In the next talk of the Virtual Babelsberg Starry Nights, Dr. Mirko Krumpe speaks about the recent Artemis mission: "Artemis II: To the moon and back". Those who missed the live talk at AIP in April or who want to enjoy it again, can watch the virtual version of the talk at Thursday, 21st May, 8 pm, on the YouTube channel “Urknall, Weltall und das Leben” (Big Bang, Universe and Life).

At the information stand of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) at the 2026 Potsdam Science Day, we will take visitors on a journey through space.

The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) will host a major international workshop, ‘The Legacy and Future of Large Surveys: The Milky Way in Context’ starting May the 4th. The five-day meeting brings together leading experts in stellar surveys, galactic dynamics, chemo-dynamical modeling, and cosmological simulations to explore how our understanding of the Milky Way is being transformed by large-scale data.

A collaboration consisting of the German Center for Astrophysics in Goerlitz, the Leibniz-Institute for Astrophysics (AIP), Potsdam and the German Electron Synchrotron DESY is officially joining the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) partnership, expanding our scientific collaborative network in Europe and growing the team of world-class researchers and students.

To celebrate the recent Artemis II mission, the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) is hosting a special edition of the Babelsberg Starry Nights on 23 April 2026 starting 7.15 pm with a public lecture by Dr Mirko Krumpe: “Artemis II: To the Moon and Back” .

On Thursday, 16 April 2026, starting at 7:15 pm, the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) invites to the next Babelsberg Starry Night Live at the AIP research campus in Babelsberg. Dr. Marcel Pawlowski will give a public lecture on 'Dancing galaxies, Dark Matter and other Mysteries'. On the same evening, the YouTube channel Urknall, Weltall und das Leben will publish a virtual lecture by Dr. Fabio Lesjak on exoplanet atmospheres. Please note that both lectures will be given in German.

With the approval of the new Leibniz ScienceCampus “Multiscale Challenges: from Astrophysics to Climate Models,” the Leibniz Association is launching an ambitious initiative to bring together leading expertise from astrophysics, climate science, and applied mathematics. At the same time, the funding marks a milestone for Brandenburg.

On Thursday, 19 March 2026, starting at 7:15 pm, the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) once again invites to a Babelsberg Starry Night Live at the AIP research campus in Babelsberg. The eventing will feature a lecture by Dr. Oliver Gressel on star dust, protoplanetary disks and fluid mechanics. On the same evening, the YouTube channel Urknall, Weltall und das Leben will premire a virtual lecture by Dr. Christian Vocks on space weather. Please note that both lectures will be given in German.

Two new studies have measured the expansion of the Universe in our immediate cosmic neighborhood using a novel method that analyzes the motion of two nearby galaxy groups within their surrounding cosmic flow. The results indicate that the local Universe is expanding more slowly than previously estimated.

Researchers from the University of Bologna and the AIP and other Institutes have proposed a new way to address the “Hubble tension” by comparing estimates of the Universe’s age rather than its expansion rate. Using precise stellar data, they determined ages for carefully selected very old Milky Way stars and found a most likely age of about 13.6 billion years.

An international research team has used data from the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) to create the largest and most accurate three-dimensional map to date of what is known as Lyman alpha light—the light emitted by ionized hydrogen in the early universe between 9 and 11 billion years ago.

As part of the Girls' Day / Future Day Brandenburg on April 23, 2026, girls can gain exciting insights into the fascinating world of astronomy and the work at an astrophysical research institute.

With great sadness we say goodbye to Prof. Dr. Detlef Schönberner, who played a key role in shaping stellar physics at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) for decades and remained closely associated with the institute until the end. He passed away unexpectedly on 4 February 2026, two days before his 83rd birthday.

The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) invites to a live Babelsberg Starry Night on Thursday, 19.02.2026 at the research campus Babelsberg with Director Prof. Dr. Katja Poppenhäger talking about „Exoplanets – Strange worlds around far stars”. The same night, the YouTube-ChannelUrknall, Weltall und das Leben publishes a virtual lecture by Dr. Ramona Augustin regarding the circumgalactic medium, the gas surrounding galaxies. Both lectures are held in German.

On Wednesday, 11 February 2026, the AIP awarded the Johann Wempe Prize to Dr Sebastian Kamann from Liverpool John Moores University for his outstanding research on the formation and evolution of massive globular clusters.

A high-ranking delegation led by Dorothee Bär, Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space in Gerrmany visited the Paranal Observatory of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile on 4 and 5 February 2026. The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) was represented by Prof. Dr. Matthias Steinmetz, Scientific Director of the AIP and member of the ESO Council.

On January 30th, 2026, the ESO signed an agreement with a large international consortium for the design and construction of BlueMUSE, a blue-optimised panoramic integral field spectrograph being developed for ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). With its large field of view, high spectral resolution, and exceptional efficiency in the blue wavelength range, BlueMUSE will enable unique observations.

During the night of 19th/20th January, colleagues at the AIP managed to capture images of the Northern Lights above Potsdam, its surrounding area and even above the AIP campus. The celestial phenomenon was triggered by a solar flare that occurred at around 6 p.m. on 18 January 2026. The solar wind released by the flare reached Earth during the night, creating colourful veils in the sky.

The next talk of the Virtual Babelsberg Starry Nights of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) entitled "The interactions between stars and planets" (in German) by Dr. Nikoleta Ilić Petković will be broadcast on the YouTube channel “Urknall, Weltall und das Leben” (Big Bang, Universe and Life) from Thursday, 15.01.2026.

The next lecture of the Virtual Babelsberg Starry Nights of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) entitled “What’s wrong with the Hubble constant” (in German) by Prof. Dr. Matthias Steinmetz, will focus on determining this constant and the expansion of the Universe.