The board of the Pastor Schmeits Prize for Astronomy Foundation has decided to award the 2025 Pastor Schmeits Prize to two individuals: Yamila Miguel (SRON/Leiden University) and Else Starkenburg (University of Groningen). The prize was presented on 28 May 2025 during the 80th Dutch Astronomers Conference (NAC) in Berg en Dal.
Month: May 2025
Supermassive black hole wind appears in bullet-like gas clumps
XRISM observations show that winds from a supermassive black hole consist of bullet-like clumps. Astronomers previously assumed that the wind material would be smooth and continuous. The energy carried by the gas bullets is over 1,000 times greater than that of regular galaxy-scale winds, suggesting a much stronger impact on the environment. Publication in Nature by an international team of astronomers including Elisa Costantini, Liyi Gu and Aurora Simionescu from SRON.
ENW-XS grant for simultaneous readout of a thousand X-ray detectors
SRON researcher Luciano Gottardi has received an ENW-XS grant from NWO to read out a thousand X-ray detectors simultaneously with a single amplifier. The new readout follows the same principle as KIDs, which are already used to detect far-infrared and visible light particles.
