Daming Yang

PhD Candidate in Astronomy · Leiden Observatory

Portrait of Daming Yang

Astronomer · Leiden Observatory

Daming Yang 羊达明

I am a PhD candidate at Leiden Observatory, working with Joseph Hennawi. I study quasars and the brightest galaxies in the first billion years of the Universe.

My research combines wide-area surveys with detailed spectroscopic observations to investigate how the earliest supermassive black holes grew and what powered the most luminous galaxies during cosmic reionization. I use Euclid to discover these rare objects, and telescopes including Keck, JWST, and ALMA to understand their physical nature.

dyang [at] strw [dot] leidenuniv [dot] nl

Updates

Timeline News

  1. [Paper] A dust-reddened quasar at z = 6.55

    Our new paper combines JWST and ALMA observations to reveal a dust-reddened, rapidly accreting quasar in a luminous, dust-rich host galaxy during reionization. Read the paper.

  2. [Paper] Very massive stars in the UV-brightest galaxies during reionization

    Our JWST and ALMA observations probe the stars, gas, and dust in two of the UV-brightest galaxies during reionization. Their strong stellar-wind features provide evidence for very massive stars, offering clues to what powers their extreme ultraviolet luminosities. Read the paper.

  3. ALMA Cycle 13 proposal

    Our proposal to study a UV-bright galaxy at high redshift was awarded 8 hours of ALMA observing time with Grade A (2026.1.01562.S; PI).

  4. [Paper] Euclid discovers 31 high-redshift quasars

    Our Euclid search confirmed 31 quasars at z = 6.6–7.8, including the two most distant quasars yet observed. Read the story or view the A&A paper.

  5. Euclid STAR Prize

    I received a 2026 Euclid STAR Prize Student Award for my work discovering quasars at unprecedented redshifts with the Euclid wide survey. View the award.

  6. JWST Cycle 5 Survey proposal

    Our NIRSpec Survey program 11173 was selected for JWST Cycle 5 (co-PI).

  7. ALMA Cycle 12 proposal

    We were awarded 10 hours of ALMA Band 6 time in Cycle 12 (2025.1.01312.S; PI).

  8. HST Cycle 33 proposal

    Our WFC3 SNAP program 18112 was selected for HST Cycle 33 (co-PI).

  9. JWST Cycle 4 proposal

    We were awarded 94 hours of JWST/NIRSpec time in Cycle 4 through program 9180 (co-PI).

  10. [Paper] High-z Quasar Candidate Archive published

    The paper from my master's project was published. We cleaned up observations of 176 candidates from a pre-Euclid quasar search campaign, finding three new z ~ 6 quasars. Read the paper.

  11. Started my PhD at Leiden Observatory