When the lights turned on in the universe
By studying ancient, supermassive black holes called quasars, Dominika Ďurovčíková is illuminating an early moment when galaxies could first be observed.
Or Hen: Getting to the core of the matter
To understand how everything from atoms to neutron stars behave, he says, requires “abstracting away the details to see main principles that drive everything.”
Astronomers spot a highly “eccentric” planet on its way to becoming a hot Jupiter
The planet’s wild orbit offers clues to how such large, hot planets take shape.
The origin of the sun’s magnetic field could lie close to its surface
Sunspots and flares could be a product of a shallow magnetic field, according to surprising new findings that may help scientists predict space weather.
Using wobbling stellar material, astronomers measure the spin of a supermassive black hole for the first time
The results offer a new way to probe supermassive black holes and their evolution across the universe.
Newly discovered Earth-sized planet may lack an atmosphere
Circling a cold, Jupiter-sized star, the new world could offer an unobstructed view of its surface composition and history.
Astronomers spot a giant planet that is as light as cotton candy
The new world is the second-lightest planet discovered to date.
MIT researchers discover the universe’s oldest stars in our own galactic backyard
Three stars circling the Milky Way’s halo formed 12 to 13 billion years ago.
MIT astronomers observe elusive stellar light surrounding ancient quasars
The observations suggest some of earliest “monster” black holes grew from massive cosmic seeds.
Researchers detect a new molecule in space
Such discoveries help researchers better understand the development of molecular complexity in space during star formation.
Astronomers spot 18 black holes gobbling up nearby stars
The detections more than double the number of known tidal disruption events in the nearby universe.
Study: Stars travel more slowly at Milky Way’s edge
The findings suggest our galaxy’s core may contain less dark matter than previously estimated.
A carbon-lite atmosphere could be a sign of water and life on other terrestrial planets, MIT study finds
A low carbon abundance in planetary atmospheres, which the James Webb Space Telescope can detect, could be a signature of habitability.
Bright flash leads astronomers to a heavy-metal factory 900 million light years away
Using multiple observatories, astronomers directly detect tellurium in two merging neutron stars.
3 Questions: A bigger, better space-ripple detector
The MIT-led Cosmic Explorer project aims to detect gravitational waves from the earliest universe.