News
NGTS eyes start finding new planets
The Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) project is dedicated to finding Neptune sized transiting exoplanets around bright southern hemisphere host stars. It builds on over a decade of experience from the WASP project – the most successful ground based survey for transiting planets. NGTS is the most precise ground-based transit survey currently operating; capable of monitoring […]
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Michel Mayor, the new galactic guru
April the 7th of 2017 will remain as a special day for Michel Mayor. Indeed, he found himself alone on the stage of the Reykjavik Opera House, not to interpret an air of Verdi but to give a conference on exoplanets. He, who is more used to the crowds of researchers or astronomy enthusiasts, was this […]
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Preparing the Site Visit
On 8 and 9 June 2017, the international review panel will visit PlanetS at the University of Bern. Besides a summary of the past achievements, the NCCR will present its visions for the next phase that should start in June 2018. A new site visit is on the horizon! After Geneva Observatory last year, this […]
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Swiss Company Maker
Around twenty future entrepreneurs had been selected by the SwissCompanyMaker to participate in a workshop (supported partly by NCCR PlanetS) on the possibility of turning an idea into viable businesses. Assisted by professional coaches, they spent two days trying to identify and overcome the obstacles on the road to success. “Are you an entrepreneur? “”Why […]
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Work-life balance in academia
The PlanetS Academic Platform carried out a survey with PlanetS professors and senior scientists to find out their point of view when it comes to ‘work-life balance in academia’ and what it means to them. By Nadine Afram The survey questions were based on work-life balance and time management articles and on feedback from a […]
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Female birds sing, too
In the last edition of the InsiderS, I wrote about some surprising insights concerning the gender dimension in academic research (http://nccr-planets.ch/heartbreaking-disregard-female-perspective/). This is the last article in this series and deals with gender in research projects, as discussed during a gender conference (http://nccr-planets.ch/gender-bias-erc-grant-evaluation/) – it would be interesting to see how and where this could […]
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Workshop on exoplanet densities
About 40 PlanetS members and associates met on 3 May 2017 to discuss topics related to exoplanet densities in a workshop at the University of Bern. «It was a day to get inspired,» summarizes Caroline Dorn who organised the event together with François Bouchy. How confident are we with the determined masses and radii from […]
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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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