Welcome!

The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) is dedicated to astrophysical questions ranging from the exploration of our Sun to the evolution of the cosmos. It focuses on the study of stellar, solar and exoplanetary physics, extragalactic astrophysics and the development of research technologies in the fields of spectroscopy, robotic telescopes and E-science.

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MUSE Ultra Deep Field

Final destination Chile: 4MOST leaves Europe – Last Look Behind the Scenes

The integration and testing phase of 4MOST, is nearing completion. Over the coming weeks, the final components of this powerful instrument are being carefully packed. Media representatives are invited for a behind-the-scenes look and a special event on June 10 ahead of 4MOST’s final shipment to Chile.

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The Sun Up-Close: High-Resolution Observations with New VTT Camera Technology

Large and complex sunspot groups characterize the surface of the dynamic Sun during its activity cycle. A new camera system at the Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT) at the Observatorio del Teide on Tenerife uses image restoration methods to capture small structures in active areas. This has resulted in unique, high-resolution images that reveal the smallest details in active regions of the Sun's surface.

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Live Babelsberg Starry Night on 23 May 2025

On Friday, 23 May 2025, from 7.15 pm, the AIP once again invites guests to a Live Babelsberg Starry Night on the Babelsberg campus. Dr Christian Vocks will speak about ‘The sun and space weather’. In his lecture, Christian Vocks will explain how sunspots, flares and coronal mass eruptions are created - and what influence these phenomena have on the Earth and our technology. This will be followed by a guided tour of the campus

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Research Area I: Stellar, Solar and Exoplanetary Physics

Cosmic events are determined by two natural forces: gravity and magnetic fields. The magnetic field research at the AIP is mainly focused on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, the magnetically induced activities on the Sun and the stars, solar coronaphysics as well as space weather in our solar system and on planets around other stars.

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Research Area II: Extragalactic Astrophysics

Galaxies are fundamental cosmic building blocks. At the largest scales, they serve as markers to study the distribution of matter in the universe - active galaxies and quasars are particularly important because of their intrinsic brightness. Nearby objects can be spatially resolved and consist of populations with very different patterns of motion, star formation histories and chemical abundances.

[more]

The integration and testing phase of 4MOST, is nearing completion. Over the coming weeks, the final components of this powerful instrument are being carefully packed. Media representatives are invited for a behind-the-scenes look and a special event on June 10 ahead of 4MOST’s final shipment to Chile.

Large and complex sunspot groups characterize the surface of the dynamic Sun during its activity cycle. A new camera system at the Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT) at the Observatorio del Teide on Tenerife uses image restoration methods to capture smallest details in active regions of the Sun's surface.

On Friday, 23 May 2025, from 7.15 pm, the AIP once again invites guests to a Live Babelsberg Starry Night on the Babelsberg campus. Dr Christian Vocks will speak about ‘The sun and space weather’. In his lecture, Christian Vocks will explain how sunspots, flares and coronal mass eruptions are created - and what influence these phenomena have on the Earth and our technology. This will be followed by a guided tour of the campus and - if the sky is clear - an observation at one of the Babelsberg telescopes.

 

Have you heard?

The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) has suspended communication on its X account (formerly Twitter). The decision reflects concerns about the current direction of the platform, which is seen as inconsistent with our values like openness, scientific integrity, transparency and democratic discourse. AIP will continue to share news via its website and other social media platforms, such as Mastodon and Bluesky.

Latest Publications

Global Hall-magnetohydrodynamic simulations of transition disks

Sarafidou, E., Gressel, O., Ercolano, B.
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 696, A19 – Published April 2025

Hydrodynamic Predictions for the Next Outburst of T Coronae Borealis: It Will Be the Brightest Classical or Recurrent Nova Ever Observed in X-Rays

Starrfield, S., ... Ilyin, I., ...
The Astrophysical Journal, 982, 2, 89 – Published April 2025

Modelling the cosmic dispersion measure in the D < 120 Mpc Local Universe

Huang, Y., ... Libeskind, N. I., ...
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 538, 4, 2785 – Published April 2025

Contemporaneous optical-radio observations of a fast radio burst in a close galaxy pair

Hanmer, K. Y., ... Brink, J., ...
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 538, 3, 1800 – Published April 2025

Quasiperiodic Super-Alfvénic Slippage along Flare Ribbons Observed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph

Zhang, Y., ... Sun, Z., ...
The Astrophysical Journal, 982, 1, L9 – Published March 2025

DDO 68-C: HST Confirms Yet Another Companion of the Isolated Dwarf Galaxy DDO 68

Correnti, M., ... Sacchi, E., ...
The Astrophysical Journal, 982, 1, 31 – Published March 2025

Spatially Resolved Oscillations of a Flare Looptop X-Ray Source

Shi, F., Warmuth, A., ... Tan, S., Schuller, F., Mitchell, J. A. J.
The Astrophysical Journal, 982, 1, L6 – Published March 2025

Andromeda XXXV: The Faintest Dwarf Satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy

Arias, J. M., ... de Jong, R. S.
The Astrophysical Journal, 982, 1, L3 – Published March 2025

Measuring the Interstellar Medium Content of Nearby, Luminous, Type 1 and Type 2 QSOs through CO and [C II]

Luo, Y., ... Urrutia, T.
The Astrophysical Journal, 981, 2, 194 – Published March 2025

You Shall Not Pass! The Propagation of Low-/Moderate-powered Jets Through a Turbulent Interstellar Medium

Borodina, O., ... Weinberger, R., ...
The Astrophysical Journal, 981, 2, 149 – Published March 2025

