Observatoire de Paris - PSL - Centre de recherche en astronomie et astrophysique

Friday 9 October, look up: a laser will link Meudon to Paris

FICHET Fabien — 2026-10-02T08:36:52Z

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the union of its Paris and Meudon sites, the Paris Observatory - PSL is firing a laser beam between its two domes. Join us on Friday 9 October 2026 at 7.45 pm, on the terrace of the Château de Meudon or from home.
As night falls, a green laser beam will set off from Meudon, cross the sky to the Arago dome in Paris, then return to its starting point. Nearly 17 kilometres there and back, covered in 57 millionths of a second.
This tiny interval will be (…)

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The Paris Observatory - PSL, a partner of the 2026 Star's Up Festival in Meudon

Frederique Auffret — 2026-09-25T11:19:41Z

For its 8th edition, the Star's Up space festival will take place at Hangar Y in Meudon on Saturday, September 26, and Sunday, September 27, 2026. Come meet the scientists from the Paris Observatory - PSL, who have been regular participants at this major space event since its inception.
The Star's Up Festival welcomes visitors of all ages on Saturday, September 26, and Sunday, September 27, 2026, for a weekend of lectures, screenings, exhibitions, workshops, and more at Hangar Y in Meudon (…)

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Observatoire de Paris - PSL participates in Fête de la science 2026

Frederique Auffret — 2026-09-21T20:06:20Z

The Paris Observatory – PSL is taking part in the Fête de la Science by opening its Meudon site to the public on an exceptional basis on Saturday 10 October 2026. Choose from the range of tours on offer and book your place now! Admission is by booking only, subject to availability.
Come and enjoy a change of scenery amidst the stars on the hills above Meudon and take part, free of charge, in a variety of activities devised by astronomers, some of which have been specifically designed for (…)

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BepiColombo: Separation of the MTM Transfer Module After an 8-Year Journey

Frederique Auffret — 2026-09-14T16:38:35Z

On its way to Mercury, the BepiColombo spacecraft reached a major milestone on September 3, 2026: the separation, more than 200 million kilometers from Earth, of the MTM (Mercury Transfer Module), which had been carrying the two scientific probes, MPO and Mio. This operation was followed with great excitement by the teams at the Paris Observatory – PSL, who have been deeply involved in this mission for many years.

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The “pocket rings“ of the small body Chariklo are evolving

Frederique Auffret — 2026-09-09T18:10:08Z

Discovered in 2013, the two pocket rings of the small body Chariklo now show signs of evolution in their structure and opacity. This discovery was made possible by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and involves researchers from the Paris Observatory - PSL, the CNRS, and Sorbonne University. It is the subject of a scientific paper published in the journal Science Advances on September 9, 2026.
Located at some two billion kilometers from Earth, Chariklo is a “Centaur object,” belonging (…)

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Understanding the roundness of the Earth using a virtual reality headset app

Frederique Auffret — 2026-09-04T16:03:59Z

Since 28 July 2026, the Space Department of the Time-Space Laboratory at the Paris Observatory – PSL invites you to discover – through the app it has developed for virtual reality headsets, which can be downloaded free of charge from the Meta platform – how the scholars of antiquity came to understand the roundness of the Earth in their time.
We know that many scholars and philosophers of antiquity were convinced that the Earth is round. How could they have been so sure without access to (…)

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First light for the VLT's MOONS spectrograph in Chile

Frederique Auffret — 2026-09-03T14:58:10Z

Le spectrographe MOONS vient de franchir avec succès une étape majeure : ses premières observations, réalisées cet été au Very Large Telescope (VLT) de l'ESO au Chili, démontrent déjà les performances exceptionnelles de cet instrument de nouvelle génération. Annoncé par l'ESO le 3 septembre 2026, ce résultat vient couronner plus de 14 années de travail des équipes de l'Observatoire de Paris - PSL et du CNRS au sein d'un ambitieux consortium international.
MOONS (Multi-Object Optical and (…)

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The fastest star in the Milky Way orbits so close to our supermassive black hole that it feels its rotation

Frederique Auffret — 2026-09-01T17:49:22Z

Thanks to the performance of GRAVITY+, the VLTI instrument in Chile, and new analytical methods developed in part at the Paris Observatory – PSL, an international team has discovered S301, a star skimming past Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of our Galaxy, at a record speed of nearly 25,000 km/s, approaching it at a distance comparable to that between the Sun and Saturn. This discovery is reported in an article in the journal Nature, published on 19 August 2026. (…)

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Contribute to the advancement of research on the Universe

Michel Magnan — 2026-08-18T13:27:59Z

By supporting the Observatoire de Paris-PSL through the taxe d'apprentissage, you are playing an active role in the development of astronomical research and the training of future generations of scientists and engineers. Your contribution enables us to develop modern teaching tools and infrastructures adapted to the astrophysics professions of tomorrow.
Observatoire de Paris-PSL and its Doctoral School in a few words The Observatoire de Paris - PSL is a unique research establishment, in (…)

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Visual proof: Betelgeuse does have a companion star

FICHET Fabien — 2026-07-28T12:37:45Z

An international team led by an astronomer from Paris Observatory – PSL, involving scientists from the CNRS, Université Grenoble Alpes and the Côte d'Azur Observatory, provides the most convincing evidence to date that Betelgeuse is not a solitary star. Using observations from the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT), the researchers obtained the most significant image ever acquired of its companion star, putting an end to nearly a century of questioning. The (…)

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