Open Day

An Open Day on the Königstuhl is a massive undertaking, involving hundreds of our employees and presenting the complete spectrum of the institute's work.

How do galaxies form? And how stars and planets? How can we find out whether a planet orbiting another star has an atmosphere, and how can we find out that atmosphere’s composition? MPIA staff answers these questions and more at the Open Day. They also show how instruments for modern large telescopes and also for space telescopes are designed and built at the institute, by scientists together with engineers and technicians. There are also guided tours of the neighbouring state observatory (“Landessternwarte”), including the SkyPole direction finder, and presentations by partners such as the Forscherstation, the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics and the Klaus Tschira Foundation.

The last Open Day took place on October 14, 2023. The date for the next Open Day has not yet been set.

On 14 October 2023, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and the Haus der Astronomie in Heidelberg on the Königstuhl hill will open their doors from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and offer a varied astronomical programme. [more]
Several thousand visitors came again to the Open Day on 21st June 2015 to find out about the current activities at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and the House of Astronomy. The videos and pictures give an impression of the different stations around research, technology, outreach and education. [more]
For the Open Day 2012, more than 4000 visitors converged on Königstuhl to immerse themselves in astronomical research. This image gallery also shows what you can expect for the Open Day 2015 on June 21 on MPIA Campus. [more]

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