On October 19th 2016, the European probe ExoMars will land on Mars. The NOMAD spectrometer, which is of particular interest to researchers in the Laboratory of Planetary and Atmospheric Physics in Liege, will feature among the on-board instruments. 

The international team of astronomers, who revealed the existence of a small, close planetary system, provides additional observations on the composition and atmosphere of two of these exoplanets.

Astrophysicists have produced an infrared map of the surface of a super-Earth which has been published in the journal Nature. This event marks the beginning of a new area of research focussing on the dynamics of small exoplanets. 

While reviewing observations taken during flybys of Mars, Lauriane Soret and Jean-Claude Gérard were able to spot new aurorae in the Red Planet’s Southern Hemisphere and demonstrate their very peculiar features.

Located only 21 light years from Earth, HD 219134b is the nearest rocky planet known beyond our solar system. No doubt it will also be the most studied in the coming years.