The heart of a far-off star beats for its planet
For the first time, astronomers from MIT and elsewhere have observed a star pulsing in response to its orbiting planet.The star, which goes by the name HAT-P-2, is about 400 light years from Earth and...
View ArticleMedia Lab sets sights on space
Amid a recent resurgence of interest and investment in space, the MIT Media Lab is setting up a new initiative to explore the possibilities. And, its students were the impetus. “It started over last...
View ArticleAnother potentially habitable extrasolar planet discovered
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, scientists could only postulate at the existence of planets orbiting other suns. Today, the race is on to find the first with signs of life, and it's hot.With so...
View ArticleTESS mission to discover new planets moves toward launch
A NASA mission designed to explore the stars in search of planets outside of our solar system is a step closer to launch, now that its four cameras have been completed by researchers at MIT.The...
View ArticleCitizen scientists discover five tightly packed exoplanets
Five new planets have been discovered outside our solar system, all orbiting a sun-like star located within the constellation Aquarius, nearly 620 light years from Earth. The alien worlds are...
View ArticleEAPS welcomes Heising-Simons fellow Ian Wong
The Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) is looking forward to welcoming planetary scientist Ian Wong, one of the 51 Pegasi b Postdoctoral Fellows for 2018 announced this week...
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TESS readies for takeoff
There are potentially thousands of planets that lie just outside our solar system — galactic neighbors that could be rocky worlds or more tenuous collections of gas and dust. Where are these closest...
View ArticleUshering in the next phase of exoplanet discovery
Ever since scientists discovered the first planet outside of our solar system, 51 Pegasi b, the astronomical field of exoplanets has exploded, thanks in large part to the Kepler Space Telescope. Now,...
View ArticleTESS takes initial test image
The following is adapted from a press release issued today by MIT and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.NASA’s next planet hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), is one step closer...
View ArticleTiny ASTERIA satellite achieves a first for CubeSats
A miniature satellite called ASTERIA (Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research in Astrophysics) has measured the transit of a previously-discovered super-Earth exoplanet, 55 Cancri e. This finding...
View ArticleJulien de Wit and TRAPPIST-1 science team receive NASA award
NASA has recognized the science team behind the discovery of a distant planetary system with a Group Achievement Award. The award, given by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), cites the team for...
View ArticleJacqueline Hewitt to step down as director of the MIT Kavli Institute
Jacqueline Hewitt, the Julius A. Stratton Professor in Electrical Engineering and Physics, will step down as director of the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, effective Jan. 16,...
View ArticleRobert Simcoe named director of MIT Kavli Institute
The School of Science has announced that Robert Simcoe, the Francis L. Friedman Professor of Physics, will be the new director of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research (MKI). Simcoe...
View ArticleLighting up exoplanets
Ever since the discovery of the first exoplanet, 51 Pegasi b, hidden within the well-known Pegasus constellation in 1995, the burgeoning field of exoplanetary astronomy has taken off. Since then, the...
View ArticleTESS discovers its first Earth-sized planet
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, TESS, has discovered its first Earth-sized exoplanet. The planet, named HD 21749c, is the smallest world outside our solar system that TESS has identified...
View Article3Q: Julien de Wit on searching for red worlds in the northern skies
With a new telescope situated on a scenic plateau in Tenerife, Spain, MIT planetary scientists now have an added way to search for Earth-sized exoplanets. Artemis, the first ground-based telescope of...
View ArticleThe music of the spheres
Space has long fascinated poets, physicists, astronomers, and science fiction writers. Musicians, too, have often found beauty and meaning in the skies above. At MIT’s Kresge Auditorium, a group of...
View ArticleTESS team is awarded NASA's Silver Achievement Medal
On Sept. 5, NASA awarded a Silver Achievement Medal to the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) team. The award was presented during a ceremony at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as part...
View ArticleComputing and the search for new planets
When MIT launched the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing this fall, one of the goals was to drive further innovation in computing across all of MIT’s schools. Researchers are already...
View ArticleLincoln Laboratory welcomes Natalia Guerrero for Hispanic Heritage Month event
How unique is our solar system? This is a question that scientists have been trying to answer for a long time. It is also the question that Natalia Guerrero posed during her keynote address at MIT...
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