They will provide scientists with huge amounts of data and revolutionize our understanding of the universe Sweden signed up to become a member of one of the world’s largest research collaborations – the SKA Observatory The event was celebrated in London and Gothenburg Two advanced telescopes are currently being built in South Africa and Australia Swedish technology companies are already participating in the construction of the telescopes which will open doors for researchers to make new discoveries about the universe Representatives from the Government Offices of Sweden the Swedish Research Council and Chalmers gathered at the Swedish Embassy in London on January 21 to witness the signing of the SKA Observatory convention by Stefan Gullgren Sweden's ambassador to the UK.At the same time company representatives and school students gathered at Chalmers to celebrate and follow the signing in the UK.The signing follows a decision by the Swedish government to join the SKA Observatory  intergovernmental research organisation dedicated to next-generation radio astronomy This involves research into the universe using advanced telescopes sensitive to radio waves The SKA Observatory will provide scientists with enormous amounts of data and will revolutionise our understanding of the cosmos and the laws of fundamental physics."The telescopes will give us new insights into how galaxies and also provide clues to the existence of life outside Earth" Onsala Space Observatory has been the driving force behind Sweden's participation in the SKA collaboration for several decades.”As a new member state of the SKA Observatory run and participate in the most exciting research of our time about our universe we are investing in the technology of the future and in basic research of the most inspiring kind” "Joining the SKAO collaboration strengthens Sweden's position as a leading nation in knowledge and technology Access to world-class research infrastructure strengthens the capabilities of Swedish researchers and companies to advance technological development which is crucial for both the present and the future" Robert Cumming, astronomer and communicator, Onsala Space Observatory, Chalmers University of Technology, robert.cumming@chalmers.se, +46 70 493 31 14John Conway, director of Onsala Space Observatory, professor of radio astronomy at Chalmers University of Technology, john.conway@chalmers.se, +46 31 772 55 03 Radio telescopes are one of the more impressive types of telescopes mainly due to the enormous size of the dishes. While the biggest radio telescopes these days are large arrays of small telescopes, visiting a radio observatory still feels surreal.  Onsala Space Observatory was founded in 1949 by professor Olof Rydbeck as a part of Chalmers University in Gothenburg not only by the construction of new telescopes but also by taking on more interdisciplinary tasks.  The large dish and the smaller one primarily work on radio astronomy but several other telescopes study our planet's plate tectonics and water vapor levels The observatory is typically not open for visitors The largest radio telescope in the world searches for extraterrestrial life from the remote limestone peaks of southern China This observatory high on a hilltop in the center of Santiago got its start in 1852 One of the largest mechanical models of the solar system in the world One of Canada's premier radio observatories sits in a radio-quiet valley outside Penticton the University of Oregon maintains a research observatory on a remote mountain peak It's common to find the famous science communicator's grave adorned with pale blue marbles An amateur telescope-making club has been gathering at this Vermont site for more than a century The headquarters of one of Japan’s leading astronomy research institutions features several historic observatory facilities and a 2,000-year-old burial mound Suggestions or feedback? Fifty years ago this week, in April 1968, a historic event took place involving MIT Haystack Observatory radio telescope in Westford, Massachusetts, and its counterpart at Onsala Space Observatory in Onsala Sweden: the first transatlantic geodetic very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations This occasion marks an important anniversary in geodesy; although the April observations were not entirely successful in terms of usable data it was the first time that geodetic VLBI was performed across the Atlantic Successful VLBI work was first completed in 1967 between several groups including Haystack and the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia — one of several collaborations honored with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1971 Rumford Award Today, NASA's Space Geodesy Project (SGP) operates a worldwide system of modern geodetic sites, including the broadband VGOS (VLBI Global Observing System) network in collaboration with international partners around the globe As part of current innovative VGOS development efforts MIT Haystack Observatory and Onsala Space Observatory will be making regularly scheduled observations this week that happen to align with the historic events of April 1968 The two observatories are celebrating the occasion on Thursday to honor the scientists and engineers in the U.S and Sweden who made such achievements possible and helped launch decades of successful VLBI experiments worldwide Several scientists and engineers who contributed to the early VLBI development are still working today including Alan Whitney of MIT Haystack Observatory and Jim Moran of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Whitney describes the confidence of the early VLBI pioneers: “There was really no doubt that the concept [of VLBI] was sound and it was a matter of implementing it properly And there was a lot of confidence that it could be done but with the realization that it would take quite a bit of effort and probably several tries before we got it right I always felt optimistic about the potential for VLBI There's still a lot more to do in terms of improving the techniques; we're going to learn a lot more as the VGOS system is deployed worldwide.” Scientists developing the pioneering VLBI techniques in the late 1960s remember it as an exciting period in their careers including such details as the difficulties of recording data on numerous half-inch magnetic tapes lasted for about three minutes of observations An experiment might cover hundreds or thousands of tape reels Technology for correlation and data recording has progressed immensely since 1968 — the current equivalent recorder holds up to 32 terabytes and would fill the tape used in the 1960s in about 8 milliseconds — and shows no signs of slowing over the next decades "There is a press for increased bandwidth: There are tremendous possibilities for pushing the boundaries of VLBI It's amazing that we're continuously observing in VLBI 50 years later." Observatories in NASA SGP's VGOS network are looking forward with particular enthusiasm to this week's observations This website is managed by the MIT News Office, part of the Institute Office of Communications Massachusetts Institute of Technology77 Massachusetts Avenue Sweden's biggest contribution yet to the world's biggest radio telescope developed at Chalmers University of Technology The sensitive feed horn - with an opening almost one metre across and weighing almost 100 kilograms - will help astronomers to tell the history of the universe Built at Onsala Space Observatory and now delivered for testing in Canada it will eventually be fitted on each of the 133 dish antennas at the SKA's South African site in the first phase of deployment of the SKA Construction of the SKA is scheduled to begin only a few years from now represented by Onsala Space Observatory at Chalmers University of Technology has been part of the project's design phase since 2012 The telescope's instrument in South Africa will be made up of hundreds of 15-metre dish antennas located in the remote Karoo Desert in Northern Cape province Currently intensive work is underway all over the world to develop and test the telescope's components feed horns and receivers are all needed to register faint radio waves from the cosmos SKA will be able to make measurements which will surpass all of today's radio telescopes astronomers hope to be able to map out how the first galaxies were formed "The feed horn is our biggest and most important contribution yet to the SKA and each antenna's feed horn is one of its most important components In it we combine nanotechnology with precision instrumentation" leader for the SKA technology team in Onsala Each of the telescope's dishes collects faint radio signals from space then prepares the radio signal so that it can be analysed by astronomers The horn itself is an impressive combination of mechanical engineering and radio optical design - all with the aim of being maximally sensitive but also cost-effective for mass production developed by Onsala Space Observatory specifically for SKA from an earlier design by the South African company EMSS Antennas The feed horn has been developed for the longest wavelengths that SKA's dish antennas will be sensitive to between 350 and 1050 MHz (wavelengths from 30-85 cm; Band 1) It will now be tested on an antenna prototype built for SKA at the Canadian National Research Council's Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO) facility near Penticton The amplifiers for the feed horn have been specially developed for this project by the Gothenburg-based company Low Noise Factory in collaboration with Onsala Space Observatory and the Gigahertz Centre at Chalmers A paper describing the work on the amplifiers was presented on 26 May at the "International Microwave Symposium 2016" in San Francisco "The amplifier uses nanotechnology to amplify the radio waves with as little noise as possible noise reduction means we have to cool the amplifier down to a few degrees above absolute zero our bespoke amplifier is integrated directly in the feed horn which means we can retain the telescope's sensitivity without using any cooling at all For SKA this could mean huge savings in energy John Conway is director of Onsala Space Observatory are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system Copyright © 2025 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) showing 20-m and 25-m radio telescopes in Onsala Thomasson)The Europea​n Radio Interferometry School was hosted by Onsala Space Observatory​ at Chalmers University of Technology​ on 7-11 October 2019 This school was the eighth of a series of summer schools supported by RadioNet ERIS provided a week of lectures and tutorials on how to achieve scientific results from radio interferometry The topics covered by the lectures/tutorials included: Previous ERIS events:Dwingeloo,16-20 October 2017​Garching, 9-13 September 2015Dwingeloo, 9-13 September 2013Rimini Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC): Michael Lindqvist (Chalmers Local Organizing Committee (LOC): Michael Lindqvist (chair) datasets and presentationsThis event received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 730562 [RadioNet] the Swedish National Infrastructure for Radio Astronomy provides Swedish and international scientists with world class equipment to study the Earth and the rest of the Universe the observatory operates three radio telescopes for astronomical research The observatory also participates in international radio astronomy projects such as VLBI (network of radio telescopes) and the APEX and ALMA radio telescopes in Chile as well as in the construction of the new SKA radio telescope to be built in South Africa and Australia Onsala Space Observatory is an internationally established geodetic fundamental station We measure and study many global geodynamic phenomena That means that we do research on Earth rotation For the observations we use radio telescopes (the Very Long Baseline Interferometry global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) belonging to the Swedish National Seismic Network operated by Uppsala University The observatory is also active in developing technologies instruments and methods for radio astronomy and Earth science observations Onsala Space Observatory was founded in 1949 by Professor Olof Rydbeck Earth and Environment hosts the observatory and the operation is operated on behalf of the Swedish Research Council By studying the site of a spectacular stellar explosion seen in April 2020 a Chalmers-led team of scientists have used four European radio telescopes to confirm that astronomy's most exciting puzzle