Have you been working from home the past few months? Most of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard and Smithsonian staff has, too—but not everyone! To ensure that our critical research co...

A blazar is a galaxy whose central nucleus is bright across the spectrum, from low energy radio wavelengths to the high energy gamma rays like those observed by the Fermi Gamma Ray Space ...

Cambridge, MA - Scientists at Harvard University and the Black Hole Initiative (BHI) have developed a new method to find black holes in the outer solar system, and along with it, determin...

Polarized light is a familiar phenomenon because the scattering or reflection of light results in one of its two components being preferentially absorbed. The majority of sunlight on Eart...

A maser, like a laser, is a source of bright, monochromatic electromagnetic radiation, with the difference being that maser radiation is not optical light but rather longer wavelength mic...

Cambridge, MA - Scientists at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian and the University of Rochester are collaborating on a project to search the universe for signs of li...

A black hole, at least in our current understanding, is characterized by having "no hair," that is, it is so simple that it can be completely described by just three parameters, its mass,...

Join the F.L. Whipple Observatory and friends for a Nationwide Livestream Solarbration on June 20, 2020 in honor of International SUNday! Astronomers from Smithsonian Astrophysical Obser...

Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) are dark patches of cold dust and gas seen in the sky against the bright diffuse infrared glow of warm dust in our galaxy. These IRDCs, massive and rich in mo...

Cambridge, MA - Scientists at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and the Black Hole Initiative (BHI), have shed light on how black holes grow over time by developin...