Latest News

Unique Pair of Supermassive Black Holes Discovered in an Ordinary Galaxy

Wed, 2014-04-23  A pair of supermassive black holes in orbit around one another have been discovered by Prof. Fukun Liu of the Department of Astronomy and the KIAA, and his colleagues. This is the first time such a pair have been found in an ordinary galaxy.

Executive Vice President of Science Programs at the Kavli Foundation visits KIAA

Mon, 2014-04-21  Dr. Miyoung Chun, Executive Vice President of Science Programs at the Kavil Foundation, and Dr. Christopher Martin, Science Program Officer, visited the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University (KIAA-PKU) on April 17th-18th, 2014.

KIAA scientists unveil the radiation mechanism of gamma-ray bursts

Wed, 2014-04-09  Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most violent explosions in the Universe since the Big Bang. Despite many years of observations and theoretical modeling, the exact mechanism that produces intense gamma-rays from these events is not identified.

New Associate Director of KIAA

Wed, 2014-03-12  Professor Wu Xue-Bing, former Chairman of the Department of Astronomy at PKU and an expert on quasars and active galaxies, officially has been appointed as the new Associate Director of KIAA.

KIAA to host "Quarks and Compact Stars" Workshop

Tue, 2014-03-04  KIAA will host a workshop on Quarks and Compact Stars, October 22-24, 2014. This workshop will focus on understanding the nature of the strong interaction at low energy scales.

New Patterns in Planet Distributions

Mon, 2013-12-30  Subo Dong (东苏勃) joined the faculty of KIAA in Fall 2013. One of his research interests is to robustly derive the distributions of extrasolar planets in order to find clues on how planet systems form and evolve.

Wind Braking of AXP/SGRs

Fri, 2013-12-27  Anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) and soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) are believed to be magnetars: peculiar neutron stars powered by their super strong magnetic field. Unfortunately, none of the predictions of traditional magnetar models successfully explain the

Star Formation and Quasar-host Galaxy Co-evolution in the Most Distant Universe

Fri, 2013-12-27  Dr. Ran Wang and her collaborators have carried out millimeter and radio observations to study the ISM properties and star forming activity in the host galaxies of quasars at the highest redshift.

New Science Advisory Committee

Sat, 2013-12-21  A group of eminent international experts forms the KIAA Science Advisory Committee (SAC), which is charged with advising the Director on matters pertaining to the scientific mission of the institute.

Three Astronomy Department Faculty Join KIAA

Sat, 2013-12-21  Three members from the Department of Astronomy have received joint appointments at KIAA. Professor Fukun Liu works on supermassive black hole binaries, accretion disks and active galactic nuclei. Professor Zuhui Fan works on cosmology, gravitational lensing an