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Istituto italiano di astrofisica - national institute for astrophisics

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Highlights

ASTRI has 20-20 vision!
Wanted: an affordable telescope with a constant angular resolution over a wide field of view
The First Pietro Baracchi Conference
Italo-Australian Radio Astronomy in the Era of the SKA. 1-4 November 2016, ARRC Building, Perth, Western Australia
Novae the Beryllium and Lithium factory
Paolo Molaro, astronomer at the National Institute for Astrophysics and head of a team of researchers, has discovered a high abundance of Beryllium-7 in the material expelled from Nova Sagittarii no. 2, a star discovered by amateur astronomer John Seach in 2015 in the constellation Sagittarius, one of the brightest celestial objects in its class in recent years, among the few visible to the naked eye.
New discoveries about gamma-ray bursts
Nature Communications recently published a study on the so-called short gamma-ray bursts (SGRB) carried out by an international team of scientists, including Stefano Covino and Paolo D’Avanzo from INAF/ Brera Astronomical Observatory
Fast Radio Burst, an open question
Less than ten years ago, a new class of celestial phenomena were discovered, Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). They are transient radio impulses lasting a few milliseconds, so rapid that it is not possible to understand from which part of the sky they come from. They are sometimes detected by radiotelescopes, and were observed for the first time in real time in 2014 by Parkes radiotelescope in Australia.
JUNO probe successfully completes first Jupiter flyby
A flyby of planet Jupiter at a speed of more than 200 thousand kilometres per hour, up to a distance of about 4,200 kilometres from the surface of the gas giant. This is the target reached on 27 August by JUNO, NASA’s mission that has Italy as the main partner of the US Space Agency.
Can asteroid Ceres “heal” its own scars?
Contrary to expectations, Ceres – the largest celestial body in the asteroid “main belt”, a region located between Mars and Jupiter – shows less craters than expected on its surface, as shown in a study led by Simone Marchi, associate researcher at the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), recently published in Nature Communications. The study is based on data from DAWN, the NASA mission in which Italy participates with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and INAF.
Alien Olivine on Vesta?
The olivine found on the surface of the Main Belt's asteroid studied by the Dawn mission may have been deposited in the last billion years by other celestial bodies, as a consequence of their impact. These are the results of a series of simulations conducted by a team of researchers led by Diego Turrini (INAF)
Super-Massive And Supersonic: The First Black Hole Studied With The Sardinia Radio Telescope
Using the brand-new Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT), a giant parabolic dish of 64 meters diameter, a team of astronomers from the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) and the University of Cagliari have produced a detailed image of a super-massive black hole proceeding at high speed towards the core of the distant cluster of galaxies designed as 3C 129
CTA will have its permanent headquarters in Italy
The National Institute for Astrophysics wins the European competition: the board of the project has decided that the headquarters of the international organization leading one of the most prestigious infrastructure of modern physics will be located in Italy
Milky Way in Hi-GAL, a luxurious infrared map
The European project Hi-GAL has released the first map of our Galaxy obtained from the observations of the Herschel space telescope
Starlight on show: a constellation of initiatives on the birth of Astrophysics
The Starlight, the Birth of Astrophysics exhibition is now open: organized by the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) under the patronage of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (MIBACT), the exhibition will be open until 21 June 2016 at the INAF facilities in Arcetri (near Florence), Rome, Capodimonte (near Naples), Palermo and Padua.
AstroFIt2 – First Call – Ranking List
The grant will be offered to the 9 (nine) candidates with the highest grades. In case of withdrawal, the position will be replaced by the next in the ranking list.
JIRAM warms up
The probe Juno NASA is getting ready for his objective, Jupiter: the appointment to the insertion in orbit of the largest planet of the solar system is going to be on next July, 4. Among the many activities in preparation for that moment, the scientific team responsible for the Italian instrument JIRAM (InfraRed Jovian Auroral Mapper), one of the ten that equips the scientific payload of the mission, was turned on twice, on January 25 and February 9, to carry out some tests on its camera.
CHEOPS under polishing
In anticipation of the CHaracterising Exoplanets Satellite (CHEOPS) mission launch, scheduled for the end of 2017, the surface finishing and the polishing of CHEOPS flight primary mirror have begun, carried out by Media Lario SRL, a SME based in Bosisio Parini, near Lecco
Discovered for the first time the “birthplace” of a fast radio burst
An international team of astronomers, including Marta Burgay, Delphine Perrodin and Andrea Possenti from the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), identified for the first time the place of origin of a Fast Radio Burst (FRB), enigmatic radio signals lasting just a few milliseconds, which appear without warning in the sky
That strange haze on Ceres
A new study with ground-based telescopes conducted by a team of INAF astronomers strengthens the hypotheses provided by the Dawn spacecraft images: the dwarf planet seems to have an internal activity on its own which becomes evident when the light intensity of the mysterious bright spots varies
Gravitational waves: Italy in the forefront of a new understanding of the Universe
The announcement of the first direct detection of a gravitational wave opens a new era in physics and new perspectives in the investigation of the Universe. In this new page in the history of international research, Italy plays a major role, being the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) both involved in a number of projects.
A milestone toward E-ELT construction
ESO will enter into final discussions with the winning bidder of the tender process for the design, manufacture, transport, construction, on-site assembly and verification of the Dome and Main Structure of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). Nicolò D'Amico (INAF's President): "It will bring important returns for italian industries".
Very little magnetism in this odd couple
The new observations of IGR J17544-2619 obtained by the NASA satellite NuSTAR have shed light onto some of the most obscure properties and behaviours of SFXTs. The unprecedented accuracy of these measurements has allowed the team led by Varun Bhalerao at the Inter University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (India), with the participation of INAF researchers Patrizia Romano and Lorenzo Natalucci, to see a cyclotron line in the X-ray spectrum of this source, the unambiguous signature of the interaction between the stellar matter and the magnetic field of the compact object that is attracting it.

MeerKAT+: the MeerKAT Extension

Feb 21, 2024

MeerKAT+: the MeerKAT Extension The handover of the first dish of the MeerKAT extension signals an important milestone for the SKA-MID construction

The first discoveries of the Webb space telescope in Rome: public lecture on 29 February

Feb 21, 2024

The first discoveries of the Webb space telescope in Rome: public lecture on 29 February On Thursday 29 February at 6 pm, Prof. Roberto Maiolino of the University of Cambridge (UK) will hold a public lecture on the theme "The invisible Universe revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope" at the Department of Physics of Sapienza University of Rome

The AGILE satellite re-entered the atmosphere

Feb 14, 2024

The AGILE satellite re-entered the atmosphere After 17 years of thriving operations, the AGILE Italian scientific satellite re-entered the atmosphere, thus ending its intense activity as a hunter of some of the most energetic cosmic sources in the Universe that emit gamma and X-rays