Astronomy

Searching for solar systems like our ownJosh Winn’s hunt for exoplanets may someday reveal habitable, Earth-like worlds.

When the first stars blinked onThe very first stars may have turned on when the universe was 750 million years old.

GRAIL reveals a battered lunar historyTwin spacecraft create a highly detailed gravity map of the moon, finding an interior pulverized by early impacts.

Paintballs may deflect an incoming asteroidWith 20 years’ notice, paint pellets could cause an asteroid to veer off course.

A far-off solar systemResearchers measure the orientation of a multiplanet system and find it very similar to our own solar system.

Explained: Near-miss asteroidsWhat to do in the event of an asteroid streaking toward Earth? Activate the asteroid ‘fire drill.’

Researchers calculate size of particles in Martian clouds of CO2 snowMars’ carbon dioxide ‘snowflakes’ are about the size of red blood cells.

Newfound exoplanet may turn to dustA planet’s dust cloud may explain strange patterns of light from its star.

A close-up view of MercuryResearchers find the planet may have had a dynamic past.

X-ray monitoring mission comes to an endThe RXTE satellite retires after 16 years.

Lincoln Laboratory helps celebrate the official unveiling of the Space Surveillance TelescopeThe laboratory developed enabling technologies for the telescope

Astronomers find a dark matter galaxy far, far awayDiscovery could offer clues on the nature of dark matter.

3 Questions: Richard Binzel on near-Earth asteroids'2011 MD,' found by a Lincoln Lab team, will pass close to the planet on Monday.

Exploring explorationFrom deep space to deep sea, two-day symposium examined MIT’s impacts and innovations.

Cold asteroids may have a soft heartPartially molten small bodies may be abundant in space, and may have given the Earth its oceans.

EAPS, physics professor James Elliot dies at 67Led team that discovered the rings of Uranus in 1977.

3 Questions: Sara Seager on discovering a trove of new planetsNASA’s Kepler orbiting telescope has found hundreds of new possible planets, including 54 in the so-called 'habitable zone.'

Explained: Transiting exoplanetsHow astronomers learn whether a planet is habitable by observing slight changes in light emanating from its parent star.

And then there was lightAstronomers probe ancient radio waves for clues about the universe’s first light.

The final frontierNow that an Earthlike planet has been discovered, the key to confirming that it can host life will be to study its atmosphere in detail

Learning from hot JupitersBy studying how massive planets may have formed, MIT astrophysicist sets the stage for studying smaller, more Earthlike planets.

Building a list of Earth candidatesMIT researchers increase their odds of detecting an Earthlike planet by working on a combination of satellite missions.

Astronomers detect first carbon-rich exoplanetDiscovery opens door to new class of exoplanets, including rocky planets rich in diamond and graphite.

Nergis Mavalvala wins MacArthur ‘genius’ grantPhysics professor and 2 alumni are awarded $500,000 in no-strings-attached funding.

Explained: the Doppler effectThe same phenomenon behind changes in the pitch of a moving ambulance’s siren is helping astronomers locate and study distant planets.

Haystack’s Alan Rogers wins Reber Medal

3 Questions: Richard Binzel on astronomers’ powerful new toolPan-STARRS, a telescope designed to reveal the ‘unexpected surprises’ in our solar system, including possible threats to Earth, just became fully operational.

In a first, astronomers detect strong winds on an exoplanetResearchers see tempestuous atmosphere on a planet located 150 light years from Earth.