Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

✨ The proton sharks showed up on a Friday. A group of Parker Solar Probe scientists were scrolling their data that visualizes solar winds. Suddenly, a weird shape flashed on the screen. “This looks like a hammerhead shark,” said heliophysicist Jaye Verniero of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center...and the nickname stuck. Instead of a usual rounded blob of solar‑wind protons, this distribution had a long, flattened, head-like structure jutting out to one side. Thus, hammerheads. Now, CfA astronomer Srijan Bharati Das and his colleagues have figured out that these are incredibly hot, rapidly moving proton clumps that signify the edges of the sun's heliospheric current sheet: a vast surface where the Sun’s magnetic field flips. The hammerheads can help scientists locate the current sheet, which is invisible to our eyes, and further help us understand why the sun’s outer layers remain so much hotter than science says they should be. Read more at the CfA News Page: https://s.si.edu/4uw6etz NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Space #SpaceExploration #SpacePics #SpaceScience #Stargazing #Stars #Stellar #Telescope #Universe #CenterforAstrophysics #SmithsonianAstrophysicalObservatory #SolarAstronomy #Heliophysics #Solar #Sun #Cosmos 3m

✨ The proton sharks showed up on a Friday. A group of Parker Solar Probe scientists were scrolling their data visualizing solar winds. Suddenly, a weird shape flashed on the screen. “This looks like a hammerhead shark,” said heliophysicist Jaye Verniero of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.. Instead of a usual rounded blob of solar‑wind protons, this distribution had a long, flattened, head-like structure jutting out to one side. Thus, hammerheads: and the nickname stuck. Now, CfA astronomer Srijan Bharati Das and his colleagues have figured out that these are incredibly hot, rapidly moving proton clumps that signify the edges of the sun's heliospheric current sheet: a vast surface where the Sun’s magnetic field flips. The hammerheads can help scientists locate the current sheet, which is invisible to our eyes, and further help us understand why the sun’s outer layers remain so much hotter than science says they should be. Read more on our CfA News page! https://s.si.edu/4uw6etz @nasascience_ @nasa @nasagoddard #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Space #SpaceExploration #SpacePics #SpaceScience #Stargazing #Stars #Stellar #Telescope #Universe #CenterforAstrophysics #SmithsonianAstrophysicalObservatory #SolarAstronomy #Heliophysics #Solar #Sun #Cosmos

✨ Let me go on, like a blister in the sun. In the most detailed observation of its kind, a CfA-led solar research team watched a huge rising solar flare suddenly stall, stop, and fall back home. The failed solar prominence was prevented from erupting fully by an unusual magnetic field pressing in on it, in addition to the one hurling it into space. Not only is it very cool to visualize, but lead author Tingyu Gou and colleague Katharine Reeves, both astronomers at the CfA's Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), say the findings help us understand why we've observed that other stars seem to have fewer solar flares than our Sun. Read more on our CfA news website! https://s.si.edu/4tULMBv

✨With AI poised to revolutionize how we do science, some of our brightest scientists and engineers at the Smithsonian came together to discuss how we can make it work for us - if we do it with integrity. Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory scientist Cecilia Garraffo, director of the AstroAI Institute at CfA, spoke at a special AI expo in DC this week. Smithsonian Under Secretary of Science and Research Ellen Stofan (far right) moderated a panel with (from left to right) Becky Kobberod, Smithsonian Chief Digital and Innovation Officer; Carlos Jaramillo, Smithsonian Tropical Research Center Staff Scientist; Garraffo; and Rebecca Johnson, National Museum of Natural History C.W. Whitney Chief Scientist. #AI #Astronomy #AstronomyAI

✨With AI poised to revolutionize how we do science, some of our brightest scientists and engineers at the Smithsonian came together to discuss how we can make it work for us - if we do it with integrity. Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory scientist Cecilia Garraffo, director of the AstroAI Institute at CfA, spoke at a special AI expo in DC this week. Smithsonian Under Secretary of Science and Research Ellen Stofan (far right) moderated a panel with (from left to right) Becky Kobberod, Smithsonian Chief Digital and Innovation Officer; Carlos Jaramillo, Smithsonian Tropical Research Center Staff Scientist; Garraffo; and Rebecca Johnson, National Museum of Natural History C.W. Whitney Chief Scientist. #AI #Astronomy #AstronomyAI

✨Congratulations to our Harvard astronomy undergraduates and alumni and our Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian graduate students on this competitive award! You always make us proud.

✨ Members of the Chandra X-ray Center recently participated in the 2026 Space Fest at the @jfklfoundation John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Dorchester, MA. The Chandra team guided children and adults through black hole demos and binary code, running immersive VR and sonification experiences, and discussing Chandra 3D models and micro/macro scales. Shout out to Chandra's Nance Wolk and Rutu Das, who organized the event with Wendy Fernandez.

✨ That's a wrap on our April Public Observatory Night! So much fun to explore the explosive power of supernovae and how the CfA is at the forefront of studying these phenomena. Post-doctoral fellows Anya Nugent and Danielle Frostig spoke on “Things That Go Boom in the Night” to more than 100 people in Phillips Auditorium. We learned about core-collapse supernovae, the massive, terminal explosions that mark the end of the lives of stars; kilonovae, the powerful, rare astronomical explosions caused when two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole merge; and how the Rubin Observatory and the NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will lead to many more of these discoveries! 🔭 Outreach Manager Philippe Reekie then led tours of our historic Great Refractor Telescope. Telling people about the spectacular science done by our astronomers and the rich cultural history of the CfA...it never gets old. 🏛️ 💥 #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Space #SpaceExploration #SpacePics #SpaceScience #Stargazing #Stars #Stellar #Telescope #Universe #CenterforAstrophysics #SmithsonianAstrophysicalObservatory #HarvardCollegeObservatory #Supernova #CrabNebula #StarFormation

✨ Join us on our next adventure: Cosmos For All, our new podcast where the brightest stars in astronomy take on the biggest questions in the universe! In this monthly show we'll learn about popular astronomy with some of the CfA's leading experts, while hearing about their personal journeys to study the stars. And who better to kick off our podcast than the legendary astrophysicist, Jonathan McDowell? McDowell joins hosts Philippe Reekie and Christine Buckley to reflect on his 50-year career, including black holes, quasars, the role of dark matter in the universe and the three decades he spent on the CfA-operated NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory. He fondly talks about his "side quest" to document space debris, and we end with the big questions: What makes astronomy so fascinating? Why do we do it? When will we find the first real evidence of alien life? Find Cosmos for All wherever you get your podcasts! Produced by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, comprising the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. Hosts: Christine Buckley, Philippe Reekie Audio engineering: Aidan Lilienfeld Production: Aidan Lilienfeld, Christine Buckley

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