What is the universe made of? | Center for Astrophysics

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src="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/2019-05/UniverseMadeof_169_2.mp4"> </video> </div> <div class="hero"> <div class="hero__text-brace"> <h1>What is the universe made of?</h1> <div id="block-cfa-breadcrumbs"> <nav role="navigation" aria-labelledby="system-breadcrumb"> <h2 id="system-breadcrumb" class="visually-hidden">Breadcrumb</h2> <ul class="breadcrumbs"> <li> <a href="/">Home ></a> </li> <li> <a href="/big-questions">Big Questions ></a> </li> <li> <a href="/big-questions/what-universe-made">What is the universe made of? </a> </li> </ul> </nav> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="gutter-lock gutter-lock--has-sidebar"> <div class="standard-column-mwc"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--8-700"> <div class="lede lede--bg-expand copy-box"> <div> <div><p>Matter and energy are the two basic components of the entire Universe. An enormous challenge for scientists is that most of the matter in the Universe is invisible and the source of most of the energy is not understood. How can we study the Universe if we can’t see most of it?</p></div> </div> </div> <div about="/big-questions/what-universe-made"> </div> <div class="copy-box standard-column six-cell-pre-at-700"> <h2>Our Work</h2> <div class="list-hold paragraph paragraph--type--stat-with-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="block-stat paragraph paragraph--type--stat paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="numbers">95%</div> <div class="words">The percentage of matter and energy in the Universe that is currently unobservable</div> </div> <div><p>As our tools for observation grow more sophisticated, scientists at Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian will continue to be at the forefront of dark matter and dark energy research.</p> <p>NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical telescopes help map the distribution of dark matter in colliding galaxy clusters, like the Bullet Cluster. X-ray observations show a heated shock front where the gas from the clusters collided and slowed down, but gravitational lensing measurements show that dark matter was unaffected by the collision and separate from the normal matter.</p> <p>It is theorized that when some dark matter particles collide, they annihilate and disappear in a flash of high-energy radiation. The <a href="/facilities-technology/telescopes-instruments/very-energetic-radiation-imaging-telescope">Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS)</a> in Arizona, which can detect gamma-ray radiation, is looking for the signature of dark matter annihilation.</p> <p>The <a href="/facilities-technology/telescopes-instruments/south-pole-telescope-antarctica">South Pole Telescope</a> in Antarctica and Chandra are placing limits on dark energy by looking for its effects on galaxy cluster evolution throughout the history of the Universe. By comparing observations of galaxy clusters with experimental models, researchers are studying how dark energy competed with gravity throughout the history of the Universe.</p> <p>Scientists at CfA have led the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), analyzing millions of galaxies and charting their distribution in the Universe. The distribution has been shown to trace sound waves from the early Universe, like ripples in a pond, where some regions have higher numbers of galaxies, and others have less. Looking at these distributions, we can more accurately measure the distance to galaxies and map the effects of dark energy.</p> <p>On the horizon, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will create a 3D map of the Universe, containing millions of galaxies out to 10 billion light years. This map will measure dark energy’s effect on the expansion of the Universe. And the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will observe billions of galaxies and discover unprecedented numbers of supernovae, constraining the properties of dark matter and dark energy.</p></div> </div> <div><h2>Dark Matter and Dark Energy</h2> <p>Astronomer Fritz Zwicky was the first to notice the discrepancy between the amount of visible matter in a cluster of galaxies and the motions of the galaxies themselves. He suggested that there may be invisible matter, or what he called “dark matter”, interacting gravitationally with the visible matter. Later, astronomers noticed similar incongruities when observing nearby spiral galaxies. The outer edges of the galaxies rotated much faster than expected, suggesting “dark matter” existed throughout and extended beyond the visible galaxy.</p> <p>Today, we can estimate the amount of dark matter in a galaxy based on how it causes light from a background source to bend. Using this “gravitational lensing” technique, we can measure the severity of that bend to get an idea of the galaxy’s mass. When the mass we calculate from the bend and the mass we can observe directly don’t agree, we know dark matter must be present.</p> <p>Modern calculations say dark matter comprises about 27% of the Universe. We don’t yet know what it is, but we are searching for answers.