When the first infrared cosmic survey satellite, IRAS, looked at the nearby star Epsilon Eridani in 1984, it found that the star emitted a large excess of cool infrared radiation. This st...

In 1998, a NASA team led by SAO astronomers launched a space mission to study water in space (and some other key molecules and atoms as well). The satellite, the Submillimeter Wave Astron...

Cambridge, MA Astronomers have discovered that the nearby star Epsilon Eridani has two rocky asteroid belts and an outer icy ring, making it a triple-ring system. The inner asteroid belt...

The longest known collimated structures in the universe are the narrow jets that emanate from vicinity of powerful black holes in certain types of galactic nuclei. These narrow beams ca...

Cambridge, MA Astronomers think that many - perhaps all - galaxies in the universe contain massive black holes at their centers. New observations with the Submillimeter Array now suggest...

Most stars the size of the sun or larger (in mass) are part of multiple stellar systems in which two or even three stars orbit around one another. This tendency presumably reflects the co...

The galaxy Arp 220 is actually two galaxies that have been caught in the act of merging. Astronomers think that many galaxies, including our own Milky Way, have undergone similar collisio...

Cambridge, MA A new research center combining the tools of chemistry and astronomy will use the unique laboratory of interstellar space to free the study of basic chemistry from the rest...

Cambridge, MA A tiny asteroid discovered just hours ago at an Arizona observatory will enter Earth's atmosphere harmlessly at approximately 10:46 p.m. Eastern time tonight (2:46 a.m. Gre...

Cambridge, MA When a treasure hunt comes up empty-handed, the hunters are understandably disappointed. But when astronomers don't find what they are looking for, the defeat can provide a...