Near Miss Asteroid – An Opportunity To Test a Rapid Response Program
As an international team of astronomers continues to monitor the skies for approaching asteroids, the recent approach of a 23-foot wide asteroid gave scientists an…
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics News
Searching for Molecular Oxygen in the Orion Nebula
Using the Herschel Space Observatory, CfA astronomers led a team in search of molecular oxygen in the Orion Nebula, reporting that they still did not…
Two Planets Separated by Less Than 5 Earth Moon Distances
By using data from NASA’s Kepler spacecraft and asteroseismology, the study of stars by observing their natural oscillations, scientists discovered two planets circling a sub-giant…
Worlds like Earth Could Have Formed Earlier Than Expected
Newly published research shows that planets smaller than Neptune are located around a wide variety of stars, including those with fewer heavy elements than the…
Study Challenges Prevailing Ideas About How Supermassive Black Holes Grow
A new study challenges prevailing ideas about how supermassive black holes grow in the centers of galaxies, finding that two supermassive black holes and their…
Black Hole Ejected from Home Galaxy, Moving at 3 Million MPH
Observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory suggest that a supermassive black hole is being ejected from its host galaxy at a speed of at least…
The Center for Astrophysics to Hold a No Reservation Rooftop Viewing of the Venus Transit
The transit of Venus will occur on June 5 and if you miss it, you won’t get to see it again until 2117. For those…
Gamma-Ray Beams Suggest Milky Way’s Central Black Hole Had Active Past
NASA’s Fermi space telescope captured evidence of two gamma-ray beams that extend from the galactic center to a distance of 27,000 light-years above and below…
Calculations Show the Ideal Time to Study the Cosmos
The time to study the cosmos is now. New calculations show that the expansion of the cosmos is accelerating, galaxies are being pushed beyond our…
Using Infrared Images from Hubble & Spitzer, Scientists Discover 25 Distant Galaxies
In an effort to further piece cosmic evolution together, astronomers have been using a combination of modern telescopes and infrared and submillimeter techniques. Using the…
Supernova Shock Wave Breaks Through a Cocoon of Gas
New observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory may help explain why some supernova explosions are more powerful than others, supporting the idea that some of…
Study Confirms Two Different Sources for Type Ia Supernovae
A newly published study from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics details two models supporting the origin of Type Ia supernovae, finding that both the…
Astronomers Observed Evolved Star Being Devoured
A team of CfA astronomers is reporting that the object they observed using the Pan-STARRS telescope was a supermassive black hole, roughly two million solar…
Earth in Motion and the Galaxies Around it
Once scientists realized that their understanding of the distribution of galaxies was incorrect, researchers began studying the large scale structure of the universe to better…
Black Holes Have an Appetite for Stars
It seems that black holes have appetites large enough to swallow stars. Astronomers at the University of Utah and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have…
Rogue Planets Captured by Stars
According to a new study set to be published this week, rogue planets might not be alone forever. The study details how rogue planets are…
Runaway Planets at 30 Million MPH
It’s hard to imagine planets that zip around at 30 million mph, but it was only a few years ago that astronomers found a “flying…
Curious Findings from Early Stages of Planet Formation
While using infrared spectra from the Spitzer Space Telescope to analyze the dust in several young brown dwarf disks, scientists discovered that the cold outer…
