D-PHYS News

Researchers from the Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics at ETH Zurich and the Department of Astrophysics at the University of Zurich asked if the potential future LIFE space mission could detect evidence of a habitable and inhabited Earth – and the answer is affirmative.

With the help of the James Webb Space Telescope, a team of researchers including members from the Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics at ETH Zurich measured ammonia in the atmosphere of a cold brown dwarf, showing that the isotopic abundance of ammonia can be used to study how giant gas planets form.

On 2 and 3 September up to 30,000 visitors sought answers to the question: what holds the world together?

Letting your curiosity run free, asking a thousand questions and learning something new. On 17 June 2022, the Department of Physics at ETH Zurich welcomed several thousand guests at the summer festival of science on the Hönggerberg campus, the Night of Physics 2022.

An international team of researchers with participation of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS, ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich has succeeded in capturing an image of a very special planet. No known planet orbits a hotter or more massive star system. Some astronomers even considered it impossible for planets to exist in such an environment.

In 2021, ESA selected three themes from a hundred proposals for its largest science missions, “Voyage 2050”. The National Centre of Competence in Research, or NCCR, “PlanetS” with its partner institutions ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich proposed two of the three chosen topics. The NCCR “PlanetS” is led by the two home institutions, the University of Bern and the University of Geneva.

The Laboratory for Astronomical Instrumentation at ETH Zurich has shipped its first cryogenic wheels that were developed for the new infrared instrument ERIS on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). These mechanisms will hold various filters and masks that provide unique capabilities for direct imaging and characterization of exoplanets.

The 2017 MERAC Prize of the European Astronomical Society for the Best Early Career Researcher in Observational Astrophysics goes to ETH astrophysicist Kevin Schawinski.

From 17 to 19 February 2016, the conference "X-ray View of Black Hole Activity in the Local Universe" takes place on the ETH Hönggerberg campus.