News
Scientists detect signatures of life remotely
It could be a milestone on the path to detecting life on other planets: Scientists under the leadership of the University of Bern and of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS detect a key molecular property of all living organisms from a helicopter flying several kilometers above ground. The measurement technology could […]
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“Science fiction writers imagine similar things to scientists”
The relationship between science and science fiction has changed significantly in recent years. And they influence each other, as Dr. Zoë Lehmann Imfeld, a literary expert on science fiction from the University of Zurich, told PlanetS in an interview. Astronomers discover new planets far out in space. And they are delivering fascinating research results on […]
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“I just became incredibly tough”
At the age of 32, Judit Szulágyi convinced the European Research Council to fund her research on planet and moon formation. With that, she also takes over leadership of a PlanetS project. Even though her fast track career makes it seem so, getting this far was not always easy. As most, Judit Szulágyi currently works […]
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What PlanetS scientists think about science fiction
Scientists who like science fiction. A no-go? Or perhaps the opposite? We talked to five scientists from the NCCR PlanetS about their relationship with science fiction and how they assess the influence of science on science fiction and vice versa. Dr. Vincent Bourrier Assistant Professor, Observatoire de Genève, Département d’Astronomie, Université de Genève What […]
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What’s out there? – UniPress in space
More than 4000 planets have already been discovered since Michel Major and Didier Queloz tracked down the first exoplanet orbiting a sun-like star in 1995 – triggering a revolution in astronomy. With the National Center of Competence in Research NCCR PlanetS, Switzerland is at the forefront of this adventure, as the current issue of the […]
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1 year of operations : Meet the CHEOPS science operations team
To ensure the smooth running of the CHEOPS mission once the satellite is in orbit, operations have been split in two parts : Science Operations in Switzerland with the Scientific Operations Centre (SOC) in Geneva and the Instrument Team in Bern, and the Mission Operations Centre (MOC) in Torrejón, Spain, which is in charge of communication […]
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How the habitability of exoplanets is influenced by their rocks
The weathering of silicate rocks plays an important role to keep the climate on Earth clement. Scientists led by the University of Bern and the Swiss national center of competence in research (NCCR) PlanetS, investigated the general principles of this process. Their results could influence how we interpret the signals from distant worlds – including […]
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Celebrating two decades of SPHERE challenges and achievements
Reaching new heights with 100 consortium publications including the early exoplanet demographics release. The SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exo-planet REsearch) planet imager(1), currently installed and operating at the ESO Very Large Telescope in Chile, aims at imaging and characterizing giant exoplanets and planet-forming disks around stars close to the Sun. This project represents an incredible scientific, […]
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Volcanoes might light up the night sky of this planet
Until now, researchers have found no evidence of global tectonic activity on planets outside our solar system. Under the leadership of the University of Bern and the National Center of Competence in Research NCCR PlanetS, scientists have now found that the material inside planet LHS 3844b flows from one hemisphere to the other and could […]
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A new way of forming planets
Scientists of the Universities of Zurich and Cambridge, associated with the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research PlanetS, suggest a new explanation for the abundance of intermediate-mass exoplanets – a long-standing puzzle of Astronomy. In the last 25 years, scientists have discovered over 4000 planets beyond the borders of our solar system. From relatively […]
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