Kepler Detects A Super-Earth Transiting the Bright K-Dwarf HIP 116454
Despite a malfunction that ended its primary mission in May 2013, NASA’s Kepler spacecraft is still alive and working and has detected a newfound planet,…
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics News
Astronomers Detect Pluto-Size Objects Around a Sun-Like Star
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have detected Pluto-size objects around an adolescent Sun-like star. Scientists used the…
Astronomers Detect Magnetic Fields on Solar-Type Stars
A team of astronomers has just completed the most extensive polarization survey of stars to date, detecting magnetic fields on sixty-seven stars with twenty-one of…
New Observations Confirm Variability of Young Stellar Objects
Using the Spitzer Space Telescope to monitor the variability of light from 882 previously identified young stellar objects, astronomers confirm that probably all YSOs are…
Astronomers Develop a New Method to Evaluate the Turbulence of the Hot Intracluster Gas
Using data from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have pioneered a new method to evaluate the turbulence of the…
Astronomers Use Ground-Based Telescope to Measure Super-Earth Transit
Using the 2.5-meter Nordic Optical Telescope, astronomers have measured the transit of exoplanet 55 Cancri e — this is the first time that a super-Earth…
Scientists Use Meteorite to Measure Ancient Solar Nebula Magnetic Fields
Scientists from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have succeeded in determining ancient solar nebula magnetic field strength by measuring the field recorded in chondrules from…
The Future of Astrophysical Neutrino Measurements
An international team of scientists has published an extensive report on the future of astrophysical neutrino measurements, discussing how facilities that measure the microwave background…
New Research Reveals the Role of Magnetic Fields in Star Formation
Using the Submillimeter Array to study the magnetic field in a massive star cluster, astronomers were able to determine the properties of the magnetic field…
Heritage of Water Ice in the Solar System
New research from astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics reveals that water in our solar system almost certainly derives in large part from interstellar…
Hinode Satellite Views Solar Eclipse
The Hinode satellite was able to capture x-ray footage of last week’s solar eclipse. Cambridge, Massachusetts – The moon passed between the Earth and the…
Chandra Confirms Active Galactic Nuclei Downsizing
A new study of 209 galaxies in the early universe with X-ray bright supermassive black holes reveals that more modest active galactic nuclei (AGN) tend…
Small-Scale Jets from the Solar Chromosphere Are Possible Sources of the Solar Wind
In a newly published study, astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics reveal the detection of intermittent, small-scale jets from the solar chromosphere and their…
New Optical Device to Speed the Search for Earth-Like Exoplanets
A new laser-based technology known as the green astro-comb will allow astronomers to determine whether distant exoplanets they discover are rocky Earth-like worlds or less…
Astronomers Discover New Clues to the Mystery of Coronal Heating
Using observations from the recently launched Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, astronomers found new clues to the mystery of coronal heating. Cambridge, Massachusetts – Why is…
Herschel Observations and Simulations of the Debris Disk Around Tau Ceti
Astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics studied the debris disc around τ Ceti, revealing that a Jupiter-mass planet could not be present in this…
The Creative Engineering Behind the Giant Magellan Telescope
Currently under construction and on track to become operational early next decade, the Giant Magellan Telescope is pushing scientists to innovate and create new technology…
Astronomers Explore the First Three Billion Years of Stars
Using the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope, a team of astronomers studied the first few billion years of the universe to determine…