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A sinuous career path
In previous editions of the InsiderS, we have already portrayed astronomers and physicists who have made their careers outside academia. Here is the story of PlanetS member Pierre Bratschi who is in charge of communication and outreach at the Geneva Observatory. By Pierre Bratschi As a child, I didn’t dream of being an astronomer, I […]
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General Assembly in Montreux
The PlanetS General Assembly is the main event during the yearly NCCR cycle and gathers a large majority of NCCR members and associates. It will take place on January 27 – 29, 2020 in Montreux. Registration has to be completed by 15 December 2019. This time the organizers chose Montreux for the PlanetS General Assembly after […]
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Nobel prize ceremony
In a very formal and festive ceremony in Stockholm, the Swedish king Carl XVI Gustaf presented the Nobel prizes to this year’s esteemed laureates, among them Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz. Fanfare sounds accompanied his Majesty handing over the medals. As every year, the award ceremony took place on the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, […]
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Stardust from red giants
Some of the Earth’s building material was stardust from red giants, researchers from ETH Zurich have established. They can also explain why the Earth contains more of this stardust than the asteroids or the planet Mars, which are farther from the sun. Around 4.5 billion years ago, an interstellar molecular cloud collapsed. At its centre, […]
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CHEOPS launch set for 17 Dec. 2019
The space telescope CHEOPS is scheduled to begin its journey into space on Tuesday, 17 December 2019 shortly before 10 a.m. CET. The Universities of Bern and Geneva are organizing events with a live stream from Kourou and space talks. “After over six years of intensive work, I am of course very pleased that the […]
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Studying exoplanetary atmospheres
Chloe Fisher is a PhD student at the Center of Space and Habitability (CSH) and associate of the NCCR PlanetS. In a video produced by the International Office of the University of Bern she talks about her work and life in Bern. Chloe Fisher is originally from the United Kingdom. Her project at CSH is […]
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Lively discussions and a prize for a short film
At the “Global Science Film Festival” in Bern and Zürich astrophysicists associated with PlanetS discussed a movie about an Indian Mars mission. The documentary “Bern on the Moon” was awarded the audience prize in the category short films. Susanne Wampfler, Professor at the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) of the University of Bern, was […]
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“Fragile – collected, hunted, explored”
Exhibition in Winterthur From 10 November 2019 to 15 March 2020, the Naturmuseum Winterthur is showing its award-winning special exhibition “Fragile – collected, hunted, researched”. The exhibition, produced by Naturama Aargau, deals with quirky collectors, tough explorers, eccentric hunters and tireless researchers. The exhibition space becomes a collection depot. Well protected, each freight box contains […]
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CHEOPS has arrived in Kourou
Last station before launch! The CHEOPS satellite has arrived by plane on 16 October 2019 at Europe’s Spaceport Kourou in French Guiana. Now CHEOPS is being prepared to launch into space soon with Soyuz VS23. Once in orbit around the Earth, it will begin to measure the exact radii of planets in distant solar systems […]
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Liquifying a rocky exoplanet
A hot, molten Earth would be around 5% larger than its solid counterpart. This is the result of a study led by researchers at the University of Bern. The difference between molten and solid rocky planets is important for the search of Earth-like worlds beyond our Solar System and the understanding of Earth itself. Rocky […]
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