is about to be solved unpredictable millisecond-long radio signals seen at huge distances across the universe are generated by extreme stars called magnetars - and are astonishingly diverse in brightness the phenomenon known as fast radio bursts has excited and mystified astronomers These extraordinarily bright but extremely brief flashes of radio waves - lasting only milliseconds - reach Earth from galaxies billions of light years away one of the bursts was for the first time detected from within our galaxy The unexpected flare was traced to a previously-known source only 25 000 light years from Earth in the constellation of Vulpecula and scientists all over the world coordinated their efforts to follow up the discovery Our radio telescopes had only rarely been able to see fast radio bursts and this source seemed to be doing something completely new team member from the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy one dish each in the Netherlands and Poland and two at Onsala Space Observatory in Sweden monitored the source every night for more than four weeks after the discovery of the first flash the team got the surprise they were looking for the Westerbork telescope in the Netherlands caught a dramatic and unexpected signal: two short bursts each one millisecond long but 1.4 seconds apart astronomer at Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy and ASTRON Like the flash seen from the same source on April 28 this looked just like the fast radio bursts we'd been seeing from the distant universe The two bursts we detected on May 24 were even fainter than that" strong evidence connecting fast radio bursts with magnetars Like more distant sources of fast radio bursts SGR 1935+2154 seemed to be producing bursts at random intervals "The brightest flashes from this magnetar are at least ten million times as bright as the faintest ones could that also be true for fast radio burst sources outside our galaxy then the universe's magnetars are creating beams of radio waves that could be criss-crossing the cosmos all the time - and many of these could be within the reach of modest-sized telescopes like ours" said team member Jason Hessels (Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy and ASTRON extremely dense remnants left behind when a short-lived star of more than eight times the mass of the Sun explodes as a supernova neutron stars which with clock-like regularity send out pulses of radio waves and other radiation All pulsars are believed to have strong magnetic fields but the magnetars are the strongest known magnets in the universe each with a magnetic field hundreds of trillions of times stronger than the Sun's the team aims to keep the radio telescopes monitoring SGR 1935+2154 and other nearby magnetars in the hope of pinning down how these extreme stars actually make their brief blasts of radiation Scientists have presented many ideas for how fast radio bursts are generated expects the rapid pace in understanding the physics behind fast radio bursts to continue nearby magnetar have given us exciting clues about how fast radio bursts might be generated The bursts we detected on May 24 could indicate a dramatic disturbance in the star's magnetosphere like shock waves further out from the magnetar we can expect new measurements and new surprises in the months and years to come" the telescopes and Onsala Space Observatory The research is published in a paper "Detection of two bright radio bursts from magnetar SGR 1935+2154" in Nature Astronomy by Franz Kirsten (Onsala Space Observatory Jenkins (Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy Nimmo (Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy van den Eijnden (Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy University of Amsterdam and Department of Physics Hessels (Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy Poland) and Jun Yang (Onsala Space Observatory http://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-01246-3 The observations were carried out using the 25-metre RT1 telescope at Westerbork both the 25-metre and 20-metre telescopes at Onsala Space Observatory Onsala Space Observatory is Sweden's national facility for radio astronomy The observatory provides researchers with equipment for the study of the earth and the rest of the universe it operates four radio telescopes and a station in the international telescope Lofar It also participates in several international projects The observatory is hosted by the Department of Space Earth and Environment at Chalmers University of Technology and is operated on behalf of the Swedish Research Council Robert Cumming, communicator, Onsala Space Observatory, Chalmers, tel: +46 31-772 5500 or +46 70 493 3114, robert.cumming@chalmers.se 10.1038/s41550-020-01246-3 Foto: Chalmers/Magnus FalckThe Swedish LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) station is located at Onsala Space Observatory It is one of 14 LOFAR stations in Europe complementing the thirty eight stations concentrated in the north-east of the Netherlands The LOFAR project is lead by Astron in the Netherlands The LOFAR station consists of 192 simple antennas for frequencies below 250 MHz distributed over an area about 100 m x 200 m The antennas are of two types: the Low Band Antenna (LBA) elements for 10–80 MHz and the High Band Antenna (HBA) tiles for 120–240 MHz The antennas are connected together to form an array which can be used as a single radio telescope signals from the Onsala station are transferred by fibre link to a central processor where they are digitally combined with signals from the other LOFAR stations in Europe Most of them are in the Netherlands where also the central processor The Onsala station increases LOFAR:s angular resolution considerably the even geographical distribution of stations ensures that LOFAR’s images will be even as well as sharp LOFAR observes the Universe at long wavelengths with high resolution something which has previously not been done to study the "epoch of reionisation" when the first stars and black holes made the Universe hot probe the extreme astrophysical environments that lead to transient bright bursts in the radio sky and search for the orig​in of the large-scale magnetic fields that pervade t​he universe The LOFAR station in Onsala was inaugurated on 26 September 2011 Science case for LOFAR 2.0 (LOFAR’s ongoing upgrade 2025/2026): LOFAR2_0_White_Paper-11.pdf (draft). previous Director of Onsala Space Observatory Roy Booth was the driving force behind many of Onsala Space Observatory’s most critical developments: the establishment of the Swedish-ESO Submillmetre Telescope (SEST) in Chile the Odin submilllimetre observational satellite and the European VLBI Network One common thread running through Roy’s career was that he was a passionate advocate for international cooperation within astronomy and against taking narrow national perspectives Read the full memorial at Onsala Space Observatory's pages The main goal of Swedish SKA regional centre is to develop and deploy Sweden’s contribution to data strorage and compute resources to the global SRCNet project which will be the data archive and second tier processing layer for SKA data delivery to its users In addition  to the above role the SRC node works to promote knowledge and use of the SKA and its precursor/pathfinder telescopes within Sweden The Swedish SRC node’s webpage is at https://swesrc.org Roy Booth (1938-2024) was a professor of radio astronomy at Chalmers University of Technology, and from 1990 also Director of the Onsala Space Observatory national infrastructure, during the period 1981-2005. The following memoir was contributed by John Conway, Andrzej Kus, Justin Jonas, and Richard Schilizzi (see this page at the historical radio astronomy website maintained by NRAO) Roy Booth was born on 30 June 1938 in Flintshire He graduated in physics from the University of Wales Swansea in 1959 and went on to do a graduate apprenticeship at Metropolitan-Vickers After three years of experiencing all aspects of a major engineering company he went to Queens University to start a PhD in upper atmosphere physics Due to his rocket experiment being delayed His thesis studies were carried out under the supervision of Professor Rod Davies and centred on interferometric observations of OH emission He was appointed as a lecturer at Manchester before finishing his PhD and is remembered from that time as a young and very approachable leader of the MSc Course in Radio Astronomy Roy continued to work on OH masers using the MERLIN interferometer and VLBI as well as expanding his research interests to other fields including the first gravitational lens and VLBI observations of active galactic nuclei In 1974-1975 he held a visiting appointment at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) It was during this time that he initiated meetings to establish a VLBI network in Europe (see later in this memoir) while at the same time advocating that Jodrell Bank Observatory acquire a VLBI recording terminal Roy was appointed a professor at Chalmers University of Technology and Onsala Space Observatory (OSO) and was the driving force behind many of OSO's most critical developments thereafter he became OSO director when the Observatory was designated a national facility and remained so until his retirement from Chalmers in 2005 Roy led the establishment of the Swedish-ESO Submillmetre Telescope (SEST) in Chile which was the first large aperture submillimetre dish in the southern hemisphere and the first large ESO project outside of optical-IR astronomy Roy subsequently was deeply involved in ensuring European involvement in what eventually became the Atacama Large Millimetre-submillimetre Array (ALMA) in particular via his promotion of the European Large Southern Array which was later merged with the similar US and Asian projects He had the foresight to argue that the future use of ALMA as a VLBI element should not be excluded during its initial design Roy also led the Swedish involvement in the APEX telescope which replaced SEST for single dish studies in Chile based on deploying to the Chajnantor site a modified pre full production ALMA dish His research interests in this phase of his career continued to focus on masers (OH and methanol) as well as studies of CO using the higher frequency telescopes at Onsala and SEST Other highlights of Roy's tenure as OSO Director included Onsala's involvement in the Odin submillimetre satellite for astronomy and aeronomy launched in 2001 carrying Chalmers University-built receivers Throughout his career Roy was deeply involved in VLBI as a champion of the European VLBI Network (EVN) and also via his promotion of millimetre VLBI of a group of European radio astronomers interested in developing a VLBI network using existing telescopes He maintained his leading role in European VLBI for the next thirty years chairing the European VLBI Consortium Board for two periods (1989-1991 and 1997-1999) as well as being a prominent advocate for European funding for VLBI development from 1983 onwards He also played a crucial role in securing a Swedish contribution from the Wallenberg Foundations towards funding the EVN data processor at the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE) and was the first chairman of the JIVE board from 1993-1999 a role he performed with enthusiasm and wisdom Roy was also deeply involved in space VLBI proposals and projects from the 1980s to the 2000s including QUASAT He was a member of a small group of European and US astronomers who met during a conference in Toulouse in 1982 and decided to propose QUASAT as a joint project to ESA and NASA He was the first chair of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) Global VLBI Working Group established in 1993 that successfully coordinated the joint operations of the ground and space-based elements for the Japanese-led VSOP-HALCA mission launched in 1997 and the Russian-led RadioAstron mission launched in 2011 One common thread running through Roy's career was that he was a passionate advocate for international cooperation within astronomy as a means of bringing different countries and cultures together via cooperation in science and reducing the impact of narrow national perspectives Two examples of this are his long-term support of the development of radio astronomy at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun in Poland which began in the late 1970s Roy was active during the 1990's in helping form the Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre in Latvia and integrating their antenna into