The space probe Solar Obiter, carrying on board the X-ray telescope STIX developed with the participation of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), approaches Earth in a flyby manoeuvre on 27 November 2021.

With construction for 4MOST, an instrument for spectroscopic sky surveys, underway, its first major subsystem arrived at the Babelsberg campus of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) and is now being unpacked and assembled.

The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) today celebrated the laying of the foundation stone for its extension building at the Babelsberg campus together with Dr Inge Schlotzhauer, Head of Division for Non-University Research, Brandenburg Ministry of Science, Research and Culture and Chair of the Board of Trustees of AIP, the Mayor of the State Capital Potsdam, Mike Schubert, and the President of the Leibniz Association, Prof Matthias Kleiner.

The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) has again received the “TOTAL E-QUALITY” award, which is valid for the years 2021 to 2023.

A research team including the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) has investigated a solar prominence and has observed that charged particles in it moved 70 percent faster than uncharged particles. The measurements hint at the dynamical processes in the prominence and can be used, for example, to check model computations for simulating gas clouds in star and planet formation.

The astronomical journal Astronomische Nachrichten/Astronomical Notes (AN) was founded by H. C. Schumacher in 1821 and thus turns 200 years old in 2021. It is the oldest astronomical journal in the world that is still being published.

23 September 2021 marks the 175th anniversary of the discovery of the most distant planet in the solar system. The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) celebrates this event with a lecture by Professor Matthias Steinmetz on the history of the discovery in the series of virtual Babelsberg Starry Nights on YouTube.

The German Astronomical Society (AG), the professional society for astronomy and astrophysics in Germany, recognises scientific achievements at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) in this year's award ceremony: The Instrument Development Award goes to Professor Martin Roth, and Dr Anke Arentsen receives the Doctoral Thesis Award.

Dr Aline Dinkelaker and Dr Aashia Rahman guest-edited a feature issue on the topic of astrophotonics, one of the research fields of innoFSPEC Potsdam at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP).

Superflares, extreme radiation bursts from stars, have been suspected of causing lasting damage to the atmospheres and thus habitability of exoplanets. A newly published study found evidence that they only pose a limited danger to planetary systems, since the radiation bursts do not explode in the direction of the exoplanets.

Using data from the MUSE instrument, researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) succeeded in detecting extremely faint planetary nebulae in distant galaxies.

In its meeting on 2 July 2021, the Joint Science Conference of the Federal Government and the Länder (GWK) decided to fund the consortium PUNCH4NFDI within the framework of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI).

German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited the Great Refractor of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) at the Albert Einstein Science Park on Telegrafenberg together with the Heads of State of Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Austria and Switzerland.

The eROSITA collaboration releases the first set of data from the X-ray telescope eROSITA as an "Early Data Release" for research worldwide. Scientists from the AIP were providing parts of the software for data analysis, analyzing observations of neutron stars and white dwarfs as well as investigating the effects of X-rays on the atmospheres of young exoplanets.

By mapping the motion of galaxies in huge filaments that connect the cosmic web, astronomers at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), in collaboration with scientists in China and Estonia, have found that these long tendrils of galaxies spin on the scale of hundreds of millions of light years.

A team of astronomers has succeeded in dating some of the oldest stars in our galaxy with unprecedented precision by combining data from the stars’ oscillations in space – their “sound” – with information about their chemical composition.

An initiative of leading scientists led by Professor Günther Hasinger, research director of the European Space Agency (ESA), is advocating the establishment of the German Centre for Astrophysics (DZA) to be located in Lusatia.

Under the motto "Research. Discover. Participate." the Potsdam Science Days will take place – for the first time online – from Monday, 3 May, to Sunday, 9 May. More than 30 universities and research institutions in the region participate – including the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP).

The all-sky survey with the X-ray telescope eROSITA identified strong, regularly recurring bursts of brightness in two previously completely unremarkable galaxies.

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded two professors at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) each with one of the world's most prestigious awards for established researchers, the ERC Advanced Grant – an exceptional success.