# News [### Hyerin Cho wins 2026 Eric R. Keto Prize for Graduate Students in Theoretical Astrophysics ](/news/2026/05/2026-keto-prize) May 27, 2026 Congratulations to Dr. Heryin Cho for winning the 2026 Eric R. Keto Prize for Graduate Students in Theoretical Astrophysics for her thesis "Black Hole Accretion and Feedback: From the Event Horizon to Galactic Scales" (Advisor: Ramesh Narayan). The Keto... ![Charlie Conroy, Ramesh Narayan, and Eric Keto stand with 2026 Eric R. Keto Award Winner Hyerin Cho during the award presentation.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8321/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-05/2026%20Keto%20Prize%20Thumbnail.jpeg?itok=65bJ_bp-) [### Galileo Project Receives Donation ](/news/2026/03/galileo-project-receives-donation) March 23, 2026 The Galileo Project, led by Professor Avi Loeb, ITC director, was awarded $260,000 in support of its research mission: The goal of the Galileo Project is to bring the search for extraterrestrial technological signatures of Extraterrestrial Technological... ![Logo for the John Templeton Foundation](/sites/g/files/omnuum8321/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-03/JTF-Logo-Primary-CMYK.jpg?itok=BRexxRwW) [### Ghosting the Galaxy: The Star That Left Without Saying Goodbye ](/news/2026/02/ghosting-galaxy-star-left-without-saying-goodbye) February 27, 2026 ITC members Morgan MacLeod , Lecturer in Astronomy at Harvard, and Avi Loeb , Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard and Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation (ITC), contributed to the announcement in Science on February 12... ![ Gemini said A deep-space visualization showing a massive, glowing white core at the center. Surrounding the light is a dense, intricate cloud of fiery red and dark orange nebular filaments spreading outward in a turbulent, circular pattern.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8321/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-02/M31_BlackHole_Wide_MAIN.jpg?itok=FNJ4fNDa) [### 3–2! ITC Soccer Tradition Lives On ](/news/2025/08/3-2-itc-soccer-tradition-lives) August 19, 2025 ITC Soccer Cup took place on Saturday, August 16, 2024, at Harvard's Cumnock Field. The match pitted faculty and post-docs against graduate students. For the first time in several years, the graduate students won! Thank you to everyone who participated in... ![Group photo of the players in the 2025 ITC Soccer Match](/sites/g/files/omnuum8321/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-08/ITC%20Soccer%20Match%20Group%20Photo%202025.jpg?itok=N8JbYGW0) [### Meet "Betelbuddy" ](/news/2025/08/meet-betelbuddy) August 04, 2025 After more than a century of anticipation, astronomers have now directly imaged what appears to be a long-hypothesized companion star to Betelgeuse , the red supergiant in Orion’s shoulder. The discovery comes on the heels of predictions made by members... ![Betelgeuse and companian star, nicknamed "Betelbuddy"](/sites/g/files/omnuum8321/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-08/Betelbuddy.jpg?h=894dc7b0&itok=lOO-tDX-) [### Jesse Han wins 2025 Eric R. Keto Prize for Graduate Students in Theoretical Astrophysics ](/news/2025/07/jesse-han-wins-2025-eric-r-keto-prize-graduate-students-theoretical-astrophysics) July 15, 2025 Congratulations to Jiwon (Jesse) Han for winning the 2025 Eric R. Keto Prize for Graduate Students in Theoretical Astrophysics for thesis "The Galactic Halo in Stars and Shadows" (Advisor: Charlie Conroy). The Keto Prize, endowed with a generous donation... ![Eric Keto Jesse Han Avi Loeb](/sites/g/files/omnuum8321/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-07/Keto%20Han%20Loeb%20Keto%20Prize%202025.jpg?h=50f2945b&itok=Bqx0D87B) [### ITC Soccer Match ](/news/itc-soccer-match) July 27, 2024 ITC Soccer Cup took place on July 27, 2024 at Harvard's Jordan Field. The soccer match was faculty vs graduate students. The faculty won. ![ITC Soccer](/sites/g/files/omnuum8321/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/pxl_20240727_232057555.mp_.jpg?itok=ajB-UHKh) [### Paper published on "A possible direct exposure of the Earth to the cold dense interstellar medium 2–3 Myr ago" ](/news/paper-published-possible-direct-exposure-earth-cold-dense-interstellar-medium-2%E2%80%933%E2%80%89myr-ago) June 10, 2024 Read the story in the Harvard Gazette, Harvard Magazine, and the scientific article in Nature magazine, p ublished by Merav Opher, Avi Loeb, and J. E. G. Peek. description [### ITC Conference: To Our Cosmic Horizon and Beyond: A Celebration of 20 Years of the Institute for Theory and Computation ](/news/itc-conference-our-cosmic-horizon-and-beyond-celebration-20-years-institute-theory-and) June 06, 2024 description [### ITC faculty make up for the top of the ScholarGPS ranks in Astronomy ](/news/itc-faculty-make-top-scholargps-ranks-astronomy) October 13, 2023 Three of our faculty make up numbers 2, 6, and 14 in the Astronomy ranking worldwide of all times. A truly remarkable accomplishment for the ITC. To see the list, click here. description [### Michael Johnson recognized with the Breakthrough Foundation ](/news/%C2%A0michael-johnson-recognized-breakthrough-foundation) September 14, 2023 Michael Johnson was just recognized with the Breakthrough Foundation “New Horizons in Physics” for their studies of photon rings – light trapped in orbit around black holes – and their work showing how they can be detected with future experiments https:/... ![Michael Johnson](/sites/g/files/omnuum8321/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/itc/files/michael_johnson_small.jpg?itok=I80i1i8F) [### Anna Rosen receives Assistant Professor at UCSD!! ](/news/anna-rosen-receives-assistant-professor-ucsd) August 18, 2023 Former ITC Postdoc Anna Rosen was promoted to Assistant Professor of Astronomy at UCSD ![Anna Rosen](/sites/g/files/omnuum8321/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/itc/files/annarosen_0.jpg?itok=8DbnD4gy)