Theory is how scientists fit data collected from observation into a system of understanding. However, some astrophysical systems are too complicated to be treated adequately using straightforward ...

Space doesn’t have air, but it does have weather. This weather comes from the Sun: the high-energy light emitted by the Sun and the electrically charged particles known as the solar wind, which can ...

As astronomers build increasingly larger observatories capable of seeing more objects in the sky, the amount of data they collect has gone beyond what humans can analyze without help. Instead, ...

Throughout the last century of scientific discovery, as well as the history of popular culture and science fiction, black holes have been a source of fascination and mystery. One thing is certain: ...

Finding and describing new exoplanets using TESS and other observatories. TESS is designed to observe stars closer to the Solar System than those studied by other observatories, providing targets for ...

The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian Radio & Geoastronomy (R&G) division explores the Universe using the low-energy portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, including the radio, ...

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) was founded in 1890 under Smithsonian Secretary Samuel Pierpont Langley as a research bureau of the Smithsonian Institution. It began its tenure ...

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration has conducted test observations achieving the highest resolution ever obtained from the surface of the Earth, by detecting light from the centers of ...

Using new computational algorithms, scientists have measured a sharp ring of light predicted to originate from photons whipping around the back of a supermassive black hole. Cambridge, MA – When ...

Cambridge, Mass – The telescope's array of highly sensitive instruments was trained on the atmosphere of a "hot Saturn" — a planet about as massive as Saturn orbiting a star some 700 light-years away ...

CfA astronomers helped lead a study discovering changes in the bright ring around M87's black hole, confirming the theoretical understanding of the variable and turbulent flow of material around black ...

Using fast radio bursts to guide them, CfA astronomers have mapped the distribution of the Universe's ordinary matter in the space between galaxies, and detected the most distant fast radio bursts to ...