News
Why Uranus and Neptune are different
The two outermost giant planets of the Solar system have similar masses but there are also striking differences. Researchers of the NCCR PlanetS at the University of Zurich have found an explanation for this long-standing unsolved mystery: Two different giant impacts could have had completely separate effects. Uranus and Neptune are the outermost planets of the Solar […]
Continue ReadingAcknowledgment in publications
Please use one of the following sentences at the end of your papers: If the work you publish has been funded through Phase 3 but not through Phase 2: “This work has been carried out within the framework of the National Centre of Competence in Research PlanetS supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation […]
Continue Reading
PlanetS General Assembly 2020
134 members and associates gathered from 27 to 29 January 2020 in Montreux to present and discuss their research projects, establish contacts between the different institutions in Bern, Geneva and Zürich, and talk about new ideas at the annual NCCR PlanetS General Assembly. With loud, enthusiastic applause the PlanetS scientists acknowledged the news on the […]
Continue Reading
Cover of CHEOPS Space Telescope Open
Decisive moment for the CHEOPS space telescope: The cover was opened as intended on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 7:38 am. CHEOPS is now being tested for precision and the first images are being produced. CHEOPS is a joint mission of ESA and Switzerland, led by the University of Bern, in collaboration with the University […]
Continue Reading
Opening of the CHEOPS cover delayed by a few days
The cover of the CHEOPS space telescope was scheduled to be opened on Monday, January 27, 2020. The date is being pushed back by a few days because several tests are being repeated. The CHEOPS space telescope has been orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 700 kilometers since its launch on December 18, 2019. […]
Continue Reading
SPIE 2020
This year takes place again the biennial SPIE international conference on Astronomy Telescopes and Instruments. It will be held between June 14th and 19th in Yokohama (Japan), link. The last 2018 edition was held in Austin (USA) gathering 2500 visitors and 125 exhibitor companies. For the 2020 edition the Swiss astronomer consortium NCCR PlanetS and the Swiss […]
Continue Reading
Meteorite contains the oldest material on Earth
Researchers determined the age of stardust from a meteorite to be seven billion years – the oldest solid material ever found on Earth. Stars have life cycles. They’re born when bits of dust and gas floating through space find each other and collapse in on each other and heat up. They burn for millions […]
Continue Reading
CHEOPS: Computer onboard booted
Before Christmas, on 18 December 2019, a Soyuz Fregat rocket was launched in Kourou, French Guyana, and put ESA’s CHEOPS space telescope into a precise polar orbit. Now the engineers test all systems aboard. Today, the computer was successfully booted. Since CHEOPS is in Orbit, its systems have been gradually ramped up. So far, ESA […]
Continue Reading
Merry Christmas and happy new year!
Illustration – « La Liberté », 18.12.2019, Alex Ballaman
Continue Reading
Capturing alien comets
There should be interstellar comets hiding in our Solar system after making a journey of many lightyears. Maybe we have already seen one but believed it was a “normal” comet formed in the Solar system. This concludes Tom Hands, astrophysicist at the University of Zürich and member of the NCCR PlanetS. Comets that suddenly light […]
Continue Reading