the EVN Roy's relationship with Torun was particularly close to his heart While at Jodrell Bank and also at Onsala he organised postdoctoral fellowships and numerous short-term stays for Polish astronomers that resulted in joint publications which shaped the VLBI research landscape in the Torun centre particularly using the new 32m telescope as part of the EVN This cooperation also provided an opportunity to learn and transfer observational techniques and data processing methods knowledge of which was essential for the successful start of VLBI observations in Torun using the new 32m telescope After retiring from Chalmers in 2005 Roy dedicated his later active years to the development of the radio astronomy discipline in South Africa and the rest of the African continent first becoming the Scientific Director at Hartebeesthoek Radio Observatory near Johannesburg from 2006 to 2011 He then moved to Cape Town from 2011 to take up a position in the SKA South Africa project as Project Scientist and remained there until 2014 During this period in South Africa Roy led the development of the science case for the MeerKAT radio telescope and he engaged the global radio astronomy community in the project through an open call for large-scale projects that would define the scientific capabilities of the telescope In 2014 Roy moved to the University of Pretoria where he helped establish what is today a flourishing radio astronomy group He also contributed to educating a new generation of radio astronomers in South Africa via his involvement in the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme (NASSP) Roy and his wife Shirley returned to Sweden and to a well-earned retirement Sweden and South Africa Roy supervised numerous PhD students several of whom became prominent figures on the global radio astronomy stage Amongst the academic honours that Roy received were his election to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1985 and to the Royal Society of Arts and Science in Gothenburg and an honorary doctorate from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in 1993 In 2006 after leaving Chalmers Roy was awarded the Chalmers medal in recognition of his contributions to radio astronomy Roy will be missed by radio astronomers around the world as a colleague and as a friend and also as a passionate defender of his principles and values We will celebrate his legacy in the years to come in the manner in which he would have approved - reminiscing about his achievements and antics over a glass of good wine The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory has also published a eulogy for Roy Booth: The South African Radio Astronomy community is saddened by the news of the recent passing of Professor Roy Booth Facilities for radio astronomy are described here The Swedish LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) station is located at Onsala Space Observatory millimetre wave telescope in Onsala is equipped with receivers for frequencies up to 116 GHz is a 12 m diameter submillimetre telescope at 5100 m altitude on Llano Chajnantor in Chile the APEX telescope is operated solely by Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie (MPIfR) Onsala Space Observatory is developing the Swedish SKA Regional Centre  node as part of the collaborative global network The Odin satellite – an observatory for sub-millimetre wave spectroscopy – was launched from Svobodny in far-eastern Russia on February 20 Odin was designed for research in both astronomy (for example studies of the star formation process in our Galaxy) and aeronomy (for example studies of the depletion of the ozone layer in Earth's atmosphere) Credit: SSCThe Odin satellite – an observatory for sub-millimetre wave spectroscopy – was launched from Svobodny in far-eastern Russia on February 20 The astronomy part of the mission was successfully concluded in the spring of 2007 Since then the satellite has been used exclusively for studies of the Earth’s atmosphere The astronomy mission scientist was Åke Hjalmarson at Onsala Space Observatory An astronomical highlight of the Odin mission was the first discovery of interstellar molecular oxygen The observations were made at the frequency 119 GHz towards the rho Ophiuchi A gas cloud Due to the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere such observations cannot be made from the ground Oxygen is a fairly common element in the Universe and it was expected that oxygen molecules would be abundant in cosmic molecular clouds But the dected signal was much weaker than expected corresponding to an amount of oxygen molecules only 5·10–8 of the amount of hydrogen molecules The aeronomy mission scientist is Donal Murtagh at the research group Global environmental measurements and modelling at the Division for Microwave and Optical Remote Sensing at the Department of Space The group at Chalmers is the main data processing centre for the sub-mm radiometer instrument providing the atmospheric community with quality assessed data Odin was built by the Swedish Space Corporation on behalf of the Swedish National Space Board and the space agencies of Canada (CSA) The microwave radiometer system was integrated tested and optimised by Onsala Space Observatory engineers Odin is equipped with a high precision offset Gregorian telescope of diameter 1.1 m SSB sub-millimetre wave Schottky mixers and a fixed-tuned HEMT receiver at 119 GHz or two (depending upon the satellite power available) of these front-end receivers can be combined with any of three spectrometers (a broad band acousto-optical spectrometer Some salient features of the Odin satellite observatory are summarised in the table below the main beam efficiency of the telescope has been determined to be as high as 90% at 557 GHz The rather complex radio receiver system was integrated tested and optimised by engineers in the Onsala Space Observatory receiver laboratory Odin is equipped with an Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imaging System This image shows the cryostat of an Alma antenna populated with ten receivers for the first time The receivers pick up signals from outer space at specific frequency bands and are stored in a cryostat that cools them down to temperatures as low as -269°C The installation of the new Band 2 receivers means ALMA antennas can observe within the final frequency range (67 to 116 GHs) for which the array was designed Scientists and engineers at the giant Alma telescope have made the first measurements with new receivers opening up yet another new window on the universe Designed by the research group Gard at Chalmers and Onsala Space Observatory the new receivers will enable Alma to give new insights into our cosmic origins from distant stars and galaxies to planets and the building blocks of life Alma's “Band 2” receivers open a new window into our cosmic origins allowing measurements that reveal how distant stars and galaxies form all the way down to the origins of planets and the building blocks of life located on the Chajnantor Plateau in Chile each equipped with an arsenal of highly sensitive receivers Each receiver type observes within a particular band or range of wavelengths in the submillimetre/millimetre region of the electromagnetic spectrum In total these bands cover a window from 0.3 to 8.6 millimetres (950 to 35 GHz; Bands 10 to 1 Band 2 opens a completely new window from 67-84 GHz while expanding the bandwidth available in the 84-116 GHz frequency range Alma Band 2 will allow important measurements of the cold interstellar medium the mixture of dust and molecular gas that exists in the space between stars and fuels star formation Alma will be able to study the properties of dust and molecules in objects from planet-forming discs to far-away galaxies at a level of detail never achieved before the new receivers will enable observations of complex organic molecules in nearby galaxies providing clues on how the conditions for life to begin are created Band 2 will be important for helping astronomers better understand how planets form by probing the carbon monoxide "snow line" a region in planet-forming discs far away enough from the central stars for gas to condense The first Band 2 pre-production receiver was successfully installed and tested on an ALMA antenna earlier this year a second and third Band 2 pre-production receiver have been installed on two other ALMA antennas enabling true interferometry: measuring the fringe pattern that results from the correlation of multiple signals from a bright astronomical object This “first fringes” milestone means astronomers have been able to combine the signals from multiple antennas for the first time in Band 2 As further ALMA antennas are upgraded with Band 2 receivers the amount of detail and level of sensitivity will improve allowing for ever more precise observations of our Universe Production of the first receiver cartridges was carried out by a consortium including the Group for Advanced Receiver Development (GARD) at Onsala Space Observatory together with NOVA (the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy) and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in collaboration with the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) The development of Band 2 has been led by ESO together with partners at NAOJ Now, the team will work to optimise the performance of the pre-production receivers, and this will be followed by full production of the remaining receivers for installation on all 66 antennas, ushering in a new era of observations for ALMA. In concert with complementary ALMA upgrades planned for the 2030 time frame the installation of Band 2 will enable an instantaneous bandwidth four times larger than what most current ALMA receivers can achieve dramatically increasing its observation speed Alma is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO Chalmers and Onsala Space Observatory have been involved in Alma since its inception; receivers for the telescope are one of many contributions. Onsala Space Observatory is host to the Nordic Alma Regional Centre which provides technical expertise to the Alma project and supports astronomers in the Nordic countries in using Alma For high-resolution images, see ESO's press release: https://www.eso.org/public/sweden/announcements/ann23013/ the Nordic ARC node has enthusiastically organised annual events to support the ALMA user community with their proposal preparations the node has also arranged an annual event to foster collaboration and engagement among ALMA users in Sweden and other Nordic countries which has now started to be called "The Nordic ALMA Day" One of the main aims of this event is to bring together astronomers and researchers to share insights and discuss topics relevant to the ALMA user community approximately 40 participants joined the event Most attendees were affiliated with Chalmers University there were participants from other parts of the world who visited Gothenburg to attend the kick-off meeting for a European ALMA Development Study led by a group of researchers at Chalmers University/Onsala Space Observatory recognised astronomers are invited to give the "ASTRO seminar" the ASTRO seminar was given by Pavel Jáchym from the Czech ARC node who presented the ALMA JELLY Large Program Pavel offered an interesting insight into the life cycle of an ALMA large program from proposal preparation to data analysis and the presentation of results His presentation was highly informative and well-received by the audience Attendees also had the opportunity to explore the facilities at the Onsala Space Observatory and enjoy fika The second half of the event took place at the recently built visitor center - a few metres away from the sea - where Gergö Popping from ESO provided updates on ALMA science operations and the WSU Alexey Pavolotsky of the Group for Advanced Receiver Development (GARD) at Chalmers gave a talk providing updates and details on GARD's development activities connected to ALMA and the Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade (WSU) Both the morning and afternoon sessions included many useful discussions and interactions related to the WSU and supporting the receiver development community by citing their work in astronomical scientific papers The event concluded with attendees receiving a small gift from the Nordic ARC node The event has consistently received very positive feedback highlighting its significant benefits for the ALMA user community and beyond it is hoped that the event can continue to be celebrated in the future In scientific publications containing