Astronomers Measure Black Hole Spin in the Nucleus of the Galaxy NGC 1365
Using observations from NuSTAR and XMM-NEWTON, a team of astronomers examined the time-varying spectral shape of highly excited iron atoms in the nucleus of the…
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics News
Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reveals Treasure Trove of “Red Nugget” Galaxies
At this year the meeting of the Canadian Astronomical Society, astronomers revealed a treasure trove of “red nugget” galaxies discovered by combing through the Sloan…
Exoplanets Can Be Divided Into Three Groups: Terrestrials, Gas Giants, and Mid-Sized Gas Dwarfs
A newly published study from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics follows up on Kepler’s discoveries, revealing that exoplanets can be divided into three groups: terrestrials,…
New Research Reveals Harsh Space Weather May Doom Potential Life on Red-Dwarf Planets
New research presented at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society reveals that harsh space weather may strip the atmosphere of any rocky planet orbiting…
New Image Reveals Colliding Galaxy Clusters
This new image reveals a violent, complex scene of colliding galaxy clusters more than 5 billion light-years from Earth. Astronomers using the Karl G. Jansky…
Kepler-56b and Kepler-56c Will Be Swallowed by Their Star
Astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced that planets Kepler-56b and Kepler-56c will be swallowed by their star, providing a glimpse into the future…
Astronomers Discover a New Type of Planet
Astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have discovered a rocky planet that weighs 17 times as much as Earth and is 2.3 times larger…
Dark Stars – Astronomers Investigate if Dark Matter Influenced the Development of Stars
Astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics used computer simulations of dark matter in the early universe to investigate if and how dark matter might…
Herschel Observations Help Identify the Physical Processes Underway in Cold, Dense Clouds
Using data from the Herschel Space Observatory, astronomers make a direct comparison between observations and chemical models for oxygen species in conditions just before star…
Three Recent Black Hole Events and How They Shape Our Universe
A new article from the Smithsonian Magazine takes a look at three recent black hole events and how they shape our universe. Near the middle…
Spitzer Reveals Clusters of Massive New Stars
Astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics use Spitzer observations to study the massive star-forming regions W5-east, S235, S252, S254-S258, and NGC7538, revealing clusters of…
CfA Astronomers Create First Realistic Virtual Universe
Using a computer simulation called Illustris, astronomers have created the first realistic virtual universe that starts 12 million years after the Big Bang and traces…
CfA Astronomers Explore the Economic Realities of Mining an Asteroid
A new study from researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics explores the economic realities of mining an asteroid. Last month NASA held a forum…
Astronomers Discover a Hypervelocity Globular Cluster
Astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have discovered a runaway star cluster that is moving at more than two million miles per hour. Cambridge,…
Astrophysicists Examine Orbit Flips in Exoplanet Systems
Astrophysicists from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics examine orbit flips in exoplanet systems, presenting a previously unidentified mechanism whereby such interactions can completely flip the…
Nearly Completed VPHAS+ Catalog to Include 300 Million Stars
Nearly completed, the VPHAS+ catalog will include stars and nebulae that are as much as 1500 times fainter than the ones in the older catalog,…
Astronomers Detect Dramatic Flow of Rapidly Moving Molecular Gas in Abell 1835
Using the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the ALMA radio array, astronomers have detected a flow of about ten billion solar masses of rapidly moving molecular…
CfA Scientists Measure the Rate of Expansion of the Universe
Using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, CfA scientists examined 264,283 galaxies and measured the signature of the acoustic waves left behind. Perhaps the…
