The Exoplanets and Habitability Group will be involved in four projects that have been awarded with observation time in the third cycle of proposal calls using the Mid InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) onboard the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), three of them as Principal Investigator. The projects will result in an improved understanding of the characteristics and formation of cold companions.
Physicists at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich wanted to know whether the planned LIFE space mission could really detect traces of life on other planets. Yes, it can. The researchers reached this conclusion with the help of observations of our own planet.
This study aims to identify exemplary science cases for observing N2O, CH3Cl, and CH3Br in exoplanet atmospheres at abundances consistent with biogenic production using a space-based mid-infrared nulling interferometric observatory, such as the LIFE (Large Interferometer For Exoplanets) mission concept.
The ETH-led LIFE space mission aims at the detection and atmospheric characterization of small, temperate exoplanets, to asses if some of them show signs of biological activity, i.e. life outside our solar system.
At its meeting of 6 and 7 December 2023 and upon application of Joël Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, the ETH Board appointed twelve professors and awarded the title "Professor of Practice" once.
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.
Lecture Series about selected topics of space research and exploration consisting of individual talks given by different leading experts from academia and industry.
The Exoplanets and Habitability group of the Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics was awarded 24h of observing time with the new Infrared instrument ERIS (Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph) at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Paranal, Chile.
The project „Quantifying the prospects for characterizing habitable and inhabited terrestrial exoplanets with future observations“ is a joint effort between the research groups of Derek Vance (Institute for Geochemistry and Petrology) and Sascha Quanz (Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics) and will be financially supported by the COPL, Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life.
With a constellation of five satellites, the international LIFE initiative led by ETH Zurich hopes to one day detect traces of life on exoplanets. A laboratory experiment in the Department of Physics is now set to demonstrate the planned measurement method.
