News
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Dust cloud from two colliding ice planets dims light of parent star11 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 precision10 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 professor09 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 Prize15 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 drama15 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 years13 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 matter10 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 Observatory03 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 researchers03 August 2023Sixteen researchers at Leiden University are to receive a Veni grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). These awards off...
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Space telescope Euclid makes first test images - astronomers are full of anticipation01 August 2023The two instruments of ESA's space telescope Euclid have taken their first test images. The first images indicate that the space telescope will achiev...
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What was there first? Water or planets?28 July 2023Could water be present in planet-forming disks before the formation of rocky planets? The James Webb Space Telescope may have found evidence for that....
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Tracking the origin and evolution of molecules in space28 July 2023How do molecules originate and evolve in space? And how does that ultimately determine the chemical composition of planets and their atmospheres? The ...
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After the launch of the next big space mission: ‘This is a big step towards understanding dark matter and dark energy.’07 July 2023What is it like to work on the fundamental questions about the universe? On July 1, the Euclid satellite launched successfully. This mission from the ...
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Sjoert van Velzen receives Vidi grant to solve 'riddles from the universe'29 June 2023Minuscule elementary particles from space colliding with Earth can give us an insight into the distant objects they come from. But first, you need to ...
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Surprising molecule helps detect protoplanets28 June 2023A team of scientists, including Leiden Astronomer Alice Booth, has discovered silicon monosulfide molecules in the dust disk around a young star. Such...