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The Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, MPIA) is a
research institute A research institute, research centre, research center or research organization, is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often i ...
of the
Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (german: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. ...
(MPG). It is located in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany near the top of the Königstuhl, adjacent to the historic Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl
astronomical observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...
. The institute primarily conducts basic research in the natural sciences in the field of astronomy. In addition to its own astronomical observations and astronomical research, the Institute is also actively involved in the development of observation instruments. The instruments or parts of them are manufactured in the institute's own workshops.


History

The founding of the institute in 1967 resulted from the insight that a supra-regional institute equipped with powerful telescopes was necessary in order to conduct internationally competitive astronomical research. Hans Elsässer, an astronomer, became the founding director in 1968. In February 1969, a first group of 5 employees started work in the buildings of the neighbouring Königstuhl State Observatory. The institute, which was completed in 1975, was initially dedicated to the preparation and evaluation of astronomical observations and the development of new measurement methods. From 1973 to 1984, it operated the
Calar Alto Observatory The Calar Alto Observatory (Centro Astronómico Hispano en Andalucía or "Spanish Astronomical Centre in Andalusia") is an astronomical observatory located in Almería province in Spain on Calar Alto, a mountain in the Sierra de Los Filabres ra ...
on Calar Alto near Almería together with Spanish authorities. This largest observatory on the European mainland was used equally by astronomers from both countries until 2019. On 23 May 2019, the regional government of Andalusia and the MPG signed a transfer agreement for the 50% share in the observatory. Since then, it has been owned exclusively by Spain. Since 2005, the MPIA has been operating the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) together with partners from Germany, Italy and the USA and equipping it with measuring instruments. The LBT is located on Mount Graham near Tucson, Arizona, which is 3190 m high. On its mount, it carries two primary mirrors, each 8.4 meters in diameter, making it the largest optical reflecting telescope with single monolithic primary mirrors in the world. Additionally, MPIA is participating in providing with instruments and using of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) operated by ESO (European Southern Observatories). With the assistance of the MPIA two of VLT's 8-meter mirrors were linked together in such way that they could work as a bigger telescope with higher resolution in autumn 2002. In 2022, MPIA was taking part in the preparatory work for installing in the European Extremely large Telescope (E-ELT) in Chile with 39-meters mirror (the largest telescope in the world).


Research interests

Two scientific questions are given priority at the MPIA. One is the formation and development of stars and
planets A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a young ...
in our cosmic neighbourhood. The resonating question is: Is the
Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared rad ...
with its inhabited planet
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...
unique, or are there also conditions in the vicinity of other stars, at least the numerous sun-like ones among them, that are conducive to
life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...
? On the other hand, the area of
galaxies A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...
and
cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosophe ...
is about understanding the development of today's richly structured
Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. A ...
with its galaxies and stars and its emergence from the simple initial state after the
Big Bang The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from t ...
. The research topics at a glance: *
Star formation Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space, sometimes referred to as "stellar nurseries" or "star-forming regions", collapse and form stars. As a branch of astronomy, star formation includ ...
and young objects,
planet formation The nebular hypothesis is the most widely accepted model in the field of cosmogony to explain the formation and evolution of the Solar System (as well as other planetary systems). It suggests the Solar System is formed from gas and dust orbiting t ...
,
astrobiology Astrobiology, and the related field of exobiology, is an interdisciplinary scientific field that studies the origins, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. Astrobiology is the multidisciplinary field that investi ...
,
interstellar matter In astronomy, the interstellar medium is the matter and radiation that exist in the space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, as well as dust and cosmic rays. It fills interstellar ...
,
astrochemistry Astrochemistry is the study of the abundance and reactions of molecules in the Universe, and their interaction with radiation. The discipline is an overlap of astronomy and chemistry. The word "astrochemistry" may be applied to both the Solar Sys ...
* Structure and evolution of the
Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked ey ...
,
quasars A quasar is an extremely luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is pronounced , and sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. This emission from a galaxy nucleus is powered by a supermassive black hole with a mass ranging ...
and
active galaxies An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity over at least some portion of the electromagnetic spectrum with characteristics indicating that the luminosity is not pro ...
, evolution of galaxies,
galaxy clusters A galaxy cluster, or a cluster of galaxies, is a structure that consists of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are bound together by gravity, with typical masses ranging from 1014 to 1015 solar masses. They are the second-la ...
, cosmology Together with the Center for Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg, the
Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies The Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS gGmbH) was established in 2010 by SAP co-founder Klaus Tschira through his foundation, the " Klaus Tschira Stiftung", as a private, non-profit research institute. HITS conducts basic resear ...
(HITS) and the Department of Astro- and Particle Physics of the MPI for Nuclear Physics (MPIK), the MPIA in Heidelberg is a globally renowned centre of astronomical research. Since 2015, the MPIA has been running the "''Heidelberg Initiative for the Origins of Life''" (HIFOL) together with the MPIK, the HITS, the Institute of
Geosciences Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spher ...
at
Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
and the Department of Chemistry at the
Ludwig Maximilian University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: link=no, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of ...
Munich (LMU). HIFOL brings together top researchers from astrophysics, geosciences, chemistry and the
life sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, th ...
to promote, strengthen and combine scientific research towards the prerequisites for the emergence of life.


