Space

The IBEX satellite maps the boundary layer of the sun's bubble, or heliosheath. This map shows this data plotted on an all-sky image, revealing the bright ribbon-like structure (in greens, yellows and reds) swirling across the sky.

Bursting the sun's bubble

New observations indicate the heliosphere — the sun's sphere of influence — has a different shape than theorists had expected.

October 16, 2009

Asteroids honor and motivate young scientists

Since 2001, MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s Ceres Connection program, in conjunction with the International Astronomical Union, has celebrated more than 1,500 science fair winners by naming minor planets in their honor.

October 6, 2009

These images show a recent crater on the side of the moon that faces away from Earth, as seen by a NASA instrument aboard the Indian Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. On the left, an ordinary image taken by infrared light. On the right, the light blue shows water-rich minerals, associated with material ejected from the crater.

3 questions: Ben Weiss discusses what a wet moon might mean

The planetary scientist explores the implications of the recent discovery of water on the lunar surface.

September 30, 2009

A satellite image of internal waves (with a wavelength of about 2 kilometers), which are generated by flow from the the Atlantic ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, at the east of Gibraltar and Ceuta.

Hidden waves pack a big punch

Thomas Peacock sheds light on an odd but powerful phenomenon of sea and sky

September 18, 2009

Maria Zuber, chair of MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science

In Profile: Maria Zuber

Planetary scientist is driven by the thrill of exploring uncharted territory

September 18, 2009

An inside view of a neutron detector in development at MIT's Laboratory for Nuclear Science. Pappalardo Fellow Jocelyn Monroe, is seen through the detector.

The hunt for dark matter

MIT physicists are working on new detectors that may, at last, help them find the elusive particles thought to constitute up to a quarter of the universe.

September 17, 2009

This artist's conception of the double-star system DI Herculis illustrates the key findings from the new research. Spectroscopic observations showed that the two stars are both tipped over almost horizontally, relative to the plane of their orbits around each other. Because they are rotating rapidly which creates equatorial bulges, the tidal interactions between the two slows down a regular variat...

Oddball stars explained

New observations solve longstanding mystery of tipped rotation. In addition to shedding light on how binary stars form, the explanation knocks down a possible challenge to Einstein's theory of relativity.

September 17, 2009

Echoes of the birth of the universe

Results of cosmic analysis set new limits on gravitational waves that could have come from the Big Bang, and begin to constrain current theories about universe formation

August 20, 2009