TBIRD technology could help image black holes’ photon rings
The Lincoln Laboratory-developed laser communications payload operates at the data rates required to image these never-before-seen thin halos of light.
Curiosity, images, and scientific exploration
Professor of the practice Alan Lightman’s new book digs into the wonder of striking visual phenomena in nature.
Asteroid grains shed light on the outer solar system’s origins
A weak magnetic field likely pulled matter inward to form the outer planetary bodies, from Jupiter to Neptune.
Communications user terminal developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory prepares for historic moon flyby
Aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft, the terminal will beam data over laser links during the first crewed lunar mission since 1972.
AXIS mission selected as NASA Astrophysics Probe competition finalist
MIT Kavli Institute scientists and collaborators will produce a concept study to launch a $1B experiment to investigate the X-ray universe.
Scientists discover molecules that store much of the carbon in space
The discovery of pyrene derivatives in a distant interstellar cloud may help to reveal how our own solar system formed.
Physicists discover first “black hole triple”
System observed 8,000 light-years away may be the first direct evidence of “gentle” black hole formation.
Astronomers detect ancient lonely quasars with murky origins
The quasars appear to have few cosmic neighbors, raising questions about how they first emerged more than 13 billion years ago.
Q&A: How the Europa Clipper will set cameras on a distant icy moon
MIT Research Scientist Jason Soderblom describes how the NASA mission will study the geology and composition of the surface of Jupiter’s water-rich moon and assess its astrobiological potential.
An interstellar instrument takes a final bow
The Plasma Science Experiment aboard NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft turns off after 47 years and 15 billion miles.
Mars’ missing atmosphere could be hiding in plain sight
A new study shows Mars’ early thick atmosphere could be locked up in the planet’s clay surface.
Bridging the heavens and Earth
EAPS PhD student Jared Bryan found a way to use his research on earthquakes to help understand exoplanet migration.
A wobble from Mars could be sign of dark matter, MIT study finds
Watching for changes in the Red Planet’s orbit over time could be new way to detect passing dark matter.
Study: Early dark energy could resolve cosmology’s two biggest puzzles
In the universe’s first billion years, this brief and mysterious force could have produced more bright galaxies than theory predicts.
