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 : News
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Press Releases
MPE Highlight and Press Release:
Herschel-PACS images of the 'GOODS-N' field in the constellation of
Ursa Major at far-infrared wavelengths of 100 and 160 µm.
Image: MPE
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Herschel Space Telescope uncovers the sources of the Cosmic Infrared
Background
A weak cosmic infrared radiation field that reaches Earth from all
directions contains not yet deciphered messages about the evolution of
galaxies. Using first observations with the PACS Instrument on board
ESA's Herschel Space Telescope, scientists from the Max Planck Institute
for Extraterrestrial Physics and other institutions have for the first
time resolved more than half of this radiation into its constituting
sources. Observations with Herschel open the road towards understanding
the properties of these galaxies, and trace the dusty side of galaxy
evolution.
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more ]
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(December 16, 2009)
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(November 05, 2009)
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MPE Highlight:
(October 14, 2009)
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MPE Highlight:
Signing of contract
from left: Reichle, Wörner, Perminov
eROSITA
Images: MPE
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DLR and Roscosmos sign technical agreement for X-ray telescope eROSITA
With seven X-ray eyes the eROSITA telescope will scan the Universe
for black holes and dark matter. Today board members of the German
Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Russian Federal Space agency Roscosmos
signed an agreement which defines all organisational and technical
conditions.
This contract gives the go-ahead to the Max Planck Institute for
extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, which is responsible for the
development and building of eROSITA.
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(August 18, 2009)
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MPE Highlight:
The Cat's Eye nebula NGC6543 as seen by PACS
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Looking deep into the Cat's Eye with Herschel/PACS
After the surprising success of the earlier “sneak preview” of the PACS
photometer – a spectacular far-infrared colour image of the Whirlpool
Galaxy M51 – the first light observation of the spectrometer part
of the instrument was carried out on June 23.
Already, these very first data fulfill the expectations of the PACS-Team at MPE
at this point and are of unprecedented sensitivity.
"A lot of excitement is ahead of us"!
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more ]
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(July 10, 2009)
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Image Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute
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Living Fossils Hold Record of "Supermassive" Kick -
Star clusters point to black holes ejected from host galaxies
When two galaxies and the supermassive black holes in their centres merge,
the resulting recoil can catapult the black hole from the galaxy. Scientists
of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), MPE and Johns Hopkins University
have now found that the stellar clusters around these black holes show very unusual
properties and so open up a new possibility to study the event in detail. The
stars around evicted black holes orbit at a very high velocity, because only
stars orbiting faster than the kick velocity remain attached to the black hole
after the kick. As a kind of living fossils of a distant epoch they can shed
light on the turbulent past of merging galaxies in nearby clusters.
RIT Press Release
Original paper
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(July 10, 2009)
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Title of the journal Physical Review Letters of 26 June 2009
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MPE Research Result as Title Page of the Journal
Physical Review Letters
The title of the journal Physical Review Letters of 26 June 2009 shows
an experiment which was conducted in the Complex Plasma Group of the
Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics: A microparticle drop
is shown which forms in a complex plasma - an ionised gas into which small
charged plastic particles are introduced. Under specific conditions new
phenomena occur in these systems: Blobs like the one shown on the title
form, and also bubbles form and explode upwards into the void. Another
phenomenon are peaks which form on the lower brink in the particle cloud
and face upwards. These cones remind of so-called Taylor cones, which
form in fluids under the influence of an electrical field and surface
tension.
News page of the MPE Theory group
"On the Cover" - Physical Review Letters
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(June 30, 2009)
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(June 19, 2009)
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Correlation between black hole mass and bulge mass.
Image: Tim Jones/UT-Austin nach K. Cordes & S. Brown (STScI)
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MPE Astronomer Finds Most Massive Black Hole in the Nearby Galaxy M87
Astronomers Jens Thomas (MPE) and Karl Gebhardt (University of Texas) use
new computer modeling techniques to discover that the black hole at the
heart of M87, one the largest nearby giant galaxies, is two to three times
more massive than previously thought. Weighing in at 6.4 billion times the
Sun's mass, it is the most massive black hole yet measured with a robust
technique, and suggests that the accepted black hole masses in nearby large
galaxies may be off by similar amounts. This has consequences for theories
of how galaxies form and grow, and might even solve a long-standing
astronomical paradox.
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more (in German language) ]
Press Release of the McDonald Observatory of the University of Texas (Austin)
Preprint in astro-ph (#0906.1492)
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(June 8, 2009)
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Outer halos and intra-cluster light in the Virgo Cluster of galaxies.
Image: Chris Mihos, Case Western Reserve University / ESO
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M 87: The End of a Giant Galaxy's Light and the Transition to
Intergalactic Stars
Astronomers of MPE and ESO have probed the edge of the giant galaxy
Messier 87 for the first time, and found that the stars beyond its
edge are all intergalactic. The scientists believe that the outer
parts of M 87 are missing because of still-not-understood effects
during the formation of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies.
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more (in German language) ]
Original paper in astro-ph
ESO press release
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(May 20, 2009)
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PACS photometer detector unit during integration into the PACS focal plane unit
(FPU).
Copyright: MPE, Garching, Germany; CEA, Saclay, France
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Herschel Space Observatory successfully launched
On 14 May Herschel, the largest space telescope ever, has been sent
into space aboard an Ariane 5 launcher. For the Max Planck Institute
for extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Garching, Germany, this event
crowns more than ten years spent designing and building one of the
three instruments aboard the satellite: PACS (Photodetector Array
Camera and Spectrometer) was built by the MPE in cooperation with
partners from six European countries. Including the operation of the
Instrument Control Centre during the mission, the PACS project has
cost the countries nearly 100 million euros.
