Astrophysics News & Events

Gr@v students M. Brito, J. Ferreira and M. Mariano were amongst the participants of the New Frontiers in Strong Gravity meeting in Benasque, in July 2026. 

The countdown to the 12 August solar eclipse keeps running! To prepare for the occasion, Prof. Luis Crispino from UFPA, in Brazil, will give an outreach talk on the topic on 29 July (18:00) at Fábrica – Centro Ciência Viva de Aveiro. Everyone is welcome!

The countdown to the 12 August solar eclipse has begun! To mark the occasion, Máximo Ferreira, one of Portugal's best-known astronomy communicators, will present his new book O Céu é o Máximo! on 24 July (18:00) at Fábrica – Centro Ciência Viva de Aveiro. The conversation will be moderated by C. Herdeiro from Gr@v. If you're planning to enjoy next month's eclipse, this is a great way to get ready.

The X Amazonian Workshop on Gravity and Analogue Models took place in Belém, Brazil. Since 2012 these events have gathered the international community on the topic, often with the participation of Gr@v (including the first edition). This edition was also part of the NewFunFiCO network.

Member of Gr@v H. Olivares participated at the Spanish and Portuguese Relativity Meeting 2026, held in Murcia, Spain, to deliver an invited talk on simulating and observing black hole mimickers.

We got together on May 20th 2026 at Etevaldo's favourite restaurant in Aveiro (O Telheiro), to celebrate his 4.5 years in Gr@v. In the same day we had an excellent seminar from Hryhorii Ovcharenko, visiting from Prague. Etevaldo is now starting a post-doctoral position in Brazil. Many thanks, Etevaldo, for being with us. See you soon!

Gravitational-wave (GW) observations have significantly advanced our understanding of stellar-origin compact objects. Current detectors could, in principle, also observe exotic compact objects (ECOs) acting as black-hole mimickers and interacting only gravitationally with visible matter.

Neutron stars offer unique natural laboratories for probing the interaction between dark matter and baryonic matter — a central open question in modern astrophysics and high-energy physics. In this talk, I will present our recent work modeling dark matter as an ultralight bosonic field that accretes onto neutron stars, forming composite objects — fermion-boson stars — bound through gravity.

In April 2026 we received the visits of Maryem Jemri (Rabat) and Justin Feng (Prague). Thank you for your seminars and the great scientific interactions!

Gr@v is hosting the visits of Yasha Shnir, long time group collaborator, under an FCT mobility grant, and Mario Luciano Navarro, Ph.D. student from Valencia in the spring 2026. In the photo Yasha and Mario enjoy a bit of sunshine after the weekly group lunch.