APEX data please: See the APEX web site for references to papers about other instruments. Astronomers from Chalmers University of Technology have used the giant telescope Alma to reveal an extremely powerful magnetic field very close to a supermassive black hole in a distant galaxy The results appear in the 17 April 2015 issue of the journal Science A team of five astronomers from Chalmers University of Technology have revealed an extremely powerful magnetic field beyond anything previously detected in the core of a galaxy very close to the event horizon of a supermassive black hole This new observation helps astronomers to understand the structure and formation of these massive inhabitants of the centres of galaxies and the twin high-speed jets of plasma they frequently eject from their poles Up to now only weak magnetic fields far from black holes -- several light-years away -- had been probed astronomers from Chalmers University of Technology and Onsala Space Observatory in Sweden have now used Alma to detect signals directly related to a strong magnetic field very close to the event horizon of the supermassive black hole in a distant galaxy named PKS 1830-211 This magnetic field is located precisely at the place where matter is suddenly boosted away from the black hole in the form of a jet The team measured the strength of the magnetic field by studying the way in which light was polarised "Polarisation is an important property of light and is much used in daily life for example in sun glasses or 3D glasses at the cinema," says Ivan Marti-Vidal polarisation can be used to measure magnetic fields since light changes its polarisation when it travels through a magnetised medium the light that we detected with Alma had been travelling through material very close to the black hole a place full of highly magnetised plasma." The astronomers applied a new analysis technique that they had developed to the Alma data and found that the direction of polarisation of the radiation coming from the centre of PKS 1830-211 had rotated Magnetic fields introduce Faraday rotation which makes the polarisation rotate in different ways at different wavelengths The way in which this rotation depends on the wavelength tells us about the magnetic field in the region The Alma observations were at an effective wavelength of about 0.3 millimetres the shortest wavelengths ever used in this kind of study This allows the regions very close to the central black hole to be probed Earlier investigations were at much longer radio wavelengths Only light of millimetre wavelengths can escape from the region very close to the black hole; longer wavelength radiation is absorbed "We have found clear signals of polarisation rotation that are hundreds of times higher than the highest ever found in the Universe," says Sebastien Muller "Our discovery is a giant leap in terms of observing frequency and in terms of distance to the black hole where the magnetic field has been probed -- of the order of only a few light-days from the event horizon will help us understand what is really going on in the immediate vicinity of supermassive black holes." This research was presented in a paper entitled "A strong magnetic field in the jet base of a supermassive black hole" to appear in Science on 17 April 2015 The team is composed of Ivan Martí-Vidal (Onsala Space Observatory and Department of Earth and Space Sciences Sebastien Muller (Onsala Space Observatory and Department of Earth and Space Sciences Wouter Vlemmings (Department of Earth and Space Sciences and Onsala Space Observatory Cathy Horellou (Department of Earth and Space Sciences Sweden) and Susanne Aalto (Department of Earth and Space Sciences Alma (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) -- with its 66 gigantic 12-metre and 7-metre antennas - is an international astronomy facility located at 5000 metres altitude at Chajnantor in northern Chile North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile and is the world's largest astronomy project Chalmers and Onsala Space Observatory have been part of Alma since its inception; receivers for the telescope are one of many contributions Onsala Space Observatory is host to the Nordic Alma Regional Centre it operates two radio telescopes and a station in the international telescope Lofar The observatory is hosted by Department of Earth and Space Sciences at Chalmers University of Technology one year laterNews article 18 Jan 2024 10:40The famous black hole in M 87 one year laterImage 1 of 1The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration has released new images of M87* from observations taken in April 2018 one year after the first observations in April 2017 bright ring of emission of the same size as seen in 2017 Credit: EHT CollaborationThe Event Horizon Telescope collaboration has released new images of the supermassive black hole M87* a year after the observations that led to the first ever image of a black hole with completely new data and with this new discovery is a major success for the global telescope collaboration The new measurements from 2018 show the same ring of light around the black hole's "shadow" but with the difference that the brightest part of the ring has shifted by about 30 degrees The 2018 observations made involved for the first time the new Greenland Telescope They provide a completely new view of the black hole and its surroundings A new science paper published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics presents the images from the 2018 measurements showing a ring the same size as the one observed in 2017 Inside the bright ring is the black hole's shadow But the image shows an intriguing difference: the brightest part of the ring has shifted by about 30 degrees compared to the images from 2017 this fits well with their theories about how the turbulent material surrounding the black hole behaves scientists can use the movement of the ring’s brightest part around the black hole's shadow to test theories about the magnetic field and the environment around the black hole Press release from the Event Horizon Telescope:https://eventhorizontelescope.org/M87-one-year-later-proof-of-a-persistent-black-hole-shadow Robert Cumming, astronomer and communicator, Onsala Space Observatory, robert.cumming@chalmers.se, +46 704933114 Three Chalmers astronomers are part of the international EHT collaboration. Anne-Kathrin Baczko, postdoc, Onsala Space Observatory, anne-kathrin.baczko@chalmers.se, +46 31-772 13 47 Michael Lindqvist, Senior Research Engineer, Onsala Space Observatory. michael.lindqvist@chalmers.se John Conway, Professor and Director, Onsala Space Observatory, john.conway@chalmers.se Illustration: Daniëlle Futselaar/artsource.nlScientists led by Chalmers’ Franz Kirsten have studied a famous source of repeating fast radio bursts – a still unexplained cosmic phenomenon the scientists draw a conclusion with far-reaching consequences: any source of fast radio bursts will repeat if watched long enough and carefully enough a unique collaboration between professional and amateur radio astronomers Fast radio bursts have mystified astronomers for over fifteen years bright flashes of radio waves can be detected by radio telescopes from far out in the universe scientists used radio telescopes in Sweden the Netherlands and Poland to monitor a repeating source of fast radio bursts “This is the longest study yet of a single source of fast radio bursts” amateur radio astronomer and member of the science team the four telescopes stared at the source for up to 12 hours per day The observing campaign was shared between four telescopes one 25-metre dish of the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope in the Netherlands The Stockert telescope is run by the non-profit organisation Astropeiler Stockert e.V. whose members are represented in the science team “This source had been previously studied with a much bigger radio telescope But we were really surprised by what we saw far more than we expected of them were very bright ones,” explains Franz Kirsten then they can draw two surprising conclusions the new observations point to a surprising new interpretation about the sources of fast radio bursts Of the bursts that have been recorded so far it has been speculated that all of them could we have statistics on a repeater that allows us to make a proper comparison to non-repeaters And it looks like that could really be true: all fast radio bursts will repeat if you look long enough,” says team member Omar Ould-Boukattine astronomer at Astron and the University of Amsterdam Second: the brightest fast radio bursts could be seen at vast distances “We think bright bursts like these could be seen from the most distant galaxies known like those discovered recently by the James Webb Space Telescope which we see in light that has travelled to us since the universe was only a few hundred million years old” team member at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń Though scientists don’t yet know what causes fast radio bursts there are many signs that connect them to dense magnetised remnants of exploded stars called magnetars and neutron stars “If we can see fast radio bursts from the time when the very first stars and galaxies were shining that would give us a completely new way of accessing that time in the universe’s history” The research results are published in paper, A link between repeating and non-repeating fast radio bursts through their energy distributions published on 4 January 2024 in the journal Nature Astronomy The science team is composed of Franz Kirsten (Onsala Space Observatory Ould-Boukattine (ASTRON and University of Amsterdam Wolfgang Herrmann (Astropeiler Stockert e.V.) Weronika Puchalska (Nicolaus Copernicus University The source studied by the team was discovered on 24 November 2020 by the telescope CHIME in Canada in the constellation of Taurus It is known by its catalogue number FRB 20201124A The source belongs to a galaxy of similar size to the Milky Way located so far away that light from the galaxy has travelled nearly 1.3 billion years to reach us Sweden franz.kirsten@chalmers.se +46 31 772 5532 See also press releases from Astron (English; Dutch) and from Nicolaus Copernicus University (English; Polish). when observing a "starburst" galaxy where stars are forming at a very high rate That’s the richest molecular diversity yet found outside the Milky Way offering unprecedented insights into the complex processes driving star formation in galaxies some galaxies are known as “starburst” galaxies where stars are forming at a much faster rate than our galaxy How easily stars are made depends on the properties of the raw material from which stars are born Molecular gas — gas with high proportion of different molecules — is such material Stars form from dense regions within molecular clouds But it’s not known how such abundant formation of stars can take place in starburst galaxies – and how this phase in the life cycle of a galaxy ends is also a mystery An international research team has observed the center of a galaxy that is known to be producing many new stars using the ALMA telescope (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) in Chile They detected more than one hundred molecular species far more than previous studies outside our own galaxy have detected The molecular gas in the center of NGC 253 is more than ten times as dense as the gas found in the centre of our own galaxy This chemical feedstock is the richest found outside the Milky Way and it also includes molecules that have been detected for the first time outside our own galaxy such as ethanol and the phosphorus-bearing species PN (phosphorus nitride) The wealth of data has allowed astronomers to better understand the physics and chemistry of this kind of galaxy Because each molecule emits at certain characteristic frequencies observations over a wide frequency range enable analysis of the physical properties and provides insights into the mechanism of starbursts ALMA will be upgraded as a part of the ALMA 2030 Development roadmap making wide-frequency observations like this study even more efficient This survey was conducted as an ALMA Large Program named the ALMA Comprehensive High-resolution Extragalactic Molecular Inventory (ALCHEMI) led by Sergio Martín of the European Southern Observatory/Joint ALMA Observatory Nanase Harada of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and Jeff Mangum of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Read more in the ALMA pressmeddelande: A Glimpse by Molecules - a Production Line Inside a Busy Star Factory in a Starburst Galaxy GARD, the Group for Advanced Receiver Development, has constructed several super sensitive receivers for the ALMA telescope. