The Kepler satellite, which has now reported the detection of 1781 candidate exoplanets (a planet around a star other than the sun), has also discovered that at least one of them orbits a...

Cambridge, MA New observations by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, show there are significantly fewer near-Earth asteroids in the mid-size range than previously thoug...

Harvard University Dean of Science Jeremy Bloxham has announced that Professor David Charbonneau is one of two recipients of Harvard's 2011 Fannie Cox Prize for Excellence in Science Teac...

The current picture of galaxy evolution argues that galaxies often collide and merge, and that when they do so the black holes at their centers also ultimately come together to orbit one ...

Cambridge, MA Although cold and gaseous rather than a desert world, the newfound planet Kepler-16b is still the closest astronomers have come to discovering Luke Skywalker's home world o...

Researchers developing key new technology electronics like quantum computing or advanced detectors, as well as those studying basic material science and metal surface properties, often fi...

Popular Science magazine has selected CfA astronomer Justin Kasper as one of this year's "Brilliant Ten" scientists. According to the magazine, the Brilliant Ten - all researchers under t...

Cambridge, MA Usually, running five minutes late is a bad thing since you might lose your dinner reservation or miss out on tickets to the latest show. But when a planet runs five minute...

Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) are dark patches in the sky seen against the continuous, bright infrared background produced by our galaxy.IRDCs are rich in molecules and relatively dense, c...

Cambridge, MA In the Hollywood blockbuster "Speed," a bomb on a bus is rigged to blow up if the bus slows down below 50 miles per hour. The premise - slow down and you explode - makes fo...