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: News 
: Press Releases (MPE/MPG)
 Photo: The "La Calabria nel Mondo" award is given to Sandra Savaglio by Antonio Catricalà, the President of the independent organisation AGCM, on October 12, 2010.
Copyright: Andrea Cenni |
"Calabria in the World " awarded to MPE scientist Sandra SavaglioThis October, Sandra Savaglio, scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, received the international award " La Calabria nel Mondo ". The Italian organization C3 International ("Centro Culturale Calabrese") recognized with this award Savaglio's international achievements in modern science and astrophysics. The ceremony took place in the City Hall "Campidoglio" of Rome. Every year, C3 International honours distinguished persons from Calabria, successful in their work in the fields of science, culture, sports, and journalism, who have been ambassadors of Calabria and its values around the world. Among past honourees are Renato Dulbecco, Nobel Prize laureate for Medicine in 1975, Leon Panetta, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Santo Versace from the fashion house Versace, and José Serra, a presidential candidate of the Brazilian elections in 2002. Apart from Savaglio, 14 other people received the award this year. Among the guests were Jo Champa, former model for Gianni Versace and actress (her latest movie was "Somewhere" which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival), and the Minister of Cultural Heritage Sandro Bondi. Designed by the well-known artist Gerardo Sacco, this year's award represents a scene from one of the oldest surviving illuminated manuscripts of the Gospels. Written in the 6th century, the "Codex purpureus Rossanensis" is now located at the Cathedral of Rossano in Calabria. |
top of page  Dust in the surrounding of a GRB will dim and redden the light before it reaches the observer.
Credit: MPE / J. Greiner |
Illuminating dark bursts with GRONDGamma-ray bursts are among the most energetic events in the Universe, but some appear curiously faint in visible light. An international team of astronomers led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics have now conducted the biggest study to date of these so-called dark gamma-ray bursts, using the GROND instrument on the 2.2-metre MPG/ESO telescope at La Silla in Chile. The scientists conclude that these gigantic explosions do not require exotic explanations; their faintness is now fully explained by a combination of causes, the most important of which is the presence of dust between the Earth and the explosion.[ more ] |
 The evolution of the abundance of 26Al in a stellar group.
Picture: R. Voss. |
INTEGRAL helps unravel the tumultuous recent history of the solar neighbourhoodAnalysing new observations in gamma rays with ESA's INTEGRAL observatory, astronomers from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and other institutions found evidence that only a few million years ago massive stars enriched our cosmic neighbourhood with heavy elements. The scientists exploited the radioactive decay of an isotope of aluminium, produced in the late stages of a massive star's lifetime, to estimate the age of stars in the nearby Scorpius-Centaurus association, the closest group of young and massive stars to the Sun.[ more ] |
 A giant gamma-ray structure was discovered by processing Fermi all-sky data at energies from 1 to 10 billion electron volts.
Picture: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT/D. Finkbeiner et al.. |
Fermi telescope finds giant gamma-ray bubbles in the Milky WayA team of scientists has found a previously unseen structure in the Milky Way by processing publicly available data from Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT). The LAT is the most sensitive and highest-resolution gamma-ray detector ever launched and the MPE is involved in scientific analysis of the LAT data. The newly detected feature spans 50,000 light-years and may be the remnant of an eruption from a supersized black hole at the centre of our galaxy. A paper about the findings has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal.[ more ] |
 Networking at the DPT2010
Picture: MPE / Monika Vongehr |
Female physicists conference in GarchingThis year, the "Physikerinnentagung" DPT2010 took place in Munich - and started in Garching: On 4 November, the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, together with the Munich Technical University and the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Plasmaphysics and Quantum Opitcs, invited all participants and high school students to guided tours on the Garching Campus. The laboratory tours were followed by the official opening of the conference with a public talk at MPE.[ more ] |
 Yasuo Tanaka
Image: MPE (D. Grupe)
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Tanaka honoured as "Person of Cultural Merit"A very high japanese accolade this year goes to Dr. Yasuo Tanaka, scientific member at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, together with 16 other people chosen for this prestigious award. The high-energy astrophysicist is not only a distinguished member of the global scientific community; he also actively promotes the academic exchange between Japan and foreign countries. [ more ] |
Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth (UCO/Lick Observatory and University of California, Santa Cruz) and the HUDF09 Team.
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SINFONI confirms distance record for galaxyUsing the SINFONI spectrograph at the ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), a European team of astronomers has measured the distance to the most distant galaxy so far. With a redshift of 8.6, they are seeing it when the Universe was only about 600 million years old. This detection was only possible by using the SINFONI instrument, which combines the SPIFFI spectrograph built at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics with adaptive optics. The results are published in the 21. October issue of the journal Nature.[ more ] |
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International Year of Astronomy 2009 reached more than 800 million peopleThe 1300-page final report of the International Astronomical Union shows that at least 815 million people in 148 countries participated in the world's largest science event in decades. Star parties, public talks, exhibits, school programmes, books, citizen-scientist programmes, science-arts events, documentaries and parades honouring astronomy and its achievements meant that IYA2009 was indeed a worldwide event. In Germany, about two million people were reached by the thousands of activities organized by professional and amateur astronomers.Apart from several events and activities at the Institute itself, the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics contributed also to several larger projects in the framework of the International Year of Astronomy. Together with the other astronomical Max-Planck-Institutes the MPE produced a special edition of the science magazine "Sterne und Weltraum" with the title "Sieben Blicke in den Kosmos". And just in time for a dazzling finale, the exhibition "Evolution of the Universe", which was initiated and implemented by the MPE and other local area research institutes, opened on 9 December 2009 at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. This exhibition continues to be openly accessible to all visitors of the Deutsches Museum for a minimum of two years.  link to the report the IYA 2009 at MPE |
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Cluster Promotion prize for MPE student Thomas KrühlerDuring the "Universe Cluster Science Week", 11.-14. October, Dr. Thomas Krühler from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics will present his award winning thesis on "Advanced Photometric Studies of Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows". For the third time, the Excellence Cluster Universe awarded two outstanding dissertations in the fields of astro-, nuclear and particle physics in the categories "experiment" and "theory".[ more ] |
Credit: PS1PCE
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Pan-STARRS discovers first potentially hazardous asteroidThe Pan-STARRS sky survey, which also involves scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, has discovered an aste roid that could come to within about 6 million kilometres of Earth in mid-October. This is the first "potentially hazardous object" (PHO) to be discovered by Pan-STARRS and has been given the designation "2010 ST3".The Pan-STARRS survey was designed specifically to look for these kinds of asteroids. Most of the largest PHOs have already been catalogued, but scientists suspect that there are many more asteroids with a diameter of one kilometre or less that have not yet been discovered. While the Earth is continuously being bombarded by much smaller asteroids that burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere, the shockwave from larger ro cks could devastate a large area. Such impacts are estimated to occur once every few thousand years. |
After 3rd contact
Image: Anita Winter / MPE |
Total Solar Eclipse in PatagoniaOn 11 July 2010, a total solar eclipse was to be seen on the southern hemisphere. The totality started in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and New Zealand, went on to touch some small atolls of the Tahiti region, crossed Easter Island and finally ended at the very south east of Patagonia, Argentina. An Eclipse hard to get to, but - if visible - one that promised to be most spectacular.Even if an eclipse is not part of the scientific work at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, it is an exciting astronomical event that fascinates our scientists. Here, Maria Fürmetz and Anita Winter, both members of MPE, give an account of their trip to El Calafate, Southern Argentina. [ more ] |
CW Leo and the surrounding area
Credit: ESA / SPIRE & PACS |
Herschel finds warm water on red giant starAstronomers using ESA's Herschel Space Observatory have observed water vapour being formed somewhere it was previously thought to be impossible: in the atmosphere of a red giant carbon star. The scientists used data from the SPIRE and PACS instruments, which made it possible not only to detect water vapour by its "wavelength fingerprint" but also to measure its temperature. The PACS spectrometer has been developed by a consortium of institutes led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics.(Nature, September 2, 2010) [ more ] |
Nova Cygni (V407 Cyg) is at the center of the image.
Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration |
News from a nova: gamma raysFor the first time, astronomers have detected gamma-rays from a nova, a finding that surprised both observers and theorists. The discovery using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope overturns the notion that novae explosions lack the power to emit such high-energy radiation.Gamma rays are the most energetic form of light, and Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT) detected the nova for 15 days. Scientists believe the emission arose as a high velocity shock wave raced from the site of the explosion. A paper detailing the discovery appeared in the journal Science on 13. August 2010. [ more ] |
R. Genzel
Credit: MPE |
Jansky Lectureship for Prof. Reinhard GenzelThe US National Radio Astronomy Observatory recently announced that the 2010 Karl G. Jansky Lectureship has been awarded to Prof. Reinhard Genzel, Director of the Max Plank Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching. The Jansky Lectureship, named after the man who first detected radio waves from a cosmic source in 1932, recognizes outstanding contributions to the advancement of radio astronomy.[ more ] |
Artist's impression of the material around the exploded star, known as Supernova 1987A.
Credit: ESO / L. Calçada |
View of a Stellar Explosion in 3DAn international team of astronomers have for the first time obtained a three-dimensional view of the distribution of the innermost material expelled by a recently exploded star using data SINFONI instrument, which combines the SPIFFI spectrograph constructed at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics with adaptive optics at ESO's Very Large Telescope. The high spatial resolution and the capability to study several parts of the supernova's chaotic core simultaneously using integral field spectroscopy was necessary for the build-up of the 3D image.[ more ] |
 Herschel image of an area in the stellar nursery of the constellation of Aquila .
Credit: ESA/SPIRE & PACS/P. André |
A&A Special Issue about Herschel scienceThis week, Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing a special feature devoted to the first science results obtained with the Herschel space observatory. It includes 152 articles dealing with various subjects based on the first few months of science observing. A few papers describe the observatory and its instruments including PACS, which has been designed and built by a consortium of institutes and university departments from across Europe under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching. The majority of contributions to this special issue are dedicated to observations of many astronomical targets from bodies in the Solar System to distant galaxies.[ more ] |
 Two centuries ago a comet may have hit Neptune, the outer-most planet in our solar system.
Credit: NASA |
Cometary Impact on NeptuneMeasurements performed by the space observatory Herschel point to a collision about two centuries ago A comet may have hit the planet Neptune about two centuries ago. This is indicated by the distribution of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere of the gas giant that researchers - among them scientists from the French observatory LESIA in Paris, from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Katlenburg-Lindau (Germany) and from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching (Germany) - have now studied. The scientists analyzed data taken by the research satellite Herschel that has been orbiting the Sun at a distance of approximately 1.5 million kilometres since May 2009. (Astronomy & Astrophysics, published online on July 16th, 2010)[ more ] |
 The 60th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting Lindau 2010
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Three junior scientists from MPE meet Nobel Laureates in LindauThe annual Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings brings together dozens of Nobel laureates and selected junior scientists from institutions worldwide to "educate, inspire, and connect". For this year's meeting three students from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics travelled to Lake Constance: Katie Dodds-Eden of the Infrared/Submillimetre group, and Chengran Du and Mierk Schwabe from the Complex Plasma group. [ more ] |
 A central region of the globular cluster M92 as observed with the Hubble Space Telescope (left) and the LBT in adaptive mode (right).
Credit: HST/LBT
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Major Breakthrough for Large Binocular Telescope using Adaptive OpticsThe next generation of adaptive optics has arrived at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) in Arizona, providing astronomers with a new level of image sharpness never seen before. German institutions including the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics are major contributors to the LBT. [ more ] |
 The Pan-STARRS1 observatory on Haleakala, Maui, just before sunrise.
Credit: Rob Ratowski
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Astronomers' first "movie of the sky": Pan-STARRS survey starts science missionThe Pan-STARRS project has begun a unique program of observing three quarters of the night sky: the systematic search for astronomical objects that change over time. Its data will enable astronomers to search for dangerous asteroids on a possible collision course with Earth, but also to tackle some of astronomy's deepest mysteries: Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Scientists of the Max Planck Institutes for Astronomy and for Extraterrestrial Physics are involved in a number of the survey's key projects, including searches for extra-solar planets, for "failed stars" known as Brown Dwarfs, and for distant active galaxies. For more information see the MPE press release. |
 NGC 2207
Image: ESO
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Massive Black holes "switch on" due to galaxy collisionThe centre of most galaxies harbours a massive Black Hole. So does our Milky Way - the exotic object there however is pretty calm, unlike some supermassive gravity monsters in other galaxies. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and other institutions around the world have now analysed 199 of these galaxies and discovered what makes the black holes at the galaxy centre become active: The black holes switched on some 700 million years ago after major galaxy merger events. (The Astrophysical Journal, in press) For more information see the MPE press release. |
 Kirpal Nandra
Image: MPE
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Kirpal Nandra appointed as new Director at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial PhysicsThe open position on the Board of Directors at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics is now filled: Kirpal Nandra joins the institute as new director and head of the high-energy research group. His long experience in X-ray astronomy actively complements the two other astrophysical groups at the institute that study objects such as stars, galaxies and the large scale structure in the universe with optical, infrared and sub-millimetre astronomy. For more information see the MPE press release. and the Web pages of the High-Energy Astrophysics group. |
 Image: M. Fabricius, MPE/USM
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View of the night sky with more than 250 eyesNew observing instrument ready for installationEnd of May, the VIRUS-W spectrograph of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and the University Observatory Munich was completed and is now ready for installation at the McDonald observatory in Texas. Its field of view, spectral coverage and resolution makes the instrument ideally suited to study star and gas motions in nearby spiral galaxies.For more information see the MPE press release. |
 Image: ESA/XMM-Newton
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Novel observing mode on XMM-Newton opens new perspectives on galaxy clustersSurveying the sky with XMM-Newton, scientists at the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and other institutes have discovered two massive galaxy clusters, confirming a previous detection obtained through observations of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, the 'shadow' they cast on the Cosmic Microwave Background. The discovery, made possible thanks to a novel mosaic observing mode recently introduced on ESA's X-ray observatory, opens a new window to study the Universe's largest bound structures in a multi-wavelength approach.For more information see the MPE press release. |
  Picture: Universe Cluster/Barbara Wankerl
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Café & Kosmos -
In a relaxed atmosphere, interesting discussions about current research are now possible with the new event series "Café amp; Kosmos", which will start on 31st May 2010. The physicist Dr. Stefan Stonjek from the Max Planck Institute for Physics will give a short introduction about "The Big Bang in a tunnel", explaining what is happening in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the new particle accelerator at the CERN research centre in Geneva, Switzerland. This will be followed by an open discussion with the public. |
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 Gerhard Haerendel Foto: Rob Rutten
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Gerhard Haerendel awarded the Jean Dominique Cassini MedalThe European Geosciences Union EGU honoured Prof. Gerhard Haerendel by awarding him the Jean Dominique Cassini Medal during the General Assembly from 2. to 7. May 2010 in Vienna, Austria. The award recognizes Haerendel's "indispensable and prominent role in the European exploration of space". The former director at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics also became an Honorary Member of the EGU.An expert on space research, Haerendel has held many prominent scientific positions and was a principal investigator of several international rocket and satellite projects. He experimented with the "barium plasma cloud technique" in various aspects of plasma and magnetospheric physics, leading to the creation of artificial comets. As one of the fathers of CLUSTER, Haerendel's pioneering work has provided new insights into the understanding of plasma in space and its interaction with the solar wind. In his award lecture, Haerendel talked about "Fascinating Plasma Structures", which attracted his particular attention because of their observable, fine structure and complex underlying physics involving magnetic fields. Such plasma structures can be observed in a variety of objects: in the solar corona, in cometary tails and in the Earth's aurora. Note: The prestigious Jean Dominique Cassini Medal is awarded by the European Geosciences Union (EGU) for merit and scientific achievements to scientists who have gained exceptional international standing in planetary and space sciences. The award is named after the Italian/French astronomer and engineer who in the 17th century observed not only the sun and planets but also studied the zodiacal light. Links: European Geosciences Union Jean Dominique Cassini Medal & Honorary Membership 2010 CLUSTER-Mission Contact data for G. Haerendel |
