Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (IAA)
Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
PhD opportunity
The Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB) opens a call for PhD candidates to work on a project entitled Development and application of an automated chemical composition measurement method of high-resolution stellar spectra including the Gaia-RVS domain. Deadline for applications: July 15, 2017. Contact alobel at sdf.lonestar.org (Alex Lobel, ORB promotor) or Alain Jorissen @ ULB (ULB co-promotor).
Latest news
- [18/4/2016] Mercury transit
On May 9th in the afternoon, the planet Mercury will pass in front of the Sun. The transit will start at 1:12 p.m. local time and end at 8:42 p.m. The Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics of ULB invites you to observe the Sun and its companion safely through two solar telescopes equipped with adequate filters. Prominences on the solar limb might be also observable.
To see the pictures, click here
- [25/3/2016] Tribunes de l'ULB: Sommes-nous seuls dans l'Univers? : Lecture by André Brahic, astrophysicist, professor at Paris-Diderot University and researcher at CEA, the debate being moderated by Alain Jorissen, professor at the Faculty of Sciences and director of the Institute of astronomy and Astrophysics (ULB).
It is with sadness that we learned that André Brahic passed away on Sunday May 15, 2016 at the age of 73.
- [21/3/2016] Sophie Van Eck, a researcher at the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics tells us about women in research in the web documentary "Clichés! Instantanés de la recherche à l’ULB".
- [12/1/2016] Parallax and masses of alpha Centauri revisited
Despite thorough works previously devoted to our close neighbour alpha Centauri, its distance is still far from being carved in stone. Any derivation of the individual masses is therefore uncertain, if not questionable. And yet, that does not prevent this system from being used for calibration purpose in several studies. By combining measurements of the binary separation with 10 years of radial-velocity data obtained with the HARPS spectrograph at ESO, Pourbaix and Boffin were able to derive a full 3D orbit of alpha Cen.
- [22/6/2015] Public Astronomy Lectures
The program of the "Cours Public d'Astronomie" 2015-2016 is available. Wednesdays from 6 to 7pm, lecture room H1308 (to be confirmed), Solbosch Campus; First lecture: September 30, 2015.
- [20/3/2015] Partial solar eclipse, visible from Brussels
Images here
The comparison of accurate technetium, zirconium and niobium abundances in S-type giants with predictions from state-of-the-art stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis calculations allowed IAA researchers to derive the temperature at which the heavy-element synthesis occurred in those stars, and for how long it operated...
- [24/11/2014] Seeing into the Heart of Mira A and its Partner
New observations with the ALMA radiotelescope show how the winds from the two stars forming the Mira AB system have created a fascinating, beautiful and complex nebula. The remarkable heart-shaped bubble at the centre is created by Mira B’s energetic wind inside Mira A’s more relaxed outflow...
- [1/6/2011] A cosmic firewheel blown by the wind
New observations at far-infrared wavelengths with the PACS instrument on board the Herschel Space Observatory reveal arc-like structures in the expelled matter of Mira...
- [6/11/2014] Claudia Paladini, post-doctoral fellow at IAA-ULB has a sequence in L'objet de la recherche
- [19/12/2013] The ESA cornerstone mission Gaia (The billion-star surveyor), with a large Belgian and ULB contribution, has been successfully launched from Kourou by a Soyouz-Fregat rocket.
For ULB students
- BA3 , MA1 and MA2 work/theses topics