A technique to sift out the universe’s first gravitational waves

Identifying primordial ripples would be key to understanding the conditions of the early universe.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office • mit
Dec. 9, 2020 ~8 min

Pulling the secrets of dark matter out of a hat

Grad student Chiara Salemi and Professor Lindley Winslow use the ABRACADABRA instrument to reveal insights into dark matter.

Fernanda Ferreira | School of Science • mit
Dec. 2, 2020 ~9 min


3 Questions: Hsin-Yu Chen on treading lightly when dating the universe

MIT postdoc finds the angle at which we view neutron star collisions could significantly impact age measurements.

Kelso Harper | MIT Kavli Institute • mit
Nov. 13, 2020 ~6 min

Designing new mirror materials for better gravitational-wave detection

Nicholas Demos, a first-generation college graduate and MathWorks Fellow in MIT’s Kavli Institute, is improving our ability to listen to the cosmos.

Kelso Harper | MIT Kavli Institute • mit
Oct. 28, 2020 ~7 min

The wobbling shadow of the M87* black hole

Analysis of Event Horizon Telescope observations from 2009 to 2017 reveals turbulent evolution of the M87* black hole image.

Nancy Wolfe Kotary | MIT Haystack Observatory • mit
Sept. 23, 2020 ~5 min

Astronomers may have found a signature of life on Venus

Evidence indicates phosphine, a gas associated with living organisms, is present in the habitable region of Venus’ atmosphere.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office • mit
Sept. 14, 2020 ~10 min

An unexpected origin story for a lopsided black hole merger

Researchers suggest a novel process to explain the collision of a large black hole and a much smaller one.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office • mit
Sept. 2, 2020 ~8 min

A “bang” in LIGO and Virgo detectors signals most massive gravitational-wave source yet

A binary black hole merger likely produced gravitational waves equal to the energy of eight suns.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office • mit
Sept. 2, 2020 ~10 min


Lava oceans may not explain the brightness of some hot super-Earths

By making their own lava and cooled glass, scientists find these materials likely aren’t responsible for the unexpected glow of some exoplanets.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office • mit
Aug. 4, 2020 ~8 min

In a first, astronomers watch a black hole’s corona disappear, then reappear

A colliding star may have triggered the drastic transformation.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office • mit
July 15, 2020 ~8 min

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