Cambridge, MA Processes that laid the foundation for life on Earth -- star and planet formation and the production of complex organic molecules in interstellar space -- are yielding thei...

There are currently 340 known extra-solar planets (planets orbiting other stars). These planets range from one as small as only 1.7 earth-masses to a few dozen with masses ten to twenty t...

Nearly all galaxies are thought to have massive black holes at their nuclei, containing millions or even billions of solar masses of material. The size, structure, and physical propertie...

Astronomer Alicia Soderberg has been awarded the 2009 Annie Jump Cannon Award by the American Astronomical Society "for outstanding research and promise for future research." This award i...

Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe, and an essential constituent of life. Atomic carbon is also a critical component in the giant gas clouds that populate galaxies...

Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the universe (after hydrogen and helium). It is therefore thought to be an important constituent of the clouds of gas and dust from which new ...

Cambridge, MA 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 E...

When a clump of interstellar gas and dust is small and dense enough, gravity plays a decisive role in turning that material into a new star. But what role does gravity play in shaping la...

Dr. Jeffrey McClintock will share the 2009 Rossi Prize for his research that measured the masses of black holes found in X-ray binary star systems. The prize is awarded annually by the Hi...

Our Milky Way galaxy is not alone in its cosmic neighborhood. It belongs to the “Local Group,” a set of about 30 galaxies that are held together by their mutual gravitational attraction. ...