News Overview
Good night, sleep tight: advanced alien civilisations rare or absent in the local Universe.
Sensitive new telescopes now permit astronomers to detect the waste heat that is expected to be a signature of advanced alien civilisations that can harness enormous energies on the scale of the stellar output of their own galaxy.
Witnessing the birth of a cosmic (radio) phoenix
Astronomers have found evidence for a faded electron cloud “coming back to life”, much like the mythical phoenix, after two galaxy clusters collided.
Super star takes on black holes in jet contest
In a study published today, a team of scientists in the Netherlands and Australia discovered powerful jets blasting out of a double star system known as PSR J1023+0038.
Veni fellowship for Anne Archibald
The NWO has awarded a Veni fellowship to Anne Archibald. The funding allows Anne to conduct independent research and develop her ideas for a period of three years.
€15 million boost for European astronomy
Astronomers and astroparticle physicists today are celebrating a €15 million EU funding boost for European telescopes with the launch of the ASTERICS project.
World’s largest radio telescope has a permanent home for its headquarters
The Members of the SKA Organisation decided that negotiations should start with the UK government to locate the permanent headquarters of the SKA project in the UK.
Exploding stars help to understand thunderclouds on Earth
It was discovered that cosmic rays provide suitable probes to measure electric fields within thunderclouds. This surprising finding is published in Physical Review Letters on April 22nd.
Dusty substructure in a galaxy far far away
A team of scientists has combined high-resolution images from the ALMA telescopes with a new scheme for undoing the distorting effects of a powerful gravitational lens.
Official opening ASTRON building
After a construction phase of more than two years, the ASTRON building was officially opened on Monday, March 16 by State Secretary Sander Dekker.
LOFAR creates radio photos of the solar eclipse
All the solar eclipse radio photos that are made with the LOFAR telescope.
World’s largest radio telescope takes major step towards construction
Last week the SKA Board of Directors unanimously agreed to move the world’s largest radio telescope forward to its final pre-construction phase.
LOFAR’s record-sharp image gives astronomers a new view of galaxy M82
An international team of astronomers used the giant radio telescope LOFAR to create the sharpest astronomical image ever taken at very long radio wavelengths.