Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research

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.

ERC Synergy Grant for research project REVEAL

ERC Synergy Grant for research project REVEAL

In the search for life-friendly exoplanets, researchers from Germany, the UK and the USA join forces in a pioneering research project. The European Research Council will support the project REVEAL (Revealing Signatures of Habitable Worlds Hidden by Stellat Activity) with an ERC Synergy Grant. 

 

Small-scale magnetism leads to large-scale solar atmosphere

Small-scale magnetism leads to large-scale solar atmosphere

Thanks to close-up images of the Sun obtained during Solar Orbiter’s perihelion passage of October 2022, solar physicists have seen how fleeting magnetic fields at the solar surface build up into the solar atmosphere. A team of researchers led by the MPS reports on these findings in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.

 

A stereo view of the Sun’s magnetic field

A stereo view of the Sun’s magnetic field

Two space probes see more than one - especially when they look at their research object from two different directions as is the case for ESA’s Solar Orbiter and NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. A team of scientists led by the MPS has now succeeded in combining observational data from both spacecraft from March of last year in such a way that the magnetic field at the visible surface of the Sun can be unambiguously determined for the first time.

International Awards forYuto Bekki

International Awards for
Yuto Bekki

Dr. Yuto Bekki of the MPS received awards from two international associations of professional astronomers. He received the Patricia Edwin PhD Thesis Prize from the Solar Physics Division of the European Physical Society and an honorable mention from the Sun and Heliosphere Division of the International Astronomical Union. Using a suite of computer simulations, which he developed from scratch, the young researcher characterized a class of long period oscillations.
 

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 Department
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.

At a Glance

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

News

Seminars

S3 Seminar: Useful tools lightning talks

Dec 6, 2023 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
MPS Auditorium

S3 Seminar: Useful tools lightning talks

Dec 13, 2023 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
MPS Auditorium

MPS Seminar: Mechanisms and Modeling of Solar Eruptions: Where do we Stand?

Jan 9, 2024 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
MPS, Room: Lecture Hall

S3 Seminar: Neural networks: From magnetograms to sunspot images (Isabela de Oliveira Martins)

Jan 10, 2024 02:00 PM - 02:30 PM (Local Time Germany)
Max-Plack-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Room: Hörsaal

S3 Seminar: Rb-Sr isotopic analyses of carbonates in CC-meteorites by TIMS (Miles Lindner)

Jan 10, 2024 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
Max-Plack-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Room: Hörsaal

S3 Seminar: Coronal voids: thermal analysis and short-term evolution (Jonathan David Nölke)

Jan 17, 2024 02:00 PM - 02:30 PM (Local Time Germany)
Max-Plack-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Room: Hörsaal

S3 Seminar: Atomic line parameters inference from spectropolarimetric observations of the solar atmosphere (Dusan Vukadinovic)

Jan 17, 2024 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
Max-Plack-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Room: Hörsaal

News

Award for MPS Director

November 14, 2023

The US-based Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry have awarded Prof. Dr. Thorsten Kleine, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Göttingen (Germany), the title “Geochemistry Fellow”. The ...

They want to develop a new mathematical language, research the regenerative abilities of the axolotl brain, are looking for habitable worlds outside our solar system and are working on transmitting scents via the internet. This year's ERC Synergy ...

One of the biggest obstacles in the search for exoplanets similar to Earth are their stars. The brightness and wavelengths of the light emitted by a star may vary greatly thus making it difficult for even the most advanced telescopes to detect ...

In Memory of Erhard Kirsch

September 28, 2023

Dr. Erhard Kirsch, former scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, passed away on 12 September, 2023 at the age of 89.

Job Offers

No Vacancies

Please also have a look at the job offers at the web pages in German.

Go to Editor View