News

Discovery of a fast radio burst that pulses at regular intervals

30/04/2021
A Canadian-led team of astronomers, including researchers from JIVE, has discovered that a repeating fast radio burst (FRB) originating from a nearby galaxy pulses at regular intervals. Researchers within the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) Fast Radio Burst Collaboration used the CHIME telescope in British Columbia to show that the repeating radio source known as FRB 180916.J0158+65 - first discovered in 2018 by the same group - pulsates apparently every 16.35 days.

JIVE recognises and protects diversity as the key against discrimination

12/06/2020
JIVE is an international research infrastructure committed to recognise and protect diversity as the key against discrimination.

AstroFlash project to localise FRBs

23/03/2021
Jason Hessels will build a research group of PhD students and postdocs hosted at ASTRON, JIVE and the University of Amsterdam. Hessels' previous research activities have been funded, in part, by NWO Veni and Vidi grants, which together with the Vici form the "NWO-Talentprogramma''.

The cosmic cow explained - radio signals point to an explosion and a newborn magnetar

08/04/2021
Observations using 21 telescopes of the European VLBI Network (EVN) have revealed that a cosmic explosion, called AT2018cow most likely formed a neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field - known as a magnetar. The high-resolution radio images produced in this new study show physical properties of the stellar remnant that make alternative explanations less likely, say scientists.

Celebrating milestones in space-borne high-resolution radio astronomy

30/04/2021
The past decade has seen leaps forward in both the scientific and technical expertise needed to conduct high resolution radio astronomy observations from space. Future detailed studies of compact celestial radio sources, related technologies and recent breakthroughs in the field are highlighted in a special issue of Advances in Space Research, entitled “High Resolution Space-Bourne Radio Astronomy”.

A repeating Fast Radio Burst from a spiral galaxy deepens the mystery of where these signals originate from

09/04/2021
Telescopes in the European VLBI Network (EVN) have observed a repeating Fast Radio Burst (FRB) in a spiral galaxy similar to our own. This FRB is the closest to Earth ever localised and was found in a radically different environment to previous studies. The discovery, once again, changes researchers’ assumptions on the origins of these mysterious extragalactic events.

Astronomers observe the ‘smoking gun’ of an orphan gamma-ray burst afterglow

22/04/2021
Astronomers have found the ‘smoking gun’ of an ‘orphan’ gamma-ray burst afterglow. Gamma-ray bursts are brief, intense flashes of gamma-rays that are difficult to detect. They are believed to be linked to cataclysmic events such as the collapse of a massive star, or the collision and merger of two neutron stars. Evidence of an ‘orphan’ gamma-ray burst afterglow provides astronomers with more possibilities to study, and ultimately understand, such phenomena.

Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (ADASS) Conference Series

30/04/2021
Mark your calendars for the 29th annual conference on Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (http://adass.org). The conference will be held on 6-10 October 2019, hosted by ASTRON, JIVE, the ALMA European Regional Centre, University of Groningen, Universiteit Leiden, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Radboud University, and SRON. This annual conference, held in a different location each year, is a forum for astronomers, computer scientists, software engineers, faculty members and students working in areas related to algorithms, software and systems for the acquisition, reduction, analysis, and dissemination of astronomical data.

Astronomers Capture First Image of a Black Hole

10/04/2019
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, who produced the first ever image of a black hole, has revealed today a new view of the massive object at the centre of the M87 galaxy: how it looks in polarised light. This is the first time astronomers have been able to measure polarisation, a signature of magnetic fields, this close to the edge of a black hole. The observations are key to explaining how the M87 galaxy, located 55 million light-years away, is able to launch energetic jets from its core.

A global network of radio telescopes exposes the aftermath of a violent merger of neutron stars

09/04/2021
Astronomers have combined radio telescopes from five continents to prove the existence of a narrow stream of material (jet) emerging from the only gravitational wave event involving two neutron stars observed so far.