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Unusually Lightweight Black Hole Candidate Spotted by LIGO
04/08/2024

Unusually Lightweight Black Hole Candidate Spotted by LIGO

LIGO has detected a candidate black hole with a mass that falls within a so-called mass gap between the heaviest known neutron stars and the lightest black holes.
Artwork of merger between neutron star and black hole.
What Life Is Like Inside a NASA Simulation
04/02/2024

What Life Is Like Inside a NASA Simulation

Elise Cutts
It has been more than six months since Caltech alumnus Ross Brockwell (MS ’01) left his life in Virginia Beach to serve as the flight engineer for NASA’s first Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) mission.
Caltech alumnus Ross Brockwell (MS '01) wears a dark spacesuit as he conducts a mission on the red surface of a Mars simulation.
Magnetic Avalanche Triggered by Quantum Effects
03/28/2024

Magnetic Avalanche Triggered by Quantum Effects

Whitney Clavin
Researchers have detected quantum "Barkhausen noise" for the first time.
Christopher Simon holds a pink crystal made of lithium holmium yttrium fluoride.
Sleeping Supermassive Black Holes Awakened Briefly by Shredded Stars
03/26/2024

Sleeping Supermassive Black Holes Awakened Briefly by Shredded Stars

Whitney Clavin
Radio observations of Compact Symmetric Objects (CSOs) provide new clues about their origins.
Radio contour image of a black hole with a bipolar jet.
Brinson Exploration Hub Launches New Frontier for Science and Engineering
03/21/2024

Brinson Exploration Hub Launches New Frontier for Science and Engineering

Seeded with a $100 million gift, the Brinson Hub will test new ways to do research in fields ranging from earth and planetary science to astrophysics to engineering
Brinson Hub ceremony
Building a Burger with Math
02/19/2024

Building a Burger with Math

Whitney Clavin
Koji Arai, a lead research scientist at LIGO who dabbles in art, created a digital burger using just one mathematical formula.
A digital burger drawn with one mathematical formula.
New Caltech-led Mission Will Study Ultraviolet Sky, Stars, Stellar Explosions
02/13/2024

New Caltech-led Mission Will Study Ultraviolet Sky, Stars, Stellar Explosions

In addition to conducting a highly sensitive all-sky survey, UVEX will be able to quickly point toward sources of ultraviolet light in the universe.
Picture of the spiral galaxy NGC 1097.
How Can AI Propel Exploration of the Cosmos, the Oceans, and the Earth?
02/06/2024

How Can AI Propel Exploration of the Cosmos, the Oceans, and the Earth?

Ann Motrunich
Hear from four researchers on the Caltech Science Exchange.
Black and white headshots of of four researchers on top of an image of dots and lines meant to represent data science
75 Years Later, Palomar Observatory Still Shaping Astronomy
01/26/2024

75 Years Later, Palomar Observatory Still Shaping Astronomy

Whitney Clavin
Formerly the world’s largest working telescope for more than 40 years, the facility remains cutting-edge thanks to new instrumentation
Picture of Hale Telescope dome
New Data, Same Great Appearance for M87*
01/22/2024

New Data, Same Great Appearance for M87*

Emily Velasco
An astronomy team that includes Caltech researchers has generated a new image of M87*, the first black hole imaged by humans. The reproducibility of M87*'s likeness with new data helps to validate the original work.
An image of the M87  black hole