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Stéphane Udry (born 1961 in
Sion, Switzerland Sion (, ; former ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss List of towns in Switzerland, town, a municipality, and the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Valais and of the district of Sion (district), Sion. it had a population of (known as '' ...
) is an
astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...
at the Geneva Observatory in
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, whose current work is primarily the search for extra-solar planets. He and his team, in 2007, discovered a possibly
terrestrial planet A terrestrial planet, tellurian planet, telluric planet, or rocky planet, is a planet that is composed primarily of silicate, rocks or metals. Within the Solar System, the terrestrial planets accepted by the IAU are the inner planets closest to ...
in the
habitable zone In astronomy and astrobiology, the habitable zone (HZ), or more precisely the circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ), is the range of orbits around a star within which a planetary surface can support liquid water given sufficient atmospheric pressu ...
of the Gliese 581 planetary system, approximately 20
light years A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by the International Astro ...
away in the constellation
Libra Libra generally refers to: * Libra (constellation), a constellation * Libra (astrology), an astrological sign based on the star constellation Libra may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Libra'' (novel), a 1988 novel by Don DeLillo Musi ...
. He also led the observational team that discovered HD 85512 b, another most promisingly habitable exoplanet.


Career

Udry earned a doctorate at the
University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...
in 1992, and spent two years at
Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
in
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
. Later, Udry returned to Geneva, and worked with Michel Mayor, the discoverer of
51 Pegasi b 51 Pegasi b, officially named Dimidium (), is an extrasolar planet approximately away in the constellation of Pegasus. It was the first exoplanet to be discovered orbiting a main-sequence star, the Sun-like 51 Pegasi, and marked a breakthr ...
, the first extrasolar planet found revolving around a normal star. In 2007, Udry was appointed full professor in the faculty of natural sciences at the University of Geneva.


Research

Udry's initial research concerned the dynamics of galaxies. His current work chiefly concerns the search for extra-solar planets by analyzing variations in the radial velocities of stars. Among them was Gliese 581c (announced April 25, 2007) which at the time, was the most likely candidate for
habitability Habitability is the adequacy of an environment for human living. Where housing is concerned, there are generally local ordinances which define habitability. If a residence complies with those laws, it is said to be habitable. In extreme environ ...
of any extrasolar planet discovered so far. The planet was discovered by analyzing data obtained by the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) on the
European Southern Observatory The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, commonly referred to as the European Southern Observatory (ESO), is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental research organisation made up of 16 m ...
's 3.6 meter telescope at
La Silla Observatory La Silla Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Chile with three telescopes built and operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Several other telescopes are also located at the site and are partly maintained by ESO. The observato ...
in
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
. He was interviewed by Mat Kaplan on ''Planetary Radio''. Udry described a new instrument known as the Echelle Spectrography for ''Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations'', dubbed
ESPRESSO Espresso (, ) is a concentrated form of coffee produced by forcing hot water under high pressure through finely ground coffee beans. Originating in Italy, espresso has become one of the most popular coffee-brewing methods worldwide. It is cha ...
, might allow astronomers to detect Earth-like planets within five to ten years from 2010. An upgraded HARPS, of which Udry lead the observational team, found evidence that Gliese 581d might be more habitable (rather than c or g), and also detected another promising candidate: HD 85512 b.


See also

* Euler Telescope * Next-Generation Transit Survey


References

20th-century Swiss astronomers University of Geneva alumni Rutgers University faculty Academic staff of the University of Geneva Living people 1961 births Discoverers of exoplanets People from Sion, Switzerland 21st-century Swiss astronomers {{Europe-astronomer-stub