External Newsletter
The astronomer in your class room
“How many planets has she been to?”, the 8- and 9-year-old pupils asked their teacher. “Well, she’s a scientist, not an astronaut, and scientists generally stay on Earth,” the teacher replied. Despite the disappointment that I could not tell them about my adventures on other planets, the pupils of the Bernese primary school were very […]
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“Luck is an important factor – that is difficult to digest.”
Martin Turbet was a member of the NCCR PlanetS for three years and received a Marie Curie fellowship from the EU during this time. Now he was selected for a permanent position as a CNRS research scientist working in Paris. Here, he talks about his multidisciplinary research, the role of luck in academia and gives […]
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How Switzerland contributes to PLATO
ESA’s next-generation planet-hunting mission received the green light to continue with its development after the critical milestone review concluded successfully in January. Switzerland plays a key role in this special undertaking. How many rocky, Earth-like planets are there, out there vastness of the cosmos? How many orbit a star similar to our Sun? How many […]
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Editorial
As we seem to slowly emerge from all the restrictive measures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, we rediscover not only our offices but also the coffee-breaks and the smiles on the faces of our colleagues. Everyone is eager to dive again at full speed together with her/his colleagues into a busy but exciting research life. […]
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Editorial
Dear Reader Time flies! Over 7 years have passed since PlanetS was established (2014) and yet we feel that the more research we do, the more questions emerge and the more exciting they are! And not only for us, everywhere the huge interest in the field keeps growing! It gives everybody, young and old, […]
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Monika Lendl and Clémence Fontanive at #NCCRWomen
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of women’s right to vote in Switzerland, the #NCCRWomen campaign introduces you to women from Swiss research institutes. NCCR PlanetS also participated in the campaign with two of its researchers: Monika Lendl and Clémence Fontanive. Clémence Fontanive is an astrophysicist and postdoc at the University of Bern. Clémence […]
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ESA Voyage 2050 and NCCR PlanetS: it’s a match!
This year, the European Space Agency (ESA) chose the themes for its large-class science missions for the timeframe 2035-2050. Two of the three chosen themes are ones that the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS is actively involved in with promising projects. If you had a budget of 1 billion €, where […]
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Where Predator and Pikachu learn about exoplanets
Fantasy Basel is Switzerland’s largest convention for comic culture, science fiction, cosplay and more. Around 45,000 visitors from near and far flocked to the big event to read the latest comics, meet their favourite artists – or to learn about exoplanets and space history at the NCCR PlanetS exhibition, which was part of the Swiss […]
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The planet does not fall far from the star
A compositional link between planets and their respective host star has long been assumed in astronomy. For the first time now, a team of scientists, with the participation of researchers of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS from the University of Zurich and the University of Bern, deliver empirical evidence to support […]
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Did Venus ever have oceans?
Today’s Venus, with its extreme greenhouse effect, could be considered Earth’s “evil twin”. Yet in its past, it may have been much more hospitable and possibly even had oceans of water. Researchers led by the University of Geneva and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS have simulated the ancient climate of Venus […]
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