Nick Oakes - Profile and Journalist Details
Find journalists that align with your industry, location and vision. Unlock Nick Oakes's full journalist profile, including location, coverage topics, current employer, biography and preferences. Sign up today and start building journalist relationships that fuel your startup's growth.
Get connected with journalists today
Nick Oakes
Verified
Science Writer, Freelance
Indianapolis, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., United States
Beats
Biography
Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, Nick is science journalist and science fiction author located in the D.C./Maryland/Virginia area. He currently works full-time as a science writer for the Heliophysics Education Activation Team (HEAT) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where he focuses on generating and editing content that makes heliophysics (the science of the Sun) accessible for students. He was previously a science writing intern on the Planetary Science News Team at NASA Goddard from 2022-2023, and the in-house science writer for the Washington University Department of Physics for part of 2024. He also freelances for Astronomy magazine, and has contributed a number of articles to the Argonne National Laboratory through their Writing Center for Excellence. He is driven, engaged in the modern discourse surrounding science & technology, and passionate about making these fields approachable for the public, who are after all the prime stakeholders for the scientific endeavor.
I'm open to covering anything and everything, but I always prefer to stick to something I am familiar with.
Content
By Nick Oakes Verified| Astronomy Magazine Verified As of 2025, astronomers have identified at least 14 stars within 10 light-years of the Sun. After the Alpha Centauri system, the next closest is Barnard’s Star, a solo red dwarf roughly 6 light-years away. And thanks to new observations, we now know that Barnard’s Star is orbited by four small, rocky exoplanets. But it’s been a bumpy road. Since its discovery in 1916 by American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard, Barnard’s star has seen several claims of orbiting worlds, dating back to the 1960s.
By Nick Oakes Verified| Astronomy Magazine Verified New research suggests that Pluto may have acquired its most massive moon, Charon, through an ancient grazing impact, which the science team refers to as a “kiss and capture”. The study uses computer models to suggest a possible new method by which large bodies in the Kuiper Belt could come into orbit of one another. It was led by C. Adeene Denton, a NASA postdoctoral fellow at the Southwest Research Institute, and published today in the journal Nature Geoscience.
By Nick Oakes Verified| Astronomy Magazine Verified Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is particularly captivating for scientists. This is thanks in large part to its status as the only other planetary body in the solar system known to host an atmosphere about 1.5 times denser than Earth’s and bodies of liquid on its surface.
Company Info
Freelance
Freelancer.com is the largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace in the world, connecting over 81 million employers and freelancers across more than 247 countries. Founded in 2009 and based in Sydney, Australia, the platform allows employers to post jobs while freelancers can bid on these projects. It is publicly traded on the Australian Securities Exchange under the ticker ASX:FLN. The platform supports a variety of work categories, including software development, writing, design, and marketing. Freelancer.com also offers contests for creative work, where employers can award prize money to winning entries. Users can choose from different membership plans, including free and paid subscriptions, which provide various benefits. The mobile app enhances project management and communication for users on the go. With a diverse customer base that includes individuals, small businesses, and large enterprises, Freelancer.com plays a significant role in the global online economy.
De Pere, Wisconsin, United States