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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.

The magnetic network on the solar surface leaves imprints in the chromosphere above. In images of this region taken by Solar Orbiter's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI), these imprints appear as bright spots. This processed EUI image of the Sun's south pole (indicated by the white dot) is constructed by combining eight days of observations from March this year. This image shows the tracks of the bright spots. Due to the Sun's rotation, they are seen as elongated, bright arcs.

Sun: First Glimpse of Polar Magnetic Field in Motion

In March, ESA's spacecraft Solar Orbiter had its first clear view of the Sun’s south pole. A first analysis has now been published. The new study deals with the Sun’s supergranulation. These are huge cells of hot plasma covering the Sun and creating the large-scale, net-like structure of the magnetic field on its surface. Researchers have now for the first time determined their properties in the polar region. The plasma cells and along with them the magnetic field drift toward the pole - at higher speeds than expected.

Interstellar object I3/ATLAS with a bright core and a long tail, surrounded by numerous stars in dark space.

JUICE and 3I/ATLAS: An Unexpected Encounter in Space

3I/ATLAS, the third known interstellar object to date, is currently traveling through the Solar System and reached its closest point to the Sun yesterday. In the next days, the body is barely visible from Earth. ESA's spacecraft JUICE, however, is now launching a dedicated observation campaign. With the help of the JUICE’s scientific instruments, researchers at the MPS hope to learn more about the water on 3I/ATLAS.

Two persons standing next to a large model of Mars.

Preparing for Mars Samples on Earth

An international team of researchers has published a report on how Mars samples should be handled from a scientific point of view when they arrive on Earth. Two scientists from Göttingen are the only representatives of German research institutions on the team. In laboratories on Earth, researchers could unlock crucial secrets from Martian samples, such as clues as to whether life once existed there.

In Memory of
Dr. Martin Hilchenbach

With heavy hearts and in deep sorrow we bid farewell to Dr. Martin Hilchenbach, a long-standing scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, who passed away on August 13 of this year after a short, serious illness.

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.