Look! Up in the sky! Is it a planet? Nope, just a star
Among thousands of known exoplanets, MIT astronomers flag three that are actually stars.
New maps show airplane contrails over the U.S. dropped steeply in 2020
The computer-vision technique behind these maps could help avoid contrail production, reducing aviation’s climate impact.
Study reveals chemical link between wildfire smoke and ozone depletion
If wildfires become larger and more frequent, they might stall ozone recovery for years.
How to reach a tumbling target in space
Experiments aboard International Space Station demonstrate a potential solution for cleaning up orbital debris and repairing damaged satellites.
TESS Science Office at MIT hits milestone of 5,000 exoplanet candidates
Catalog of planet candidates nearly doubles in size during 2020-21.
Understanding air pollution from space
Arlene Fiore uses satellite data paired with ground observations to refine our understanding of ozone smog and interactions with meteorology and climate.
MIT engineers test an idea for a new hovering rover
A levitating vehicle might someday explore the moon, asteroids, and other airless planetary surfaces.
TESS discovers a planet the size of Mars but with the makeup of Mercury
The boiling new world, which zips around its star at ultraclose range, is among the lightest exoplanets found to date.
One year on this giant, blistering hot planet is just 16 hours long
A newly discovered “ultrahot Jupiter” has the shortest orbit of any known gas giant.
Q&A: Lucy mission launches to study ancient Trojan asteroids
Co-Investigator Scientist Professor Richard Binzel discusses NASA’s latest interplanetary mission, which is co-led by Cathy Olkin ’88, PhD ’96.
TESS Science Conference II draws nearly 700 virtual attendees
Not just an exoplanet-finder anymore, TESS yields diverse astrophysics results at second science conference.
Pathfinder satellite paves way for constellation of tropical-storm observers
Lincoln Laboratory’s TROPICS satellites will help scientists study extreme tropical weather once all six are launched next year.
A new chapter for space sustainability
MIT researchers are co-leading the design of a global Space Sustainability Rating system that will soon be operational.
MIT study compares the four largest internet meganetworks
With thousands of satellites, each network could beam down tens of terabits per second, filling gaps left by land-based services.
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.