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.
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 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.
Tiny plasma jets power the solar wind
Tiny plasma jets on the Sun, racing from the solar corona into space at speeds of a few hundred kilometers per hour, could be the long-sought source of the solar wind. As a team of researchers led by the MPS reports in the journal Science, a large number of such tiny jets can be found in high-resolution images of a coronal hole taken by ESA's Solar Orbiter spacecraft in March 2022.
A taste of the solar wind and a glimpse of Earth
About three months after the launch of ESA's JUICE spacecraft, the scientific instruments that the MPS is sending along on the long journey to Jupiter have completed their first tasks in space. Both instruments have proven that they are fully functional under space conditions and have sent their first scientific data back to Earth.
However, for SWI in particular the first steps in space turned out to be quite differently than expected.
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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.
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 Max Planck Institute ...
Dr. Yuto Bekki of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), Germany received awards from two international associations of professional astronomers. He received the Patricia Edwin PhD Thesis Prize from the Solar Physics Division of ...
Tiny plasma jets on the Sun, racing from the solar corona into space at speeds of a few hundred kilometers per second, could be the long-sought source of the solar wind. As a team of researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System ...