MPE pre-launch release, 4 May 2009
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(May 15, 2009)
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MPE Highlight:
Herschel satellite in orbit
Artist's view by D. Ducros, ESA, 2009
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Looking into the Nursery of Stars
After ten years of developing and building Herschel, the ESA mission will
start into space on the 14th of May. In 1.5 million kilometres distance from earth
the space probe will orbit the sun for 3½ years. With its three instruments
it will especially detect and analyse infrared radiation, which contains
information on a wide range of phenomena like the evolution of distant
galaxies and the existence of water in our solar system. Two of the three
instruments on board have been developed or co-developed by the Max Planck
Institutes for extraterrestrial Physics, Astronomy, Radio Astronomy and
Solar System Research.
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more ]
MPG press release
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(May 04, 2009)
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In this picture the afterglow of GRB090423 is the red object shining only
in some of the used color channels.
Image: GROND/MPE
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Gamma-Ray Burst 090423 detected at a record distance
Following a Gamma-Ray burst alarm of the NASA Swift Satellite on April
23, several groups world-wide started searching for the afterglow emission.
The MPE built
GROND
instrument mounted at the MPI/ESO telesope at La Silla Observatory (Chile)
observed this afterglow simultaneously in the spectral bands g'r'i'z'JHK
about 15 hours after the burst. The simultaneous measurements in the
seven spectral bands enabled scientists at MPE led by Jochen Greiner, to
rapidly estimate the redshift of the burst to be around z = 8 which puts it
into a new record distance.
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more ]
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(April 28, 2009)
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Image: MPE
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Formation of S0 galaxies as common in groups as in clusters
MPE astrophysicist Dave Wilman has gained new insight into the formation
of a special category of galaxies, the so-called S0 galaxies, which will
influence studies of galaxies in general.
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more ]
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(March 11, 2009)
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Image: MPE
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PACS is ready for Launch
Engineers and scientists of the MPE, together with other colleagues from
the PACS consortium, have thoroughly checked our instrument for the
Herschel satellite one last time at the ESA spaceport in Kourou
(French Guiana) and now signal to their colleagues in Garching:
green light - PACS is ready for launch!
Web pages of the PACS group at MPE
Herschel web pages at ESA
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(March 11, 2009)
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ROSAT colour coded image of the field of A3571. The X-ray transient is
indicated with the pointer.
Image: MPE
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A candidate tidal disruption event in the Galaxy cluster Abell 3571
The authors of the paper, several from MPE, serendipitously detected with ROSAT
an X-ray source that is strongly declining in luminosity, in the galaxy cluster A3571.
The period of decay is of about 13 years, and the source was identified as a
member of the cluster. This event is consistent with a tidal disruption of a
star by a black hole of 107 solar masses. Since the black
hole only accretes a small amount of mass, the observed event must correspond
to a partial or explosive disruption of the star.
This paper was selected as an
A&A Highlight
by the Editors of Astronomy & Astrophysics, who
are trying to attract the readers' attention to some works in the current
issue that they find particularly exciting and/or intriguing for those
outside the speciality.
Original article in
Astron. & Astrophys. 495, 523-535 (2009)
More information can be provided by the author
Nico Cappelluti
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(March 02, 2009)
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31.7 hours after GRB 080916C exploded, the MPE Gamma-Ray Burst
Optical/Near-Infrared Detector (GROND), began acquiring
images of the blast's fading afterglow (circled).
Image: MPE / GROND
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NASA'S FERMI TELESCOPE SEES MOST EXTREME GAMMA-RAY BLAST YET
The first gamma-ray burst to be seen with substantial GeV emission from
NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is one for the record books. The
blast had the greatest total energy, the fastest motions and the
highest-energy initial emissions ever seen.
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more ]
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(February 19, 2009)
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The MPE parable flight team.
Image: MPE
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Parable Flights in Bordeaux
At a three-day parable flight campaign in Bordeaux, the MPE group
Theory and Complex Plasmas carried out the experiment "Fast PK-3 Plus",
which is supposed to complement the tests on the International Space
Station (ISS): With the aid of a new data entry system, which is able
to record up to 1000 pictures per second, very fast effects in complex
plasmas can be studied.
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more ]
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(February 17, 2009)
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MPE Highlight and Press Release:
The elliptical galaxies NGC 4649 (left) and NGC 4621 (right) in the Virgo
galaxy cluster. These two galaxies belong to the sample of galaxies that
Kormendy and Bender investigated.
Image: courtesy of Sloan Digital Sky Survey/WIKISKY
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Astronomers Discover Link Between Supermassive Black Holes and Galaxy
Formation
A pair of astronomers from Texas and Germany have used a telescope at The
University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory together with the
Hubble Space Telescope and many other telescopes around the world to uncover
new evidence that the largest, most massive galaxies in the universe and
the supermassive black holes at their hearts grew together over time.
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(February 02, 2009)
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Logo of the 10. Mission.
Image: MPE
Celebration after the successful ending of the experiment.
Picture: MPE
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10th Mission PK-3 Plus successfully completed
Exactly three years after the start of the operational phase of PK-3
Plus aboard the International Space Station (ISS) the 10th mission was
successfully completed with another three experiments. The plasma
laboratory PK-3 Plus, operated by the Max Planck Institute for
extraterrestrial Physics and Russian institutions, is the second
facility of this kind aboard the ISS. It continues the successful
story of the previous plasma laboratory PKE-Nefedov, the first science
experiment aboard ISS and the most successful one in the history of the
space station. Just as its predecessor it provides an insight into
complex plasma. In complex plasma the properties of so-called plasma
crystals and fluids can be studied on the most fundamental level, the
kinetic one. This time experiments (each of 90 minutes) of crystallisation,
"string fluids" and "bubbles" inside a thermophoretic complex plasma were
on the list.
On the occasion of the 10th mission a logo was designed, for use on stickers,
T-shirts and cups, which after successful completion of the experiments
were inaugurated immediately at a party in Korolyov (Moscow) near the
Russian control centre.
