Astronomy student goes to great heights for his research
‘The LUF grant meant I could build new collaborations with other researchers in Chile.’ Astronomy master’s student Wout Goesaert travelled to Chile for his research on a ‘supermassive black hole’ in the Circinus galaxy.
What is special about this black hole is that it actively ‘eats’ matter such as gas, dust and stars. With the ALMA radio telescope, which is at an altitude of 5 km in the Atacama Desert in Chile, Wout spent four months studying what this supermassive black hole swallows and emits. He calculated that the black hole consumes around a third of the matter around it, and ejects two-thirds of this again.
‘I learned a lot not just about Circinus but also about myself’, he says. ‘I’d like to do my PhD and then operate big telescopes.’
Surprise on returning home
Back in the Netherlands, there was good news from the LUF: he had won the Janneke Fruin-Helb Grant 2025 for excellent research proposals to the tune of EUR 500. ‘This extra grant will definitely come in useful. I can use it to buy a ticket to the Netherlands Astronomy Conference at the end of May, where I’d love to present the research I did in Chile.’
Students like Wout who apply for a LUF grant experience how life-changing it can be to discover a new country on your own. They study, do an internship and often make a significant contribution to local research projects. The support from donors makes many unique experiences possible.