Hernandez, J. A.; Nathues, A.; Hiesinger, H.; Goetz, W.; Goetz, W.; Hoffmann, M.; Schmedemann, N.; Thangjam, G.; Mengel, K.; Sarkar, R.: Geology and colour of Kupalo crater on Ceres. Planetary and Space Science 220, p. 105538 (2022)
First Light for Sunrise III: the first tests with real sunlight were successful. The balloon-borne solar observatory should be ready for launch at the end of May.
First icy cold, then midnight sun: at the Arctic Circle, the team will prepare the next flight of the balloon-borne solar observatory - and hopes for solar fireworks.
Astronomical teamwork: By combining data from Solar Orbiter and SDO, a group of researchers has unambiguously determined the magnetic field at the solar surface.
The MPS is one of the leading institutes worldwide in building instruments for solar research, both for ground based observatories as well as for balloon and space-borne missions. Scientists and engineers of MPS conceive new observing methods and develop novel instruments of highest technological complexity. These instruments are built in house, tested, calibrated, and used at the best solar observatories in the world, or delivered to NASA and ESA to be launched to space.
The magnetic field in the solar atmosphere exceeds the geomagnetic field strength by four orders of magnitude. It greatly influences the processes of energy transport within the solar atmosphere, and dominates the morphology of the solar chromosphere and corona. Kinetic energy from convective motions in the Sun can be efficiently stored in magnetic fields and subsequently released - to heat the solar corona to several million degrees or to blast off coronal mass ejections.
