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New images of Mars
The Bernese camera CaSSIS delivered new high-resolution, colour images of the surface of Mars. They show curious surface features, water-formed minerals, 3D stereo views, and even a sighting of NASA’s InSight lander. The Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) was developed by an international team led by Nicolas Thomas, professor at the University of […]
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Editorial
Dear Readers, Time flies! When you receive this edition of the Observer, PlanetS will already be nearing the end of its five year of existence! Not even a blink of an eye on astronomical timescales and yet our science and therefore our activities have evolved enormously. With improving astronomical instrumentation, the focus of attention shifts […]
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“This is a gigantic project even for ESO”
Xavier Barcons is Director General of the European Southern Observatory ESO. Last week he travelled to Switzerland for the ESO Council Meeting that took place in Bern. ESO is currently building the Extremely Large Telescope ELT. With a mirror diameter of 39 meters the ELT will be the world’s largest optical/near-infrared telescope. NCCR PlanetS: What […]
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A golden age for planetary scientists
The NCCR PlanetS is now in its second four-year-long phase. 122 members and associates gathered at the end of January 2019 to review what they have achieved and discuss new research projects. Research initiatives such as PlanetS are temporary projects. The Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF funds National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCR) for […]
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Examining the atmospheres and climate of exoplanets
After being able to measure the masses and the diameters of exoplanets, using the information to deduce what materials they have formed from, astronomers now seek to detect the chemical composition of their atmospheres if they possess one. For several years, atmosphere detection announcements have been in the news before being questioned and recently proven. […]
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A new teacher at PlanetS
Emeline Bolmont has just been appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Geneva, a position funded by PlanetS. Originally from Toul near Nancy in north-eastern France, the new professor was introduced to astronomy at a very early age by her parents who occasionally went to observe the sky on a […]
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Neural networks predict planet mass
To find out how planets form, astrophysicists run complicated and time consuming computer calculations. Members of the NCCR PlanetS in Bern have now developed a totally novel approach to speed up this process dramatically. They use deep learning based on artificial neural networks, a method that is well known in image recognition. Planets grow in […]
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Current highlights of PlanetS research
Astronomers have discovered a large number of rocky planets outside our solar system. Among them there are many exotic objects which we do not know in our solar system: Super-Earths, some of them even rich in gems, or water worlds with a global ice layer on the ocean floor. But what does it take to […]
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Astronomy Outreach Like A Rocket
For the fifth time already, the public and free science slam “Astronomy on Tap” took place at “ONO Kulturlokal” in Bern. On the occasion of the “United Nations International Day of Women and Girls in Science” and the “IAU100 Women & Girls in Astronomy Day” on 11 February 2019, four female space scientists spoke about […]
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Insights from the moon to the exoplanets
In the anniversary year of the moon landing of Apollo 11 there are exciting things to discover. The University of Berne will be celebrating a science festival together with the public from 27 to 30 June 2019. The Swiss National Library in Berne is showing a transport container for the Apollo solar wind experiment. And […]
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