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.

Metal-poor stars are more life-friendly

Metal-poor stars are more life-friendly

Stars that contain comparatively large amounts of heavy elements provide less favorable conditions for the emergence of complex life than metal-poor stars, as scientists from the MPS, the MPI for Chemistry, and the University of Göttingen have now found. The team showed how the metallicity of a star is connected to the ability of its planets to surround themselves with a protective ozone layer.

Tiny magnetic episodes may have large consequences on the Sun

Tiny magnetic episodes may have large consequences on the Sun

A few months into Solar Orbiter’s nominal mission in 2022, the spacecraft’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager returned data showing magnetic reconnection on tiny scales. A new analysis including observations from NASA’s SDO and IRIS missions suggests that this phenomenon, at scales that were previously too small to be resolved, proceeds continually in both gentle and explosive ways. The analysis was published in Nature Communications.

 

JUICE embarks on its journey to Jupiter

JUICE embarks on its journey to Jupiter

After a one-day delay, the Ariane 5 rocket with ESA's JUICE spacecraft on board lifted off today at 2:14 pm from the Guiana Space Center in South America. Due to the threat of thunderstorms, the coutdown had to be canceled yesterday. Today, the start of the eight-year journey to Jupiter went according to plan. The MPS is sending two scientific instruments on the adventurous expedition to the Jupiter system.

 

ERC Advanced Grant forProf. Dr. Sami Solanki

ERC Advanced Grant for
Prof. Dr. Sami Solanki

The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the awarding of 218 Advanced Grants to outstanding research leaders across Europe. One of them is MPS Director Prof. Dr. Sami K. Solanki. In his newly funded research project, he and his team will use the latest observational equipment to answer longstanding questions about our Sun’s anatomy, including ESA’s Solar Orbiter and the world's largest solar telescope, the DKIST telescope on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

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: Simulating solar prominences (Lisa-Marie Zeßner)

May 31, 2023 02:00 PM - 02:30 PM (Local Time Germany)
Max-Plack-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Room: Hörsaal

S3 Seminar: Radius Ratio Dependence of Turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard Convection in Spherical Shells (Yifeng Fu)

May 31, 2023 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
Max-Plack-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Room: Hörsaal

S3 Seminar: EUV observation of small-scale dynamics in plumes and interplumes (Ziwen Huang)

Jul 5, 2023 02:00 PM - 02:30 PM (Local Time Germany)
Max-Plack-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Room: Hörsaal

S3 Seminar: Activity of the Main-Belt Comet 324P/La Sagra (Maria Mastropietro)

Jul 12, 2023 02:00 PM - 02:30 PM (Local Time Germany)
Max-Plack-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Room: Hörsaal

S3 Seminar: Atomic line parameters inference from inversions of spectropolarimetric observations (Dusan Vukadinovic)

Jul 12, 2023 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
Max-Plack-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Room: Hörsaal

Planetary Science Seminar: Ganymede’s Complex Atmosphere - Investigations by JUICE / PEP (Audrey Vorburger)

Sep 4, 2023 11:00 AM c.t. - 12:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
MPS Auditorium

News

Stars that contain comparatively large amounts of heavy elements provide less favorable conditions for the emergence of complex life than metal-poor stars, as scientists from the Max Planck Institutes for Solar System Research and for Chemistry as ...

After a one-day delay, the Ariane 5 rocket with ESA's JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) spacecraft on board lifted off today at 2:14 pm (CEST) from the Guiana Space Center in South America. Due to the threat of thunderstorms, the coutdown had to be ...

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded Prof. Dr. Sami Solanki of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) one of the prestigious ERC Advanced Grants. Over the next five years, the funding, totaling 2.5 million euros, will ...

Fourfold success

March 31, 2023

Over 1,600 funding applications reached the European Research Council (ERC) this year. Only a fraction of them were successful: 218 applications will be funded w​ith an Advanced Grant this year. Among them are four scientists from the Max Planck ...

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