News

INAF contributes to the development of the African Vlbi array

Italy will contribute with INAF and its researchers Alessandro Orfei and Marcello Giroletti to the development of the AVN-African Vlbi Network, the new African Vlbi-Very Long Baseline Interferometry array equipped with a technology that uses several radiotelescopes, one far from the other, in a simultaneous and coordinated way.

ISSI selected two projects by INAF researchers

Two projects coordinated by INAF researchers have been selected by the Swiss International Space Science Institute-ISSI to exploit the opportunity that every year is offered to research projects to promote international collaboration and exchange of knowledge among researchers.

Job Announcement: Scientific Director and Administration Responsible of FGG

The Board (Patronato) of Fundacion Galileo Galilei - INAF (FGG), manager of the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), invites applications for the position of "Scientific Director and Administration Responsible of FGG". Applications received by 31 August 2017 will be given full consideration.

Position of the Director General for the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory

The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) is searching for a Director General to lead the organization. Applications should be submitted by September 1st, 2017

Italian researcher led an international team that observed small nearby galaxies

A team of researchers, led by Claudia Cicone (Inaf), has observed a sample of small nearby galaxies.

Farewell to Giovanni Bignami

Great astrophysicist and former President of INAF and ASI, Bignami passed away suddenly while in Madrid where he was carrying out his research activities.

INAF researcher involved in the discovery of a millisecond pulsar

An international team of astronomers led by Ivan Zolotukhin of the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP) of Toulouse, also including Matteo Bachetti, a researcher of the INAF in Cagliari, has discovered that this pulsar is at the beginning of the recycle phase, i.e. the process that causes slow and "turned-off” neutron stars to turn on again as “millisecond pulsar”.

Cassini Scientist for a Day: the competition for young scientists sets new records

New record numbers for the 15th edition of Cassini Scientist for a Day, the international competition launched by NASA and promoted in Europe by the European Space Agency (ESA), open to lower and upper secondary school students. In Italy, 181 students participated in the competition, sending a total of 81 essays to a panel of researchers and experts in science communication.

Matteucci Medal awarded to Marco Tavani

The Italian National Academy of Sciences has awarded Marco Tavani, National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), the Matteucci Medal, the award for Italian and foreign physicists for the fundamental contribution made to the progress of science through their works or discoveries.

Italian researchers participated in the discovery of a distant galaxy at the edges of the Universe

An international research team led by researcher Austin Hoag, University of California, which included Laura Pentericci, an astronomer at the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF)in Rome, together with Italian researchers Tommaso Treu, University of California-Los Angeles, and Michele Trenti, University of Melbourne in Australia, has discovered a small and faint galaxy at the very edges of the Universe.

7th “Paolo Farinella" Prize, 2017

To honor the memory and the outstanding figure of Paolo Farinella (1953-2000), an extraordinary scientist and person, a prize has been established in recognition of significant contributions given in the fields of interest of Paolo, which span from planetary sciences to space geodesy, fundamental physics, science popularization, security in space, weapons control and disarmament.

An INAF study provides new assumptions on oscillation in star layers

A team of researchers led by Enrico Corsaro, fellow of the AstroFIt2 programme at INAF in Catania, has recently published a study in Nature Astronomy which shows the relationship between the orientation of the stellar-spin axis and the environment where they formed.

INAF researchers participate in the discovery of two Super Earths

Two massive rocky planets 21 light-years from us, the closest known among those transiting in front of their parent star, have been detected and studied thanks to TNG Galileo National Telescope observations.

Risparmio e vedo il cielo. INAF joins the “M’illumino di meno” campaign

On 24 February, on the occasion of the Energy Saving Day 2017, the National Institute for Astrophysics – INAF has joined the M’illumino di Meno campaign launched by Radio Rai 2 show Caterpillar, now in its thirteenth year, which renews the invitation to turn off the lights in squares, private and public lightings across Italy.

First phase of Astronomy Olympiad organized by INAF and SAIT now underway

On 14 February, the inter-regional phase of XV Italian Astronomy Olympiad attended by 850 students (435 for the junior category (14 to 15 years) and 415 for the senior category (16 to 17 years), took place in 14 Italian cities with the aim of qualifying to the national final that will be held in Cremona in April.

Thanks to the HARPS-N spectrograph, the TNG can see Venus

TThe HARPS-N spectrograph succeeded in measuring from the Earth the velocity of the clouds in the atmosphere of Venus thanks to its high precision, competing with the Japanese Akatsuki probe, which has recently begun to study the atmosphere of the second planet.

The X-ray Universe 2017

The symposium (Rome, 6-9 June 2017) is the fifth meeting in the series of the international symposia "The X-ray Universe". The intention is to gather a general collection of research in high energy astrophysics. The symposium will provide a showcase for results, discoveries and expectations from current and future X-ray missions.

IXPE mission: Italy and NASA for new X-ray astronomy

NASA has announced that it is funding a new mission to study the high-energy Universe: it will be called IXPE (Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer) and will allow astronomers to explore with unprecedented details some of the most extreme astronomic objects, including stellar and supermassive black holes, neutron stars and pulsars. The mission, scheduled for the end of 2020, will count on a considerable Italian contribution through the Italian Space Agency(ASI), the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) and the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF).

Most accurate 3D map of the Universe developed

A successful result obtained by the international team of the VIPERS (VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey) project, coordinated by the National institute for Astrophysics (INAF)

The new frontiers in the knowledge of the Universe. An interview with Nichi D’Amico

How did our Universe evolve? Is there life outside of Earth? What is the nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy making up 95% of the Universe? The answers to these and other great scientific questions are today entrusted to powerful telescopes located on Earth and in Space, which are equipped with important, “made in Italy”, technologies developed by the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF). ResearchItaly, the portal of Italian research, talked to the President of INAF, Nichi D’Amico, about current and future research projects and their potential impact on the economic and social system of our country.