AIP

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.

Bessel Award for Dr. Alexis Rouillard

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has awarded the prestigious Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award to Dr. Alexis Rouillard, researcher at the Astrophysics and Planetology Research Institute in Toulouse to deepen his research on solar winds at AIP.

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Day of Open Monuments, 14 September 2025

On the Day of Open Monuments, 14 September 2025, the AIP will open the Einstein Tower on the Telegrafenberg in Potsdam from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Members of the Großer Refraktor e.V. association will also open the Great Refractor, the fourth-largest refracting telescope in the world, and offer guided tours of the Telegrafenberg as well as explanations about the telescope.

[more]

Solar Orbiter traces superfast electrons back to Sun

A newly published study led by scientists from the AIP presents a comprehensive catalogue of solar energetic electron events and shows that the apparent delay between solar eruptions and the detection of electrons in space is not due to late release, but to their turbulent journey through the solar wind.

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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.

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Latest News

Bessel Award for Dr. Alexis Rouillard

Sept. 4, 2025

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The AIP joins the Long Night of Astronomy 2025

Sept. 3, 2025

The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) will once again take part at the nationwide Long Night of Astronomy on 13 September 2025.

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Solar Orbiter traces superfast electrons back to Sun

Sept. 1, 2025

A newly published study led by AIP presents a comprehensive catalogue of solar energetic electron events and shows that the apparent delay between solar eruptions and the detection of electrons in space is not due to late release, but to their turbulent journey through the solar wind.

[more]

[To all News]

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

The CosmoVerse White Paper: Addressing observational tensions in cosmology with systematics and fundamental physics

Di Valentino, E., ... Benisty, D., ...

Physics of the Dark Universe, 49, 101965 – Published September 2025

doi:10.1016/j.dark.2025.101965, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Cosmography and Large-Scale Structure

Wide Separation Planets in Time (WISPIT): Discovery of a Gap Hα Protoplanet WISPIT 2b with MagAO-X

Close, L. M., ... Ilyin, I., ...

The Astrophysical Journal, 990, 1, L9 – Published September 2025

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/adf7a5, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: High-resolution Spectroscopy and Polarimetry

FEAST: Probing the Stellar Population of the Starburst Dwarf Galaxy NGC 4449 with JWST/NIRCam

Correnti, M., ... Sacchi, E., ...

The Astrophysical Journal, 990, 1, 72 – Published September 2025

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/adec74, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Supercomputing and E-Science

Current Helicity in Response to Coronal Mass Ejections

Sun, Z., ... Hou, Y., ...

The Astrophysical Journal, 990, 1, 45 – Published September 2025

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/adf18b, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Stellar Physics and Exoplanets

How Early Could the Milky Way's Disk Form?

Semenov, V. A., Conroy, C., Smith, A., Puchwein, E., Hernquist, L.

The Astrophysical Journal, 990, 1, 7 – Published September 2025

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/addf48, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Cosmology and High-Energy Astrophysics

Predictions for dispersion measures of fast radio bursts through the epoch of reionization using CoDa II

Ziegler, J. J., ... Sorce, J. G., ... Gottlöber, S.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 542, 2, 1518 – Published September 2025

doi:10.1093/mnras/staf1308, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Cosmology and High-Energy Astrophysics

NGC 663 as a laboratory for massive star evolution

Marco, A., Negueruela, I., Castro, N., Simón-Díaz, S.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 542, 2, 703 – Published September 2025

doi:10.1093/mnras/staf1195, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Astrophotonics (innoFSPEC)

Testing and Combining Transient Spectral Classification Tools on 4MOST-like Blended Spectra

Milligan, A., ... Storm, J., ...

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society – Published August 2025

doi:10.1093/mnras/staf1419, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Dwarf Galaxies and the Galactic Halo

Revealing the Chemical Structure of the Magellanic Clouds with APOGEE. II. Abundance Gradients of the Large Magellanic Cloud

Povick, J. T., ... Cioni, M.-R. L., ...

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society – Published August 2025

doi:10.1093/mnras/staf1428, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Dwarf Galaxies and the Galactic Halo

The impact of faint AGN discovered by JWST on reionization

Asthana, S., ... Puchwein, E.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society – Published August 2025

doi:10.1093/mnras/staf1387, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Cosmology and High-Energy Astrophysics

Constraints on Primordial Magnetic Fields from the Lyman-α Forest

Pavičević, M., ... Puchwein, E., ...

Physical Review Letters, 135, 7, 071001 – Published August 2025

doi:10.1103/77rd-vkpz, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Cosmology and High-Energy Astrophysics

Ion-rich Acceleration during an Eruptive Flux Rope Event in a Multiple Null-point Configuration

Pesce-Rollins, M., ... Warmuth, A., ...

The Astrophysical Journal, 989, 2, 148 – Published August 2025

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/adeb7f, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Solar Physics

BASS. XLVIII. [Ne V] λ3427 Emission in Powerful Nearby Active Galactic Nuclei

Reiss, T., ... Powell, M. C., ...

The Astrophysical Journal, 989, 1, 88 – Published August 2025

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ade879, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Galaxies and Quasars

A Large Catalog of DA White Dwarf Characteristics Using SDSS and Gaia Observations

Crumpler, N. R., ... Schwope, A., ...

The Astrophysical Journal, 989, 1, 24 – Published August 2025

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ade9a9, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: X-ray Astronomy

SRG/eROSITA No. 5: Discovery of Quasiperiodic Eruptions Every ∼3.7 days from a Galaxy at z > 0.1

Arcodia, R., ... Krumpe, M.

