Keyword: Astronomy

The department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Turku is a partner in the international Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) project, which will play a key role in shepherding in a new era of gravitational wave science. The GOTO observatory is made up of two identical telescope arrays on opposite sides of the planet that will track down sources of gravitational waves resulting from violent cosmic events that create ripples in the fabric of space-time itself.

Researchers from Aalto University, the University of Turku and the Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO were part of the international research group in taking a revolutionary picture.

Researchers from the University of Turku found that the axis of rotation of a black hole in a binary system is tilted more than 40 degrees relative to the axis of stellar orbit. The finding challenges current theoretical models of black hole formation.

Radio observations made by Metsähovi, Finland’s only astronomical radio observatory, and Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) in California have revealed that radiation from the remote PKS 2131-021 quasar is subject to periodic variation. Researchers at the University of Turku participated in the analysis of the observational data.

We know that in the centres of the majority of galaxies lies a supermassive black hole. New observations of certain galaxies reveal that these black holes may be consuming stars at a higher rate than previously known. The energy produced by the destruction of the star can be revealed in the infrared, as heat from cosmic dust warmed by the explosion.
 

Stellar-mass black holes that are part of binary systems sometimes show variable polarization of optical emission. The degree, angle and variability pattern of polarization is characteristic of the physical processes occurring in the vicinity of a black hole. By studying black holes astronomers learn how matter and energy behave under extreme conditions. 
 

Astronomy has traditionally required a fair amount of travelling by researchers, as observatories are located around the world. As the pandemic drove people to rely on remote connections, a research group from the University of Turku adopted a new type of arrangement to observe the skies.

An international research team led by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Turku, Finland, mapped the interstellar magnetic field structure and interstellar matter distribution in the solar neighbourhood.  The results of the study have been published in the esteemed European journal Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) in March.

Astro-polarimetry is an important method in astronomical observation, aimed at detecting and measuring polarisation of light emitted, reflected, or scattered by astronomical objects such as asteroids, planets, nebulae, stars and exoplanets.  The astro-polamiter built with the lead of a research group from the University of Turku made its first observations in July 2019 at the Nordic Optical Telescope on the Canary Islands. In October 2019, the University of Turku becomes the joint owner of the Telescope.