All News (2011 - ...)

Long-awaited review reveals journey of water from interstellar clouds to habitable worlds more

In the first all-sky survey by the eROSITA X-ray telescope onboard SRG, astronomers at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics have identified a previously unknown supernova remnant, dubbed “Hoinga.” The finding was confirmed in archival radio data and marks the first discovery of a joint Australian-eROSITA partnership established to explore our Galaxy using multiple wavelengths, from low-frequency radio waves to energetic X-rays. The Hoinga supernova remnant is very large and located far from the galactic plane – a surprising first finding – implying that the next years might bring many more discoveries. more

The European Astronomical Society (EAS) awards the 2021 Tycho Brahe Medal to Dr Frank Eisenhauer for his leadership of the SINFONI and GRAVITY instruments on the ESO VLT. more

On 26 February 2021, Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder conferred the “Maximiliansorden” for Art and Science to Prof. Reinhard Genzel, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and Nobel Laureate in Physics 2020. The award is Bavaria's highest tribute to excellence in the fields of science and art. more

On 8 January 2021, the société astronomique de France (the French Astronomical Society – SAF) awarded the Jules Janssen Prize to Dr. Ewine F. van Dishoeck, External Scientific Member of the MPE, for her outstanding scientific achievements. more

The Max Planck Director is honored for his observations of the black hole in the Galactic Center more

There has never been anything like it: Reinhard Genzel received the Nobel Prize certificate and medal on 8.12.2020 in a festive ceremony at the State Chancellery in Munich. more

Gigantic hot-gas structures above and below the galactic disc are probably due to shock waves generated by past energetic activity in the center of our Galaxy. more

The project "DarkQuest: Shedding Light on the Nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy with Multi-Wavelength All-Sky Surveys" led by Esra Bulbul at MPE is being funded by an ERC Consolidator grant for the next five years. Taking advantage of the eROSITA survey data, she aims to constrain dark energy and dark matter models. more

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Three years into its quest to reveal the nature of dark energy, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) is on track to complete the largest map of the cosmos ever. The team will create a three-dimensional map of 2.5 million galaxies that will help astronomers understand how and why the expansion of the universe is speeding up over time. Scientists in Munich and Garching have contributed to the design of the survey strategy, planning and execution as well as developing key software and data management tools for the cosmology data analysis. more

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