Briley Lewis

California

astrophysicist • @NSF postdoc fellow @UCSB (formerly @UCLA @Columbia) • crafty human+freelance science writer @sciam @SPACEdotcom @popsci @astrobites • she/her

Articles

Which planets have rings? (Hint: Saturn isn't the only one)

3 weeks ago | livescience.com | Briley Lewis

When you think of a planet with rings, majestic Saturn almost definitely comes to mind. But it's not the only planet in the solar system with these breathtaking bands. So which planets in our solar system have rings? All four giant planets — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune — sport these spectacular structures. Plus, many other objects in the solar system, including the dwarf planet and asteroid Chariklo, have rings.
World's largest solar telescope reveals unprecedented photo of the sun

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Briley Lewis

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. An image from the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope. | Credit: U.S. National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar TelescopeWeather on Earth can be wild, but it's not the only kind of weather we have to deal with. Space weather — all the winds and particles streaming off the sun — can have major impacts on Earth and human infrastructure.
World's largest solar telescope turns on powerful new camera, revealing breathtaking image of a continent-size sunspot

1 month ago | livescience.com | Briley Lewis

Weather on Earth can be wild, but it's not the only kind of weather we have to deal with. Space weather — all the winds and particles streaming off the sun — can have major impacts on Earth and human infrastructure. In the worst cases, this can mean dangerous disruption to our power grids and communications satellites. To help us predict these space storms, astronomers have a newly improved space weatherman — and it's the best one to date. The Daniel K.
Ammonia was detected on an 'exoplanet'. Here's why it matters

Feb 25, 2025 | newhumanist.org.uk | Briley Lewis

Ammonia (NH3) is a common chemical here on Earth. It’s in fertiliser, refrigerator coolant and even some biological waste – if you’ve ever cleaned a fish tank, you’re surely familiar with the molecule’s scent. It’s also common beyond our planet, as its component elements of nitrogen and hydrogen are both readily produced in stars. Astronomers first spotted ammonia floating in the spaces between stars around 1970.
스쳐 지나가는 탐사선이 ‘우주의 보물’ 줍는다

Feb 10, 2025 | popsci.co.kr | Briley Lewis

광활한 우주로 향하는 탐험은 나침반처럼 목적지를 가리키는 직선 항로와는 거리가 멀다. 복잡하게 얽힌 궤도 역학 속에서, 우주 탐사선은 행성 간 중력의 '당구공'처럼 튕겨 다니며, 롤러코스터 궤적을 그리듯 목적지로 향한다. 이 과정에서 핵심적인 역할을 하는 기술이 바로 '중력 지원(gravity assist)'이다. 탐사선은 거대한 행성의 중력을 이용해 속도를 높이고 궤도를 수정, 먼 우주를 향한 여정을 가속화한다. 하지만 이러한 궤도 수정은 단순한 경유 그 이상의 의미를 지닌다. 이는 탐사선의 주 임무 수행에 앞서 희귀한 표본을 수확하는 절호의 기회로, 1970년대 초기 탐사선부터 최근 베피콜롬보 수성 탐사, 그리고 곧 예정된 유로파 클리퍼 화성 탐사에 이르기까지, 수많은 태양계 탐사 미션들이 행성 '스쳐 지나가는' 찰나의 순간을 통해 괄목할 만한 과학적 성과를 거둬왔다. 특히 지구와 가까운 화성, 금성, 지구는 '근접 통과'의 주요 무대로 꼽힌다.
How space missions make discoveries on the way to their main destinations

Feb 10, 2025 | popsci.com | Briley Lewis

Europa Clipper will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion km) to reach Jupiter in April 2030. The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter, and conduct 49 close flybys of Europa. On each orbit, the spacecraft will spend less than a day in the dangerous radiation zone near Europa before zipping back out. Two to three weeks later, it will repeat the process. The spacecraft carries nine science instruments, and a gravity experiment that uses the telecommunications system.
How space missions make discoveries on the way to their main destinations

Feb 10, 2025 | yahoo.com | Briley Lewis

To get somewhere in outer space, you can’t exactly drive in a straight line. Orbits are tricky things, and sending a probe to a faraway planet involves lots of loop-de-loops around other planets on the way. These moves are known as gravity assists, where a spacecraft swings by a massive planet to slingshot itself towards its destination. These trajectory tricks are more than just pit stops on the long journey—they can be prime time to do some bonus science before the spacecraft’s main mission.
Which planet is closest to the sun?

Feb 2, 2025 | livescience.com | Briley Lewis

There are eight planets in the solar system, and each travels on its own path around the sun. But of these planets, which is nearest to the sun? Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, followed by Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Mercury orbits at only , or about 36 million miles (58 million kilometers), from our star, on average. For comparison, Earth is 1 AU from the sun, and Neptune is a whopping 30AU from our star. Mercury is a strange little world.
Scientists explain why BepiColombo's mission to Mercury is so tricky

Jan 14, 2025 | popsci.com | Briley Lewis

Mercury's shadowy north pole revealed by M-CAM 1.
Scientists explain why BepiColombo’s mission to Mercury is so tricky

Jan 14, 2025 | news.yahoo.com | Briley Lewis

It seems like it should be pretty easy to get to Mercury. The little rocky planet is so much closer to Earth than distant destinations like Jupiter, where we’ve successfully sent multiple spacecraft. Plus, it doesn’t have a crushing atmosphere like our nearest neighbor Venus.