</p> <p>We have known that the Universe is expanding since the early 20th century. But recent observations of distant supernovae and other observations show that the Universe is not only expanding, but the expansion is accelerating. This astonishing discovery came as a complete surprise because the expansion of the Universe should slow down with time because of the gravitational attraction between galaxies and clusters of galaxies. The unseen repellant force required to explain this observation has been labelled “dark energy,” and current models say it makes up about 68% of the Universe.</p> <p>That leaves only 5% of the Universe that is visible to us. </p> <p> </p> <div data-embed-button="media_entity_embed" data-entity-embed-display="view_mode:media.medium" data-entity-embed-display-settings="[]" data-entity-type="media" data-entity-uuid="7d56739c-72b9-4d70-bc4f-3ff7131effd6" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity img-frame"> <div class="image-medium-wrapper"> <img src="/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2019-09/opo9919i.jpg?itok=IYkg4OAi" alt="Supernova 1994D"> <div class="caption"> <div class="caption-description"> <div><p>Supernova 1994D in this image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope might look like a star, but it's the explosion of a white dwarf that nearly outshone an entire galaxy. Such supernovas — known as type Ia — are extremely similar to each other, allowing astronomers to use them to measure the rate of the expansion of the universe.</p></div> </div> <div class="caption-credit"> <div>Credit: NASA/ESA, The Hubble Key Project Team and The High-Z Supernova Search Team</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <p> </p> <h2>What We Know and What We Think</h2> <p>While we can’t see dark matter, we know it’s there. And we can investigate some of dark matter’s properties using gravitational lensing. This technique measures the gravitational pull galaxies exert on light from more distant sources. The warping and magnification of this light gives us insight into the amount, density, and distribution of dark matter in any given lensing galaxy. Theoretically, the current best explanation we have for dark matter is the existence of WIMPs, or Weakly Interacting Massive Particles. These theoretical particles should have certain predictable behaviors, but directly observing them and their byproducts so far has proved elusive.</p> <p>As for dark energy, Einstein had assumed the Universe was static, neither expanding nor collapsing. However, his Theory of General Relativity predicted that the Universe was not static, and so he added a “cosmological constant,” to oppose gravity. He later called it the “biggest blunder” of his life after Hubble demonstrated that the Universe was expanding.</p> <p>The discovery that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating revived the idea of the cosmological constant. The simplest interpretation of this constant is that it represents the energy of empty space. This “vacuum energy” is constant throughout space and time.</p> <p>Another interpretation is that dark energy might be an energy field that varies over time and space. Or, perhaps we do not fully understand gravity. For example, maybe it acts differently on enormous scales. Astronomers are currently testing modifications to General Relativity to see if they can explain the Universe’s accelerating expansion.</p></div> </div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--4-700 bg-expand"> <div class="copy-box sidebar bg-soft-blue"> <div class="sidebar-header">Share this Page</div> <div class="share-buttons"> <div class="grid"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--3"> <div class="svg-brace"> <svg viewBox="0 0 15 32" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><title>Facebook</title> <path d="M9.89 9.6V7.04c0-1.245.837-1.536 1.423-1.536h3.605V.02L9.952 0C4.44 0 3.188 4.09 3.188 6.707V9.6H0V16h3.215v16h6.428V16h4.77l.23-2.514L15 9.6H9.89z" fill-rule="evenodd"></path> </svg> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/big-questions/what-universe-made"> <div class="accessible-hidden">Share on Facebook</div> </a> </div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--3"> <div class="svg-brace"> <svg viewBox="0 0 36 29" 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grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <div class="meta"> <div class="date"><time datetime="2021-08-22T20:01:00+00:00">08.22.21</time> </div> <div class="label">News Release</div> </div> <h4>Interstellar Comets Like Borisov May Not be All That Rare</h4> </div> </div> </div> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="views-element-container"><div class="numbered-projects-grid curated-news-section has-searchbar js-view-dom-id-6fd3f74f491d7506bdb1a4dcb79d6db463245175b375e851ac20758f42d6f488"> <div class="gutter-lock gutter-lock--center"> <div class="standard-column"> <div class="copy-box headline"> <h2>Projects</h2> </div> <div> <a class="copy-box" href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/research/abacussummit"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--5-950"> <div class="news-photo-frame" style="background-image: url('https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2021-01/lightcone_AbacusSummit%20-%20Christine%20Benoit-Cropped%202.jpg?itok=Zr-eMC_S')"></div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <h3>AbacusSummit</h3> <div class="meta"> <div>Theoretical Astrophysics, Institute for Theory and Computation</div> </div> <div class="h4">AbacusSummit is the world’s largest suite of high-performance cosmological N-body simulations, developed to meet and exceed the analysis requirements of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. These simulations allow one to predict the large-scale structure that results from a wide range of cosmological models, enabling detailed investigations of theories of cosmological structure formation and comparison to the coming decade of observational surveys.