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

Accurate measurements

By Martin C.E. Huber “A neat example again how a new window to the universe opens up through improved measuring methods” – commented the President of the German Physical Society on the award of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of Geneva Observatory. In collaboration with colleagues from Marseille […]

EPSC-DPS 2019 in Geneva

About 1700 astronomers attended the planetology congress from 15th to 20th September organized jointly by the Europeans of the EPSC and the Americans of the DPS and which took place at the International Congress Center in Geneva. The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) partly funded by PlanetS, wanted the holding of this historic congress for the […]

JURA 2019

From the 9th to the 11th of September 2019, 31 young researchers from Bern, Geneva, and Zürich gathered at the Flora Alpina hotel in Vitznau (Lake Lucerne, Switzerland) for the second edition of the NCCR Junior Research Assembly (JURA). The aim of the meeting was to bring together young researchers affiliated with the NCCR PlanetS […]

Give a name to an exoplanet

What name would you give to an exoplanet and its star several tens of light years away? To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the IAU (International Astronomical Union) proposed to all member countries to ask their people to give a name to a star and its planet. It therefore chose a star orbited by a planet […]

The Red Planet in images

50 years of Mars exploration – public lecture in French Fifty years ago, exploration of Mars using robotic space probes began in parallel with human exploration of the Moon. Today, it is possible to take images that reconstruct the relief of the surface of Mars in a very precise way. Thanks to the data collected, […]