All CfA Newshttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/All CfA Newsen-us One Supernova Type, Two Different Sourceshttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/pr201214.htmlMay 07, 2012: The exploding stars known as Type Ia supernovae serve an important role in measuring the universe, and were used to discover the existence of dark energy. Mark Reid Awarded the 2012 Jansky Lectureshiphttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/pz201212.htmlMay 07, 2012: Dr. Mark Reid has been awarded the 2012 Jansky Lectureship. Reid is being honored for his pioneering work in Very Long Baseline Interferometry as applied to numerous key problems in astrophysics. Diagnosing a Black Hole Flarehttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/su201218.htmlMay 04, 2012: Black holes can come in a wide range of masses. Some, with only about one solar mass, result from the supernova death of a massive star, while those at the center of galaxies (called supermassive black holes) have millions or even billions of solar masses. Black Hole Caught in a Feeding Frenzyhttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/pr201213.htmlMay 02, 2012: When it comes to scary things in the universe, it's hard to get much scarier than supermassive black holes. These gigantic, invisible menaces lurk in the centers of galaxies, hungrily vacuuming up everything within reach - or so we think. X-ray Quasars, and a Distance Recordhttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/su201217.htmlApril 27, 2012: Quasars are thought to be galaxies whose bright nuclei contain massive black holes around which disks are actively accreting matter. David Charbonneau Awarded 2012 Sackler Prize in Physicshttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/pz201210.htmlApril 23, 2012: Professor David Charbonneau has won the Sackler Prize in Physics for 2012. This award recognizes Charbonneau's seminal contributions to our understanding of extra-solar planets. Special Event: Saturday, April 28, Noon - 4 pmhttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/fe201211.htmlApril 22, 2012: Become an astronomer for a day! Enjoy telescope tours, interactive multimedia exhibits, hands-on activities, live demonstrations, and our ever-popular Scientist Cafe, where visitors can chat with local astronomers to find out what's new in the universe. A New Paradigm for Active Galactic Nucleihttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/su201216.htmlApril 20, 2012: Seyfert galaxies are similar to normal galaxies like our own Milky Way except in one critical respect: their nuclei are fantastically bright, in extreme instances as luminous as 100 billion suns. Avi Loeb Elected Member of the American Academy of Arts & Scienceshttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/pz201209.htmlApril 19, 2012: Professor Avi Loeb has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The Academy is one of the nation's most prestigious honorary societies and a leading center for independent policy research. Spectacular Solar Eruption Captured on April 16, 2012http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/fe201208.htmlApril 18, 2012: A spectacular eruption at the edge of the solar disk was captured by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument aboard NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) on April 16, 2012. Some Stars Capture Rogue Planetshttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/pr201212.htmlApril 17, 2012: New research suggests that billions of stars in our galaxy have captured rogue planets that once roamed interstellar space. 1000 Days of Infrared Wondershttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/pr201211.htmlApril 16, 2012: For the last 1000 days the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC), aboard NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, has been operating continuously to probe the universe from its most distant regions to our local solar neighborhood. The Earth is not at Resthttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/su201215.htmlApril 13, 2012: The Earth is not at rest. It orbits the Sun, which in turn orbits the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, which in turn moves within the Local Group of Galaxies - a collection of about fifty four galaxies in our "neighborhood" (that is, within about ten million light-years of Earth). Smithsonian Astronomers and Colleagues to Photograph Black Hole at Our Galaxy’s Hearthttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/fe201207.htmlApril 12, 2012: How do you see the invisible? That’s the puzzle faced by astronomers wanting to study black holes. A black hole gets its name for good reason – its strong gravity is so extreme that nothing can escape it, not even light. Measuring Magnetic Fieldshttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/su201214.htmlApril 06, 2012: Polarized light is a familiar phenomenon, as people who prefer polarized sunglasses can testify. The electric field in a beam of light can vibrate either left-right or up-down, and the scattering or reflection of