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Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy

Auf dem Hügel 69
D-53121 Bonn - Endenich

Professor Dr. Karl Martin Menten

03 October 1957 — 30 December 2024

On December 30, 2024, Professor Dr. Karl Martin Menten,
Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society and director at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, died at the age of 67.

Research Departments

Fundamental Physics in Radio Astronomy
(Michael Kramer)

Radio astronomical measurements allow the study of a variety of questions in fundamental physics. Those questions range from the equation-of-state of super-dense matter to the investigation of fundamental forces such as gravity and magnetism.

Millimeter and Submillimeter Astronomy
(Karl Menten)

The research team uses the millimetre- and sub-millimetre range of the electromagnetic spectrum to observe various phenomena in the universe. The cosmic background radiation is also being investigated, as well as molecular clouds in the Milky Way and other galaxies.

Star Formation and Galaxy Evolution
(Amélie Saintonge)

Galaxies grow and evolve through successive episodes of star formation; central to this picture are therefore the flows of gas that feed the interstellar medium, the processes that regulate the formation of stars, and the energetic feedback that returns material and energy to the larger scale environment.

Radio Astronomy / VLBI
(Anton Zensus)

By employing radio-interferometry, extragalactic objects and their centres are investigated in great detail. The Very Long Base Line Interferometry (VLBI) method is applied by correlating data from telescopes distributed worldwide and using them as a “giant“ combined telescope within the framework of coordinated arrays as the the European VLBI network (EVN). In addition, global VLBI experiments are conducted in cooperation with telescopes in the USA.

Research News

Catching the Black Hole's Turbulent Accretion Flow

January 22, 2025

Using observations from 2017 and 2018, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration has advanced our understanding of the supermassive black hole at the centre of Messier 87 (M87*). This study marks a significant step towards multi-year analysis ...

First-Ever Detection of a Mid-Infrared Flare in Sagittarius A*, the central source of the Milky Way

January 14, 2025

Using the MIRI instrument onboard of the James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of scientists made the first-ever detection of a mid-IR flare from Sagittarius A*, the supermassive massive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. In ...

Announcements

Zooming in on a supermassive black hole in action

January 24, 2025

Using the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer, a team of astronomers including Gerd Weigelt form MPIfR (Bonn, Germany) has disentangled the sources of infrared radiation near the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy NGC 1068. They ...

Group Achievement Award of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) for the European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA)

January 10, 2025

Das European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) ist eine weitreichende Kollaboration, an der Astronomen und Experten für Gravitationswellen aus mehr als zehn Institutionen in ganz Europa beteiligt sind, darunter das MPIfR in Bonn. Es sammelt und analysiert ...

Job Offers

Postdoctoral Position (m/f/d) in Intensity Mapping and Machine Learning

December 13, 2024