Brandon is the space / physics editor at Live Science. With more than 20 years of editorial experience, his writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Reader's Digest, CBS.com, the Richard Dawkins Foundation website and other outlets. He holds a bachelor's degree in creative writing from the University of Arizona, with minors in journalism and media arts. His interests include black holes, asteroids and comets, and the search for extraterrestrial life.
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10 discoveries that prove Einstein was right about the universe — and 1 that proves him wrongAlbert Einstein's theories of relativity have been proven to be true time and again in the more than 100 years following their publication.
By Brandon Specktor Published
physics-mathematics -
Newly discovered asteroid the size of a swimming pool has a 1-in-600 chance of colliding with Earth, NASA saysThe newly discovered asteroid 2023 DW could collide with Earth in February 2046, although the odds of an impact are low.
By Brandon Specktor Published
asteroids -
Ghostly scraps of oldest recorded supernova revealed in stunning telescope imageThe National Science Foundation zooms in on the tattered scraps of SN 185, which appeared over our planet 1,800 years ago and was the first supernova ever recorded in Earth's skies.
By Brandon Specktor Published
astronomy -
NASA confirms success of DART mission, proving humanity can deflect killer asteroids with rocketsFour new studies confirm that NASA's DART mission, which crashed a rocket into the asteroid Dimorphos, changed the asteroid's trajectory and could potentially save Earth one day, given enough time to prepare.
By Brandon Specktor Published
asteroids -
'Unreal' auroras cover Earth in stunning photo taken by NASA astronautNASA astronaut Josh Cassada photographed a gorgeous green aurora from space, capturing the impacts of a solar storm that swept over our planet.
By Brandon Specktor Published
space -
Jupiter and Venus 'kiss' in a stunning planetary conjunction tonight. Here's how to watch.On March 1 and 2, Jupiter and Venus will appear side by side in the night sky in an event called a conjunction, which is visible without a telescope or binoculars.
By Brandon Specktor Published
planets -
NASA warns of 3 skyscraper-sized asteroids headed toward Earth this week. Thankfully, they'll all miss.A trio of enormous asteroids, including two 'potentially hazardous' ones, will cross Earth's orbit around the sun this week, according to NASA. Here's what that means.
By Brandon Specktor Published
asteroids -
Cosmic 'tadpole' points to ultra-rare black hole hiding near the Milky Way's centerScientists detected a cloud of gas sculpted into a wonky tadpole shape near the Milky Way's center, possibly pointing to a rare intermediate-mass black hole.
By Brandon Specktor Published
black-holes -
Why are we seeing so many UFOs over America all of a sudden?The U.S. military shot down three unidentified objects in a single weekend. Why are America's skies so filled with UFOs all of a sudden?
By Brandon Specktor Published
extraterrestrial-life -
Enormous 'polar vortex' on the sun is unprecedented, scientists sayA long, looping filament of plasma snapped over the sun's north pole, creating a 'polar vortex' that scientists can't explain.
By Brandon Specktor Published
the-sun -
Green comet C/2022 E3 will make its closest approach to Earth in 50,000 years this week. Here's how to watch.The green comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will make a close approach to Earth on Feb. 1/Feb. 2 before sailing off into deep space, possibly never to return.
By Brandon Specktor Last updated
comets -
NASA spies Martian rocks that look just like a teddy bearA broken hill, an ancient crater and the human tendency to find faces everywhere may explain the teddy bear on Mars.
By Brandon Specktor Published
mars -
South Korea's lunar orbiter unveils jaw-dropping images of Earth and the moonThe Danuri spacecraft arrived in lunar orbit in Dec. 2022, and its first image dump is out of this world.
By Brandon Specktor Published
the-moon -
Stunning images capture the moment a green comet's tail is blasted away by the sunAn amateur astronomer witnessed the moment that the green comet C/2022 E3 had part of its tail blasted away by a coronal mass ejection.
By Brandon Specktor Published
comets -
Pentagon is struggling to explain more than 170 fresh UFO reports, new document revealsNearly half of all new UFO cases opened in 2022 cannot be explained, Pentagon officials wrote.
By Brandon Specktor Published
extraterrestrial-life -
Spectacular Butterfly Nebula offers a glimpse of our sun's final fateNew time-lapse images of the beautiful Butterfly Nebula come closer to explaining its spectacular strangeness.
By Brandon Specktor Published
astronomy -
Earth reaches its closest point to the sun — just in time to be slammed by a solar stormA minor G1-class geomagnetic storm will hit Earth right as our planet reaches perihelion, its closest point to the sun.
By Brandon Specktor Published
the-sun -
The 10 most massive black hole findings from 2022From "rogue" black holes cruising the cosmos to one of the oldest black hole ancestors in this universe, this year's findings truly sucked us in.
By Brandon Specktor Published
black-holes -
The 10 most jaw-dropping space images of 2022Cosmic cliffs, smiling suns and Martian "polygons" made this year a blast for stargazers everywhere.
By Brandon Specktor Published
space-exploration -
Mars InSight lander sends bittersweet goodbye selfie after 4 years of revealing the Red Planet's mysteriesThe robot that made 'Marsquake' a part of our vocabulary is finally dead in the Martian dust.
By Brandon Specktor Last updated
mars -
US military reports 'several hundred' UFO sightings in 2022, Pentagon officials claimUFO reports from U.S. military personnel are flooding the government's new All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO).
By Brandon Specktor Published
extraterrestrial-life -
What will NASA's Artemis I mission teach us?Launching the world's most powerful rocket is just the beginning.
By Brandon Specktor Last updated
space-exploration -
The brightest, most energetic explosions in the universe don't come from where we thoughtWhile tracking an incredibly bright gamma-ray burst to its origins, scientists uncovered a hidden explosion that could upend decades of research.
By Brandon Specktor Published
astronomy -
Watch the 'Cold Moon' eclipse Mars during the final full moon of 2022The 'Cold Moon,' the final full moon of 2022, will appear to swoop in front of Mars in a phenomenon called lunar occultation.
By Brandon Specktor Published
the-moon

