Institute Reports

MICADO and METIS are two of the four first-generation instruments for ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) that will go to the telescope later this decade. MPIA is a consortium partner in both projects and just started to manufacture various sub-systems of the instruments. A mini-documentary about both instruments was screened during a live event on ESO’s YouTube channel on Friday, 12^th May. more

The CARMENES program, led by a consortium of Spanish and German research institutions, in which the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) is a partner, has released 20,000 observations of more than 300 stars. These measurements led to the discovery of 59 planets, some potentially habitable. more

Annalisa Pillepich, who is a group leader in the department "Galaxies and Cosmology" at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), has been awarded one of the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grants. With a total amount of 2 million euros, the grant will be used to finance 4 post-doctoral positions and 2 PhD students at MPIA over the coming five years. In a project Pillepich has called COSMIC-KEY, she and her colleagues will be developing the next generation of simulations of the universe as a whole – a key to understanding the observational data that is set to become available over the next years.
  more

First scientific observations with the new spectrograph WEAVE, on La Palma, have provided an impressive example of the instrument's capabilities. At the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, which provides part of the instrumentation project's funding, Maria Bergemann is looking forward to using WEAVE for systematic studies of the archaeology of our home galaxy, and for a survey of chemical elements in our galaxy. more

In 2022, three scientists were again awarded the Ernst Patzer Prize for the support of young scientists. The award ceremony took place on November 25 during the traditional ceremonial colloquium at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA). The awardees are Jakob Isbell and Ekatarina Magg (both from MPIA), and Jaeyeon Kim (ITA/ZAH). more