At the end of the year the operational phase of PK-3 Plus was supposed to end,
however the facility still works perfectly. That is why the Russians strive
for continuation, and MPE totally agrees. So many other exciting missions can
be expected.
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(January 27, 2009)
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Upper image: the Herschel satellite above the environmental chamber at ESA.
Lower images: the team during tests
(Poglitsch, Lutz, Contursi, Feuchtgruber, Müller, and
Nielbock (MPIA Heidelberg); left to right).
Image: ESA/MPE
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Successful Dry Run for Herschel
Herschel, the largest space telescope of its kind, has successfully passed the
final system tests and is now ready to explore some of the coolest and most
distant objects in the Universe. From December 13 to 18, five full days of
spacecraft operations were simulated in the so-called SOVT (System Operational
Validation Test), to tackle any problems before launch, scheduled for April 12,
2009. MPE has developed the instrument PACS for Herschel, a combination of
camera and spectrometer, which will allow Herschel to take pictures in six
different "colours" in the far-infrared. In combination with the two other
instruments of the telescope PACS will be used to study the formation and
evolution of galaxies and stars.
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(December 22, 2008)
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MPE Highlight:
The central 25 arcseconds of our Milky Way.
Image: ESO
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Unprecedented 16-Year Long Study Tracks Stars Orbiting
Milky Way Black Hole
In a 16-year long study, using several of ESO's flagship telescopes,
a team of German astronomers has produced the most detailed view ever
of the surroundings of the monster lurking at our Galaxy's heart —
a supermassive black hole. The research has unravelled the hidden
secrets of this tumultuous region by mapping the orbits of almost
30 stars, a five-fold increase over previous studies. One of the
stars has now completed a full orbit around the black hole.
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(December 10, 2008)
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International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009)
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The Universe, Yours to Discover
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) launched 2009 as the International
Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) under the theme, The Universe, Yours to Discover.
IYA2009 marks the 400th anniversary of the first astronomical observation
through a telescope by Galileo Galilei. It will be a global celebration of
astronomy and its contributions to society and culture, with a strong
emphasis on education, public engagement and the involvement of young people,
with events at national, regional and global levels throughout the whole of
2009. UNESCO has endorsed the IYA2009 and the United Nations proclaimed the
year 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy on 20 December 2007.
MPA, MPE and other institutes of the Garching campus participate in the
planned events for IYA 2009.
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(November 24, 2008)
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Cosmonaut Malenchenko on board the ISS conducting a plasma crystal
experiment in March 2008.
Image credit: RKK-Energia
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10 years German-Russian plasma crystal cooperation on the ISS
On November 17-18, 2008, representatives from the Joint Institute
for High Temperatures JIHT in Moskau and MPE are conducting a plasma
crystal symposium at MPE to discuss achieved results both in scientific as
well as technical fields and to utilize them in future projects.
The Russion delegation is accompanied by four cosmonauts, engineers and
officials from RKK-Energia (space industry), the cosmonaut training center,
and the ISS control center.
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(November 14, 2008)
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Radio map of the supernova remnant CTA-1. The position of the pulsar and
it's light curve are indicated.
Image credit: NASA / S. Pineault, DRAO / G. Kanbach, MPE.
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Young pulsar shines in the gamma-ray sky
Neutron star discovered in the centre of the nearby supernova relict CTA 1
For the first time scientists have discovered a rotating neutron star -
a pulsar - by means of its gamma radiation. The international team led by
Gottfried Kanbach from the MPE used the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope for
their observations. The neutron star is one of only ten high-energy pulsars
discovered so far.
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(October 16, 2008)
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Klaus Tschira Preis awarded to Felicitas Mokler
Felicitas Mokler, postdoc at the MPE, has been awarded the Klaus Tschira
Prize "KlarText!" bearing a monetary award of 5000 euros. The prize is
awarded to scientists from biology, chemistry, informatics, mathematics,
physics and neuroscience, who communicate the results of their outstanding
dissertation in an article in a descriptive way. The subject of Mokler's
text was an experiment on the space station ISS on the formation of planets.
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(October 16, 2008)
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Artist's impression of the observed object
Image Credit: A. Stefanescu, MPE
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Surprising Flashes from a possible Magnetar
Observations of optical flares reveal limits of established theories on
magnetars
By means of the high-speed photometer OPTIMA of the Max Planck Institute for
Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), a team of MPE scientists might have detected
an unexpected new sub-category of astronomical objects. It appears to be a
magnetar with bursts in the visible part of the spectrum, in contrast to the
X-ray and gamma flashes, which are considered to be characteristic for
magnetars.
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(September 24, 2008)
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Image Credit: MPE
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GROND confirms farthest-ever Gamma-Ray Burst
GROND, the Gamma-Ray Burst Optical Near-IR Detector, has found the most
distant gamma-ray burst ever detected. The observation demonstrates the
excellent performance of GROND, which was developed at the MPE. The burst
occurred less than 825 million years after the Universe began. The star
that popped off this shot seen across the cosmos died when the Universe
was less than one-sixteenth its present age.
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(September 18, 2008)
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Artist's impression of a planet-forming disc
Image Credit: ESO
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Hints at the presence of planets in young gas discs
Astronomers have been able to study planet-forming discs around young
Sun-like stars in unsurpassed detail, clearly revealing the motion and
distribution of the gas in the inner parts of the disc. The result possibly
implies the presence of giant planets. Principal Investigator of the
observing programme at the Very Large Telescope was MPE scientist Ewine van
Dishoeck. Because planets could be home to other forms of life, the study
of exoplanets ranks very high in contemporary astronomy.
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(September 08, 2008)
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First all-sky image taken by the Large Area Telescope of the Fermi
Gamma-ray Space Telescope.
