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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 cosmic magnetic fields, extragalactic astrophysics and the development of research technologies in the fields of spectroscopy, robotic telescopes and E-science.

Wolfram Rosenbach new Administrative Chairman of the AIP board

On 1 March 2021, Wolfram Rosenbach will start as the new administrative chairman at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), assuming responsibility for all administrative matters of the institute.

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Virtual Babelsberg Starry Night

The next lecture of the virtual Babelsberg Starry Nights of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) is online since Thursday, 18 February 2021 on the YouTube channel "Urknall, Weltall und das Leben". Please note that the lecture will be given in German.

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Book a Scientist – Digital event of the Leibniz association on 18 March

Speeddating with scientists – including the AIP! "Book a Scientist" gives you the chance to talk to an expert from the Leibniz Association for 25 minutes and ask everything you've always wanted to know about your favourite topic. English speakers also welcome!

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Research Area I: Cosmic Magnetic Fields

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

Wolfram Rosenbach new Administrative Chairman of the AIP board

March 1, 2021

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On the trail of 1.8 billion stars

Dec. 3, 2020

Spanning a period of 34 months, the ESA Gaia mission has now published the first part of its third data release (EDR3). It provides the most precise measurements of positions and motions of 1.8 billion objects across the sky.

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With 35,000 eyes in the sky: world's largest fibre spectrograph completed

Dec. 2, 2020

Astronomers from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), together with colleagues from Germany and the US, have completed an astronomical spectrograph that is capable of creating the largest map of the cosmos.

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Latest Publications

The VMC survey - XLI. Stellar proper motions within the Small Magellanic Cloud

Niederhofer, F., Cioni, M.-R. L., ... Schmidt, T., ... Matijevĭc, G., ... Bell, C. P. M., ... El Youssoufi, D., ...

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 502, 2, 2859 – Published April 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/stab206, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Dwarf Galaxies and the Galactic Halo

Submillimetre galaxies in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations - an opportunity for constraining feedback models

Hayward, C. C., Sparre, M., ...

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 502, 2, 2922 – Published April 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/stab246, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Cosmology and High-Energy Astrophysics

Prospects for Galactic and stellar astrophysics with asteroseismology of giant stars in the TESS continuous viewing zones and beyond

Mackereth, J. T., ... Chiappini, C., ...

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 502, 2, 1947 – Published April 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/stab098, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Milky Way and the Local Volume

gzK-colour-selected star-forming galaxies in the AKARI NEP-Deep Field

Seo, H., ... Miyaji, T.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 502, 2, 1933 – Published April 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/stab052, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: X-ray Astronomy

MusE GAs FLOw and Wind V. The dust/metallicity-anisotropy of the circum-galactic medium

Wendt, M., Bouché, N. F., Zabl, J., Schroetter, I., Muzahid, S.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 502, 3, 3733 – Published April 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/stab049, NASA ADS

Searching for light in the darkness: Bounds on ALP dark matter with the optical MUSE-faint survey

Regis, M., ... Steinmetz, M.

Physics Letters B, 814, 136075 – Published March 2021

doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2021.136075, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Executive Board, Extragalactic Astrophysics

Time-resolved Rotational Velocities in the Upper Atmosphere of WASP-33 b

Cauley, P. W., ... Ilyin, I., Strassmeier, K. G., ...

The Astronomical Journal, 161, 3, 152 – Published March 2021

doi:10.3847/1538-3881/abde43, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: High-resolution Spectroscopy and Polarimetry, Cosmic Magnetic Fields

A Multiwavelength Look at the GJ 9827 System: No Evidence of Extended Atmospheres in GJ 9827b and d from HST and CARMENES Data

Carleo, I., ... Alvarado-Gómez, J. D., ...

The Astronomical Journal, 161, 3, 136 – Published March 2021

doi:10.3847/1538-3881/abdb2f, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Stellar Physics and Exoplanets

Correcting sky-quality-meter measurements for ageing effects using twilight as calibrator

Puschnig, J., Näslund, M., Schwope, A., Wallner, S.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 502, 1, 1095 – Published March 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/staa4019, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: X-ray Astronomy

Bimodality of [α Fe]-[Fe/H] distributions is a natural outcome of dissipative collapse and disc growth in Milky Way-type galaxies

Khoperskov, S. et al.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 501, 4, 5176 – Published March 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/staa3996, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Milky Way and the Local Volume

Spectral signature of atmospheric winds in high-resolution transit observations

Keles, E.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 502, 1, 1456 – Published March 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/stab099, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Stellar Physics and Exoplanets

Magnetic field geometry and magnetospheric environment of the strongly magnetic Of?p star NGC 1624-2

Järvinen, S. P., Hubrig, S., ... Küker, M., Ilyin, I., ...

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 501, 3, 4534 – Published March 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/staa3919, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Stellar Physics and Exoplanets, Magnetohydrodynamics and Turbulence, High-resolution Spectroscopy and Polarimetry

On the flaring of thick discs of galaxies: insights from simulations

García de la Cruz, J., Martig, M., Minchev, I., James, P.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 501, 4, 5105 – Published March 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/staa3906, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Milky Way and the Local Volume

The time-scales probed by star formation rate indicators for realistic, bursty star formation histories from the FIRE simulations

Flores Velázquez, J. A., ... Sparre, M., ...

