Home

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.

Top achievements honored

Björn Müller, researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, and Cai Dieball, scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, have been awarded the Otto Hahn Medal for outstanding achievements in their dissertations. The Max Planck Society (MPS) presented the awards at its annual meeting on June 25 in Magdeburg.

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.

sunspot as seen by the Inouye Solar Telescope

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.

Research Departments

Sun and Heliosphere

The focus of this department is the solar interior, the solar atmosphere, the solar magnetic field, the heliosphere, and the interplanetary medium, as well as solar radiation and solar energetic particles. The balloon-mission Sunrise, a balloon-borne solar observatory, is managed by this department. The mission investigates our central star from a height of about 35 km. In addition to several other participations in space missions, the department significantly contributes to the ESA's Solar Orbiter.

Planetary Science

This department investigates the interior, the surfaces, atmospheres, ionospheres, and magnetospheres of planets and their moons, as well as comets and asteroids. The department currently contributes or has contributed to important space missions such as the ESA's missions JUICE to the Jovian system, BepiColombo to Mercury and Rosetta to comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko as well as NASA's missions InSight to Mars and Dawn to the asteroid belt.

Solar and Stellar Interiors

Helioseismology and asteroseismology are tools that use the oscillations of the Sun and stars to probe their interior structure and dynamics. This allows us to test and refine the theory of stellar structure and evolution, thereby bringing us closer to understanding solar and stellar magnetism. The department hosts the German Data Center for NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, and is preparing to host the data center of ESA's exoplanet hunting mission, PLATO.

International Office

On the pages of the International Office, new employees and guests will find information for their stay in Göttingen and at the institute.

IMPRS

PhD programme: International Max Planck Research School for Solar System Science at the University of Göttingen.

Staff at the MPS

Staff directory

Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Canteen at the MPS
Mon - Fri 9 - 13
This week's menu