CAS News and Highlights

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Honoured twice

June 30, 2025

Teresa Valdivia-Mena receives both Otto Hahn Medal and Otto Hahn Award from the Max Planck Society more

Fiery orange and blue nebulae form symmetrical patterns in the dark space, with scattered stars.

For the first time, a team at Leiden University led by Ewine van Dishoek, an external scientific member of MPE, has robustly detected semi-heavy water ice around a young, sun-like star. These results support the theory that some of the water in our solar system originated before the Sun and its planets formed. The researchers used the James Webb Space Telescope to make their discovery, which they have published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. more

Asteroid Bennu Sample Reveals a Broth of Life’s Ingredients

Studies of rock and dust from asteroid Bennu delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and analyzed by, among others, researchers from MPE’s Center of Astrochemistry (CAS), have revealed molecules that, on our planet, are key to life, as well as a history of saltwater that could have served as the “broth” for these compounds to interact and combine.
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Barbara Ercolano becomes Max Planck Fellow at MPE

In collaboration with the astrochemistry group of Prof. Caselli, Prof. Barbara Ercolano will work on the birth environments of exoplanets as new Max Planck Fellow at the MPE. Currently working at the University Observatory Munich, this joint position will strengthen the cooperation between MPG and LMU. more

The cosmic-ray ionization rate in the local Milky Way is ten times lower than previously thought

An international group of astrophysicists, led by MPE scientists Marta Obolentseva, Alexei Ivlev, Kedron Silsbee, and Paola Caselli, have revisited the long-standing problem of evaluating the rate at which cosmic rays ionize gas in the interstellar medium. By combining available observational data for diffuse molecular clouds with novel developments in understanding the dust and gas distribution in these regions and applying numerical modeling, the scientists were able to compute the cosmic-ray ionization rate (or its upper limit) for a dozen nearby clouds. They showed that earlier estimates were a factor of ten too high. more

JWST sheds Light on the Structure of interstellar Water Ice

Using the JWST, a team of researchers including Paola Caselli, Barbara Michela Giuliano and Basile Husquinet from MPE, have probed deep into dense cloud cores, revealing details of interstellar ice that were previously unobservable. The study focuses on the Chamaeleon I region, using JWST’s NIRCam to measure spectroscopic lines towards hundreds of stars behind the cloud. more

Webb shines light on early interstellar grain growth

In a groundbreaking study, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observed the early stages of the growth of dust grains in the dense Chamaeleon I cloud. These cold dust grains have accumulated molecular solids on their surface early in the process leading to star formation, challenging previous assumptions on where and when grain growth occurs. The findings indicate that the growth of these „icy grains” begins even before the protostellar phase. This not only sheds light on the intricacies of grain evolution before the birth of stars and planets but also poses challenges for chemical abundance determination due to the deformation of observed profiles. more

Protostars feed from beyond their envelopes

A recent study led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics challenges conventional notions of star formation by revealing the intricate connection between streamers and filaments. Focusing on the star-forming region Barnard 5, the study traces the journey of material from larger scales to protostellar disks, uncovering a remarkable relationship between elongated filaments and gas streamers. In particular, the team discovered a sizeable streamer, which suggests that young stars can receive additional material even after the so-believed main accretion phase. more

JWST peeks into the birthplaces of exoplanets

Astronomers excited by first JWST spectra of planetary cradles showing a rich and diverse chemistry more

Life on distant moons

Life on distant moons

March 20, 2023

Liquid water is one of the most important ingredients for the emergence of life as we know it on Earth. Researchers of the ORIGINS Cluster and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics from the fields of astrophysics, astrochemistry and biochemistry have now determined the necessary properties that allow moons around free-floating planets to retain liquid water for a sufficiently long time and thus enable life. more

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