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European Radio Astronomy ConsortiumNewsletter Issue 1/2026
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The RadioNet Board has appointed Rob Beswick (University of Manchester) as Spokesperson and Agnieszka Słowikowska (JIV-ERIC) as Vice-Spokesperson of the RadioNet Consortium. Their two-year terms will begin on 1 February 2026. The RadioNet community warmly congratulates Rob and Aga and wishes them every success as they take on these roles. The community also extends its deep gratitude to the outgoing spokesperson, Prof. Anton Zensus, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR), for his exceptional leadership and long-standing service to RadioNet. Over many years, Prof. Zensus has played a central role in shaping and strengthening the RadioNet collaboration - first through his involvement in the RadioNet EU projects, later as Scientific Coordinator of the OPTICON-RadioNet project, and most recently as spokesperson of the RadioNet Consortium. His vision, commitment, and ability to bring together a diverse international community have been instrumental in advancing radio astronomy cooperation across Europe and beyond. Reflecting on the transition, Prof. Zensus said: “It has been a privilege to serve the RadioNet community and to work with such dedicated colleagues across Europe and beyond. I am proud of what we have achieved together and confident that RadioNet will continue to thrive under its new leadership.” RadioNet extends its sincere thanks to Prof. Zensus for his leadership and long-standing contributions and looks forward to the Consortium’s continued success. |
New observations with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) provide fresh insights into where the powerful jet of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87) originates. Using recently published 2021 EHT data, an international team led by researchers from MPIfR, NRAO, and CITA has identified strong evidence for a compact region close to the black hole that likely marks the base of the jet. By comparing radio emission on different spatial scales, the team found that part of the emission cannot be explained by the bright ring of hot gas alone, but is best described by a previously undetected jet component at 230 GHz, located only about 0.09 light-years from the black hole. This result represents an important step toward directly linking the black hole’s shadow to the launching of relativistic jets. The study, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics (DOI). Read the full MPIfR press release Image © Bottom: Saurabh et al.: “Probing jet base emission of M87* with the 2021 Event Horizon Telescope observations”, Astronomy & Astrophysics 705 (2026), Figure 6. Upper Right: Lu, R.-S. et al.: “A ring-like accretion structure in M87 connecting its black hole and jet”. Nature 616 (2023), Figure 1 |
Astronomers using the European VLBI Network (EVN) have precisely located a repeating fast radio burst, FRB 20190417A, confirming that it originates from a compact, persistent radio source. By combining signals from radio telescopes across Europe and beyond at JIVE, the team achieved milliarcsecond precision, directly linking the brief radio flashes to a constantly emitting source. The discovery makes FRB 20190417A only the fourth known repeating FRB associated with a steady radio emitter and provides strong evidence that such bursts arise in extreme, highly magnetised environments, possibly involving very young magnetars. The findings mark an important step toward understanding the origins of fast radio bursts. Results are published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Read the full press release here. Image: Artist’s impression of Fast Radio Bursts emitted by a distant source (copyright: Daniëlle Futselaar/ASTRON |
Astronomers have discovered an invisible object with a mass of about one million Suns that doesn’t fit any known cosmic structure. Using gravitational lensing and data from radio telescopes around the world, including the Green Bank Telescope (GBT), the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), and the European VLBI Network (EVN)—the team revealed a compact core (likely a black hole or dense stellar nucleus) surrounded by a dark, extended disk. All observations were correlated at the Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC (JIVE) in the Netherlands, effectively forming an Earth-sized radio telescope that captured the object’s subtle gravitational distortions in unprecedented detail. The discovery challenges current dark matter models and could represent a new class of dark cosmic structure. This is the third object of its kind, but the first studied in such detail. Read the full JIVE Press release here. Paper link Vegetti et al., Additional Paper links: Powell et al., McKean et al. Image: image generated with AI |
The SKA Observatory’s SKA-Mid telescope in South Africa has reached a major milestone by achieving “first fringes”, confirming that the array is operating as an interferometer for the first time. Using two of its 15-metre dishes, SKA-Mid successfully combined signals from a distant radio galaxy around 2.6 billion light years away. This achievement demonstrates that the telescope’s complex hardware and software systems are working together as designed. With seven dishes now installed and many more to come, SKA-Mid is progressing toward its next milestone: producing its first image with a four-dish array, marking an important step toward full scientific operations. Read the full SKAO press release here. Image: One of the seven SKA-Mid dishes now constructed on site in South Africa’s Northern Cape, with SARAO’s MeerKAT radio telescope in the background. Credit: SKAO/Max Alexander |
The 32nd YSC will take place April 20–25, 2026, in Kyiv, Ukraine, and online via Zoom. Organized by Ukrainian students, YSC brings together young researchers in Astronomy and Space Physics to present their work and build international collaborations. Since 1994, YSC has grown into a well-established international platform. Programme topics include Atmospheric Studies, Solar System & Exoplanets, Stellar Astrophysics, Extragalactic Astrophysics & Cosmology, and more. Abstract submission deadline: March 15, 2026 Organisers: Department of Astronomy and Space Physics, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine Read more. |
SPECTRUM is a Horizon Europe project bringing together leading organisations from Radio Astronomy, High-Energy Physics and e-Infrastructure providers to define a shared vision for a European compute and data continuum. As part of this effort, the draft versions of two main SPECTRUM outputs are now open for feedback: Strategic Research, Innovation and Deployment Agenda (SRIDA) and Technical Blueprint. Draft documents: here Feedback survey – deadline: 31 January 2026 For context, a public consultation webinar was held in December 2025. Many thanks in advance for your input! |
Explore upcoming training events, and organizer resources - plus past events and training material. |
The next ERIS - European Radio Astronomy School will be hosted by INAF Institute of Radioastronomy (IRA-INAF, Italy) from 7–11 September 2026 in Noto, Sicily. Mark your calendars - further details will follow. |
ESO announced that the 2026 European ALMA School will be hosted by the Allegro ARC node in Leiden, Netherlands, from 26–30 January 2026. The program will cover topics from interferometry basics to advanced data analysis and future ALMA developments, and is open to both beginners and experienced users. The event also includes a tour of Leiden Observatory. Registration here. |
ESA invites applications for the Archival Research Visitor Programme, offering researchers from ESA Member and Cooperating States the chance to conduct studies using ESA Space Science Archives.
