Astrochemistry and Origins

Interstellar Matter and Cosmology

Stellar and Solar Physics

Solar and Planetary Systems

Latest News

2 years 1 month ago

Nano-diamonds remain an enigmatic component of cosmic dust. A significant fraction of the pre-solar nano-diamonds extracted from primitive meteorites were associated with distant exploding stars (supernovae). While they have been found in many Solar System bodies, they have been detected in only two proto-planetery disks and one evolved star, and they have never been observed in the interstellar medium. Newly-derived nano-diamond optical constants generated with the THEMIS dust model developed at IAS explain why it is hard to observe nano-diamonds in space.

2 years 1 month ago

The PARADISE Scientific Interest Group (Platforms for Applied Research and Development Activities in Ground and on board Instrumentation) will join the very closed club of National Research Infrastructures in spring 2022 during the roadmap update process initiated in early 2021. IAS is a founding member of the GIS and has been leading it since its creation in 2017.

2 years 1 month ago

Water-rock interactions are essential in the formation of planets, especially that of the Earth. In fact, the origin of water in solar system objects has always been extensively studied. The isotopic composition of the hydrogen and oxygen atoms that compose the water molecule is in particular a key tracer of its sources. The hydrogen isotopic composition of the water of telluric planetary objects is intermediate between that of interstellar water very rich in deuterium and that of hydrogen gas depleted in deuterium by nuclear reactions in stars.

2 years 2 months ago

For a mission that has just entered its scientific exploitation phase, Solar Orbiter has already produced many remarkable results. A recent special issue of Astronomy and Astrophysics brings together a multitude of studies and observations obtained during the mission's cruise phase. No less than 56 papers have been published, each containing data produced by one or several Solar Orbiter instruments, in which many laboratories including IAS have been strongly involved.

Pages

Subscribe to Syndicate