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What is the universe made of?

Matter and energy are the two basic components of the entire Universe. An enormous challenge for scientists is that most of the matter in the Universe is invisible and the source of most of the energy ...
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Ready for its Close-up: New Technology Sharpens Images of Black Holes

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 ...
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M87* One Year Later: Proof of a Persistent Black Hole Shadow

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 ...
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AI Helps Astronomers Discover a New Type of Supernova

Astronomers have discovered what may be a massive star exploding while trying to swallow a black hole, offering an explanation for one of the strangest supernovae ever seen. Cambridge, MA - ...
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A New GPS for the Intergalactic Medium: Astronomers Have Found the Home Address for Universe's "Missing" Matter

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 ...
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The Most Precise Accounting Yet of Dark Energy and Dark Matter

Analyzing more than two decades' worth of supernova explosions convincingly bolsters modern cosmological theories and reinvigorates efforts to answer fundamental questions. Cambridge, MA – ...
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Astronomers Discover Rare Distant Object in Sync with Neptune

This object, called 2020 VN40, is the first confirmed body that orbits the sun once for every ten orbits Neptune completes. Cambridge, MA — A team of astronomers led by the Center for Astrophysics | ...
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Event Horizon Telescope Makes Highest-Resolution Black Hole Detections from Earth

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 ...
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Origin of Mysterious Radio Signal Possibly Discovered

CfA astronomers have led the discovery of what may be the source of a powerful burst of radio waves coming from another galaxy Cambridge, MA - Astronomers have discovered what may be the source of a ...
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Scientists Make First-Ever Detection of Mid-IR Flares in Sgr A*

An international team of scientists, including multiple astronomers from CfA, have made the first-ever detection of a mid-IR flare from Sgr A*. National Harbor, MD - Using the James Webb Space ...
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Astronomers May Have Discovered the First Planet Outside of Our Galaxy

Until now, astronomers have found all other known exoplanets and exoplanet candidates in the Milky Way galaxy, almost all less than about 3,000 light-years from Earth. Cambridge, MA-- Signs of a ...
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Alien Planet Found Spiraling to its Doom around an Aging Star

Cambridge, Mass. – For the first time, astronomers have spotted an exoplanet whose orbit is decaying around an evolved, or older, host star. The stricken world appears destined to spiral closer and ...