Space sciences

News

Composite image of bubble-like structures detected using infrared observation data of the Milky Way obtained by the Spitzer Space Telescope
17 Mar 2025
Using AI image recognition, deep learning model efficiently and accurately finds structures related to star formation
26 Feb 2025
Tohoku University researchers are looking underfoot to uncover the mysterious past of Mars: Martian regoliths in the soil. Their water storage capabilities may help us understand the change in water on Mars over time.
Editor's Choice
20 Feb 2025
Asteroid contains life’s building blocks, How fish detect color, Eco-friendly artificial muscles, Cell imaging gets a glow-up, Quantum gem, Healing skin with milkfish. Plus the 2025 Magazine is here, Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.
fig1
07 Feb 2025
Kavli IPMU researchers are part of an international team that has found dark matter dominating the halos of two supermassive black holes 13 billion light years away.
04 Feb 2025
An astronomer witnesses the gas flowing out from a galaxy 12 billion years ago, shutting down the star formation activity in the early Universe.
A mosaic image of asteroid Bennu, composed of 12 PolyCam images collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from a range of 24 kilometers. (NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona)
29 Jan 2025
Japanese collaborators detected all five nucleobases — building blocks of DNA and RNA — in samples returned from asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission.
Carina Nebula
15 Jan 2025
Astronomer John Silverman works just outside of Tokyo but spends his days with some of the world's biggest telescopes in Hawaii, Chile, and space to study the earliest black holes in the Universe.
30 Oct 2024
This model reveals how vastly different the atmosphere was on ancient Earth, and how life may have first emerged.
19 Sep 2024
Researchers at Tohoku University developed a Martian atmospheric evolution model to propose a new theory about Mars’ past.
09 Sep 2024
Seaweed helps brain health, Whales in long-distance relationships, Jumpstarting male fertility, Demystifying black hole turbulence, Shrimp to steel & Mpox Resources. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.
fig2
30 Aug 2024
A team including the Kavli IPMU has observed a pair of galaxies merging 12.8 billion years ago, forming one of the brightest objects in the early Universe. These results will help us understand the early evolution of galaxies and black holes.
29 Aug 2024
To understand the mysteries surrounding black holes, researchers at Tohoku University created a simulation of accretion disk turbulence that possesses the highest-resolution currently available.
20 Aug 2024
Our understanding of Venus' water history and the potential that it was once habitable in the past is being challenged by observations made by researchers from Tohoku University.
04 Jul 2024
Sound velocities in lunar mantle aggregates at simultaneous high pressures and temperatures suggests the presence of garnet in the deep lunar interior
28 Jun 2024
Bringing us one step closer to solving the “missing satellites problem,” researchers at Tohoku University and abroad have discovered two new satellite galaxies.
25 Jun 2024
Stars blinking code in Netflix’s “3 Body Problem” may be sci-fi, but by deciphering neutron stars’ erratic flickers, a new study has revealed the twisted origin of their mysterious “heartbeats.”
Back-scattered images of recovered samples
05 Jun 2024
Experimental investigations on partition coefficients of first-transition row elements between olivine and silicate melt
Prof Samuel C.C. Ting has been appointed Honorary Director of the Lingnan University Institute for Advanced Study (LUIAS).
03 Jun 2024
Lingnan University is proud to announce the appointment of illustrious physicist and Nobel laureate, Prof Samuel C.C. Ting, as Honorary Director of the Lingnan University Institute for Advanced Study (LUIAS). Prof Ting was given an Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Science, honoris causa) by Lingnan University and visited the campus to host the University Assembly last year, where he lectured on his ongoing space experiments, inspiring the faculty and students alike with his dedication to scientific inquiry and the pursuit of knowledge.
Asia Research News Editor's Choice header
14 May 2024
Paper-based battery for wearable devices, To pass or not to pass? Kirigami hydrogels rise from cellulose, Climate impact on mountains, Effects of space weathering. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.
(Illustration: Yuki Kimura)
29 Apr 2024
Samples reveal evidence of changes experienced by the surface of asteroid Ryugu, some probably due to micrometeoroid bombardment.
21 Mar 2024
At least one in a dozen stars show evidence of planetary ingestion according to a paper published in Nature today.
14 Mar 2024
Ancient Mars biomolecules, Gargling away bad bacteria, Molecule glasses magnify life-chemical observations, Cholesterol and cancer link, Quantum electronics leap, Plus our updated Experts for Media: Women list & Asia Research News 2024 is here. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.
13 Mar 2024
An international research team have made unprecedentedly detailed observations of the earliest merger of galaxies ever witnessed. They suggest stars developed much faster and more efficiently than we thought. They used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe the massive object as it was 510 million years after the Big Bang – i.e. around 13 billion years ago.
28 Feb 2024
Organic materials discovered on Mars may have originated from atmospheric formaldehyde, according to new research, marking a step forward in our understanding of the possibility of past life on the Red Planet.
simulation of two merging black holes
27 Feb 2024
Jun’ichi Yokoyama once amused his professors by proposing a far-fetched idea of using neutrinos and gravitational waves to observe the Universe. Decades later, he was proven right and contends young scientists should be nurtured to believe in themselves.
Artist’s impression of an outflow of molecular gas from the quasar J2054-0005 (Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO))
01 Feb 2024
Theoretical predictions have been confirmed with the discovery of an outflow of molecular gas from a quasar when the Universe was less than a billion years old.
23 Jan 2024
The Hayabusa2 mission that collected samples from the asteroid Ryugu has provided a treasure trove of insights into our solar system. After analyzing samples further, a team of researchers have unearthed evidence that cometary organic matter was transported from space to the near-Earth region.
19 Jan 2024
A recent paper published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics presents new images from the 2018 data that reveal a familiar ring the same size as observed in 2017. This bright ring surrounds a deep central depression, “the shadow of the black hole,” as predicted by general relativity. Excitingly, the peak brightness of the ring has shifted by about 30º counter clockwise compared to its position in 2017, which is consistent with our theoretical understanding of the variability of the turbulent material around black holes.
22 Nov 2023
Osaka Metropolitan University researchers and their colleagues have successfully detected an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray with an energy level comparable to the most energetic cosmic ray ever observed. The cosmic ray is set to be named after the Japanese sun goddess, Amaterasu. No promising astronomical object has been identified in the direction from which this cosmic ray originated, implying the potential existence of unknown astronomical phenomena and novel physical origins beyond the Standard Model.
Asia Research News Editors Choice
05 Oct 2023
Hunting for supermassive black holes, Coastal survival at risk, Calcium and dead cell clean-up, Two naps are better than one & Pineapple leaf prosthetics. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.

