SOLAR SYSTEM ORIGIN : protoplanetary disk evolution, rings origin, satellite formation , Moon origin
SPACE EXPLORATION: Cassini mission, CHEOPS mission, HERA mission, MMX mission
EXOPLANETS : Magma Oceans and sub-Neptunes
I am Sébastien CHARNOZ. I am full Professor at Université Paris Cité (UPC) and Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), and honorary member of Institut Universitaire de France (IUF)
Today, I do my research at IPGP, in Paris historical center and I teach at all levels at UPC in the Physics departement. Before 2015 I used to do my research at CEA, in the Astrophysics department (DAP).
I am a physicist, and my domain of interest covers problems related to the origin of planetary bodies :
Satellite formation (giant planets satellites, the Moon, Phobos and Deimos)
Saturn's rings origin and evolution
Protoplanetary disks : origin and evolution
Formation of the first solids of the Solar Sysem
Exoplanets : magma oceans
I do mostly theoretical models using numerical simulations, but models are useless if they are not constrained by laboratory data or space observations. For that, I have the privilege to have been implied in several international space missions devoted to Solar System exploration and exoplanets characterization:
Cassini-Huygens mission (NASA/ESA) associate team member of the ISS instrument (Imaging Sub-System) (2002-2017)
CHEOPS mission (ESA) : Team Member, appointed by ESA (2015-2022)
HERA mission (ESA) : Team Member(2020-)
MMX mission (JAXA) : member of the Origin Group, and MIRS instrument (2019-)
I am member, and head, of a wonderful multidisciplinary team at IPGP: the CAGE team, that means "Cosmochemistry Astrophysics and Experimental Geophysics"
July 2025 : Invited seminar at CALTECH on kinetic condensation of Solar Systems solids.
June 2025 : Invited at CAB (Madrid) to work on the MMX landing site dynamical modelisation
April 2025: HERA, APOPHIS and RAMSES mission meeting in TOKYO.
Mars Flybye by HERA mission in March 2025: beautiful !
Invited seminar at Centro de AstroBiologia CAB / INTA/ CSIC, Madrid "Formation of the First Solar System Solids : origin, transport and non-equilibrium processes"
Invited seminar at Université Paris Cité Physics Department (Feb 14 2025) "Origin of the Moon"
Organisation of the PHOBOS Workshop in Paris (3-4 Feb 2025): Wonderful Worokshop on the martian Moon, 30 attendees
Paper : accepted in Icarus (2025) :" Degassing of the proto-Phobos : implication for the MMX mission" check it out !
Kyoto University (JAPAN, January 2025). Talk : " Degassing of proto-Moon via tidally assisted escape"
Centro de AstroBiologia CAB / INTA/ CSIC, Madrid (January 2025). Collaboration on small bodies surface physics.
University of California - Santa-Cruz (January 2025), seminar "Moon Formation"
University of Bayreuth (December 2024), invited seminar, No-equilibrium Condensation
USTC (November 2024, China) : Scientific invitation to collaborate on questions related to Moon's formation and condensation thermodynamics.
HERA space mission launch (October 2024) : Launch from Florida on a Space X launcher !!
The Hera Launch was a success !! But we escaped the Force 5 Milton hurricane that hitted Florida the day after !
Field Trip in the French Alps, with students of USTC University (China) to study the French Alps geology and structural system, in collaboration with Univ. Grenoble Alpe.
METSOC meeting in Bruxelles (Agust 1st 2024) : Presentaton : Non equilibrium Condensation of chondrites
Nice observatory, 22-26 July 2024, TOP seminar : Non equilibrium Condensation of Solar System solids
College de France (June 28 2024) : Presentation at College de France meeting : Non equilibrium Condensation of Solar System primitive meteorites
Museum d'Histoire Naturelle (June 26 2024) : seminar on : Non equilibrium Condensation of chondrites
USTC (China, May 2024) : Seminar on Moon Formation
Prize of "Best Astronomy books" in 2022 " Les Mondes de Saturne", with my co-authors : A. LeGall, S. Guerlet, S. Vinatier, S. Find our book here
Sébastien CHARNOZ
Bureau 271
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
1, rue Jussieu
75005 Paris
France
charnoz @ ipgp.fr
In french : Professeur à l'Université Paris cité et à l'Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
In english : Professor at University Paris Cité and the Institut for the Physics of the Globe
Université Paris Cité, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, CNRS, 1 rue Jussieu Paris, F-75005, France
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7442-491X
In July 2025 I have about 160 papers in international journals .
