27-10-10 |
Master students come up with new insight into protoplanetary disks
Onderzoek van twee masterstudenten van het Sterrenkundig Instituut Anton Pannekoek van de Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA) heeft een nieuwe kijk opgeleverd op de structuur van de gas- en stofschijf rondom een zogeheten Herbig Be-ster. De metingen van de studenten - die werden begeleid door prof. dr. Rens Waters - hebben geleid tot een artikel in het wetenschappelijke tijdschrift Astrophysical Journal Letters. |
|
07-10-10 |
Open Day at SRON: How to observe exoplanets?
Op 10 en 17 oktober zet SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research de deuren weer open voor het publiek. Op de open dagen in Utrecht (10 okt.) en Groningen (17 okt.) komt de bezoeker via presentaties, demonstraties, lezingen en films veel te weten over de nieuwste ontwikkelingen in het ruimteonderzoek, waaronder de speurtocht naar planeten buiten ons eigen zonnestelsel. |
|
24-09-10 |
SRON launches space classes in Sonnenborgh museum & observatory
In het schooljaar 2010-2011 verzorgen onderzoekers van SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research elke laatste donderdag van de maand 'space classes' in Sonnenborgh museum & sterrenwacht (Utrecht). Deze master classes voor de bovenbouw van het VWO bestrijken de volle breedte van het fascinerende onderzoek vanuit de ruimte. Begin oktober – in de World Space Week – vindt een speciale aftrap plaats met twee space classes in één week. |
|
16-09-10 |
HIFI has already resulted in more than 60 scientific articles
How exactly are new stars born? Using the Dutch molecule hunter HIFI, astronomers have been trying to answer that question for the past 18 months. The results are highly promising: to date no fewer than 62 scientific articles have been published thanks to HIFI's observations. For example, using the space instrument astronomers have discovered two new types of water as well as hydrogen fluoride in space. |
|
03-09-10 |
Lower melting rate Icecaps Greenland and Western Antarctic
The Greenland and West Antarctic ice caps are melting at half the speed previously predicted. This finding has emerged from research by a joint US/Dutch team from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, TU Delft and SRON. The scientists have published their findings in the September issue of Nature Geoscience. |
|
31-08-10 |
Herschel discovers water vapour in atmosphere carbon star
Astronomers have found water vapour in the atmosphere of a carbon star with the Herschel space observatory. Until now the formation of water vapour in the atmosphere of such a star was deemed impossible. The discovery was made by a team of astronomers led by Leen Decin (University of Amsterdam and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium). |
|
25-06-10 |
VLT detects first superstorm on exoplanet
Nederlandse astronomen hebben voor het eerst een superstorm waargenomen in de atmosfeer van een exoplaneet, de bekende ‘hete Jupiter’ HD209458b. Zeer nauwkeurige waarnemingen van koolmonoxide laten zien dat dit gas met enorme snelheid van de extreem hete dagzijde van de planeet naar de koelere nachtzijde stroomt. De waarnemingen omvatten nog een andere bijzondere primeur: de meting van de baansnelheid van de planeet zelf, die een directe bepaling van zijn massa mogelijk maakt. Het team, onder leiding van de Leidse astronoom Ignas Snellen, publiceert het onderzoeksresultaat deze week in het tijdschrift Nature. |
|
21-06-10 |
Extreme gravity effects revealed by oxygen for the first time
Astronomers from SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research and Utrecht University have found blurred oxygen signatures in the X-rays from a neutron star that 'eats' a white dwarf. For the first time the effects of extreme gravity are revealed by oxygen instead of iron atoms. |
|
21-06-10 |
New directorate at space research institute SRON
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research will have a new directorate effective July 1st, 2010. Professor of Astronomy Rens Waters (University of Amsterdam) will become the Science Director on this date and he will also assume the position of General Director. In that capacity he also bears the final responsibility for the institute. Dr. Roel Gathier, currently acting General Director of SRON, will become the Managing Director and Deputy General Director. |
|
|
10-06-10 |
31-05-10 |
Most of the potentially hazardous asteroids not yet known
