Science March 23, 2023

AI Finds that First Stars were Clustered Together

An international team has used artificial intelligence to analyze the chemical abundances of old stars and found indications that the very first stars in the Universe were born in groups rather than as isolated single stars. Now the team hopes to apply this method to new data from on-going and planned observation surveys to better understand the early days of the Universe.

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Science March 20, 2023

Small But Mighty: New Superconducting Amplifiers Deliver High Performance at Lower Power Consumption

Researchers have devised a new concept of superconducting microwave low-noise amplifiers for use in radio wave detectors for radio astronomy observations, and successfully demonstrated a high-performance cooled amplifier with power consumption three orders of magnitude lower than that of conventional cooled semiconductor amplifiers. This result is expected to contribute to the realization of large-scale multi-element radio cameras and error-tolerant quantum computers, both of which require a large number of low-noise microwave amplifiers.

Topics March 15, 2023

Dr. Hanayama Receives Yoshihide Kozai Award

Dr. Hidekazu Hanayama, Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) at Ishigakijima Astronomical Observatory, Public Relations Center, NAOJ, has been selected to receive the FY 2022 Yoshihide Kozai Award. This award recognizes his great work in the management and operation of Ishigakijima Astronomical Observatory and the promotion of astronomy.

Science March 2, 2023

Resurrected Supernova Provides Missing-Link

Astronomers have discovered a supernova exhibiting unprecedented rebrightening at millimeter wavelengths, providing an intermediate case between two types of supernovae: those of solitary stars and those in close-binary systems.

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Science February 28, 2023

Spiral Pattern Gives Clue to how High-Mass Stars Form

New observations have revealed a spiral pattern in a disk of material around a still forming, but already high-mass, baby star. This indicates that there is gravitational instability in the disk, which has important implications for how high-mass stars form.

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Topics February 27, 2023

Ambassador of Chile to Japan Visits NAOJ

On February 3, 2023, Ambassador of the Republic of Chile to Japan, His Excellency Mr. Ricardo G. Rojas, visited NAOJ Mitaka Campus.

Science February 16, 2023

Tadpole Playing Around Black Hole

A peculiar cloud of gas, nicknamed the Tadpole due to its shape, appears to be revolving around a space devoid of any bright objects. This suggests that the Tadpole is orbiting a dark object, most likely a black hole 100,000 times more massive than the Sun. Future observations will help determine what is responsible for the shape and motion of the Tadpole.

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Topics February 14, 2023

NASA Associate Administrator Thomas Zurbuchen Visits NAOJ Mitaka Campus

A delegation of NASA officials, including Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate Thomas Zurbuchen and Astrophysics Division Director Mark Clampin, visited NAOJ Mitaka Campus on December 1, 2022.

Science February 3, 2023

Outflows from Baby Star Affect Nearby Star Formation

New observations show an outflow of high-speed gas from one baby star colliding with a nearby dense cloud of gas where other stars are in the process of being born. These observations clearly show the outflow from a baby star affecting a neighboring star forming cloud.

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Science January 27, 2023

Starry Tail Tells the Tale of Dwarf Galaxy Evolution

A giant diffuse tail of stars has been discovered emanating from a large, faint dwarf galaxy. The presence of a tail indicates that the galaxy has experienced recent interaction with another galaxy. This is an important clue for understanding how so called “ultra-diffuse” galaxies are formed.