Author Profile: Benningfield D

Damond Benningfield

Biography

Damond Benningfield is a freelance science writer and audio producer in Austin, Texas. Among other projects, he writes and produces StarDate, a daily radio program about astronomy and space exploration, and Science and the Sea, a weekly program about marine science. He has been involved with several other short-format radio programs. Benningfield, a native of Austin, also serves as executive editor of StarDate magazine. He has contributed to almost 50 magazines, newspapers, and websites, including Air & Space/Smithsonian, Smithsonian, and Astronomy. He has a bachelor of journalism degree from The University of Texas at Austin.

Publications from D. Benningfield

Planetary Sciences

Members of the Perseverance Mars rover team working in the time of COVID-19, either at home (some with family members) or masked in the Mars mission control room

News 17 February 2021

A Bad Time for Mars Time

Thanks to COVID-19, mission control for the Perseverance Mars rover will look emptier than previous missions, and fewer scientists and engineers will follow the rover’s schedule.

Planetary Sciences

Image showing the cloud bands on Luhman 16 B

News 15 February 2021

Seeing Stripes in the Atmosphere of a Brown Dwarf

A planet-hunting satellite’s observations of the nearby system Luhman 16 AB reveal bands of clouds, high-speed jets, and polar vortices.

Geology & Geophysics

Processed image of the 1919 solar eclipse

Research Spotlight 3 December 2020

A Better Understanding of How the Sun Bends Light

Incorporating the refractive index of the Sun into models of gravitational lensing effects improves agreement with measurements of the phenomenon.

Geology & Geophysics

A colorful depiction of the four Magnetospheric Multiscale mission satellites traversing Earth’s magnetic field

News 24 November 2020

Bringing Clarity to Magnetic Reconnection

A particle-level process appears to play a key role in planet-sized events throughout the universe.

Planetary Sciences

Preliminary concept for the Interstellar Probe spacecraft

Feature 9 July 2020

Preparing for a Handoff

Scientists with Interstellar Probe, a proposed 50-year flight to interstellar space, are pondering how to plan and carry out a multigenerational mission.

Space Science & Space Physics

Satellite image of lightning flashing inside a giant thunderstorm over the bright terrestrial lights of Bolivia

Feature 4 May 2020

Studying Earth’s Double Electrical Heartbeat

Charged by thunderstorms and other weather phenomena, the global electrical circuit connects the entire planet.

1 Comment

Planetary Sciences

Illustration of an erupting volcano on Venus

Feature 11 July 2019

Resurrecting Interest in a “Dead” Planet

New research suggests that the surface of Venus is busy, but it may take new missions to our “sibling” planet to confirm this.

2 Comments

Planetary Sciences

Feature 3 July 2019

How Cassini Ran Rings Around Saturn and What It Helped Us Learn

Once and future rings: During its final 22 orbits, the Cassini spacecraft provided a completely new look at one of our solar system’s most famous features.

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Planetary Sciences