Author Archive
Witnessing the Formation of Moons
NASA’s Webb Telescope is investigating the formation of moons around a massive planet. A team at UZH is using the data to study the chemical composition of a disk that is believed to be the basis for the formation of new moons. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has provided the first direct measurements of the […]
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Artificial intelligence drives the discovery of new exoplanets
Researchers from the University of Bern have developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) model capable of predicting the architecture of planetary systems and subsequently inferring the presence of yet-to-be-discovered planets. They use the so-called Transformer architecture which is the basis of the Large Language Models powering tools like the recently launched Swiss model Apertus or chatbots […]
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Venus more tectonically alive than we thought
Several tectonic processes are occurring beneath the surface of Venus, according to a new study led by researchers from the University of Bern’s Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) and NASA. They found that many of the numerous “coronae” scattered all over Venus’ globe are associated with gravity field perturbations, hinting at the sub-surface tectonic […]
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In the search for life on exoplanets, finding nothing is something too
A team led by researchers at ETH Zurich’s Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, and members from the NCCR PlanetS, studied what insights can be gained from a ‘no life detected’ scenario in future exoplanet surveys. What if humanity’s search for life on other planets returns no hits? A team of researchers led by NCCR […]
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Where to find the next Earth
A team from the University of Bern and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS has developed a machine learning model that predicts potential planetary systems with Earth-like planets. The model could significantly accelerate and thus revolutionize the future search for habitable planets in the universe. The search for Earth-like exoplanets – planets […]
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Fantasy Basel 2025 – Call for volunteers
Dear PlanetS members and associates, Once again, PlanetS will return to Fantasy Basel – the Swiss Comic-con – and we need you! This year marks the 30th anniversary of 51 Peg b discovery, so exoplanets will be our main focus! But rest assured that all of planetary sciences will be represented! The festival will be held […]
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Farinella Prize 2024 Awarded to Ravit Helled
NCCR PlanetS member Prof. Ravit Helled, of the University of Zurich in Switzerland, has been awarded the 2024 Paolo Farinella Prize for her outstanding contributions to research into ‘the internal structure of planetary bodies: clues on formation processes of the Solar System’. The award ceremony took place on the first day of the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) 2024 […]
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Telltale greenhouse gases could signal alien activity
Known for their detrimental effect on Earth, greenhouse gases could be beneficial for alien civilizations afar to terraform their worlds, and an opportunity for us to spot them. An international team of scientists including Dr. Daniel Angerhausen from ETH Zurich and member of the National Centre of Competence (NCCR) PlanetS, calculated that current technology would […]
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ANDES, the spectrograph in a quest for life in the Universe
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is endorsing a new spectrograph for its future giant telescope. Switzerland is contributing thanks to its expertise in exoplanets and in high-precision instruments. ESO has started the design and construction of the ArmazoNes high Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph (ANDES) with an international consortium involving the University of Geneva and the University […]
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How Pluto got its heart
The mystery of how Pluto got a giant heart-shaped feature on its surface has finally been solved by an international team of astrophysicists led by the University of Bern and members of the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS. The team is the first to successfully reproduce the unusual shape with numerical simulations, […]
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