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article currently enrolled as a PhD researcher at Trinity College Dublin His research is based on transient astronomical objects using everything from pulsars as gravitational probes to searching large data sets for signs of ET Note: we are using a new commenting system which may require you to create a new account The international SKA Observatory (SKAO) was established in early 2021. Its two vast telescopes, located at remote sites in South Africa and Australia, will together become one of this century’s most important scientific facilities. “With the new agreement in place, Chalmers has a new, official role as leading Swedish interests in the construction of the SKA Observatory's giant telescopes. Funding for Swedish participation in the construction project is already secured, thanks to support from the Swedish Research Council and Vinnova”, says Lars Börjesson, board member of the SKAO. The two SKA telescopes are made up of many individual antennas, each sensitive to invisible radio waves from space. In total, 197 dish antennas will be placed in South Africa, forming a telescope for shorter wavelengths. Over 130 000 smaller antennas will make up the other telescope, located in Australia, sensitive to longer wavelength. Both will be able to map radio waves from the cosmos with unprecedented sensitivity. The telescopes will investigate the mysteries of dark energy, dark matter, and cosmic magnetism, study how galaxies have evolved, test Einstein’s theories, and search for clues to the origins of life. “Scientists in Sweden and all over the world want to use the SKA telescopes to ask some of our biggest questions about the universe. Membership in the SKA Observatory makes it possible for Swedish science and technology to be involved in building of these unique telescopes. It also ensures access to scientific data, and the chance to make exciting discoveries in astronomy and physics”, explains John Conway. The new agreement means that Swedish companies are now eligible to tender for industrial contracts on equal terms as the SKAO’s current member countries. “This is a great opportunity for Sweden’s high-tech industries to get involved in a challenging and extremely exciting project”, says John Conway, director of Onsala Space Observatory and professor of radio astronomy at Chalmers. When the SKA telescopes are operational, they will generate data in quantities that make what today counts as "big data" look small. The new agreement also means a green light for the establishment in Sweden of one of SKAO's regional data processing centres. These centres are designed to handle the flood of data from SKA’s telescopes and supply final data products to astronomers. The documents signed on 30 September 2021 by Stefan Bengtsson, Chalmers' president, and Philip Diamond, Director General of the SKA Observatory, give Chalmers the responsibility of representing Sweden in the project during the next two years. During that time, national processes will continue towards establishing Sweden as a member country of SKAO. “Sweden has been involved in the SKA project since the start. It’s wonderful to welcome Chalmers and Onsala Space Observatory in this new official role, just as building work is starting in South Africa and in Australia”, says Philip Diamond. “Before long, the SKA telescopes will begin to show us a whole new universe, giving scientists all over the world new discoveries and new challenges. When that happens, we can be proud of having supplied key Swedish technology to the project, technology with its roots right here at Chalmers and at Onsala Space Observatory”, says Stefan Bengtsson. Onsala Space Observatory represented Swedish interests in the SKA design process between 2012 and 2021 as a member of the SKA Organization. Chalmers and Swedish companies have made important contributions to the design and prototyping of the SKA telescopes, with the support of Big Science Sweden and working together with colleagues in Canada, France, India, Spain and South Africa. Swedish involvement in the SKAO is also opening new opportunities in data storage, machine learning and artificial intelligence. “At Onsala Space Observatory we’ve already started exploring these opportunities, working together Chalmers Fraunhofer Centre for Industrial Mathematics. That was demonstrated recently by an outstanding Swedish team performance in a recent international data challenge, applying machine learning to simulated SKA data”, says John Conway. The SKAO, formally known as the SKA Observatory, is a global collaboration of Member States whose mission is to build and operate cutting-edge radio telescopes to transform our understanding of the Universe, and deliver benefits to society through global collaboration and innovation. The SKAO recognises and acknowledges the Indigenous peoples and cultures that have traditionally lived on the lands on which the SKAO facilities are located. After taking the first images of black holes the ground-breaking Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is poised to reveal how black holes launch powerful jets into space a research team led by Anne-Kathrin Baczko from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden has shown that the EHT will be able to make exciting images of a supermassive black hole and its jets in the galaxy NGC 1052 also confirm strong magnetic fields close to the black hole’s edge The main research question for the project’s scientists was how do supermassive black holes launch galaxy-size streams of high-energy particles – known as jets – into space at almost light-speed scientists have taken an important step towards being able to answer this question with intricate measurements of the centre of the galaxy NGC 1052 at a distance of 60 million light years from Earth.The scientists made coordinated measurements using several radio telescopes providing new insights into the workings of a galaxy and its supermassive black hole The results are reported in a paper published in the scientific journal Astronomy & Astrophysics on 17 December 2024 The work has been led by Anne-Kathrin Baczko is a promising target for imaging with the Event Horizon Telescope complex and more challenging than all other sources we’ve attempted so far” says Anne-Kathrin Baczko.The galaxy has a supermassive black hole that is the source of two powerful jets which stretch thousands of light years outwards through space “We want to investigate not just the black hole itself but also the origins of the jets which stream out from the east and west sides of the black hole as seen from Earth” team member and astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn Germany.The team made measurements using just five of the telescopes in the EHT’s global network – including ALMA (the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) in Chile in a configuration that would allow the best possible estimate of its potential for future observations and supplemented with measurements from other telescopes.“For such a faint and unknown target we were not sure if we would get any data at all thanks in particular to the sensitivity of ALMA and complementary data from many other telescopes,” says Anne-Kathrin Baczko •    The scientists are now convinced that successful imaging will be possible in the future thanks to two new key pieces of information: The black hole’s surroundings shine brightly at just the right frequency of radio waves to be sure that they can be measured by the EHT.•    The size of the region where the jets are formed is similar in size to the ring of M 87*  – easily big enough to be imaged with the EHT at full strength.From their measurements the scientists have also estimated the strength of the magnetic field close to the black hole’s event horizon is about 40 000 times stronger than the Earth’s magnetic field That’s consistent with previous estimates for this galaxy.“This is such a powerful magnetic field that we think it can probably stop material from falling into the black hole That in turn can help to launch the galaxy’s two jets” says Matthias Kadler.Even though the source is as challenging as this the future looks bright as radio astronomers prepare for new generations of telescope networks like the NRAO’s ngVLA (next generation Very Large Array) and the ngEHT (The next generation Event Horizon Telescope).“Our measurements give us a clearer idea of how the innermost centre of the galaxy shines at different wavelengths Its spectrum is bright at wavelengths around one millimetre where we can make the very sharpest images today It’s even brighter at slightly longer wavelengths which makes it a prime target for the next generation of radio telescopes” astronomer at the University of Würzburg in Germany The research paper, The putative center in NGC 1052, by Anne-Kathrin Baczko (Chalmers University of Technolgy, Sweden) and 286 co-authors, is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. The research team also includes Chalmers scientists John Conway and Michael Lindqvist (both Onsala Space Observatory) and Chiara Ceccobello (now at AI Sweden). Link to paper: https://www.aanda.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202450898  The measurements were made by five telescopes in the EHT network: ALMA (the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) in Chile the IRAM 30-metre telescope in Spain; the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the Submillimeter Array (SMA) in Hawaii; and the South Pole Telescope (SPT) in Antarctica These were supplemented with measurements from 14 other radio telescopes in the GMVA network (Global Millimetre VLBI Array) including the 20-metre telescope at Onsala Space Observatory and the telescopes of the VLBA (Very Long Baseline Array) in the US.The EHT Collaboration involves more than 400 researchers from Africa The international collaboration aims to capture the most detailed black hole images ever obtained by creating a virtual Earth-sized telescope Read more about EHT: https://eventhorizontelescope.org/ For more information, please contact: Robert Cumming, Communicator, Onsala Space Observatory, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. robert.cumming@chalmers.se, +46 70 493 31 14Anne-Kathrin Baczko, Astronomer, Onsala Space Observatory and Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, anne-kathrin.baczko@chalmers.se (animation) Zooming in on the black hole in the centre of NGC 1052 (artist’s impression).How do black holes launch their powerful jets In this visualisation of the centre of galaxy NGC 1052 we zoom in through layers of gas and dust to almost reveal the supermassive black hole New measurements now show that the final close-up of the black hole  – and the origin of its jets – are within the reach of the Event Horizon Telescope Credit: Chalmers University of Technolgy | 3dVision | Johan Bournonville | Anne-Kathrin Baczko The jets and hidden centre of galaxy NGC 1052 (artist’s impression).In this artist’s impression we are approaching the centre of galaxy NGC 1052 Behind clouds of gas and dust (shown in orange) lies the galaxy’s central supermassive black hole The two jets of high-energy particles (shown in blue) are launched by the black hole Radio telescopes can see through the clouds to reveal the centre of the galaxy  Credit: Chalmers University of Technolgy | 3dVision | Johan Bournonville | Anne-Kathrin Baczko The hidden centre of galaxy NGC 1052 (artist’s impression).In this artist’s impression we are nearing the supermassive black hole at the centre of galaxy NGC 1052 material collects in a spinning disk before falling into the black hole and magnetic fields build up which may help launch the galaxy’s powerful jets Credit: Chalmers University of Technolgy | 3dVision | Johan Bournonville | Anne-Kathrin Baczko  Correction 2024-12-17: In the original version of this text the comparison with the Earth's magnetic field strength was stated incorrectly This panel shows three of these real images in enough detail to track the motion of bubbling gas on its surface astronomers have captured images of a star other than the Sun in enough detail to track the motion of bubbling gas on its surface were obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) a telescope co-owned by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) appearing on the surface and sinking back into the star’s interior faster than expected “This is the first time the bubbling surface of a real star can be shown in such a way,“ [1] says Wouter Vlemmings a professor at Chalmers University of Technology and lead author of the study published today in Nature “We had never expected the data to be of such high quality that we could see so many details of the convection on the stellar surface.” Stars produce energy in their cores through nuclear fusion This energy can be carried out towards the star’s surface in huge which then cool down and sink — like a lava lamp distributes the heavy elements formed in the core It is also thought to be responsible for the stellar winds that carry these elements out into the cosmos to build new stars and planets Convection motions had never been tracked in detail in stars other than the Sun the team were able to obtain high-resolution images of the surface of R Doradus over the course of a month with a diameter roughly 350 times that of the Sun located about 180 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Dorado Its large size and proximity to Earth make it an ideal target for detailed observations meaning R Doradus is likely fairly similar to how our Sun will look like in five billion years “Convection creates the beautiful granular structure seen on the surface of our Sun but it is hard to see on other stars,” adds Theo Khouri a researcher at Chalmers who is a co-author of the study we have now been able to not only directly see convective granules  — with a size 75 times the size of our Sun — but also measure how fast they move for the first time.” The granules of R Doradus appear to move on a one-month cycle which is faster than scientists expected based on how convection works in the Sun “We don’t yet know what is the reason for the difference It seems that convection changes as a star gets older in ways that we don't yet understand,” says Vlemmings Observations like those now made of R Doradus are helping us to understand how stars like the Sun behave “It is spectacular that we can now directly image the details on the surface of stars so far away and observe physics that until now was mostly only observable in our Sun,” concludes Behzad Bojnodi Arbab a PhD student at Chalmers who was also involved in the study new observations will enable even more spectacular movies of this star and others like it scientists met to share the scientific potential for the world’s next boundary-breaking radio telescopes those of the SKA Observatory in South Africa and Australia at Sweden’s second National SKA Science Days held in Gothenburg Behzad Bojnordi Arbab presented his hopes for observing this star with the SKA  “With the SKA telescopes we will be able to get high-resolution observations of the higher atmosphere of R Doradus We want to see something we’ve not yet been able to: how the star’s bubbles could help create the star’s dusty wind That will help us understand how the cosmic ecosystem works” Read the press release: Astronomers track bubbles on star’s surface in most detailed video yet where all images are available in high resolution on the ESO website This research was presented in a paper entitled “One month convection timescale on the surface of a giant evolved star” to appear in Nature (doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07836-9) Vlemmings (Chalmers University of Technology The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile [1] Convection bubbles have been previously observed in detail on the surface of stars, including with the PIONIER instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer. But the new ALMA observations track the motion of the bubbles in a way that was not possible before. The new observatory, SKAO, was launched on 4 February 2021 when the first meeting of its governing Council was held. The observatory is the world’s second intergovernmental organisation dedicated to astronomy. Catherine Cesarsky has been appointed as the first Chair of the SKAO Council. “This is a historic moment for radio astronomy”, she said. “Behind today’s milestone, there are countries that had the vision to get deeply involved because they saw the wider benefits their participation in SKAO could bring to build an ecosystem of science and technology involving fundamental research, computing, engineering, and skills for the next generation, which are essential in a 21st century digital economy.” The new observatory has its headquarters at on the grounds of the Jodrell Bank UNESCO World Heritage Site in the United Kingdom, with telescopes located at sites in Australia and South Africa. SKAO’s telescope in South Africa will be composed of 197 dish antennas, each 15 m in diameter, located in the Karoo region. Of these, 64 already exist and are operated by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO). The telescope in Australia will be composed of 131 072 two-metre-tall antennas located on the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s (CSIRO) Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory. The creation of SKAO follows a decade of detailed engineering design work, scientific prioritisation, and policy development under the supervision of its predecessor the SKA Organisation, supported by more than 500 engineers, over 1,000 scientists and dozens of policy-makers in more than 20 countries; and is the result of 30 years of thinking and research and development since discussions first took place about developing a next-generation radio telescope. Philip Diamond, professor at the University of Manchester, has been appointed as the first Director-General of SKAO. Lars Börjesson, professor of physics at Chalmers, is Sweden’s representative as an observer to the SKAO Council. The first SKAO Council meeting follows the signature of the SKA treaty, formally known as the convention establishing the SKA Observatory, on 12 March 2019 in Rome, and its subsequent ratification by Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa and the United Kingdom and entry into force on 15 January 2021, marking the official birth date of the observatory. At its first meeting, the SKAO Council approved policies and procedures that have been prepared in recent months – covering governance, funding, programmatic and HR matters, among others. These approvals are required to transfer staff and assets from the SKA Organisation to the observatory. “The coming months will keep us very busy, with hopefully new countries formalising their accession to SKAO and the expected key decision of the SKAO Council giving us green light to start the construction of the telescopes,” added Prof. Diamond. SKAO will begin recruitment in Australia and South Africa in the next few months, working alongside local partners CSIRO and SARAO to supervise construction, which is expected to last eight years, with early science opportunities starting in the mid 2020s. Current SKAO Members are Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa and the United Kingdom with several other countries, among them Sweden, aspiring to membership or engagement with SKAO in the future. Astronomers have peeled away most of the gas and dust enshrouding a monster black hole taking a close look at the giant that lies some 68 thousand light-years away led by Ivan Marti-Vidal from the Onsala Space Observatory and Chalmers University of Technology was therefore able to peer deep into the heart of the distant galaxy where the black hole lies and see the region just light-days away from the behemoth Supermassive black holes loom in the centers of the majority of massive galaxies. Some of these black holes, like the one in the Milky Way's center, lie dormant. Others (so-called quasars) actively chow down on gas causing them to radiate like brilliant beacons of light They can therefore be seen from across the universe Although these monsters clearly accrete huge amounts of matter It's flung out into space at close to the speed of light in a jet of plasma Astronomers don't understand the physical mechanism at play here but think it has to do with a strong magnetic field close to the black hole itself magnetic field lines leave an imprint on any light that passes through them The magnetic field will twist light so that it is circularly polarized meaning the electric and magnetic fields rotate continuously as the wave moves which lie closer to their black hole counterparts "These results, and future studies, will help us understand what is really going on in the immediate vicinity of supermassive black holes,"  Muller said in the statement Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. Shannon HallSocial Links NavigationContributorShannon Hall is an award-winning freelance science journalist who specializes in writing about astronomy Her work has appeared in The New York Times she has lived in a Buddhist temple in Thailand slept under the stars in the Sahara and reported several stories aboard an icebreaker near the North Pole Hubble spies a skewed spiral galaxy | Space photo of the day for May 5 James Webb Space Telescope captures thousands of galaxies in a cosmic 'feast' (image) NASA's Artemis 2 moon rocket gets 2nd stage even as Trump tries to scrap Space Launch System (photos) This result provides overwhelming evidence that the object is indeed a black hole and yields valuable clues about the workings of such giants which are thought to reside at the centre of most galaxies The image was produced by a global research team called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration using observations from a worldwide network of radio telescopes The science team includes three astronomers from Chalmers’ Department of Space Earth and Environment: John Conway and Michael Lindqvist working in Astronomy and Plasma Physics at the time of the research "Now for the first time we can see the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way That’s much closer to us than its counterpart in M 87 which we were able to see in the first image from the Event Horizon Telescope in 2019 We also know more about it than any other black hole This image is putting theories about the nature of space and time to the test It’s an exciting time to be working in science The image is a long-anticipated look at the massive object that sits at the very centre of our galaxy Scientists had previously seen stars orbiting around something invisible and very massive at the centre of the Milky Way This strongly suggested that this object — known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A* pronounced "sadge-ay-star") — is a black hole and today’s image provides the first direct visual evidence of it Although we cannot see the black hole itself glowing gas around it reveals a telltale signature: a dark central region (called a shadow) surrounded by a bright ring-like structure The new view captures light bent by the powerful gravity of the black hole which is four million times more massive than our Sun “We were stunned by how well the size of the ring agreed with predictions from Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity," said EHT Project Scientist Geoffrey Bower from the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics "These unprecedented observations have greatly improved our understanding of what happens at the very centre of our galaxy and offer new insights on how these giant black holes interact with their surroundings." The EHT team's results are being published today in a special issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters Because the black hole is about 27 000 light-years away from Earth it appears to us to have about the same size in the sky as a doughnut on the Moon which linked together eight existing radio observatories across the planet to form a single “Earth-sized” virtual telescope The EHT observed Sgr A* on multiple nights in 2017 similar to using a long exposure time on a camera the EHT network of radio observatories includes the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX) in the Atacama Desert in Chile two telescopes that Chalmers and Onsala Space Observatory have been a part of for a long time "We can study this wonderful image thanks to long-term investments in science infrastructure in Sweden and around the world we are proud to have delivered instruments and expertise to the APEX and ALMA telescopes without which this image would not have been possible" APEX is a collaborative project between Onsala Space Observatory ESO (European Southern Observatory) and the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy Onsala Space Observatory and Chalmers have been involved in the ALMA project since its inception