News
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Historical telescope returns to the Old Observatory 15 November 2024The Old Observatory in Leiden has reclaimed its most important telescope. Since the 1960s, the Meridian Circle (also known as a transit telescope) had...
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From atoms to the cosmos: ‘Everything in the universe is connected’ 14 November 2024Exploring the largest structures in the universe by looking at the tiniest particles? Lydia Stofanova, PhD candidate at Leiden Observatory and SRON Ne...
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Astronomers Discover Ancient Solitary Quasars with Mysterious Origins 18 October 2024An international team of astronomers, including Leiden PhD student Elia Pizzati, has observed several ancient quasars that, surprisingly, appear to be...
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Dozens of massive stars launched from young star cluster R136 09 October 2024Astronomers have used data from the European Gaia Space Telescope to discover 55 high-speed stars launched from the young star cluster R136 in the Lar...
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Space oddity: Most distant rotating disc galaxy found 07 October 2024Researchers have discovered the most distant Milky-Way-like galaxy yet observed. Dubbed REBELS-25, this disc galaxy seems as orderly as present-day ga...
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Outer solar system possibly formed by a passing star 24 September 2024The many thousands of small celestial bodies beyond Neptune’s orbit may have ended up there due to a star that passed close to the solar system billio...
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Dutch astronomers observe giant jets emanating from black hole 19 September 2024An international team of astronomers led by Dutch scientist Martijn Oei has discovered the largest pair of jets from a black hole ever seen. The 'jumb...
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Three new Programme Directors at the Science Faculty 22 August 2024Starting 1 September, three new Programme Directors will begin at FWN. Daan van der Es, Reinout van Weeren, and Amineh Ghorbani will each be responsib...
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Looking for atmospheres in the ultimate quest for extraterrestrial life 26 June 2024To look for atmospheres around planets outside our solar system is to look for extraterrestrial life. Astronomist Sebastian Zieba used data from the J...
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Planet-forming discs around young low-mass star differs fundamentally from one around sun-like star 07 June 2024Using the James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of researchers, including Leiden Professor of Molecular Astrophysics Ewine van Dishoeck, h...
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First scientific images Euclid telescope exceed all expectations 23 May 2024Space telescope Euclid is capable of unravelling the secrets of the universe. That is what the images published by ESA today show, according to astron...
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Design METIS instrument for the Extremely Large Telescope finalised 16 May 2024The design for the METIS instrument for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is final. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has given the green ligh...
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Webb data suggest potential atmosphere around rocky exoplanet 08 May 2024Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope may have detected atmospheric gases surrounding 55 Cancri e, a hot rocky exoplanet 41 light-years ...
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Radio astronomers bypass disturbing Earth's atmosphere with new calibration technique 06 May 2024An international team of researchers led by astronomers from Leiden University (the Netherlands) has produced the first sharp radio maps of the univer...
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Surprise: No methane on the night side of exoplanet WASP-43b 30 April 2024The night side of exoplanet WASP-43b, to the surprise of astronomers, does not appear to contain methane. It is likely that extreme winds do not allow...