Lewis Dartnell

Recent articles by Lewis Dartnell

The K2-290 system, with its tilted primary star, K2-290A, and two transiting planets. Credit: Sakkmesterke / iStock / Getty Images

The planets that orbit a backward-spinning star

Artist's impression of an asteroid belt. Credit: Maciej Frolow / Getty Images

Asteroid Belt: what is it and how did it form?

Lights over the city of Granada, Spain. Has lockdown helped reduce light pollution in the city? Credit: Marco Ritzki / Getty Images

Has lockdown affected light pollution?

Artist's impression of the view from a Kuiper Belt Object. Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)

How astronomers weighed the Kuiper Belt

An artist's impression of the Pioneer Venus Orbiter releasing probes into Venus's atmosphere. Credit: NASA/NSSDCA

Did the Pioneer mission discover phosphine in the clouds of Venus?

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?