Helium-burning white dwarf discovered

Helium-burning white dwarf discovered

A team led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics has found a binary star system in which matter flows onto the white dwarf from its companion. The system was found due to bright, so-called super-soft X-rays, which originate in the nuclear fusion of the overflowed gas near the surface of the white dwarf. The unusual thing about this source is that it is helium and not hydrogen that overflows and burns.

Life on distant moons

Life on distant moons

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.

Serendipitous detection of a rapidly accreting black hole in the early Universe

Serendipitous detection of a rapidly accreting black hole in the early Universe

eROSITA telescope finds an X-ray bright, optically faint quasar accreting material at an extremely high rate only about 800 million years after the big bang

Chameleon I hides a wealth of frozen molecules

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

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

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

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.

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Upcoming events

Pioniere des Wissens │ Die Nobelpreisträger*innen der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Feb 27, 2023 - Apr 10, 2023
Deutsches Museum München │ Bibliotheksbau │ Museumsinsel 1 │ 80538 München

Recent Developments in Clustering Analysis of Large-Scale Structure

Mar 24, 2023 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
MPA, Garching, Room: MPA, Large Seminarroom E.0.11 and via zoom

Sterile neutrinos in cosmology and direct experiments

Mar 28, 2023 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
Garching, Room: MPA old lecture hall 401 and online

Disentangling the Origins of Planetary System Volatiles: JWST Studies of Comets

Apr 17, 2023 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
MPE, Garching, Room: MPE new seminar room and online

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A look back forward
​​​​​​​​2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Max Planck Society. On February 26, 1948, in Göttingen, the proven concept of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society as a successful model of non-university research funding was rescued for the young Federal Republic, but also changed in a forward-looking way. Both are the basis of the MPG in its present form and success. The anniversary is celebrated as the most important caesura within the history of the MPG, which goes back to 1911, and at the same time sets the course for the future viability of the society, which must be discussed again and again.
Find out more in the MAX Intranet:
Reinhard Genzel receives the Nobel Prize for Physics 2020
The Max Planck Director is honored for his observations of the black hole in the Galactic Center
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