Visits (1–3 months) take place at ESAC or ESTEC, with travel, lodging, and meals covered. Early-career scientists and students are especially encouraged to apply. More information on the ESA website. |
The 3rd CTAO School, organized with the MAGIC Collaboration through the ACME Project, will be held in La Palma, Spain (12–22 May 2026), offering hands-on training in VHE astrophysics, data analysis, and observations with the LST-1 and MAGIC Telescopes. More information and the application form are available on the CTAO School website. |
Proposals for APEX observing requests for the period from 20 March to 24 July 2026 are solicited. Submit proposals as a single PDF using the provided LaTeX templates to apex@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de.Full details here. Deadline: 19 February 2026 (18:00 CET). More information: Call for Proposals. |
The 100-m radio telescope of the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie and the data reduction facilities are available to all qualified scientists. Full details here. Deadline: 2 March 2026 (15:00 UT). Image: N. Tacken/MPIfR |
Proposals are invited for observations with the Onsala 20 m diameter telescope in the observing period March-December 2026. Prior to submission, authors must contact Henrik Olofsson to arrange a local collaborator. Proposals are to be submitted through the NorthStar system. Full details here. Deadline: 16 February 2026 (23:59:59 UTC). Image: Onsala 20 m telescope. Credit: Chalmers/J-O Yxell |
VLBI proposals for observing at 3mm wavelength (86 GHz) using: the VLBA, APEX, GBT*, EFFELSBERG, IRAM-30m, NOEMA, ONSALA, METSAEHOVI, YEBES and KVN telescopes should be submitted using the NRA Porposa Submission Tool (PST). Full details here. Deadline: 04 FEBRUARY 2026 (UT 22:00) Image: H. Rottmann/MPIfR |
The call for observing proposals with the European VLBI Network (EVN) is now open – non-expert teams are especially welcome! Full details here. Deadline: 1st of February 2026, 16:00 UTC. Image: EVN |
The European ALMA Regional Centre (ARC) provides the interface between the ALMA project and the European science community. The ARC is staffed by scientists with expertise in radio astronomy and interferometry and it supports its users throughout the lifetime of a project, from proposal preparation to data analysis. |
ALTA offers to the world-wide astronomical community free virtual access to data and scientific products produced from all sky surveys of the Northern sky that will be conducted with the new Apertif frontend of the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT), as well as tools to query, further exploit and perform data mining of these products adaptable to diverse research goals. . |
LTA is a long-established archive and access facility supporting the international LOFAR telescope. It is currently the largest radio astronomical archive in the world already exceeding 45 PB from LOFAR’s past 10 years of operations. The LTA provides a central and key resource for all observed LOFAR astronomical science programs where the data become public within 12 months of first creation. |
Online platform for virtual access to multi-messenger observatories, data analysis, and theoretical interpretation. Services are provided through ACME’s six Joint Centres of Expertise covering Gamma-rays, Gravitational Waves, Neutrinos & Cosmic Rays, Optical & NIR, Radio, and X-rays. Registration is open to all users. |
POLICY NEWSThe European Commission has published the interim evaluation of the Digital Europe Programme, highlighting its impact and achievements up to the end of 2024. The report showcases concrete results in key areas including supercomputing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and advanced digital skills, and underlines the programme’s role in bringing digital technologies closer to businesses, citizens and public administrations. The findings will help shape future EU digital policy, including the proposed European Competitiveness Fund. Read the full report. The European Commission has launched a call for evidence for the upcoming European Open Digital Ecosystem Strategy. The initiative aims to strengthen the role of open source in the EU’s technological sovereignty, security and competitiveness, and to enhance the use and reuse of open digital assets within the Commission. Stakeholders are invited to provide feedback between 6 January and 3 February 2026. Contributions will help shape the final Communication. Have you say here. |
RadioNet - European Radio Astronomy Consortium
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