Center for Space and Habitability (CSH)

The mission of the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) is to foster dialogue and interactions between the various scientific disciplines interested in the formation, detection and characterization of other worlds within and beyond the Solar System, our search for life elsewhere in the Universe, and its implications for disciplines outside of the sciences. Our members, affiliates and collaborators include astronomers, astrophysicists and astrochemists, atmospheric, climate and planetary scientists, geologists and geophysicists, biochemists and philosophers. We are home to the CSH and Bernoulli Fellowships, which host young, dynamic and talented researchers from all over the world to conduct independent research. We actively run a series of programs to stimulate interdisciplinary research within the University of Bern, Switzerland, including collaborations and/or open dialogue with Medicine, Philosophy and Theology. We have an active tie with similar centers in Switzerland: Life in the Universe Center (LUC) in Geneva, Center for Origine and Prevalence of Life (COPL) in Zurich. We are active in implementing gender, origin, religion, etc. equality measures and public outreach.

Events and Announcements

rockfall locations on Mars

A team led by Bernese researchers has used a neural network to identify 1383 rockfall sites on Mars. More than half of these were previously unknown. The discovery is also relevant for future Mars missions.

Unveiling the birth of planets

On 11th of December 2024, Dr. Yuhito Shibaike and Prof. Audrey Vorburger gave a public talk attended by 150 persons about Japanese bernese collaborations in space research. The event took place in the 160th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between Japan and Switzerland and the guests were welcomed by Mr Fujiyama, Ambassador of Japan to Switzerland.

Congratulations to Dr. Erik Meier Valdés !

Erik successfully defended his PhD thesis on 24 September 2024. He is now moving to Oxford to pursue his work on rocky exoplanets with a SNF Postdoc Mobility grant. The CSH and especially the group "Exoplanets and Origins of Life" congratulates him for this great achievement.

Congratulations to Dr. Jeanne Davoult !

Jeanne Davoult defended successfully her PhD on exoplanets the 28 November 2024 - Congratulations from all the members of the CSH!

À la recherche de mondes habitables dans notre système solaire

On 5th of November 2024 Athena Coustenis, directrice de recherche au Laboratoire de Recherches Spatiales et d’Instrumentation en Astrophysique (LESIA), was at the Center for Space and Habitability for a public talk and meeting with researchers.

Warm Gas-Giant Exoplanet WASP 107 2. © NASA,ESA,CSA,Ralf Crawford (STScI)

NASA's JWST Cracks Case of Inflated Exoplanet WASP 107 2

A warm Neptune’s methane reveals core mass and vigorous atmospheric mixing. Further information in a paper published in Nature with Dr. Elspeth Lee, Ambizione & CSH/Bernoulli Fellow as a co-author.

Sometimes, salt deposits on Mars just seem to smile back at you

Last week, a new paper published in Nature’s Scientific Data journal revealed never-seen-before data that helps us better understand the distribution of water in ancient Mars. CSH fellow Valentin Bickel is leading this study.

Congratulation

Willy Benz, Professor Emeritus of Astrophysics at the University of Bern and former Director of the NCCR PlanetS, was officially elected President of the International Astronomical Union IAU yesterday. Over the next three years, Willy Benz will head the world's largest organisation of astronomers. He will be supported by the Nobel Prize winner Brian Schmidt as President-Elect. We congratulate Willy Benz and Brian Schmidt on their election!

New partnership with NASA

A new network of Swiss research institutions teams up with NASA to accelerate the exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Valentin Bickel, planetary scientist at the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH), is the principal investigator of the Swiss research network CHEESE.

High-performance spectrograph for giant telescope

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has started the design and construction of the ArmazoNes high Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph (ANDES) with an international consortium involving the University of Bern.

First detection of frost on the Solar System’s tallest volcanoes on Mars

For the first time, water frost has been detected on the colossal volcanoes on Mars, which are the largest mountains in the Solar System. The international team led by the University of Bern used high-resolution color images from the Bernese Mars camera, CaSSIS, onboard the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft. Understanding where water can be found, and how it is transported, is relevant for future Mars missions and possible human exploration.

Hints of a possible atmosphere around a rocky exoplanet

Researchers using NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope may have detected an atmosphere surrounding 55 Cancri e, a rocky exoplanet 41 light-years from Earth. This is the best evidence to date for a rocky planet atmosphere outside our solar system. Brice-Olivier Demory, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Bern and member of the the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS, was part of the international research team that just published the results in Nature.

SHOL Days 2024

The Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) of the University of Bern, the Centre for the Origin and Prevalence of Life (COPL) of the ETH Zürich, and the Life in the Universe Centre (LUC/CVU) of the University of Geneva organise the first 'Swiss Habitability and Origin of Life' days, on 19/20 March 2024 in Bern. The goal of this meeting is for the researchers to meet and discuss their research. We expect similar meetings to be organised yearly each spring, with the aim to build a Swiss community in the field of habitability and origin of life.

DART impact might have reshaped Hera's target asteroid

“The code runs on a High Performance Computing Cluster here at the University,” explains Sabina Raducan leading the new impact simulation study reported in Nature Astronomy and co-chair of the Hera Impact Physics Working Group.

CSH at Physics Olympiad camp

CSH and NCCR PlanetS visited the Physics Olympiad camp on November 2023. 100 Highschool students experienced and learned some fascinating facts about gravity, observation and space missions.

