Latest News

Lijing Shao was Invited to the Advisory Panel of Classical and Quantum Gravity

Fri, 2020-04-10Fri, 2020-04-10Lijing Shao, Assistant Professor of the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University, was invited to the Advisory Panel of Classical and Quantum Gravity.

Gregory Herczeg Appointed as the Newest Science Editor for the AAS Journals

Mon, 2020-01-13Gregory Herczeg, Associate Professor at Peking University and Associate Director for Science of the KIAA, was appointed as the newest Science Editor for the AAS Journals, which includes the flagship Astrophysical Journal.

When the Stars Align — the First Resolved Microlensed Images

Tue, 2019-12-31Using VLTI GRAVITY, an international team led by Professor Subo Dong (KIAA) have resolved the two images of a microlensed source star for the first time, more than a century after Einstein first predicted that such image splitting could be caused by the gravity of another (lens) star along the line of sight to the source. This detection fills in the key missing ingredient that yields the mass and distance of the lens star. This technique could be applied in the future to measure the mass of isolated (single) stellar-mass black holes, which have so far remained elusive.

Su Yao Wins a Humboldt Research Fellowship

Thu, 2019-12-12Former PKU postdoc Su Yao (姚苏) was recently awarded a prestigious Humboldt Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers after the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s selection committee meeting at the end of 2019.

A New Look at an Old Problem: How to Measure Star Formation Rates in Galaxies

Fri, 2019-12-06Using a large sample of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), Ming-Yang Zhuang and Luis C. Ho from the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University proposed an updated star formation rate (SFR) calibration using the [O II]λ3727 emission line for star-forming galaxies. Based on photoionization models, they extended the [O II]-based SFR estimator to active galaxies. This work has been published in The Astrophysical Journal (Zhuang & Ho 2019, ApJ, 882, 89).

KIAA Held the 2019 KIAA-PKU Forum: The Future of Gravitational Wave Astrophysics

Mon, 2019-12-02On 28 and 29 November 2019, KIAA held the 6th KIAA Forum: The Future of Gravitational Wave Astrophysics. More than 80 participants from about 30 institutes inside China and abroad attended this event.

KIAA Held an International Conference on Quasars

Wed, 2019-11-06On October 21-25, 2019, an international conference on quasars and supermassive black holes was held at KIAA, Peking University. More than 100 researchers attended the meeting, and nearly half of them are international participants.

Discovery of a new Luminous Blue Variable in the outskirt of the Andromeda Galaxy

Fri, 2019-10-18A study by the research group led by Prof. Huawei Zhang from Department of Astronomy, Peking University and collaborators from Yunnan University report the discovery of a new Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) in the outskirt of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), using data from the LAMOST spectroscopic surveys, from the Xinglong NAOC 2.16m, Lijiang YNAO 2.4 m optical telescopes and Hale 5m telescope, as well as archival data. The finding has been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Faculty Positions and Postdoctoral Research Positions Available

Mon, 2019-10-07KIAA invites applications for faculty positions and postdoctoral research positions.

KIAA Held the Second Forum on Gas in Galaxies

Mon, 2019-09-16The second KIAA Forum on Gas in Galaxies (KFGG): Multiple-phase ISM—Probing the Activities and Power Engines from Local to Distant Universe was successfully held from 9 to 13 September. The forum accepted more than 100 attendees, more than half of which have a foreign affiliation.