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.
Merger of Milky Way with dwarf galaxy dated
The dwarf galaxy Gaia-Enceladus collided with the Milky Way probably approximately 11.5 billion years ago. A team of researchers including scientists from MPS for the first time used a single star affected by the collision as a clue for dating. Using observational data from ground-based observatories and space telescopes, the scientists led by the University of Birmingham were able to determine the age of the star and the role it played in the collision. The research group describes its results in today’s issue of Nature Astronomy.
Inge Lehmann Medal for Prof. Dr. Ulrich Christensen
The American Geophysical Union has awarded the Inge Lehmann Medal to MPS director Prof. Dr. Ulrich R. Christensen. With this award, the AGU acknowledges Prof. Dr. Christensen’s outstanding contributions to the understanding of the dynamic processes in the Earth's mantle and core. His work has contributed decisively to a detailed and realistic picture of the processes in the Earth's core that generate the Earth's magnetic field.
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.Research Departments
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