Planetary science

Researchers at MIT, the University of Oklahoma, and elsewhere, with the help of citizen scientists, have identified a brown dwarf with a disk that is the youngest of its kind within about 100 parsecs of Earth. The brown dwarf, named W1200-7845 and depicted in this image, appears to have the kind of disk that could form planets.

Citizen scientists spot closest young brown dwarf disk yet

Discovery made through the Disk Detective project could help the search for new planets.

June 2, 2020

Max Collinet PhD ’19 and Professor Tim Grove work together to extract an experimental sample from a one-of-a-kind rock-melting machine at MIT that reveals clues about planetesimals and the formation of the rocky planets like Earth and Mars.

When baby planets melt

MIT scientists identify first magmas generated in solar system’s building blocks, unexpectedly answering questions about meteorites and formation of rocky planets.

May 7, 2020

New research suggests that next-generation telescopes might look first for hydrogen atmospheres, as hydrogen can be a viable, easily detectable biosignature of life.

Study: Life might survive, and thrive, in a hydrogen world

When searching for extraterrestrial life, astronomers may want to look at planets with hydrogen-rich atmospheres.

May 4, 2020

Studying science has made her a better historian, Charlotte Minsky says. And studying history has made her a better scientist.

Meet the MIT bilinguals: Dual history and planetary science major Charlotte Minsky

Studying history has made her a better planetary scientist, Minsky says. And studying science has made her a better historian.

April 28, 2020

This visualization shows the magnetic field around Earth, or the magnetosphere. Earth’s magnetic field origins are still a mystery, a new MIT study finds.

Origins of Earth’s magnetic field remain a mystery

The existence of a magnetic field beyond 3.5 billion years ago is still up for debate.

April 8, 2020

Samuel Birch joins MIT as a recipient of this year’s Heising-Simons Foundation 51 Pegasi b Fellowship.

Titan’s missing river deltas and an Earthly climate connection

Samuel Birch, a new Heising-Simons Foundation 51 Pegasi b Fellow at MIT, will investigate the surfaces of outer solar system objects.

April 8, 2020

Two views of the asteroid Pallas, which researchers have determined to be the most heavily cratered object in the asteroid belt.

Study reveals details of “golf ball asteroid”

A tilted orbit may explain the asteroid Pallas’ highly cratered surface.

February 10, 2020

K. Renee Horton, NASA scientist and past president of the National Society of Black Physicists, speaks with students at a recent physics conference. Due to a climate that has consistently excluded African-Americans from succeeding in physics and astronomy, a new task force report urges significant cultural changes in these fields.

Making physics and astronomy more welcoming to African-American students

Report co-chaired by MIT professor cites need for “sweeping changes” in academic culture.

January 13, 2020

A new analysis of moon rocks pins down the end of the lunar dynamo, the process by which the moon once generated a magnetic field.

Scientists pin down timing of lunar dynamo’s demise

Findings suggest the moon’s magnetic field was produced by the fallout of a crystallizing iron core.

January 1, 2020

Phosphine, a molecule known on Earth for its smelly and toxic nature, may be a sure sign of alien life if detected in nearby exoplanets.

A sign that aliens could stink

A molecule that’s known for its smelly and poisonous nature on Earth may be a sure-fire sign of extraterrestrial life.

December 18, 2019

As part of MISTI-India, Megan Guenther, a junior in EAPS, records field notes about the landscape of the Kohistan-Ladakh region of the Himalayas in northern India.

Collision course: A geological mystery in the Himalayas

MIT geologists use paleomagnetism to determine the chain of events that resulted in the Himalayan mountains, with the support of MISTI-India.

October 28, 2019

Worlds orbiting stars other than our sun are “exoplanets,” and they come in many sizes, from gas giants larger than Jupiter to small, rocky planets. This illustration of a "super-Earth" represents the type of planet that the TESS mission aims to find outside our solar system.

Computing and the search for new planets

MIT planetary scientists partner with computer scientists to find exoplanets.

September 23, 2019

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite is inspected before its launch in April 2018. Approximately 250 MIT scientists and engineers are included as recipients of the NASA Silver Achievement Medal for their role in the TESS mission.

TESS team is awarded NASA's Silver Achievement Medal

The honor recognizes the "stellar achievement" of the people behind the exoplanet-seeking satellite.

September 12, 2019

The asteroid 6478 Gault is seen with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, showing two narrow, comet-like tails of debris that tell us that the asteroid is slowly undergoing self-destruction. The bright streaks surrounding the asteroid are background stars. The Gault asteroid is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

For first time, astronomers catch asteroid in the act of changing color

Asteroid is likely shedding reddish dust, revealing a fresh, blue surface beneath.

August 29, 2019

A battery-free underwater “piezoelectric” sensor invented by MIT researchers transmits data by absorbing or reflecting sound waves back to a receiver, where a reflected wave decodes a 1 bit and an absorbed wave decodes a 0 bit — and simultaneously stores energy.

A battery-free sensor for underwater exploration

Submerged system uses the vibration of “piezoelectric” materials to generate power and send and receive data.

August 20, 2019

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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