Matter and Space

Simulations carried out by scientists at the University of Groningen show that a planet with approximately 1.6 times the mass and diameter of Earth has a magma ocean containing a large amount of sulphur. The exoplanet may be the first example of a new category of exoplanets.

Elon Musk wants to launch a million satellites that will together form a data centre in space, which will provide the computing power needed for AI. According to University of Groningen astronomer Reynier Peletier, the satellites will interfere with astronomical observations and damage the ozone layer.

An international team of astronomers, including dr. Rob Spaargaren from the University of Groningen, have demonstrated why only a small number of planets have the chemical requirements for life - and why the Earth is so fortunate.

The UG will receive EUR 670.000 for developing a digital platform

Computer simulations by astronomers from the University of Groningen and elsewhere show that most of the matter in the vicinity of the Milky Way must be located in a flat plane. Above and below this plane are large voids. This distribution explains the observed movements of nearby galaxies.

In the search for extraterrestrial life, we generally look at planets that are more or less similar to Earth. Astrophysicists Inga Kamp and Floris van der Tak explain how the international LIFE-mission will search for life in new ways, and that planets that appear similar, might actually be composed of entirely different molecules.

An international team of astronomers, including Tim Lichtenberg and PhD student Emma Postolec, has found strong evidence for an atmosphere on a rocky exoplanet. The ultra-hot “super-Earth” TOI-561 b appears to be surrounded by a thick layer of gases above a global magma ocean.

Planetary scientists Quentin Changeat and Tim Lichtenberg investigate the characteristics of exoplanets. Changeat studies the atmosphere of hot Jupiter-like planets, while Lichtenberg is excited to have found an atmosphere around a planet that, according to scientific consensus, was not supposed to have one.

Over the next five years, a new astronomical instrument will unravel our galactic history, investigate dark matter and study the origins of stars. Astronomers from the University of Groningen will also be working with this instrument.

Astronomers from the University of Groningen and the University of Amsterdam are on the Canary Island of Tenerife until 29 July to test a special camera to detect gamma rays emitted by extreme objects, such as supermassive black holes and supernovae.