Jul 12, 2022
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.
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.
Dec 10, 2021
Successful of the calibration of the complete flighting model
The X-ray telescope MXT, one of the two instruments under French responsibility onboard the SVOM Chinese-French satellite payload, has just completed an important step in the project's progress, the calibration of the complete flying instrument.
Nov 13, 2020
ESA has adopted Ariel (Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey), the 4th medium-class space mission of its Cosmic Vision program. Ariel is expected to be launched in 2029 by Ariane 6 from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou. The French team, composed of CNES, CEA and CNRS, has taken charge of the design, production and delivery of the AIRS spectrometer. Pierre Olivier Lagage, astrophysicist at Irfu, is one of the 2 co-PI for the ARIEL consortium; the other co-PI is Jean-Philippe Beaulieu from IAP.
May 23, 2018
The European Spatial Agency retains the mission of exploration of galaxies
The SPICA infrared space telescope has been shortlisted by the European Space Agency (ESA) to participate in the final competition which will see in September 2021 the choice of the next mission of medium size ESA (M5 mission). SPICA is a large infrared telescope (diameter 2.5 m) fully cooled to a temperature of only a few degrees above absolute zero.
Apr 16, 2017
The PILOT astrophysics experiment has been launched the 17th April under a stratospheric balloon from Alice Springs in central Australia. The aim is to observe the polarization of the emission of dust particles present in the interstellar medium of our Galaxy and the nearby galaxies. With a mass of nearly one ton, PILOT [1] uses the biggest balloons launched by the National Center for Space Studies (CNES).
Mar 11, 2017
First light of the ArTéMiS camera at two wavelengths and first results on interstellar filaments
The new ArTéMiS submillimetric camera was successfully re-installed in June 2016 on the APEX telescope in the Atacama desert in Chile. In its new configuration, with an increased number of detectors, this camera can simultaneously obtain images at 350 and 450 microns.
