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. Planetary Science

    Mars’ potato-shaped moons could be the remains of a shredded asteroid

    Phobos and Deimos could have formed from asteroid debris, a new study suggests. An upcoming sample return mission will help test the idea.

  2. Planetary Science

    A first look at rocks from the lunar farside create a volcanic mystery

    Rocks returned by China’s Chang’e-6 mission suggest volcanic activity just 2.8 billion years ago but lack telltale heat-generating elements.

  3. Planetary Science

    Uranus may have looked weird when NASA’s Voyager 2 flew by

    A solar wind event days before the NASA probe flyby in 1986 may have compressed the planet’s magnetosphere, making it look odder than it usually is.

  4. Astronomy

    A cosmic census triples the known number of black holes in dwarf galaxies

    The DESI survey reveals that active black holes in small galaxies are common. The findings may help reveal how the two cosmic bodies evolve together.

  5. Astronomy

    A zombie star’s spiky filaments shed light on a 12th century supernova

    A 3-D map of the strange remains of a supernova seen in 1181 traces the odd tendrils of gas that jut out for several light-years in all directions.

  6. Science & Society

    Using AI, historians track how astronomy ideas spread in the 16th century

    A new AI machine learning technique helped historians analyze 76,000 pages from astronomy textbooks spanning nearly two centuries.

  7. Space

    JWST spots the first known ‘steam world’

    Astronomers have found a world shrouded in an atmosphere of water vapor, orbiting a star 100 light-years away.

  8. Planetary Science

    NASA’s Europa mission is a homecoming for one planetary astronomer

    Over her long career, Bonnie Buratti has seen the search for life in the solar system go from a joke to a flagship mission.

  9. Astronomy

    Runaway stars could influence the cosmos far past their home galaxies

    Dozens of stars fleeing a neighbor of the Milky Way suggest these escapees could have an outsized influence on their cosmic surroundings.

  10. Planetary Science

    Europa Clipper has launched to solve an alien mystery

    Launched October 14, the spacecraft will repeatedly buzz Europa in search of water, energy and organic compounds.

  11. Artificial Intelligence

    The discovery of tools key to machine learning wins the 2024 physics Nobel

    John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton used tools from physics to develop data analysis methods that underlie machine learning.

  12. Space

    50 years ago, satellites threatened astronomers’ view of the cosmos

    As satellite launches ramp up and the spacecraft clog the skies, astronomers fear for their data.