Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie

We have produced various videos to showcase the research and activities carried out at #MPIA and Haus der Astronomie. Watch here the first of them, which is a brief overview of the departments related to science, instrumentation, and outreach. #astronomy #exoplanets #starformation #galaxies #cosmology Script, camera, and editing: Rowan Moorkens O'Reilly https://lnkd.in/ee94mAug

We have produced various videos to showcase the research and activities carried out at #MPIA and Haus der Astronomie. In this video, we present the research of the Planet and Star Formation Department. Thomas Henning led this department until end of April 2024 which was after the time of filming this video. Myriam Benisty succeeded him in May 2024. The video covers: - Research of the PSF Department - Observatories such as JWST (James Webb Space Telescope) - Origin of Life (lab experiments) - Future telescope projects Script, camera, and editing: Rowan Moorkens O'Reilly https://lnkd.in/dKR2zTDf

We have produced various videos to showcase the research and activities carried out at #MPIA and Haus der Astronomie. In this video, we present the research of the Galaxies and Cosmology (GC) Department, led by Hans-Walter Rix. The video covers: - Scientific topics of the department - Cosmological simulations - Observational studies - Euclid space probe mission - Black holes and quasars - Star formation on a galactic scale - The Milky Way - Telescopes and measuring instruments Script, camera, and editing: Rowan Moorkens O'Reilly https://lnkd.in/ePtW_6XJ

We have produced various videos to showcase the research and activities carried out at #MPIA and Haus der Astronomie. In this video, we present the research of the Atmospheric Physics of Exoplanets (APEx) department led by Laura Kreidberg. The video covers: - exoplanets - atmospheric physics - observational methods - telescopes and measuring instruments - simulations Script, camera, and editing: Rowan Moorkens O'Reilly https://lnkd.in/d3q35U7u

A team of researchers led by #MPIA's Elisabeth Matthews used the James #Webb Space Telescope #JWST to image a cold gas giant #exoplanet orbiting the nearby star Epsilon Indi, approximately as old as the #SolarSystem. The measurement leads the way to studying a class of planets that had been unavailable before: cold Jupiter-like planets on wide orbits around old stars. The infrared observations revealed a point of light at the planet's location while the bright star was supressed by a coronagraph. The results show that earlier estimates concerning the planet's orbit and mass had been underestimating their uncertainties considerably, leading to wrong values. Other researchers involved in this study are Aarynn Carter (Space Telescope Science Institute), Caroline Morley (The University of Texas at Austin), and Prashant Pathak (Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur). https://lnkd.in/eBfAzrJw

Engineers and scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (#MPIA), led by Oliver Krause, developed crucial optical elements for the Coronagraph Instrument (#CGI) of the Roman Space Telescope and delivered them to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The CGI will test an innovative camera design that enables direct imaging and spectroscopy of #exoplanets in close orbits around distant stars. This design holds the potential for the first direct detection of a second #Earth. The fully assembled and tested CGI recently arrived at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), where it will be integrated into the telescope. https://lnkd.in/emd3JfcM

Astronomers including Maria Steinrueck (now University of Chicago) and MPIA's Laura Kreidberg, Duncan Christie, Eva-Maria Ahrer and David Hägele measured differences in #temperatures and cloud coverage at the morning and evening zones in the #atmosphere of a hot gas planet for the first time. The study led by Néstor Espinoza (Space Telescope Science Institute and The Johns Hopkins University) utilizes secondary eclipse spectra obtained with #JWST / #NIRSpec of the exoplanet #WASP-39b, tidally locked to its host star. The transitions zones between the eternal day and night sides during morning and evening differ by 200 degrees Celsius. https://lnkd.in/eDNvBXZw

A group of astronomers led by #MPIA's Maximilian Häberle and Nadine Neumayer found clear evidence for an intermediate-mass black hole in the center of the stellar cluster Omega Centauri. By measuring the motions of neighbouring stars with the Hubble Space Telescope, they inferred a black-hole mass of at least 8200 solar masses. This discovery strengthens the case for Omega Centauri as the core region of a galaxy that was swallowed by the Milky Way billions of years ago. #HST #NASA #ESA #BlackHole https://lnkd.in/e79-gwwC

Astronomers from the Université de Genève and Universität Bern and Remo Burn from #MPIA have found an explanation for why sub-Neptunes split into two groups with different densities. Interestingly, the density depends on the method used to measure the mass of the #planet. The reason for this phenomenon has something to do with whether the planets in a planetary system are in resonance. #Exoplanets #Astronomy https://lnkd.in/eTuM4AUT

Using #JWST, astronomers of the #MINDS collaboration discovered a large variety of carbon-rich gases in a disk of gas and dust around a very low-mass star. They could serve as ingredients of future #planets' #atmospheres potentially forming there. In contrast, the astronomers did not find oxygen-rich gases such as water. This find tells us that the #chemistry in these disks around the most abundant stars in the Universe is different to those around more massive stars like the Sun. https://lnkd.in/eHmGmD4R