Astronomy and astrophysics

Researchers from MIT have detected the brightest pulsar ever recorded, reports Brook Hays of UPI. “Despite its small dimensions and modest mass, the pulsating dead star is burning with the energy of 10 million suns,” writes Hays. 

Dan Vergano of National Geographic profiles Professor Alan Guth’s career in physics. "What always fascinated me about science was the desire to understand what underlies it all, and I think physics is basically the study of that," Guth explains. 

“The goal of the simulation is to compare the actual cosmos — viewable via telescope — to the computer-created universe. The comparison will allow scientists to test if their theories on the creation of the universe work,” Salon reporter Sarah Gray writes of Illustris.

In an article posted on the Scientific American website, Elizabeth Gibney details the new computer model developed to simulate the Universe.

“The invisible web of dark matter and energy tying the universe together is recreated to the best of our knowledge, and the elements that make up stars and planets can be observed forming and coalescing,” Coldewey writes in an MSNBC article about Illustris.

Los Angeles Times reporter Deborah Netburn writes about the computer model developed to model the universe. The model is so accurate that, “a mock observation of galaxies from the Illustris model could pass for an image taken by the Hubble Ultra Deep Field Space Telescope,” Netburn reports.

Wired reporter Adam Mann writes about Illustris, the new computer model developed to model the history of the universe. Illustris can handle all elements of the universe’s 330 million light-year span, Mann reports. 

Pallab Ghosh reports for BBC News on the new computer model of the universe developed by researchers from MIT and other institutions around the world.

The Associated Press reports on the new computer model of the universe developed by a team of researchers led by MIT Professor Mark Vogelsberger.

Reporter Lisa Grossman interviews MIT Professor Anna Frebel about her work searching for the oldest, living stars in the universe, and her recent discovery of a star almost as old as the universe.

 “Four years ago, Anna Frebel, a young astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found an ancient star in a neighboring galaxy whose chemical composition proved nearly identical to some unusual stars on the outskirts of our own galaxy,” wrote New York Times reporter Curtis Brainard in a feature on Prof. Frebel’s work.