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7 years 6 months ago

In situ images of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko acquired by the 7 CIVA cameras on board Philae revealed a singular, unexpected, and very irregular landscape dominated by consolidated materials. Following a detailed study, this landing site provided a unique opportunity to constrain the past and present conditions prevailing at the surface of the comet.

7 years 6 months ago

A few weeks away from the end of Rosetta mission and after months of data collection and analysis, the scientific team in charge of the COSIMA instrument, a mass spectrometer on board Rosetta, proves the presence of a macromolecular organic component in cometary dust particles.

7 years 8 months ago

By combining multi-wavelength data obtained from space with Planck and WISE, and from the ground with MegaCam on the CFHT, a team of researchers has revealed the structure of the diffuse interstellar medium over several square degrees with unprecedented details. In particular, this study reveals the statistical properties of interstellar turbulence over a wide range of scales, from 0.01 to 10 pc.

7 years 10 months ago

Monday, May 9, 2016, from 1:12 p.m. to 8:40 p.m. (local time), Mercury will transit in front of the Sun. It is a relatively rare event, especially if visible in its entirety, from beginning to end. The next transit of Mercury will take place in 2019, and the next to be visible in France in full will be held in 2039.

 

The IAS hosts on that occasion observations and presentations for laboratory staff, and the Orsay/Gif campus personnel.

 

From 1pm to 6pm :

7 years 11 months ago

The MICMOC experiment that started in 2003 at IAS and whose goal is to understand the link between astrochemistry and astrobiology, just came across through a major and surprising result: the prebiotic formation of the sugar molecule ribose, a key molecule toward the formation of RNA, the nucleic acid containing the first genetic material of living beings.

8 years 2 months ago

Gullies observed on Mars would be produced by the action of dry ice in winter and spring, not by liquid water flows as thought before. Indeed, recent numerical simulations show that under dry ice heated by the Sun, intense gas motions can destabilize and fluidize the soil, until they create flows similar to those created by a liquid.

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