The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a "research institute" of the Smithsonian Institution. It is joined with the Harvard College Observatory (HCO) to form the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). Because these research activities share Harvard and Smithsonian staff and resources, the links at this website will take you to information posted on the "CfA" pages.

 

Weekly Science Updates

November 20, 2009A Movie of Motions Around a Young StarThe famous Orion Nebula is the closest nursery of massive young stars to the earth, and is about 1300 light-years away. The nebula is part of a giant molecular cloud that hosts several clusters of hot young stars, with the brightest young star in the nebula, called Source I, shining with the luminosity of 100,000 suns.  Read More...
November 13, 2009Mysterious X-rays from a Nearby GalaxyThe nucleus of an active galaxy, an AGN, contains a massive black hole that is vigorously accreting material. In the process it typically ejects jets of particles and radiates brightly at many wavelengths, in particular at X-ray wavelengths. Read More...

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