03-03-11 |
HIFI recovered from cosmic ray hit
HIFI, one of the three scientific instruments on ESA's Herschel Space Observatory, has taken a hit by a cosmic ray particle in a critical area again. On Monday 28 February a particle presumably hit the electronics of the instrument, which brought HIFI observations to a full stop. However, after switching HIFI off and then on again the instrument came back online. HIFI will now be able to continue its highly successful quest for |
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02-03-11 |
China wants SPEX for Mars mission
The China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) has expressed serious interest in the SPEX instrument, the spectropolarimeter currently under development at SRON in collaboration with the Astronomical Institute Utrecht and other Dutch partners. SPEX would become part of the first Mars mission that is being developed completely under Chinese leadership. |
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28-02-11 |
21-02-11 |
Immersed gratings candidate for Extremely Large Telescope
SRON’s 'immersed gratings' are a candidate for use in the European Extremely Large Telescope. An SRON-led Dutch consortium – that also includes TNO, NOVA/Astron and Philips – will study if the technology can also be used for METIS, one of the eight planned instruments behind the telescope’s enormous mirror. The grating for METIS must be much larger and flatter than the current ultramodern gratings, and realising this will be an enormous technological challenge. |
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13-12-10 |
SRON supplies groundbreaking technology for European environmental satellite
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research will supply essential hardware for the infrared module of TROPOMI, the instrument onboard the European environmental satellite Sentinel-5 precursor, which shall monitor air pollution in the troposphere and climate change on earth, for example. On 9 December 2010, SRON concluded an agreement with the British space company Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) to this effect. SRON will supply a specially developed combination of a prism and optical grating, which will be used in space for the first time, and the readout electronics for the advanced infrared detector. The space research institute is also responsible for testing and characterising the detector under space conditions. |
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02-12-10 |
Rens Waters comments on NASA discovery
At the request of the Dutch NOS News Channel, SRON-director Rens Waters on december 1st commented on the announced discovery of NASA. NASA will give a press conference later this day, but the news is already out on the street. Scientists have discoverd a new lifeform on Earth: bacteria which suggest that life can also exist in very extreme conditions on other planets. |
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04-11-10 |
02-11-10 |
Peter Roelfsema PI for SAFARI
SRON scientist dr. Peter Roelfsema has been appointed Principal Investigator for SAFARI, the European space instrument proposed for the Japanese space telescope SPICA, with a planned launch date in 2018. SAFARI will be a far-Infrared imaging spectrometer exploiting the sensitivity of the SPICA telescope, which will hunt for frozen water in protoplanetary systems. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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). |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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