Latest articles by Robert Lea
10 new dead star 'monsters' discovered at the heart of the Milky Way
Ten neutron stars found lurking in the Milky Way include cosmic black widows killing stars with "webs" of viscous plasma and a speed demon that spins over 700 times per second.
The sun is a 'runaway world collector' that can trap passing rogue planets
The sun could collect rogue planets and hold them at the outskirts of the solar system for millions of years, occasionally trading them with neighboring star Alpha Centauri.
The moon's thin atmosphere is made by constant meteorite bombardment
New research using Apollo mission samples has determined that the impact of meteorites on the lunar surface is primarily responsible for generating the moon's thin and nebulous atmosphere.
Could galaxy cluster collisions be used as dark matter detectors?
Particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider have failed to turn up potential dark matter candidates, but could galaxy cluster smashes be used as cosmic dark matter colliders?
'Cosmic dawn:' NASA's Roman Space Telescope will get baby pictures of our universe
NASA's Roman Space Telescope will look all the way back to cosmic dawn 400 million years after the Big Bang to discover how the universe fundamentally changed at this crucial point in its history.
Saturn threw a comet out of the solar system at 6,700 mph. Here's how
Astronomers have discovered that Saturn has thrown a newly found comet on its way out of the solar system. Comet A117uUD is expected to go interstellar at 6,700 mph.
Dark matter ghosts its way through powerful (and messy) collision of galaxy clusters
Using data from the Hubble and Chandra space telescopes, scientists have determined that dark matter ghosted through the wreckage of two colliding galaxy clusters over 5 billion light-years away.
NASA's DART asteroid impact mission revealed ages of twin space rock targets (images)
Scientists have analyzed images of the twin asteroids Didymos and Dimorphous taken by NASA's DART mission before it impacted the smaller space rock, revealing their age and origins.
The building blocks of life can form rapidly around young stars
Astronomers may have solved the mystery of how the complex building blocks of life first formed, finding dust traps around young stars could make an ideal formation location.
Dark matter could play 'matchmaker' for supermassive black holes
Dark matter could act as a cosmic matchmaker between dark matter and merging supermassive black holes, solving astronomy's "final parsec problem."
NASA telescope may have found antimatter annihilating in possibly the biggest explosion since the Big Bang
Using NASA's Fermi telescope, astronomers have discovered a hidden "annihilation feature" in the gamma-ray burst known as the "BOAT," or the "brightest of all time."
A moon of Uranus could have a hidden ocean, James Webb Space Telescope finds
Astronomers have found that Ariel, a moon of Uranus, has some of the most carbon dioxide-rich deposits in the solar system, hinting at a buried water ocean.
How stars' magnetic fields could impact the chance for life on orbiting planets
Habitability depends on more than just a planet's distance from its host star. New research looks at the impact stellar magnetism has on exoplanets.
Runaway 'failed star' races through the cosmos at 1.2 million mph
Citizen scientists have discovered what may be a brown dwarf racing through the cosmos at around 1.2 million miles per hour. Now astronomers want to know what launched it.
Mercury has a layer of diamond 10 miles thick, NASA spacecraft finds
Using data from NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft, scientists have determined that the solar system's tiniest planet, Mercury, hides a not-so-tiny secret: a 10-mile-thick mantle of diamond.
James Webb Space Telescope directly images its coldest exoplanet target yet
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have investigated a super-Jupiter that is one of the coldest exoplanets ever directly imaged.
Rapidly spinning dead stars could unveil dark matter secrets
"Cosmic lighthouses" comprised of rapidly spinning dead stars that blast out radiowaves could be used to shed new light on dark matter, the universe's most mysterious "stuff."
21 'one-in-a-million' extreme dead stars found hiding around sun-like stars
Astronomers have detected 21 rare systems with widely separated neutron stars and sun-like stars. These binaries are "one in a million" and challenge dead star binary formation models.
Scientists waited ages to find a 'missing link' black hole — then stumbled upon 2
A missing link black hole that sits in the mass gap between stellar-mass black holes and supermassive black holes is "parked" right by the Milky Way's central black hole, Sagittarius A*.
NASA X-ray telescope 'weighs' the closest rapidly spinning dead star to Earth
NASA's ISS-mounted X-ray telescope NICER has weighed and measured the closest pulsar to Earth. The neutron star PSR J0437 spins 174 times a second and has a mass of 1.4 suns.
Before plunging to its death, NASA's Cassini spacecraft saw secrets in the seas of Saturn's moon Titan
Seven years ago, the Cassini mission ended when the spacecraft dramatically crashed into Saturn, but the data it collected is still delivering results, revealing the secrets of Titan's oceans.
Signs of life could survive on solar system moons Enceladus and Europa
Signs of life could survive on the icy surfaces of Saturn's and Jupiter's moons, Enceladus and Europa, despite harsh radiation bombardment from the sun and supernovas.
The sun's next solar cycle has begun, 'starquakes' suggest
Even though the sun's current solar cycle hasn't reached its peak yet, scientists have seen signs that the next 11-year solar cycle is already getting ready for its time to shine.
