Submitted by jshaw-adm on October 31, 2013 - 3:43pm

Harvard University astronomers and Smithsonian Institution astronomers explore the cosmos together. The combination of the Harvard College Observatory (HCO) and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is known as the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA).

News Releases

September 20, 2019
Announcement of the Next Generation Event Horizon Telescope Design Program

The National Science Foundation has just announced the award of a $12.7M grant to architect and design a next-generation Event Horizon Telescope (ngEHT) to carry out a program of transformative black hole science.
September 5, 2019
EHT Collaboration Awarded the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics

Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration Director Shep Doeleman of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian will accept the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics on behalf of the EHT collaboration. The $3 million prize will be shared equally with the 347 scientists co-authoring any of the six papers published by the EHT on April 10, 2019.

Latest Science Update

October 4, 2019
The Hot X-Ray Gas in Giant Elliptical Galaxies

The oldest known large galactic structures in the universe are giant elliptical galaxies. Unlike our Milky Way and other spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies have no spiral arms and little or no current star formation activity. Astronomers think that these giants formed in the early universe, less than a billion years after the big bang, after a phase of rapid star-formation.

SI Specific Information

SI-specific information regarding the government shutdown may be found at alerts.si.edu. SAO staff are encouraged to review the website for updated information