News

The Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Garching is inviting the public to take part in the ‘Space Warps’ citizen science project on the Zooniverse platform. Volunteers are asked to identify strong gravitational lenses in as yet unpublished images from ESA’s Euclid space telescope. Scientists expect over 10,000 new candidates – more than in 50 years of all previous discoveries combined. more

Munich astronomers image and model extremely rare gravitationally lensed supernova more

ESA’s space telescope captures the astonishing diversity of galaxies – and MPE scientists trace how mergers shape their cores more

The first Euclid data published by ESA (Q1) provide impressive insights into the depths of the universe. They include high-resolution images of 26 million galaxies, reveal the finest structures and make it possible for the first time to precisely determine the shape and distance of more than 380,000 galaxies. This data is a milestone and yet only marks the beginning of research into dark matter and dark energy. And the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) plays a central role in all of this. more

A team of scientists has found the largest superstructure ever reliably characterised in the universe. The discovery was made while mapping the nearby universe using galaxy clusters detected by the ROSAT X-ray satellite's survey of the sky. With a length of about 1.4 billion lightyears, the new structure, which consists mainly of dark matter, is the largest known structure to date. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) and the Max Planck Institute for Physics (MPP) led the study in collaboration with colleagues in Spain and South Africa. more

Researchers have finished equipping the Subaru Telescope with a new special “compound eye” culminating several years of effort. This new instrument features approximately 2,400 fibers scattered across the extremely wide field of view available at the Subaru Telescope’s primary focus, allowing for simultaneous spectroscopic observation of thousands of celestial objects. This unrivaled capability will help researchers precisely understand the formation and evolution of galaxies and the Universe once it begins scientific operations in February 2025.
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Euclid reveals the first deep view into the cosmos, spanning an area of 500 full moons in the sky. more

Analysis of the early release observations provides insights into the evolution of the Perseus galaxy cluster more

MPE researchers are excited and are eagerly awaiting the first results. more

Euclid, ESA’s newest space telescope with strong German participation, has delivered its first test images a few weeks after the rocket launch. more