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Jonathan O'Callaghan

Jonathan O'Callaghan

Contributing Writer

astrophysics

Black Hole Image Reveals the Beast Inside the Milky Way’s Heart

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
May 12, 2022
Read Later

In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope released a historic image of a supermassive black hole in another galaxy. The follow-up — an image of Sagittarius A* — shows it shimmering at the center of our own.

planetary science

Secrets of the Moon’s Permanent Shadows Are Coming to Light

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
April 28, 2022
Read Later

Robots are about to venture into the sunless depths of lunar craters to investigate ancient water ice trapped there, while remote studies find hints about how water arrives on rocky worlds.

climate science

Solving the Faint-Sun Paradox

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
January 27, 2022
Read Later

We might have a past faint sun to owe for life’s existence. This has consequences for the possibility of life outside Earth.

planetary science

Researchers Revise Recipe for Building a Rocky Planet Like Earth

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
November 3, 2021
Read Later

Over the past decade, researchers have completely rewritten the story of how gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn form. They’re now debating whether the same process might hold for Earth.

astrophysics

A Hint of Dark Matter Sends Physicists Looking to the Skies

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
October 19, 2021
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After a search of neutron stars finds preliminary evidence for hypothetical dark matter particles called axions, astrophysicists are devising new ways to spot them.

A dark red planetlike object.
explainers

Neither Star nor Planet: A Strange Brown Dwarf Puzzles Astronomers

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
August 4, 2021
Read Later

Brown dwarfs such as “The Accident” are illuminating the murky borderlands that separate planets from stars.

A large telescope with many segmented hexagonal mirrors.
astrophysics

Brighter Than a Billion Billion Suns: Gamma-Ray Bursts Continue to Surprise

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
June 30, 2021
Read Later

These ultrabright flashes have recently been tracked for days, upending ideas about the cataclysms that create them.

A glowing blue sphere in space.
astrophysics

Squishy Neutron Star Setback Dampens Hopes of Exotic Matter

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
May 26, 2021
Read Later

Groundbreaking results show that neutron stars of different masses may have the same size — upending astrophysical models.

An illustration of a demon’s face.
explainers

How Maxwell’s Demon Continues to Startle Scientists

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
April 22, 2021
Read Later

The thorny thought experiment has been turned into a real experiment — one that physicists use to probe the physics of information.


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About the author

Jonathan O'Callaghan is a freelance space and science journalist based in London. He writes regularly for a number of publications including The New York Times, Scientific American, New Scientist, Forbes and Wired. You can read more of his work or get in contact at jonathanocallaghan.com, or find him on Twitter @Astro_Jonny.

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