</div> </div> </div> <div class="item-number">1</div> </div> </a> <a class="copy-box" href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/research/astroai"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--5-950"> <div class="news-photo-frame" style="background-image: url('https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2024-01/AAI_logo_mini.jpg?itok=xZ97pss-')"></div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <h3>AstroAI</h3> <div class="meta"> <div>Atomic and Molecular Physics, High Energy Astrophysics, Optical and Infrared Astronomy, Radio and Geoastronomy, Solar, Stellar, and Planetary Sciences, Theoretical Astrophysics, Harvard University Department of Astronomy, Science Education Department, Central Engineering, Director's Office, Chandra X-ray Center, Institute for Theoretical Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics, Institute for Theory and Computation</div> </div> <div class="h4">AstroAI is a institute dedicated to the development of artificial intelligence to enable next generation astrophysics at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. Learn More</div> </div> </div> <div class="item-number">2</div> </div> </a> <a class="copy-box" href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/research/dark-energy-spectroscopic-instrument-desi"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--5-950"> <div class="news-photo-frame" style="background-image: url('https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2021-01/DESI%20image3%20-%20Christine%20Benoit.png?itok=Gugw_-Gi')"></div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <h3>Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI)</h3> <div class="meta"> <div>Optical and Infrared Astronomy</div> </div> <div class="h4">The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) consortium is conducting a five-year survey to map the large-scale structure of the Universe over one-third of the sky and 11 billion years of cosmic history, aiming to study the physics of dark energy.</div> </div> </div> <div class="item-number">3</div> </div> </a> <a class="copy-box" href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/research/gmacs"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--5-950"> <div class="news-photo-frame" style="background-image: url('https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2022-03/GMACS-Image.jpg?itok=dgL3QYT-')"></div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <h3>GMACS</h3> <div class="meta"> <div>Optical and Infrared Astronomy, Central Engineering</div> </div> <div class="h4">GMACS - Moderate Dispersion Optical Spectrograph for the Giant Magellan Telescope is a powerful optical spectrograph that will unlock the power of the Giant Magellan Telescope for research ranging from the formation of stars and planets to cosmology.<br /> <br /> For Scientists</div> </div> </div> <div class="item-number">4</div> </div> </a> <a class="copy-box" href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/research/hitran-and-hitemp-database"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--5-950"> <div class="news-photo-frame" style="background-image: url('https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2020-04/HITRAN_Sample_Atm_0.jpg?itok=1UKcJMcc')"></div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <h3>HITRAN and HITEMP Database</h3> <div class="meta"> <div>Atomic and Molecular Physics</div> </div> <div class="h4">With techniques developed in quantum mechanics, molecular spectra can be modeled by a set of discrete fundamental parameters. The knowledge of these reference molecular spectroscopic parameters is essential to correctly characterize constituents of their environments, model their spectra and atmospheric conditions. Physicists at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian maintain the HIgh-resolution TRANsmission (HITRAN) and HIgh TEMPerature (HITEMP) databases of molecular spectral parameters, along with the HITRAN Application Programming Interface (HAPI) which also enables one to access the database archive and process the data.