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 501, 4, 4812 – Published March 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/staa3893, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Cosmology and High-Energy Astrophysics

3D spectroscopic analysis of helium-line white dwarfs

Cukanovaite, E., ... Steffen, M.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 501, 4, 5274 – Published March 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/staa3684, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Stellar Physics and Exoplanets

Revealing the impact of quasar luminosity on giant Ly α nebulae

Mackenzie, R., ... Muzahid, S., ... Wisotzki, L.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 502, 1, 494 – Published March 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/staa3277, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Galaxies and Quasars

High-resolution imaging follow-up of doubly imaged quasars

Shajib, A. J., ... Wisotzki, L.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society – Published February 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/stab532, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Galaxies and Quasars

A New Cosmic-Ray-driven Instability

Shalaby, M., Thomas, T., Pfrommer, C.

The Astrophysical Journal, 908, 2, 206 – Published February 2021

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/abd02d, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Cosmology and High-Energy Astrophysics

Pair Lines of Sight Observations of Multiphase Gas Bearing O VI in a Galaxy Environment

Anshul, P., Narayanan, A., Muzahid, S., Beckett, A., Morris, S. L.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society – Published February 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/stab396, NASA ADS

UVIT-HST-Gaia-VISTA study of KRON 3 in the Small Magellanic Cloud: A cluster with an extended red clump in UV

Nayak, P. K., ... Cioni, M.-R. L., Bell, C. P. M., ...

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society – Published February 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/stab385, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Dwarf Galaxies and the Galactic Halo

A finite volume method for two-moment cosmic-ray hydrodynamics on a moving mesh

Thomas, T., Pfrommer, C., Pakmor, R.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society – Published February 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/stab397, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Cosmology and High-Energy Astrophysics

On the Use of Field RR Lyrae as Galactic Probes. II. A New ΔS Calibration to Estimate Their Metallicity

Crestani, J., ... Storm, J., ...

The Astrophysical Journal, 908, 1, 20 – Published February 2021

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/abd183, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Dwarf Galaxies and the Galactic Halo

Detection of Energy Cutoffs in Flare-accelerated Electrons

Xia, F., ... Warmuth, A., ...

The Astrophysical Journal, 908, 1, 111 – Published February 2021

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/abce5c, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Solar Physics

Filigree in the Surroundings of Polar Crown and High-Latitude Filaments

Diercke, A., Kuckein, C., Verma, M., Denker, C.

Solar Physics, 296, 2, 35 – Published February 2021

doi:10.1007/s11207-021-01776-7, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Solar Physics

Wavelength Dependence of Image Quality Metrics and Seeing Parameters and Their Relation to Adaptive Optics Performance

Kamlah, R., Verma, M., Diercke, A., Denker, C.

Solar Physics, 296, 2, 29 – Published February 2021

doi:10.1007/s11207-021-01771-y, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Solar Physics

X-ray and ultraviolet observations of the eclipsing cataclysmic variables OV Bootis and SDSS J103533.02+055158.3 with degenerate donors

Schwope, A., Worpel, H., Traulsen, I.

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 646, A181 – Published February 2021

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202039561, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: X-ray Astronomy

Distance of Hi-GAL sources

Mège, P., ... Schuller, F.

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 646, A74 – Published February 2021

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202038956, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Solar Physics

An atlas of MUSE observations towards twelve massive lensing clusters

Richard, J., ... Schmidt, K. B., ... Weilbacher, P. M., ... Wisotzki, L., ...

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 646, A83 – Published February 2021

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202039462, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Galaxies and Quasars, 3D and Multi Object Spectroscopy

The Second Data Release of the Survey of the MAgellanic Stellar History (SMASH)

Nidever, D. L., ... Miller, A. E., ... Bell, C. P. M., ... Cioni, M.-R. L., ...

The Astronomical Journal, 161, 2, 74 – Published February 2021

doi:10.3847/1538-3881/abceb7, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: Dwarf Galaxies and the Galactic Halo

The ultraluminous X-ray source bubble in NGC 5585

Soria, R., ... Schwope, A. D., ...

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 501, 2, 1644 – Published February 2021

doi:10.1093/mnras/staa3784, NASA ADS

AIP sections/groups: X-ray Astronomy

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

Events and dates at AIP

Institute Conference: innoFSPEC

04.03.2021, 14:30 – 15:30

Scientific

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Institute meeting

11.03.2021, 14:30 – 15:30

Internal Event

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Leibniz Book a Scientist

18.03.2021, 12:00 – 18:30

Public Event

How do we map the universe? Why are we building ever larger telescopes? How (and why) do we search for another Sun? How did the Milky Way come to exist? How do we observe the Sun? Why do we think the universe is full of dark matter? How are galaxies weighed? How do they form their stars? And how did we find three million black holes in just a few months?

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