News
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Space oddity: Most distant rotating disc galaxy found07 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 star24 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 hole19 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 Faculty22 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 life26 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 star07 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 expectations23 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 finalised16 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 exoplanet08 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 technique06 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-43b30 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...
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Scientists discover the largest stellar black hole in the Milky Way16 April 2024A European team of astronomers has discovered the largest stellar black hole in the Milky Way. It is more than thirty times as massive as our sun and ...
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Student cleans up archival data and uncovers two stellar cocoons03 April 2024While investigating 16 years of images of young stars from a retired astronomical camera, Leiden master's student Sam de Regt discovered that two of t...
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Stunning James Webb images show birth and death of massive stars25 March 2024The James Webb Space Telescope continues to surprise us with stunning pictures, but of what exactly? Astronomer Nienke van der Marel shows with three ...
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New generation galaxy formation simulations on the horizon – Evgenii Chaikin received his doctorate with honours21 March 2024Simulations of galaxy formation provide much more information about galaxies than a telescope. Simulations have been improving significantly in recent...