<br /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="item-number">5</div> </div> </a> <a class="copy-box" href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/research/physics-primordial-universe"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--5-950"> <div class="news-photo-frame" style="background-image: url('https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2021-01/PRL_image%20-%20Xingang%20Chen-Cropped%202.jpg?itok=fyIhMj9f')"></div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <h3>Physics of the Primordial Universe</h3> <div class="meta"> <div>Harvard University Department of Astronomy, Institute for Theory and Computation</div> </div> <div class="h4">The Big Bang theory of cosmology successfully describes the 13.7 billion years of evolutionary history of our Universe. However, it is known that the current Big Bang theory cannot self-consistently explain its initial conditions. We are interested in finding out what caused the Big Bang, and the physics involved in this primordial epoch. We study physics, build models and propose observables for the primordial universe using quantum field theory, general relativity and/or string theory, and test them with data from astrophysical observations.</div> </div> </div> <div class="item-number">6</div> </div> </a> <a class="copy-box" href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/research/sloan-digital-sky-survey-sdss"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--5-950"> <div class="news-photo-frame" style="background-image: url('https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2021-01/SDSS%20-%20Christine%20Benoit%20-%20Cropped%202.png?itok=vLINNhAC')"></div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <h3>Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)</h3> <div class="meta"> <div>Optical and Infrared Astronomy, Chandra X-ray Center</div> </div> <div class="h4">The Sloan Digital Sky Survey continues its twenty-year legacy of wide-field optical/infrared imaging and spectroscopy, which has led astronomy into the era of large archives and data science. Harvard and Smithsonian are both full institutional members of the latest epoch of the survey, SDSS-V, which started observations in 2020.</div> </div> </div> <div class="item-number">7</div> </div> </a> <a class="copy-box" href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/research/cfa-redshift-catalog"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--5-950"> <div class="news-photo-frame" style="background-image: url('https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2019-05/CfARedshift_Hero.jpg?itok=7BwT8O6T')"></div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <h3>CfA Redshift Catalog</h3> <div class="meta"> <div>Optical and Infrared Astronomy</div> </div> <div class="h4">The universe is expanding, carrying galaxies with it like flotsam on a fast-flowing river. This expansion also stretches the wavelength of light, which astronomers call cosmological redshift, since it pushes visible light colors toward the red end of the spectrum. That means astronomers can determine the distance to far-away galaxies by measuring the redshift of light they produce. The CfA Redshift Catalog (ZCAT), created by researchers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, is a clearinghouse for historical redshift data from a number of observatories, including the 1.5-Meter Tillinghast Telescope and the MMT Observatory, both CfA-operated telescopes located at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) in Arizona. This data provides a map of galaxies in three dimensions, allowing astronomers to piece together how galaxies group on the largest scales in the universe. ZCAT is an essential resource for data on redshift surveys up to 2008, carrying on the legacy of the original CfA Redshift Surveys conducted in the 1970s and ‘80s.<br /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="item-number">8</div> </div> </a> <a class="copy-box" href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/research/star-formation-reference-survey"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--5-950"> <div class="news-photo-frame" style="background-image: url('https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2019-05/StarFormationRef_Hero.jpg?itok=oWvOv6AG')"></div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <h3>The Star Formation Reference Survey</h3> <div class="meta"> <div>Optical and Infrared Astronomy</div> </div> <div class="h4">Astronomers study star formation as a way of understanding our own origins, as well as the structure of galaxies and the evolution of the cosmos as a whole. However, the farther back in time, astronomers often rely on a single measurement type for each galaxy to measure star-formation rates. The Star Formation Reference Survey (SFRS) is designed to improve and assess the reliability of all of these measurements by cataloging nearby star formation, using NASA’s Spitzer Infrared Space Telescope and other observatories. The data produced provides a useful reference data across a wide range of wavelengths in the spectrum of light, which can be applied across surveys of star formation in close-by and distant galaxies. The SFRS observational effort is led by astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, in collaboration with other researchers around the world.