Robert Lea
Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter @sciencef1rst.
Latest articles by Robert Lea
![A square containing a multitude of red blue and white dots next to another bow with a larger version of the same dots with a black circle at their central point](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Pzd9Mx7tpAGNEXBnNL6fDV-320-80.png)
Hubble Space Telescope finds closest massive black hole to Earth — a cosmic clue frozen in time
By Robert Lea last updated
The Hubble Telescope has discovered a black hole "frozen in time" that's also the closest massive black hole to Earth.
![A purple sphere surrounded by alternating white and blue bands and an oter white band against a black background](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/qKcKNdVGYyCPUKgTwkpJpV-320-80.png)
'Traffic jams' around Uranus could solve the mystery of its weak radiation belts
By Robert Lea published
In 1986, the Voyager 2 spacecraft discovered Uranus has a strangely weak radiation belt. Now, researchers think this could be linked to "traffic jams" caused by the world's warped magnetic field.
![A swirling orange and red disc with a black sphere at its center with a widing white line emerging from it. A black box with pixelated red, green and white shapes within it](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zfaokZi7JN9gCTxEh78Urc-320-80.png)
James Webb Space Telescope sees an ancient black hole dance with colliding galaxies
By Robert Lea published
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have witnessed the dramatic dance between a supermassive black hole-powered quasar and merging galaxies less than a billion years after the Big Bang.
![A glowing red spiral collides with a bright yellow spiral blue and white lines intersect their centers](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/mVVgPwAMYPpsPtQzZN9rdA-320-80.png)
Quasars are 'cosmic signposts' pointing to rare supermassive black hole pairs
By Robert Lea published
New research suggests that galaxies with quasars at their active hearts are seven times more likely to harbor elusive supermassive black hole binary paintings than other galaxies.
![a radio galaxy with dark wispy structures expanding out from the center with a bright yellow light at the heart.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/pEyP7SwknzEFAggoS3tyDm-320-80.jpg)
What are radio galaxies?
By Robert Lea last updated
Reference A radio galaxy is a type of galaxy with giant regions of radio emissions that reach far beyond its visible structure. We explore them in more detail here.
![A firey orange sphere to the left of a partly shadowed blue and white sphere against a very dark background](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/UxA6vmCVNcbcoR4igfJiFY-320-80.png)
Extreme 'hot Jupiter' exoplanet stinks like rotten eggs and has raging glass storms
By Robert Lea published
As if deadly rains of glass, temperatures hot enough to melt lead, and sidewise 5,000 mph winds weren't unfriendly enough, the JWST has found a Jupiter-sized exoplanet also stinks of rotten eggs.
![white ripples against a black background surround a black circle](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/qFhksxU8RFw7KkHfWaAR6Q-320-80.png)
Weird physics at the edges of black holes may help resolve lingering 'Hubble trouble'
By Robert Lea published
The expansion of the universe may not be accelerating at the edges of black holes. If this is the case at all event horizons, this may explain "Hubble tension," and the worst prediction in physics.
![On the left a purple sphere with arcs of blue emerging from and connecting at its poles next to a blue square with dark dots a white cross at its center and a green blob at the edge of a dotted white line within it](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Eod8BpeHkyihpBPuzEzJwR-320-80.png)
Rapidly spinning 'extreme' neutron star discovered by US Navy research intern
By Robert Lea published
A Navy research team intern is part of a group of astronomers who have discovered a rapidly spinning neutron star, or "pulsar," in a dense cluster of stars around 10 light-years away.
![A purple orbit against a dark background with a boxout showing a white room containing two crouching people attending to a complex gold machine](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/eh98TYAdxFnv6MXZVBPN9G-320-80.png)
Scientists tap into 2 new quantum methods to catch dark matter suspects
By Robert Lea published
Scientists will cool two pieces of quantum tech to a thousandth of a degree above absolute zero to hunt for two different dark matter suspects.
![Two glowing blue arcs joined by a bright red smeared sphere.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/sYEZEh7zyCGg5CUNGVK84n-320-80.png)
Happy 4th of July! Infant star creates red, white and blue fireworks in new JWST image
By Robert Lea published
Just in time for Independence Day, the James Webb Space Telescope has imaged a red, white and blue fireworks display, courtesy of an infant star at the heart of a dense cloud of gas and dust.
![A bright glowing purple sphere surrounded by purple loops](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/3knTSmRQocYUmsoxhQiqJS-320-80.png)
Mystery of dead stars' glitching 'heartbeats' could have a twisted solution
By Robert Lea published
The 'heartbeats' of rapidly spinning neutron stars are usually highly regular, but occasionally, the spin of these dead star pulsars 'glitches.' Now, a 'twisted' model could explain this mystery.
![A black background with glowing white blue and yellow orbs scattered across it, some within a yellow dotted circle](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/4M4TAhJ2L4wRRQ4d456R8Z-320-80.png)
Scientists finally found 2 of the Milky Way's missing satellite galaxies. What could this mean for astronomy?
