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School of Physics & Astronomy news

A team of scientists are photographed in the lab wearing PPE conducting an experiment with lots of technological equipment including lenses, mirrors and lasers.

Breakthrough optical experiment could provide first experimental evidence for quantum gravity

23 June 2026

Cardiff scientist wins ERC award for project aiming to resolve one of the most important challenges in science

An artist's impression of a binary black hole merger.

Cardiff researchers hail coming-of-age for gravitational wave astronomy as event catalogue nearly doubles

9 June 2026

161 events added to collection bringing the total number of gravitational wave signals detected to date to 390

A telescope image of the Messier 51 galaxy, which comprises of red-orange, clumpy filaments of gas and dust that stretch in a chain from left to right. Shining cyan bubbles light up parts of the gas clouds from within, and gaps expose bright star clusters in these bubbles as glowing white dots. The whole image is dotted with small stars. A faint blue glow around the arm colours the otherwise dark background.

Massive star clusters “emerge” from natal clouds 1.5 times faster than low-mass ones, study finds

11 May 2026

Researchers use advanced space telescopes to quantify the time it takes for clusters to disperse natal cloud for first time

Yellow and white objects of different shapes and sizes are shown against a black background, representing hundreds of thousands of stars bound together in a crowded environment in space.

Biggest black holes built up in busy star clusters after series of violent merging events, research finds

7 May 2026

Team identifies two distinct black hole populations in version 4.0 of the Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog

New podcast shines a light on the people behind exoplanet discoveries

3 March 2026

New podcast 'About Growing Worlds' has a clear mission to highlight the human stories driving breakthroughs in exoplanet science.

An elliptical shape composed of the colours red, blue and green sits on a black background

Mysterious iron ‘bar’ discovered in famous nebula

16 January 2026

New instrument on William Herschel Telescope spots previously unknown strip of ionized iron atoms at the heart of Ring Nebula

A man is photographed carrying out a science experiment in public

Cardiff astrophysicist wins prestigious medal for global science outreach

15 January 2026

Dr Edward Gomez is the recipient of the Royal Astronomical Society’s Annie Maunder Medal 2026

An artist’s impression of two merging neutron stars

Top European research award for pioneering consortium

16 December 2025

The ENGRAVE Consortium receives the Into Change Award 2025

Three students are photographed standing in a line

Cardiff team ranks among world’s best at Bangkok finals of global entrepreneurship competition

4 November 2025

Alumni team placed in top 16 after rigorous pitching of carbon capture system over three days in Thai capital

A telescope image of the Red Spider Nebula

Webb serves up Halloween treat with new images of cosmic creepy crawly

30 October 2025

Telescope reveals never-before-seen details in Red Spider Nebula

An artistic impression of an unequal-mass binary black-hole merger

New light shed on formation and evolution of black hole binary mergers by pair measured just one month apart

28 October 2025

Mergers measured by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration advance scientific understanding of nature of black hole formation and fundamental physics

A team of scientists are photographed in the lab wearing PPE conducting an experiment with lots of technological equipment including lenses, mirrors and lasers

World’s most sensitive table-top experiment sets new limits on very high-frequency gravitational waves

9 October 2025

QUEST leads search for gravitational waves at frequencies never before explored

Dr Inserra wins Outstanding Contribution Award for researcher development

8 October 2025

The Vitae Impact, Culture and Engagement (ICE) Award recognises Dr Cosimo Inserra’s contribution to the researcher development community

An image depicting a black hole binary merger with an eccentric orbital path

Likely origins of black hole collision with “squashed” orbital path revealed

8 October 2025

Scientists compare properties of rarely seen type of black hole merger to probe its formation history

Gravitational waves

A decade of discovery: Academics celebrate 10 years since the first detection of gravitational waves amid announcement of exciting new breakthrough

10 September 2025

Scientists celebrate anniversary and tests of Stephen Hawking's black hole area theorem

Cardiff University rocket team wins at space competition

28 August 2025

The student team won the Hybrid Rocket Engine category at the Race 2 Space competition, a groundbreaking educational initiative to boost the UK space sector.

A photograph of a man wearing glasses and a suit.

Gravitational waves research pioneer honoured by Royal Society

27 August 2025

Professor Bernard Schutz FRS FLSW is the recipient of the Rumford medal 2025

The butterfly nebula, NGC 6302, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.

JWST observations of Butterfly Nebula reveal how cosmic dust is made in space

27 August 2025

Astronomers say observations show planetary nebulae are surprisingly dynamic objects which create cool gemstones and fiery grime

Institute for Compound Semiconductors marks ten years of industrial collaboration

18 August 2025

Cardiff University is proud to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Institute for Compound Semiconductors.

A portrait of a young woman with her hair tied up, wearing gold earrings and a white t-shirt

Ernest Rutherford Fellowship for Cardiff astrophysicist

7 August 2025

Dr Isobel Romero-Shaw named among seven of UK’s brightest emerging physicists