<br /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="item-number">9</div> </div> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="views-element-container"><div class="numbered-projects-grid curated-news-section has-searchbar js-view-dom-id-146a34edd2668f31cf15613d57960d2a6742a9d34d73f4a9e69d9b72cf452ade"> <div class="gutter-lock gutter-lock--center"> <div class="standard-column"> <div class="copy-box headline"> <h2>Telescopes and Instruments</h2> </div> <div> <a class="copy-box" href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/facilities-technology/telescopes-instruments/15-meter-tillinghast-60-inch-telescope"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--5-950"> <div class="news-photo-frame" style="background-image: url('https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2019-03/1.5-meterTilinghasttelescope_Hero-867869189867869189.jpg?itok=D1Vuc5Dk')"></div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <h3>1.5-meter Tillinghast (60-inch) Telescope</h3> <div class="h4">The 1.5-Meter (60 Inch) Tillinghast Telescope is a general purpose visible-light telescope located at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) in southern Arizona, operated by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. Astronomers use this telescope to measure the spectrum of light emitted by a wide variety of objects in the Solar System, the Milky Way, and in distant galaxies.<br /> <br /> CfA Operated (OIR) | Open to CfA Scientists | Active<br /> <br /> Visit the 1.5 Meter (60 Inch) Tillinghast Telescope Website<br /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="item-number">1</div> </div> </a> <a class="copy-box" href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/facilities-technology/telescopes-instruments/chandra"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--5-950"> <div class="news-photo-frame" style="background-image: url('https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2020-03/Chandra-20years.jpg?itok=4y0k_1NL')"></div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <h3>Chandra</h3> <div class="h4">The Chandra X-ray Observatory is NASA’s flagship X-ray observatory, providing essential data on everything from the environment surrounding newborn stars to the emissions from hot plasma inside galaxy clusters. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), as part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, manages Chandra’s day-to-day operations, providing spacecraft control, observation planning, and data processing for astronomers. Chandra is one of NASA’s orbiting Great Observatories, along with the Hubble.<br /> <br /> Visit the Chandra Website<br /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="item-number">2</div> </div> </a> <a class="copy-box" href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/facilities-technology/telescopes-instruments/giant-magellan-telescope"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--5-950"> <div class="news-photo-frame" style="background-image: url('https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2019-04/WhyGMT_Hero.jpg?itok=ddwjfyJU')"></div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <h3>Giant Magellan Telescope</h3> <div class="h4">Is Earth unique, or are there other planets with life in the Milky Way? To answer this question and many others, astronomers need larger and more sensitive observatories than anything we currently have. For that reason, the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian is collaborating with a number of other institutions around the world to create the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), currently under construction in Chile. The GMT will consist of seven large mirrors acting in concert as one giant telescope 80 feet across. That large size provides an unprecedented view of the sky and the ability to detect the chemical composition of exoplanet atmospheres. Like NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the GMT will be a powerful tool across the field of astronomy, providing insights into the formation of planets, the structure of galaxies, and the evolution of the universe itself.<br /> <br /> Visit the GMT Website<br /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="item-number">3</div> </div> </a> <a class="copy-box" href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/facilities-technology/telescopes-instruments/magellan-telescopes"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--5-950"> <div class="news-photo-frame" style="background-image: url('https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2019-03/MagellenTelscopes_Hero-12768073511276807351.jpg?itok=7oVvj87f')"></div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <h3>Magellan Telescopes</h3> <div class="h4">The twin Magellan Telescopes in Chile are each 6.5 meter optical telescopes. These telescopes are both equipped with instruments to take images and spectra of light from a wide variety of astronomical sources, including exoplanet systems, star-forming regions, supernova remnants, and interacting galaxies. The Magellan Telescopes — named Baade and Clay —  are hosted at the Las Campanas Observatory and are operated by a consortium of institutions, including the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Carnegie Institution for Science, University of Arizona, the University of Michigan, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition, CfA scientists and engineers provided a wide field f/5 focal system (including secondary mirror and corrective optics), and a powerful astronomical camera for use at the Clay telescope.