Space, astronomy and planetary science

Sara Seager, the Ellen Swallow Richards Associate Professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences

3 Questions: Sara Seager on searching for Earth-like planets

MIT planetary scientist discusses projects that aim to discover distant planets similar to our own, and what we can learn when we find them

November 23, 2009

Final journey to the Hubble Space Telescope

November 19, 2009

The panels show two possibilities for the bizarre orbit of HAT-P-7b. The top panel shows a "polar" orbit in which the planet goes over the north and south poles of the star. The bottom panel shows a "retrograde" orbit in which the planet revolves in the opposite direction as the star's rotation. Astronomers cannot distinguish these two possibilities because the exact orientation of the star's rota...

A faraway planet intrigues

An exoplanet with an extremely tilted orbit raises new interest in stellar astronomy.

November 12, 2009

The IBEX satellite maps the boundary layer of the sun's bubble, or heliosheath. This map shows this data plotted on an all-sky image, revealing the bright ribbon-like structure (in greens, yellows and reds) swirling across the sky.

Bursting the sun's bubble

New observations indicate the heliosphere — the sun's sphere of influence — has a different shape than theorists had expected.

October 16, 2009

Asteroids honor and motivate young scientists

Since 2001, MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s Ceres Connection program, in conjunction with the International Astronomical Union, has celebrated more than 1,500 science fair winners by naming minor planets in their honor.

October 6, 2009

These images show a recent crater on the side of the moon that faces away from Earth, as seen by a NASA instrument aboard the Indian Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. On the left, an ordinary image taken by infrared light. On the right, the light blue shows water-rich minerals, associated with material ejected from the crater.

3 questions: Ben Weiss discusses what a wet moon might mean

The planetary scientist explores the implications of the recent discovery of water on the lunar surface.

September 30, 2009

A satellite image of internal waves (with a wavelength of about 2 kilometers), which are generated by flow from the the Atlantic ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, at the east of Gibraltar and Ceuta.

Hidden waves pack a big punch

Thomas Peacock sheds light on an odd but powerful phenomenon of sea and sky

September 18, 2009

Maria Zuber, chair of MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science

In Profile: Maria Zuber

Planetary scientist is driven by the thrill of exploring uncharted territory

September 18, 2009

An inside view of a neutron detector in development at MIT's Laboratory for Nuclear Science. Pappalardo Fellow Jocelyn Monroe, is seen through the detector.

The hunt for dark matter

MIT physicists are working on new detectors that may, at last, help them find the elusive particles thought to constitute up to a quarter of the universe.

September 17, 2009

This artist's conception of the double-star system DI Herculis illustrates the key findings from the new research. Spectroscopic observations showed that the two stars are both tipped over almost horizontally, relative to the plane of their orbits around each other. Because they are rotating rapidly which creates equatorial bulges, the tidal interactions between the two slows down a regular variat...

Oddball stars explained

New observations solve longstanding mystery of tipped rotation. In addition to shedding light on how binary stars form, the explanation knocks down a possible challenge to Einstein's theory of relativity.

September 17, 2009

Echoes of the birth of the universe

Results of cosmic analysis set new limits on gravitational waves that could have come from the Big Bang, and begin to constrain current theories about universe formation

August 20, 2009

A hard rain's gonna fall

Climate change will yield more extreme rainfall, according to a new analysis.

August 17, 2009

Taking space in stride

New analysis could lead to better lunar, Mars spacesuits

August 13, 2009

New planet-finder shows its power

Kepler orbiting telescope should soon find alien Earths

August 6, 2009

This Hubble Space Telescope picture is the sharpest visible-light picture taken of the slowly-expanding impact feature, whose diameter is more than twice the coast-to-coast size of the United States. The combination of Hubble data with mid-infrared images from ground-based telescopes will give astronomers an insight into the nature of changes in Jupiter's atmosphere from the impact.

Jupiter, solar system's 'big bully,' takes a punch

Apparent strike by comet highlights planet's benefit to Earth, MIT professor says

July 30, 2009

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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