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Division of Electronics, Detectors and Computing for Physics (DEDIP)

Institute of Research into the Fundamental Laws of the Universe

« The Astrophysics Division (DAp)

MIRI confirms the presence of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere of WASP-39b

Jan 22, 2024

MIRI confirms the presence of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere of WASP-39b

The James Webb Space Telescope has produced a new portrait of the atmosphere of exoplanet WASP-39b, a "hot Saturn" some 700 light-years away. After the first near-infrared observations in 2022, which revealed for the first time the presence of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, it was observed again in 2023, but this time in the far infrared, using the MIRI spectrometer.

Jan 17, 2024

Lack of planets near fast-rotating stars: observational bias or physical cause?

To unravel this mystery, several teams with diverse skills from the Astrophysics Department had to come together, as the architecture that unites the star to its planet is highly complex. They had to combine a detailed understanding of stellar and planetary physics, exploring their interactions, with a thorough knowledge of the observations made by NASA's Kepler satellite to be able to decipher the data.

Lack of planets near fast-rotating stars: observational bias or physical cause?

Antoine Strugarek receives an ERC Consolidator grant for his ExoMagnets project, dedicated to characterising the magnetism of exoplanets

Nov 22, 2023

Antoine Strugarek receives an ERC Consolidator grant for his ExoMagnets project, dedicated to characterising the magnetism of exoplanets

ExoMagnets aims to develop new theories and high-performance simulations using future exascale computing infrastructures in order to exploit existing and future observations of the magnetism of distant exoplanets.

Antoine Strugarek, an astrophysicist in Irfu's Astrophysics Department, has been awarded an ERC Consolidator contract. The core of his ExoMagnets project is to understand the magnetic coupling between an exoplanet and its star, and therefore the magnetic field of exoplanets, which is crucial for the habitability of a planet.

Nov 15, 2023

The ammonia trail leads to exoplanets

The consortium of laboratories that has developed the MIRI instrument for the JWST is benefiting from guaranteed observation time. The CEA's Astrophysics Department, which is part of the consortium, has defined and coordinated the exoplanet observation programme. Among the objects selected are a number of brown dwarfs, which are excellent proxies for studying giant exoplanets, particularly those that orbit far from their star, much further away than the planets in our solar system.

The ammonia trail leads to exoplanets

Irfu astrophysicist wins 2023 L'Oréal-Unesco Young Talent Award for Women in Science

Oct 10, 2023

Irfu astrophysicist wins 2023 L'Oréal-Unesco Young Talent Award for Women in Science

For the 17th edition of the Prix Jeunes Talents France, the L'Oréal Foundation rewarded 35 brilliant young female researchers in France, selected from 618 eligible applications by a jury of excellence comprising 32 researchers from the French Academy of Sciences. At Irfu's Astrophysics Department, Achrène Dyrek received the award for physics. Achrène Dyrek has just obtained her PhD in astrophysics.

Jun 20, 2023

JWST observations suggest that the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 c may have a thin atmosphere.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a group of astronomers led by MPIA, in collaboration with a team from the Astrophysics Department of CEA Paris-Saclay, searched for an atmosphere on the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 c. Although the planet is almost identical to Venus in terms of size and mass, its atmosphere turned out to be very different. By analyzing the heat emitted by the planet, they concluded that it may have only a tenuous atmosphere containing a minimum of carbon dioxide.

JWST observations suggest that the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 c may have a thin atmosphere.

Auscultating a mini-Neptune: taking the temperature with JWST's MIRI instrument

May 10, 2023

Auscultating a mini-Neptune: taking the temperature with JWST's MIRI instrument

Discovered in 2009, exoplanet GJ1214b orbits a small star just 40 light-years away. With a mass around six times that of Earth and an atmosphere made up of hydrogen and helium, it is considered a "mini-Neptune". A team from NASA, in collaboration with researchers from CEA Paris-Saclay, pointed the JWST at the planet using the MIRI instrument, built by CEA Paris-Saclay, for some 40 hours.

Mar 27, 2023

MIRIm instrument on the James Webb space telescope detects, for the first time, the thermal emission of a temperate rocky planet

An international team of researchers has used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to measure the temperature of the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 b. This is the world's first detection of thermal emission from a rocky exoplanet as small and “cool” as the rocky planets in our own solar system. TRAPPIST-1 b receives about twice the amount of energy as Venus receives from the Sun and four times more than Earth.

MIRIm instrument on the James Webb space telescope detects, for the first time, the thermal emission of a temperate rocky planet

4D-STAR: Taking stellar structure and evolution to higher dimensions in the era of space asteroseismology

Oct 25, 2022

4D-STAR: Taking stellar structure and evolution to higher dimensions in the era of space asteroseismology

The four principal investigators receive almost 10 million euros for their project 4D-STAR, which will develop and deliver innovative numerical models of rotating magnetic stars in three spatial dimensions throughout their evolution.

Sep 27, 2022

How to measure magnetic fields within binary systems emitting gravitational waves?

The most intense magnetic fields of the universe in the context of LISA.

The LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) space mission by ESA and NASA, will observe gravitational waves from space. After its launch around 2035, LISA will observe in the low frequency band of the gravitational waves spectra and will capture the signal coming from sources which are not detected yet in the high frequency band of ground-based detectors such like Virgo, LIGO, KAGRA, or GEO600.

How to measure magnetic fields within binary systems emitting gravitational waves?

Solar Orbiter confirms the existence of magnetic folds ejected by our Sun

Sep 15, 2022

Solar Orbiter confirms the existence of magnetic folds ejected by our Sun

As part of the Solar Orbiter science support activities and in conjunction with the ERC Synergy WholeSun grant, researchers from CEA Paris-Saclay, together with an international collaboration, have developed advanced numerical simulations to study the formation of structures of the solar wind. These simulations allow studying the interaction of the convection at the solar surface with the magnetic field. They reveal the appearance of twisted magnetic structures that can participate in the creation of switchbacks.

Jul 12, 2022

First Images from the Webb Telescope

The dawn of a new era in astronomy has begun as the world discovers for the first time the full capabilities of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope's first color images and spectroscopic data, which reveal a spectacular array of previously elusive cosmic features, were released on July 12, 2022.

First Images from the Webb Telescope

Hubble observations used to answer key exoplanet questions

Apr 25, 2022

Hubble observations used to answer key exoplanet questions

Archival observations of 25 hot Jupiters by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have been analysed by an international team of astronomers, enabling them to answer five open questions important to our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres. Amongst other findings, the team found that the presence of metal oxides and hydrides in the hottest exoplanet atmospheres was clearly correlated with the atmospheres' being thermally inverted.

Mar 26, 2022

X-ray imaging of a solar flare with the Solar Orbiter STIX instrument and new simulations of the Sun

The Solar Orbiter mission, launched on February 10, 2020 from Cape Canaveral has already traveled more than 2 billion km. Since its passage just 470 km above the Earth in November 2021, the science mission has officially begun. On March 26, 2022, Solar Orbiter passed within 0.32 astronomical units of our star (about 1/3 the distance from Earth to the Sun) for its fourth perihelion (the point in its orbit where Solar Orbiter is closest to the Sun) at a speed of 198,000 km/h.

X-ray imaging of a solar flare with the Solar Orbiter STIX instrument and new simulations of the Sun

Green light for the latest developments of the PLATO mission

Jan 14, 2022

Green light for the latest developments of the PLATO mission

ESA's PLATO mission has been given the green light to continue its development after a successful critical review on January 11, 2022. PLATO, or PLANetary Transits and Oscillations of stars, is the third medium-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision program. Its objective is to find and study a large number of planetary systems, with a focus on the properties of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone around solar-type stars.

Dec 01, 2021

The planet with the eight hour year!

Ultralight and super fast

In the world of extrasolar planets, "GJ 367 b" is a featherweight. With half the mass of Earth, the newly discovered planet is one of the lightest of the nearly 5,000 exoplanets known today. It takes about eight hours for the extrasolar planet to orbit its host star. With a diameter of just over 9,000 kilometers, GJ 367 b is slightly larger than Mars but smaller than Earth. This planetary system is located just under 31 light years from our planet and is therefore ideal for further studies of its properties.

The planet with the eight hour year!

HAT-P-32b: a rapidly evaporating planet

Oct 12, 2021

HAT-P-32b: a rapidly evaporating planet

Planets that are strongly irradiated by their host stars develop extended atmospheres that can be probed during transits. These atmospheres undergo photoevaporation which can lead to significant changes in the mass and composition of the planets if it continues for several gigayears. These planets are therefore valuable for understanding planetary evolution.

Apr 28, 2021

Towards a systematic search for magnetic fields in evolved stars

An international collaboration led by a team from the Astrophysics Department/AIM Laboratory of IRFU has predicted and characterised the expected signature of internal magnetic fields in stars through their seismology - called asteroseismology.

Towards a systematic search for magnetic fields in evolved stars

Asteroseismology confirms older stars are spinning faster than expected

Apr 22, 2021

Asteroseismology confirms older stars are spinning faster than expected

An international team including researchers from the Astrophysics Department (DAp) of CEA/Irfu, working in particular at the laboratory for the Dynamics of Stars, (Exo) planets and their Environment (LDE3), has been able to demonstrate that stars rotate faster than expected as they get older.

Feb 28, 2021

The 2021 MERAC Prize for the Best Early Career to Antoine Strugarek (DAp-CEA)

An European prize for ground-breaking contributions in stellar astrophysics

The 2021 MERAC Prize for the Best Early Career Researcher in Theoretical Astrophysics is awarded to Dr Antoine Strugarek (CEA Saclay, France) for ground- breaking contributions in stellar astrophysics, including dynamo theory, predictions of solar flares and pioneering work on star-exoplanet interactions. The prize from the MERAC foundation (Mobilization for European Research in Astrophysics and Cosmology) is awarded each year by the European Society of Astronomy (ESA).

