Chameleon I hides a wealth of frozen molecules
James Webb Space Telescope unveils the dark side of pre-stellar ice chemistry
Star on a dangerous path provides regular meals for supermassive black hole
eROSITA all-sky survey detects repeating X-ray flares in an otherwise quiescent galaxy.
Hot spots around infant binary stars
High-resolution ALMA observations of the system IRAS 16293-2422 have revealed localized hot spots in the dusty material of the young stellar system. The study led by the Max Planck Institute of Extraterrestrial Physics indicates that these are most likely due to local shocks caused by fast gas motions rather than illumination from the protostars.
Sharper infrared eyes for the VLT: ERIS sees first light
The Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS), a science instrument which was built by a consortium under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, has successfully completed its first test observations. One of them exposed the heart of the galaxy NGC 1097 in mesmerising detail.
Explosion observed on a White Dwarf
When stars like our Sun use up all their fuel, they shrink to form white dwarfs. Sometimes such dead stars flare back to life in a super-hot explosion and produce a fireball of X-ray radiation. Using the eROSITA telescope on the SRG space observatory, a research team led by Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has now been able to observe such an explosion of X-ray light for the very first time.
Asteroid treasure in the Hubble archive
With a sophisticated combination of human and artificial intelligence, astronomers uncovered 1701 new asteroid trails in archival data of the Hubble Space Telescope spanning the past 20 years. While about one third could be identified and attributed to known objects, more than 1000 trails probably correspond to previously unknown asteroids.
Molecules are stored in ice just before star and planet formation
MPE-Astronomers have found evidence that just before star formation, in the central region of a pre-stellar cloud, practically all heavy molecules freeze out on top of dust grains. The ALMA observations of the L1544 cloud in the constellation Taurus revealed that molecules containing nitrogen as well those containing carbon, oxygen and all elements heavier than helium, are stored in thick icy mantles around dust grains.
The Milky Way’s inner ring
Using a combination of observed stars and a realistic model of the Milky Way, scientists at the MPE have found a new structure in our home galaxy. Just outside the Galactic bar, they found an inner ring of metal rich stars, which are younger than the stars in the bar.
The Galactic Center under the magnifying glass
GRAVITY zooms in on stars around the supermassive black hole at the heart of our Milky Way
