News
Telescope mirror safely delivered to Bern
At the end of April 2017, an eagerly-awaited cargo from Italy arrived at the University of Bern: the telescope flight model of CHEOPS. The incoming inspection carried out on 3 May 2017 showed that the entire hardware had arrived intact. «Finally, the flight hardware of the telescope has arrived here in Bern,» says CHEOPS project […]
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A habitable planet in the constellation of the Whale ?
An international team of astronomers, including researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the NCCR PlanetS, discovered a rocky planet in the habitable area of a small star. The mass of this planet makes it particularly interesting since it would allow it to retain an atmosphere and thus make possible the emergence of life. […]
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CHEOPS will ride on a Soyuz rocket
Now it is clear: the space telescope CHEOPS – CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite – will be launched with a Soyuz rocket from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou in French Guyana. The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced the decision today Thursday, 6 April 2017 The exact launch date remains to be confirmed. It is clear, however, that […]
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Workshop on Planets in Binaries
A workshop on planets in binary stars was organized on Monday 27th of March 2017 in Berne. The organizers were composed of 4 members or associates of the NCCR PlanetS, Sebastian Daemgen (ETHZ), David Martin (UNIGE), Stéphane Udry (UNIGE) and Natacha Brügger (UNIBE). The main goal of the workshop was to reunite all the scientists […]
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The phases of planets
On Saturday 25th of March 2017, Venus is at new phase and at the same time closest to the Earth, at 42 millions of kilometres (110 times the average Earth-Moon distance). This event is a good opportunity to talk about the phases of planets, including exoplanets, and to see what information they can teach us. In […]
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Curiosity driven research
Dear Reader, „Basic research is incredibly important” states Thomas Zurbuchen the new NASA Associate Administrator for the science Mission Directorate during his lecture at the University of Bern. Obviously, for us at PlanetS this was sweet music to our ears… Curiosity driven research (another expression for basic research) strives at understanding the world that surrounds […]
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Dreams of another world
The discovery of seven earth-like planets around an ultracool star made headlines worldwide. How does the so called TRAPPIST-1 system look like? This question was answered by scientists and a science fiction writer during an event at the University of Bern organized by the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) and the NCCR PlanetS. «Exoplanet […]
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A new era for planetology
Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is complete. It still has to undergo a battery of tests before its launch end 2018. The capacities of this instrument in the field of planetology are such that several astronomers of PlanetS are already planning time demands. “We can break through the clouds and analyze the […]
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«Basic research is incredibly important»
As NASA’s new science director, Thomas Zurbuchen announced the discovery of seven Earth-sized planets around the nearby star TRAPPIST-1 at a live-streamed press conference that was followed worldwide at the end of February. A month earlier, the Swiss born physicist had visited the University of Bern where he had studied and gained his PhD. «I […]
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Sunbathing meteoroids
Just as you can tell where your friend spent his holidays based on the tan of his skin, scientists can tell where and for how long meteorites travelled in space. Like your friend, meteorites have been exposed to solar radiation which have left peculiar imprints on their outer layer. Together with colleagues, Antoine Roth, postdoc […]
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