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Stolen comets and free-floating objects
Our Solar System may contain alien comets that were stolen from another star flying past 4.5 billion years ago. Far away in a distant cluster of young stars, a similar close encounter might have also sent the inter-stellar visitor “Oumuamua” flying on its way towards us, and there must be many more of these free-floating […]
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Bern in Space
Bern in Space Berne celebrates 50 years of moon landing – When Buzz Aldrin was the second man to leave the lunar module on 21 July 1969, first he unfurled the solar wind sail of the University of Berne and put it into the bottom of the moon before the American flag. This experiment was […]
Continue ReadingJoint PhD Position in Exoplanetary Sciences at University of Grenoble Alpes and University of Geneva
Joint PhD Position in Exoplanetary Sciences at University of Grenoble Alpes and University of Geneva One 3-year PhD position is currently available at Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics of Grenoble (IPAG) at the University of Grenoble Alpes and at the Department of Astronomy of Geneva University. The position starts September 1st, 2019 for 18 months […]
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Rare-Earth metals in the atmosphere of a glowing-hot exoplanet
KELT-9 b is the hottest exoplanet known to date. In the summer of 2018, a joint team of astronomers from the universities of Bern and Geneva and members of PlanetS found signatures of gaseous iron and titanium in its atmosphere. Now these researchers have also been able to detect traces of vaporized sodium, magnesium, chromium, […]
Continue ReadingProjektsekretär/in 60%
PlanetS ist ein Nationaler Forschungsschwerpunkt der Schweiz, der sich mit der Erforschung von Planeten befasst. Für das Project Office des NCCR Projektes suchen wir: Eine/n Projektsekretär/in 60% (Mutterschaftsvertretung ab August 2019 bis Mitte Januar 2020) Hauptaufgaben: Entlastung des Institutsdirektors/Personalchefs in allen planerischen, organisatorischen und administrativen Belangen Organisation von Video- und Telefonkonferenzen und Sitzungen […]
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EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2019
The EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2019 covers a broad area of science topics related to planetary science and planetary missions. The event falls from 15 and 20 of September 2019 and it is a joint meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress and the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society. The programme of […]
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Fantasy Basel: We were there
PlanetS was at the Fantasy Basel! And talked about many things with you!
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HD 114762
HD 114762 is an extrasolar system located 126 ligh-years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices. It is made of two stars and a substellar companion discovered 30 years ago this month. In this animation are represented the primary star (at the center) and the substellar companion (in orbit). The secondary star, much farther away, […]
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Five planets revealed after 20 years of observation
A team of astronomers led by members of PlanetS has discovered five new planets with periods of revolution between 15 and 40 years. It took 20 years of regular observations to achieve this result. Over 4000 exoplanets have been discovered since the first one in 1995, but the vast majority of them orbit their stars […]
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The important role of La Silla
By Pierre Bratschi About 80 astronomers were invited by ESO to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the La Silla Observatory. An event that may seem anachronistic in the era of the VLT, the ELT, and of the JWST, indeed what else can we expect from an observatory that has “only” two “small” 3.6m telescopes? How can […]
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