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. More info.
The Sun's long fingers
The chromosphere, a 2000 kilometer thick layer of plasma with temperatures of a few thousand degrees, is located between the Sun‘s surface and its outer atmosphere. Long, finger-like plasma flows, so-called spicules, are omnipresent in this layer. These structures are created by interactions in the Sun‘s complex magnetic field, as a group of scientists including the MPS now reports in the journal Science. In addition, the spicules supply the outer solar atmosphere, the corona, with energy and thus contribute to its gigantic temperatures of several million degrees.
New Shine for
Sunrise’s Telescope
The balloon mission Sunrise, which aims a high-resolution telescope at the Sun from a flight altitude of more than 35 kilometers, is preparing for its next flight. The observatory is scheduled to embark on its third expedition in the summer of 2021. Preparatory work on the main mirror measuring one meter in diameter has already begun. At the Calar Alto Observatory in southern Spain, the mirror has now been coated with a new layer of aluminum. Scientists and engineers from MPS in Germany, which leads the mission, accompanied the work on site.
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