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.

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Astronomers discover an Earth-sized “pi planet” with a 3.14-day orbit

The rocky world, with its baking-hot surface, is likely not habitable.

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The force is strong in neutron stars

Study identifies a transition in the strong nuclear force that illuminates the structure of a neutron star’s core.

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Astronomers use giant galaxy cluster as X-ray magnifying lens

New lens technique spots tiny dwarf galaxy in the first, super-energetic stages of star formation.

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Rocky, Earth-sized exoplanet is missing an atmosphere

Study reports on search for an atmosphere around a planet somewhat similar to ours.

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TESS discovers three new planets nearby, including temperate “sub-Neptune”

Planetary system orbiting an unusually quiet star is ideal for future habitability searches.

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X-ray pulse detected near event horizon as black hole devours star

Pulse pattern suggests distant black hole must be spinning at least at 50 percent the speed of light.

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