Structure

* Galaxies and Cosmology Department (Hans-Walter Rix) **Gaia Galactic Survey Mission (Coryn Bailer-Jones) **Supermassive black holes and galaxies in the epoch of reionization (Eduardo Banados) **Stellar spectroscopy and populations (Maria Bergemann) **AGN Jet Physics (Christian Fendt) **High angular resolution astronomy (Tom Herbst) **Coevolution of Galaxies and Black Holes (Emmy Noether) **Euclid Mission Group (Knud Jahnke) **Stellar Physics and the Evolution of Chemical Elements (Karin Lind) **Structure of Active Galactic Nuclei (Klaus Meisenheimer) **Galactic Nuclei (Nadine Neumayer) **Galaxies and Cosmology Theory (Annalisa Pillepich) **Black Hole and Accretion Research/Instrumentation (Jörg-Uwe Pott) **Galaxy Evolution and Milky Way groups (Hans-Walter Rix) **Extragalactic Star Formation (Eva Schinnerer) **Interstellar Matter and High-z QSOs (Fabian Walter) *Planet and Star Formation Department (Thomas K. Henning) **Star Formation (Henrik Beuther) **Planet Formation in Accretion Discs (Bertram Bitsch) **Adaptive Optics (Wolfgang Brandner) **Unveiling Planet Formation by Simulations and ObservationS (Mario Flock) **Center "Frontiers of Interferometry in Germany" (Thomas K. Henning) **Disks and Exoplanets (Thomas K. Henning) **Laboratory Astrophysics (Cornelia Jäger) **Theory of Planet and Star Formation (Hubert Klahr) **Infrared Space (Oliver Krause) **The Genesis of Planets (Paola Pinilla) *Atmospheric Physics of Exoplanets (Laura Kreidberg) *Technical Departments


Instrumentation

The MPIA also builds instruments or parts of them for ground-based telescopes and satellites, including the following: *
CARMENES The CARMENES survey (Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M-dwarfs with Exoearths with Near-infrared and optical Échelle Spectrographs) is a project to examine approximately 300 M-dwarf stars for signs of exoplanets with the CARMENES instrument o ...
(a high-resolution radial velocity machine) at
Calar Alto Observatory The Calar Alto Observatory (Centro Astronómico Hispano en Andalucía or "Spanish Astronomical Centre in Andalusia") is an astronomical observatory located in Almería province in Spain on Calar Alto, a mountain in the Sierra de Los Filabres ra ...
(Spain) *
La Silla Observatory La Silla Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Chile with three telescopes built and operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Several other telescopes are located at the site and are partly maintained by ESO. The observatory is ...
of the
European Southern Observatory The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, commonly referred to as the European Southern Observatory (ESO), is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental research organisation made up of 16 mem ...
(ESO) *GRAVITY and MATISSE instruments for the
VLT VLT may stand for: * Very Large Telescope array, in northern Chile * Vestmanlands Läns Tidning, newspaper in Västerås, Sweden * Video Lottery Terminal, for gambling on a video game * Virtual Link Trunking, proprietary networking protocol * Valle ...
at
Paranal Observatory Paranal Observatory is an astronomical observatory operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). It is located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile on Cerro Paranal at altitude, south of Antofagasta. By total light-collecting area, it ...
*MICADO and METIS for the
E-ELT The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is an astronomical observatory currently under construction. When completed, it is planned to be the world's largest optical/near-infrared extremely large telescope. Part of the European Southern Observatory ...
(ESO) *LINC-NIRVANA instrument for the Large Binocular Telescope *
Infrared Space Observatory The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) was a space telescope for infrared light designed and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), in cooperation with ISAS (now part of JAXA) and NASA. The ISO was designed to study infrared light at waveleng ...
(
ESA , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1 ...
) *
Herschel Space Observatory The Herschel Space Observatory was a space observatory built and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). It was active from 2009 to 2013, and was the largest infrared telescope ever launched until the launch of the James Webb Space Telesco ...
(ESA,
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...
) *
James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope which conducts infrared astronomy. As the largest optical telescope in space, its high resolution and sensitivity allow it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble ...
(NASA, ESA) The MPIA is also participating in the
Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; from Ancient Greek , a poetical form of , 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea , is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthe ...
mission. Gaia is a space mission of the
European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...
(ESA), in which the exact positions, distances and velocities of around one billion Milky Way stars are determined.


