Astronomers find a “cataclysmic” pair of stars with the shortest orbit yet
The stars circle each other every 51 minutes, confirming a decades-old prediction.
Saturn’s rings and tilt could be the product of an ancient, missing moon
A “grazing encounter” may have smashed the moon to bits to form Saturn’s rings, a new study suggests.
Study: Astronomers risk misinterpreting planetary signals in JWST data
Refining current opacity models will be key to unearthing details of exoplanet properties — and signs of life — in data from the powerful new telescope.
Chloé Gentgen named one of Aviation Week Network’s “20 Twenties”
Honor recognizes top graduate students on course to change the face of the aerospace and defense industry.
MIT’s MOXIE experiment reliably produces oxygen on Mars
Day and night, and across seasons, the instrument generates breathable oxygen from the Red Planet’s thin atmosphere.
On the front lines of space innovation
Aeronautics and astronautics PhD candidate George Lordos develops technologies to enable life on Mars.
Researchers 3D print sensors for satellites
Cheap and quick to produce, these digitally manufactured plasma sensors could help scientists predict the weather or study climate change.
Astronomers detect a radio “heartbeat” billions of light-years from Earth
The clear and periodic pattern of fast radio bursts may originate from a distant neutron star.
MIT design for Mars propellant production trucks wins NASA competition
BART and MARGE will reliably produce, store, and distribute 50 tons of rocket fuel per year on the surface of Mars.
Porosity of the moon’s crust reveals bombardment history
The moon sustained twice as many impacts as can be seen on its surface, scientists find.
Astronomers discover a multiplanet system nearby
Just 33 light-years from Earth, the system appears to host two rocky, Earth-sized planets.
New maps of asteroid Psyche reveal an ancient world of metal and rock
The varied surface suggests a dynamic history, which could include metallic eruptions, asteroid-shaking impacts, and a lost rocky mantle.
American Astronomical Society honors seven MIT affiliates with 2022 awards, prizes
Two MIT professors and five alumni recognized for outstanding contributions to astronomy research, education, and communication.
How the universe got its magnetic field
By studying the dynamics of plasma turbulence, MIT researchers are helping to solve one of the mysteries of the origins of cosmological magnetic fields.
Astronomers snap first-ever image of supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*
The image reveals a glowing, donut-shaped ring at the Milky Way’s heart.