www.cfa.harvard.edu

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 | ...
www.cfa.harvard.edu

First atmosphere detected on a habitable-zone rocky world

In a major milestone in the search for life on other planets, astronomers have detected, for the first time, an atmosphere surrounding an Earth-like, rocky planet orbiting within the habitable zone of ...
www.cfa.harvard.edu

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 ...
www.cfa.harvard.edu

Astronomers Unveil Strong Magnetic Fields Spiraling at the Edge of Milky Way’s Central Black Hole

CfA astronomers led two new EHT studies that have produced the first polarized light image of the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy. Cambridge, MA--A new image from the ...
www.cfa.harvard.edu

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 ...
www.cfa.harvard.edu

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 ...
www.cfa.harvard.edu

Astronomers Discover New Building Blocks of Complex Organic Matter

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 ...
www.cfa.harvard.edu

Mystery Solved: Dust Cloud Led to Betelgeuse's 'Great Dimming'

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" ...
www.cfa.harvard.edu

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 ...
www.cfa.harvard.edu

'Space Archaeology' Reveals First Dynamic History of a Giant Spiral Galaxy

For the first time, astronomers used galactic archaeology techniques to trace the chemical "fossil record" of a galaxy outside the Milky Way Cambridge, MA (March 23, 2026) — A team of astronomers led ...
www.cfa.harvard.edu

'Black Hole Police' Discover a Dormant Black Hole Outside of the Milky Way Galaxy

It is the first dormant stellar-mass black hole to be detected outside of the Milky Way galaxy, the team claims. "For the first time, our team got together to report on a black hole discovery, instead ...
www.cfa.harvard.edu

Remembering Astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt

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 ...