Lewis Dartnell

Astrobiologist

Dr. Lewis Dartnell is an astrobiologist and science author based at the University of Westminster.

Recent articles by Lewis Dartnell

Scientists are teaching drones to hunt for meteorites on Earth. Credit: Curtin University

Scientists are teaching drones to hunt for meteorites on Earth

Space junk is the name given to spent satellites and other debris in orbit around Earth. Credit: janiecbros / Getty Images

What is space junk and why is it a big problem?

Gases - or biosignatures - indicating life may be detectable on exoplanets orbiting M-class red dwarfsCredit: Darryl Fonseka/iStock/Getty Images

How biosignatures could indicate life on distant planets

Exoplanet HAT-P-7b. Credit: NASA, ESA and G. Bacon (STScI)

Meet the scorching exoplanet that’s dark as charcoal with a sapphire sky

Globular cluster Messier 54, captured by the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile. Credit: ESO

How dark is space?

An artist's conception of a hot Jupiter. These are exoplanets similar to Jupiter in our own Solar System, but orbiting much closer to their host star. Credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

What if a hot Jupiter existed in our Solar System?

Artist's illustration showing what it would look to see a transit of Earth from Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL

Is it possible to see Earth transit the Sun from Mars?

Artist's impression of the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: ESA, NASA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems / STScI / ATG medialab

How James Webb Space Telescope will study planets beyond our Solar System

A 2,000km-wide cyclonic storm on Jupiter, captured by the Juno spacecraft. Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS / Image processing by Kevin M. Gill, © CC BY

What’s going on beneath Jupiter’s clouds?

Illustration showing a star surrounded by a protoplanetary disk. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Why are there so many different kinds of planet?

Europa viewed from NASA’s Galileo spacecraft. Note the bright ice, huge cracks and dark patches that probably contain both ice and dirt Image: NASA/Ted Stryk

How thick is moon Europa’s icy crust?

Illustration showing dinosaurs observing the landing of the asteroid that created the Chicxulub crater. Credit: Elena Duvernay/Stocktrek Images/Getty Images

What was the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs?

Artist’s conception of the view toward the young star Beta Pictoris from the outer edge of its disk. This disk of dust and gas orbiting the star is produced by collisions between and evaporation of asteroids and comets. Credit: NASA/FUSE/Lynette Cook

Did planetary migration stunt Mars’s growth?

The moons of Uranus, including (clockwise from top) Miranda, Umbriel and Ariel, could have oceans under their surface. Credit: NASA/JPL

Are there subsurface oceans on the moons of Uranus?

Could humans be too heavy to land on Mars? Credit: NASA

Could humans be too heavy to land on Mars?