Subscribe now
Leah Crane is the physics and space reporter at New Scientist

Leah Crane

Physics and space reporter

Bio

Leah Crane is a physics and space reporter at New Scientist, covering topics ranging from private space flight and cosmology to quantum mechanics. She is based in Chicago. Prior to joining New Scientist in 2016, her work was published at outlets including SpaceNews, Eos, Smithsonian and Symmetry Magazine. She writes New Scientist's space newsletter, Launchpad.

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox! We'll also keep you up to date with New Scientist events and special offers.

Sign up

More from Leah Crane

Explore the latest news, articles and features

Messier 78

Space

Amazing new images of galaxies and nebulae caught by Euclid telescope

News

Free

This illustration lays a depiction of the sun's magnetic fields over an image captured by NASA?s Solar Dynamics Observatory. The complex overlay of lines can teach scientists about the ways the sun's magnetism changes in response to the constant movement on and inside the sun. CREDIT NASA/SDO/AIA/LMSAL http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07315-1

Space

Source of the sun’s magnetic field may hide right under its surface

News

Free

Black hole in deep space

Space

Einstein was right about the way matter plunges into black holes

News

Free

Space

How could we give boring blobby galaxies a new, exciting shape?

News

Free

the Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern lights, putting on a show over Achmelvich beach, Sutherland, in the Highlands of Scotland, UK.

Space

How to see tonight's northern lights – the strongest in 20 years

News

Free

A slice through the largest 3D map of our universe to date

Space

Invisible 'dark radiation' may explain a big problem with dark energy

News

Subscriber-only

This enchanting spiral galaxy can be found in the constellation of Ursa Major (the Great Bear). Star-studded NGC 3972 lies about 65 million light-years away from Earth, meaning that the light that we see now left it 65 million years ago, just when the dinosaurs became extinct. NGC 3972 has had its fair share of dramatic events. In 2011 astronomers observed the explosion of a Type Ia supernova in the galaxy (not visible in this image). These dazzling objects all peak at the same brightness, and are brilliant enough to be seen over large distances. NGC 3972 also contains many pulsating stars called Cepheid variables. These stars change their brightness at a rate matched closely to their intrinsic luminosity, making them ideal cosmic lighthouses for measuring accurate distances to relatively nearby galaxies. Astronomers search for Cepheid variables in nearby galaxies that also contain a Type Ia supernova so they can compare the true brightness of both types of stars. That brightness information is used to calibrate the luminosity of Type Ia supernovae in far-flung galaxies so that astronomers can calculate the galaxies' distances from Earth. Once astronomers know accurate distances to galaxies near and far, they can determine and refine the expansion rate of the universe. This image was taken in 2015 with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, as part of a project to improve the precision of the Hubble constant ? a figure that describes the expansion rate of the universe. Text: European Space Agency

Space

Has the biggest problem in cosmology finally been solved?

News

Subscriber-only

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft

Space

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft launch delayed due to rocket fault

News

Free

Space

China is sending its Chang’e 6 spacecraft to the far side of the moon

News

Free

path of fast radio burst FRB 181112

Space

Mysterious space signals may come from a dead star with a planet

News

Subscriber-only

A view of a supernova explosion with its bright light and shockwave visible; Shutterstock ID 2298465659; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Space

Kill the sun! How wild thought experiments drive scientific discovery

Features

Free

great american eclipse, solar eclipse; Shutterstock ID 1972642418; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Space

How could we make a solar eclipse happen every day?

News

Free