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.
AXIS mission selected as NASA Astrophysics Probe competition finalist
MIT Kavli Institute scientists and collaborators will produce a concept study to launch a $1B experiment to investigate the X-ray universe.
Physicists discover first “black hole triple”
System observed 8,000 light-years away may be the first direct evidence of “gentle” black hole formation.
Astronomers detect ancient lonely quasars with murky origins
The quasars appear to have few cosmic neighbors, raising questions about how they first emerged more than 13 billion years ago.
A wobble from Mars could be sign of dark matter, MIT study finds
Watching for changes in the Red Planet’s orbit over time could be new way to detect passing dark matter.
When the lights turned on in the universe
By studying ancient, supermassive black holes called quasars, Dominika Ďurovčíková is illuminating an early moment when galaxies could first be observed.
Exotic black holes could be a byproduct of dark matter
In the first quintillionth of a second, the universe may have sprouted microscopic black holes with enormous amounts of nuclear charge, MIT physicists propose.
Using wobbling stellar material, astronomers measure the spin of a supermassive black hole for the first time
The results offer a new way to probe supermassive black holes and their evolution across the universe.
MIT astronomers observe elusive stellar light surrounding ancient quasars
The observations suggest some of earliest “monster” black holes grew from massive cosmic seeds.
Erin Kara named Edgerton Award winner
The award recognizes exceptional distinction in teaching, research, and service at MIT.
Physicist Netta Engelhardt is searching black holes for universal truths
She says one question drives her work: “Which pillars of gravitational physics are just not true?”
Persistent “hiccups” in a far-off galaxy draw astronomers to new black hole behavior
Analysis reveals a tiny black hole repeatedly punching through a larger black hole’s disk of gas.
Astronomers spot 18 black holes gobbling up nearby stars
The detections more than double the number of known tidal disruption events in the nearby universe.
3 Questions: A bigger, better space-ripple detector
The MIT-led Cosmic Explorer project aims to detect gravitational waves from the earliest universe.