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
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
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
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 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.
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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 ...
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 with an Advanced Grant this year. Among them are four scientists from the Max Planck ...