light can result in the preferential absorption of one or the other of these two "polarizations." Black Holes Grow Big by Eating Starshttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/pr201210.htmlApril 02, 2012: Most galaxies, including the Milky Way, have a supermassive black hole at their center weighing millions to billions of suns. But how do those black holes grow so hefty? New Cosmological Insights from the South Pole Telescopehttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/pr201209.htmlApril 01, 2012: Analysis of data from the 10-meter South Pole Telescope (SPT) is providing new support for the most widely accepted explanation of dark energy - the mysterious force that is responsible for the accelerating expansion of the universe. When Dark Energy Turned Onhttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/pr201208.htmlMarch 30, 2012: Astronomers announced today that they have made the most accurate measurement yet of galaxy distances in the faraway universe, giving an unprecedented look at the time when dark energy turned on. Laboratory Astrophysicshttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/su201213.htmlMarch 30, 2012: The term "laboratory astrophysics" might sound like an oxymoron; after all, how can equipment in a small room possibly simulate cosmic effects seen in the vastness of space. 'Ordinary' Black Hole Discovered 12 Million Light Years Awayhttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/fe201206.htmlMarch 27, 2012: An international team of scientists has discovered an 'ordinary' black hole in the 12 million light year-distant galaxy Centaurus A. This is the first time that a normal-size black hole has been detected away from the immediate vicinity of our own Galaxy. Big Bang on Earth: Blasting a Mountaintop to Mine the Skyhttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/pr201207.htmlMarch 23, 2012: Astronomers have begun to blast 3 million cubic feet of rock from a mountaintop in the Chilean Andes to make room for what will be the world's largest telescope when completed near the end of the decade. The Earliest Stages of Planet Formationhttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/su201212.htmlMarch 23, 2012: Small dust particles in a disk of gas around a young star, according to current models, gradually coagulate during the first million years until kilometer-sized objects are formed. Planet Starship: Runaway Planets Zoom at a Fraction of Light-Speedhttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/pr201206.htmlMarch 22, 2012: Seven years ago, astronomers boggled when they found the first runaway star flying out of our Galaxy at a speed of 1.5 million miles per hour. The discovery intrigued theorists, who wondered: If a star can get tossed outward at such an extreme velocity, could the same thing happen to planets? Explosive Stars with Good Table Mannershttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/pr201205.htmlMarch 20, 2012: An exploding star known as a Type Ia supernova plays a key role in our understanding of the universe. Studies of Type Ia supernovae led to the discovery of dark energy, which garnered the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics. The Origin of the Moon's Cratershttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/su201210.htmlMarch 16, 2012: Moon's craters, together with samples of the surface returned during the Apollo program, tell the story of impacts from two different populations of small bodies. The Origins of a Torus in a Galactic Nucleushttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/su201207.htmlMarch 09, 2012: Quasars are among the most energetic objects in the universe, with some of them as luminous as ten thousand Milky Way galaxies. Local Views of Solar Stormshttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/fe201205.htmlMarch 08, 2012: This movie of the March 6, 2012 X5.4 solar flare was captured by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly instrument aboard NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory in the 171 Angstrom wavelength. Using Galaxies as Yardstickshttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/fe201204.htmlMarch 05, 2012: Daniel Eisenstein is investigating the universe, using galaxies as his ruler, seeking to understand the cosmos' large-scale structure and confirm theories about the dark energy that drives its expansion. Possible Water in the Atmosphere of a Super-Earthhttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/su201206.htmlMarch 02, 2012: A "super-Earth" is an exoplanet (a planet around another star) whose mass is between about two and ten Earth-masses. Planets larger than this are closer to Uranus and Neptune in size (and perhaps in other physical properties as well). Ultra-luminous X-ray Sourceshttp://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/su201211.htmlFebruary 24, 2012: An ultra-luminous X-ray source (ULX) emits more radiation in the X-rays than do a million suns at all wavelengths. ULXs are rare: Most galaxies, including our own Milky Way, have none, and galaxies that do host a ULX usually have only one.