TESS team is awarded NASA's Silver Achievement Medal
The honor recognizes the "stellar achievement" of the people behind the exoplanet-seeking satellite.
Kavli Institute
Scientists detect tones in the ringing of a newborn black hole for the first time
Results support Einstein’s theory and the idea that black holes have no “hair.”
Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics awarded to Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration for black hole observation
Nearly 30 MIT-affiliated researchers will share in the prize, while David Jay Julius ’77 wins Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences; assistant professor of physics Max Metlitski shares New Horizons prize with Xie Chen PhD ’12 and Michael Levin PhD ’06.
Rocky, Earth-sized exoplanet is missing an atmosphere
Study reports on search for an atmosphere around a planet somewhat similar to ours.
The music of the spheres
MIT hosts "Songs from Extrasolar Spaces," a musical melding of art and science inspired by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).
TESS discovers three new planets nearby, including temperate “sub-Neptune”
Planetary system orbiting an unusually quiet star is ideal for future habitability searches.
Explosions of universe’s first stars spewed powerful jets
Instead of ballooning into spheres, as once thought, early supernovae ejected jets that may have seeded new stars.
LIGO and Virgo detect neutron star smash-ups
Findings reported just weeks into the network’s latest operating run. (Press release)
3 Questions: Salvatore Vitale on LIGO’s latest detections
“We will keep listening for these faint and remote cosmic whispers,” says the physics professor.
TESS discovers its first Earth-sized planet
Orbiting a nearby star, the new planet is the smallest identified so far by the TESS mission.
School of Science announces 2019 Infinite Mile Awards
Ten staff members in the School of Science are recognized for going above and beyond their job descriptions to support a better Institute.
3 Questions: Lisa Barsotti on the new and improved LIGO
“If we are very lucky, we might observe something new … or maybe even something totally unexpected.”
Robert Simcoe named director of MIT Kavli Institute
An expert in instrumentation and early universe observations, Simcoe succeeds Jacqueline Hewitt as head of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.
X-ray pulse detected near event horizon as black hole devours star
Pulse pattern suggests distant black hole must be spinning at least at 50 percent the speed of light.
Revolutionary radio telescope detects bevy of fast radio bursts
Researchers use CHIME telescope to detect fast radio bursts at low frequencies and a second repeating burst.