   Apart from talks, at MPE the girls could experience research and development live in several workshops. |
Successful Girls' Day in GarchingFifty girls visited MPA and MPE to find out more about a career in astrophysics"How do we know so much about Black Holes; have scientists sent a camera there?" "Is it only noble gases that glow in certain colours?" "Did you need much maths in your physics studies?" These are only a few of the questions asked by the girls when they visited the astronomical Max Planck Institutes in Garching. Like in the past years, the two institutes offered a juicy and varied program on 22. 4. 2010, ranging from lectures, discussions with women astrophysicists, a cosmic cinema in 3D, to observations and workshops, where the girls could experience different aspects related to astronomy first hand. The Girls´ Day is an initiative throughout Germany to encourage girls to learn more about occupational areas that are still male dominated and that girls consider only seldom when it comes to choosing a career path. And even if some girls probably participated because it amounted to a day out of the classroom, most of the group was very interested in the work of the female scientists. Apart from questions about the various research areas and instruments, this year some of the girls were also interested in alternative career paths, e.g. technician - without studying physics. This probably reflects the wider scope of schools the girls attended, not only the "Gymnasium" (8-years secondary school) but also the "Realschule" (6-years secondary school). It is not clear yet if some of the girls will come back for an internship - but the scientist might well see a known face again in November, when the German Women Phycisists Conference is being held in Munich. PS: A similar project for boys, "Neue Wege für Jungs", supports since 2005 initiatives and institutions who organise activities to broaden the boys´ view of study topics and career paths, to introduce more flexible male role models and to further develop social skills, both inside and outside the class room. Pictures taken during the Girls' Day 2010 at MPE More information: Girls' Day in Germany Deutsche Physikerinnentagung Neue Wege für Jungs |
 In this false colour image the arrows indicate galaxies that are likely located at the same distance, clustered around the centre of the image. |
Most distant galaxy cluster revealed by invisible light10 May 2010 - An international team of astronomers from Germany and Japan has discovered the most distant cluster of galaxies known so far - 9.6 billion light years away. The X-ray and infrared observations showed that the cluster hosts predominantly old, massive galaxies, demonstrating that the galaxies formed when the universe was still very young. These and similar observations therefore provide new information not only about early galaxy evolution but also about history of the universe as a whole.For more information see the MPE press release. |
 This image of the GOODS-S field with the Herschel PACS instrument demonstrates that the weak cosmic infrared radiation is produced mainly by individual galaxies. Image: MPE |
Herschel Space Telescope: Successful first year for German researchersOne year after the launch of ESA's Herschel space telescope, German scientists have reason to celebrate: The instruments' performance and first results have exceeded all expectations. Initial observations with the largest telescope currently in space, which was designed primarily to study the coldest matter in our Universe, have led to new insights into the formation of stars, the properties of dust in distant galaxies and the presence of molecules in interstellar clouds.For more information see the MPE press release. |
 Image: S. Giodini, A. Finoguenov/MPE |
Black Holes - "Gas Blowers" of the UniverseSupermassive black holes with the mass of many millions of stars have been detected at the centre of many large galaxies. A super-massive black hole acts like a lurking "monster" at the centre of the galaxy which swallows the surrounding material through the intensity of its gravitational pull. X-ray observations indicate that a large amount of energy is produced by the in-fall of matter into a black hole, and ejected in powerful jets. Astronomers from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics have now shown that these jets eject matter not only from their host galaxies but even the gas between the galaxy group members.(Astrophysical Journal, 1 May 2010) For further information see the MPE press release, MPG press release. |
 Star forming region in the Milky Way |
Making the invisible visibleThe Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) partners in Germany, the U.S.A. and Italy are pleased to announce that the first of two new innovative near-infrared cameras/spectrographs for the LBT is now available to astronomers for scientific observations at the telescope on Mt. Graham in south-eastern Arizona. After more than a decade of design, manufacturing and testing, the new instrument, dubbed LUCIFER 1, provides a powerful tool to gain spectacular insights into the universe, from the Milky Way up to extremely distant galaxies. LUCIFER 1 has been built by a consortium of German institutes and will be followed by an identical twin instrument that will be delivered to the telescope in early 2011.For more information see the MPE press release. |
 Herschel image of the Rosette nebula Image: ESA/PACS & SPIRE Consortium/HOBYS Key Programme Consortia |
Where stars are born...Herschel’s latest image reveals the formation of previously unseen large stars, each one up to ten times the mass of our Sun. These are the stars that will influence where and how the next generation of stars are formed. The Rosette Nebula resides some 5,000 light years from Earth and is associated with a larger cloud that contains enough dust and gas to make the equivalent of 10,000 Sun-like stars. The Herschel image shows half of the nebula and most of the Rosette cloud. The massive stars powering the nebula lie to the right of the image but are invisible at these wavelengths. Each colour represents a different temperature of dust, from –263ºC (only 10ºC above absolute zero) in the red emission to –233ºC in the blue.ESA’s Herschel space observatory collects the infrared light given out by dust. This image is a combination of three infrared wavelengths, colour-coded blue, green and red in the image. It was created using observations from Herschel’s Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) and the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE). PACS has been designed and built by a consortium of institutes and university departments from across Europe under the leadership of Principal Investigator Albrecht Poglitsch at Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching. For more information see ESA Press Release and the pages of the PACS-Project at MPE. |
  Credit: Parallax Raumprojektion / Philipp Kässbohrer |
The VLT, as you´ve never seen it beforeThe ESO documentary "Das Auge" will be screened in Munich at the cinema Kino Neues Forum at the Deutsches Museum from tomorrow: Thursday, Tuesday and Wednesday always at 14:30h. The movie will also be part of the programme in the subsequent week.The VLT is one of the most fascinating scientific instruments ever built and with the 3D movie the viewers will feel like they are really "there". Accompanied by an astronomer, the film crew not only learned how a modern telescope functions, but also experienced the fascination of scientific research deep in space. If you watch closely, you might even spot someone from MPE. The MPE works in close collaboration with the VLT; several scientific instruments for the large telescopes were developed at this institute ( see MPE projects). In addition, MPE scientists travel regularly to Paranal, to conduct observations there, like Eva Noyola who was there at the time of shooting the film. She therefore appears briefly in it. For more information about the Movie and how it was produced please go to www.dasauge3d.eu. |
 Spitzer Space Telescope Image: NASA / JPL-Caltech   In direct view, the two QSOs (J0005-0006 (left), J0303-0019 (right)) look inconspicuous. Only spectral analysis reveals the true nature of the objects. Images: MPIA/M. Pössel from SDSS data (RGB from filters z, i and r). |
Primitive Black Holes IdentifiedAstronomers have come across what appear to be two of the earliest and most primitive supermassive black holes known. What distinguishes them from the other very distant so-called quasars is a lack of hot dust, which indicates that these quasars are at an early evolutionary stage. The discovery was made by an international team of astronomers including scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and is based largely on observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope.Original publication: Nature 464, 380-383 (2010) Press releases: MPIA press release MPG press release NASA (JPL) press release Contact at MPE:
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 HM Cancri Artwork: Rob Haynes, Louisiana State University |
Most extreme binary shows orbital period of a mere 5 minutesThat is real fast: Two suns orbit each other in a mere 5.4 minutes. This makes HM Cancri the binary star system with by far the shortest known orbital period - and at the same time the smallest binary known. Its size is equivalent to no more than a quarter of the distance from the Earth to the Moon, about 100,000 kilometres. This has been shown by an international team of astronomers from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and other institutions. Original publicationApJ 711, L138-L142 (2010); MPG press release Warwick University press release Keck observatory press release Contact:
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 "Network" |
Curators visit MPA and MPEMost colleagues have heard of the Curators at one point or another, but who are they and what do they do? On Friday March 5, 2010 the joint curators for MPA and MPE will be visiting the MPE to catch up on important developments at both institutes.The curatorship (board of trustees) was set up by the Max-Planck-Society to get in touch with the public and in particular with influential circles who are interested in research and might become funding institutions. Representatives of science, industry, politics and media are appointed as curators to mediate on behalf of the institute, to further interactions within the scientific and social environment and to strengthen the public belief in the activities of the institute.
