Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

Hans-Walter Rix

Director, Department Galaxies and Cosmology

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Hans-Walter Rix has been working on understanding why galaxies—arising ultimately from random fluctuations in the early Universe—exhibit such intricate structure and beautiful regularity in their dynamics and stellar populations.

The tools of his trade are extensive spectroscopic and imaging surveys of galaxies, galaxy dynamics, and stringent data modelling approaches.

He is pursuing two fundamentally different approaches to understanding how galaxies arose: looking to far-away and hence younger galaxies, and dissecting our very own Milky Way as a model organism for galaxies.

Research Interests

The Milky Way

The Milky Way

Presume we knew the orbit, chemical composition, and age of most stars in our galaxy: what would it teach us about the formation of the Milky Way and other galaxies? more

Sky Surveys

Sky Surveys

Taking images and spectra of all objects across the entire sky is now within reach: a treasure trove for understanding the world of galaxies. more

Galaxy Evolution

Galaxy Evolution

A look into the distance is a look into the past: what can we learn about galaxy evolution from high-redshift observations? more

Publications List

External link to the Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Other Interesting Articles

The Universe in a new dimension

The Universe in a new dimension

July 12, 2022

Astronomical objects appear in unprecedented detail in the first images from the James Webb Telescope

<p>Maria Bergemann awarded with 1.3 Mio Euro by ERC Starting Grant</p>

Maria Bergemann awarded with 1.3 Mio Euro by ERC Starting Grant

September 03, 2020

Maria Bergemann, scientist in the MPIA Department “Galaxies and Cosmology”, has been awarded with 1.37 Mio EURO by an ERC Starting Grant scheme. The grant will support two postdocs and two PhD students over the next 5 years. The main goal of the project is to understand the cosmic origins of elements heavier than iron and the role of extreme…

<p>Richard Anderson awarded with 1.84 Mio Euro by ERC Starting Grant</p>

Richard Anderson awarded with 1.84 Mio Euro by ERC Starting Grant

September 03, 2020

Richard Anderson, currently postdoctoral research fellow at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), has been awarded with 1.84 Mio EURO by an ERC Starting Grant scheme. In February 2021 he will be joining MPIA as a group leader in the “Galaxies and Cosmology Department”. The ERC-group which will consist of Anderson as group leader, one…

Betelgeuse – a giant with blemishes

Betelgeuse – a giant with blemishes

June 29, 2020

Gigantic star spots are probably the reason for the recent drop in brightness of the red giant star

They grow up so fast: New observations show that massive disk galaxies formed exceptionally early in cosmic history

They grow up so fast: New observations show that massive disk galaxies formed exceptionally early in cosmic history

May 20, 2020

In our 13.8 billion-year-old universe, most disk galaxies like our Milky Way were thought to form gradually, reaching their large mass relatively late. But now astronomers led by Marcel Neeleman from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, using the ALMA observatory, have found a massive rotating disk galaxy, seen when the universe was only ten…

Myriam Benisty

Laura Kreidberg

Laura Kreidberg

Laura Kreidberg is interested in exoplanets large and small. Her research focuses on atmosphere characterization, with the goal of turning these distant planets into real places -- revealing what they're like and how they came to be.