In November 1572, a nearby star exploded in a supernova and was observed at the time by Tycho Brahe. Exactly 450 years later, we can study its remnant, the huge cloud made of all the matter of the star ejected at high speeds. The ejected material is heated to tens of millions Kelvin and radiates most of its energy in the X-ray (0.1-10 keV) band.
Currently, the Chandra X-ray telescope...
Nearly a year ago, the most expensive space telescope ever built was launched into space. After traveling for 6 months, it began to explore the infra-red universe in June. In 4 months, JWST's extraordinary spatial resolution already allowed groundbreaking discoveries in the field of galaxy formation and evolution. From the first detection of extremely old galaxies (back when the universe was...
Strong lensing -- the effect of light being bent by massive objects such as galaxies and forming circular ring-like images -- is one of the most striking phenomena in observational cosmology. If multiple images are observed, they be used to measure cosmological distances and the expansion rate of the Universe. However, strong lensing images are often distorted by other nearby galaxies or...
After the recent discovery of the massive nature of neutrinos, through the observation of their oscillations, we now enter an era of precision measurement of the oscillation parameters. The next long-baseline neutrino accelerator experiments will be crucial for these precision measurements and will need to feature innovative detector technologies that offer high target mass (to acquire large...
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are an amazing class of transient phenomena in the Universe. GRBs are detected from space by satellites thanks to the flash of gamma-ray photons released within an ultra-relativistic jet. The jet is thought to be produced by a new-born accreting black hole formed after the collapse of a massive star, Long-GRBs (LGRBs), or the merger of two compact objects, Short-GRBs...
Understanding the atmospheric circulation, radiative transfer and atmo-
spheric chemistry of exoplanets is crucial for our understanding of these objects.
In particular, Hot Jupiters are among the most observed type of exoplanets and
have no equivalent in our Solar System. During the last decade, observational
and modelling efforts have been made to begin the atmospheric...
