"Astronomers Aaron Smith and Volker Bromm of The University of Texas at Austin, working with Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, have discovered evidence for an unusual kind of black hole born extremely early in the universe. They showed that a recently discovered unusual source of intense radiation is likely powered by a "direct-collapse black hole," a type of object predicted by theorists more than a decade ago."

Full CfA Press Release: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2016-15

Image: An...

View a television interview with Avi Loeb on the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative, a project to visit the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, that some of our students and postdocs are involved in.

http://www.newtv.org/video/innovation-showcase/Breakthrough-Starshot-Initiative/

Professor Daniel Eisenstein was selected by the Simons Foundation as a 2016 Simons Investigator. "The Simons Investigators program provides a stable base of support for outstanding scientists, enabling them to undertake long-term study of fundamental questions."

"Our Earth consists of silicate rocks and an iron core with a thin veneer of water and life. But the first potentially habitable worlds to form might have been very different. New research suggests that planet formation in the early universe might have created carbon planets consisting of graphite, carbides, and diamond. Astronomers might find these diamond worlds by searching a rare class of stars.

"'This work shows that even stars with a tiny fraction of the carbon in our solar system can host planets,' says lead author and Harvard University graduate student Natalie Mashian....