The key to understand our origins is in the interiors and atmospheres of the giant planets. Jupiter is the biggest planet in our system and the most influential one: its large mass shaped the architecture of the solar system and due to its fast formation it contains valuable information of the solar system formation history.
In orbit since July 2016, the first orbits of Juno mission had led to a remarkable improving of the planet gravity data, changing our knowledge of the planetary interior and leading to a much better comprehension of the giant planet and its role in the solar system.
In this seminar, I will present the new Juno results, the models we use to understand Jupiter’s interior and its differential rotation and the main challenges and questions that remained to be solved.
ALMA has already produced many impressive and scientifically compelling results. However, continuous technical upgrades and development are key for ALMA to continue to lead astronomical research through the 2020-2030 decade and beyond. The East Asia ALMA development program consists of the execution of short term projects, and the planning and initial studies for longer term developments that are essential for future upgrades. We present an overview of all these ongoing East Asia ALMA development projects and upgrade studies, which aim to maintain and even increase the outstanding scientific impact of ALMA in the near future and over the coming decades.
La nébuleuse d’Orion est l’une des régions célestes les plus observées de la Voie Lactée. Elle est le siège d’une intense formation stellaire particulièrement bien étudiée dans les domaines mm et submm qui révèlent l’intérieur des régions froides et sombres, inobservables en optique, où se forment les étoiles. La haute résolution spatiale et la sensibilité de l’interféromètre de l’IRAM au Plateau de Bure et de l’interféromètre ALMA, ainsi que la grande bande en fréquence offerte par ALMA nous ont permis de : cartographier l’émission de plusieurs molécules complexes organiques, estimer les abondances moléculaires et adresser quelques questions importantes en lien avec la complexité moléculaire dans Orion. Nos observations ne conduisent pas à un schéma unique de formation et d’excitation moléculaire, mais la chimie à l’œuvre dans les ‘fragments’ proto-stellaires au centre de la nébuleuse d’Orion peut être comparée à la chimie qui domine dans les comètes du système Solaire.
The exploration of Jupiter’s and Saturn’s system respectively by Galileo (1996-2003) and Cassini-Huygens (2004-2017), has revealed that several moons around Jupiter (Europa, Ganymede, Callisto) and around Saturn (Titan, Enceladus, Mimas) harbor a subsurface salty ocean underneath their cold icy surface. By flying through the icy-vapor plume erupting from Enceladus’ south pole, Cassini proceeded for the first time to the analysis of fresh materials coming from an extraterrestrial ocean. These analyses revealed that Enceladus possess all the ingredients for the emergence of life. Even if there is no direct evidence yet, similar ingredients might also be present within Europa, Ganymede and Titan, which will be characterized by future exploration missions currently under development at ESA (JUICE) and NASA (Europa Clipper, Dragonfly).
Even if the astrobiological potential of these ocean worlds are very promising, at the exception of Enceladus, their oceanic environments are still poorly known. In this seminar, after giving an overview of the current knowledge on these ocean moons, I will present how future exploration and laboratory works will allow us to better determine the physico-chemical conditions of their subsurface oceans. In particular, I will discuss the possible occurrence of active aqueous processes on these bodies and the implications for the habitability of their subsurface oceans. Finally, I will discuss how the numerical models and experiments developed for ocean moons can be used to characterize the physico-chemical evolution of water-rich exoplanets that we are just starting to unveil.
Gabriel Tobie, Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique, CNRS/Univ. Nantes
The workhorse instruments of the current 8-10m class observatories are multi-object spectrographs (MOS), providing comprehensive follow-up of ground-based and space-borne imaging data. With the advent of even deeper imaging surveys from, e.g., HST, VISTA, JWST and Euclid, many science cases require complementary spectroscopy with high sensitivity and good spatial resolution to identify the objects and to measure their astrophysical parameters. The light-gathering power of the 39m ELT and its spatial resolution, combined with a MOS, will enable the large samples necessary to tackle some of the key scientific drivers of the ELT project, ranging from studies of stellar populations out to the highest-redshift galaxies. Consequently, a MOS-facility is foreseen within the ELT instrumentation plan.
I will first and briefly describe MOSAIC prominent Science Cases and, then, enter into some details of the instrument conceptual design as available now at the end of phase A. I will discuss the present management of the project and will describe the way we are foreseeing the fabrication phase including the design phase towards the Final Design Review (FDR).
I will end the presentation by listing the main issues that are pending now and will have to be sorted out before Phase B starts (January 2019).