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.”
Dark matter experiment finds no evidence of axions
In its first run, ABRACADABRA detects no signal of the hypothetical dark matter particle within a specific mass range.
Lighting up exoplanets
The Heising-Simons Foundation selects Clara Sousa-Silva and Benjamin Rackham for 51 Pegasi b Fellowships at MIT.
MIT celebrates 50th anniversary of historic moon landing
Symposium featuring former astronauts and other Apollo mission luminaries examines the program’s legacy.
MIT’s REXIS and Bennu’s watery surface
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sample-return spacecraft, carrying MIT instrument, arrived at asteroid in December; now begins the science to select a sampling location.
3Q: On the significance of Ultima Thule
New Horizons Mission Team members Alissa Earle and Richard Binzel discuss the revelations the icy world provides about the formation of our solar system.
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.
Astronomers observe evolution of a black hole as it wolfs down stellar material
Halo of highly energized electrons around the black hole contracts dramatically during feeding frenzy.
Tiny satellites could be “guide stars” for huge next-generation telescopes
Researchers design CubeSats with lasers to provide steady reference light for telescopes investigating distant planets.
Nuno Loureiro: Understanding turbulence in plasmas
Theoretical physicist's focus on the complexity of plasma turbulence could pay dividends in fusion energy.
Anna Frebel is searching the stars for clues to the universe’s origins
MIT astronomer and writer investigates ancient starlight and shares her excitement about the cosmos.
Stamp of approval
MIT’s Mark Vogelsberger and the Illustris project are honored by Germany's postal service with an official stamp.
LIGO and Virgo announce four new gravitational-wave detections
The observatories are also releasing their first catalog of gravitational-wave events.