Dust is found scattered throughout space. It is composed of fine particles made of silicates, like sand on Earth, or of carbon, and these are often blended with other elements. &nbs...
The solar corona, the hot outer layer of the Sun, has a temperature of over a million degrees Kelvin and powers a wind of charged particles, some of which bombard the Earth producing auro...
Cambridge, MA - Analysis of previously unpublished data from observations of M87* between 2009 and 2013 by scientists at the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has revealed that the crescent s...
Cambridge, MA - Recent science missions and results are bringing the search for life closer to home, and scientists at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) and th...
About seven and one-half billion years from now our sun will have converted most of its hydrogen fuel into helium through fusion, and then burned most of that helium into carbon and oxyge...
Cambridge, MA - Following extensive observations of stellar winds around cool evolved stars scientists have figured out how planetary nebulae get their mesmerizing shapes. The findings, p...
The GMTO Corporation has received a $17.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to accelerate the prototyping and testing of some of the most powerful optical and infra...
Planets form from the gas and dust in disks that surround young stars. Chemicals in the disk that evaporate easily, called volatiles, include important molecules like water, carbon monoxi...
Star formation in molecular clouds usually occurs in a two-step process. Supersonic flows first compress the clouds into dense filaments light-years long, after which gravity collap...
Cambridge, MA - Using the power of supercomputers, an international team of researchers has zoomed in on the smallest clumps of dark matter in a virtual universe. Published today in Natur...