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 XMM-Newton satellite  MPE scientists discussing XMM data |
10th Anniversary of XMM-NewtonThe MPE was highly involved in this mission during the telescope development and test, it provides the EPIC-pn camera, and runs the survey science center.The primary scientific objective of XMM-Newton is to perform high throughput spectroscopy of cosmic X-ray sources over a broad band of energies ranging from 0.1 keV to 10 keV. The XMM-Newton spacecraft payload includes three highly-nested grazing-incidence mirror modules of type Wolter I coupled to reflection grating spectrometers and X-ray charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras with resolving powers ranging from 10 up to 1000 as well as one small optical/UV telescope. For XMM-Newtons 10-year anniversary, the TV station EuroNews concentrated on the X-ray satellite in its broadcast "space", which was produced in collaboration with the European Space Agency ESA and the MPE.
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 The Quasar J004457+4123 (encircled object on the left upper panel) looks like a weak point of light, hardly to be distinguished from the huge number of stars in the Andromeda galaxy (right). Copyright: TLS Tautenburg |
Spectacular flare of a distant QuasarUsing data from several telescopes, an international team of scientists from the MPE, the Tautenburg observatory and others have now confirmed that an object observed in 1992 as a so-called "nova" in our neighbouring Andromeda galaxy is actually a much more distant quasar with a uniquely intense light burst. The most likely explanation for the magnitude and shape of the light curve is that a massive star came too close to the gigantic Black Hole at the centre of this distant galaxy, where it was ripped apart and swallowed by the gravitational pull of the black hole.
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 IRAM  Galaxy EGS 1305123 Copyright: MPE/IRAM
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Young galaxies gorge on gasScientists find explanation for higher star formation rate in young galaxiesStars form from giant gas clouds in galaxies - the star formation rate however has changed over cosmic timescales. In the young universe many more stars were born. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics, together with an international team of astronomers have found a plausible explanation: a few billion years after the Big Bang, normal star forming galaxies contained five to ten times more cold gas than today, providing more "food" to fuel the star formation process.(Nature, February 11, 2010) [ more ] |
 IRAS 4B in NGC 1333 in the radio |
Pin-pointing water in spaceFor the first time, scientists succeeded in localising large amounts of water in a disk around a young starWater is regarded as a key ingredient for life - and water exists plenty in the universe. Now scientists have found the precious element in a disk around a young star, similar to our Sun. This disk, supposedly the birth place for future planets, contains a hundred times more than all oceans on Earth. The astronomical observations obtained with the IRAM interferometer appear very promising to solve the mystery around the origin of water in our solar system[ more ] |
 Reinhard Genzel |
Honorary doctorate for Reinhard GenzelOn 8th February, the oldest Dutch university in Leiden bestowed a honorary doctorate on Reinhard Genzel, astrophysicist and director at the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany, for his ground-breaking research into interstellar matter and the central regions of galaxies, in particular the evidence for a black hole at the centre of our own galaxy, and his drive to get the required innovative infrared instrumentation developed. The ceremony took place in the framework of the "Lustrum Dies Natalis 2010" celebration, commemorating the university´s foundation in February 1575.[ more ] |
 Cosmonaut Oleg Kotov with the PK-3 Plus laboratory in MIM-2, the new Russian docking and research module. (Credit: Image courtesy of RKK-Energia). |
Plasma Experiment celebrates its anniversary on board ISSOn 27th January 2010 the 25th series of experiments studying complex plasmas will start on board the international space station ISS. Physicists from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany, will use them to study fundamental structure forming processes to better understand what happens in liquids and solids.[ more ] |
 X-ray emission in the COSMOS field. Credit: ESA |
XMM-Newton traces dark matter in faint, distant galaxy groupsObservations of faint and distant galaxy groups made with the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton observatory have been used to probe the evolution of dark matter. The results of the study by researchers including scientists from the Max-Planck-Institute for extraterrestrial Physics, Germany, are reported in the 20 January issue of The Astrophysical Journal. ESA press release Original paper (ApJ 709, 97-114 (2010)) Contact: Alexis Finoguenov Dr. Hannelore Hämmerle (press officier) |
 Example of one of the 89 galaxies observed. The panel shows the galaxy as it is observed in different wavelengths (colours). Image: MPE |
Black Holes and their Galaxies: News from a Cosmic NeighbourhoodAmong astronomers it is considered certain that huge Black Holes of millions of solar masses reside in the centre of practically every galaxy. It is still unclear however as to what extent the chronological development of the galaxies and their Black Holes in the centre mutually influence one another. A research project under the aegis of Andrea Merloni at the Munich Excellence Cluster Universe and the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics brought forward new findings in this area.[ more ] |
 Herschel-PACS images of the 'GOODS-N' field in the constellation of Ursa Major at far-infrared wavelengths of 100 and 160 µm. Image: MPE |
Herschel Space Telescope uncovers the sources of the Cosmic Infrared BackgroundA weak cosmic infrared radiation field that reaches Earth from all directions contains not yet deciphered messages about the evolution of galaxies. Using first observations with the PACS Instrument on board ESA's Herschel Space Telescope, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and other institutions have for the first time resolved more than half of this radiation into its constituting sources. Observations with Herschel open the road towards understanding the properties of these galaxies, and trace the dusty side of galaxy evolution.[ more ] |
 Photon arrival times (for details see Nature paper) Image: Nature |
Testing Einstein's Special Relativity with
Gamma-Ray Burst Photons Einstein’s special relativity postulates that observers see the same speed of light in vacuum, independent of photon-energy. At a fundamental scale (the Planck scale), quantum effects are expected to affect the nature of space–time, and Lorentz invariance might become violated. MPE scientists have been involved in a key test of such violation, namely the possible variation of photon speed with energy over cosmological light-travel times. This became possible by the detection of emission from keV up to 31 GeV energies with the Fermi satellite's instruments (GBM, LAT) from the distant and short gamma-ray burst GRB090510. No violation of Lorentz invariance was found to 1 part in 1017, placing the tightest limits so far and eliminating some quantum-gravity theories. (Abdo et al., Nature 462, Oct 2009) Links: Contact: J. GreinerA. von Kienlin |
 Part of the milkyway in IR Image: MPE ( high resolution) |
Herschel views deep-space pearls on a cosmic string Europe's new space observatory Herschel has delivered marvellous vistas of cold gas clouds lying near the plane of the Milky Way.
