Recently, the results of the selection for the “Top 10 Innovation and Technology News of Hong Kong 2025,” organized by the Beijing–Hong Kong Academic Exchange Centre, were officially announced. A major research achievement led by the School of Astronomy and Space Science at Nanjing University was successfully selected for this prestigious list.
This research focuses on the detection of the “first heartbeat” of a newborn neutron star. Through high–time-resolution observations of extreme cosmic explosive phenomena, the study captured, for the first time, millisecond-period signals exhibited by a newly formed neutron star in the earliest stages of its birth. These observations provide critical and direct evidence for understanding the physical mechanisms following compact-object mergers.
The research was conducted by Prof. Binbin Zhang’s team at the School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, in collaboration with multiple research institutions. The first author is Dr. Runchao Chen, a PhD student from the School of Astronomy and Space Science at Nanjing University. The results were published in the internationally renowned journal Nature Astronomy and have attracted widespread attention from the international scientific community.
The inclusion of this work among the “Top 10 Innovation and Technology News of Hong Kong 2025” highlights the School of Astronomy and Space Science’s sustained innovation capacity and growing international influence in the frontier fields of high-energy astrophysics and space science. It also demonstrates the School’s outstanding achievements in cultivating high-level scientific talent and contributing to national and regional scientific and technological development.
Paper Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-025-02649-w
Related News Links:
· Hong Kong Commercial Daily Online: “Top 10 Innovation and Technology News of Hong Kong 2025 Announced”
https://hkcd.com/newsTopic_content.php?id=8733321
· Beijing–Hong Kong Academic Exchange Centre: “Top 10 Innovation and Technology News of Hong Kong 2025 | Results Announced!”
https://www.bhkaec.org.hk/a/147499-cht