Archive | Research Highlights 2023

2023/11/29

© CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, Thibaut Roger/NCCR PlanetS

An astronomical waltz reveals a sextuplet of planets

An international collaboration between astronomers using the CHEOPS and TESS space satellites, including NCCR PlanetS members from the University of Bern and the University of Geneva, have found a key new system of six transiting planets orbiting a bright star in a harmonic rhythm. This rare property enabled the team to determine the planetary orbits which initially appeared as an unsolvable riddle.

2023/11/23

© University of Bern, Image: Ramon Lehmann; ESA/Rosetta NavCam

On the trail of cosmic ice

The Swiss government is providing CHF 1.3 million in funding for the development of a novel space instrument under the leadership of Nicolas Thomas. The aim is to use it in the future to investigate water ice beneath the surface of comets, planets, and moons.

2023/11/09

© University of Bern, Photo: Peter Keresztes Schmidt

Instrument from the University of Bern flies to the Moon

Following the success of the Bern solar wind sail on the Apollo Moon missions of the U.S. space agency NASA in the 1960s, the Physics Institute at the University of Bern is to return to the Moon as early as 2027 with the LIMS mass spectrometer as part of the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.

2023/07/13

© Valentin Bickel

Robot Team to Explore the Moon

Swiss researchers are equipping legged robots with scientific instruments to search for minerals and resources on the Moon. One major strength of these robots is their ability to work as a team: even if one robot fails, the mission continues. In this UniAktuell article you will learn more about the participation of Valentin Bickel, Fellow at the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH), in the project and the ESA "Space Resources Challenge".

2023/06/08

© University of Bern, Photos: Thibaut Roger

Elusive planets play "hide and seek" with CHEOPS

With the help of the CHEOPS space telescope an international team of European astronomers managed to clearly identify the existence of four new exoplanets. The four mini-Neptunes are smaller and cooler, and more difficult to find than the so-called Hot Jupiter exoplanets which have been found in abundance. Two of the four resulting papers are led by researchers from the University of Bern and the University of Geneva, Dr. Solène Ulmer-Moll (BE/GE) and Dr. Hugh Osborn (BE), who are also members of the NCCR PlanetS.

2023/03/27

© ESA/NASA

The University of Bern is on board a mission to Jupiter

The European Space Agency ESA’s Juice space mission is scheduled to start its journey to Jupiter on April 13, 2023. Once arrived, one of the goals of Juice is to search for traces of life on three of Jupiter’s icy moons. The University of Bern is contributing the NIM mass spectrometer to the mission and is involved in two other instruments: the SWI Sub-millimeter Wave Instrument and the GALA Laser Altimeter.

2023/03/09

Artist’s impression of CHEOPS
© ESA / ATG medialab

CHEOPS mission extended

After more than three years in orbit, the mission of the CHEOPS space telescope has just been extended. Led by the University of Bern in collaboration with the University of Geneva, CHEOPS is a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Switzerland. On March 7th, ESA’s Science Programme Committee has confirmed its continued operations to 2026 and an indicative extension to 2029, contingent upon ongoing commitments from national contributors and partners.

2023/02/14

© NCCR PlanetS, Illustration: Tobias Stierli

Four classes of planetary systems

Astronomers have long been aware that planetary systems are not necessarily structured like our solar system. Researchers from the Universities of Bern and Geneva, as well as from the National Centre of Competence in Research PlanetS, have now shown for the first time that there are in fact four types of planetary systems.

2023/01/23

© NASA/ESA/CSA/M. Zamani

James Webb Space Telescope identifies origins of icy building blocks of life

Interstellar molecular clouds are considered to be the birth sites of planetary systems. With the help of the James Webb Space Telescope, an international research team including the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) at the University of Bern and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS discovered the deepest and coldest ice ever detected in such a molecular cloud. The discovery provides astronomers with new insights into the icy components that could be incorporated into planets over time and eventually form the basis for life. CSH's Maria Drozdovskaya is co-author of the study.