Image Credit:
NASA/DOE/International LAT Team
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GLAST First Light
GLAST Burst Monitor detects 31 Gamma Bursts
GLAST, the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope, has begun its mission of
exploring the universe in high-energy gamma rays. The spacecraft and its
revolutionary instruments passed their orbital checkout with flying colors.
GBM, the GLAST Burst Monitor, spotted 31 gamma-ray bursts in its first
month of operations.
NASA announced today that GLAST has been renamed the Fermi Gamma-ray Space
Telescope.
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(August 26, 2008)
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Example: Project LISA - three identical satellites flying in a
formation resembling a triangle.
Image Credit: General Dynamics C4 Systems
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Visions for outer Space
Participants of a symposium on basic research in space call for a
strategic paper on national space exploration
Which areas are to be studied in space? Which projects are being planned?
Which means of funding are there? About 120 participants from science,
industry and politics discussed these questions on a symposium organized by
the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics. The purpose of the
congress in the Bavarian Ministry for Economic Affairs was the preparation
of a strategic paper on national space exploration.
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(July 09, 2008)
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Artist's concept: GLAST in orbit
Image Credit: General Dynamics C4 Systems
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NASA's GLAST Space Telescope takes off
Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics developed detectors
of GLAST Burst Monitor
The Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope GLAST was launched on June 11,
2008 aboard a Delta II from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida,
USA. In collaboration with other institutes the MPE was involved in the
development of the secondary instrument GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM).
The new space telescope will detect gamma-ray bursts and so open the
high-energy Universe to exploration. Because of problems with the Delta II
rocket the launch had been rescheduled several times during the past months.
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(June 11, 2008)
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Reinhard Genzel
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Shaw Prize awarded to Reinhard Genzel
Reinhard Genzel, director of the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Garching, Germany, has been awarded this year's Shaw Prize for Astronomy for his outstanding contribution in demonstrating that the Milky Way contains a supermassive black hole at its centre. The Shaw Prize is awarded annually by the Shaw Prize Foundation in Hong Kong in the Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences and Astronomy, each of the three prizes bearing a monetary award of one million US dollars.
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(June 10, 2008)
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Maarten Schmidt
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Maarten Schmidt receives Kavli Prize
Maarten Schmidt from the California Institute of Technology,
external scientific member of the MPE, together with Donald
Lynden-Bell from the University of Cambridge received the
first Kavli Prize for Astrophysics by the Norwegian Academy
of Science and Letters, The Kavli Foundation, and the Norwegian
Ministry of Education and Research. The Kavli Prizes, established
as a complement to the Nobel Prizes, this year were given for
special achievements in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience.
Maarten Schmidt and Donald Lynden-Bell were awarded for their scientific results on quasars.
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(May 30, 2008)
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A bridge of hot gas is connecting two clusters of galaxies. Composite
optical and X-ray image of the cluster pair Abell 222 and Abell 223.
Image Credit: ESA/XMM-Newton/ EPIC/ ESO (J. Dietrich)/ SRON (N. Werner)/
MPE (A. Finoguenov)
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Missing piece of cosmological puzzle found
Astronomers detect a part of long-searched baryonic matter in a filament
connecting two clusters of galaxies
The composition of the Universe still puzzles the astronomers: About
96 percent consist of unknown matter. Just four percent are composed
of the normal material of which we ourselves are made, the so-called
baryonic matter. Even this minor part however has not yet been
comprehended completely: all discovered stars, galaxies and gases
in the Universe amount to less than a half of these four percent.
Now a team of astrophysicists from MPE, ESO and two institutes in
the Netherlands has found evidence of a part of the missing baryons
in a bridge-like filament connecting two clusters of galaxies
(Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters, May 2008).
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(May 6, 2008)
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Artist's conception of a black hole ejected from a galaxy
Image Credit: Illustration: MPE, optical image: HST
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Superkick: Black hole expelled from its parent galaxy
Gravitational rocket propelled the monster at a speed of
thousands of kilometres per second
By an enormous burst of gravitational waves that accompanies the merger
of two black holes the newly formed black hole was ejected from its galaxy.
This extreme ejection event, which had been predicted by theorists, has
now been observed in nature for the first time. The team led by Stefanie
Komossa from the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics (MPE)
thereby opened a new window into observational astrophysics. The discovery
will have far-reaching consequences for our understanding of galaxy
formation and evolution in the early Universe, and also provides observational
confirmation of a key prediction from the General Theory of Relativity.
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(April 29, 2008)
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The artistic view shows the light echo of a high-energy flash from
a black hole
Credit: MPE/ESA
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Black hole sheds light on a galaxy
Light echo of a high-energy flash from a black hole first
observed in detail
For the first time, the light echo of a stellar tidal disruption
could be observed in great detail. In doing so, an international
team led by Stefanie Komossa from the MPE noticed the strongest
iron emission ever observed in a galaxy and interpreted it as an
evidence for a molecular torus. The light echo not only revealed
the stellar disruption process, but it also provides a powerful
new method for mapping galactic nuclei.
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(April 17, 2008)
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The artistic view shows a cataclysmic variable, the kind of close
binary systems that host classical novae
Credit: Mark A. Garlick
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Turbulent Disk
Asymmetric accretion disk causes X-ray flux variations in bright
supersoft nova
A team led by Gloria Sala from the Max Planck Institute for
extraterrestrial Physics has studied the Nova V5116 Sagittarii
with the ESA X-ray observatory XMM-Newton and found abrupt decreases
and increases of the flux, but an unchanged white dwarf atmosphere
temperature both in the low- and the high-flux periods. A partial
eclipse caused by an asymmetric accretion disk might explain the
results.
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(April 3, 2008)
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This artist’s concept shows the intermediate-mass black hole
that may exist at the center of Omega Centauri.
Credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA
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Black hole found in enigmatic Omega Centauri
The well-known naked-eye star cluster Omega Centauri may be home to an
elusive intermediate-mass black hole. Observations made by Eva Noyola
from MPE and international colleagues using the Gemini Observatory and
the Hubble Space Telescope provide convincing evidence that
such black holes do exist and could even lead to an understanding of how
they might evolve into larger supermassive black holes like the ones
found at the cores of many galaxies.
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(April 7, 2008)
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Reimar Lüst (l.) along with all MPE directors at the occasion of the
opening of the new MPE building in 2000
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Reimar Lüst at 85
Reimar Lüst, born on the 25th of March 1923, was from 1963 to 1972
Director of the sub-institute for extraterrestrial physics within the Max
Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics, which later was transformed
into an autonomous MPI for extraterrestrial Physics. After his time as MPE
Director Lüst was president of the Max Planck Society for 12 years.
MPG and MPE wish Reimar Lüst a happy birthday and many happy returns.
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(March 25, 2008)
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Sandra Savaglio receiving the award
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Sandra Savaglio receives Pythagoras Award 2008
This year's Pythagoras Award goes to Sandra Savaglio, astrophysicist at
the MPE. The prize is awarded since 2004 by the City of Crotone on behalf
of the University of Calabria. Sandra Savaglio is honoured for her overall
performance in different fields of astrophysics.
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(March 12, 2008)
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Using both LBT mirrors, this First Binocular Light image shows
the spiral galaxy, NGC 2770. The galaxy lies 102 million light years from
our Milky Way, and has a flat disk of stars and glowing gas, tipped slightly
toward our line of sight.
Image: LBT
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Large Binocular Telescope Achieves First Binocular Light
After more than a decade of preparation, the world’s most powerful
telescope is now looking skyward with both of its massive eyes wide
open. The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) partners in the U.S.A.,
Italy and Germany are pleased to announce that the LBT has
successfully achieved first binocular light. With this latest
milestone, the LBT will provide new and more powerful views of deep
space, including potentially answering fundamental questions about
the origins of the universe and mysterious worlds in other planetary
systems.
The MPE makes a significant contribution to the LBT near infrared
instrument LUCIFER and will use the LBT to study the evolution of
galaxies in the early universe.
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(March 07, 2008)
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On the trace of a supernova progenitor: the image shows a strong X-ray
source detected by the Chandra observatory four years ago. The source is
at the position of the Type Ia supernova SN 2007on.
Image: Chandra / Rasmus Voss, MPE
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Possible Progenitor of Special Supernova Type Detected
Using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, scientists have reported
the possible detection of a binary star system that was later destroyed in
a supernova explosion. The new method they used provides great future promise
for finding the detailed origin of these important cosmic events.
In an article appearing in the February 14th issue of the journal Nature,
Rasmus Voss of the MPE and Gijs Nelemans of Radboud University searched
Chandra images for evidence of a much sought after, but as yet unobserved
binary system - one that was about to go supernova. Near the position of a
recently detected supernova, they discovered an object in Chandra images taken
more than four years before the explosion. The supernova, known as SN 2007on,
was identified as a Type Ia supernova. Astronomers generally agree that
Type Ia supernovas are produced by the explosion of a white dwarf star in a
binary star system. However, the exact configuration and trigger for the
explosion is unclear.
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(February 13, 2008)
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Simulation of the formation of a super galaxy
Image: Klaus Dolag, MPA
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Distortions in galaxy clustering yield clues for understanding
the accelerated expansion of the universe
Observations of distant Type Ia supernovae and of cosmic background
radiation give evidence that the universe’s expansion is faster now
than it was in the past. The expansion of spacetime itself causes the
moving apart of the galaxies.
The physical cause of this accelerated expansion is not known yet.
Guzzo et al, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and
Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Garching, propose a new method
to study the cause of the accelerated expansion and demonstrate that
it works. This method bases on galaxy redshift distortions, caused by
proper motions of the galaxies (Nature, January 31, 2008).
[more]
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(January 30, 2008)
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Antimatter (above) and X-ray binaries (below) show a similar
distribution in the central region of the Milky Way.
Images: G. Weidenspointner, MPE
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Antimatter from X-ray Binaries?
A first hint at the production of positrons by X-ray binaries in the
Galaxy
Observations with the European INTEGRAL satellite give scientists a first clue
to the possible origin of the mysterious antimatter in our Galaxy. Antimatter
is distributed non-symmetric in the central region of the Milky Way much
similar to the distribution of X-ray binaries in the Galaxy.
As reported in Nature on Jan. 10, 2008, an international team of astronomers
led by Georg Weidenspointner of MPE interprets this unexpected discovery as
a first hint at the production of antimatter by X-ray binaries in the Galaxy.
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(January 10, 2008)
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The massive stellar black hole in M 33.
Picture: Pietsch, MPE
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Most massive stellar black hole found
MPE members were actively involved in the detection of an exceptionally
massive black hole. This result has intriguing implications for the
evolution and ultimate fate of massive stars. The black hole is part of a
binary system in M 33. By combining data from NASA's Chandra
X-ray Observatory and the Gemini telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, the
mass of the black hole, was determined to be 15.7 times that of the Sun.
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(October 18, 2007)
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Regions around the 14 quasars where previously hidden galaxies were
detected via their hydrogen emission using the SINFONI instrument on ESO's
Very Large Telescope.
Image: ESO
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Galaxy 'Hunting' Made Easy
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Galaxies found under the Glare of Cosmic Flashlights
Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope have discovered in a single
pass about a dozen otherwise invisible galaxies halfway across the Universe.
The discovery, based on a technique that exploits SINFONI, a combination of
the SPIFFI instrument built at MPE and the ESO developed Adaptive Optics
system for the VLT, represents a major breakthrough in the field of
galaxy 'hunting'. The quasars used to find these galaxies are very distant
objects of extreme brilliance, which are used as cosmic beacons that reveal
galaxies lying between the quasar and us.
