Internal Newsletter
Successful site visit
The tension in the audience was palpable when Prof. Jamie Gilmour stood up to summarize the conclusions reached by the members of the expert panel after their first PlanetS site visit – a two-day process held on May 19th and 20th, 2015 in Bern. With a quiet, almost monotone voice the speaker of the expert […]
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Equality and equity
“We strongly encourage women to apply.” This is definitely not a statement of equal treatment, writes Audra Baleisis, Academic Platform Coordinator Education, Professional Development, and Diversity of PlanetS. With the following essay, she wants to start a lively discussion about a hot topic. By Audra Baleisis, ETH Zurich A few months ago, my attention at […]
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Ten times better than HARPS
Developers and future users of ESPRESSO gathered in Geneva to discuss the challenges raised by the new instrument and its outstanding accuracy. By Pierre Bratschi, Geneva While engineers and opticians are busy building ESPRESSO, astronomers and physicists are already asking questions how to use this successor to HARPS. For both groups, the challenge is daunting, […]
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Operation on HARPS’ open heart
In 10 years we have learned to improve the performance of optical fibers including giving them an octagonal shape. A team at the Geneva Observatory built of researchers, opticians, and technicians led by Francesco Pepe, the leader of PlanetS project 3, has decided to replace the conventional fibers that transport the light into the HARPS […]
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It rained on the NGTS
The Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) witnessed a rare event for a site like Paranal in Chile. The rain fell into the NGTS building and on other telescopes, an incident which showed the flaws of warning systems based on the measurement of moisture. The weather was beautiful that day at Paranal, the VLT site in […]
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Next General Assembly
As a member of PlanetS you are already booked to spend some time in the Bernese Oberland at the end of January 2016. The next General Assembly will take place from January 25th to 27th, 2016 in Grindelwald. «It’s a central location that everybody can reach within reasonable time,» Yann Alibert, science officer of the […]
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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. [sp name=’puzzlelogo’]
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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 […]
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A great mingling experience
At the first General Assembly of the NCCR PlanetS, 93 participants gathered in Anzère (VS) at the end of January 2015 to present their projects, discuss their goals and get to know each other. «They do know how to pick a meeting location,» twittered Brian Schmidt adding a nice photo of Anzère with snowy mountains. […]
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A Nobel prize in Anzère
«I spent my childhood in Alaska where snowstorms like today are commonplace. So when I was about your age, I wanted to study meteorology,» said Brian Schmidt to fifteen teenagers from Ayent who came to meet him on the sidelines of the General Assembly of the NCCR Planets. The American astronomer finally opted for astronomy, […]
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