News

K2-3: A system of three likely sub-Neptunes

A team led by astronomers from INAF presented a new study aimed at determining accurate masses for the three planets in orbit aroud the M-dwarf star K2-3

INAF hosts the preliminary round to set up the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory-ERIC

At Headquarters of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics INAF, the kick-off round of the multilateral negotiations to establish an ERIC organization to the manage the Cherenkov Telescope Array project as part of the EU’s ESFRI infrastructure roadmap had take place

Extrasolar planets: Italy to lead the construction of the SHARK instruments on the LBT

The Italian institutes involved in the construction of SHARK are the INAF Observatories of Padua and Rome, responsible for the two channels, together with the Observatories of Arcetri, Milan and Trieste and the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Padua

INAF researcher wins a Consolidator Grant 2017

Two black hole systems are the investigational topic of DEMOBLACK: one of the projects that have been granted the European Consolidator Grant, which was submitted by Michela Mapelli, a researcher of the National Institute for Astrophysics-INAF and Professor at the University of Innsbruck in Austria

Light in Astronomy 2017

Light in Astronomy, organized by INAF in collaboration with the Italian Astronomical Society-SAIt, will be a week (13-19 November) dedicated to satisfying curiosity about the Universe thanks to the opening in Italy of INAF premises, including the astronomical observatories.

Marsis radar reveals that on Mars all that echoes is not ice

The low dielectric constant of the Meridiani Planum deposits is consistent with a thick layer of ice-free, porous, basaltic sand. This study is fundamental to identify techniques that may help find the planet’s areas with accessible water ice.

A 3D step towards sorting out the Gamma-Ray Bursts zoo

A powerful tool for characterizing and classifying gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) to allow their use as tracers of the expansion history of the universe has recently been presented by an international team of researchers led by Dr. Maria Dainotti

Astronomy: here is astroEDU Italia

An educational platform for students and teachers

Science with the Cherenkov Telescope Array

The updated science case for the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory, Science with the Cherenkov Telescope Array, became available for download in English or Spanish on the CTA website library and arXiv

Space, ASI’s Sardinia Deep Space Antenna inaugurated

The SDSA is located at the Sardinia Radio Telescope-SRT: the large radio telescope for the study of the Universe, situated near Cagliari and developed by the National Institute for Astrophysics-INAF in collaboration with ASI, Regione Sardegna and the Ministry of Education, University and Research-MIUR.

Space, Let’s go to Mars

An educational video game to explore the Red Planet

Carina Nebula, INAF identifies new star formations

The Gaia-ESO Survey: Global properties of clusters Trumpler 14 and 16 in the Carina nebula study conducted by Francesco Damiani from INAF of Palermo, involving a number of researchers from the INAF observatories of Arcetri, Bologna, Catania, Padua and Palermo, has been recently published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

2017 GAL Hassin Award to Battiston and D’Amico

This year, the prestigious award of the GAL Hassin Foundationhas been awarded to two major names of Italian astronomy: Prof. Roberto Battiston, President of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), “for his achievements in fundamental and astroparticle physics” and to Prof. Nicolò D’Amico, President of the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), “for his achievements in radioastronomy and in particular in the study of pulsars”.

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”.