If you like data, I have about H=50 and 8091 citations by July 2025
Augustin Maller (2021-2024), co-direction with Maylis Landeau (IPGP)
Leando Esteves (2022) , co-direction with Othon Winter (Sao Paulo State University , Br)
Gustavo Madeira (2019-2022), co-direction with Othon Winter (Sao Paulo State University , Br)
Laetita Allibert (2018-2021), co-direction with Julien Siebert (IPGP)
Ryuki Hyodo (2016-2019) , co-direction with University of Osaka (Japan)
Esther Tailliffet (2013-2016), co-direction with Jérôme Aléon (MNHN)
Julien Salmon (2011-2013)
Etelle Déau (2006-2009)
Patrick Franco (2024)
Gustavo Madeira (2023-2024)
Yueh-Ning Lee (2021-2022)
Francesco Pignatale (2018-2019)
Kevin Baillie (2015-206)
and others...
Nathan Maindon (2024) M2 "magma oceans exoplanets"
Elodie Dufaux (2024) M2"origin og Titan in Saturn's rings"
Lina KEBAILLIE (2022) M1 « tidal deformation of Dymorphos”,
Guillaume GRU (2021) M1 « Devolatilization of the Moon »
Thomas HOUE (2019) M2, "hydrocode for Saturn's rings"
Laetita ALLIBERT (2017) M2 "Earth erosion by impact and crust evolution"
and others...
2023 : Paulin Bruno (L3, UPC): Atmosphere of hydrogen rich magma ocean exoplanets
2022 : Remi Battiglione (L1) PSL : Analyse des courbes de Lumière CHEOPS
2022 : Paulin Bruno (L2, UPC) : magma ocean exoplanets: atmosphere calculation
2019 : Samuel BERA (L3, ENS Lyon) : Recherche d’Exolunes
2016 : Amande Roques Bernard (L3 UPC) : Detection d’Exolunes avec Phobos
2015 : Etienne JAUPART (2ème Année, ENS LYON) : Atmosphère primitive des embryons terrestres
2015 : Amande Roques Bernard (L2 Univ Paris Diderot) : Effets de marée sur les exo-lunes
2015 : Lisa Bugnet (L3, Univ Paris Diderot))
And many ... others
Moons and rings of the Solar System
Formation of giant's planets satellites from rings :
Crida & Charnoz , 2012 Science (supplementary material)
I am the discoverer ot two saturnian moons (with the Cassini Imaging Team):
Methone and Pallene , see original IAU circular (s/2004/S1 and S2)
Age of Saturn's rings
Crida, Charnoz et al., 2019, Nature
Formation of Phobos and Deimos in a giant impact:
Rosenblatt, Charnoz et al., 2016 Nature Geoscience
Devolatilisation of the Earth'Moons after a giant impacts, due to Earth's tides
Protoplanetary Disks
Formation of a protoplanetary disk in the collapse of a molecular cloud. MHD simulations
Condensation of the first solar system solids in a young disk fed by the molecular cloud
Pignatale, Charnoz et al., 2019, ApJ
Exoplanets
Evaporation of magma oceans with an hydrogen rich atmosphere
Discovery of an exo-system with 6 mini neptunes with CHEOPS !
Why we do not detect exomoons ? answer here :
Dobos, Charnoz et al., 2021 PASP
etc..
Exoplanets (master degree)
Numerical methods for physicist (master degree)
Introduction to Astrophysics (undergrad)
Introduction to numerical methods 1,2 (undergrad)
Previous years : classical mechanics, thermodynamics, physics for non physicistes, mechanics practical work, mathematics for physicists, electromagnetism... etc... etc.....
