all Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics stories

Invisible matters

404132862 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:44:50 -0400

A new study seeking to answer the question of why some galaxies are extremely dark compared with others may eventually help to explain the formation of all galaxies, according to researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).

Visitors will gravitate to 'Black Holes' exhibit

50443248 — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:27:12 -0400

On Sunday, June 21, a new exhibit developed by educators and scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) will open at the Boston Museum of Science.

Peculiar, junior-sized supernova discovered by New York teen

50443248 — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:20:44 -0400

In November 2008, Caroline Moore, a 14-year-old student from upstate New York, discovered a supernova in a nearby galaxy, making her the youngest person ever to do so. Additional observations determined that the object, called SN 2008ha, is a new type of stellar explosion, 1,000 times more powerful than a nova but 1,000 times less powerful than a supernova. Astronomers say that it may be the weakest supernova ever seen.

Kepler starts search for other Earths

50443248 — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:04:05 -0400

As NASA’s Kepler space telescope this week begins scanning the Milky Way for planets that might harbor life, scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) are keeping their fingers crossed and waiting for the data to start flowing.

Life in the universe? Almost certainly. Intelligence? Maybe not

50443248 — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:56:00 -0400

We are likely not alone in the universe, though it may feel like it, since life on other planets is probably dominated by microbes or other nonspeaking creatures, according to scientists who gave their take on extraterrestrial life at Harvard recently.

Speakers reviewed how life on Earth arose and the many, sometimes improbable steps it took to create intelligence here. Radio astronomer Gerrit Verschuur said he believes that though there is very likely life out there — perhaps a lot of it — it is very unlikely to be both intelligent and able to communicate with us.

Harvard Catalyst grants encourage greater faculty collaboration

50443248 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:28:22 -0400

Scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics are measuring how patients’ posture affects MRI imaging of their breathing.

Riding — and reading — the Earth tide

404132862 — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:39:51 -0500

Once a day, Miaki Ishii rides the Earth tide, rising slowly — along with her desk, chair, and entire office — 20 to 30 centimeters before sinking back again.

Ishii isn’t alone on her little journey. She makes it with the rest of us, together with our desks and chairs, houses and office buildings, rising in concert as the solid earth responds to the tug of the moon and the sun.

The Earth tide is a little-known daily event, similar to the oceans’ more familiar tides. But the sun and moon’s gravity doesn’t just pull on water, it deforms the Earth itself, causing the ground beneath us to bulge toward the pulling heavenly body.

Transit search finds super-Neptune

404132862 — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:46:32 -0500

Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have
discovered a planet somewhat larger and more massive than Neptune
orbiting a star 120 light-years from Earth. While Neptune has a diameter
3.8 times that of Earth and a mass 17 times Earth's, the new world
(named HAT-P-11b) is 4.7 times the size of Earth and has 25 Earth
masses.

Nature moves into 3D publishing

404132862 — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:44:24 -0500

Milky Way bigger, faster than previously thought

404132862 — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:01:39 -0500

Our own Milky Way galaxy, long considered a “little sister” to the larger Andromeda Galaxy, is all grown-up, according to new research presented today that shows the Milky Way to be bigger and faster than previously thought.

The findings, presented at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, Calif., by Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) researchers, show that the galaxy has about 50 percent more mass — about the same as Andromeda — and is rotating about 100,000 mph faster than previously thought.

New visualization techniques yield star formation insights

404132862 — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 11:38:42 -0500

New computer visualization technology developed by the Harvard Initiative in Innovative Computing has helped astrophysicists understand that gravity plays a larger role than previously thought in deep space’s vast, star-forming molecular clouds.

Southern sky to be mapped for first time

404132862 — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:37:46 -0500

Strong evidence brown dwarfs form like stars

404132862 — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:12:32 -0500

Astronomers have uncovered strong evidence that brown dwarfs form like stars. Using the Smithsonian's Submillimeter Array (SMA), they detected molecules of carbon monoxide shooting outward from the object known as ISO-Oph 102. Such molecular outflows typically are seen coming from young stars or protostars. However, this object has an estimated mass of 60 Jupiters, meaning it is too small to be a star. Astronomers have classified it as a brown dwarf.

Solar system’s young twin has two asteroid belts

404132862 — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:35:03 -0400

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 is a virtual twin of the belt in our solar system, while the outer asteroid belt holds 20 times more material. Moreover, the presence of these three rings of material implies that unseen planets confine and shape them.

Star quest knowledge provides new view of ourselves

404132862 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:50:21 -0400

In a basement laboratory at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), surrounded by instruments built to detect the universe’s distant secrets, sits a machine that will help us look not outward to the stars, but inward at our own bodies.