Astro News

US approval for Reflect Orbital’s plan to put reflecting satellites into orbit in order to reflect light from the sun into Earth has reignited a heated debate among astronomers, space scientists and ecologists. The company says it has received more than 260,000 inquiries from customers wanting redirected sunlight for energy, disaster relief, agriculture, defence and city lighting. Researchers warn that if the project grows from a few demonstrators to a constellation of tens of thousands, the consequences for ground- and space-based astronomy, orbital safety and nocturnal ecosystems could be severe.

In a major step toward understanding how the first supermassive black holes and galaxies formed, the Euclid Consortium reports the discovery of 31 previously unknown quasars at redshifts 6.6–7.8, including the most distant quasar known to date. These objects shine from when the Universe was only around 5% of its current age!

On 23 March 2025, Euclid’s VIS camera produced a 4.8-square-degree mosaic that images more than 60 million stars in unprecedented detail — giving astronomers the resolution and sky coverage needed to measure the masses of cold worlds outside the Solar System.

The mission enters its critical design phase ahead of a 2030 launch.

The Kavli Prize in Astrophysics 2026 is awarded to Vasily Belokurov (University of Cambridge), Amina Helmi (University of Groningen) and Rodrigo Ibata (University of Strasbourg) “for uncovering the fossil evidence of past mergers proving that the Milky Way galaxy was built through hierarchical accretion.” Their work shows that our Galaxy grew by repeatedly merging with and consuming smaller galaxies, leaving streams that astronomers can now read as a cosmic fossil record.

How did the universe evolve from the Big Bang to today — and why is its expansion accelerating? Professor of Cosmology David Fonseca Mota and researcher Farbod Hassani at the University of Oslo have received NOK 40 million from the Research Council to investigate these questions.

The Research Council of Norway has awarded a FRIPRO Young Researcher grant of NOK 10 million to ReCon² — "Resolving the Solar Convective Conundrum," led by Andrius Popovas at RoCS - Rosseland Centre for Solar Physics.

Astronomers from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope team have captured the sharpest images ever of the cosmic microwave background — the faint glow left over from the Big Bang.

Researcher Petra Kohutova, who has been with RoCS since 2018, receives funding for the project MultiSCORE: Multi-Scale Structure of the Coronal Environment.

Dean Solveig Kristensen signed a collaboration agreement at the Italian embassy in Oslo on May 12. This marks an important milestone for space weather forecasting in both Norway and Italy.

Five years into its mission, Solar Orbiter has captured a stunning new image of the Sun. This detailed view reveals the Sun’s million-degree hot atmosphere, known as the corona, as seen in ultraviolet light.

For two weeks, both ground-based and space telescopes collaborated to capture the evolution of an active region, providing unprecedented insights into our Sun.

Astrophysicist Duncan Watts receives prestigious ERC Starting Grant of 1.5 million euros for creating a vivid infrared 3D atlas that chronicles the birth and growth of galaxies across the cosmos.

Solar researchers at RoCS have come closer to finding an answer.

The ESA-led Solar Orbiter has detected the largest solar flare of the cycle, highlighting the importance of observing the Sun from all sides to improve space weather forecasting.

Astronomers are buzzing with excitement as the Euclid Consortium shares a first look at the cosmos through the eyes of the groundbreaking Euclid telescope. The release of the first scientific publications is a milestone for the entire astrophysical community.

ESA’s Solar Orbiter has linked solar wind measurements with high-resolution images of the Sun’s surface, enabling solar physicists to trace the origins of the solar wind more accurately.

Does the universe look completely different than we have believed so far? Norwegian astrophysicists will help find out.

With the objective of forging connections and advancing our comprehension of the cosmos, the inaugural meeting of NoRMAS24 took place at the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics last week.

Professors Hans Kristian Kamfjord Eriksen has received 2.5 million euros to continue the dream he and his team began working on ten years ago.

The sixth annual report of the Rosseland Centre for Solar Physics (RoCS) was published on April 1st. With 61 individuals from 19 different nationalities across three continents, the researchers at this Center of Excellence continue to maintain a high pace.

Receiving recognition for years of dedicated work is a significant milestone in any career. RoCS' Postdoctoral Fellow, Nicolas Poirier, shares his reflections on what it means to him.

The European Space Agency has greenlit LISA, the first space-based observatory of gravitational waves. Norway joins the endeavour to detect the ripples in the fabric of space-time.

Three scientists at RoCS are out with new scientific papers concerning the Sun. 

Two young scientists at RoCS' had their first and their last paper published this summer.