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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.

BepiColombo: A First Glimpse of Mercury

At a distance of only 199 kilometers, the European-Japanese twin probe BepiColombo flew past Mercury last Saturday, October 2. Some of scientific instruments to which the MPS scientific and technical teams contributed were also in operation giving them the opportunity to record measurement data under "Mercury conditions" for the first time.

Peering into the Moon's shadows with AI

The Moon’s polar regions are home to craters and other depressions that never receive sunlight. A group of researchers led by MPS presents the highest-resolution images to date covering 17 such craters in the journal Nature Communications. Three of the craters lie within the just-announced mission area of NASA's rover VIPER, which is scheduled to touch down on the Moon in 2023. The researchers have now produced images at 1-2 meters per pixel.

Picture Gallery:
Preparing for the 3rd Flight of Sunrise

In the clean rooms at MPS, the balloon-borne solar observatory Sunrise III is gradually taking shape. Launch is planned for the summer of 2022. Sunrise III will look at the Sun from the stratosphere with the help of a 1-meter telescope and three scientific instruments.

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.

Planets and Comets

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.

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
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Seminars

ESPOS Online Seminar: High-resolution spectroscopy of a minifilament eruption (Ioannis Kontogiannis)

Oct 21, 2021 11:00 c.t. - 12:00

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