2017

2018 AAS Poster Abstracts

"Are we alone? This is surely a question each and every one of us has asked, at some point in our lives. And while most of us go no further than simply putting this question out there, there are people who feel compelled to devote time and effort in a bid...

"It’s a long shot, but scientists are about to listen very closely for radio signals from our solar system’s first known interstellar visitor." "Ever since its discovery in mid-October as it passed by Earth already outbound from our solar system, the...

The Harvard Crimson recently profiled one of the Astronomy Department's undergraduates, Eden Girma. Eden is pursuing a joint concentration in Mathematics and Astrophysics and is currently working on her Senior Thesis with Department Chair Avi Loeb...

"It’s impossible to miss when the seasons change. But do most people understand the science behind those changes? According to decades-old research by astronomers and educators at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), probably not." "Many...

"Somewhere in the neighborhood of the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri—4.25 light years from Cambridge—a small, hyper-reflective spacecraft will home in on an unfamiliar planet." Full article in the Harvard Crimson

Origins of our elements Scientists have been able to piece together where many of the elements of the periodic table come from. The Big Bang created hydrogen, the lightest and most abundant element. As stars shine, they fuse hydrogen into heavier elements...

Below are links to interviews with CfA Team Members Prof. Edo Berger, Graduate Student Kate Alexander, Graduate Student Phil Cowperthwaite, Postdoctoral Fellow Matt Nicholl

Streamed live on Oct 16, 2017 BREAKING NEWS: LIGO - Virgo discovery marks first cosmic event observed in both gravitational waves and light. Announcement made at the National Press Club, Washington, DC. Panel with representatives from various telescopes...

Marking the beginning of a new era in astrophysics, scientists have detected gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation, or light, from the same event for the first time. This historic discovery reveals the merger of two neutron stars, the dense...