Rediscovering the Milky Way with an orbit superposition approach and APOGEE data: I. Method validation

Khoperskov, S., ... Steinmetz, M., Ratcliffe, B., Minchev, I., Krajnović, D., ... Kacharov, N., Marques, L., Valentini, M., de Jong, R. S.
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 695, A220 – Published March 2025

Exploring coronal abundances of M dwarfs at moderate activity levels

Chebly, J. J., Poppenhäger, K., Alvarado-Gómez, J. D., Wood, B. E.
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 695, A165 – Published March 2025

Detecting galaxy groups populating the local Universe in the eROSITA era (Corrigendum)

Marini, I., ... Lamer, G., ...
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 695, C1 – Published March 2025

The reason for the widespread energetic storm particle event of 13 March 2023

Dresing, N., ... Warmuth, A., ...
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 695, A127 – Published March 2025

First Doppler image and starspot-corrected orbit for λ Andromedae: A multifaceted activity analysis

Adebali, Ö., Strassmeier, K. G., Ilyin, I. V., Weber, M., Gruner, D., ...
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 695, A89 – Published March 2025

Constraints on the X-ray-to-radio fluence ratio of FRB 20240114A

Eppel, F., Krumpe, M., ...
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 695, L10 – Published March 2025

Resolving spatial and temporal shock structures using LOFAR observations of type II radio bursts

Morosan, D. E., ... Vocks, C., ...
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 695, A70 – Published March 2025

Active Galactic Nucleus Feedback in Quiescent Galaxies at Cosmic Noon Traced by Ionized Gas Emission

Bugiani, L., ... Weinberger, R.
The Astrophysical Journal, 981, 1, 25 – Published March 2025

Automatic Machine Learning Framework to Study Morphological Parameters of AGN Host Galaxies within z < 1.4 in the Hyper Supreme-Cam Wide Survey

Tian, C., ... Powell, M. C., ...
The Astrophysical Journal, 981, 1, 5 – Published March 2025

Signatures of black hole seeding in the local Universe: predictions from the BRAHMA cosmological simulations

Bhowmick, A. K., ... Weinberger, R., ...
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 538, 1, 518 – Published March 2025

Precise and Accurate Mass and Radius Measurements of Fifteen Galactic Red Giants in Detached Eclipsing Binaries

Rowan, D. M., ... Ilyin, I., ...
The Open Journal of Astrophysics, 8, 18 – Published February 2025

Asymmetries and Circumstellar Interaction in the Type II SN 2024bch

Andrews, J. E., ... Ilyin, I., ...
The Astrophysical Journal, 980, 1, 37 – Published February 2025

ASTRAEUS: X. Indications of a top-heavy initial mass function in highly star-forming galaxies from JWST observations at z > 10

Hutter, A., ... Gottlöber, S., ...
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 694, A254 – Published February 2025

Detecting clusters and groups of galaxies populating the local Universe in large optical spectroscopic surveys

Marini, I., ... Lamer, G., ...
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 694, A207 – Published February 2025

Planetary inward migration as the potential cause of GJ 504's fast rotation and bright X-ray luminosity: New constraints from eROSITA

Pezzotti, C., ... Poppenhaeger, K.
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 694, A179 – Published February 2025

Magnetic connectivity of coronal loops and flare-accelerated electrons in a B-class flare: Based on X-ray, EUV (DEM analysis), and type-III radio burst observations

Bröse, M., Vocks, C., Warmuth, A., Mann, G., ...
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 694, A188 – Published February 2025

A multi-wavelength view of the isolated neutron star eRASSU J065715.3+260428

Kurpas, J., Pires, A. M., Schwope, A. D., ... Traulsen, I.
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 694, A160 – Published February 2025

Transit-timing variations in the AU Mic system observed with CHEOPS

Boldog, Á., ... Poppenhaeger, K., ...
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 694, A137 – Published February 2025

The MUSE eXtremely Deep Field: Classifying the spectral shapes of Lyα-emitting galaxies

Vitte, E., ... Pharo, J., ...
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 694, A100 – Published February 2025

State-dependent signatures of jets and winds in the optical and infrared spectrum of the black hole transient GX 339–4

Ambrifi, A., ... Cúneo, V. A., ...
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 694, A109 – Published February 2025

[List of AIP publications] [AIP publications in ADS]

Speaker: Antonino Francesco Lanza (INAF | Catania)
Title: Late-type stars and their close-by planets: aspects of their magnetic interactions

15.05.2025, 20:00 – 21:00
Public Event

Talk (in German): Satellitengalaxien, Dunkle Materie und MOND (Marcel Pawlowski)

22.05.2025, 14:30 – 15:30
Scientific

Speaker: David Hogg (NYU/CCA)
Title: TBD

23.05.2025, 14:00 – 15:00
Scientific

Speaker: Prof. Zack Slepian (Univ. of Florida)
Title: Parity Violation and the Galaxy 4-Point Correlation Function

23.05.2025, 19:15 – 21:00
Public Event

In the frame of the "Bohemian Days in Babelsberg", the AIP invites you to a live Babelsberg Starry Night at the Babelsberg campus:

Speaker: Ana Bonaca (Carnegie Observatories, USA)
Title: TBD

Speaker: Maarit Korpi-Lagg (Aalto University)
Title: TBD

26.06.2025, 14:30 – 15:30
Scientific

Speaker: Domenico Meduri (AIP)
Title: tba.

01.07.2025, 13:00 – 14:00
Scientific

Speaker: Tonatiuh Matos ()
Title: Can quantum mechanics explain the dark universe?

Public Event
Scientific
Internal Event
Holidays