Moon rocks with unique dust found

“Modern data processing methods allow us to gain completely new insights”, says Valentin Bickel, CSH Fellow who is a co-author of the study about Moon rocks🌔

An astronomical waltz reveals a sextuplet of planets

An international collaboration between astronomers using the CHEOPS and TESS space satellites, including NCCR PlanetS members from the University of Bern and the University of Geneva, have found a key new system of six transiting planets orbiting a bright star in a harmonic rhythm. This rare property enabled the team to determine the planetary orbits which initially appeared as an unsolvable riddle.

Elusive planets play “hide and seek” with CHEOPS

With the help of the CHEOPS space telescope an international team of European astronomers managed to clearly identify the existence of four new exoplanets. Dr. Solène Ulmer-Moll of the Universities of Bern and Geneva, and Dr. Hugh Osborn of the University of Bern, exploited the unique synergy of CHEOPS and the NASA satellite TESS, in order to detect a series of elusive exoplanets.

Robot Team to Explore the Moon!

In this UniAktuell article you will learn more about the participation of Valentin Bickel, Fellow at the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH), in the ESA "Space Resources Challenge".

Exocast - The exoplanet podcast

The monthly podcast about all things exoplanetary. An outreach project by three exoplanet astronomers, among them Dr Hugh Osborn, CHESS fellow at the University of Bern and MIT.

Space Resources Challenge

A Swiss consortium comprising Dr Valentin Bickel, CSH Fellow, is the winner of the robotic “Space Resources Challenge”. Congratulations Valentin!

CHEOPS extension

After more than three years in orbit, the mission of the CHEOPS space telescope has been extended.
Image: Artist’s impression of CHEOPS © ESA / ATG medialab

Bern’s Interstellar Head Chef

Maria Drozdovskaya searches for recipes every day. But not for balanced main courses or fine desserts, but for comets, stars, and planets. More on her research in this UniAktuell Article.

ESA’s Juice mission: From vision to mission

At the University of Bern, there are some people who have been involved with Juice from the very beginning. One of them is Yann Alibert. He was involved in a proposal to ESA for a space mission to explore the Jupiter system. More in the UniAktuell series "The people behind Juice"

Congratulations to Beatrice!

Beatrice Kulterer defended successfully her PhD the 17/02/23 - Congratulations!

https://www.unibe.ch/news/media_news/media_relations_e/media_releases/2023/media_releases_2023/james_webb_space_telescope_identifies_origins_of_icy_building_blocks_of_life/index_eng.html

James Webb Space Telescope identifies origins of icy building blocks of life

An international research team including the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) at the University of Bern and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS discovered the deepest and coldest ice ever detected in such a molecular cloud. Maria Drozdovskaya is co-author of the study.

Congratulations to Andrea!

Andrea Guzman Mesa defended successfully her PhD the 31/01/23 - Congratulations!

PhD defense

Beatrice Kulterer's PhD defense will take place on the 17/02/23 at 2pm in B5 (ExWi building, Sidlerstrasse 5). The title of the thesis is 'Characterizing Chemical Complexity during the Early Stages of Star Formation'.

Massive Exoplanet MEME Exhibition

The MEME welcomes anyone with an interest in astrophysics and aims to approach the topic with a sense of humor.

Co-curated by Marit Mol Lous, PhD assistent at the University of Bern and member of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS

PhD defense

Andrea Guzman Mesa's PhD defense will take place on the 31/01/23 at 9:30am in B7 (ExWi building, Sidlerstrasse 5). The title of the thesis is 'The diversity of sub-neptune planets'.

new CSH Directorate

Susanne Wampfler and Yann Alibert are the new Co-Directors of the CSH.

ERC Consolidator grant

Brice-Olivier Demory got awarded a Consolidator grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Because Switzerland is not associated to Horizon Europe for this call, the research project will be funded by the Swiss 'State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).

CSH Interaction Mechanisms & Schedule of Events

Days, times and venues of colloquium, seminars, lectures, group meetings, etc.

CSH Visitor's Wiki

We use the CSH Wiki to coordinate the CSH Visitor's Program, which hosts seminar and colloquium speakers as well as research visitors.

CSH & Bernoulli Fellowships

Designed to match the NASA Hubble Fellowships in duration (3 years) and research support, the CSH Fellowships aim to attract world-class postdoctoral researchers to the University of Bern to develop their independent research portfolios. The Bernoulli Fellowships operate in partnership with Oxford University: Bernoulli Fellows spend 2 years each at the CSH and Oxford for a term of 4 years in total.

Research Nodes of the CSH

Organisation of the research activities of the CSH.

Latest News & Press Releases

Major scientific and administrative developments of the CSH.

Public Outreach & Education

The Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) offers outreach events and activities for the public.

CSH Colloquium & Seminar Series

The CSH hosts the Colloquium and Seminar Series for international and local researchers to discuss cutting-edge research at the University of Bern.

Information for CSH Visitors

Travel preparations, reimbursement procedure, etc.

CSH Science & Religion Forum

An annual forum to stimulate constructive discussion between science, philosophy and religion.

CSH Distinguished Lectures

The CSH Distinguished Lecture Series brings eminent researchers of international standing to the University of Bern to deliver three lectures: a general talk for physicists, one for specialists and one for the public. Nominations for CSH Distinguished Lecturers may be made directly to the CSH Director.

More News

SHOL Days 2024

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