LIRA, a pioneer in astrophysics and instrumentation, pushes back the frontiers of knowledge
LIRA
Laboratory for Instrumentation and Research in Astrophysics
LENS: LIRA – Weekly Highlight
MAJIS infrared observation of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS superimposed on the NavCam/Juice image. Credits: ESA/Juice/MAJIS team
MAJIS detects activity from the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS
13 April 2026En route to Jupiter, the JUICE mission (ESA) observed the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS using five of its instruments, including MAJIS, a visible-infrared imaging spectrometer to which LIRA contributed.
Observed in November 2025, shortly after its closest approach to the Sun, the comet revealed intense activity: the sublimation of ice buried beneath the surface, released by solar heating. MAJIS detected emissions of carbon dioxide and water vapour, with an estimated outgassing rate of 2 tonnes per second (equivalent to 70 Olympic-sized swimming pools per day!).
Comet 3I/ATLAS was identified in July 2025 and is only the third known interstellar comet. A rare visitor, arriving from another star system, bearing valuable clues about the composition of materials formed around other stars. Combined with observations from the JWST and large ground-based telescopes, these data thus open a unique window onto the history of our Universe.
SEMINAR Thursday 11 June 2026 14:00
Séminaires du pôle Étoiles et Galaxies The nucleosythesis of stars: a link between stellar modelling and galactic archaeology
Séminaires du pôle Étoiles et Galaxies The nucleosythesis of stars: a link between stellar modelling and galactic archaeology
News
Scientific news
2 February 2026
FIRST’s photonic lantern has just successfully completed the commissioning phase.
Presentation
LIRA, a CNRS joint research unit at Paris Observatory, is a laboratory of excellence in astrophysics and instrumentation. It studies astrophysical objects, from the Solar System to our Galaxy and beyond, through five thematic areas. Through international collaboration and instrumental innovation, it pushes back the frontiers of science and contributes to the training and dissemination of knowledge.
Our projects
MIRS on the JAXA MMX mission
The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) is the first sample-return mission from the Phobos satellite. It also includes an exploration of the Martian system. The mission’s primary objective is to decipher the origin of Martian moons, which will provide important information on planet formation and the conditions for the emergence of water on Earth-like planets.
The MIRS (MMX InfraRed Spectrometer) instrument, developed under the leadership of LESIA (now LIRA), is an imaging spectrometer that will characterize the composition of the Martian system and help select candidate sites for sample collection.
GRAVITY+
The GRAVITY instrument, installed on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI/ESO), has produced spectacular and transformative results on the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, the active nuclei of other galaxies, proto-planetary disks around young stars and exoplanets. GRAVITY+ aims to modernise both VLTI and GRAVITY to make them ≈ 100 times more sensitive, while increasing sky coverage by a factor of ≈ 100, and contrast in the vicinity of bright objects by a factor of ≈ 10. These gains will benefit all the VLTI’s current and future instruments for the next 20 years, and will perpetuate it as a unique infrastructure in the world.
All projects
Projets en développement
Projets en exploitation
Projets passés
Contacts
Contacts
Postal address
Observatoire de Paris
5, place Jules Janssen
92195 Meudon
Phone
01 45 07 77 01
Meudon site
LIRA
Observatoire de Paris
5, place Jules Janssen
92195 MEUDON Cedex
Paris site
LIRA
Observatoire de Paris
77, Avenue Denfert-Rochereau
75014 Paris
Cergy site
LIRA - Site de Neuville II
UFR Sciences et Techniques - Département de physique
5, mail Gay Lussac
95000 Neuville-sur-Oise
