News Archive 2024

2024/12/17

Rockfall Loctions on Mars

A team lead by Bernese researchers has used a neural network to identify 1383 rockfall sites on Mars. More than half of these were previously unknown. The discovery is also relevant for future Mars missions.

2024/12/11

Unveiling the Birth of Planets

On December 11, 2024, Dr. Yuhito Shibaike and Prof. Audrey Vorbuger gave a public talk attended by 150 people about Japanese-Bernese collaboration in space research.

2024/11/28

Congratulations to Dr. Jeanne Davoult !

Jeanne successfully defended her PhD thesis on November 28, 2024. She is now moving to Berlin to pursue her work on exoplanet populations at DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt).

2024/09/24

Congratulations to Dr. Erik Meier Valdés !

Erik successfully defended his PhD thesis on September 24, 2024. He is now moving to Oxford to pursue his work on rocky exoplanets with a SNF Postdoc Mobility grant.

2024/08/19

Congratulations Willy Benz !

Willy Benz, Professor Emeritus of Astrophysics at the University of Bern and former Director of the NCCR PlanetS, was officially elected President of the International Astronomical Union IAU yesterday.

2024/08/08

Sometimes, salt deposits on Mars just seem to smile back at you

Last week, a new paper published in Nature's Scientific Data journal revelead never-seen-before data that helps us better understand the distribution of water in ancient Mars.

2024/07/12

New partnership with NASA

A new network of Swiss research institutions teams up with NASA to accelerate the exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Valentin Bickel, planetary scientist at the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH), is the principal investigator of the Swiss research network CHEESE.

2024/06/10

First detection of frost on the Solar System's tallest volcanoes on Mars

For the first time, water frost has been detected on the colossal volcanoes on Mars, which are the largest in the Solar System. The international team led by the University of Bern used high-resolution color images from the Bernese Mars camera, CaSSIS, onboard the European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft.

2024/06/05

High-performance spectograph for giant telescope

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has started the design and construction of the ArmazoNes high Dispersion Echelle Spectograph (ANDES) with an international consortium involving the University of Bern.

2024/05/20

NASA's JWST Cracks Case of Inflated Exoplanet

A warm Neptune's methane reveals core mass and vigorous atmospheric mixing. Further information in a paper published in Nature with Dr. Elspeth Lee, Ambizione & CSH/Bernoulli Fellow as a co-author.

2024/05/08

Hints of a possible atmosphere around a rocky exoplanet

Researchers using the James Webb Space Telescope may have detected an atmosphere surrounding a rocky exoplanet 41 light-years from Earth. Brice-Olivier Demory, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Bern was part of the international research team that just published the results in Nature.

2024/02/26

DART impact might have reshaped Hera's target asteroid

ESA's Hera spacecraft for planetary defence is being prepared for a journey to the distant asteroid moon Dimorphos orbiting around its parent body Didymos. One of the first features Hera will look for is the crater left on Dimorphos by its predecessor mission DART, which impacted the asteroid to deflect its orbit.

2024/01/18

Moon rocks with unique dust found

A research team led by the University of Münster, including CSH Fellow Valentin Bickel, studied the interaction of dust with boulders and discovered potentially anomalous rocks on the moon. Their findings were published in the Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets.