Kavli Institute

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 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

An X-ray image of the Perseus Cluster from NASA’s Chandra Observatory.

Dead X-ray satellite reveals “quiet” center of massive galaxy cluster

Scientists find gas at center of Perseus cluster travels much more slowly than expected.

July 6, 2016

This illustration shows the merger of two black holes and the gravitational waves that ripple outward as the black holes spiral toward each other. The black holes — which represent those detected by LIGO on Dec. 26, 2015 — were 14 and 8 times the mass of the sun, until they merged, forming a single black hole 21 times the mass of the sun. In reality, the area near the black holes would appear ...

For second time, LIGO detects gravitational waves

Signal was produced by two black holes colliding 1.4 billion light years away.

June 15, 2016

This illustration depicts the view from outside of a rapidly-accreting black hole. The bright light toward the center represents the super-heating of gas as it falls onto the black hole. Emanating from the center is a jet of accelerated particles moving near the speed of light. Surrounding the black hold is cool, clumpy gas and dust, which are falling inwards and will eventually join the material ...

Scientists observe supermassive black hole feeding on cold gas

Findings suggest two dining styles for black holes.

June 8, 2016

Rainer Weiss wins Kavli Prize in Astrophysics

LIGO inventor shares award for direct detection of gravitational waves.

June 2, 2016

Rainer Weiss awarded the Shaw Prize in Astronomy

Physics professor emeritus shares prize with Caltech's Kip Thorne and Ronald Drever for designing the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory.

June 1, 2016

Seven from MIT elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences for 2016

Prestigious honor society announces 213 new members this year.

April 21, 2016

School of Science honors staff with 2016 Infinite Mile Awards

March 28, 2016

Dark Energy Survey image of the region surrounding the faint dwarf galaxy Reticulum II. The nine brightest known stars in the galaxy are marked with red circles. Spectra showing the unique chemical content of three stars are shown.

3 Questions: The origin of the cosmos’ heaviest elements

Unique galaxy offers clues to the extreme conditions that yield the heavies of the periodic table.

March 21, 2016

“The window to this new world of gravitational waves has just been cracked open,” David Shoemaker told lawmakers.

Testimony: LIGO has “cracked open” a new window to the universe

MIT’s David Shoemaker testifies before Congress on the significance of LIGO.

February 26, 2016

The LIGO observatory has provided scientists with the first-ever direct detection of gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of spacetime predicted in 1915 by physicist Albert Einstein. The waves originated from the merger of distant black holes, envisioned here in a computer simulation.

Gravitational waves detected 100 years after Einstein’s prediction

LIGO opens a new window on the universe with the observation of gravitational waves from colliding black holes.

February 11, 2016

Left to right: David Shoemaker, Rainer Weiss, Matthew Evans, Erotokritos Katsavounidis, Nergis Mavalvala, and Peter Fritschel.

Scientists make first direct detection of gravitational waves

LIGO signal reveals first observation of two massive black holes colliding, proves Einstein right.

February 11, 2016

MIT graduate students Pronoy Biswas (left) and Mark Chodas prepare the REgolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) instrument for flight.

Student-built instrument headed to asteroid and back

Created by MIT students, REXIS has been integrated onto NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.

January 8, 2016

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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