Scientists find evidence the early solar system harbored a gap between its inner and outer regions
The cosmic boundary, perhaps caused by a young Jupiter or an emerging wind, likely shaped the composition of infant planets.
Astronomers nail down the origins of rare loner dwarf galaxies
The results provide a blueprint for finding such systems in the universe’s quieter, emptier regions.
Physicists observationally confirm Hawking’s black hole theorem for the first time
Study offers evidence, based on gravitational waves, to show that the total area of a black hole’s event horizon can never decrease.
LIGO and Virgo detect rare mergers of black holes with neutron stars for the first time
In a 3Q, Salvatore Vitale describes how gravitational-wave signals suggest black holes completely devoured their companion neutron stars.
CHIME telescope detects more than 500 mysterious fast radio bursts in its first year of operation
Observations quadruple the number of known radio bursts and reveal two types: one-offs and repeaters.
Professor Emeritus Gordon Pettengill, radio astronomy pioneer, dies at 95
Planetary physicist and former director of the MIT Center for Space Research and the Arecibo Observatory helped repurpose military radar technology for science and space exploration.
Supermassive black holes devour gas just like their petite counterparts
Regardless of size, all black holes experience similar accretion cycles, a new study finds.
MIT astronomers discover new galaxy clusters hiding in plain sight
Lesson learned from the CHiPS survey must inform future cluster searches, researchers say.
Found in space: Complex carbon-based molecules
Discovery may offer clues to carbon’s role in planet and star formation.
Research updates from TESS: Hunting for worlds beyond our solar system
MIT scientists present exoplanet data at the 237th American Astronomical Society meeting.
Astronomers detect extended dark matter halo around ancient dwarf galaxy
Findings suggest the first galaxies in the universe were more massive than previously thought.
TESS discovers four exoplanets orbiting a nearby sun-like star
MIT-led NASA mission finds a multi-planetary system that could be an “ideal laboratory” to study planetary formation and evolution.
Search for axions from nearby star Betelgeuse comes up empty
Results significantly narrow the range of possible places to find the hypothetical dark matter particles.
Mark Vogelsberger wins 2020 Buchalter Cosmology Prize for simulating a “fuzzy” universe
Associate professor of physics shares the honor with colleague Phillip Mocz for their novel dark matter research.
3 Questions: Rona Oran and Benjamin Weiss on the ancient moon’s missing magnetism
Simulations rule out plasmas caused by meteoroid impacts as the source of lunar magnetism, supporting the proposal that the ancient moon generated a core dynamo.