Dr. Nur Adlyka Ainul Annuar is lighting up one of the universe’s darkest mysteries — supermassive black holes.

As an astrophysicist and senior lecturer at UKM, she has been amongst the few to have used powerful X-ray tools like NASA’s NuSTAR telescope to uncover black holes hidden behind cosmic dust.

During her PhD at Durham University, she helped discover a concealed supermassive black hole in galaxy NGC 1448 — a milestone that brought global recognition. Since then, she has identified several active black holes near Earth, deepening our understanding of galaxy evolution.

Malaysia’s first female astronomer to focus on black holes, Dr. Adlyka has also received the Women of the Future Award, adding to many accolades for her research work.