Major surveys with MPIA involvement

Pan-STARRS1 (the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System 1) is an optical and near infrared survey that covers the entire sky north of declination −30°, including the galactic plane. more

The observational data for this survey obtained using the HiCIAO high-contrast imaging instrument and the IRCS infrared camera at the Subaru telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i, operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The SEEDS survey is led by principal investigator Dr. Motohide Tamura (NAOJ). MPIA Co-PI: Thomas Henning

LEECH is a ~100 night exoplanet imaging survey that uses the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) and the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) to search for exoplanets around nearby stars. LEECH uses mid-infrared light, where cool, low-mass planets emit most of their light, and adaptive optics performance is superb.

HAT-South is a collaboration among the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, the Princeton University, the Australian National University, and the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. It consists of a network of six identical, fully automated wide field telescopes, located at three sites in the Southern hemisphere. more

THOR (The HI/OH/Recombination line survey of the Milky Way) is a large program at the VLA to study cloud formation, HI to H2 conversion and feedback processes. This survey of the northern part of the Milky Way (90 square degrees), at a spatial resolution of 15''-20'', observes the atomic, molecular and ionized gas in tracers of HI, OH, radio recombination lines and the cm continuum emission. PI: Henrik Beuther more

The large PdBI program CORE addresses the "Fragmentation and disk formation during high-mass star formation''. For the first time, a northern hemisphere sample will be studied at the highest spatial resolution (0.2-0.3'') in (sub)mm continuum and line emission to investigate the fragmentation processes, disk formation, infall and accretion rates as well as the chemical evolution during the (high-mass) star formation processes. PI: Henrik Beuther more

The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer is an 11.25m multi-object spectroscopic facility, designed to replace the CFHT in Hawaii. It will be capable of observing up to 4,000 astronomical objects at once with a spectral resolution range spanning 3,000 to 40,000. Maria Bergemann co-leads the Science Workgroup on Exoplanets and Stellar Physics. Contact: Maria Bergemann more

An IRAM large program to map the molecular gas in the central ~9 kpc of the nearby grand-design spiral galaxy M51 (the Whirlpool) in its CO(1-0) line emission at the scale of Giant Molecular Clouds using the 30m telescope and the Plateau de Bure interferometer. PI: Eva Schinnerer more

The collaboration aims to understand the interplay of the small-scale physics of gas and star formation with galactic structure and galaxy evolution. Observations of nearby galaxies will be utilized to understand how physics at or near the “cloud” scale are affected by galaxy-scale conditions, how they affect still smaller scale processes, and how these influence the evolution of whole galaxies. Lead: Eva Schinnerer more