headshot of Associate News Editor Christopher Crockett

Christopher Crockett

Associate News Editor

Christopher Crockett is an Associate News Editor. He was formerly the astronomy writer from 2014 to 2017, and he has a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California, Los Angeles.

All Stories by Christopher Crockett

  1. Planetary Science

    New Horizons probe takes family photo of Pluto’s moons

    The New Horizons spacecraft finally spied Pluto's two tiniest satellites, Kerberos and Styx, in a series of images taken from April 25, 2015 to May 1, 2015.

  2. Astronomy

    Andromeda reaches out to touch Milky Way

    The Andromeda galaxy is enveloped in a wispy halo of gas that extends halfway to the Milky Way.

  3. Astronomy

    Japanese satellite stalls in space and won’t reach its asteroids

    Because of an engine failure, the Japanese Space Agency’s PROCYON spacecraft won’t make it to its target binary asteroid.

  4. Planetary Science

    Bright spots on Ceres may be made of smaller patches of ice

    The Dawn spacecraft took a closer look at bright patches and craters on the dwarf planet Ceres.

  5. Astronomy

    Erupting volcanoes may cause exoplanet’s temperature extremes

    Temperatures fluctuate wildly on a nearby exoplanet, and volcanoes might be the culprit.

  6. Planetary Science

    Origin date established for Mercury’s magnetic field

    A 3.8-billion-year-old magnetic field on Mercury provides clues as to how the once volcanically active planet evolved.

  7. Astronomy

    Amorphous space blob takes title for most distant galaxy

    The new record holder for the most distant galaxy is a blob of 8 billion stars whose light took more than 13 billion years to reach Earth.

  8. Planetary Science

    How did Earth get its water?

    Earth is a wet planet that formed in a dry part of the solar system. How our planet’s water arrived may be a story of big, bullying planets and ice-filled asteroids.

  9. Planetary Science

    Explore an asteroid with ‘Vesta Trek’

    Vesta Trek lets users explore the asteroid Vesta with data from the Dawn spacecraft.

  10. Planetary Science

    MESSENGER mission ends with crash landing on Mercury

    The MESSENGER mission to Mercury came to a spectacular end as the probe crashed into the planet’s surface.

  11. Planetary Science

    Pluto’s landscapes come into view as New Horizons closes in

    The New Horizons spacecraft sees surface markings and a possible polar cap on Pluto as it closes in for a July encounter.

  12. Astronomy

    Tiny explosions add up to heat corona

    Millions of mini-explosions every second on the sun could solve the riddle of why the sun’s atmosphere is so much warmer than its surface.