Stargazers know all too well the challenges of observing the
night sky on a cloudy evening. Fortunately, waiting a night or two
can help to resolve the issue. But what happens if these clouds are
light years away and lie seemingly dormant in the...
It is well known that the expansion of the universe is
accelerating due to a mysterious dark energy. Within galaxies,
stars also experience an acceleration, though this is due to some
combination of dark matter and the stellar density. In a new...
"Within our galaxy, there are thousands of stars that orbit the
center of the Milky Way at high velocities. On occasion, some of
them pick up so much speed that they break free of our galaxy and
become intergalactic objects. Because of the extreme...
"...Freeman
Dyson had a lot of stories. One of my favorites was about how
he decided to turn from studying mathematics to studying physics.
As he told me in his “Math Life” interview, he was
walking down the King’s Parade in Cambridge with a
friend...
By Sara
Seager, Member (1999–2002) in the School of Natural
Sciences
"At its essence, astrophysics is the study of light. We know
that there are stars other than the sun because we can see them
shining. But light doesn’t just illuminate. Light...
By Kristen R.
Ghodsee, Member (2006–07) in the School of Social
Science:
"For Dyson, the mysteries of human behavior were just as deep
and enduring as the mysteries of the universe. In the sheer breadth
of his interests, Dyson embodied the ideal...
When particle physicists try to model experiments, they confront
an impossible calculation — an infinitely long equation that
lies beyond the reach of modern mathematics. But threerecentpapers from a group of physicists led by
Sebastian
Mizera...
The 2020 Shaw Prize in Astronomy has been awarded to Roger Blandford, Member
(1974–75, 1998) in the School of Natural Sciences. Blandford
is recognized “for his foundational contributions to
theoretical astrophysics, especially concerning the...
A team of researchers, led by Lena Murchikova, Bezos Member in
the School of Natural Sciences, has made new strides in
understanding the supermassive black hole at the center of the
Milky Way galaxy, Sagittarius A*. The results, to be published in
N...
