News
James Webb reveals the atmospheric secrets of an exoplanet
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and its unparalleled images of our Universe offers us a new first: by combining several instruments, it draws a molecular and chemical portrait of the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-39b. It highlights the presence of water, carbon dioxide and especially, for the first time, sulfur dioxide created through reactions […]
Continue Reading
Small asteroids are probably young
The impact experiment conducted on the asteroid Ryugu by the Japanese Hayabusa2 mission which took place two years ago resulted in an unexpectedly large crater. With the use of simulations, a team led by the University of Bern and the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS has recently succeeded in gaining new insights […]
Continue Reading
Asteroid samples reveal early Solar System history
Nearly two years ago, the Hayabusa2 space probe returned samples from the asteroid Ryugu to Earth. Since then, international research teams – including members of ETH Zurich and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS – have worked on analysing the valuable cargo. The results allow the scientists not only to reconstruct the […]
Continue Reading
Great opportunity to showcase the achievements of the NCCR PlanetS
From September 18 to 22, the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) was held in Paris. One of the topics at the Space Exchange Switzerland booth was the exploration of exoplanets. Once a year, the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) brings together some 6,500 experts from the space industry and space research over five days to present the […]
Continue ReadingThis is a test post
in english
Continue Reading
Espresso detects barium in the atmosphere of an exoplanet
An international team including researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS has detected the heaviest element ever found in the atmosphere of an exoplanet: barium. This feat was made possible by ESPRESSO, a spectrograph developed largely by the UNIGE and installed on the Very Large […]
Continue ReadingEditorial
Dear readers, For more than 4 billion years, the Earth has been impacted by small asteroidal and cometary bodies. These objects are often thought of as debris from solar system formation and their effect on the Earth, the Moon and other planets has been significant. We only need to look at the surface of the […]
Continue Reading
First insights from the DART mission impact
On September 27, the world’s first full-scale planetary defense test against potential asteroid impacts on Earth hit its target. Researchers of the University of Bern and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS that are involved in NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission give preliminary insights. The final five-and-a-half minutes of images […]
Continue Reading
How global warming affects astronomical observations
Astronomical observations from ground-based telescopes are sensitive to local atmospheric conditions. Anthropogenic climate change will negatively affect some of these conditions at observation sites around the globe, as a team of researchers led by the University of Bern and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS report. The quality of ground-based astronomical observations […]
Continue Reading
2022 Farinella Prize Awarded to Julie Castillo-Rogez and Martin Jutzi
Dr Julie Castillo-Rogez, a planetary scientist working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California (USA), and Dr Martin Jutzi, a physicist working at the Physics Institute of University of Bern (Switzerland) have been awarded jointly the 2022 Paolo Farinella Prize for their outstanding contributions to the field of “Asteroids: Physics, Dynamics, Modelling and Observations” […]
Continue Reading
