The international research team led by Prof. Michael Kramer of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) has been awarded the prestigious Frontiers of Science Award 2025 in the category Astrophysics and Cosmology – Theory. Their groundbreaking study, “Strong-Field Gravity Tests with the Double Pulsar”, published in Physical Review X in 2021, presents the [...]
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration has uncovered the reason why the stunning image of the M87* black hole features a ring that appears slightly elliptical rather than a perfect circle. The distortion - ranging from 2% to 20% - is attributed to turbulent plasma swirling near the black hole’s event horizon. This insight is [...]
Astronomers have found the first clear evidence of a planet triggering flares on its host star. Using data from NASA’s TESS and ESA’s CHEOPS space telescopes, an international team led by ASTRON and the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) observed powerful bursts of energy from the young star HIP 67522—coinciding with the orbit of [...]
The SKA Observatory has announced the appointment of Prof. Jessica Dempsey as its next Director-General, following a rigorous international selection process and final decision by the SKAO Council. Currently Director of ASTRON (Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy), Prof. Dempsey is a distinguished radio astronomer and proven leader. She will succeed Prof. Philip Diamond in May [...]
The SKAO Science Meeting 2025 successfully concluded in Görlitz, Germany, bringing together over 600 participants from 26 countries in person and online. The week-long event featured more than 200 talks and 150 posters, highlighting global preparations for early science with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescopes. Participants discussed the latest developments in SKA construction, data [...]
The 3rd ESFRI Stakeholder Forum Meetup was held from 10 to 11 June 2025 in Kraków, Poland, under the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU. The event was strategically scheduled just ahead of the 92nd ESFRI Forum Meeting and brought together a wide range of stakeholders from across Europe’s research infrastructure (RI) landscape [...]
For the first time, astronomers have detected phosphorus-bearing molecules—key ingredients of DNA and RNA—in a cold, starless core, one of the earliest phases of star formation. Using the IRAM 30-meter and Yebes 40-meter telescopes, researchers identified phosphorus mononitride (PN), phosphorus monoxide (PO), and the phosphorus oxide ion (PO⁺) in a pristine interstellar cloud 1,000 light-years [...]
A major new study using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has revealed how gas and dust evolve differently in planet-forming disks around young stars. The AGE-PRO survey—observing 30 disks of varying ages—provides the first systematic measurements of gas masses and chemistry over time, reshaping our understanding of how planets acquire their atmospheres. The study [...]
MeerKAT, South Africa’s premier radio telescope, has successfully completed its first full Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observation with the European VLBI Network (EVN)—the world’s most sensitive VLBI system. This milestone marks a major advance in global radio astronomy, significantly boosting the resolution and sensitivity of observations. By integrating MeerKAT into EVN operations, researchers captured [...]
On 15 May 2025, Onsala Space Observatory celebrated 75 years of groundbreaking science and innovation. As Sweden’s national facility for radio astronomy, Onsala has been at the forefront of global efforts to explore the universe and understand our planet. Since its founding in 1949, Onsala has contributed to major scientific advances in astronomy, geodesy, and [...]