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The first exoplanet dicovered by NGTS surprised astronomers
Thanks to a new instrument developed in part by the Geneva Observatory, an international team of astronomers discovered a giant planet around a star two times smaller than the sun. This planet surprised astronomers who thought that the existence of such big planets was unlikely around small stars. About the size of Jupiter and orbiting […]
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“Make sure that you are unique”
Ewine van Dishoeck is a pioneer in astrochemistry and one of the most famous female astronomers in the world. Invited by the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) of the University of Bern the Dutch professor gave the CSH Distinguished Lecture 2017, had many discussions with the CSH and NCCR PlanetS scientists and advised the […]
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ESPRESSO
Dear Reader, As you will read in this edition of the Observer, we have said good-bye to ESPRESSO which is now on its way to the ESO Paranal Observatory near Antofagasta in Chile where it will be integrated into the VLT later this year. ESPRESSO, the development of which was led by Francesco Pepe from […]
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Chasing alien worlds with a flying telescope
The airborne Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) observed a mini-eclipse of the extrasolar planet GJ 1214b. The goal was to find out if this world outside of our solar system is a super-sized Earth or a miniature Neptune. It was the first time SOFIA did observations of this kind and it was demonstrated that […]
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CHEOPS children drawings engraved
Our campaign to collect CHEOPS children drawings is completing a major milestone as the first plaques have been engraved. The article tells the story of their production and illustrates the beautiful results. Between March and October 2015, children between the age of 8 and 14 were invited to participate in a competition and submit a […]
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Collision with neighbour
According to theory, the moon was created during a gigantic collision between the earth and another celestial body called Theia. But where did this body come from? Based on high-precision analysis of lunar samples, ETH professor Maria Schönbächler concludes, “Theia was a small planet that formed near the earth.” Maria Schönbächler and her team at […]
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How to operate the Mars camera CaSSIS
The Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) was built at the University of Bern. As part of ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) it has been orbiting Mars since October 2016 and took some first high resolution images. The normal operation will start next year when TGO has reached its final orbit. Then, the spacecraft […]
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Bye-bye ESPRESSO
After almost 10 years of studies, construction, problems, efforts and sleepless nights, the ESPRESSO spectrograph left at the end of August the clean room of the Geneva Observatory to be installed on the 4 VLTs of the ESO Observatory at Paranal in northern Chile. A journey that has turned into a real saga. The problem […]
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“I am convinced there is life on a distant planet”
The astronomer Willy Benz is the first Swiss to lead a space mission. At the end of 2018, the CHEOPS satellite will be launched into the Earth’s orbit where it should characterise distant planets – and help to search for life in space. The following interview was part of the series “Wissenschaft persönlich” on 20 June […]
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