End of mission for Dutch molecule hunter in space

Monday Sep 25th, 2017

28-04-13

End of mission for Dutch molecule hunter in space
Water trail

23-04-13

Herschel-HIFI links Jupiter's water to comet impact
Herschel

15-04-13

Thousands of citizens have enlisted for the national iSPEX Measurement Day
Op een zonnige dag tussen medio mei en eind juni gaat Nederland massaal met behulp van het iSPEX-opzetstukje op de smartphone-camera metingen verrichten aan fijnstof in de lucht. Sinds februari van dit jaar hebben al duizenden Nederlanders zich aangemeld voor deelname aan de landelijke  iSPEX-meetdag. De productie van 10.000 opzetstukjes is in volle gang; ze worden rond half mei verstuurd, en dan is ook de bijbehorende gratis app klaar. De inschrijvingstermijn van iSPEX loopt tot eind april en de komende twee weken hebben geïnteresseerden dus de laatste mogelijkheid om een opzetstukje via longfonds.nl/ispex te bestellen.

05-03-13

Succesful space telescope about to take its last breath
HIFI

22-02-13

ISPEX project officially started - registration for participation open

15-02-13

Strategic Plan for Astronomy in the Netherlands 2011 - 2020 presented to State Secretary of Education, Culture and Science
On Tuesday, February 12 State Secretary Dekker received the Strategic Plan for Astronomy in the Netherlands 2011-2020 from the hands of Professor Ralph Wijers, Chairman of the National Committee Astronomy.

14-02-13

New type of telescope can possibly discover extraterrestrial life
A team of Dutch astronomers has shown that with a new type of telescope it might be possible to find signs of extraterrestrial life within the next 25 years. Certain gases exhaled by organisms can, in principle, be observed in the atmospheres of exoplanets – planets orbiting stars other than our sun. This idea, which was developed back in the 1960s, has now been linked to a new observation technique that makes use of relatively cheap flux collectors, large reflecting telescopes that cannot make sharp images but collect enough light for accurate spectroscopy to be performed. This study will soon be published in The Astrophysical Journal.

12-02-13

HIFI strives for the best and cures its last frequency problem
In an attempt to take the scientific output of the molecule hunter HIFI to the limit, the HIFI-team has cured a small frequency range (band 3B). Knowing that there was a possibility of losing this band the team had postponed the attempt until the very end of the operations, due in April 2013. HIFI - onboard ESA's Herschel Space Observatory - has been producing lots of scientific data now for the past three years, after a careful commissioning of the highly complex instrument. With the band 3B observations the team hopes to finalize its survey of molecular complexity in the richest chemical sources in our Milky Way.

24-01-13

Chameleon pulsar baffles astronomers
An international team - led by Dutch astronomers (SRON, NOVA and ASTRON) - has made a tantalizing discovery about the way pulsars emit radiation. The emission of X-rays and radio waves by these pulsating neutron stars is able to change dramatically in seconds, simultaneously, in a way that cannot be explained with current theory. It suggests a quick change of the entire magnetosphere. In their research the team combined observations from the X-ray space telescope XMM-Newton and the radio telescope LOFAR (among others); the research results appear in the journal Science tomorrow.

23-01-13

Breakthrough in super-terahertz detection technology
An international team of researchers led by SRON and TU Delft have successfully demonstrated a superconducting heterodyne receiver with an unprecedented high sensitivity at 4,7 THz in frequency or 63 micrometers in wavelength. The so called super-terahertz heterodyne receiver - about 85 times more sensitive than its predecessor, operating near the quantum noise limit - is able to operate at the exact frequency that is needed to enable the detection of the astrophysically important neutral atomic oxygen (OI) line. This is very good news for astronomers who need to study the oxygen lines from different astronomic sources to trace star formation and galactic evolution. It is also an important milestone in the development of the technology for the candidate balloon mission GUSSTO (NASA). The research results appeared this month in Applied Physics Letters.

11-12-12

New research into 'turbulent' black hole and origin of elements in the universe

27-11-12

Autumn is setting in rapidly now on Saturn's moon Titan
Trace gases

27-11-12

Rainbows on exoplanets reveal the presence of water

01-11-12

Hypergiant star turns out to be 'missing link' after 30 years
A team of scientists from six European countries reported today they have finalized a thirty years long investigation of a hypergiant star that crossed the Yellow Evolutionary Void. In that period the star’s surface temperature quickly rose from five to eight thousand degrees. With this discovery a crucial 'missing link' in the evolution of hypergiant stars has been found. 

24-10-12

iSPEX wins Dutch prize for public outreach
Landelijke meetdag

10-10-12

Large water reservoirs at the dawn of stellar birth
ESA’s Herschel space observatory has discovered enough water vapour to fill Earth’s oceans more than 2000 times over, in a gas and dust cloud that is on the verge of collapsing into a new Sun-like star.

09-10-12

The Hague sets 68 million aside for Dutch space sector
Good news from The Hague! Today was announced that the intended cuts on the Dutch space sector (30 million euros) have been cancelled for the greater part. In answer to requests from a.o. the Parliament, the Dutch government has now set aside 68 million euros for Space in the years 2012-2015.

04-10-12