and Chalmers has delivered receivers for both telescopes The EHT achievement follows the collaboration’s 2019 release of the first image of a black hole at the centre of the more distant Messier 87 galaxy The two black holes look remarkably similar even though our galaxy’s black hole is more than a thousand times smaller and less massive than M87* [3] "We have two completely different types of galaxies and two very different black hole masses but close to the edge of these black holes they look amazingly similar,” says Sera Markoff Co-Chair of the EHT Science Council and a professor of theoretical astrophysics at the University of Amsterdam "This tells us that General Relativity governs these objects up close and any differences we see further away must be due to differences in the material that surrounds the black holes.” This achievement was considerably more difficult than for M87* from Steward Observatory and Department of Astronomy and the Data Science Institute of the University of Arizona explains: “The gas in the vicinity of the black holes moves at the same speed — nearly as fast as light — around both Sgr A* and M87* But where gas takes days to weeks to orbit the larger M87* in the much smaller Sgr A* it completes an orbit in mere minutes This means the brightness and pattern of the gas around Sgr A* were changing rapidly as the EHT Collaboration was observing it — a bit like trying to take a clear picture of a puppy quickly chasing its tail.” The researchers had to develop sophisticated new tools that accounted for the gas movement around Sgr A* The image of the Sgr A* black hole is an average of the different images the team extracted finally revealing the giant lurking at the centre of our galaxy for the first time 300 researchers involved​The effort was made possible through the ingenuity of more than 300 researchers from 80 institutes around the world that together make up the EHT Collaboration In addition to developing complex tools to overcome the challenges of imaging Sgr A* using supercomputers to combine and analyse their data all while compiling an unprecedented library of simulated black holes to compare with the observations Scientists are particularly excited to finally have images of two black holes of very different sizes which offers the opportunity to understand how they compare and contrast They have also begun to use the new data to test theories and models of how gas behaves around supermassive black holes This process is not yet fully understood but is thought to play a key role in shaping the formation and evolution of galaxies “Now we can study the differences between these two supermassive black holes to gain valuable new clues about how this important process works,” said EHT scientist Keiichi Asada from the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics “We have images for two black holes — one at the large end and one at the small end of supermassive black holes in the Universe — so we can go a lot further in testing how gravity behaves in these extreme environments than ever before.” Progress on the EHT continues: a major observation campaign in March 2022 included more telescopes than ever before The ongoing expansion of the EHT network and significant technological upgrades will allow scientists to share even more impressive images as well as movies of black holes in the near future The results were presented on May 12, 2022 in six articles in Astrophysical Journal Letters For high resolution images, please visit https://www.eso.org/public/sweden/news/eso2208-eht-mw/ A panorama from the GNSS tide gauge at Onsala Space Observatory the GNSS tide gauge uses signals direct from the satellite and signals reflected off the sea surface to measure the sea level A new way of measuring sea level using satellite navigation system signals has been implemented by scientists at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden Sea level and its variation can easily be monitored using existing coastal GPS stations Measuring sea level is an increasingly important part of climate research and a rising mean sea level is one of the most tangible consequences of climate change Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have studied new ways of measuring sea level that could become important tools for testing climate models and for investigating how the sea level along the world’s coasts is affected by climate change scientists at Chalmers Department of Earth and Space Sciences have developed and tested an instrument that measures the sea level using a GNSS tide gauge ”The global mean sea level is rising because of climate change but the change depends on where you are in the world,” says Rüdiger Haas “We want to be able to make detailed measurements of sea level so that we can understand how coastal societies will be affected in the future.” The GNSS tide gauge uses GPS and GLONASS signals BeiDou and Galileo will be added in the future ”We measure the sea level using the same radio signals that mobile phones and cars use in their satellite navigation systems,” says Johan Löfgren the instrument ‘sees’ their signals — both those that come direct and those that are reflected off the sea surface.” measure signals both directly from the satellites and signals reflected off the sea surface the sea level and its variation can be measured The sea level time series is rich in physical phenomena such as tides (caused mostly by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun) meteorological signals (high and low pressure) The new GNSS tide gauge can measure changes in both land and sea at the same time That means both long-term and short-term land movements (post-glacial rebound and earthquakes) can be taken into consideration ”Now we can measure the sea level both relative to the coast and relative to the center of the Earth which means we can clearly tell the difference between changes in the water level and changes in the land,” says Johan Löfgren other high-precision instruments will be installed to work with the Onsala GNSS tide gauge the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute The GNSS tide gauge at Onsala Space Observatory uses signals from satellite navigation systems like GPS to measure the sea level ”Our tide gauge station will become part of a network of stations along the coast of Sweden that will be able to monitor changes in the water level to millimeter precision well into the future,” says Gunnar Elgered professor at Chalmers Department of Earth and Space Sciences The scientists have also shown that existing coastal GNSS stations installed primarily for the purpose of measuring land movements can be used to make sea-level measurements ”We’ve successfully tested a method where only one of the antennas is used to receive the radio signals That means that existing coastal GNSS stations — there are hundreds of them all over the world — can also be used to measure the sea level,” says Johan Löfgren The method is described in two new scientific articles: Sea level time series and ocean tide analysis from multipath signals at five GPS sites in different parts of the world and Sea level measurements using multi-frequency GPS and GLONASS observations This work was previously reported in these publications: Coastal Sea Level Measurements Using A Single Geodetic GPS Receiver The Accidental Tide Gauge: A Case Study of GPS Reflections from Kachemak Bay subscribe to GPS World to receive more articles just like it Credit: EHT​​A new view of the supermassive black hole shows the centre of galaxy M 87 in polarised light The observations with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) reveal how energetic jets form close to the black hole Astronomers from Chalmers are part of the international EHT collaboration The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration who produced the first ever image of a black hole has revealed a new view of the massive object at the centre of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87): how it looks in polarised light This is the first time astronomers have been able to measure polarisation The observations are key to explaining how the galaxy is able to launch energetic jets from its core “We are now seeing the next crucial piece of evidence to understand how magnetic fields behave around black holes and how activity in this very compact region of space can drive powerful jets that extend far beyond the galaxy,” says Monika Mościbrodzka Coordinator of the EHT Polarimetry Working Group and Assistant Professor at Radboud University in the Netherlands scientists released the first ever image of a black hole revealing a bright ring-like structure with a dark central region — the black hole’s shadow the EHT collaboration has delved deeper into the data on the supermassive object at the heart of the M87 galaxy collected in 2017 They have discovered that a significant fraction of the light around the M87 black hole is polarised “This work is a major milestone: the polarisation of light carries information that allows us to better understand the physics behind the image we saw in April 2019 which was not possible before,” explains Iván Martí-Vidal also Coordinator of the EHT Polarimetry Working Group and GenT Distinguished Researcher at the University of Valencia He adds that “unveiling this new polarised-light image required years of work due to the complex techniques involved in obtaining and analysing the data.” Light becomes polarised when it goes through certain filters or when it is emitted in hot regions of space where magnetic fields are present In the same way that polarised sunglasses help us see better by reducing reflections and glare from bright surfaces astronomers can sharpen their view of the region around the black hole by looking at how the light originating from it is polarised polarisation allows astronomers to map the magnetic field lines present at the inner edge of the black hole “The newly published polarised images are key to understanding how the magnetic field allows the black hole to 'eat' matter and launch powerful jets,” says EHT collaboration member Andrew Chael a NASA Hubble Fellow at the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science and the Princeton Gravity Initiative in the US The bright jets of energy and matter that emerge from M87’s core and extend at least 5000 light-years from its centre are one of the galaxy’s most mysterious and energetic features Most matter lying close to the edge of a black hole falls in some of the surrounding particles escape moments before capture and are blown far out into space in the form of jets Astronomers have relied on different models of how matter behaves near the black hole to better understand this process But they still don’t know exactly how jets larger than the galaxy are launched from its central region which is comparable in size to the Solar System nor how exactly matter falls into the black hole With the new EHT image of the black hole and its shadow in polarised light astronomers managed for the first time to look into the region just outside the black hole where this interplay between matter flowing in and being ejected out is happening The observations provide new information about the structure of the magnetic fields just outside the black hole The team found that only theoretical models featuring strongly magnetised gas can explain what they are seeing at the event horizon “The observations suggest that the magnetic fields at the black hole’s edge are strong enough to push back on the hot gas and help it resist gravity’s pull Only the gas that slips through the field can spiral inwards to the event horizon,” explains Jason Dexter Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and Coordinator of the EHT Theory Working Group the collaboration linked eight telescopes around the world – including the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) and APEX (Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment) in northern Chile – to create a virtual Earth-sized telescope The impressive resolution obtained with the EHT is equivalent to that needed to measure the length of a credit card on the surface of the Moon which through their southern location enhance the image quality by adding geographical spread to the EHT network European scientists were able to play a central role in the research,” says Ciska Kemper ALMA dominates the overall signal collection in polarised light while APEX has been essential for the calibration of the image.” "ALMA data were also crucial to calibrate providing tight constraints on the theoretical