Binary Planetesimals
In fewer than ten million years, the material in the disk around a young star will either be accreted on to its star, dispersed into the interstellar medium, or converted into planets or ...
The Power of Spin
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Supermasssive black holes - objects with masses of millions or billions of suns - are found at the nuclei of dramatic galaxies like quasars where they are responsible for some of the most...
Robert Kirshner Awarded the 2011 Heineman Prize
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Robert Kirshner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has been awarded the 2011 Dannie Heineman prize of the of the American Institute of Physics and the American Astronomica...
The Best Way to Measure Dark Energy Just Got Better
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Seattle, WA
Dark energy is a mysterious force that pervades all space, acting as a "push" to accelerate the Universe's expansion. Despite being 70 percent of the Universe, dark energy wa...
Young Stellar Clusters
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Most stars are thought to form in clusters rather than in isolation, as the gas and dust in a molecular cloud coalesces under the influence of gravity until clumps develop that are dense ...
Dr. Gaspar Bakos Awarded 2011 Newton Lacy Pierce Prize
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Dr. Gaspar Bakos of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has been awarded the 2011 Newton Lacy Pierce prize of the American Astronomical Society for "for outstanding achievemen...
New Telescope Exploring Solar System "Outback"
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Seattle, WA
In the outer reaches of our solar system lies a mysterious region far more remote and difficult to explore than the Australian outback. It remains the only part of our solar ...
Exoplanetary Systems
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There are now about fifty stars known with more than one orbiting planet - they are the exoplanetary equivalents of the solar system. These stellar families are critical to astronomers pi...
Grant Williams Appointed New Director of MMT Observatory
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Cambridge, MA
As of January 1, 2011, the MMT Observatory, a joint venture of the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Arizona, is under new leadership. Grant Williams, who has s...
Smithsonian Scientists "Fill the Gap," View Sun's Innermost Corona
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Cambridge, MA
During a total eclipse of the Sun, skywatchers are awed by the shimmering corona -- a faint glow that surrounds the Sun like gossamer flower petals. This outer layer of the...