Latest articles by Keith Cooper
The great silence: Just 4 in 10,000 galaxies may host intelligent aliens
Without plate tectonics, oceans and continents, complex life that is able to invent and master advanced technology might never evolve.
Rare 'polar rain' aurora seen from Earth for the first time
Seen for the first time from the ground, the polar rain aurora produced an eerie green glow captured on camera in Norway.
Solar Dynamics Observatory: Discovering the secrets of the sun's magnetic field
Reference Learn how the sun's secrets have been gradually revealed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.
Mars is an asteroid punching bag, NASA data reveals
Small asteroids have the Red Planet in their crosshairs more often than not, as Mars lander's seismometer detects their impacts.
If alien life exists on Europa, we may find it in hydrothermal vents
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.
Why is mystery object Cygnus X-3 so bright? Astronomers may now have the answer
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.
Magnetic vortices may help feed supermassive black holes. Here's how
A spinning magnetic wind blows from supermassive black holes, paving the way for more matter to fall into them, scientists say.
Why smaller planets are better at building large moons
The energy of moon-forming can have a big say in whether large or doomed smaller moons are built.
How neutron stars 'playing it cool' could unlock exotic physics
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.
Hubble Telescope bounces back with glorious galaxy pic in '1-gyroscope mode'
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.
How 2 quasars at the dawn of time could be a Rosetta stone for the early universe
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.
Life after stellar death? How life could arise on planets orbiting white dwarfs
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.
At the heart of this distant galaxy lies not 1, but 2 jet-blasting black holes
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.
12 billion years of black hole history, revealed through X-rays and simulations
New findings show the black hole at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy had a late growth spurt.
Scientists find a surprise ingredient in exoplanet cake mix — sulfur dioxide
The presence of sulfur dioxide around a hot Neptune exoplanet with an evaporating atmosphere could help us understand how it formed.
A star that exploded like a nuclear bomb is still raising questions half a century later
The nova caused HM Sge to brighten in our night sky by 250 times.
Solar storm douses Mars in radiation as auroras flicker in the Red Planet sky (video)
NASA's fleet of robotic Martian explorers measured the effects of May's dramatic solar storms, experiencing the equivalent of undergoing about 30 chest X-rays all at once.
Is there really a huge subsurface lake near Mars' south pole?
Evidence for a lake beneath the south polar cap of Mars may have been misinterpreted, a new study reports.
Youthful galaxy in the early universe was a heavy metal rebel
The existence of carbon in the early universe means that planets and perhaps even life could have formed sooner than anticipated.
The 'hole' on Mars making headlines could be crucial to Red Planet exploration
Similar craters are found on Earth and the Moon, and are the product of volcanic, tectonic or even fluvial activity.
1st telescope removed from controversial astronomy hub on Hawaiian volcano
The 36-inch telescope and its dome has been decommissioned as part of a deal that will hopefully see the Thirty Meter Telescope receive a permit for construction on Maunakea.
This planet-forming disk shaped like a comet is struggling to survive
Proplyds, which are ionized protoplanetary disks, struggle to survive in the Orion Nebula as they come under an onslaught of radiation from a nearby massive star.
James Webb Space Telescope finds a dusty skeleton in this starburst galaxy's closet
The James Webb Space Telescope caught the Magellanic-like galaxy NGC 4449 is undergoing an intense bout of star formation.