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(September 21, 2007)
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Logo of the new catalogue
Image: ESA
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XMM-Newton releases the largest catalogue of X-ray sources
The largest catalogue of X-ray sources ever made has now been released.
The catalogue, '2XMM', has been compiled from observations carried out
with ESA's XMM-Newton space observatory over 6 years of operation.
The 2XMM Serendipitous EPIC Source Catalogue is the result of several
years of development by the XMM-Newton Survey Science Centre (SSC),
a consortium of European institutes including the MPE.
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(September 7, 2007)
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GROND (lower left side) at the 2.2-m MPI/ESO Telescope
Picture: MPE
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GROND Takes Off - First Light for Gamma-Ray Burst Chaser at La Silla
A new instrument saw First Light in June 2007 at the ESO La Silla
Observatory. Equipping
the 2.2-m MPI/ESO telescope, the MPE built GROND (Gamma Ray
Burst Optical Near IR-Detector) takes images
simultaneously in seven colours in the visible and the infrared. It will be
mostly used to determine distances of gamma-ray bursts.
Taking images in different filters simultaneously is important also for the
study of many other astrophysical sources, and in particular of variable
sources, such as close binaries or active galactic nuclei.
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(July 7, 2007)
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Traces of the radioactive decay of Fe-60 in the interstellar gas of the
Galaxy. The picture shows an overlay of the weak gamma-ray lines at 1173
and 1332 to enhance the signal.
Picture: MPE
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Radioactive iron, a window to the stars
Scientist from MPE using ESA's orbiting gamma-ray observatory, Integral,
have made a pioneering unequivocal discovery of radioactive iron-60 in our
galaxy that provides powerful insight into the workings of massive stars
that pervade and shape it.
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(June 26, 2007)
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The Ultra Luminous Merger IRAS 06035-7102.
It was formed as two spiral galaxies swung past each other on their first
close encounter and multiple bursts of vigorous star formation were
ignited. Due to PARSEC, the detail in the image allows these compact star
clusters to be easily seen.
The colour-code corresponds to intensity.
Credits: (ESO/MPE/NACO-LGS/VLT)
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Free from the Atmosphere!
The Laser Guide Star System on ESO's VLT Starts Regular Science
Operations
An artificial, laser-fed star now shines regularly over the sky of Paranal,
home of ESO's Very Large Telescope, one of the world's most advanced large
ground-based telescopes. This system, called PARSEC, was built at MPE and
provides assistance for the adaptive optics instruments on the VLT and so
allows astronomers to obtain images free from the blurring effect of the
atmosphere, regardless of the brightness and the location on the sky of
the observed target. Now that it is routinely offered by the observatory,
the skies seem much sharper to astronomers.
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(June 13, 2007)
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Optical M 31 H-alpha image overplotted with contours from Chandra
observations. The positions of 17 counterparts of optical novae detected
in these images are indicated with circles and nova names.
Credits: W. Pietsch (MPE Garching, Germany),
P. Massey (Lowell Observatory, USA), NASA/Chandra
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X-rays provide a new way to investigate exploding stars
Using the X-ray observatories XMM-Newton (ESA) and Chandra (NASA) as well as
optical monitoring observations, astronomers from the MPE have identified a
new class of exploding stars where the X-ray emission "lives fast and dies
young".
The identification of this particular class of explosions gives astronomers
a valuable new constraint to help them model and understand stellar
explosions.
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(May 09, 2007)
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Artists concept of eRosita
Picture: MPE
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eRosita Approved - The Search for Dark Energy Can Start
The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt
(DLR)) has approved funding (21 million Euro) to build the eROSITA X-ray
telescope for a launch in 2011.
ROSKOSMOS and DLR signed a memorandum of understanding for the
cooperation for this project.
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(March 30, 2007)
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Recent XMM-Newton view of supernova SN 1987A
Image: ESA
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XMM-Newton's anniversary view of supernova SN 1987A
The supernova SN 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud is the nearest
supernova detected since the invention of the telescope. Almost 20 years
after its discovery on 23 February 1987, XMM-Newton observed the stellar
remnant in X-rays on 17 January 2007. Continuously brightening since the
first detection in X-rays by ROSAT in 1992, it now outshines all other
X-ray sources in its immediate neighbourhood and it is more than ten times
brighter as compared to the first-light observations of XMM-Newton in
January 2000.
Frank Haberl of MPE is XMM-Newton's EPIC Principal Investigator.
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(February 24, 2007)
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Distribution of the Dark Matter as revealed by the Hubble Space
Telescope
Image: NASA, ESA and R. Massey (California Institute of Technology)
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First 3D map of the Universe's Dark Matter scaffolding
An international team of scientists generated the yet most accurate map of
the distribution of Dark Matter for a certain region of the universe.
For details see the links below. MPE scientists contributed to the map
of the visible (baryonic) matter, which helped to calibrate the
method applied for revealing the distribution of the Dark matter.
(Nature, January 7, 2007)
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(January 8, 2007)
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The PS1 telescope on the summit of Haleakala, Maui (Hawaii).
Photograph: Brett Simison
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Astronomers Unite to Make Revolutionary Map and First Movie of the Sky
Pan-STARRS
First "Movie" of the Heavens
Astronomers from the Max-Planck-Institutes for Astronomy in Heidelberg and
for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching have joined with colleagues
world-wide to form a consortium that will exploit a powerful new survey
telescope on Haleakala on the island of Maui (Hawaii). This telescope will
map repeatedly much of the entire sky, hence creating a very deep color-map
and a first digital »movie« of the heavens, mapping changes in the sky with
time.
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(October 6, 2006)
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H-alpha line emission of the galaxy BzK-15504, at
cosmological redshift of 2.38, corresponding to a time of 3 billion
years after the Big Bang. The colours show whether the ionised gas is
moving away from us (red), toward us (blue) or is stationary (green),
relative to the overall rest frame of the galaxy. The galaxy appears
to be a disc, like our Milky Way, and rotates at 230 km/s about the
yellow axis, which is centred on the nucleus of the galaxy (white cross).