A new web page offers an overview of known Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) which may have close encounters with the Earth in the next 200 years. NEAs present a clear and present danger to the world's population. Once every 200 years a medium-sized NEA (diameter 40-1000 m) hits the Earth and causes serious local damage. Once every 2 million years a NEA, comparable in size with the one which terminated the era of the dinosaurs, impacts and causes fatal global damage. 85% of the NEAs with diameters larger than 1000 m are known to date; of the potentially hazardous smaller ones, down to 25 m, only 1% is chartered. |
|
10-05-10 |
Astronomers find recoiling super-massive black hole
In a distant remote galaxy, astronomers have possibly found a super-massive black hole that is recoiling out of the galaxy at high speed. The black hole, visible with X-rays as a clear star, is not located as normal in the centre of the galaxy. Recoiling black holes are interesting because they provide insights into how super-massive black holes develop in the centre of galaxies. |
|
06-05-10 |
HIFI on the trail of new water in the Universe
HIFI's quest for water sheds new light on the birth of stars in different regions of the Universe. This much became clear at The First Results Symposium of the Herschel space telecope, with onboard the Dutch space instrument HIFI. With HIFI scientist discovered ionised water for the first time in space. These electrically charged water molecules do not exist on Earth. |
|
29-04-10 |
Herschel First Results Media Day
Media representatives are cordially invited to celebrate the release of the first results from ESA’s Herschel infrared space telescope. The theme of the media day is: Revealing the Hidden Side of Star Formation. |
|
15-04-10 |
The Netherlands and Japan decide on cooperation in space science
The Netherlands and Japan have decided to cooperate in the development and application of new space science. That was the gist also of an earlier agreement in 2009 between the Japanese space agency JAXA and SRON, but now also the Netherlands Space Office (NSO) and JAXA have signed an agreement in Tokyo. It was signed in the presence of Maria van der Hoeven, Secretary of Economic Affairs. |
|
02-04-10 |
Stars mesmerize visitors of Star Weekend at NEMO
Stars mesmerize visitors of NEMO during the Star Weekend on april 10th and 11th. Young and old can enjoy a 'heavenly' programme with special lectures and workshops for children, such as 'What is a Black Hole?'and 'Build your own Spectrometer'. Or participate in the Google Earth Quiz and look through the 'Nutty Viewer', and win some nice prizes. |
|
04-03-10 |
Herschel-HIFI unveils precursors of life-enabling molecules in Orion Nebula
ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory has revealed the chemical fingerprints of potential life-enabling organic molecules in the Orion Nebula, a nearby stellar nursery in our Milky Way galaxy. This detailed-spectrum, obtained with the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared (HIFI) - one of Herschel's three innovative instruments - demonstrates the gold mine of information that Herschel-HIFI will provide on how organic molecules form in space. |
|
19-02-10 |
International Conference: ten years of X-ray astronomy using Dutch gratings
From March 15 to 17, 2010, Utrecht is the center of X-ray astronomy. More than one hundred astronomers from all over the world will discuss the hottest objects in the universe. The conference is organized by SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research and Utrecht University. There will be a lot of attention for the results that were obtained with the Dutch instruments aboard XMM-Newton and Chandra in the last ten years. |
|
16-02-10 |
New insight in ozone chemistry above North Pole
A flight of the balloon instrument TELIS has provided new insight into the chemistry of ozone above the North Pole, where the depletion of ozone is much more complex than above the South Pole. We now know more about ozone depleting substances in the stratosphere, such as the elusive but very agressive bromine oxide and chloride oxides which form under the influence of sunlight. |
|
14-01-10 |
HIFI resumes quest for water in Universe
The back up system of HIFI, the state of the art Dutch space instrument on ESA's Herschel space telescope, has been switched on successfully. Due to an unexpected voltage peak in the electronic system HIFI has been inactive for more than 160 days, but on Thursday evening 14 January Mission Control in Darmstadt confirmed that HIFI is now fully capable of performing groundbreaking observations in space again. The coming three years HIFI, built under the supervision of SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, will investigate the physics and chemistry of interstellar clouds of gas and dust. The infrared spectrometer will chart the amount of carbon and water in these gas clouds, which is expected to shed new light on the birth and early development of stars and planets. |
|