models that explain how matter behaves near the black hole event horizon," adds Ciriaco Goddi a scientist at Radboud University and Leiden Observatory who led an accompanying study that relied only on ALMA observations The EHT setup allowed the team to directly observe the black hole shadow and the ring of light around it with the new polarised-light image clearly showing that the ring is magnetised The results are published today in two separate papers by the EHT collaboration in Astrophysical Journal Letters The research involved over 300 researchers from multiple organisations and universities worldwide Chalmers scientists Michael Lindqvist and John Conway both at Onsala Space Observatory and the Department of Space "In Onsala we have participated since the 1960s in the development of very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) Onsala Space Observatory is one of three partners in APEX and we have worked for many years with our partners building up capacity for VLBI at APEX" “The Swedish contribution to this research has been significant" who worked at Onsala Space Observatory until 2018 “The observatory in Onsala has also been responisble for calibrating ALMA data and its role as a partner in the APEX telescope has been critical for being able to calculate and correct for the instrumental polarisation in ALMA." Detailed knowledge of these aspects is of great importance for the conclusions about the supermassive black hole that have now been presented This research is presented in two papers by the EHT collaboration published on 24 March 2021 in Astrophysical Journal Letters: "First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results VII: Polarization of the Ring" (doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/abe71d) and "First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results VIII: Magnetic Field Structure Near The Event Horizon" (doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/abe4de) Accompanying research is presented in the paper "Polarimetric properties of Event Horizon Telescope targets from ALMA" (doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/abee6a) by Goddi which has been accepted for publication in ​​Astrophysical Journal Letters See ESO's press release for links to the science papers and more background information. When HDK-Valand announced a postdoc position last summer Kerstin Hamilton already had a nearly finished application for a new research project to be submitted to the Swedish Research Council and my project fit very well with what the Hasselblad Foundation was looking for," says Kerstin Hamilton in collaboration with the Hasselblad Foundation and HDK-Valand is inspired by the photographer Berenice Abbott Abbott conducted various photographic experiments to promote historical and scientific knowledge something she considered crucial for democratic citizenship "One could say that I pick up where she left off Abbott used the most advanced photographic techniques of her time to visualize groundbreaking science in areas such as motion and light – physical phenomena that were previously difficult to visualize." is to visualize cutting-edge sciences that is shaping and creating the world today Hamilton aims to highlight how collaboration between artists and scientists can lead to new She also explores how photographic images of science can serve as catalyser for public debate on urgent political issues "I am interested in the relationship between the image and the world it represents Considering today's rapid technological development in an era of AI and 'post-truth,' where forces work to undermine facts while we face significant societal challenges like climate change The combination of photography and natural sciences has captured Hamilton's interest for many years she led a research project with nanoscientist Jonas Hannestad resulting in the film "Zero Point Energy," showcased at the Moderna Museet The project later became part of Kerstin Hamilton's doctoral thesis Hamilton has shifted from images of the universe's smallest components to focus on the largest – space she has initiated a collaboration with the Onsala Space Observatory and Environment at Chalmers University of Technology but this is an entirely new area compared to what I've researched before – scientific images of things we cannot see with the naked eye So even though galaxies may seem like the opposite of nano-atoms the visual similarity struck me when I studied images of nanoparticles – as they can look like galaxies." Collaboration with the Hasselblad Foundation The collaboration between HDK-Valand and the Hasselblad Foundation goes back many years and has included well-attended seminar series such as Glitch and Moment as well as a centre of expertise and research namned GPS400: Centre for Collaborative Visual Research Kerstin Hamilton's collaboration with the Hasselblad Foundation also extends far back The research project "Nanosocieties" was conducted with support from the Hasselblad Foundation and Chalmers University she curated the exhibition "Dear Truth: Documentary Strategies in Contemporary Photography" at the Hasselblad Center in spring 2021 "While it may be familiar to many that the Hasselblad Foundation conducts leading research in photography it might not be as well-known that the foundation rests on two pillars – one artistic and the other scientific," says Hamilton is a temporary research position or fellowship It aims to allow the newly graduated researcher to build an independent research profile but the purpose is to create independence from the previous doctoral supervisor The term is used for both the positions and the individuals holding them one or more postdoctoral periods are advantageous when the researcher seeks the next type of position Some postdoctoral researchers return to Sweden to take up a research assistant position (this type of position ceased in 2010) Postdocs may have some teaching responsibilities but predominantly focus on research they have a time-limited employment of at least 2 years and up to 3 years Find organisation Astronomers have for the first time found a jet of high-energy particles from a dying star.The discovery is a crucial step in explaining how some of the most beautiful objects in space are formed – and what happens when stars like the sun reach the end of their lives stars like the sun transform into some of the most beautiful objects in space: amazing symmetric clouds of gas called planetary nebulae But how planetary nebulae get their strange shapes has long been a mystery to astronomers Chalmers University of Technology scientists have together with colleagues from Germany and Australia discovered what could be the key to the answer: a high-speed Using the CSIRO Australia Telescope Compact Array an array of six 22-metre radio telescopes in New South Wales they studied a star at the end of its life is in the process of becoming a planetary nebula and lies 23000 light years away in the southern constellation Triangulum Australe (the Southern Triangle) “In our data we found the clear signature of a narrow and extremely energetic jet of a type which has never been seen before in an old graduate student in astronomy at Bonn University The strength of the radio waves of different frequencies from the star match the expected signature for a jet of high-energy particles which are accelerated up to speeds close to the speed of light Similar jets have been seen in many other types of astronomical object from newborn stars to supermassive black holes “What we’re seeing is a powerful jet of particles spiralling through a strong magnetic field” “Its brightness indicates that it’s in the process of creating a symmetric nebula around the star.” Right now the star is going through a short but dramatic phase in its development “The radio signal from the jet varies in a way that means that it may only last a few decades Over the course of just a few hundred years the jet can determine how the nebula will look when it finally gets lit up by the star” to say whether our sun will create a jet when it dies ”The star may have an unseen companion – another star or large planet – that helps create the jet With the help of other front-line radio telescopes and future facilities like the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) we’ll be able to find out just which stars create jets like this one the Calabash nebula (a proto-planetary nebula) and M 2-9 (a young planetary nebula) show how IRAS 15445-5449 (left panel) may evolve in the future Pérez Sánchez; NASA/ESA & Valentin Bujarrabal; B They are made of gas ejected from stars with similar mass to the sun at the end of their lives glowing thanks to instense radiation from the star’s tiny but hot remaining core The sun will become a red giant in a few billion years’ time though at present it’s not clear whether it will then form a planetary nebula The research is published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, in the article A synchrotron jet from a post-asymptotic giant branch star The team consists of Andrés Pérez Sánchez (Argelander-Institut für Astronomie Wouter Vlemmings (Onsala Space Observatory at Chalmers University of Technology) Daniel Tafoya (Onsala Space Observatory at Chalmers University of Technology and UNAM The research was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) The CSIRO Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) is a group of six radio-receiving dishes near Narrabri in New South Wales It is one of the most advanced telescopes of its kind the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation which  is Australia's national science agency Onsala Space Observatory at Chalmers University of Technology The results were presented at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science in Athens An international team of researchers at Onsala Space Observatory in Sweden say the jet is being devoured at less than one-third of the speed of light which is surprisingly slow when it comes to black hole emissions Dimitrios Giannios is a Professor of Physics in Purdue University studied the new-born jet in a source known as Swift J1644+57 with the European VLBI Network (EVN) When a star moves close to a supermassive black hole it can be disrupted violently About half of the gas in the star is drawn towards the black hole and forms a disc around it large amounts of gravitational energy are converted into electromagnetic radiation creating a bright source visible at many different wavelengths One dramatic consequence is that some of the star’s material stripped from the star and collected around the black hole can be ejected in extremely narrow beams of particles at speeds approaching the speed of light These so-called relativistic jets produce strong emission at radio wavelengths Three years of extremely precise EVN measurements of the jet from Swift J1644+5734 show a very compact source with no signs of motion Lower panel: false colour contour image of the jet (the ellipse in the lower left corner shows the size of an unresolved source) “Using the EVN telescope network we were able to measure the jet’s position to a precision of 10 microarcseconds That corresponds to the angular extent of a 2-Euro coin on the Moon as seen from Earth These are some of the sharpest measurements ever made by radio telescopes” Thanks to the amazing precision possible with the network of radio telescopes the scientists were able to search for signs of motion in the jet “We looked for motion close to the light speed in the jet Over our three years of observations such movement should have been clearly detectable But our images reveal instead very compact and steady emission – there is no apparent motion” The results give important insights into what happens when a star is destroyed by a supermassive black hole but also how newly launched jets behave in a pristine environment Head of User Support at the Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC (JIVE) in Dwingeloo explains why the jet appears to be so compact and stationary “Newly formed relativistic ejecta decelerate quickly as they interact with the interstellar medium in the galaxy earlier studies suggest we may be seeing the jet at a very small angle That could contribute to the apparent compactness” The record-sharp and extremely sensitive observations would not have been possible without the full power of the many radio telescopes of different sizes which together make up the EVN explains Tao An from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" © 2025 ellines.com © 2025 ellines.com, all rights reserved.