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Collisions in the computer
The worlds’ fastest code for simulating planet formation calculates millions of possible orbits and close encounters between celestial bodies. It was developed by scientists of PlanetS at the University of Zurich. The video shows a real time visualization of 100000 test particles in Jupiters gravitational field simulated with GENGA. GENGA2 is the name of the […]
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Historic encounter
On 14 July 2015 NASA’s New Horizons mission will make the first-ever close flyby of Pluto. The spacecraft should pass the dwarf planet within a distance of 10’000 kilometres at a speed of about 50’000 kilometres per hour. New Horizons should also come as close as 27’000 kilometres to Pluto’s companion Charon.The spacecraft is supposed […]
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Supernova Forensics
Many elements we find on Earth or other planets are made in the core of stars. When a star explodes as supernova, it shoots these elements into space. Amazing discoveries in the subsequent search for traces of supernovae is the topic of a lecture in Bern by Alicia Margarita Soderberg, Professor of Astronomy at Harvard […]
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Michel Mayor
Born: 12.01.1942 Study: Physics at the University of Lausanne PhD: 1971 at the University of Geneva Professor at the University of Geneva since 1984 Honorary Professor since 2007, official year of retirement Designer of the spectrographs ELODIE (51pegb), CORALIE and HARPS discovering more than 500 exoplanets Among many other honors the price of the journal […]
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Didier Queloz
Born: 23 February 1966 Study: Physics at the University of Geneva PhD: 1995 at the University of Geneva Current Position: Professor of Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University and Geneva University. Didier Queloz is at the origin of the exoplanet revolution in astrophysics. Until recently, the Solar System has provided us with the […]
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«The diversity is huge»
When Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz discovered the first exoplanet orbiting a normal star twenty years ago, they started a revolution in astronomy: An ancient human dream became research reality. «There is an infinite number of worlds, some like and some unlike our own.» With this quote by the Greek philosopher Epicurus, the Genevan astronomer […]
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A cosmic detective story
«Comets give us good clues that the planet formation era was violent and the early solar system very different from today,» said Willy Benz, director of PlanetS, at a conference in Madrid. «Comets were born during the formation of the solar system in the first 10 to 100 million years», explained Willy Benz in […]
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Hot and stormy at high altitudes
Studying the atmosphere of an exoplanet, astronomers of the NCCR PlanetS derived a temperature profile with unprecedented precision. Their results are based on data collected with a relatively small ground-based telescope. This opens completely new perspectives for the characterization of remote exoplanetary atmospheres. High up in the atmosphere of the exoplanet named HD 189733b it […]
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Big crowd at the museum
500 people! Never before hosted the Natural History Museum of Geneva so many people for an opening of a temporary exhibition. Even tough it is the largest exhibition ever presented by the Museum, it is doubtless the topic of exoplanets that attracted such a crowd on the 21st of March 2015. Who never dreamed of […]
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This start has been wonderful
A great setting in the Alps, 93 participants, and excellent scientific presentations, the General Assembly in Anzère kept all promisses, and marked in many ways a tangible start of our NCCR PlanetS. To ensure the long-term cohesion of this ambitious initiative at the beginning, we need to get to know each other better, to learn about […]
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