Astronomical detectors as a research area focuses on the development, characterization, and optimization of sensor technologies used to register electromagnetic or particle signals from astronomical sources with high sensitivity, dynamic range, and temporal and spatial resolution. It encompasses work on charge-coupled devices (CCDs), complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) imagers, infrared arrays, superconducting devices such as transition-edge sensors and kinetic inductance detectors, as well as photon-counting and polarimetric detectors. Research addresses quantum efficiency, noise sources, readout architectures, calibration strategies, radiation hardness, and cryogenic operation, enabling precise photometry, spectroscopy, astrometry, and time-domain observations across multiple wavelength regimes.
UK astronomers are a step closer to playing a leading role in NASA's search for alien life in the coming decades as they continue developing one of the core instruments of the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). The exciting ...
Astrobiology
3 hours ago
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Neutrinos: They have no electric charge, pass through matter like a ghost and are so light they were initially thought to have zero mass. These are just some of the traits that make them so difficult to detect. Research on ...
Astronomy
Jul 3, 2026
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When a bright fireball streaked across the Alaska sky last spring, the usual tools scientists rely on to track such events—cameras and satellites—did not provide a detailed picture. But the meteoroid left behind something ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 30, 2026
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We're still in the definition phase of the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), but it seems like every week a new research group comes out with a paper helping to shape what is becoming one of the most important space telescopes ...
Astronomy
Jun 17, 2026
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Sarah Pappert is a Ph.D. candidate in astrophysics at the TUM School of Natural Sciences and conducts research at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. She is supervised by Prof. Dr. Reinhard Genzel and Prof. ...
Astronomy
Jun 13, 2026
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Gravitational wave researchers working on the world's most sensitive scientific instruments have found a way to tune their detectors using a process akin to the pitch-correction used in music production.
Astronomy
May 12, 2026
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Debris from moonbound spacecraft has left craters on the lunar surface since the U.S. Apollo missions. But the moon is not used to being surrounded by debris. With an expected resurgence in lunar missions in the coming years, ...
Space Exploration
Mar 26, 2026
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With the first images from the spacecraft now in hand, the team behind NASA's Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat, or SPARCS, is ready to begin charting the energetic lives of the galaxy's most common stars to help answer ...
Astronomy
Mar 12, 2026
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438
When the densest objects in the universe collide and merge, the violence sets off ripples, in the form of gravitational waves, that reverberate across space and time, over hundreds of millions and even billions of years. ...
Astronomy
Mar 5, 2026
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64
For decades, scientists have searched the skies for signs of extraterrestrial technology. A study from EPFL asks a sharp question: if alien signals have already reached Earth without us noticing, what should we realistically ...
Astronomy
Feb 16, 2026
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