomers until they caught the "echo" of this gamma-ray burst.
'At the edge of what we thought possible': Astronomers find extremely rare star from ancient universe
"Cosmic archaeologists" have discovered an iron-deficient second-generation star, which provides evidence of how ancient stars enriched their successors.
X-ray spacecraft watches monster black hole wake up and fire cosmic bullets at starburst galaxy
The research could shed light on how black holes vomit out matter and how this influences their home galaxies.
Ryugu asteroid sample contains all five key components of DNA, scientists find
A sample collected by the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft from the spinning top-like asteroid contained the nucleobases adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine, and uracil.
How fast is the universe expanding? Astronomers may be one step closer to resolving 'Hubble trouble'
The local universe may be expanding more slowly than previously thought, a discovery that could relieve a pesky discrepancy known as the Hubble tension.
Astronomers discover a new type of planet that probably smells like rotten eggs
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered an example of a new class of exoplanet, and it smells like rotten eggs.
Boys from the Dwarf: Looking back at 'Red Dwarf', the sci-fi show that had a huge impact on my childhood
Red Dwarf's scouse technician Dave Lister was the last human alive, a down-on-his-luck slobbish space-hero long before Peter Quill guarded the galaxy.
Hubble and NASA space telescopes track 'game-changing' gamma-ray burst back to neutron star collision in 'forbidden' region of the universe
Astronomers have tracked a powerful blast of radiation back to its source, finding a neutron star collision within colliding galaxies.
'Completely bonkers': Astronomers find evidence of a cataclysmic collision between exoplanets
Astronomers have witnessed evidence of an extremely violent collision between planets, and it resembles the event in Earth's history that created the moon.
Astronomers witness colossal supernova explosion create one of the most magnetic stars in the universe for the first time
Astronomers have discovered that the birth of neutron stars with magnetic fields trillions of times stronger than Earth's magnetosphere is the "magic trick" behind superbright supernovas.
Black hole and neutron star mergers push the laws of physics with their odd orbits
Merging black holes and neutron stars have unusual oval orbits prior to colliding and merging, which challenge the laws of physics.
SpaceX's Ship 39 is so cool in Starship V3 test | Space photo of the day for March 9, 2026
SpaceX engineers tested Ship 39's propellant system, leading to some stunning images.
The universe is humming with ripples in spacetime: Scientists just doubled our catalog of black hole and neutron star collisions
The catalog of gravitational waves "heard" by LIGO, KAGRA and Virgo has doubled with detections of spacetime ripples.
