Matt Williams

British Columbia, Canada, Victoria

Writer and Curator at Universe Today

Content Writer at Interesting Engineering

Author and Freelance Writer at Freelance

Articles

The Fastest Spinning Asteroids are Most Likely to Have Moons

3 days ago | universetoday.com | Matt Williams

Binary asteroid systems, in which a large asteroid is orbited by a smaller satellite, are a growing field of interest. In recent years, this has included the asteroid Didymos, a 765-meter-diameter (2,510 ft) Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) with an orbiting companion (Dimorphos). This moonlet was targeted by the Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART), a kinetic impactor designed to test a promising technique for planetary defense.
Not Saying it's Aliens: SETI Survey Reveals Unexplained Pulses From Distant Star

3 days ago | universetoday.com | Matt Williams

More than sixty years ago, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) officially began with Project Ozma at the Greenbank Observatory in West Bank, Virginia. Led by famed astronomer Frank Drake (who coined the Drake Equation), this survey used the observatory's 25-meter (82-foot) dish to monitor Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti - two nearby Sun-like stars - between April and July of 1960.
Perseverance Happened to Land Right Beside a Composite Volcano

3 days ago | universetoday.com | Matt Williams

On February 18th, 2021, NASA's Perseverancerover landed in Jezero crater on Mars. This feature was selected because liquid water may have once flowed into it, as indicated by the delta feature at its western edge. Since landing, Perseverance has been exploring the region's geology and past habitability, including the samples it collected for eventual return to Earth. Analyzing these samples will provide new clues about Mars' warm and watery past and address whether life once existed there.
ispace's RESILIENCE Enters Lunar Orbit. It'll Try to Land in Early June

1 week ago | universetoday.com | Matt Williams

Headquartered in Japan, the commercial space company ispace is dedicated to creating robotic spacecraft and other technology to support the discovery, mapping, and harvesting of natural resources on the Moon. One of the main tools in their arsenal is the RESILIENCE lander, a small, lightweight uncrewed spacecraft designed for low-cost, high-frequency transportation of instruments and other supplies to the lunar surface.
Mars Has Many Features that Match Earth

1 week ago | universetoday.com | Matt Williams

Despite being cold, desiccated, and having a thin atmosphere, Mars is similar to Earth in many ways. For instance, both planets have polar ice caps, a similar day/night cycle, and tilted axes. At one time, Mars had a thicker atmosphere and warmer temperatures that allowed water to flow across its surface. Despite the transition that led to its becoming the inhospitable place we see today, there are also indications that Mars' climate is shaped by the same kind of dynamic forces that Earth is.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Could Study Dying Planets

1 week ago | universetoday.com | Matt Williams |Robert Wilson

Orbital decay, where planets eventually fall into their stars and are consumed, is a major aspect of how planetary systems evolve. Before the first exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star was observed in 1995, astronomers only had the Solar System to inform their models. Since then, surveys by ground-based and space-based telescopes have detected thousands of exoplanets. Thanks to next-generation telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers can also characterize them.
JWST Confirms Coldest Exoplanet Ever Found, Circling Its Dead Star

1 week ago | sciencealert.com | Matt Williams

In 2020, astronomers detected WD 1856+534 b, a gas giant that orbits a star 81 light-years from Earth. This exoplanet, which is roughly six times the mass of Jupiter (making it a "super-Jupiter"), was the first transiting planet known to orbit a white dwarf (WD) star. In a recent paper, an international team of astronomers describes their observations of this exoplanet using the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) aboard the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Webb confirms the coldest planet ever found. It's orbiting a white dwarf

2 weeks ago | phys.org | Matt Williams

In 2020, astronomers detected WD 1856+534 b, a gas giant that orbits a star 81 light-years from Earth. This exoplanet, which is roughly six times the mass of Jupiter (making it a "super-Jupiter"), was the first transiting planet known to orbit a white dwarf (WD) star. In a recent paper, an international team of astronomers describes their observations of this exoplanet using the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) aboard the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
A novel concept for a multiplanetary crewed mission to Mars and Ceres

2 weeks ago | phys.org | Matt Williams

For NASA, sending a crewed mission to Mars has been the long-term goal for over two decades. China has joined the club in recent years, with plans to send crewed missions to the red planet ahead of NASA. In both cases, the plans envision a stepping stone approach, using habitats and infrastructure in cis-lunar space to ensure that regular missions can be possible someday. They also envision how regular missions to Mars could lead to permanent habitats on the planet's surface.
A new concept for an astrobiology mission to Enceladus

3 weeks ago | phys.org | Matt Williams

This year's Lunar Planetary Science Conference (2025 LPSC) saw some truly astounding presentations and proposals. These covered a wide range of science and exploration missions that address the priorities of NASA, other space agencies, and affiliated institutes. A major area of interest was future astrobiology missions that will search for evidence of biological processes (biosignatures) on extraterrestrial bodies.