<br /> <br /> Visit the Magellan Telescopes Website<br /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="item-number">4</div> </div> </a> <a class="copy-box" href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/facilities-technology/telescopes-instruments/pan-starrs-1-science-consortium"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--5-950"> <div class="news-photo-frame" style="background-image: url('https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2019-03/Pan-STARRS_Hero-12828414441282841444.jpg?itok=kYaq0DOq')"></div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <h3>Pan-STARRS-1 Science Consortium</h3> <div class="h4">Many objects in the sky don’t change or move visibly on human time scales. However, many others do, especially objects in the Solar System. The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) program is designed to monitor the sky for transient astronomical phenomena: everything from near-Earth asteroids to supernovas in far-off galaxies. The first phase of the program, Pan-STARRS1, used a 1.8-meter telescope on the summit of Haleakalā on the island of Maui in Hawaii. The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian is part of the international Pan-STARRS1 Science consortium, along with the University of Hawaii and other institutions around the world. Pan-STARRS1 data revealed many asteroids, comets, and other previously-unknown moving or variable astronomical objects.<br /> <br /> Visit the Pan-STARRS1 Science Consortium Website<br /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="item-number">5</div> </div> </a> <a class="copy-box" href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/facilities-technology/telescopes-instruments/south-pole-telescope-antarctica"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--5-950"> <div class="news-photo-frame" style="background-image: url('https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2019-03/SouthPoleTelescope_Hero-20390147542039014754.jpg?itok=q0ijHT0z')"></div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <h3>South Pole Telescope, Antarctica</h3> <div class="h4">The South Pole Telescope (SPT) is a submillimeter observatory in Antarctica that performs measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the dark energy driving the acceleration of the expansion of the universe. The observatory is also part of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a globe-spanning multi-telescope project that captured the first image of a black hole at the center of a nearby galaxy. The SPT project is a collaboration between the University of Chicago, the University of California at Berkeley, Case Western Reserve University, the University of Illinois, and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.<br /> <br /> Visit the South Pole Telescope, Antarctica Website<br /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="item-number">6</div> </div> </a> <a class="copy-box" href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/facilities-technology/telescopes-instruments/submillimeter-wave-astronomy-satellite"> <div class="grid grid--no-gutters grid--no-bottom-margin"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--5-950"> <div class="news-photo-frame" style="background-image: url('https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2019-05/SubmillimeterWaveAstronomySatellite_Hero.jpg?itok=A8trutsJ')"></div> </div> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6-700 grid__col--7-950"> <div class="inside-copy"> <h3>Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite</h3> <div class="h4">NASA’s Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) was a space observatory built to look for water and other molecules associated with life as we know it. During its seven years of operation, SWAS provided the first measure of the distribution of water in the Milky Way. Astronomers also used the observatory to make important discoveries about the interstellar clouds where new stars and planets are born, as well as observations of planets and comets within the Solar System. Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian scientists and engineers designed the telescope for SWAS, and the CfA hosted the operations center for the spacecraft. SWAS operated from 1998 through 2005, when it was put into hibernation mode.<br /> <br /> Visit the SWAS Website<br /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="item-number">7</div> </div> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <footer style="background-image: url(/sites/default/files/2018-06/CfA_Footer.jpg)"> <nav aria-label="Footer Navigation"> <div class="inside-nav"> <div class="grid"> <div class="grid__col grid__col--6 grid__col--4-600 grid__col--2-1000"> <div role="navigation" aria-labelledby="block-footercolumntwo-menu" id="block-footercolumntwo" class="menu-hold block block-menu navigation menu--footer-column-two"> <h2 class="visually-hidden" id="block-footercolumntwo-menu">Footer Column Two</h2> <ul> <li> <a href="/big-questions" data-drupal-link-system-path="node/3206">Big Questions</a> </li> <li> <a href="/research" data-drupal-link-system-path="node/3210">Research</a> </li> <li> <a href="/people" data-drupal-link-system-path="node/3207">People</a> </li> <li> <a 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