Research News

Dr. Bannawit Pimpanuwat, a radio astrophysicist at the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Public Organization), or NARIT, has joined the international ATOMIUM collaboration in using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to investigate the innermost gas and dust surrounding evolved AGB stars. The team detected silicon monoxide (SiO) emission from the highest-energy vibrational state ever observed in this type of star, providing new insights into the extreme environment where stellar winds are launched. The findings were published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on May 9, 2026.

Samaporn (Kaew) Tinyanont may be Lick Observatory’s most remote alumnus. For the second conversation in Lick’s alumni series, science writing intern Kaia Glickman spoke with the Thai astronomer about his dual-hemisphere career and a new collaboration — called DARTS — between Lick and the National Astronomical Research Institute in Thailand (NARIT).

The National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Public Organization), or NARIT, has joined the ARRAKIHS mission (Analysis of Resolved Remnants of Accreted galaxies as a Key Instrument for Halo Surveys), a next-generation space telescope mission recently approved by the European Space Agency (ESA) as its second Fast-class (F2) science mission. Scheduled for launch in late 2030, ARRAKIHS will investigate how galaxies formed and evolved over cosmic time while testing models of dark matter.

Dr. Suttikoon Koonkor, an astrophysicist at the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Public Organization) (NARIT), has revealed the results of a study of more than 1.1 million galaxies aimed at understanding how galaxies have evolved throughout the 13.8-billion-year history of the Universe. The research also found evidence suggesting that current models of galaxy formation may require revision. The study was published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on February 23, 2026.

A research team from the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT), under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, has revealed new findings on the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-11 b/HAT-P-10 b based on nearly a decade of observations.

Tinn Thongmeearkom, a Thai astronomer at the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT), together with the Transients and Pulsars with MeerKAT (TRAPUM) collaboration, has used the MeerKAT radio telescope to discover 15 new pulsars. The survey began by selecting gamma-ray sources from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The discoveries include spider pulsars, a rare type of binary system. These findings provide opportunities for further studies in physics and pulsar evolution. In addition, the research indicates that Ultra High Frequency (UHF) is more effective than L band for detecting pulsars associated with Fermi sources, serving as a pathfinder for future pulsar surveys with large radio telescopes such as the SKA. The paper was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on 27 February 2026.

Astronomers from the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) and international collaborators have carried out a new multi-wavelength study of W40, a nearby high-mass star-forming region shaped by the intense radiation and winds from young massive stars. The paper, accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS), presents a detailed view of the dense gas “skeleton” of W40—revealing how gas is organized into filaments, how it flows, and how stellar feedback is stirring and dispersing the cloud.

The National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Public Organization) (NARIT), under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI), reports that Dr. Samaporn Tinyanont, a researcher at NARIT, has used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to follow the evolution of Supernova 2014C (SN 2014C). The study reveals an unexpectedly rapid increase in newly formed dust, extending current understanding of how dust forms in supernovae and pointing to a process that has not been clearly observed before. The findings may help explain the origin of elements that make up the Earth. The research was published in The Astrophysical Journal in 2025. [1]

A research team including NARIT astronomer Dr. Ram K. Yadav has reported the discovery of an exceptionally dense population of compact hub–filament systems in the W33 star-forming complex-one of the Galaxy’s active nurseries for building stellar clusters and massive stars. The study has been accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal (AJ).