Space

“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

Physicists from MIT, the University of Vienna, and elsewhere have presented a strong demonstration of quantum entanglement even when vulnerability to the freedom-of-choice loophole is significantly restricted.

Stars align in test supporting “spooky action at a distance”

Physicists address loophole in tests of Bell’s inequality, using 600-year-old starlight.

February 6, 2017

MIT alumna Shana Diez is putting her two aerospace engineering degrees to work at SpaceX in California. “LA is the most exciting place in the world for aerospace innovation,” she says.

Rocket woman

An LA-area alumna is on board for the new space race.

February 6, 2017

Jason Dittmann named an inaugural Heising-Simons Foundation 51 Pegasi b Postdoctoral Fellow

Fellowship to provide scientists the opportunity to conduct theoretical, observational, and experimental research in planetary astronomy.

January 26, 2017

Left: An artist’s conception of the Lucy spacecraft flying by the Trojan Eurybates — one of the six diverse and scientifically important Trojans asteroids to be studied. Right: Psyche, the first mission to a metal asteroid, will map features, structure, composition, and magnetic field, and examine a landscape unlike anything explored before.

Twin wins for planetary exploration

MIT scientists and alumni well represented on newly announced NASA asteroid missions Psyche and Lucy.

January 5, 2017

"Hidden Figures" author and producer Margot Lee Shetterly fields a question at the MIT pre-release screening of the film based on her book. MIT Museum Director of Collections Deborah Douglas (left) and Institute Professor Sheila Widnall were also on the post-screening discussion panel.

"Hidden Figures" screening, discussion addresses the history of black women at NASA

Author and executive producer Margot Lee Shetterly explores inspiration for the film; MIT guest speakers provide additional historical context.

December 22, 2016

This mosaic image of the Crab Nebula was taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Features of this nebula and other astrophysical phenomena are being studied at MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center.

Chikang Li brings the Crab Nebula to the lab

Plasma Science and Fusion Center researcher figures out the kink in the crab.

December 19, 2016

After making several upgrades, scientists have restarted the twin detectors of LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory. The Livingston detector site, located near Livingston, Louisiana, is pictured here.

LIGO back online, ready for more discoveries

Upgrades make detectors more sensitive to gravitational waves.

November 30, 2016

NASA’s New Horizons team has found evidence of any icy, slushy ocean beneath Pluto’s “heart."

Pluto’s icy, slushy heart

Data from New Horizons mission suggest a water-ice ocean lies beneath Pluto’s heart-shaped basin.

November 16, 2016

This image shows free-air gravitational anomalies and a shaded topographic relief of the Moon’s 930-km-diameter Orientale impact basin. Red corresponds to mass excesses and blue to mass deficits relative to a reference value. This gravitational field model, based on measurements acquired from the NASA GRAIL mission, shows the detailed structure of the central basin depression that is filled with...

Retracing the origins of a massive, multi-ring crater

Scientists reconstruct first hours after a giant impact created one of the largest craters on the moon.

October 27, 2016

ABRACADABRA (A Broadband/Resonant Approach to Cosmic Axion Detection with an Amplifying B-field Ring Apparatus), consists of a series of magnetic coils, wound in the shape of a toroid, or donut, which is then encased in a layer of superconducting metal and kept at temperatures just above absolute zero. The scientists plan to use a highly sensitive magnetometer, placed inside the donut hole, to det...

Team simulates a magnetar to seek dark matter particle

Detecting “axion” particles may solve longstanding problem in particle physics.

October 7, 2016

This artist's depiction shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft contacting the asteroid Bennu with its Touch-And-Go Sample Arm. The mission aims to return a sample of Bennu's surface coating to Earth and to return detailed information about the asteroid and its trajectory.

MIT’s REXIS is bound for asteroid Bennu

Instrument will help OSIRIS-REx mission identify locations for collecting an asteroid sample.

September 8, 2016

Computer scientist Margaret Hamilton poses with the Apollo guidance software she and her team developed at MIT.

Scene at MIT: Margaret Hamilton’s Apollo code

A brief history of the famous 1969 photo of the software that sent humans to the moon.

August 17, 2016

Mars’ Valles Marineris canyon, pictured, spans as much as 600 kilometers across and delves as much as 8 kilometers deep. The image was created from over 100 images of Mars taken by Viking Orbiters in the 1970s.

New technique may help detect Martian life

A novel interpretation of Raman spectra will help the 2020 Mars rover select rocks to study for signs of life.

August 15, 2016

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