@Harvard & @Smithsonian collaboration to ask — and ultimately answer — humanity’s greatest questions about the nature of the universe.
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ALT Artist's illustration of a black hole consuming a star. Dust and material swirl around a bright white focal point.
ALT Center for Astrophysics Director Lisa Kewley smiles next to an outdoor sign on the Harvard campus. The sign reads "Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, 60 Garden Street."
ALT A light streak appears behind the Intelsat 40e rocket launch.
ALT An image of the center of the Milky Way combines data from NASA's three Great Observatories, or space-based telescopes. In this image, X-rays from the Chandra X-ray Observatory are blue and violet, near-infrared emission from the Hubble Space Telescope is yellow, and Spitzer's infrared data are red.
ALT Yvette Cendes smiles and holds up a magazine spread. The magazine reads "25 Rising Stars in Astronomy."
ALT Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, appears as an orange donut-like structure on a black background. Glowing gas orbiting around the black hole reveals a telltale signature: a dark central region (called a “shadow”) surrounded by a bright ring-like structure.
ALT Photo of Lisa Kewley, smiling woman in the foreground of an academic office.
ALT Black and white image of astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt working at her desk in the Harvard College Observatory. She holds a pencil and jots down notes in a notebook.
ALT A panoramic image of the Milky Way galaxy. Dark tendrils of dust are threaded throughout the image, which is brimming with white stars. The survey identified 3.32 billion objects.
ALT Artist's illustration of the exoplanet WASP-39b. The reddish planet, in the foreground, is scattered with clouds. A star emitting white and blueish light is in the background lighting up the planet's atmosphere. A white box zooms-in on the planet's atmosphere, revealing various molecules, including sulfur dioxide.
ALT Eight scientists casually lean against a wall reading different newspapers, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. The first-ever image of a black hole is on the cover of each paper. From left to right: Daniel Palumbo, Dom Pesce, Kari Haworth, Maciek Wielgus, Shep Doeleman, Michael Johnson, Joseph Farah and Alex Raymond.
ALT A bloated, egg-shaped blue star, known as a pre-extremely low mass white dwarf, is losing its mass to a companion white dwarf star that appears much smaller. The white dwarf companion is red, white and blueish in color.
ALT A zoomed-in photo emphasizes galaxy HD1 in space. HD1 appears small, but is bright red. It is considered extremely bright in ultraviolet light.
ALT Shreyas Vissapragada poses for a portrait.
ALT Black and white photo of the original Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory building -- a small shed that sat on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. In front of the shed is a castle-like building, the Smithsonian Institution. A black and white portrait of Samuel Langley sits on the upper left corner of the image.
ALT Historical image of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in its former location on the National Mall behind the Smithsonian castle.
ALT An illustration showing what exoplanet WASP-39 b could look like, based on current understanding of the planet. The planet, which appears only partially lit, has a purple hue and sits in the foreground. The bright white star that the planet transits is in the background.
ALT New colorful furniture, lighting and paint have transformed the lobby of the Center for Astrophysics.
ALT Collage showing images of molecules in various planetary disks.
ALT A collage of 10 women who work at the Center for Astrophysics: Christine Jones, Jennifer Yee, Belinda Wilkes, Nancy Brickhouse, Karin Oberg, Jenna Samra, Kimberly Arcand, Rosanne di Stefano, Giuseppina Fabbiano and Mercedes Lopez-Morales.
ALT Flyer showing lecture details and an image of a black hole.
ALT Credit: NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory
ALT Photo of the interior of the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum. Large digital globe in the center of the "One World Connected" exhibit with the silver and red Beechcraft Bonanza hanging over it to the left.
ALT Harvard alumna Jane Huang
ALT Photo of the Center for Astrophysics’ booth setup at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
ALT Rendering of Lynx X-ray Observatory spacecraft
ALT With the sun setting in the background, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sits ready to go surrounded by four towers.
ALT Graphic titled “Rocky Exoplanet LHS 475 b Transit Light Curve, NIRSpec Bright Object Time-Series Spectroscopy.” Behind the graph is an illustration of the planet and its star. The graph, or spectrum, shows the change in relative brightness of the star-planet system between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 31, 2022. The spectrum shows that the brightness of the system remains steady until the planet begins to transit the star. It then decreases, representing when the planet is directly in front of the star. The brightness increases again when the planet is no longer blocking the star, at which point it levels out. The graph shows data in purple circles, which chart measurements before, during, and after the transit. Data form a U-shaped valley of low brightness labeled “Starlight blocked by the planet” at 5 p.m. This dip cuts into a flat plain of high brightness labeled “Starlight,” which starts before the U-shaped dip, and resumes after the dip.
ALT The Smithsonian Castle in Washington, DC in early morning light with Enid A. Haupt Garden in the foreground.
ALT Background image of the Milky Way galaxy with text layered on top that reads: Event Horizon Telescope. Breaking News from the Center of the Milky Way Galaxy. 5:15 pm ET Monday, May 16. Harvard Science Center, Hall C.
ALT On the left, exoplanet PDS 70b is shown orbiting a star. On the right, a composite image zooms in to PDS 70b showing the discovered moon-forming disk surrounding the planet.
ALT Eight students link arms and smile at the camera. Pictured from back left to right: Latino Initiative Program interns Melanie Guerra, Adrian Peguero, Dashon Jones, Seijiro Yoshihara, Ryhan Mortuza, Adriana Medina and Miranda Harkess. Center front: Victor Samuel Pérez Díaz, an intern who participates in a separate CfA summer program.
ALT Background image of the Milky Way galaxy with text layered on top that reads: Event Horizon Telescope. Breaking News from the Center of the Milky Way Galaxy. 5:15 pm ET Monday, May 16. Harvard Science Center, Hall C.
ALT Portrait of Floor outside; trees are in the background.
ALT The background of space is black. Thousands of galaxies appear all across the view. Their shapes and colors vary. Some are various shades of orange, others are white. Most stars appear blue, and are sometimes as large as more distant galaxies that appear next to them. A very bright star is just above and left of center. It has eight bright blue, long diffraction spikes. Between 4 o’clock and 6 o’clock in its spikes are several very bright galaxies. A group of three are in the middle, and two are closer to 4 o’clock. These galaxies are part of the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, and they are warping the appearances of galaxies seen around them. Long orange arcs appear at left and right toward the center.
ALT Packed auditorium with audience waiting for panelists to begin lecture.
ALT Artist's conception of the Kepler-1658 system. A brown planet with tan stripes is in the foreground. In the background is a huge, hot bright yellow star.
ALT Flyer that reads: "We're exhibiting! 241st Meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Seattle, Washington. January 8-12, 2023. #AAS241"
ALT Artist's illustration of the Giant Magellan Telescope with its dome open. Seven large, round mirrors are arranged in a hexagonal shape and point up towards the sky. A group of people are looking up at the multi-story structure.
ALT Artist’s impression of the closest black hole to Earth and its Sun-like companion star. A large white star with an orange hue sits in the foreground. A dark, round sphere with hints of silver is in the background closeby.
ALT Portrait of Floor Broekgaarden outside in front of a green telescope dome.
ALT SAO Advisory Board Chair Michael Tuteur presents CfA Director Charles Alcock with a plaque inscribed with details about the new endowment.
