Astronomy and astrophysics

The path of the International Space Station can be seen from the Observe@MIT rooftop observing platform on Building 37. Participants in the second annual MIT Astronomy Training Camp took to the roof for pointers on night sky observing.

Training students' eyes on the skies

MIT hosts Astronomy Training Camp for student-run national astronomy team.

August 10, 2017

New measurements of lunar rocks have demonstrated that the ancient moon generated a dynamo magnetic field in its liquid metallic core (innermost red shell). The results raise the possibility of two different mechanisms — one that may have driven an earlier, much stronger dynamo, and a second that kept the moon’s core simmering at a much slower boil toward the end of its lifetime.

Lunar dynamo’s lifetime extended by at least 1 billion years

Findings suggest two mechanisms may have powered the moon’s ancient churning, molten core.

August 9, 2017

Engineers test one of the TESS cameras at the Kavli Institute lab.

TESS mission to discover new planets moves toward launch

Satellite’s cameras have been delivered by MIT researchers and passed NASA inspection.

August 4, 2017

The Tadpole Galaxy, a disrupted spiral galaxy, shows streams of gas stripped by gravitational interaction with another galaxy. Molecular gas is the required ingredient to form stars in early universe galaxies.

New insights into the early universe’s galaxy clusters

MIT Kavli Institute scientists help conduct one of the largest-ever studies of molecular gas in distant galaxy clusters.

July 25, 2017

Rainer Weiss wins Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research

Prestigious Spanish award shared with Caltech's Kip Thorne and Barry Barish and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration for work in detecting gravitational waves.

June 29, 2017

“We now strongly believe that these magnetic fields critically affect structure formation in the universe — they are critical to shaping the world as we see it," says Associate Professor Nuno Loureiro.

Probing the magnetic universe

Nuclear Science and Engineering Associate Professor Nuno Loureiro ponders the origins of magnetic fields.

June 23, 2017

This artist's conception shows two merging black holes similar to those detected by LIGO. The black holes are spinning in a nonaligned fashion, which means they have different orientations relative to the overall orbital motion of the pair. LIGO found hints that at least one black hole in the system called GW170104 was nonaligned with its orbital motion before it merged with its partner.

LIGO detects merging black holes for third time

Nearly 3 billion light years from Earth, the black holes are the farthest ever detected.

June 1, 2017

Space Systems Engineering students (left to right) Jeremy Stroming, Tori Wuthrich, and Nicholas James compare the properties of stony and iron meteorites.

Project Apophis

Space Systems Engineering students design a close-range mission to a giant asteroid that will fly by Earth in 2029.

May 31, 2017

Seeing black holes and beyond

Through an international effort led by MIT Haystack Observatory, the ALMA array in Chile has joined a global network of radio telescopes.

April 4, 2017

MIT senior research scientist David Shoemaker has been elected the next spokesperson for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration.

David Shoemaker named spokesperson for LIGO Scientific Collaboration

Senior MIT research scientist to speak for international collaboration for gravitational wave detection research.

March 29, 2017

In this artist's rendering, a thick accretion disk has formed around a supermassive black hole following the tidal disruption of a star that wandered too close. Stellar debris has fallen toward the black hole and collected into a thick chaotic disk of hot gas. Flashes of X-ray light near the center of the disk result in light echoes that allow astronomers to map the structure of the funnel-like fl...

Scientists identify a black hole choking on stardust

Data suggest black holes swallow stellar debris in bursts.

March 14, 2017

Astronauts and organizers of Beyond the Cradle gathered at the Media Lab on March 12. Back row, left to right: HI-SEAS IV Mars simulation participant Sheyna Gifford, NASA astronauts Jeff Hoffman and Leland Melvin, and PhD student Dan “Novysan” Novy. Front row, left to right: NASA astronaut Cady Coleman '83, PhD student Ariel Ekblaw, Media Lab Director Joi Ito.

Media Lab sets sights on space

MIT Media Lab event, Beyond the Cradle, launches a new initiative to explore the final frontier.

March 14, 2017

MIT rates No. 1 in 12 subjects in 2017 QS World University Rankings

MIT ranked within the top 5 for 19 of 46 subject areas.

March 8, 2017

The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) radio telescope is dedicated to observing large scale structure during and prior to the epoch of reionization.

MIT's Jacqueline Hewitt and HERA team given $5.8M boost to detect cosmic dawn

Funding will complete array and measure signals from universe’s first stars.

March 2, 2017

The TRAPPIST-1 star, an ultra-cool dwarf, has seven Earth-size planets orbiting it.

3Q: Julien de Wit on the discovery of seven temperate, nearby worlds

Planets may harbor conditions suitable for sustaining liquid water — and thus life.

February 22, 2017

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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