The Astrophysical Journal, 989, 1, 13 – Published August 2025

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/adec9b, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: X-ray Astronomy

Temperature-compensating package for OH line filters for astronomy: II. manufacture, assembly, and performance study

Luo, X., Rodriguez Alvarez, C. E., Rahman, A., Soemitro, A. A., Önel, H., Paschke, J., Bauer, S.-M., Madhav, K., Bittner, W., Roth, M. M.

Optics Express, 33, 16, 34008 – Published August 2025

doi:10.1364/OE.560633, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Astrophotonics (innoFSPEC), 3D and Multi Object Spectroscopy, Technical Section, Precision Mechanics Workshop, Mechanical Engineering, Technical Software, Electronics, Detectors

Data-Driven Reconstruction of a Low-Order Dynamo Model from Sunspot Data

Bonanno, A., Arlt, R.

Solar Physics, 300, 8, 116 – Published August 2025

doi:10.1007/s11207-025-02531-y, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Magnetohydrodynamics and Turbulence

Ion Acceleration in Fermi-LAT Behind-the-Limb Solar Flares: The Role of Coronal Shock Waves

Warmuth, A., Pesce-Rollins, M., Omodei, N., Tan, S.

Solar Physics, 300, 8, 114 – Published August 2025

doi:10.1007/s11207-025-02522-z, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Solar Physics

The VMC survey: LIV. The internal kinematics of the Large Magellanic Cloud with new VISTA observations

Vijayasree, S., Niederhofer, F., Cioni, M.-R. L., Cullinane, L., ... Kacharov, N., ...

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 700, A279 – Published August 2025

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202453145, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Dwarf Galaxies and the Galactic Halo, Milky Way and the Local Volume

Synthesizing Sun-as-a-star flare spectra from high-resolution solar observations

De Wilde, M., Pietrow, A. G. M., ...

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 700, A275 – Published August 2025

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202554870, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Solar Physics

Testing the role of merging binaries in the formation of the split main sequence in young clusters

Bastian, N., Kamann, S., Niederhofer, F., Saracino, S.

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 700, A241 – Published August 2025

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202555369, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Dwarf Galaxies and the Galactic Halo

Survey of Surveys: II. Stellar parameters for 23 million stars

Turchi, A., ... Guiglion, G.

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 700, A195 – Published August 2025

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202555695, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Milky Way and the Local Volume

The eROSITA view on the halo mass–temperature relation: From low-mass groups to massive clusters

Toptun, V., ... Lamer, G., ...

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 700, A167 – Published August 2025

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202554352, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: X-ray Astronomy

Abundances of P, S, and K in 58 bulge spheroid stars from APOGEE

Barbuy, B., ... Chiappini, C., ... Valentini, M., ...

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 700, A184 – Published August 2025

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202555713, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Milky Way and the Local Volume

The dynamical impact of cosmic rays in the Rhea magnetohydrodynamic simulations

Kjellgren, K., ... Pfrommer, C., ...

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 700, A124 – Published August 2025

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202553754, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Cosmology and High-Energy Astrophysics

Reconstructing the radial velocity distribution of the Milky Way's circumgalactic medium with HESTIA

Rünger, F., Sparre, M., ... Libeskind, N., Sorce, J. G., Steinmetz, M., ...

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 700, A131 – Published August 2025

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202451355, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Cosmology and High-Energy Astrophysics, Cosmography and Large-Scale Structure

BASS: XLIV. Morphological preferences of local hard X-ray selected AGNs

Parra Tello, M., ... Powell, M. C., ...

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 700, A111 – Published August 2025

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202554990, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Galaxies and Quasars

Strömgren photometric metallicity map of the Magellanic Cloud stars using Gaia DR3–XP spectra

Omkumar, A. O., Cioni, M.-R. L., Subramanian, S., ...

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 700, A74 – Published August 2025

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202452510, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Dwarf Galaxies and the Galactic Halo

The eROSITA DR1 variability catalogue

Boller, T., ... Schwope, A., ... Krumpe, M., ...

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 700, A61 – Published August 2025

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202449355, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: X-ray Astronomy

Accretion onto supermassive and intermediate-mass black holes in cosmological simulations

Weinberger, R. et al.

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 700, A52 – Published August 2025

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202554174, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Cosmology and High-Energy Astrophysics

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

Events and dates at AIP

External Colloquium | Dr. Malcolm Druett (Sheffield University)

04.09.2025, 14:30 – 16:00

Scientific

Speaker: Dr. Malcolm Druett (Sheffield University)
Title: Flare evaporation, condensations, and ribbons

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House Colloquium | Lara Cullinane (AIP)

11.09.2025, 14:30 – 15:30

Scientific

Speaker: Lara Cullinane (AIP)
Title: Exploring the origins of SMCNOD and the Magellanic outskirts

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Long Night of Astronomy

13.09.2025

Public Event

The AIP will participate in the Long Night of Astronomy on 13 September 2025 with a lecture by Dr Peter Weilbacher at the Zeiss Großplanetarium in Berlin and with short video contributions to the live stream.

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Day of Open Monuments

14.09.2025, 10:00 – 16:00

Public Event

On the Day of Open Monuments, 14 September 2025, the AIP will open the Einstein Tower on the Telegrafenberg in Potsdam from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Members of the Großer Refraktor e.V. association will also open the Great Refractor, the fourth-largest refracting telescope in the world, and offer guided tours of the Telegrafenberg as well as explanations about the telescope.

[more]