Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research

Homepage

Dawn - a journey to the beginnings of our solar system NASA's space probe Dawn will arrive at its first destination, the asteroid Vesta, this summer. The mission's homepage at MPS offers news and background information ... [more]

Press Release

Primal rock in space Press Release 23/2011 - October 28, 2011 The Lutetia asteroid could be a remnant from the early phase of the solar system. Lutetia is a real fossil: several areas of the asteroid's surface are around 3.6 billion years old and thus some of the oldest in the planetary system. Its high density means Lutetia is also a planetesimal, the first stage of development on the way to becoming a planet. These findings have been obtained by scientists headed by the ... [more]

Press Release

Startschuss für die Reise zum Feuerball Press Release 22/2011 - October 13, 2011 Die ESA hat die Mission Solar Orbiter genehmigt. Das Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung beteiligt sich an sechs von zehn Instrumenten. Wenn sich die Raumsonde Solar Orbiter 2017 näher an die Sonne heranwagt als je eine Weltraummission zuvor, werden auch wissenschaftliche Instrumente des Max-Planck-Instituts für Sonnensystemforschung (MPS) der Hitze unseres Zentralgestirns trotzen. Die Europäische Weltraumagentur (ESA) hat diese einzigartige Mission ... [more]

Press Release

Did comets bring water to Earth? Press Release 21/2011 - October 6, 2011 Observations of Hartley 2 have revealed the first comet with water similar to that on our home planet. Not only the impacts of asteroids, but also comets may have provided Earth with large parts of its water. This is a result of new measurements performed by ESA's space observatory Herschel that were led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany. The researchers were able to identify 103P/Hartley 2 as ... [more]

	more news and announcements
	Science Highlights