Events

09 Sep 2021 to 10 Sep 2021
Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) will launch a new Master-PhD course on origin-of-life science and astrobiology at Tokyo Institute of Technology. The five-year ELSI course is open for domestic and international students who wish to tackle fundamental questions in natural science such as the origin and evolution of living planets. ELSI will provide financial support (as salary of a research assistant) for all the students, except for ones who are going to be supported by JSPS DC fellowships (Japan) or equivalent fellowships.

Researchers

Ken’ichi Nomoto
Ken’ichi Nomoto is a visiting senior scientist at Kavli IPMU and Professor Emeritus at The University of Tokyo. He is one of the best experts in the world in astronomy and astrophysics, particularly on stellar evolution and supernovae. He was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure by the Japanese government in 2020.
Miho Katsuragawa is a specially appointed project researcher at Kavli IPMU. Her areas of expertise include experimental physics, detector/instrument development, medical application of gamma-ray imaging, and high energy astrophysics.
Jia Liu
Jia Liu is the Director of the Center for Data-Driven Discovery and associate professor at CMB Group at Kavli IPMU. Her research integrates data science techniques in the study of large-scale structures of the universe (dark matter, halos, filaments, voids).
Elisa Ferreira
Elisa Ferreira is Assistant Professor at the Kavli IPMU and at the Institute of Physics of the University of São Paulo. Her research deals with the interface between cosmology, astrophysics, and high energy physics, focusing mostly on dark energy and dark matter.
Picture of Brian Katona
Mr. Brian Katona is an engineer supporting the technical aspects of the Office of Service-Learning’s initiatives in Humanitarian Technology, Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation. He is interested in sharing his expertise with people to help build meaningful and impactful technological and social solutions.
Tony Z. Jia is a researcher at Japan’s Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), based at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. His research focuses on astrobiology, prebiotic chemistry, and origins of life.
Takeshi Horinouchi is a professor at the Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Japan.
Department of Earth Science, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Japan.

Giants in history

Chinese electron microscopy specialist Li Fanghua (6 January 1932 – 24 January 2020) facilitated the high-resolution imaging of crystal structures by eliminating interference.
Haisako Koyama (1916 – 1997) was a Japanese solar observer whose dedication to recording sunspots – cooler parts of the sun’s surface that appear dark – produced a sunspot record of historic importance.
Malaysia’s first astrophysicist, Mazlan binti Othman (born 11 December 1951) was instrumental in launching the country’s first microsatellite, and in sending Malaysia’s first astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, into space.
Cyril Andrew Ponnamperuma (16 October 1923 – 20 December 1994) was a Sri Lankan chemist who was interested in the origins of life on Earth. His research in chemical evolution showed how inanimate molecules may have given rise to the building blocks of life – a process known as abiogenesis.
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (19 October 1910 – 21 August 1995) was an Indian astrophysicist who studied the structure and evolution of stars.