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Astrophysics Spotlights

Search for life beyond Earth
The Extraterrestrial Next Door
Nov 29, 2018

Researchers Sukrit Ranjan, Morgan Cable and Andrew Steele discuss new signs of chemistry favorable to life at Mars, Europa, and Enceladus—plus how to probe for its presence with interplanetary missions.

Jacqueline Hewitt and TESS
Planets Aplenty with the TESS Mission: An Interview with the Director of the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Apr 23, 2018

In this Kavli Q&A, astrophysicist Jacqueline Hewitt, director of the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, discusses how the TESS exoplanet mission has already changed the Institute and will bring about further evolution in the years to come.

TESS
To Seek Out New Life: How the TESS Mission Will Accelerate the Hunt for Livable Alien Worlds
Apr 18, 2018

The just-launched Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) could soon provide the breakthrough identification of dozens of potentially habitable exoplanets right in our cosmic backyard. Two TESS scientists—Greg Berthiaume and Diana Dragomir—provide an inside look at the mission's development and revolutionary science. ​

Supernova
A "Living Dead" Star that Could Shed Light on the Early Universe
Feb 16, 2018

A newfound star in a nearby galaxy appears to have cheated death by exploding at least twice as a supernova. It could be a throwback to the first stars that ever formed in the cosmos. We spoke to three astrophysicists—Iair Arcavi, Emily Levesque and Lars Bildsten—about this "living dead' star.

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