Directors

* Hans Elsässer, Founding director, 1968–1997 *
Guido Münch Guido Münch Paniagua (June 9, 1921 – 29 April 2020) was a Mexican astronomer and astrophysicist. Biography Münch was born in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico. He studied civil engineering and mathematics at the National Autonomous Univer ...
, 1978–1989 * Steven Beckwith, 1991–2001 * Immo Appenzeller, 1998–2000 (interim) *
Hans-Walter Rix Hans-Walter Rix is a German astronomer and director of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg. He is the son of the linguist Helmut Rix. Career He was educated at the University of Freiburg, the University of Munich and the Unive ...
, since 1999 *
Thomas Henning Thomas K. Henning (born 9 April 1956) is a German astrophysicist. Since 2001, he is a director at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. Henning is an expert in the field of star and planet formation. Education and career Henning studied p ...
, since 2001 * Laura Kreidberg, since 2020


Infrastructure

The managing director is Thomas Henning (as of January 2020). Former and current external scientific members of the MPIA were and are: * Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Böhm (†) * Prof. Dr. Walter Fricke (†) * Prof. Dr. George H. Herbig (†) * Prof. Dr. Conny Aerts ( University of Leuven/
Radboud University Nijmegen Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, nl, Radboud Universiteit , formerly ''Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen'') is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th century ...
) * Prof. Dr. Immo Appenzeller (Emeritus, Heidelberg University) * Prof. Dr. Steven V.W. Beckwith (
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Fran ...
, Berkeley) * Prof. Dr. Willy Benz (
University of Bern The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It is a compreh ...
) * Prof. Dr. Rafael Rebolo ( Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias) * Prof. Dr. Volker Springel (
Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics The Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) is a research institute located in Garching, just north of Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is one of many scientific research institutes belonging to the Max Planck Society. The MPA is widely consider ...
) At the end of 2019, a total of 345 people were employed at the Institute, including 208 scientists, among them 102 junior and visiting scientists. In the same year, 62 doctoral students were supervised in cooperation with the University of Heidelberg. Seven independent research groups have been established at the MPIA per 2019. These include three Max Planck Research Groups and two European research groups. Two groups are funded by the
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (german: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung) is a foundation established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Education and Rese ...
.


Graduate program

The MPIA participates in the ''International Max Planck Research School'' (IMPRS) for Astronomy and Cosmic Physics. The IMPRS is an English-language
doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ...
program that started in 2005. Other partners of the IMPRS are the MPIK, the Center for Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg and the HITS. Since 2007, the IMPRS has been part of the ''Heidelberg Graduate School of Fundamental Physics''. Spokespersons of the IMPRS are Hans-Walter Rix from MPIA and Stefan Wagner from the Landessternwarte Heidelberg.


Public relations and outreach

The MPIA hosts the editorial office of the popular journa
Sterne und Weltraum
(lit. Stars and Space), which was founded in 1962 by Hans Elsässer, later founding director of the MPIA, among others. It is also the patron of th
Wissenschaft in die Schulen!
(lit. Science into Schools) initiative, which develops educational materials for secondary schools. In December 2008, the institute and the
Klaus Tschira Foundation The Klaus Tschira Stiftung (KTS) is a German foundation established by the physicist Klaus Tschira in 1995 as a non-profit organization. Its primary objective is to support projects in the natural and computer sciences as well as mathematics. The ...
announced their intention to bundle the activities of the Heidelberg astronomers in public relations and work with pupils and teachers in a newly founded Haus der Astronomie. Every few years, the MPIA hosts an Open Day for the general public. On the event, visitors can interact in English with the institute's experts and attend brief seminars in which they are introduced to the institute's astronomical research and instruments.


Haus der Astronomie

In 2009, "Haus der Astronomie," a center for astronomy education and outreach was founded on the MPIA campus. The center is a partnership between the
Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (german: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. ...
, the
Klaus Tschira Foundation The Klaus Tschira Stiftung (KTS) is a German foundation established by the physicist Klaus Tschira in 1995 as a non-profit organization. Its primary objective is to support projects in the natural and computer sciences as well as mathematics. The ...
,
Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
and the City of Heidelberg. The center's galaxy-shaped building, funded and constructed by the Klaus Tschira Foundation, was opened in December 2011. It is operated by the Max Planck Society, which has delegated the task to the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. Activities in Haus der Astronomie include public talks and guided tours, planetarium shows, workshops for school classes or kindergarten groups, the development of educational materials, pre-service training for teacher students at Heidelberg University and in-service training for German and international teachers. Every year Haus der Astronomie offers International Summer Internship Program for students in their senior year of high school and recent graduates. During the program participants can engage in astrophysical activities like experiments and observation.


References


External links


Homepage of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy


* ttp://www.haus-der-astronomie.de/en Homepage of Haus der Astronomie {{DEFAULTSORT:Max Planck Institute For Astronomy Astronomy institutes and departments Heidelberg
Astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
Research institutes established in 1967