A recent editorial in Nature Astronomy warns that astronomy is facing growing pressures from both technological developments in space and policy decisions on Earth. The article highlights satellite megaconstellations as a major “threat from above,” noting that their brightness and radio emissions are increasingly contaminating astronomical observations—even for space-based telescopes. Planned large-scale expansions could worsen [...]
Astronomers have discovered that some of the Universe’s fastest-spinning stars, millisecond pulsars, broadcast radio waves from much farther out than previously thought. Studying nearly 200 pulsars, the team found that about one-third emit radio signals from multiple regions, with some pulses perfectly lining up with gamma-ray flashes. This suggests that radio waves are produced not [...]
Using the NIKA2 camera on IRAM’s 30-meter telescope, astronomers have achieved a new sensitivity record, uncovering a massive structure of dust-rich, intensely star-forming galaxies in the early Universe - just one billion years after the Big Bang. The NIKA2 Cosmological Legacy Survey (N2CLS) revealed galaxies forming stars up to 1000 times faster than the Milky [...]
An international team led by Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy used ALMA observations to reveal how massive elliptical galaxies may form extremely rapidly in the early Universe. Studying the protocluster SPT2349‑56, just 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang, they observed dozens of gas-rich galaxies merging in a cosmic “firework,” with four central galaxies [...]
The international LOFAR collaboration has released the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS‑DR3), an exceptionally detailed radio map of the sky revealing 13.7 million cosmic sources. This survey provides the most complete census yet of actively growing supermassive black holes and traces energetic phenomena such as jets from black holes, star formation in galaxies, and cosmic [...]
Representatives from European radio astronomy observatories and national administrations met at the Paris Observatory to discuss the growing impact of unintended electromagnetic radiation (UEMR) from Low Earth Orbit satellite constellations on astronomical observations. Participants from Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden, together with experts from the Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies (CRAF) and the [...]
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 [...]