ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer has revealed the largest yellow star — and one of the ten largest stars found so far. This hypergiant has been found to measure more than 1300 times the diameter of the Sun, and to be part of a double star system, with the second component so close that it is in contact with the [...]
If comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) survives its close pass to the Sun after November 28, it could become a very bright object in the morning skies in the beginning of december.
ISON is named for the Russia-based International Scientific Optical Network, in which the comet’s discoverers, Artyom Novichonok and Vitali Nevski, were participating when they observed the comet for the first [...]
More than 350 scientists, satellite and network operators worldwide gather in Antwerp to discuss the theme Space Weather during the tenth edition of the “European Space Weather Week” (ESWW). During this international congress, they address the question how vulnerable and at the same time how resilient the society is during severe space weather. Research into the causes of solar storms, [...]
On Wednesday, 3 April 2013, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence (STCE) will present a new European Space Weather facility to the media.
The centre is being developed as part of ESA’s Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Programme. [...]
Elodie Gloesener, PhD student on the IAP (Interuniversity Attraction Pole) TOPERS Planet (Planets: Tracing the Transfer, Origin, Preservation, and Evolution of their ReservoirS), won the Odissea prize for her work in the frame of a Master in Space Sciences at the University of Liège on methane and clathrates of Mars (Promotor Veronique Dehant & Ozgur Karatekin). She studied the temperature [...]
Attilio Rivoldini, planetary scientist at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, won a competition of the Class of Sciences of the Belgian Royal Academy. His work was sent as an answer to a request for “an original contribution, experimental or theoretical on the physics of planets and moons of the solar system”. [...]
A team of scientists including Dr. Alex Lobel of the ROB, reported they have finalized a thirty years long investigation of a hypergiant star. In that period the surface temperature of this gigantic and extremely bright star quickly rose from five to eight thousand degrees. With this discovery a crucial ‘missing link’ in the evolution of hypergiant stars has been [...]
Observations from space (PROBA2-SWAP) and from Australia were coordinated by Belgian scientists.
Images are available at http://proba2.oma.be/news/solar_eclipse_20121113 where you also can find the blog of Dr. Anik De Groof with fantastic images. [...]
A team of researchers including astronomers from the University of Liège and Dr. Ronny Blomme of the ROB has observed the colliding stellar winds of the two stars in the massive system Cyg OB2 #9.
They used observations from the satellites XMM-Newton (ESA) and Swift (NASA).
The result features in press releases by ESA, NASA and the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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Observations using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have revealed an unexpected spiral structure in the material around the old star R Sculptoris. This feature has never been seen before and is probably caused by a hidden companion star orbiting the star. This slice through the new ALMA data reveals the shell around the star, which shows up as the [...]