Scientists now estimate that there are over a trillion galaxies in the Universe. Many follow broad classification patterns, but no two are exactly alike. The variety of galaxies we see gives us a ...

Cambridge, MA--A new image from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration — which includes scientists from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) — has uncovered strong and ...

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 ...

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 ...

Cambridge, MA – Astrophysicists have performed a powerful new analysis that places the most precise limits yet on the composition and evolution of the universe. With this analysis, dubbed Pantheon+, ...

Cambridge, Mass. – A new study has revealed the true shape of the diffuse cloud of stars surrounding the disk of our galaxy. For decades, astronomers thought this cloud of stars — called the stellar ...

Caption: This artist's concept illustrates the results of a new study that measured the masses of many planets relative to the stars that host them, leading to new information about populations of ...

The element carbon is a building block for life, both on Earth and potentially elsewhere in the vast reaches of space. There should be a lot of carbon in space, but surprisingly, it's not always easy ...

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 ...

The star Betelgeuse became visibly darker in 2019 and 2020, puzzling astronomers. New images show that the star was partially concealed by a cloud of dust, solving the mystery of the "Great Dimming" ...

On the evening of December 12, 1921, as 53-year old astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt succumbed to cancer, heavy rains fell from the skies over Cambridge, Massachusetts. After nearly 30 years at the ...

Cambridge, MA -- Signs of a planet transiting a star outside of the Milky Way galaxy may have been detected for the first time. This intriguing result, using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, opens up ...