Further MPE/PACS milestones:
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 Signing of contract from left: Reichle, Wörner, Perminov  eROSITA Images: MPE |
DLR and Roscosmos sign technical agreement for X-ray telescope eROSITA With seven X-ray eyes the eROSITA telescope will scan the Universe for black holes and dark matter. Today board members of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Russian Federal Space agency Roscosmos signed an agreement which defines all organisational and technical conditions.
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The Cat's Eye nebula NGC6543 as seen by PACS |
Looking deep into the Cat's Eye with Herschel/PACS After the surprising success of the earlier “sneak preview” of the PACS photometer – a spectacular far-infrared colour image of the Whirlpool Galaxy M51 – the first light observation of the spectrometer part of the instrument was carried out on June 23. |
 Image Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute |
Living Fossils Hold Record of "Supermassive" Kick - When two galaxies and the supermassive black holes in their centres merge, the resulting recoil can catapult the black hole from the galaxy. Scientists of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), MPE and Johns Hopkins University have now found that the stellar clusters around these black holes show very unusual properties and so open up a new possibility to study the event in detail. The stars around evicted black holes orbit at a very high velocity, because only stars orbiting faster than the kick velocity remain attached to the black hole after the kick. As a kind of living fossils of a distant epoch they can shed light on the turbulent past of merging galaxies in nearby clusters.
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 Title of the journal Physical Review Letters of 26 June 2009 |
MPE Research Result as Title Page of the Journal The title of the journal Physical Review Letters of 26 June 2009 shows an experiment which was conducted in the Complex Plasma Group of the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics: A microparticle drop is shown which forms in a complex plasma - an ionised gas into which small charged plastic particles are introduced. Under specific conditions new phenomena occur in these systems: Blobs like the one shown on the title form, and also bubbles form and explode upwards into the void. Another phenomenon are peaks which form on the lower brink in the particle cloud and face upwards. These cones remind of so-called Taylor cones, which form in fluids under the influence of an electrical field and surface tension.
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 Far-infrared colour image of the "Whirlpool Galaxy" M51. |
Herschel's first glimpse of the Universe The PACS team at MPE is all excited: After the successful opening of the satellite's cryostat lid on Sunday, June 14, the instruments on board had their first view of the Universe. Against all odds, the Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) was immediately able to capture some images, which far exceeded all our expectations. They already demonstrated - at this early phase of the mission - the superiority of Herschel, the largest infrared space telescope. [
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 Correlation between black hole mass and bulge mass. Image: Tim Jones/UT-Austin nach K. Cordes & S. Brown (STScI) |
MPE Astronomer Finds Most Massive Black Hole in the Nearby Galaxy M87 Astronomers Jens Thomas (MPE) and Karl Gebhardt (University of Texas) use new computer modeling techniques to discover that the black hole at the heart of M87, one the largest nearby giant galaxies, is two to three times more massive than previously thought. Weighing in at 6.4 billion times the Sun's mass, it is the most massive black hole yet measured with a robust technique, and suggests that the accepted black hole masses in nearby large galaxies may be off by similar amounts. This has consequences for theories of how galaxies form and grow, and might even solve a long-standing astronomical paradox. [
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 Outer halos and intra-cluster light in the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. Image: Chris Mihos, Case Western Reserve University / ESO |
M 87: The End of a Giant Galaxy's Light and the Transition to Intergalactic Stars Astronomers of MPE and ESO have probed the edge of the giant galaxy Messier 87 for the first time, and found that the stars beyond its edge are all intergalactic. The scientists believe that the outer parts of M 87 are missing because of still-not-understood effects during the formation of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. [
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 PACS photometer detector unit during integration into the PACS focal plane unit (FPU). Copyright: MPE, Garching, Germany; CEA, Saclay, France |
Herschel Space Observatory successfully launched On 14 May Herschel, the largest space telescope ever, has been sent into space aboard an Ariane 5 launcher. For the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Garching, Germany, this event crowns more than ten years spent designing and building one of the three instruments aboard the satellite: PACS (Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer) was built by the MPE in cooperation with partners from six European countries. Including the operation of the Instrument Control Centre during the mission, the PACS project has cost the countries nearly 100 million euros.
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Herschel satellite in orbit Artist's view by D. Ducros, ESA, 2009 |
Looking into the Nursery of Stars After ten years of developing and building Herschel, the ESA mission will start into space on the 14th of May. In 1.5 million kilometres distance from earth the space probe will orbit the sun for 3½ years. With its three instruments it will especially detect and analyse infrared radiation, which contains information on a wide range of phenomena like the evolution of distant galaxies and the existence of water in our solar system. Two of the three instruments on board have been developed or co-developed by the Max Planck Institutes for extraterrestrial Physics, Astronomy, Radio Astronomy and Solar System Research. [
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In this picture the afterglow of GRB090423 is the red object shining only in some of the used color channels. Image: GROND/MPE |
Gamma-Ray Burst 090423 detected at a record distance Following a Gamma-Ray burst alarm of the NASA Swift Satellite on April 23, several groups world-wide started searching for the afterglow emission. The MPE built |
Image: MPE |
Formation of S0 galaxies as common in groups as in clusters MPE astrophysicist Dave Wilman has gained new insight into the formation of a special category of galaxies, the so-called S0 galaxies, which will influence studies of galaxies in general. |
Image: MPE |
PACS is ready for Launch Engineers and scientists of the MPE, together with other colleagues from the PACS consortium, have thoroughly checked our instrument for the Herschel satellite one last time at the ESA spaceport in Kourou (French Guiana) and now signal to their colleagues in Garching: green light - PACS is ready for launch!
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ROSAT colour coded image of the field of A3571. The X-ray transient is indicated with the pointer. Image: MPE |
A candidate tidal disruption event in the Galaxy cluster Abell 3571 The authors of the paper, several from MPE, serendipitously detected with ROSAT an X-ray source that is strongly declining in luminosity, in the galaxy cluster A3571. The period of decay is of about 13 years, and the source was identified as a member of the cluster. This event is consistent with a tidal disruption of a star by a black hole of 107 solar masses. Since the black hole only accretes a small amount of mass, the observed event must correspond to a partial or explosive disruption of the star. This paper was selected as an Original article in |
31.7 hours after GRB 080916C exploded, the MPE Gamma-Ray Burst Optical/Near-Infrared Detector (GROND), began acquiring images of the blast's fading afterglow (circled). Image: MPE / GROND |
NASA'S FERMI TELESCOPE SEES MOST EXTREME GAMMA-RAY BLAST YET The first gamma-ray burst to be seen with substantial GeV emission from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is one for the record books. The blast had the greatest total energy, the fastest motions and the highest-energy initial emissions ever seen. [
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The MPE parable flight team. Image: MPE |
Parable Flights in Bordeaux At a three-day parable flight campaign in Bordeaux, the MPE group Theory and Complex Plasmas carried out the experiment "Fast PK-3 Plus", which is supposed to complement the tests on the International Space Station (ISS): With the aid of a new data entry system, which is able to record up to 1000 pictures per second, very fast effects in complex plasmas can be studied. [
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span class="highlight">MPE Press Release:
The elliptical galaxies NGC 4649 (left) and NGC 4621 (right) in the Virgo galaxy cluster. These two galaxies belong to the sample of galaxies that Kormendy and Bender investigated. Image: courtesy of Sloan Digital Sky Survey/WIKISKY |
Astronomers Discover Link Between Supermassive Black Holes and Galaxy Formation A pair of astronomers from Texas and Germany have used a telescope at The University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory together with the Hubble Space Telescope and many other telescopes around the world to uncover new evidence that the largest, most massive galaxies in the universe and the supermassive black holes at their hearts grew together over time.
