The DiSCo program, thanks to the James Webb telescope, identifies three types of TNOs whose chemical composition, linked to their origin in the protoplanetary disk, sheds light on the formation of planetesimals and the dynamic evolution of the primitive Solar System.
A study in which IAS participated has just revealed the presence of new molecules on the surface of Charon, Pluto's largest moon, thanks to observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). While a NASA mission, New Horizons, had already mapped this moon in 2015, recent observations by JWST have detected carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide on its surface for the first time, enriching our understanding of its chemical composition.
Congratulations to Marion Zannese on winning the Prix Jeunes Talents France For Women In Science 2024 from the L'Oréal-UNESCO Foundation!
Marion Zannese, who defended her thesis on 26 September entitled ‘High excitation of molecules in irradiated regions of star and planetary formation observed with the James Webb Space Telescope’, under the supervision of Émilie Habart and Benoit Tabone, is now a post-doctoral fellow at the IAS, where she will continue her work on the study of irradiated regions of star and planetary formation with the JWST.
Hydrated Ammonium-Magnesium-Phosphorus-rich compounds (“HAMP”) have been discovered in the samples from the Ryugu asteroid. Embedded within an organic-rich phyllosilicate matrix, they may have been a key source of phosphorus and nitrogen necessary for the start of prebiotic chemistry on the primitive Earth.
Stefano Gallo, Cosmology team, defended his thesis entitled ‘On Galaxy Cluster modelling in the context of Cosmological analyses’, under the supervision of Nabila Aghanim and Marian Douspis. He is now a new doctor at the Université Paris-Saclay, and will be heading for Germany. Congratulations to him!
A large observing program of the James Webb Space Telescope has recently provided the first comprehensive view of Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), the small primitive bodies of the outer solar system, orbiting beyond Neptune, from which some comets originate. Observations of 59 objects obtained with the NIRSpec instrument have been analyzed by an international research team involving the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale. The infrared spectra reveal the first-ever detections of CO₂ and CO ices on small bodies in the outer solar system.
On May 28, CNES has officially confirmed the balloon-borne project BISOU for Phase A. The study will be carried out over the next two years and marks a transformational step towards an ambitious space-borne CMB spectrometer in the ESA Voyage 2050 program.
An international research team involving scientists from IAS and other laboratories has just revealed the chemical composition of a disk of matter rotating around a young star, where new planets are forming. The results reveal the largest number of carbon-containing molecules observed to date in such a disk, and have implications for the potential composition of planets that could form around this star. These results, published in the journal Science, were obtained as part of the MIRI instrument's guaranteed time program, developed by a consortium of laboratories in Europe and the USA and involving the IAS.
As part of its programme, carried out over several years, to study the effects of cosmic rays effects on highly sensitivity cryogenic detectors, the IAS has developed the DRACuLA (Detector irRAdiation Cryogenic faciLity for Astrophysics) system for measuring the response of this type of detector to the impact of particles such as protons or alpha particles.
Since December 2020, the near-infrared hyperspectral microscope MicrOmega, developed by IAS, took part in the analyzes of the samples returned from the carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu by the JAXA Hayabusa2 mission. Thanks to test campaigns, with IAS participation, this high-performance instrument is now ready to analyze samples from the Bennu asteroid, brought back by OSIRIS-REx.