"La Terre, notre planète" a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) , in 6 weeks
"L'histoire du concept de gravitation" (I wrote this page during my PHD... )
CNRS International Collaborative partnership (2024-2025): IPGP-Université of Arizona to work on the physics of giant impacsr.
ANR: DISKBUILD 2019-2026 (PI : Sébastien Charnoz) : Assembling of protoplanetary disk and condensation and transport of the first Solar System solids . Funded by french ministry of research
ANR: ROCHE 2024-2028 (PI : Nicolas Rambaux) : environement, shape and formation of small bodies of the Solar System. Funded by french ministry of research
Cutting Edge International Project : EXO-INTERIORS 2024-2027 (PI : Sébastien Charnoz) : magma oceans in sub-neptune. Atmosphere composition and impact of magma ocean on atmosphere composition. Funded by Université Paris Cité.
MMX mission (Mars Moons eXploration mission, JAXA) : Mission to phobos. I am Co-I of the MIRS instrument. I am Funded by CNES . Launch in 2026
HERA mission (Mission to Didymos an Dimorphos, ESA ) : Mission to Didymos and Dimorphos. Launch in October 2024
VIDEO : Formation of Saturn's moons from the rings, 3D rendering , french audio
VIDEO : Conference on the origin of saturnian moons (in french), 2022
PODCAST : Formation of the Earth's Moon in a giant impact (in french), 2022
ANIMATION : Formation of Saturn's moons from massive rings ((c) ANIMEA)
WEBSITE : Original Cassini Imaging Team website with thousands of wonderful Cassini images !
INTERVIEW for Le Monde, with a nice video "Pourquoi cherchez-vous ?" (Le Monde / UniverScience)
MY BOOK (2023) : "Les mondes de Saturnes" (Belin Edition), published with my wonderful co-authors Alice Le Gall, Sandrine Guerlet, Sandrine Vinatier. For this book we won the prize of "Astronomy Book of the Year 2023" , given by the Ciel & Espace magazine.
old stuff... but still interesting :
"Les anneaux de Saturne vus par la mission CASSINI" (I wrote this article in 2005, after the arrival of Cassini at Saturn)
"Bac to Basics : Saturn" I wrote this article for "La Recherche" a while ago
Formation of Saturn's mid sized moons, from my serie of NAture and Science and Icarus papers 2010, 2011, 2012 : Video
talk given at Magma oceans workshop, in spring 2024 and Rocky Worlds dicussion : talk PDF
talk given in Giant Impact meeting in Rochester in March 2024, and in USTC in June 2024 :talk in PDF
our model woth Pascal Rosenblatt (Rosenblatt et al., NatGeoscience 2016) : talk in PDF
Rapporteur Thèse de Paul Segretain (Université Nice Sofia Antipolis)
CS de l'Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur
Président du jury, thèse Arhur Walbeck (USPC/IPGP) "Caractérisation de l’efficacité du dégazage des océans de magma." (Advisors : H. Samue, A. Limare)
Field Trip in the French Alps, with students of USTC (China) to study the French Alps geology and structural system.
Rapporteur thèse Sarah JOIRET (LAB Bordeaux) "Constraining the origin of Earth’s volatiles with dynamical simulations and isotopic measurements of noble gases in meteorites" (Advisors : S. Raymond, G. Avice)
Rapporteur HDR de Quentin Kral (LESIA/Observatoire de Paris)
Président du jury , thèse Alexandre Gilet (DAP/CEA) "Interactions multi-physiques entre les atmosphères des exoplanètes et leurs étoiles" (Advisors : A. Garcia Munoz, A. Strugarek)
Président du jury , thèse de NGO Duy-Tung (DAP/CEA) "Modélisation synthétique pour évaluer les observables communes pendant la formation des étoiles et des planètes" (Advisors : P.Hennebelle, L. Testi)
Nommé membre extérieur du CS de l'Observatoire de Nice Côte d'Azur