The Institute in the Press

• Astronomers detect echoes from the depth of a red giant star
• VLT Interferometer detects disc around aged star
• Planet survives stellar explosion
• MERCATOR detects optical afterglow of GRB050408
• MERCATOR takes pictures of comet Machholz
• Foreseeing the Sun's fate: Astronomical interferometry reveals the close environment of Mira stars
• Venus in front of the Sun
• The Red Rectangle
• KUL opens own telescope on La Palma
• Starquakes shed light on stellar evolution
• Ultrabass Sounds of the Giant Star xi Hya
• Planet formation around dying star

Astronomers detect echoes from the depth of a red giant star An international team of astronomers from the University of Leuven, Sydney and Liege, discovered waves inside a star that travel so deep that they reach the core. The discovery was published in the renowned journal Science, and was possible thanks to precise measurements with the Kepler space telescope. Read the press release and background
VLT Interferometer detects disc around aged star A team of European astronomers (has used ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer and its razor-sharp eyes to discover a reservoir of dust trapped in a disc that surrounds an elderly star. The discovery provides additional clues about the shaping of planetary nebulae. Read the ESO press release Berichtgeving allesoversterrenkunde.nl Berichtgeving Science Centric Berichtgeving WEBINDIA123.com Berichtgeving PHYSORG.com Berichtgeving SpaceRef.com Berichtgeving ScienceDaily Berichtgeving RxPG News Berichtgeving RedOrbit	VLT Interferometer detects disc around aged star
Planet survives stellar explosion A planet circling close around the hot B-type subdwarf V 391 Pegasi has survived the evolution from its star towards a red giant. The planet called V 391 Pegasi B is 1.7 astronomical units away from V 391 Pegasi and was discovered by means of asteroseismic data. One of our colleagues made this fascinating discovery together with an international team. Their results are published in Nature. Read the article in Nature Coverage by BBC NEWS Coverage by FOXNews.com Coverage by Reuters Coverage by NewScientist Coverage by Scientific American Coverage by ORF Coverage by Informationsdienst Wissenschaft Coverage by IOWA State University Coverage by Globo.com Coverage by Telegraph Coverage by ANSA.it Coverage by The Register Coverage by n-tv.de Coverage by The New York Times	Image courtesy of HELAS, the European Helio- and Asteroseismology Network, funded by the European Union under Framework Programme 6; Mark Garlick, artist.
MERCATOR detects optical afterglow of GRB050408 On April 09, 2005 the Flemish Mercator telescope was used to detect the optical afterglow of a gamma ray burst named GRB050408. Gamma ray bursts are short-lived bursts of gamma-ray photons, the origin of which was a long time mystery. Read more about GRB050408
MERCATOR takes pictures of comet Machholz Over the past two weeks, the Flemish Mercator telescope has taken beautiful pictures of the comet that is currently visible everywhere in the Northern hemisphere. Comet Machholz, discovered by the American optician Donald E. Machholz Jr on the 27th of august 2004, reaches its maximum brightness in January 2005. More information
Foreseeing the Sun's fate: Astronomical interferometry reveals the close environment of Mira stars For the first time, an international team of astronomers led by Guy Perrin from the Paris Observatory/LESIA, (Meudon, France) and Stephen Ridgway from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (Tucson, Arizona, USA) has observed the close environment of five so-called red giant Mira stars, using astronomical interferometric techniques. They found that the observed Mira stars are embedded in a shell of water vapor and possibly of carbon monoxide that extends to twice the stellar radius. Studying these Mira stars is of particular interest since they are now undergoing a late stage of the evolution that one-solar mass stars, including our Sun, experience. Therefore, these stars illustrate the fate of our Sun five billion years from now. Would such a star, including its surrounding shell, be located at the Sun's position in our solar system, it would extend far beyond Mars. More
Venus in front of the Sun On tuesday, june 8th the planet Venus will shift in front of the Sun's disk. The last time this rare event took place was in 1882. As far as we know, no living human on Earth has witnessed a Venus transit. More (Dutch)
The Red Rectangle spacetelescope.org -- 11/May/2004 Astronomers may not have observed the fabled "Stairway to Heaven", but they have photographed something almost as intriguing: ladder-like structures surrounding a dying star. More information on the Red Rectangle ESA press release NASA press release Hydrodynamical simulations by Vincent Icke Coverage by space.com Coverage by CNN Astronomy Picture of the Day Coverage by Campuskrant Coverage by ScienceDaily Coverage by SpaceDaily Coverage by NBC Coverage by KDKA Coverage by KCM Coverage by Astromart Coverage by Florida Today Coverage by Discovery Channel Coverage by SpaceRef
KUL opens own telescope on La Palma vrtnieuws.net -- 10/Oct/2003 The KUL and the flemish government will inaugurate the Mercator telescope today. The telescope is a new addition to the telescopepark on the Canarian Island La Palma. Ten countries placed their telescopes on Roque de los Muchachos, with 2400m the highest point of the mountain. Coverage vrtnieuws.net Coverage De Standaard Coverage Het Nieuwsblad Coverage Campuskrant Coverage Diario de Avisos Coverage Canarias 7 Coverage El Dia
Starquakes shed light on stellar evolution Science magazine -- 29/May/2003 Astronomers at the universities of Leuven, Liège and Wroclaw have obtained a clearer picture of how the movement in a star's core affects its evolution. They combined more than 1400 observations made over a 21-year period of the star HD 129929 using a technique known as asteroseismology. Abstract Science magazine Coverage by PhysicsWeb Coverage by K.U.Leuven News Science Magazine Perspective by S. Kawaler
Ultrabass Sounds of the Giant Star xi Hya ESO Press Release 10/02 -- 15/May/2002 Astronomers of our institute, together with collaborators at Geneva Observatory (CH) and Aarhus University (DK) discovered for the first time observations of solar-type oscillations in a star very different from the Sun. To the ESO press release Coverage by BBC Coverage by ORF (Austria) Coverage by SpaceRef Coverage by De Standaard Coverage by space.com
Planet formation around dying star ESA Information Note 05-98 -- 26/Feb/1998 Astronomers at the universities of Amsterdam, Louvain, Groningen and Utrecht found proof that planets can form around old, dying stars. In the vicinity of the Red Rectangle they have detected a ring of matter constituting the first stage of planet formation. To the ESA information note