Picture: SINFONI / VLT
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Far Away Galaxy Under The Microscope
SINFONI Discovers Rapidly Forming, Large Proto-Disc Galaxies Three Billion
Years After The Big Bang
An international group of astronomers have discovered large disc galaxies akin
to our Milky Way that must have formed on a rapid time scale, only 3 billion
years after the Big Bang. In one of these systems, the combination of adaptive
optics techniques with the new SINFONI spectrograph on ESO's Very Large
Telescope (VLT) resulted in a record-breaking resolution of a mere 0.15 arcsecond,
giving an unprecedented detailed view of the anatomy of such a distant proto-disc
galaxy.
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(August 17, 2006)
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An artist’s impression of the ‘lumininescent’
magnetosphere surrounding a pulsar. The pulsar itself is
invisible in this view and sits at the very centre of the image.
Above the pulsar’s magnetic poles, charged particles are
accelerated outwards along the magnetic field lines and produce intense
beamed radiation that can be observed by XMM-Newton.
Picture: W. Becker / MPE
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Max-Planck-Scientists find new insights in the processes on how old pulsars
generate X-rays:
Old pulsars still have new tricks to teach us
The super-sensitivity of ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory has shown
that the prevailing theory of how stellar corpses, known as pulsars,
generate their X-rays needs revising. In particular, the energy needed to
generate the million-degree polar hotspots seen on cooling neutron stars
may come predominately from inside the pulsar, not from outside. This is
suggested by the investigation of five, several million years old
rotation-powered pulsars using XMM-Newton.
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(July 26, 2006)
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Prof. Dr. Joachim Trümper
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Marcel Grossmann Award to Prof. Joachim Trümper
At the 11th Marcel Grossmann Meeting (MG11) held in Berlin
in July 2006 Joachim Trümper (MPE) received the Marcel Grossmann Award 2006
for his outstanding scientific contributions to the physics of compact
astrophysical objects and for leading the highly successful ROSAT mission
which discovered more then 200,000 galactic and extragalactic X-ray
sources: "a major step in the observational capabilities of X-ray astronomy
and in the knowledge of our universe".
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(July 24, 2006)
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This X-ray image shows a comet-like blob of gas about 5 million
light-years long hurling through a distant galaxy cluster with a
velocity of over 500 miles per second (more than 750 km/s).
The 'comet' is confined to
the orange regions in the middle of this image. The head is to the
lower right of center. The scale is 1 million light years.
Picture: ESA/XMM-Newton/Finoguenov et al.
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XMM-Newton spots the greatest ball of fire
Using data from ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory, a team of
international scientists including members of MPE found a comet-like
ball of gas over a thousand million times the mass of the sun hurling
through the distant galaxy cluster Abell 3266 with a velocity of over 750
kilometres per second. This colossal 'ball of fire' is by far the largest
object of this kind ever identified.
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(June 13, 2006)
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XMM-Newton image of the neutron star RXJ0720.4-3125
Picture: MPE
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XMM-Newton reveals a tumbling neutron star
Using data from ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory, an international group
of astrophysicists led by Frank Haberl (MPE) discovered that one spinning
neutron star doesn't appear to be the stable rotator scientists would
expect. These X-ray observations promise to give new insights into the
thermal evolution and finally the interior structure of neutron stars.
Spinning neutron stars, also known as pulsars, are generally known to be
highly stable rotators. Thanks to their periodic signals, emitted either
in the radio or in the X-ray wavelength, they can serve as very accurate
astronomical "clocks".
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(April 19, 2006)
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28 January 2006: a laser beam of several watts was launched from
Yepun, the fourth 8.2m Unit Telescope of the Very Large Telescope,
producing an artificial star at a height of 90 km in the atmosphere.
Picture: ESO
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Man-made star shines in the Southern Sky -
First Light for the VLT Laser Guide Star Facility
Scientists at MPE, MPiA, and ESO celebrate another major milestone at
Cerro Paranal in Chile, home of ESO's Very Large Telescope array. Thanks to
their dedicated efforts, they were able to create the first artificial star
in the Southern Hemisphere, allowing astronomers to study the Universe in
the finest detail. This artificial laser guide star will be used with
adaptive optics systems that counteract the blurring effect of the
atmosphere. Previously this technique has been limited to the very small
regions around bright stars. Now, it is possible to apply it almost
anywhere in the sky.
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(February 23, 2006)
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Precision measurements of the frequency of the gamma-ray line from
radioactive decay of 26Al (T1/2~72000 years)
shows that this radioactivity reflects the entire population of
massive, young stars in the Galaxy.
Picture: MPE
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Using the spectrometer on ESA's Gamma-Ray Observatory INTEGRAL, an
international team of researchers led by MPE scientists succeeded in
Determining the Galactic Supernova Rate
through Radioactivity
Radioactive 26Al is ejected into interstellar space together
with other new elements, when massive stars reach the terminal phases of
their evolution and finally explode as supernovae. Now an unpredecented
precision measurement of the 26Al decay gamma-ray line was performed. From
the otherwise heavily occulted inner region of the Galaxy, the signature
of the galactic rotation was found in the data. This led the team to
conclude that observed 26Al gamma-rays represent the massive
star population over the full extent of the Galaxy. From the total amount
of observed 26Al, this corresponds to a rate of supernovae from
massive stars of two per century.
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(January 25, 2006)
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The Large Binocular Telescope at sunset showing the first 8.4m primary
mirror. (inset) The first light image of the edge-on spiral galaxies
NGC891 taken with the Large Binocular camera.
