Irish researchers will use a newly launched space telescope to investigate how stars and planets form, opening a fresh chapter in Ireland’s role in international astronomy.

A team from Maynooth University’s Department of Physics, led by Dr Emma Whelan, has joined the Mauve Science Programme, a three‑year mission to study stellar behaviour and its influence on the habitability of distant planets.

The Mauve satellite, developed by UK company Blue Skies Space, was launched on November 28th aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Transporter‑15.

Dr Whelan’s group will focus on Herbig Ae/Be stars, a class of young stars at a critical stage before hydrogen fusion begins. By monitoring their brightness over long periods, the team hopes to identify variability and search for signs of early planet formation.

“Mauve represents an exciting new direction for me,” Dr Whelan said. “Its monitoring capabilities will provide a fresh window on star formation and offer valuable new insights.”

The researchers plan to build light curves for a large sample of these stars, tracking how brightness changes daily for up to three months. Comparing this data with observations of less massive stars may reveal whether larger young stars form planets in the same way as Sun‑like stars.

Maynooth joined the programme in August with support from Research Ireland. The project gives Irish scientists direct access to space‑based ultraviolet data, bypassing the need to compete for limited ground‑based telescope time.