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 [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
More than 200 participants from 86 countries met at the United Nations in Vienna for the Workshop on Dark and Quiet Skies for Science and Society, co-hosted by the SKAO and the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) from 9–11 December. The workshop brought together astronomers, satellite operators, space agencies, policymakers, and diplomats to [...]
France has secured its first SKAO construction contract, with computing specialists Eviden (part of Atos Group) tasked with delivering the Science Data Processor (SDP) hardware for the Observatory’s two telescopes. The SDP will handle massive data volumes, reducing and processing up to a million 4K-equivalent streams to produce detailed sky images, ultimately archiving ~700 PB [...]
An international team led by Tom Bakx (Chalmers University) has identified an extreme star-forming galaxy, Y1, over 13 billion light-years away. Using ALMA, they measured dust temperatures of 90 K, revealing that Y1 is forming stars at over 180 solar masses per year, about 180 times faster than the Milky Way. This discovery provides key insights [...]
An international team led by Dr. Dana Alina (Nazarbayev University) has revealed the magnetic field structure of the striking ring-like molecular cloud G111, near the NGC7538 star-forming region. Using high-sensitivity observations from the IRAM 30-meter telescope combined with data from other facilities, the team applied the Velocity Gradients Technique to map how magnetic forces shaped [...]
An international team led by ASTRON and the Observatoire de Paris-PSL has observed the first definitive radio signal of a coronal mass ejection (CME) from a star beyond our Solar System. The eruption was detected from a nearby red dwarf star just 130 light-years away using the LOFAR radio telescope. Such stellar storms, similar to [...]
Germany has awarded a €10.7 million contract to OHB Digital Connect to supply 86 high-frequency receivers for the SKA-Mid radio telescope in South Africa. Signed on 29 October 2025 in Berlin during the launch of Germany’s High-tech Agenda, the contract marks Germany’s first SKAO project since joining the Observatory last year. Contributions from the MPIfR [...]