Professor Emeritus Rainer Weiss, influential physicist who forged new paths to understanding the universe, dies at 92
The longtime MIT professor shared a Nobel Prize for his role in developing the LIGO observatory and detecting gravitational waves.
Astronomers detect the brightest fast radio burst of all time
The dazzling “RBFLOAT” radio burst, originating in a nearby galaxy, offers the clearest view yet of the environment around these mysterious flashes.
Planets without water could still produce certain liquids, a new study finds
Lab experiments show “ionic liquids” can form through common planetary processes and might be capable of supporting life even on waterless planets.
Astronomers discover star-shredding black holes hiding in dusty galaxies
Unlike active galaxies that constantly pull in surrounding material, these black holes lie dormant, waking briefly to feast on a passing star.
Why are some rocks on the moon highly magnetic? MIT scientists may have an answer
A large impact could have briefly amplified the moon’s weak magnetic field, creating a momentary spike that was recorded in some lunar rocks.
Astronomers discover a planet that’s rapidly disintegrating, producing a comet-like tail
The small and rocky lava world sheds an amount of material equivalent to the mass of Mount Everest every 30.5 hours.
MIT welcomes 2025 Heising-Simons Foundation 51 Pegasi b Fellow Jess Speedie
The fellowship supports research contributing to the field of planetary science and astronomy.
Viewing the universe through ripples in space
Physicist Salvatore Vitale is looking for new sources of gravitational waves, to reach beyond what we can learn about the universe through light alone.
Study reveals the Phoenix galaxy cluster in the act of extreme cooling
Observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope help to explain the cluster’s mysterious starburst, usually only seen in younger galaxies.
Rare and mysterious cosmic explosion: Gamma-ray burst or jetted tidal disruption event?
Researchers characterize the peculiar Einstein Probe transient EP240408a.
X-ray flashes from a nearby supermassive black hole accelerate mysteriously
Their source could be the core of a dead star that’s teetering at the black hole’s edge, MIT astronomers report.
Yari Golden-Castaño is over the moon about outreach
The engineer and aspiring astronaut developed an outreach program at Lincoln Laboratory to help bring hands-on STEM activities to all.
MIT scientists pin down the origins of a fast radio burst
The fleeting cosmic firework likely emerged from the turbulent magnetosphere around a far-off neutron star.
MIT astronomers find the smallest asteroids ever detected in the main belt
The team’s detection method, which identified 138 space rocks ranging from bus- to stadium-sized, could aid in tracking potential asteroid impactors.
TBIRD technology could help image black holes’ photon rings
The Lincoln Laboratory-developed laser communications payload operates at the data rates required to image these never-before-seen thin halos of light.