Author Archive
Escape the lab and enjoy the game
Have you ever got lost in your work? Take a break and awake inside a strange virtual laboratory.
Continue Reading
About PlanetS
The discovery in 1995 of the first giant planet outside our solar system by Swiss astronomers spawned a unique revolution in modern astronomy. Since then, the progress has been such that the field is now shifting from an era of discovery to one of physical and chemical characterisation. The NCCR PlanetS allows responding to this […]
Continue Reading
Testing CHEOPS at the University of Bern
The space telescope dedicated to characterize exoplanets is taking shape. A camera installed in a clean room shows how the CHEOPS team prepares the structural and thermal model for tests in the vacuum chamber. In the huge test chamber the CHEOPS engineers run thermal cycles on the telescope’s structural and thermal model (STM): under vacuum […]
Watch Video
Where it all started in 1995
When Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz found the first exoplanet orbiting another solar-type star twenty years ago, Swiss TV documented the historic discovery. Have a look at the young researchers in this video that was first broadcasted on 7 December 1995.
Watch Video
How an astronomer works
Looking through a telescope is a thing of the past. Visit the office of Michael Meyer, Professor at ETH Zurich and member of PlanetS, to find out what his most important tools for creative science are. Just click on the small magnifying glasses that you see on the rectangular areas on the image. Hint: To […]
Continue Reading
Glancing into the skies
Each month the night sky holds many beautiful and interesting objects that we can observe if the weather gods allow. The focus of this article is on the second half of August and on objects that can be seen by the unaided eye. Instead of hunting exoplanets, we will look out for the brighter planets in […]
Continue Reading
Strange Worlds
Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz return to Southern France and tell the story of their historic discovery five years after the breakthrough in a TV documentary.
Watch Video
Puzzle
To bring order to PlanetS chaos click on one of the image tiles next to the empty field and repeat this process thinking of the consequences.
Continue Reading
HD 69830
HD 69830, K0V, mv=5.95 HD 69830 is a planetary system about 41 light-years away, in the northeastern part of the constellation of Puppis (the Poop Deck). The central star is a yellow dwarf, about 7 to 9 billion year old, that is slightly smaller than the Sun (90% of its radius and 86% of its […]
Continue Reading
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 […]
Continue Reading
