Kavli Institute

In our solar system, the “ice giants” Neptune and Uranus are far less dense than rocky Venus and Earth. But astrophysicists on NASA’s TESS mission have now found an exoplanet, TOI-849b, that appears to be 40 times more massive than Earth, yet just as dense. This illustration depicts the exoplanet, UCF-1.01. Like TOI-849b, this exoplanet also orbits close to a star and is like “hot Neptune....

TESS mission discovers massive ice giant

Neptune-sized planet may be remnant core of a much larger planet.

July 1, 2020

CHIME, pictured here, consists of four large antennas, each about the size and shape of a snowboarding half-pipe, and is designed with no moving parts. Rather than swiveling to focus on different parts of the sky, CHIME stares fixedly at the entire sky, looking for fast radio burst sources across the universe.

Astronomers detect regular rhythm of radio waves, with origins unknown

Signal from 500 million light years away is the first periodic pattern of radio bursts detected.

June 17, 2020

Physics graduate student Danielle Frostig awaits the lifting of travel restrictions to mount a astronomical instrument she helped develop on the Magellan Telescope in Las Campanas, Chile.

Capturing stardust

Danielle Frostig, a physics graduate student, is developing an instrument to study how the heaviest elements in the universe are produced.

June 12, 2020

Researchers at MIT, the University of Oklahoma, and elsewhere, with the help of citizen scientists, have identified a brown dwarf with a disk that is the youngest of its kind within about 100 parsecs of Earth. The brown dwarf, named W1200-7845 and depicted in this image, appears to have the kind of disk that could form planets.

Citizen scientists spot closest young brown dwarf disk yet

Discovery made through the Disk Detective project could help the search for new planets.

June 2, 2020

New research suggests that next-generation telescopes might look first for hydrogen atmospheres, as hydrogen can be a viable, easily detectable biosignature of life.

Study: Life might survive, and thrive, in a hydrogen world

When searching for extraterrestrial life, astronomers may want to look at planets with hydrogen-rich atmospheres.

May 4, 2020

School of Science announces 2020 Infinite Mile Awards

Ten staff members recognized for dedication to School of Science and to MIT.

March 16, 2020

Giant cavities in the X-ray emitting intracluster medium (shown in blue, as observed by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory) have been carved out by the black hole outburst. The X-ray data are overlaid on top of optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope (in red/orange), where the central galaxy that is likely hosting the culprit supermassive black hole is also visible.

The billion-year belch

Michael Calzadilla and colleagues describe a violent black hole outburst that provides new insight into galaxy cluster evolution.

December 23, 2019

Phosphine, a molecule known on Earth for its smelly and toxic nature, may be a sure sign of alien life if detected in nearby exoplanets.

A sign that aliens could stink

A molecule that’s known for its smelly and poisonous nature on Earth may be a sure-fire sign of extraterrestrial life.

December 18, 2019

Researchers install a new quantum squeezing device into one of LIGO’s gravitational wave detectors.

New instrument extends LIGO’s reach

Technology “squeezes” out quantum noise so more gravitational wave signals can be detected.

December 5, 2019

With increasing data quality (shown progressively, left to right, in images from 2012, 2015, and 2019) Assistant Professor Michael McDonald and colleagues can conclusively show that the black hole in the Phoenix galaxy cluster is not preventing star formation.

Phoenix cluster is cooling faster than expected

With increasingly advanced data, Michael McDonald and colleagues study a galaxy cluster bursting with new stars.

November 20, 2019

Members and supporters of MIT Lincoln Laboratory's Hispanic/Latino Network gather with Natalia Guerrero (sixth from left) after her keynote address.

Lincoln Laboratory welcomes Natalia Guerrero for Hispanic Heritage Month event

MIT Kavli Institute researcher working on the TESS mission gave the keynote address at an annual event organized by the Lincoln Laboratory Hispanic/Latino Network.

November 7, 2019

Clockwise from top left: Riccardo Comin, Joseph Davis, Lawrence Guth, Michael Halassa, Sebastian Lourido, Brent Minchew, Elly Nedivi, Andrei Neguț, Matĕj Peč, Kerstin Perez, Bjorn Poonen, Daniel Suess, Alison Wendlandt, and Julien de Wit

School of Science appoints 14 faculty members to named professorships

Those selected for these positions receive additional support to pursue their research and develop their careers.

November 4, 2019

Researchers have for the first time used a massive cluster of galaxies as a huge magnifying lens to detect a small, star-forming dwarf galaxy.

Astronomers use giant galaxy cluster as X-ray magnifying lens

New lens technique spots tiny dwarf galaxy in the first, super-energetic stages of star formation.

October 14, 2019

MIT researchers detect a single quantum vibration within a diamond sample (shown here) at room temperature.

Scientists observe a single quantum vibration under ordinary conditions

Studying a common material at room temperature, researchers bring quantum behavior “closer to our daily life.”

October 6, 2019

A simulation of early galaxy formation under three dark matter scenarios. In a universe filled with cold dark matter, early galaxies would first form in bright halos (far left). If dark matter is instead warm, galaxies would form first in long, tail-like filaments (center). Fuzzy dark matter would produce similar filaments, though striated (far right), like the strings of a harp.

This is how a “fuzzy” universe may have looked

Scientists simulate early galaxy formation in a universe of dark matter that is ultralight, or “fuzzy,” rather than cold or warm.

October 3, 2019

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