Lewis Dartnell

Recent articles by Lewis Dartnell

What happens when a planet orbits two stars at once? Credit: Rastan/istock/getty images

What happens when exoplanets orbit two stars at once?

An artist's illustration of a Martian dust storm. Credit: NASA

Winds on Mars: understanding the Red Planet’s atmosphere

Imperfect timing: transits can point to potential moons like Kepler-1625b-i . Credit: NASA/ESA/L. Hustak

Exomoons: the next step in exoplanet science

Moon Titan appears in front of Saturn in an image captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

How did Saturn’s moon Titan form?

The Apollo 11 landing site. Credit: NASA

How scientists estimate the ages of planetary surfaces

After a colossal impact, was debris from Mercury blown away by the solar wind? Credit: Getty Images

Was Mercury stripped away by a colossal impact and the solar wind?

Why do M-class red dwarfs appear to disperse their protoplanetary discs more slowly than other stars? Credit: ESO

Peter Pan discs: the planetary systems that never grow up

NASA's NEXT-C, a next-generation solar electric propulsion system, is scheduled for in-space testing in 2021. Credit: NASA/Rami Daud/Alcyon Technical Services

Electric propulsion: the future of spaceflight?

What type of life could there be on an exoplanet? Credit: MPRIV/iStock/Getty Images

Could an exoplanet’s atmosphere indicate the presence of life?

Was Itokawa formed by a sub-catastrophic collision? Credit: JAXA

How do binary asteroids form?

Artist's impression of lightning storms on Jupiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/JunoCam

Could exoplanets host a global electric current?

A 2D surface map of Earth, treated as a proxy exoplanet, shows the continents in green and seas in blue. Credit: Steng Fan

Is it possible to make a map of an exoplanet?

Dead or alive: the study of isotopes in an exoplanet’s atmosphere gives clues about its habitability. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Does oxygen on an exoplanet indicate an Earth-like world?

Can an exomoon make plants grow on tidally-locked exoplanets around dim stars? Credit: NASA/ESA and G. Bacon (STScI), Elen11/iStock/Getty images

Can an exomoon make plants grow?

Carbon dioxide released from hot tectonic plates beneath the sea could affect a water world’s climate. Credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech/ NASA

Could water-rich exoplanets experience extreme cooling?