Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
The research focus of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research is our cosmic neighborhood: the solar system with its planets and moons, comets and asteroids as well as the sun. The aim of the scientists is to describe the processes in the solar system in models and to simulate them on the computer. In addition, instruments are being developed and built to study these bodies from space. The Institute is involved in numerous space missions.
First images of the Sun's south pole
During its latest flyby of the Sun at the end of March this year, the Solar Orbiter space probe had its first clear view of our star's poles. Solar Orbiter's trajectory has recently been tilted 17 degrees relative to the Sun's equator, allowing measurements from this unique perspective for the first time. As the new observations impressively show, the magnetic field at the poles is currently in a state of turmoil.
Night of Science 2025
A long summer night brimming with information and activities devoted to space research and exploration awaits quests during the 6th Night of Science in Göttingen on Saturday, June 21st, 2025, from 5 PM until midnight. Lectures, guided tours, experiments, and unique exhibits offer the opportunity to learn about current research results and space missions, as well as to get to know the institute's laboratories, clean rooms, and workshops. Especially for children, there is much to explore. Food and drinks will be available in front of the institute.
The heart of world’s largest solar telescope begins to beat
Technical First Light! The world's largest solar telescope, the U.S. National Science Foundation Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, has reached an important milestone. After almost 15 years of preparation, VTF, the German instrument for the Inouye Solar Telescope, has now taken its first images. The imaging spectro-polarimeter was developed and built at the Institute for Solar Physics (KIS) in Freiburg. The MPS is a partner in the project.
Solar Probe Aditya-L1: Explosive Debut in Space
When the Sun hurled enormous amounts of radiation into space in an explosive eruption on February 22 of last year, the Indian space probe Aditya-L1, launched a few months earlier, was watching closely – and thus captured the first images of such a flare in the lowermost solar atmosphere. A team of researchers involving MPS presents the analysis of the observational data in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The observed category X6.3 flare was one of the most powerful of the past year.
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During its latest flyby of the Sun at the end of March this year, the Solar Orbiter space probe had its first clear view of our star's poles. The first images and observational data from the south pole taken during this flyby were published today ...
The world's largest solar telescope, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, has reached an important milestone. After almost 15 years of preparation, the German instrument for the Inouye Solar ...
When the Sun hurled enormous amounts of radiation into space in an explosive eruption on February 22 of last year, the Indian space probe Aditya-L1, launched a few months earlier, was watching closely – and thus captured the first images of such a ...
Tiny plasma jets on the Sun drive both the fast and the slow solar wind, as can be seen from data collected by ESA’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft. An international team of researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in ...