Kiona Smith
Kiona Smith is a space reporter at Inverse. Nothing brings them more joy than a gleefully morbid description of a black hole or a deep speculative dive into what aliens might be like, except maybe a great pun. When Kiona isn't enthusiastically nerding out about space at Inverse, they also contribute freelance archaeology stories at Ars Technica. Over the last decade, Kiona has written online and in print at a number of other outlets. Their first book is available now from Running Press.
Kiona shares their office with a scruffy little dog and a very jumpy gecko. When not writing or voractiously reading, they're usually knitting, cross-stitching, tabletop gaming, or chasing Pokemon. Find them online in various places.
X-Rays Kept Repeatedly Flashing Near a Supermassive Blackhole — Now Astronomers Think They Know What It Is
Om nom nom.
What Did NASA’s DART Mission Really Do To That Asteroid? We Are About To Find Out
Humanity is returning to the scene of the crime, like we do.
Please Don’t Miss Your Chance to View This Comet That Hasn’t Been Seen Since the Neanderthals
Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchishan-Atlas only passes through the inner Solar System once every 80,000 years, so it’s a once-in-a-civilization sight.
NASA Engineers Just Made This Ruthless Choice to Save Voyager 2
Fare thee well, plasma science instrument.
A Retired Cold War Spy Plane Discovered Something Really Weird About Thunderstorms
Storms act like giant particle accelerators to produce the high-energy radiation.
Astonishingly, Astronomers Discovered A Planet Orbiting Barnard’s Star — And There Might Be More
The rocky planet around a red dwarf star is pretty close to home.
The Stranded Starliner Crew Finally Has a Ride Home, But They Still Can't Leave
Meanwhile, Williams has been promoted from stranded test pilot to ISS commander.
This Eerily Lopsided Planet Has Weather That Technically Shouldn’t Exist
The latest contender for weirdest planet of 2024 just arrived.
A Weirdly Large Object In Our Asteroid Belt Could Actually Be Habitable
A recent study suggests that certain organic molecules appeared on dwarf planet Ceres recently, and that could be an interesting clue for astrobiologists.
Powerful X-Rays Could Save Earth From An Asteroid Collision, A Bizarre New Simulation Suggests
Newton's Second Law to the rescue.
Physicists Just Observed A One in 10 Billion Chance Event — And It Could Shake Up the Foundation of Modern Physics
Explaining what they saw could reveal something new about how the universe works.
Did Earth Really Once Have a Ring Around it? According to One Theory, Yes — And It Left A Mark
21 craters in ancient rock layers are all that's left of Earth's once flashy accesory.
Artemis I Brings Home Really Good News For Future Astronauts
The data show the astronaut "storm shelter" on Orion works really well.
Astronomers Discovered the Biggest Pair of Black Hole Jets Ever, and It's the Stuff of Cosmic Horror
They've nicknamed the system Porphyrion, after a rebellious giant in Greek mythology, and the name fits.
Look! Astrophysicists Spotted A Supermassive Black Hole Slowly Starving a Galaxy to Death
The snapshot is a celestial crime scene photo.
Look! Astronomers Have Never Seen A Pair Of Supermassive Black Holes So Close Together
Telescopes captured two supermassive black holes falling toward each other.
58 Years Later, Astronauts Take A Super Risky Depressurized Space Walk
The Polaris spacewalk looked a lot like the earliest NASA spacewalks during the Gemini missions in the late 1960s.
The First Movie Of A Distant Star's Surface Offers A Glimpse Of Our Own Fiery Finish
Old age on a star isn’t pretty — but it is bubbly.
Look: Mysterious Glass Beads Found On the Moon Contain Hidden Clues About Its Past
Just three little spheres of glass contain evidence that the Moon was volcanically active as recently as 120 million years ago.
Want to See Saturn and Its Rings? — This Weekend Is Your Best Chance
It's like a seven-ring circus in the night sky.