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 Logo of the 10. Mission. Image: MPE  Celebration after the successful ending of the experiment. Picture: MPE |
10th Mission PK-3 Plus successfully completed Exactly three years after the start of the operational phase of PK-3 Plus aboard the International Space Station (ISS) the 10th mission was successfully completed with another three experiments. The plasma laboratory PK-3 Plus, operated by the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics and Russian institutions, is the second facility of this kind aboard the ISS. It continues the successful story of the previous plasma laboratory PKE-Nefedov, the first science experiment aboard ISS and the most successful one in the history of the space station. Just as its predecessor it provides an insight into complex plasma. In complex plasma the properties of so-called plasma crystals and fluids can be studied on the most fundamental level, the kinetic one. This time experiments (each of 90 minutes) of crystallisation, "string fluids" and "bubbles" inside a thermophoretic complex plasma were on the list.
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 Upper image: the Herschel satellite above the environmental chamber at ESA. Lower images: the team during tests (Poglitsch, Lutz, Contursi, Feuchtgruber, Müller, and Nielbock (MPIA Heidelberg); left to right). Image: ESA/MPE |
Successful Dry Run for Herschel Herschel, the largest space telescope of its kind, has successfully passed the final system tests and is now ready to explore some of the coolest and most distant objects in the Universe. From December 13 to 18, five full days of spacecraft operations were simulated in the so-called SOVT (System Operational Validation Test), to tackle any problems before launch, scheduled for April 12, 2009. MPE has developed the instrument PACS for Herschel, a combination of camera and spectrometer, which will allow Herschel to take pictures in six different "colours" in the far-infrared. In combination with the two other instruments of the telescope PACS will be used to study the formation and evolution of galaxies and stars.
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The central 25 arcseconds of our Milky Way. Image: ESO |
Unprecedented 16-Year Long Study Tracks Stars Orbiting Milky Way Black Hole In a 16-year long study, using several of ESO's flagship telescopes, a team of German astronomers has produced the most detailed view ever of the surroundings of the monster lurking at our Galaxy's heart — a supermassive black hole. The research has unravelled the hidden secrets of this tumultuous region by mapping the orbits of almost 30 stars, a five-fold increase over previous studies. One of the stars has now completed a full orbit around the black hole.
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International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) |
The Universe, Yours to Discover The International Astronomical Union (IAU) launched 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) under the theme, The Universe, Yours to Discover. IYA2009 marks the 400th anniversary of the first astronomical observation through a telescope by Galileo Galilei. It will be a global celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture, with a strong emphasis on education, public engagement and the involvement of young people, with events at national, regional and global levels throughout the whole of 2009. UNESCO has endorsed the IYA2009 and the United Nations proclaimed the year 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy on 20 December 2007.
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Cosmonaut Malenchenko on board the ISS conducting a plasma crystal experiment in March 2008. Image credit: RKK-Energia |
10 years German-Russian plasma crystal cooperation on the ISS On November 17-18, 2008, representatives from the Joint Institute for High Temperatures JIHT in Moskau and MPE are conducting a plasma crystal symposium at MPE to discuss achieved results both in scientific as well as technical fields and to utilize them in future projects.
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Radio map of the supernova remnant CTA-1. The position of the pulsar and it's light curve are indicated. Image credit: NASA / S. Pineault, DRAO / G. Kanbach, MPE. |
Young pulsar shines in the gamma-ray sky For the first time scientists have discovered a rotating neutron star - a pulsar - by means of its gamma radiation. The international team led by Gottfried Kanbach from the MPE used the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope for their observations. The neutron star is one of only ten high-energy pulsars discovered so far.
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Klaus Tschira Preis awarded to Felicitas Mokler Felicitas Mokler, postdoc at the MPE, has been awarded the Klaus Tschira Prize "KlarText!" bearing a monetary award of 5000 euros. The prize is awarded to scientists from biology, chemistry, informatics, mathematics, physics and neuroscience, who communicate the results of their outstanding dissertation in an article in a descriptive way. The subject of Mokler's text was an experiment on the space station ISS on the formation of planets.
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Artist's impression of the observed object Image Credit: A. Stefanescu, MPE |
Surprising Flashes from a possible Magnetar By means of the high-speed photometer OPTIMA of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), a team of MPE scientists might have detected an unexpected new sub-category of astronomical objects. It appears to be a magnetar with bursts in the visible part of the spectrum, in contrast to the X-ray and gamma flashes, which are considered to be characteristic for magnetars.
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Image Credit: MPE |
GROND confirms farthest-ever Gamma-Ray Burst GROND, the Gamma-Ray Burst Optical Near-IR Detector, has found the most distant gamma-ray burst ever detected. The observation demonstrates the excellent performance of GROND, which was developed at the MPE. The burst occurred less than 825 million years after the Universe began. The star that popped off this shot seen across the cosmos died when the Universe was less than one-sixteenth its present age.
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Artist's impression of a planet-forming disc Image Credit: ESO |
Hints at the presence of planets in young gas discs Astronomers have been able to study planet-forming discs around young Sun-like stars in unsurpassed detail, clearly revealing the motion and distribution of the gas in the inner parts of the disc. The result possibly implies the presence of giant planets. Principal Investigator of the observing programme at the Very Large Telescope was MPE scientist Ewine van Dishoeck. Because planets could be home to other forms of life, the study of exoplanets ranks very high in contemporary astronomy.
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First all-sky image taken by the Large Area Telescope of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Image Credit: |
GLAST First Light GLAST, the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope, has begun its mission of exploring the universe in high-energy gamma rays. The spacecraft and its revolutionary instruments passed their orbital checkout with flying colors. GBM, the GLAST Burst Monitor, spotted 31 gamma-ray bursts in its first month of operations.
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Example: Project LISA - three identical satellites flying in a formation resembling a triangle. Image Credit: General Dynamics C4 Systems |
Visions for outer Space Which areas are to be studied in space? Which projects are being planned? Which means of funding are there? About 120 participants from science, industry and politics discussed these questions on a symposium organized by the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics. The purpose of the congress in the Bavarian Ministry for Economic Affairs was the preparation of a strategic paper on national space exploration.
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Artist's concept: GLAST in orbit Image Credit: General Dynamics C4 Systems |
NASA's GLAST Space Telescope takes off The Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope GLAST was launched on June 11, 2008 aboard a Delta II from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, USA. In collaboration with other institutes the MPE was involved in the development of the secondary instrument GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM). The new space telescope will detect gamma-ray bursts and so open the high-energy Universe to exploration. Because of problems with the Delta II rocket the launch had been rescheduled several times during the past months.
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Reinhard Genzel |
Shaw Prize awarded to Reinhard Genzel Reinhard Genzel, director of the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Garching, Germany, has been awarded this year's Shaw Prize for Astronomy for his outstanding contribution in demonstrating that the Milky Way contains a supermassive black hole at its centre. The Shaw Prize is awarded annually by the Shaw Prize Foundation in Hong Kong in the Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences and Astronomy, each of the three prizes bearing a monetary award of one million US dollars.
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Maarten Schmidt |
Maarten Schmidt receives Kavli Prize Maarten Schmidt from the California Institute of Technology, external scientific member of the MPE, together with Donald Lynden-Bell from the University of Cambridge received the first Kavli Prize for Astrophysics by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, The Kavli Foundation, and the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. The Kavli Prizes, established as a complement to the Nobel Prizes, this year were given for special achievements in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience. Maarten Schmidt and Donald Lynden-Bell were awarded for their scientific results on quasars.