The 2021 MERAC Prize for the Best Early Career to Antoine Strugarek (DAp-CEA)

ELT/METIS instrument formally entering final design phase

Jun 04, 2020

ELT/METIS instrument formally entering final design phase

On May 18th 2020, ESO formally closed the preliminary design review of the ELT/METIS thermal infrared instrument. Following this important milestone, the instrument enters into the final design phase (phase C) in which the its design will be frozen just before its building.

Jan 13, 2020

Vibration of a star and galactic collision

A collision of the Milky Way with a small galaxy accurately dated by the study of the star ν Indi

ν Indi is a bright star (visual magnitude mv = 5.3) visible with the naked-eye from the southern hemisphere. By using ground data (ESO telescopes), space data (Gaia and Tess missions) and by combining very diverse spectroscopic, astrometric, kinematic or asteroseismological information, an international team including two researchers from the Department of Astrophysics / AIM Laboratory of CEA-Saclay was able to determine the epoch, between 11.6 and 13.

Vibration of a star and galactic collision

Voyage 2050

Dec 21, 2019

The European Space Agency is shaping its science programme for the period 2035-2050

After the Horizon 2000 programme started in 1983, followed by its extension Horizon 2000 Plus, the European Space Agency (ESA) is committed until 2035 into the Cosmic Vision programme that includes the launches of Athena (2031) and LISA (2034). To plan its scientific priorities beyond this date, ESA has solicited the community through a call for ideas/projects.

Oct 07, 2019

Lisa Bugnet, astrophysicist at the CEA, 2019 winner of the L'Oréal-Unesco Prize for Women in Science

Lisa Bugnet is one of 35 young women researchers who won the L'Oréal-Unesco Fellowships for Women in Science in 2019. As an asteroseismologist at the Dynamic Laboratory of Stars, (Exo)planets and their Environment of the DAP/Irfu, she uses seismic waves emitted by stars to probe their heart and understand their evolution from birth to the end of their life.

Lisa Bugnet, astrophysicist at the CEA, 2019 winner of the L'Oréal-Unesco Prize for Women in Science

Gravitational waves to detect exoplanets

Jul 08, 2019

Gravitational waves to detect exoplanets

The LISA experiment will be able to detect planets throughout the Galaxy

The recent detections of gravitational waves, tiny vibrations of space-time, have opened a new window in the observation of the Universe. Two researchers, including Camilla Danielski from the Astrophysics Department of CEA-Irfu, have just demonstrated that, when these waves are emitted by two dense stars in orbit, they can be disturbed if a planet is in orbit around this pair of stars.

Jun 30, 2019

Planets around Alpha Centauri

A second life for the CEA VISIR camera

The first comprehensive planetary search campaign around the nearest star Alpha Centauri A has just been performed on the VLT telescope of the Southern European Observatory (ESO) using the NEAR infrared instrument (Near Earths in the AlphaCen Region). Based on the VISIR infrared camera built under the coordination of the Astrophysics Department of CEA-Irfu and in service at ESO since 2004, the NEAR instrument is designed to detect planets with the Earth's mass and above.

Planets around Alpha Centauri

Giant crash in the planetary system Kepler-107

Jan 27, 2019

Giant crash in the planetary system Kepler-107

An international collaboration, involving the Astrophysics Department-Laboratory AIM of CEA irfu, participated in the study of an exoplanetary system, Kepler-107 and revealed an amazing distribution of its 4 planets of which two seem potentially resulting from a giant impact. Thanks to asteroseismology (the study of star vibrations) and the modeling of planetary transits, researchers have been able to determine the mass and radius of the central star and its planets with great precision.

Oct 17, 2017

The fate of exoplanets in close orbit

Planetary migration: magnetic or tidal effects ?

A large part of the exoplanets known today are in very close orbit around their star, allowing very intense interactions between the planets and the host star. An international collaboration, led by researchers from Department of Astrophysics-AIM Laboratory at CEA-Irfu, has shown that these planets in close orbits migrate rapidly, due to the combined effect of tidal forces and magnetic forces. This study provides essential elements for understanding the formation and evolution of star-planet systems.

The fate of exoplanets in close orbit

The heart of the sun rotates about 4 times faster than its surface

Jul 31, 2017

The heart of the sun rotates about 4 times faster than its surface

The study of solar vibrations reveals the astonishing behavior of the thermonuclear center of the Sun

By analyzing more than 16 years of data collected by the GOLF instrument onboard the SOHO satellite, an international collaboration involving two researchers from the Department of Astrophysics-Laboratory AIM of CEA-IRFU has demonstrated a rapid rotation of heart of the sun. For the first time, researchers were able to indirectly determine the properties of solar gravity waves, oscillations affecting the innermost layers of the star.

Jul 13, 2017

The origin of the solar cycle unveiled

The secret of the star magnetic cycles

Thanks to new numerical simulations, a scientific team led by researchers from the Astrophysics Department-Laboratory AIM of CEA-Irfu has succeeded in explaining why the magnetic field of the Sun reverses every 11 years. Scientists have highlighted the existence of a strong feedback between the star magnetic field and its internal rotation profile, with temporal modulations that ultimately determine the period of the cycle.

The origin of the solar cycle unveiled

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