For nearly six months, during the year 1181, people looked up to the skies to find a new star glittering in the constellation Cassiopeia. Chinese and Japanese astronomers recorded the rare event, an explosion of a star, or supernova. Now, astronomers have mapped the location and speed of those unusual filaments in three dimensions for the first time.
Since the 1960s, astronomers have wondered how the Sun's supersonic "solar wind," a stream of energetic particles that flows out into the Solar System, continues to receive energy once it leaves the Sun. Now, thanks to a lucky line up of two spacecraft currently in space studying the Sun, they may have discovered the answer.
A new image from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration— which includes scientists from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA)— has uncovered strong and organized magnetic fields spiraling from the edge of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). Seen in polarized light for the first time, this new view of the monster lurking at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy has revealed a magnetic field structure strikingly similar to that of the black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy, suggesting that strong magnetic fields may be common to all black holes. This similarity also hints toward a hidden jet in Sgr A*.
A newly discovered nearby supernova whose star ejected up to a full solar mass of material in the year prior to its explosion is challenging the standard theory of stellar evolution.
Media are invited to participate in a teleconference discussing the upcoming launch of TEMPO on Wednesday, April 5. TEMPO will soon provide the first-ever hourly scans of air pollution over greater North America.
On Tuesday, March 14, NASA and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian will host a mission and program briefing for the new, space-based instrument TEMPO, which will soon deliver detailed data and analysis of air pollution over greater North America.
Dust launched from the moon’s surface or from a space station positioned between Earth and the sun could reduce enough solar radiation to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
A new strategy for tracing magnetized structures in 3D will help address key questions about the influence of magnetic fields in the cosmos.
The condemned planet could help answer questions about the fate of other worlds as their solar systems evolve.
As massive as the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, the behemoth is hosted by a dwarf galaxy less than 1 million light-years away. Invisible so far — maybe not for long.
New observations of WASP-39 b reveal a never-before-seen molecule in the atmosphere of a planet — sulfur dioxide — among other details.
New data throws out the textbook picture of a spherical stellar halo and reinforces a dynamic origin story of two galaxies that collided billions of years ago.
Analyzing more than two decades' worth of supernova explosions convincingly bolsters modern cosmological theories and reinvigorates efforts to answer fundamental questions.
Astronomers have observed a black hole burping up stellar remains years after it shredded and consumed the star.
Astronomers have developed a new technique to identify small planets hidden in protoplanetary disks.
In planetary disks, carbon monoxide is lurking in large chunks of ice, solving the decade-old question, ‘Where is the CO?’
Using new computational algorithms, scientists have measured a sharp ring of light predicted to originate from photons whipping around the back of a supermassive black hole.
Seething monster star had never-before-seen titanic eruption.
It is the first dormant stellar-mass black hole to be detected outside of the Milky Way galaxy, the team claims.
A new view begins to piece together the 3D puzzle of Orion and how Barnard's Loop may have formed.
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