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A bridge of hot gas is connecting two clusters of galaxies. Composite optical and X-ray image of the cluster pair Abell 222 and Abell 223. Image Credit: ESA/XMM-Newton/ EPIC/ ESO (J. Dietrich)/ SRON (N. Werner)/ MPE (A. Finoguenov) |
Missing piece of cosmological puzzle found The composition of the Universe still puzzles the astronomers: About 96 percent consist of unknown matter. Just four percent are composed of the normal material of which we ourselves are made, the so-called baryonic matter. Even this minor part however has not yet been comprehended completely: all discovered stars, galaxies and gases in the Universe amount to less than a half of these four percent. Now a team of astrophysicists from MPE, ESO and two institutes in the Netherlands has found evidence of a part of the missing baryons in a bridge-like filament connecting two clusters of galaxies (Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters, May 2008).
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Artist's conception of a black hole ejected from a galaxy Image Credit: Illustration: MPE, optical image: HST |
Superkick: Black hole expelled from its parent galaxy By an enormous burst of gravitational waves that accompanies the merger of two black holes the newly formed black hole was ejected from its galaxy. This extreme ejection event, which had been predicted by theorists, has now been observed in nature for the first time. The team led by Stefanie Komossa from the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) thereby opened a new window into observational astrophysics. The discovery will have far-reaching consequences for our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution in the early Universe, and also provides observational confirmation of a key prediction from the General Theory of Relativity.
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The artistic view shows the light echo of a high-energy flash from a black hole Credit: MPE/ESA |
Black hole sheds light on a galaxy For the first time, the light echo of a stellar tidal disruption could be observed in great detail. In doing so, an international team led by Stefanie Komossa from the MPE noticed the strongest iron emission ever observed in a galaxy and interpreted it as an evidence for a molecular torus. The light echo not only revealed the stellar disruption process, but it also provides a powerful new method for mapping galactic nuclei.
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The artistic view shows a cataclysmic variable, the kind of close binary systems that host classical novae Credit: Mark A. Garlick |
Turbulent Disk A team led by Gloria Sala from the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics has studied the Nova V5116 Sagittarii with the ESA X-ray observatory XMM-Newton and found abrupt decreases and increases of the flux, but an unchanged white dwarf atmosphere temperature both in the low- and the high-flux periods. A partial eclipse caused by an asymmetric accretion disk might explain the results.
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This artist’s concept shows the intermediate-mass black hole that may exist at the center of Omega Centauri. Credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA |
Black hole found in enigmatic Omega Centauri The well-known naked-eye star cluster Omega Centauri may be home to an elusive intermediate-mass black hole. Observations made by Eva Noyola from MPE and international colleagues using the Gemini Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope provide convincing evidence that such black holes do exist and could even lead to an understanding of how they might evolve into larger supermassive black holes like the ones found at the cores of many galaxies. |
Reimar Lüst (l.) along with all MPE directors at the occasion of the opening of the new MPE building in 2000 |
Reimar Lüst at 85 Reimar Lüst, born on the 25th of March 1923, was from 1963 to 1972 Director of the sub-institute for extraterrestrial physics within the Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics, which later was transformed into an autonomous MPI for extraterrestrial Physics. After his time as MPE Director Lüst was president of the Max Planck Society for 12 years.
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Sandra Savaglio receiving the award |
Sandra Savaglio receives Pythagoras Award 2008 This year's Pythagoras Award goes to Sandra Savaglio, astrophysicist at the MPE. The prize is awarded since 2004 by the City of Crotone on behalf of the University of Calabria. Sandra Savaglio is honoured for her overall performance in different fields of astrophysics.
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Using both LBT mirrors, this First Binocular Light image shows the spiral galaxy, NGC 2770. The galaxy lies 102 million light years from our Milky Way, and has a flat disk of stars and glowing gas, tipped slightly toward our line of sight. Image: LBT |
Large Binocular Telescope Achieves First Binocular Light After more than a decade of preparation, the world’s most powerful telescope is now looking skyward with both of its massive eyes wide open. The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) partners in the U.S.A., Italy and Germany are pleased to announce that the LBT has successfully achieved first binocular light. With this latest milestone, the LBT will provide new and more powerful views of deep space, including potentially answering fundamental questions about the origins of the universe and mysterious worlds in other planetary systems.
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On the trace of a supernova progenitor: the image shows a strong X-ray source detected by the Chandra observatory four years ago. The source is at the position of the Type Ia supernova SN 2007on. Image: Chandra / Rasmus Voss, MPE |
Possible Progenitor of Special Supernova Type Detected Using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, scientists have reported the possible detection of a binary star system that was later destroyed in a supernova explosion. The new method they used provides great future promise for finding the detailed origin of these important cosmic events.
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Simulation of the formation of a super galaxy Image: Klaus Dolag, MPA |
Distortions in galaxy clustering yield clues for understanding the accelerated expansion of the universe Observations of distant Type Ia supernovae and of cosmic background radiation give evidence that the universe’s expansion is faster now than it was in the past. The expansion of spacetime itself causes the moving apart of the galaxies.
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Antimatter (above) and X-ray binaries (below) show a similar distribution in the central region of the Milky Way. Images: G. Weidenspointner, MPE |
Antimatter from X-ray Binaries? A first hint at the production of positrons by X-ray binaries in the Galaxy Observations with the European INTEGRAL satellite give scientists a first clue to the possible origin of the mysterious antimatter in our Galaxy. Antimatter is distributed non-symmetric in the central region of the Milky Way much similar to the distribution of X-ray binaries in the Galaxy.
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The massive stellar black hole in M 33. Picture: Pietsch, MPE |
Most massive stellar black hole found MPE members were actively involved in the detection of an exceptionally massive black hole. This result has intriguing implications for the evolution and ultimate fate of massive stars. The black hole is part of a binary system in M 33. By combining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Gemini telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, the mass of the black hole, was determined to be 15.7 times that of the Sun.
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Regions around the 14 quasars where previously hidden galaxies were detected via their hydrogen emission using the SINFONI instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope. Image: ESO |
Galaxy 'Hunting' Made Easy - Galaxies found under the Glare of Cosmic Flashlights Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope have discovered in a single pass about a dozen otherwise invisible galaxies halfway across the Universe. The discovery, based on a technique that exploits SINFONI, a combination of the SPIFFI instrument built at MPE and the ESO developed Adaptive Optics system for the VLT, represents a major breakthrough in the field of galaxy 'hunting'. The quasars used to find these galaxies are very distant objects of extreme brilliance, which are used as cosmic beacons that reveal galaxies lying between the quasar and us.
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Logo of the new catalogue Image: ESA |
XMM-Newton releases the largest catalogue of X-ray sources
The largest catalogue of X-ray sources ever made has now been released. The catalogue, '2XMM', has been compiled from observations carried out with ESA's XMM-Newton space observatory over 6 years of operation.
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GROND (lower left side) at the 2.2-m MPI/ESO Telescope Picture: MPE |
GROND Takes Off - First Light for Gamma-Ray Burst Chaser at La Silla A new instrument saw First Light in June 2007 at the ESO La Silla Observatory. Equipping the 2.2-m MPI/ESO telescope, the MPE built GROND (Gamma Ray Burst Optical Near IR-Detector) takes images simultaneously in seven colours in the visible and the infrared. It will be mostly used to determine distances of gamma-ray bursts.
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Traces of the radioactive decay of Fe-60 in the interstellar gas of the Galaxy. The picture shows an overlay of the weak gamma-ray lines at 1173 and 1332 to enhance the signal. Picture: MPE |
Radioactive iron, a window to the stars Scientist from MPE using ESA's orbiting gamma-ray observatory, Integral, have made a pioneering unequivocal discovery of radioactive iron-60 in our galaxy that provides powerful insight into the workings of massive stars that pervade and shape it.
