The next talk of the Virtual Babelsberg Starry Nights of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) on the topic “News from the solar neighbourhood" (German) by Dr. Ralf-Dieter Scholz will be broadcast on the YouTube channel “Urknall, Weltall und das Leben” (Big Bang, Universe and Life) from Thursday, 18. July 2024.

Newly identified, extremely fast-moving stars in the star cluster Omega Centauri provide solid evidence for a black hole in its centre. With at least 8200 solar masses this is the first intermediate-mass black hole reliably observed to date. The study was published in the journal Nature.

The joint project PICS4^SENS by the Leibniz Institutes AIP and IHP in cooperation with the innoFSPEC transfer laboratory at the University of Potsdam will be funded over a period of four years with a total of 3,4 million euros, 2.2 million euros of which will go to the AIP.

Yesterday, the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) had the honor of welcoming Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand and her delegation to the Babelsberg campus. The aim of the visit was to discuss possible collaboration areas between the AIP and the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) and to promote possible joint research projects.

On June 16, 2024, the President of Nepal, Ram Chandra Paudel, visited the research institutes on the Telegrafenberg in Potsdam.

On 21 January 2024, an asteroid struck Ribbeck near Nauen in Brandenburg. Dr Jürgen Rendtel from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) was one of the meteorite searchers and found some fragments himself. In his lecture, which will be broadcast from Thursday, 20 June 2024 on the YouTube channel “Urknall, Weltall und das Leben” (Big Bang, Universe and Life), he reports on the discovery, the search for the fragments and the peculiarities of the meteorite (in German).

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has signed an agreement for the design and construction of ANDES, the ArmazoNes high Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph. The ANDES instrument will be installed on ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT).

Detection of magnetic massive stars outside our galaxy. The publication by Dr Swetlana Hubrig reports on the first discovery of magnetic fields in three massive, hot stars in the neighbouring galaxies Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.

As a part of the Leibniz Kolleg event on Thursday, May 16, the prestigious Publication Prize 2024 will be awarded to Dr. Ekaterina Ilin from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) for her doctoral thesis in the Audimax of the University of Potsdam.

The next talk of the Virtual Babelsberg Starry Nights of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) will be broadcast on the YouTube channel “videowissen” from Thursday, 16th May 2024.

The Science Park "Albert Einstein" opens its doors on 4 May from 1 pm to 7 pm for the 11th Potsdam Science Day. The AIP is one of the hosts and offers a varied programme.

The next talk of the Virtual Babelsberg Starry Nights of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) presents the first data publication of the X-ray telescope "eROSITA" and will be broadcasted on the YouTube channel “Urknall, Weltall und das Leben” (Big Bang, Universe and Life) from Thursday, 18th April 2024.

While validating the data from ESA's Gaia mission, scientists uncovered a ‘sleeping’ giant. A large black hole, with a mass of nearly 33 times the mass of the Sun, was hiding in the constellation Aquila, less than 2000 light-years from Earth. This is the first time a black hole of stellar origin this big has been spotted so close to home.

The next talk of the Virtual Babelsberg Starry Nights of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) on the topic "Binary stars in exchange" (German) by Daniel Pauli from the University of Potsdam will be broadcast on the YouTube channel “Urknall, Weltall und das Leben” (Big Bang, Universe and Life) from Thursday, 21 March 2024.

A recent study of Prof Dr Martin M. Roth (AIP) looks at the scientific impact of novel instruments, focusing on the MUSE field spectrograph.

Milestone approaches for the 4MOST project as the Leibniz-Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) gears up to dispatch the first major shipment of the 4MOST instrument to Chile.

The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) invites to a Special Edition of the Babelsberg Starry Nights, this time live in Babelsberg, on Friday, 8th March 2024, starting at 7:00 pm with a public lecture of Dr. Andreas Kelz on the topic "4MOST – Observing the sky with 2400 eyes". Please note that the lecture will be given in German.

The next talk of the Virtual Babelsberg Starry Nights of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) on the topic "The Sun as chronometer of physical processes" (German) will be broadcast on the YouTube channel “Urknall, Weltall und das Leben” (Big Bang, Universe and Life) from Thursday, 15 February 2024.

Newly qualified apprentice Oskar Sauerbrey speaks about his training as a precision mechanic at AIP in an interview. Two new apprenticeships will be available again from September 2024; applications can still be submitted until June.

The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) is once again going to open its doors for this year's Girls' Day/Future Day Brandenburg on 25 April and offering school girls an insight into working at a research institute.