News
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Planet found too big for its parent star 01 December 2023The discovery of a planet far too large for its sun defies models about the formation of solar systems and planets. In a paper in Science, researchers...
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James Webb Space Telescope sees sand clouds on 'cotton candy planet' WASP-107b 16 November 2023A team of European astronomers has found a silicate-based weather system on a cloudy gas planet around the star WASP-107. It is the first time astrono...
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ESA presents first crystal-clear Euclid photos of the cosmos 07 November 2023The first full-colour images of the cosmos from ESA's space telescope Euclid were presented today. Never before has a telescope been able to take such...
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New research programme for urgent challenges in Africa 06 November 2023Leiden University and four other Dutch universities will appoint 51 PhD candidates to conduct solution-oriented research for and with the African cont...
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‘When a student sees the light, that’s what fulfills me’ 26 October 2023'Education has always been something I am very interested in,' says the passionate Michiel Hogerheijde. He was already chairman of the astronomy progr...
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FLAMINGO: dark matter, ordinary matter, and neutrinos in the biggest cosmological simulation ever 24 October 2023Not only dark matter, but also ordinary matter and dark energy are tracked in the largest ever cosmological computer simulation ever. In the FLAMINGO ...
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Dust cloud from two colliding ice planets dims light of parent star 11 October 2023For the first time, an international group of astronomers have seen the heat glow of two ice giant planets colliding. They could also observe the resu...
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Gaia data maps globular cluster, gravitational lensing and asteroids with great precision 10 October 2023The European Space Agency (ESA) has published an interim data release from Gaia, the space telescope mapping out the Milky Way in 3D. The first scient...
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Elena Maria Rossi continues her search for the origins of the largest black holes, but now as a professor 09 October 2023Elena Maria Rossi is fascinated by black holes. Her appointment as a professor was a long-held wish, partly because there are so few female professors...
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Nienke van der Marel receives New Horizons Prize 15 September 2023Nienke van der Marel has been awarded the New Horizons Prize in physics for her pioneering research on planet formation. This prize is given to young,...
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Star birth: a slow and mysterious drama 15 September 2023A star does not just appear in the sky overnight. Its creation takes tens of thousands of years. Twenty years ago, astronomers took a picture of a sta...
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Motion of stars near Milky Way's central black hole is only predictable for few hundred years 13 September 2023The orbits of 27 stars orbiting closely around the black hole at the center of our Milky Way are very chaotic. As a result, researchers cannot predict...
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Uncovering galaxy evolution and the nature of dark matter 10 August 2023Dark matter represents around eighty per cent of the total mass in the Universe. Yet, we still don't really know what it's made of. Astronomer Pavel M...
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Michiel Hogerheijde new Programme Director at Leiden Observatory 03 August 2023Michiel Hogerheijde will be the new Programme Director of the bachelor Astronomy starting 1 October. The appointment is for four years. Hogerheijde su...
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Veni grants for 16 Leiden researchers 03 August 2023Sixteen researchers at Leiden University are to receive a Veni grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). These awards off...