Mars didn’t dry up in one go
The Perseverance rover has just landed on Mars. Meanwhile, its precursor Curiosity continues to explore the base of Mount Sharp (officially Aeolis Mons), a mountain several kilometres high at the […]
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Impact of metals in the chemistry of (stellar) dust
Understanding the formation of stardust in the laboratory is one of the objectives of the ERC Synergy Nanocosmos project (1). The Toulouse team involved in this project has published a […]
SPHERE, twenty years of challenges and successes for exoplanets
The SPHERE consortium celebrates its 100th scientific publication, including the demographic study of exoplanets beyond Saturn’s orbit. The SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-Contrast Exo-planet REsearch) exoplanet imager, currently installed and operating at […]
First images of the cosmic web reveal a myriad of unsuspected dwarf galaxies
Although the filaments of gas in which galaxies are born have long been predicted by cosmological models, we have so far had no real images of such objects. Now for […]
Two young IRAP researchers participate in a Space Weather Forecast Competition with Machine Learning
In recent years the field of artificial intelligence (AI) has expanded and is applied to a vast variety of applications, holding favourable opportunities for the scientific community. Especially, machine learning […]
A new way to understand plate tectonics: olivine glass
The separation between the rigid lithosphere and the ductile asthenosphere is a major mechanical discontinuity of the globe. This boundary is characterized by a five-order drop in viscosity generally associated […]
How do giant planets become eccentric?
The vast majority of giant exoplanets observed (planets 100 times heavier than the Earth) have very “eccentric” orbits: their trajectory does not follow a circle, unlike the Earth, but an […]
Mars 2020 mission: Perseverance rover lands successfully carrying French Supercam instrument
Thursday 18 February, the Perseverance rover, carrying a suite of seven instruments including the French SuperCam, a greatly enhanced version of the ChemCam instrument already operating on NASA’s Curiosity Mars […]
ExoMars discovers chlorine in the atmosphere of Mars
ExoMars’ European-Russian probe, the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), has been orbiting Mars since October 2016. It has been observing the atmosphere continuously since April 2018 in search of trace gases […]