By Robert Lea published
Astronomers have found two of the Milky Way's missing satellite galaxies, a step toward earning a better understanding of dark matter.
![Three digitized glowing red dots against dark backgrounds](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/uMTx3F9odVF6LLcES2swUo-320-80.png)
Forbidden black holes and ancient stars hide in these 'tiny red dots' (image)
By Robert Lea published
The James Webb Space Telescope found "tiny red dots" in the early universe representing overgrown supermassive black holes and stars that are impossibly old for the infant cosmos.
![An artist's illustration shows a bright blue planet in the foreground with a yellow, glowing star in the background.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/CxEfpRW5eAhbaTfCxL2egM-320-80.png)
Why puffy exoplanets often dance with perfect rhythm
By Robert Lea published
New research has identified two distinct populations of puffy, sub-Neptune exoplanets with low densities, allowing them to stay in step with their planetary siblings.
![Area 51 sign on fence in the Nevada Desert. The white square sign has the text "entering area 51" written in large black letters.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7ya4qrHsoArDh8nFxzB87U-320-80.jpg)
Area 51: What is it and what goes on there?
By Robert Lea last updated
Reference Area 51 is a U.S. military base that has become synonymous with tales of UFOs, government cover-ups and potentially testing alien technology.
![A dark golden sphere with dark red circles radiating from it](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/UxghBxyMXK7xs6iRLucQpm-320-80.png)
'Immortal stars' could feast on dark matter in the Milky Way’s heart
By Robert Lea published
New research suggests some stars at the very heart of the Milky Way may have found an alternative fuel in the form of annihilating dark matter that grants them immortality.
![A blue sphere with a cone of white extending from it leading to a reversed cone of a cloud of blue and purple strands](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/YMdDybxXTy86k62ZqqfhFm-320-80.png)
Missing Milky Way black holes are bad news for this dark matter theory
By Robert Lea published
After 20 years watching stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud for hints of a phenomenon predicted by Einstein, scientists throw doubt on the connection between ancient black holes and dark matter.
![A cloud of red, orange and yellow strands with a bright white gow at its heart](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7aLfeMZ5SuiEee5byhQ5Ue-320-80.png)
See a starburst galaxy, ablaze with explosive star birth, devouring dwarf galaxies (video)
By Robert Lea published
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Gemini North telescope team has released a stunning image of starburst galaxy NGC 4449, which is ablaze with intense star birth as it devours smaller galaxies.
![(Right) Jupiter as seen by the JWST (Left) a close up of the Great Red Spot, the solar system's largest storm](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Wftswhonh4pTdhwL8pE7C8-320-80.png)
James Webb Space Telescope spies strange shapes above Jupiter's Great Red Spot (image)
By Robert Lea published
The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered strange structures in the atmosphere of Jupiter over the solar system's largest storm, the Great Red Spot, proving the planet is full of surprises.
![A field of galaxies on the black background of space. In the middle is a collection of dozens of yellowish galaxies that form a foreground galaxy cluster. Among them are distorted linear features, which mostly appear to follow invisible concentric circles curving around the centre of the image. The linear features are created when the light of a background galaxy is bent and magnified through gravitational lensing. A variety of brightly coloured, red and blue galaxies of various shapes are scattered across the image, making it feel densely populated](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VircLvtttPKq95NxFLg6d3-320-80.png)
James Webb Space Telescope spots 'Cosmic Gems' in the extremely early universe (video)
By Robert Lea published
The JWST has detected star clusters that existed less than 500 million years after the Big Bang. These clusters, in the Cosmic Gems arc, could reveal secrets of cosmic evolution.
![orange concentric circles around blue concentric circles intersected by white jagged line with blue spheres against a black background](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/DPWQbcxscWFeRg9hYqLiM5-320-80.png)
This impossibly massive black hole wasn't very hungry during the dawn of time
By Robert Lea published
The James Webb Space Telescope saw a supermassive black hole that wasn't overfeeding when time began, deepening the mystery of how black hole grew so massive so quickly.
![Two orange circles with glowing circles at their centers against black backgrounds.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wuawC7retnNDtqzUBNwTe7-320-80.png)
Massive radio telescope array investigates the birth of planets around twin stars
By Robert Lea published
Using the ALMA radio telescope array, astronomers have investigated the disks of gas and dust around young binary stars to better understand how these systems procure planets.
![A glowing red and orange disk with a black circle at its center and blue streaks coming from it.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/AKQx2wkSL7UzrZP57uavmg-320-80.png)
Supermassive black hole winds blowing at 36 million miles per hour can sculpt entire galaxies
By Robert Lea published
Astronomers have measured supermassive black hole winds that existed when the universe was less than 3 billion years old, showing how these cosmic titans shape galaxies.