Survey: PlanetS Members feel well informed

In October, the communication team conducted a survey of PlanetS members and associates on communication and outreach. With the survey, the communication team wanted to find out how well the PlanetS members are informed about the latest news and topics relevant to them, which communication channels and service offerings are used for outreach and how, […]

A sinuous career path

In previous editions of the InsiderS, we have already portrayed astronomers and physicists who have made their careers outside academia. Here is the story of PlanetS member Pierre Bratschi who is in charge of communication and outreach at the Geneva Observatory. By Pierre Bratschi As a child, I didn’t dream of being an astronomer, I […]

General Assembly in Montreux

The PlanetS General Assembly is the main event during the yearly NCCR cycle and gathers a large majority of NCCR members and associates. It will take place on January 27 – 29, 2020 in Montreux. Registration has to be completed by 15 December 2019. This time the organizers chose Montreux for the PlanetS General Assembly after […]

Nobel prize ceremony

In a very formal and festive ceremony in Stockholm, the Swedish king Carl XVI Gustaf presented the Nobel prizes to this year’s esteemed laureates, among them Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz. Fanfare sounds accompanied his Majesty handing over the medals. As every year, the award ceremony took place on the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, […]

Stardust from red giants

Some of the Earth’s building material was stardust from red giants, researchers from ETH Zurich have established. They can also explain why the Earth contains more of this stardust than the asteroids or the planet Mars, which are farther from the sun. Around 4.5 billion years ago, an interstellar molecular cloud collapsed. At its centre, […]

CHEOPS launch set for 17 Dec. 2019

The space telescope CHEOPS is scheduled to begin its journey into space on Tuesday, 17 December 2019 shortly before 10 a.m. CET. The Universities of Bern and Geneva are organizing events with a live stream from Kourou and space talks. “After over six years of intensive work, I am of course very pleased that the […]

Studying exoplanetary atmospheres

Chloe Fisher is a PhD student at the Center of Space and Habitability (CSH) and associate of the NCCR PlanetS. In a video produced by the International Office of the University of Bern she talks about her work and life in Bern. Chloe Fisher is originally from the United Kingdom. Her project at CSH is […]

Lively discussions and a prize for a short film

At the “Global Science Film Festival” in Bern and Zürich astrophysicists associated with PlanetS discussed a movie about an Indian Mars mission. The documentary “Bern on the Moon” was awarded the audience prize in the category short films. Susanne Wampfler, Professor at the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) of the University of Bern, was […]

The Nobel Prize opens many doors

Professors Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz are awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of the first exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star. Michel Mayor is member of the Advisory Board of the NCCR PlanetS. He talks about his best and worst memories as a researcher. Interview: Pierre Bratschi Who was a role […]

CHEOPS Team members and their favourite drawing