Picture: LBT
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The Large Binocular Telescope achieves "first light"
The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) achieved "first light" on 12 October
2005. "First light" is an important milestone for reaching our ultimate
goal of using the LBT for outstanding astrophysical research. The LBT
will have a collecting area larger than any existing or planned single
telescope. More importantly, the binocular configuration provides unique
capabilities for high resolution near-infrared imaging, exceeding the
resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope.
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(October 26, 2005)
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Blue stars around the central black hole in M31.
Image credit: ESA
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Hubble finds mysterious disk of blue stars around a black hole in
M 31
An international team of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space
Telescope have found two nested disks in Keplerian rotation around the
central supermassive black hole in our neighbouring Andromeda Galaxy (M31).
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(September 20, 2005)
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X-ray image of RXCJ0658.5-5556, a violently merging cluster. The dark
blue region near the centre is the core of a sub-cluster flying through
the main cluster body at high "supersonic" speed, as indicated by a
mach cone in front of this region and a very dramatic entropy
enhancement (red arrow) which is the cluster gas heated by the shock
front.
Image credit: ESA
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XMM-Newton
probes the
formation of galaxy clusters
An international team of astronomers,
including members of the MPE,
detected the first direct X-ray evidence of shock heating in merging
clusters.
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(September 06, 2005)
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The massive galaxy cluster XMMU J2235.3-2557 in the record
distance of 9000 million light-years (redshift z = 1.4). The optical
image (ESO, star like images) is overlayed with the X-ray emission
observed with XMM (orange, diffuse).
Image: C.R. Mullis
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An international team of astronomers,
including members of the MPE,
has made a
Surprise Discovery
of
Highly Developed Structure
in the Early
Universe
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(March 02, 2005)
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Artist's concept of the relativistic flow of matter around a fast
rotating Black Hole in the centre on an accretion disk.
Image: MPE
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Black Holes in a radar trap
Using the X-ray Satellite XMM-Newton researchers measure velocities
near the speed of light in the vicinity of cosmic mass monsters
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(February 23, 2005)
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Magnetar with an extreme magnetic field.
Such an object is proposed to be the source of the intense
Gamma-Ray Burst.
Image: R. Mallozzi/NASA
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Astrophysicists at MPE
measure
the strongest
so far observed
Gamma-Ray Burst of a Magnetar
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(February 18, 2005)
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Prof. Dr. Günther Hasinger
Leibniz Prize winner
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Günther Hasinger
Direktor at MPE
wins the prestigious
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2005
Congratulation!
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(December 3, 2004)
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Projected pressure map of Abell 754.
(Image credit: Alexis Finoguenov, MPE)
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An international team of astronomers including members of the MPE detected
the
most powerful massive merger of galaxies
on record.
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(September 28, 2004)
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Three-dimensional distribution of galaxy clusters which have been
identified using the ROSAT All-Sky Survey. The gap in the middle is
caused by the absorbing band of the Milky Way.
(Image credit: MPE)
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Led by H. Böhringer from MPE, an international team of astronomers
conducted the
first complete mapping of the "backbone" of the Universe.
The project is known under the acronym REFLEX (Rosat-ESO-Flux-Limited X-ray
Cluster Survey).
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(May 24, 2004)
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INTEGRAL view of the Galactic Center region
(±35° galactic latitude; ±50° galactic longitude)
revealing
discrete soft gamma-ray sources that are now thought to emit
almost all of the Milky Way's emission in that wavelength region.
(Image credit: ESA)
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Using data of the satellite INTEGRAL, a team of European researchers
including members of the MPE determined that
"Compact sources are the origin of
soft Gamma-ray emission of the Milky Way".
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(March 18, 2004)
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A star is ripped apart by the tidal forces of a massive
black hole. Part of the stellar debris is then accreted by the black
hole. This causes a luminous flare of radiation which fades away as
more and more of the matter disappears into the black hole.
(Credit: Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)
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Combining data from the X-ray satellites Chandra and XMM-Newton, the Hubble
Space telescope and earlier data from the X-ray mission ROSAT, an
international group of astronomers lead by Stefanie Komossa from MPE now
have found
the first strong evidence of a giant supermassive
black hole ripping apart a star at the center of a distant galaxy,
a process long predicted by theory.
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(February 18, 2004)
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GRBs originate in narrow-beamed emission ejected from a collapsing
massive star. The width of the beam can be measured via the polarisation
of the optical/infrared emission.
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An international group of scientists led by
J. Greiner from MPE
found, that
Gamma-ray Bursts
are originating from jets in supernova events.
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(November 24, 2003)
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Light curve of the infrared flare of SgrA*, showing
quasi-oscillation.
This oscillation helps determining the spin of the Black Hole.
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A team led by scientists of the MPI für extraterrestrische Physik
recorded
flaring infrared radiation
directly from the
supermassive black hole at the center of the milky way.
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(October 30, 2003)
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International Balzan Foundation
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Reinhard Genzel, MPE Director, was awarded the
Balzan Prize 2003
in recognition of his "fundamental contributions to Infrared Astronomy".
The prize amounts to one million Swiss francs.
(September 12, 2003)
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A
new X-ray map of the sky
"1XMM"
derived from observations of XMM-Newton,
has been constructed with the help of MPE
and is now released on behalf of ESA.
(April 10, 2003)
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Using the Chandra X-ray satellite,
scientists from the MPE find
Two Supermassive Black Holes in Same Galaxy.
(November 19, 2002)
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The orbit of the star S2 around the supermassive black
hole at the center of the milky way
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A team led by scientists of the MPI für extraterrestrische Physik
observed for the first time a star in a close orbit around the
supermassive black hole at the center of the milky way.
Recent results of the IR group
MPE Galactic Center pages
MPG Press release (in German)
ESO press release
(October 17, 2002)
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A team from the MPI für extraterrestrische Physik made the first
observations of the planet Venus in X-rays
using the NASA satellite Chandra.
MPG press information (in German)
article in astronews (in German)
(November 26, 2001)
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