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A wide, elongated black background with a long blueish patched-up field of stars, galaxies, and wispy clouds in the upper left diagonal of the image. This patchy mosaic consists of multiple almost square photographs arranged in a shape that loosely resembles a thin, pixelated whale diving towards the bottom left of the image. The myriad of sparkling galaxies and stars in this mosaic crowd together to create the impression of a dark grey field with frequent speckles of bright pastel yellow, red and blue dots of light at an even distribution. A streak of silver-blue diffuse clouds in a half-elliptical shape in the left half of the image and a small round patch just right of the centre stand out particularly. There are small rectangular holes in the mosaic at three spots right of the image centre. The pitch-black background is peaking through and starkly contrasts the sparkling image field.

MPIA News: Zoom into the first page of Euclid’s great cosmic atlas

Euclid reveals the first deep view into the cosmos, spanning an area of 500 full moons in the sky.

Science highlight 13/2024: Winds of change: James Webb Space Telescope reveals elusive details in young star systems

Nested morphology of gas streams confirms a mechanism that helps infant stars to grow by ingesting disk material.

MPIA News: Milestone reached

The MICADO instrument for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) has passed the Final Design Review

In the foreground to the left is a sphere half illuminated on the right side, almost filling the image vertically. The surface consists of several parallel, pale-coloured bands aligned horizontally. To the top right is a much smaller orange, circular light source, illuminating the large sphere in the foreground. The background is black with numerous tiny white dots.

Science highlight 12/2024: Webb images nearest super-Jupiter, opening a new window to exoplanet research

The coldest and oldest exoplanet ever imaged agrees with models of planet evolution to solar system ages

MPIA News: Towards discovering a second Earth

MPIA builds essential elements for an instrument of the Roman Space Telescope to test a pioneering camera design.

Departments

Planet and Star Formation

We study the formation of stars on all scales and the birth of planetary systems and their evolution. The Department established observational programs to search for extrasolar planets and to…

Galaxies and Cosmology

Directly after the Big Bang, the universe was very simple and almost without structure. In the present universe, we see galaxies of various shapes and forms, aligned on an intricate weave of dark…

Atmospheric Physics of Exoplanets (APEx)

We are in the midst of a revolution in the study of extrasolar planets. Thousands of recent discoveries have revealed that planets are common — most stars host at least one — and they show much…

Astrophysical Spectroscopy and Stellar Populations

Dr. Maria Bergemann

Astronomy is a fascinating subject, and the astronomers at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy see it as their responsibility to reach out to the general public, to teachers and pupils, and to the media.

Sterne und Weltraum

The magazine »Sterne und Weltraum« (Stars and Space) is the most widely circulated popular scientific astronomy magazine in the German-speaking countries. It was founded in Heidelberg over 60 years ago.

Videos

The Institute has produced a number of videos on various aspects of activities at MPIA. Among them are videos on astronomical research and instrumentation technology. Other videos feature the MPIA directors and provide information for the public.

MPIA News: Zoom into the first page of Euclid’s great cosmic atlas

Science highlight 13/2024: Winds of change: James Webb Space Telescope reveals elusive details in young star systems

MPIA News: Milestone reached

Science highlight 12/2024: Webb images nearest super-Jupiter, opening a new window to exoplanet research

MPIA News: Towards discovering a second Earth

Departments

Planet and Star Formation

Galaxies and Cosmology

Atmospheric Physics of Exoplanets (APEx)

Research Groups

Emeritus Research Group

Galactic Nuclei Group

Astrophysical Spectroscopy and Stellar Populations

Public outreach

Astronomy for the Public

Sterne und Weltraum

Videos

Social media