A small international team of astronomers including Silvia Toonen (UvA) and Gijs Nelemans (RU, KU Leuven and SRON) has discovered two white dwarf stars orbiting each other that will merge and explode into a type Ia supernova. This missing link in astronomy has long been predicted. The researchers publish their findings today in Nature Astronomy.

Using the XRISM X-ray telescope, astronomers have observed hot gas sloshing back and forth in the core of a cluster of galaxies. This provides the first direct evidence of gas motions driven by a collision on cosmic scales. Publication in Nature.

Het wetenschappelijke consortium van ESA’s toekomstige NewAthena röntgentelescoop heeft haar doelen voor de missie gedefinieerd in een publicatie in Nature Astronomy.

Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to measure the infrared spectrum of a rocky planet in the auspicious planetary system of TRAPPIST-1. It is what you’d expect from a planet covered in volcanic rock. Another scenario includes an atmosphere full of CO2 and smog. The team, including Michiel Min (SRON), publishes the results in Nature Astronomy.

On December 10^th, ESA’s X-ray observatory XMM-Newton celebrates 25 years in space. SRON contributed to one of XMM-Newton’s three instruments—the Reflection Grating Spectrometer. From planets to black holes, the space telescope has delivered many ground-breaking observations of a variety of celestial objects. Let’s take a look at four fascinating discoveries from the past five years.

Kunnen we de grootste structuren in het universum onderzoeken door te kijken naar de kleinste deeltjes? Daarover gaat het onderzoek van Lydia Stofanova, promovendus aan de Leidse Sterrewacht en SRON—het Nederlandse instituut voor ruimteonderzoek. Ze bestudeert hoe elementen zoals zuurstof de grootschalige structuur van het universum beïnvloeden. Op 13 november verdedigde ze haar proefschrift.

An interdisciplinary research consortium, including Floris van der Tak (SRON/RUG) and Michiel Min (SRON) has been awarded an NWA grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) to investigate the origin of life on Earth and in the universe. The so-called PRELIFE consortium (Pathways, Reactions and Environments) receives €6.7 million to explore this research question.

The Astrophysics Centre for Multimessenger studies in Europe (ACME) has kicked off its activities in Paris. This EU-funded project aims to optimize the  European-wide accessibility and cohesion of multiple astroparticle and astronomy research infrastructures, such as VIRGO, KM3NeT, Auger Prime and LOFAR, to realize multi-messenger astrophysics.

Following its launch on September 7th, 2023, and the subsequent series of tests, the XRISM X-ray telescope has produced its first two scientific papers. The team marveled at a temperature of ten billion degrees Celsius inside a supernova remnant. And it measured the distance of the dust ring around a supermassive black hole. In the case of NGC 4151, this turns out to be 0.1 light years. SRON has developed the filter wheel and an X-ray source used to calibrate the energy scale of the Resolve instrument.

SRON astronomers have for the first time mapped the outflows from one of the closest quasars— I Zwicky 1. Quasars are bright cores of galaxies powered by the supermassive black hole in their center. The team has probed gas outflows in I Zwicky 1 to map its system of clouds being blown away at tens to thousands of kilometers per second. Publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Every year SURF organizes its Research Support Championship Awards to give a platform to innovators of research support. This way they can increase their impact and reach and inspire others. SURF is a cooperation of Dutch educational and research institutions. This year, Jelle de Plaa (SRON) receives this award at the SURF Research Day.

SRON astronomer Floris van der Tak has received an ENW-M1 grant from NWO to study the life cycle of stars and planets. Together with a PhD student, he will study the presence of carbon and nitrogen in tenuous gas clouds—the precursors of baby stars. They will analyze data from the recently conducted balloon mission GUSTO, for which SRON developed the cameras.

Astronomers have discovered possible atmospheric gases on 55 Cancri e, a hot rocky exoplanet at 41 light years from Earth. This is the best evidence yet for an atmosphere around a rocky planet outside our solar system. Gas bubbling up from a lava-covered surface possibly feeds an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide. The researchers, including astronomers from SRON and Leiden Observatory, publish their findings in Nature.

The Japanese X-ray telescope XRISM has officially started its nominal phase of operations. After its launch on September 7^th 2023, XRISM went through a series of checks in the commissioning phase, which is now completed. To mark this milestone, new images have been released to the public. SRON has contributed the filter wheel including calibration source to the Resolve instrument.

On Sunday 3 March 2024, the third mobile planetarium of the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA) was officially inaugurated – the SRON planetarium. This took place at the alumni day of the IMC Weekend School at Nyenrode Business University in Breukelen. The event also marked the start of a project to use the inflatable stars to reach more children in socio-economically disadvantaged and rural neighbourhoods.

After a record-breaking 57 days, 7 hours and 38 minutes, NASA’s balloon telescope GUSTO completed its flight above Antarctica by landing on the ice by parachute. The mission was designed to last 55 days. GUSTO has observed atomic clouds in our own galaxy and its nearest neighbor with far-infrared cameras, developed by SRON and TU Delft.

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) opens up a new part of the gravitational wave spectrum as the first space-based detector.  It is now officially adopted by the European Space Agency (ESA) as one of its large class missions. Launch is scheduled for the mid-2030s. The Netherlands plays a large role in the development of hardware and software.