Press release

Published on July 01, 2026

An international team led by Salomé Grouffal of the Marseille Astrophysics Laboratory (Aix-Marseille University/ CNES/CNRS) and the Grenoble Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics (CNRS/Grenoble Alpes University) has spent ten years studying an exceptional planetary system comprising at least six planets with long orbital periods, the outermost of which reaches the orbit of Mars. Such a rare system offers a new window into understanding the diversity of planetary systems. The planets in (…)

Read more

Published on June 02, 2026
Press alert CNRS / Université Grenoble Alpes

The rotation of a protoplanetary disc (a disc where planets are being formed) has been observed directly for the very first time by mapping the emissions from the dust grains within it. The disc in question surrounds the young star AB Aurigae. Although it appears to generally rotate in accordance with the laws of physics, certain regions close to the star show an unexpected departure from this behaviour. A body of evidence suggests that this anomaly is caused by the presence of giant planets (…)

Read more

Published on February 06, 2026
Press release Aix-Marseille Université / CNRS

Using the NIKA2 camera on IRAM’s 30-metre telescope, an international team of astronomers, including scientists from the Marseille Astrophysics Laboratory (amU/CNES/CNRS) and IPAG (OSUG, UGA/CNRS), have achieved a new sensitivity record and discovered a vast cosmic structure comprising massive, dust-rich galaxies dating back to a time when the universe was only one billion years old. The results of this work were published on January 26, 2026, in Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A).
The (…)

Read more

Published on December 16, 2025

Protoplanetary disks are composed of a mixture of gas, dust, and ices, and constitue the birth place of planets. Ices play a key role in planetary formation, in delivering water to planets, and in composition of planetary atmospheres. It is therefore important to be able to characterize and quantify the abundance of ice within protoplanetary disks.
Previous studies, as well as programs using the James Webb Space Telescope, have attempted to quantify ice abundance through the study of ice (…)

Read more

Published on December 10, 2025

Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, two new studies present an in-depth analysis of the atmosphere of the planet β Pictoris b using interferometry with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). These observations extend, for the first time, both the spectral resolution and wavelength coverage of exoplanet spectra obtained through ground-based interferometry. The analysis of its atmospheric carbon-to-oxygen ratio provides key clues about its formation process. The results (…)

Read more

Published on November 26, 2025

The NOEMA radio-interferometer has characterized an accretion streamer feeding a young protoplanetary disk. This flow of interstellar material has a major impact on the physical structure and chemistry of this disk, influencing how future planets would form in this system. This breakthrough was made possible by the work carried out by Maxime Tanious during his PhD thesis at IPAG (CNRS -UGA) and the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM – CNRS/MPG/IGN).
Légende: Composite image (…)

Read more

Published on November 21, 2025

Young stars are often surrounded by a disc made of gas and dust. In that disc, small dust grains grow bigger and bigger, constituting the first step towards the formation of planets by core accretion. However, young stars are rarely alone: they are usually part of multiple systems, where they orbit alongside other stars. In this context, it is important to understand how planets form in multiple-star systems. This can be done by characterising dust grains, their evolution, and their ability (…)

Read more

Published on November 17, 2025

Last week, four lasers were projected into the skies above the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) Paranal site in Chile. The lasers are each used to create an artificial star, which astronomers use to measure and then correct the blur caused by Earth’s atmosphere. The striking launch of these lasers, one from each of the eight-metre telescopes at Paranal, in which IPAG is participating, is a significant milestone of the GRAVITY+ project - a large and complex upgrade to ESO’s Very Large (…)

Read more

Published on June 30, 2025
Press release CNRS / Observatoire de Paris - PSL / UGA

► One of the main objectives of contemporary astronomy is the search for exoplanets, which provide a better understanding of how planetary systems form. ► For the first time since its launch in 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope has enabled the discovery of a new exoplanet; it is located in the debris disk of a young star. ► It is the lightest planet observed by direct imagery, and represents an important stage in the imaging of less and less massive planets that are more comparable to (…)

Read more

Published on June 05, 2025

Most stars in the Universe exist in binary or multiple star systems, where the presence of close-in companion stars in such systems can adversely influence the formation and orbital stability of planets around one of the stars. An international team of astrophysicists, involved scientist from institut de planétologie et d’astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG-OSUG, CNRS/UGA), led by Professor Man Hoi LEE from the Department of Earth Sciences and the Department of Physics at The University of Hong (…)

Read more