eROSITA sees changes in the most powerful quasar

eROSITA sees changes in the most powerful quasar

Researchers have observed the X-ray emission of the most luminous quasar seen in the last 9 billion years of cosmic history. Significant changes in the quasar’s emission give a new perspective on the inner workings of quasars and how they interact with their environment. 

JWST peeks into the birthplaces of exoplanets

JWST peeks into the birthplaces of exoplanets

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

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.

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First observational inference of neutrino natal kicks from X-ray-quiescent black-hole binary VFTS 243

Jun 7, 2023 10:45 AM - 11:45 AM (Local Time Germany)
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Mapping the southern hemisphere with 4MOST

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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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