Look! Up in the sky! Is it a planet? Nope, just a star
Among thousands of known exoplanets, MIT astronomers flag three that are actually stars.
New maps show airplane contrails over the U.S. dropped steeply in 2020
The computer-vision technique behind these maps could help avoid contrail production, reducing aviation’s climate impact.
Study reveals chemical link between wildfire smoke and ozone depletion
If wildfires become larger and more frequent, they might stall ozone recovery for years.
How to reach a tumbling target in space
Experiments aboard International Space Station demonstrate a potential solution for cleaning up orbital debris and repairing damaged satellites.
Richard Binzel: Eyes on the skies and a passion for planetary science
Over more than three decades at MIT, Binzel developed key insights into the solar system and played a role in multiple NASA missions.
A “hot Jupiter’s” dark side is revealed in detail for first time
The planet’s night side likely hosts iron clouds, titanium rain, and winds that dwarf Earth’s jetstream.
OSIRIS-REx mission carrying MIT student experiment wins Space Foundation award
John L. "Jack" Swigert, Jr. Award for Space Exploration honors project team’s success harvesting a sample from asteroid Bennu.
TESS Science Office at MIT hits milestone of 5,000 exoplanet candidates
Catalog of planet candidates nearly doubles in size during 2020-21.
Richard Cohen: Pioneering biomedical research and education at MIT for half a century
The physician, scientist, and professor has made influential contributions to the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology since it began 50 years ago.
MIT engineers test an idea for a new hovering rover
A levitating vehicle might someday explore the moon, asteroids, and other airless planetary surfaces.
Super-bright stellar explosion is likely a dying star giving birth to a black hole or neutron star
The discovery, based on an unusual event dubbed “the Cow,” may offer astronomers a new way to spot infant compact objects.
“Newer, nimbler, faster:” Venus probe will search for signs of life in clouds of sulfuric acid
Report led by MIT scientists details a suite of privately-funded missions to hunt for life on Earth's sibling planet.
NASA selects three MIT alumni for astronaut training
Marcos Berríos ’06, Christina Birch PhD ’15, and Christopher Williams PhD ’12 make up a third of the 2021 NASA astronaut candidate class.
TESS discovers a planet the size of Mars but with the makeup of Mercury
The boiling new world, which zips around its star at ultraclose range, is among the lightest exoplanets found to date.
One year on this giant, blistering hot planet is just 16 hours long
A newly discovered “ultrahot Jupiter” has the shortest orbit of any known gas giant.