News Archive / Author: Laurel Kornfeld
Laurel Kornfeld is an amateur astronomer and freelance writer from Highland Park, NJ, who enjoys writing about astronomy and planetary science. She studied journalism at Douglass College, Rutgers University, and earned a Graduate Certificate of Science from Swinburne University’s Astronomy Online program. Her writings have been published online in The Atlantic, Astronomy magazine’s guest blog section, the UK Space Conference, the 2009 IAU General Assembly newspaper, The Space Reporter, and newsletters of various astronomy clubs. She is a member of the Cranford, NJ-based Amateur Astronomers, Inc. Especially interested in the outer solar system, Laurel gave a brief presentation at the 2008 Great Planet Debate held at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, MD.
Articles By Laurel Kornfeld
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Study makes case for geophysical planet definition
January 16th, 2022In an in-depth study of planet classification from the time of Galileo to the present, a group of planetary scientists criticize the 2006 International Astronomical Union planet definition as being rooted in folklore and astrology and argue for a geophysical definition that includes spherical moons as secondary or satellite planets.
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Sublimating nitrogen ice could be cause of polygons in Pluto’s Sputnik Planitia
January 12th, 2022The unusual polygonal features seen in Sputnik Planitia, the left side of Pluto's iconic heart feature known as Tombaugh Regio, could be caused by the sublimation of nitrogen ice, a team of scientists propose in a study published in the journal Nature.
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Images of Pluto’s dark side produced using reflected sunlight from Charon
December 13th, 2021A team of scientists produced images of Pluto's dark side using reflected sunlight from its large moon Charon in images taken by the New Horizons spacecraft to tease out features on that side in low resolution.
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Interstellar probe could be successor to the Voyager missions
November 14th, 2021With Voyagers 1 and 2 set to run out of power in approximately a decade, NASA is considering a follow up interstellar probe that could last 50 to 100 years.
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Chandra Observatory may have discovered extra-galactic planet
November 6th, 2021Scientists using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory may have found evidence for the first-ever known extra-galactic planet, located 28 million light years away in the Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51 (M51).
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Pluto’s atmosphere may be starting to condense
October 12th, 2021Beginning three years after New Horizons' historic flyby, Pluto's atmosphere appeared to be starting to condense and refreeze, according to scientists.
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Lucy probe launching to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids this month
October 1st, 2021Lucy, the first spacecraft to explore Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, has completed eight weeks of preparation ahead of its planned Oct. 16 launch.
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First Perseverance rover Mars rock samples suggest Jezero Crater was once habitable
September 23rd, 2021The first Martian rock samples collected by NASA's Perseverance rover for eventual return to Earth suggest landing site Jezero Crater harbored water for a long enough time to be habitable for microbial life.
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New class of exoplanets identified in search for extraterrestrial life
September 5th, 2021More than 25 years after the discovery of the first exoplanets, scientists have identified a new subclass of planets that are hot, have large oceans and thick hydrogen atmospheres, and may be habitable for microbial life.
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NASA seeks volunteers for Mars simulation
August 18th, 2021NASA is seeking a crew of four volunteers for a year-long Mars simulation starting in the fall of 2022, one of several year-long simulations of life on the Red Planet organized by the agency's Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog.
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Videos simulate Pluto, Charon flyby; follow up mission proposed
August 1st, 2021NASA's New Horizons team released new movies simulating the spacecraft's 2015 flight over Pluto and its large moon Charon to mark the sixth anniversary of the encounter on July 14, 2015.
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Finding life on Europa requires drilling to its subsurface ocean
July 24th, 2021A future mission seeking signs of life on Jupiter's moon Europa will likely require drilling into its global subsurface ocean, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
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Isotope of carbon found in exoplanet’s atmosphere
July 17th, 2021An international team of scientists has detected isotopes of carbon in the atmosphere of an exoplanet for the first time ever, a discovery noted in the journal Nature.
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Surface, geology of Pluto studied via opposition observations
July 4th, 2021Six years after the New Horizons spacecraft returned close-up images of Pluto, researchers are teasing out more information about its geology and surface.
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Scientists trace meteor showers back to long-period comets
June 19th, 2021Scientists traced up to 15 lesser-known meteor showers through which Earth travels annually to long-period comets with orbits that take up to 4,000 years.
