Astronomy and astrophysics

Rainer Weiss wins Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research

Prestigious Spanish award shared with Caltech's Kip Thorne and Barry Barish and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration for work in detecting gravitational waves.

June 29, 2017

“We now strongly believe that these magnetic fields critically affect structure formation in the universe — they are critical to shaping the world as we see it," says Associate Professor Nuno Loureiro.

Probing the magnetic universe

Nuclear Science and Engineering Associate Professor Nuno Loureiro ponders the origins of magnetic fields.

June 23, 2017

This artist's conception shows two merging black holes similar to those detected by LIGO. The black holes are spinning in a nonaligned fashion, which means they have different orientations relative to the overall orbital motion of the pair. LIGO found hints that at least one black hole in the system called GW170104 was nonaligned with its orbital motion before it merged with its partner.

LIGO detects merging black holes for third time

Nearly 3 billion light years from Earth, the black holes are the farthest ever detected.

June 1, 2017

Space Systems Engineering students (left to right) Jeremy Stroming, Tori Wuthrich, and Nicholas James compare the properties of stony and iron meteorites.

Project Apophis

Space Systems Engineering students design a close-range mission to a giant asteroid that will fly by Earth in 2029.

May 31, 2017

Seeing black holes and beyond

Through an international effort led by MIT Haystack Observatory, the ALMA array in Chile has joined a global network of radio telescopes.

April 4, 2017

MIT senior research scientist David Shoemaker has been elected the next spokesperson for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration.

David Shoemaker named spokesperson for LIGO Scientific Collaboration

Senior MIT research scientist to speak for international collaboration for gravitational wave detection research.

March 29, 2017

In this artist's rendering, a thick accretion disk has formed around a supermassive black hole following the tidal disruption of a star that wandered too close. Stellar debris has fallen toward the black hole and collected into a thick chaotic disk of hot gas. Flashes of X-ray light near the center of the disk result in light echoes that allow astronomers to map the structure of the funnel-like fl...

Scientists identify a black hole choking on stardust

Data suggest black holes swallow stellar debris in bursts.

March 14, 2017

Astronauts and organizers of Beyond the Cradle gathered at the Media Lab on March 12. Back row, left to right: HI-SEAS IV Mars simulation participant Sheyna Gifford, NASA astronauts Jeff Hoffman and Leland Melvin, and PhD student Dan “Novysan” Novy. Front row, left to right: NASA astronaut Cady Coleman '83, PhD student Ariel Ekblaw, Media Lab Director Joi Ito.

Media Lab sets sights on space

MIT Media Lab event, Beyond the Cradle, launches a new initiative to explore the final frontier.

March 14, 2017

MIT rates No. 1 in 12 subjects in 2017 QS World University Rankings

MIT ranked within the top 5 for 19 of 46 subject areas.

March 8, 2017

The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) radio telescope is dedicated to observing large scale structure during and prior to the epoch of reionization.

MIT's Jacqueline Hewitt and HERA team given $5.8M boost to detect cosmic dawn

Funding will complete array and measure signals from universe’s first stars.

March 2, 2017

The TRAPPIST-1 star, an ultra-cool dwarf, has seven Earth-size planets orbiting it.

3Q: Julien de Wit on the discovery of seven temperate, nearby worlds

Planets may harbor conditions suitable for sustaining liquid water — and thus life.

February 22, 2017

For the first time, astronomers have observed a star pulsing in response to its orbiting planet. The star, HAT-P-2, pictured, is one of the most massive exoplanets known today. The planet, named HAT-P-2b, tracks its star in a highly eccentric orbit, flying extremely close to and around the star, then hurtling far out before eventually circling back around.

The heart of a far-off star beats for its planet

Scientists observe first planet-induced stellar pulsations.

February 14, 2017

This composite image shows powerful radio jets from the supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy in the Phoenix Cluster inflating huge "bubbles" in the hot, ionized gas surrounding the galaxy. The cavities inside the blue region were imaged by NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory. Hugging the outside of these bubbles, ALMA discovered an unexpected trove of cold gas, the fuel for star formatio...

Self-made stars

Astronomers observe black hole producing cold, star-making fuel from hot plasma jets and bubbles.

February 14, 2017

“There seems to be no shortage of exoplanets,” says Jennifer Burt, a Torres postdoctoral fellow in MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. “There are a ton of them out there, and a ton of science to be done.”

Scientists make huge dataset of nearby stars available to public

Users can search database of 1,600 stars to find signs of new exoplanets.

February 13, 2017

By studying the remanent magnetizations in ancient meteorites, an MIT team has determined that the solar nebula — the vast of disc of gas and dust that ultimately gave rise to the solar system — lasted around 3 to 4 million years.

Scientists estimate solar nebula’s lifetime

Study finds the swirling gas disk disappeared within the solar system’s first 4 million years.

February 9, 2017

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