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.

Space

X-Rays Kept Repeatedly Flashing Near a Supermassive Blackhole — Now Astronomers Think They Know What It Is

Om nom nom.

By Kiona Smith
Space

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.

By Kiona Smith
Space

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.

By Kiona Smith
Space

NASA Engineers Just Made This Ruthless Choice to Save Voyager 2

Fare thee well, plasma science instrument.

By Kiona Smith
Science

A Retired Cold War Spy Plane Discovered Something Really Weird About Thunderstorms

Storms act like giant particle accelerators to produce the high-energy radiation.

By Kiona Smith
Space

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.

By Kiona Smith
Space

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.

By Kiona Smith
Space

This Eerily Lopsided Planet Has Weather That Technically Shouldn’t Exist

The latest contender for weirdest planet of 2024 just arrived.

By Kiona Smith
Space

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.

By Kiona Smith
Space

Powerful X-Rays Could Save Earth From An Asteroid Collision, A Bizarre New Simulation Suggests

Newton's Second Law to the rescue.

By Kiona Smith
Science

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.

By Kiona Smith
Space

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.

By Kiona Smith
space

Artemis I Brings Home Really Good News For Future Astronauts

The data show the astronaut "storm shelter" on Orion works really well.

By Kiona Smith
Space

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.

By Kiona Smith
Science

Look! Astrophysicists Spotted A Supermassive Black Hole Slowly Starving a Galaxy to Death

The snapshot is a celestial crime scene photo.

By Kiona Smith
Space

Look! Astronomers Have Never Seen A Pair Of Supermassive Black Holes So Close Together

Telescopes captured two supermassive black holes falling toward each other.

By Kiona Smith
space

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.

By Kiona Smith
space

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.

By Kiona Smith
Space

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.

By Kiona Smith
Space

Want to See Saturn and Its Rings? — This Weekend Is Your Best Chance

It's like a seven-ring circus in the night sky.

By Kiona Smith