Lisa Grossman

Lisa Grossman

Astronomy Writer

Lisa Grossman is the astronomy writer for Science News. Previously she was a news editor at New Scientist, where she ran the physical sciences section of the magazine for three years. Before that, she spent three years at New Scientist as a reporter, covering space, physics and astronomy. She has a degree in astronomy from Cornell University and a graduate certificate in science writing from UC Santa Cruz. Lisa was a finalist for the AGU David Perlman Award for Excellence in Science Journalism, and received the Institute of Physics/Science and Technology Facilities Council physics writing award and the AAS Solar Physics Division Popular Writing Award. She interned at Science News in 2009-2010.

All Stories by Lisa Grossman

  1. An illustration of Ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus looking through a telescope at the night sky.
    Astronomy

    Part of a lost, ancient star catalog has now been found

    Greek astronomer Hipparchus may be the first to try to precisely map the stars. His lost work turned up on parchment that had been erased and reused.

  2. Illustration of black hole Gaia BH1
    Astronomy

    Astronomers have found the closest known black hole to Earth

    Discovered by how it pushes around a companion star, the black hole is about 1,500 light-years away and roughly 10 times the mass of the sun.

  3. X-ray picture of gamma ray burst
    Astronomy

    Meet the BOAT, the brightest gamma-ray burst of all time

    Probably triggered by a supernova in a remote galaxy, the burst detected on October 9 could challenge theories about these brilliant blasts.

  4. a 3-D visualization of the Cat’s Eye nebula next to a Hubble image of the nebula
    Astronomy

    A 3-D model of the Cat’s Eye nebula shows rings sculpted by jets

    The Cat’s Eye is one of the most complex nebulae known. A 3-D reconstruction reveals the source of some of that complexity.

  5. A blue split stream of dust and rock wafting off the asteroid Dimorphos seen after the DART spacecraft mission
    Planetary Science

    NASA’s DART mission successfully shoved an asteroid

    Data obtained since the spacecraft intentionally crashed into an asteroid show that the impact altered the space rock’s orbit even more than intended.

  6. James Webb Space Telescope first deep field image
    Astronomy

    The James Webb Space Telescope spied the earliest born stars yet seen

    The stars, found in the first released science image from the James Webb Space Telescope, probably winked into existence about 13 billion years ago.

  7. Saturn from an angle of roughly 45 degrees from the plane defined by its rings. The sunlight casts a shadow of the planet across its rings.
    Planetary Science

    Saturn’s rings and tilt might have come from one missing moon

    The hypothetical moon, dubbed Chrysalis, could have helped tip the planet over before getting shredded to form the rings, researchers suggest.

  8. wide image of Exoplanet HIP 65426 b with four insets showing how the planet looks in different wavelengths of light (purple, blue, yellow, and red)
    Astronomy

    Here’s the James Webb telescope’s first direct image of an exoplanet

    Along with spying its first exoplanet, the James Webb telescope got its first direct spectrum of an object orbiting a star in another solar system.

  9. image of the milky way
    Space

    ‘The Milky Way’ wants you to get to know your home in the universe

    In a new ‘autobiography,’ the Milky Way tells its own story with the help of astrophysicist Moiya McTier.

  10. blurry illustration of the exoplanet Wasp-39 b with its star in the background
    Astronomy

    The James Webb telescope spotted CO2 in an exoplanet’s atmosphere

    The first definitive detection of the gas on a world in another solar system paves the way for detections in planets that are more Earthlike.

  11. NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft preparing to launch against a hazy sky
    Space

    NASA’s Artemis I mission sets the stage for our return to the moon

    The launch will test many aspects of the rocket, capsule and spacesuits that will take astronauts back to the moon.

  12. Comet Leonard streaking across the night sky, with a greenish tinge at its head
    Planetary Science

    Oort cloud comets may spin themselves to death

    How icy objects from the solar system’s fringe break up as they near the sun is a long-standing mystery. One astronomer now thinks he has an answer.