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The Ultra Luminous Merger IRAS 06035-7102. Credits: (ESO/MPE/NACO-LGS/VLT) |
Free from the Atmosphere! The Laser Guide Star System on ESO's VLT Starts Regular Science Operations An artificial, laser-fed star now shines regularly over the sky of Paranal, home of ESO's Very Large Telescope, one of the world's most advanced large ground-based telescopes. This system, called PARSEC, was built at MPE and provides assistance for the adaptive optics instruments on the VLT and so allows astronomers to obtain images free from the blurring effect of the atmosphere, regardless of the brightness and the location on the sky of the observed target. Now that it is routinely offered by the observatory, the skies seem much sharper to astronomers.
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Optical M 31 H-alpha image overplotted with contours from Chandra observations. The positions of 17 counterparts of optical novae detected in these images are indicated with circles and nova names. Credits: W. Pietsch (MPE Garching, Germany), P. Massey (Lowell Observatory, USA), NASA/Chandra |
X-rays provide a new way to investigate exploding stars Using the X-ray observatories XMM-Newton (ESA) and Chandra (NASA) as well as optical monitoring observations, astronomers from the MPE have identified a new class of exploding stars where the X-ray emission "lives fast and dies young". The identification of this particular class of explosions gives astronomers a valuable new constraint to help them model and understand stellar explosions.
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Artists concept of eRosita Picture: MPE |
eRosita Approved - The Search for Dark Energy Can Start The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)) has approved funding (21 million Euro) to build the eROSITA X-ray telescope for a launch in 2011. ROSKOSMOS and DLR signed a memorandum of understanding for the cooperation for this project.
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XMM-Newton's anniversary view of supernova SN 1987A The supernova SN 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud is the nearest supernova detected since the invention of the telescope. Almost 20 years after its discovery on 23 February 1987, XMM-Newton observed the stellar remnant in X-rays on 17 January 2007. Continuously brightening since the first detection in X-rays by ROSAT in 1992, it now outshines all other X-ray sources in its immediate neighbourhood and it is more than ten times brighter as compared to the first-light observations of XMM-Newton in January 2000. Frank Haberl of MPE is XMM-Newton's EPIC Principal Investigator.
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First 3D map of the Universe's Dark Matter scaffolding An international team of scientists generated the yet most accurate map of the distribution of Dark Matter for a certain region of the universe. For details see the links below. MPE scientists contributed to the map of the visible (baryonic) matter, which helped to calibrate the method applied for revealing the distribution of the Dark matter. (Nature, January 7, 2007)
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Astronomers Unite to Make Revolutionary Map and First Movie of the Sky Pan-STARRS
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MPIA/MPE press release |
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Far Away Galaxy Under The Microscope SINFONI Discovers Rapidly Forming, Large Proto-Disc Galaxies Three Billion Years After The Big Bang An international group of astronomers have discovered large disc galaxies akin to our Milky Way that must have formed on a rapid time scale, only 3 billion years after the Big Bang. In one of these systems, the combination of adaptive optics techniques with the new SINFONI spectrograph on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) resulted in a record-breaking resolution of a mere 0.15 arcsecond, giving an unprecedented detailed view of the anatomy of such a distant proto-disc galaxy.
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Max-Planck-Scientists find new insights in the processes on how old pulsars generate X-rays: Old pulsars still have new tricks to teach usThe super-sensitivity of ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory has shown that the prevailing theory of how stellar corpses, known as pulsars, generate their X-rays needs revising. In particular, the energy needed to generate the million-degree polar hotspots seen on cooling neutron stars may come predominately from inside the pulsar, not from outside. This is suggested by the investigation of five, several million years old rotation-powered pulsars using XMM-Newton.
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Marcel Grossmann Award to Prof. Joachim TrümperAt the 11th Marcel Grossmann Meeting (MG11) held in Berlin in July 2006 Joachim Trümper (MPE) received the Marcel Grossmann Award 2006 for his outstanding scientific contributions to the physics of compact astrophysical objects and for leading the highly successful ROSAT mission which discovered more then 200,000 galactic and extragalactic X-ray sources: "a major step in the observational capabilities of X-ray astronomy and in the knowledge of our universe".
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XMM-Newton spots the greatest ball of fireUsing data from ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory, a team of international scientists including members of MPE found a comet-like ball of gas over a thousand million times the mass of the sun hurling through the distant galaxy cluster Abell 3266 with a velocity of over 750 kilometres per second. This colossal 'ball of fire' is by far the largest object of this kind ever identified.
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XMM-Newton reveals a tumbling neutron starUsing data from ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory, an international group of astrophysicists led by Frank Haberl (MPE) discovered that one spinning neutron star doesn't appear to be the stable rotator scientists would expect. These X-ray observations promise to give new insights into the thermal evolution and finally the interior structure of neutron stars.
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Man-made star shines in the Southern Sky -
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MPG press release (in German language) |
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ESO press release |
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PARSEC pages at MPE |
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Using the spectrometer on ESA's Gamma-Ray Observatory INTEGRAL, an international team of researchers led by MPE scientists succeeded in Determining the Galactic Supernova Rate
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MPG press release |
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Original paper (Nature) |
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special MPE pages |
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Article in the magazine "MaxPlanckForschung" (in German language), vol. 4/2005 in  pdf format (2.6 MB; in German language) |
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The Large Binocular Telescope achieves "first light"
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Hubble finds mysterious disk of blue stars around a black hole in M 31
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XMM-Newton
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ESA Press Release |
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Astronomy & Astrophysics (in press) preprint in astro-ph |
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An international team of astronomers, Surprise Discovery
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Black Holes in a radar trapUsing the X-ray Satellite XMM-Newton researchers measure velocities near the speed of light in the vicinity of cosmic mass monsters
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Astrophysicists at MPE measure the strongest so far observed Gamma-Ray Burst of a Magnetar
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Günther Hasinger Direktor at MPE wins the prestigious Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2005
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An international team of astronomers including members of the MPE detected the most powerful massive merger of galaxies on record.
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Led by H. Böhringer from MPE, an international team of astronomers conducted the first complete mapping of the "backbone" of the Universe. The project is known under the acronym REFLEX (Rosat-ESO-Flux-Limited X-ray Cluster Survey).
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Using data of the satellite INTEGRAL, a team of European researchers including members of the MPE determined that "Compact sources are the origin of
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Combining data from the X-ray satellites Chandra and XMM-Newton, the Hubble Space telescope and earlier data from the X-ray mission ROSAT, an international group of astronomers lead by Stefanie Komossa from MPE now have found the first strong evidence of a giant supermassive black hole ripping apart a star at the center of a distant galaxy, a process long predicted by theory. |
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An international group of scientists led by Gamma-ray Bursts
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A team led by scientists of the MPI für extraterrestrische Physik recorded flaring infrared radiation directly from the supermassive black hole at the center of the milky way.
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 International Balzan Foundation |
Reinhard Genzel, MPE Director, was awarded the
Balzan Prize 2003 in recognition of his "fundamental contributions to Infrared Astronomy". (September 12, 2003)
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| 40 Years MPE
(July 7, 2003)
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"1XMM" derived from observations of XMM-Newton,
(April 10, 2003)
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Using the Chandra X-ray satellite, Two Supermassive Black Holes in Same Galaxy.
(November 19, 2002)
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A team led by scientists of the MPI für extraterrestrische Physik observed for the first time a star in a close orbit around the supermassive black hole at the center of the milky way. Recent results of the IR group MPE Galactic Center pages
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