A “bang” in LIGO and Virgo detectors signals most massive gravitational-wave source yet
A binary black hole merger likely produced gravitational waves equal to the energy of eight suns.
An unexpected origin story for a lopsided black hole merger
Researchers suggest a novel process to explain the collision of a large black hole and a much smaller one.
Are we still listening to space?
Despite the planet’s seeming standstill, graduate students continue to use LIGO to identify astrophysical events.
In a first, astronomers watch a black hole’s corona disappear, then reappear
A colliding star may have triggered the drastic transformation.
Astronomers detect regular rhythm of radio waves, with origins unknown
Signal from 500 million light years away is the first periodic pattern of radio bursts detected.
Event Horizon Telescope observes a black hole-powered jet
MIT Haystack Observatory researchers coauthor a paper announcing the observation of a surprising structure in a distant quasar, 3C 279.
Kazunori Akiyama receives 2020 Young Astronomer Award
Awards program annually recognizes three early-career scientists under 35 who have made outstanding contributions to astronomy.
The billion-year belch
Michael Calzadilla and colleagues describe a violent black hole outburst that provides new insight into galaxy cluster evolution.
Phoenix cluster is cooling faster than expected
With increasingly advanced data, Michael McDonald and colleagues study a galaxy cluster bursting with new stars.
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.
Physicists design an experiment to pin down the origin of the elements
With help from next-generation particle accelerators, the approach may nail down the rate of oxygen production in the universe.
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.
Quantum measurement could improve gravitational wave detection sensitivity
Research could enable a new suite of experiments to measure quantum activity at room temperature.