Scientific Highlights
Measuring the Universe More Accurately Than Ever Before
6 March 2013. New results pin down the distance to the galaxy next door. - After nearly a decade of careful observations an international team of astronomers, among them Jesper Storm, scientist at the Leibniz-Institute for Astophysics Potsdam (AIP), has measured the distance to our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, more accurately than ever before. This new measurement also improves our knowledge of the rate of expansion of the Universe — the Hubble Constant — and is a crucial step towards understanding the nature of the mysterious dark energy that is causing the expansion to accelerate. The team used telescopes at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile as well as others around the globe. These results appear in the 7 March 2013 issue of the journal Nature.
Where are all the dwarfs?
1 February 2013. Astronomers of the international CLUES collaboration have identified “Cosmic Web Stripping” as a new way of explaining the famous missing dwarf problem: the lack of observed dwarf galaxies compared with that predicted by the theory of Cold Dark Matter and Dark Energy.
Life possible on extrasolar moons
10 January 2013. In their search for habitable worlds, astronomers have started to consider exomoons, or those likely orbiting planets outside the solar system. In a new study, a pair of researchers has found that exomoons are just as likely to support life as exoplanets.
From Sunspots to Starspots
6 December 2012. For the first time, astronomers have detected the magnetic field of a starspot
CALIFA: The local extragalactic universe unveiled
1 November 2012. The Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area survey (CALIFA survey) announces today its first public release of data, offering an unprecedentedly detailed view of 100 galaxies in the local universe with ample opportunities for scientific study.
Astronomers see galaxy-altering quasars ignite
27 September 2012. Analysing data from NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes an international team of astronomers around Tanya Urrutia from AIP has caught sight of luminous quasars igniting after galaxies collide. Quasars are bright, energetic regions around giant, active black holes in galactic centers.
Using artificial intelligence to chart the universe
24 September 2012. Astronomers in Germany have developed an artificial intelligence algorithm to help them chart and explain the structure and dynamics of the universe around us. The team, led by Francisco Kitaura of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam, report their results in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Minor planet renamed after scientist from Potsdam
13 September 2012. The Committee on Small Body Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has decided that the main-belt Asteroid 278513 is from now on called "Schwope".
Spectroscopic imaging of the corona
23 August 2012. Spectroscopic imaging of the corona based on new-technology equipment - LOFAR (the LOw Frequency ARray) and solar applications
Magnetic fields slow down stars
12 June 2012. Scientists have proved the existence of a magnetic effect that could explain why solar-like stars spin very slowly at the end of their lifetime.
Nature letter on RR Lyrae stars as distance indicators
5 April 2012. Astronomers find a new type of variable star in a double star system.
When Dark Energy turned on
30 March 2012. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) today announced the most accurate measurements yet of the distances to galaxies in the faraway universe, giving an unprecedented look at the time when the universe first began to accelerate. From different perspectives six publications, which have been published online now, address the question of “Dark Energy“, the unknown force that drives our Universe apart.
Gaseous ring around young star raises questions
18 January 2012. Astronomers have detected a mysterious ring of carbon monoxide gas around the young star V1052 Cen, which is about 700 light years away in the southern constellation Centaurus. The ring is part of the star’s planet-forming disk, and it’s as far from V1052 Cen as Earth is from the sun. Discovered with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, its edges are uniquely crisp.
Innovative optical filters enable new astronomical observations
7 December 2011. In the current issue of "Nature Communications" from Dec 06, 2011 physical chemists at University Potsdam and astrophysicists at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) in collaboration with colleagues from Sydney / Australia describe their latest results obtained within the ASPIC consortium (Astrophotonics and Instrumentation Consortium): a complex multi-notch optical filter that allows for observations of faint stars and galaxies by suppression of bright infrared night sky.
Closer to the Sun than ever
5 October 2011. Scientists in Potsdam are preparing for the start of ESA’s “Solar Orbiter” mission
400 years of research in sunspots
21 June 2011 - The first scientific article about sunspots was published 400 years ago on 23 June 1611. Scientists of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) and the University Oulu in Finland are now reconstructing tens of thousands of sunspots: the solar activity over four centuries. Looking back on history, they also want to understand better the future of the activity of the Sun.
SPINSTARS: the first polluters of the Universe?
27 April 2011. Astrophysicists find imprints of fast rotating massive stars in the bulge of our galaxy
New conditions for life on other planets
24 February 2011. Tidal effects change the concept of the habitable zone
