Announcements

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation appoints MPIfR scientist as part of the Henriette Herz Scouting Program more

How do supermassive black holes get so big? An international team of astronomers, led by Swedish astronomers and including Christian Henkel from MPIfR Bonn as co-author, discovered a powerful, rotating, magnetic wind that they believe is helping a galaxy’s central supermassive black hole to grow (NRAO Press Release, June 22, 2024). more

Head of a new research department on Star Formation and Galaxy Evolution more

The newly discovered long-period radio transient ASKAP J1935+2148 with a period of 53.8 minutes is exhibiting three distinct emission states. Observations with the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa played a crucial role in distinguishing between these states. The findings of an international research team led by Manisha Caleb from the University of Sydney and including scientists from MPIfR (Bonn, Germany) is described in this week’s issue of the journal Nature Astronomy (University of Sydney Press Release, June 05, 2024). more

First Detection of VLBI Signals across 8500 km Baseline between TNRT and Effelsberg Radio Telescopes more

The Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) is pleased to participate in the Bonn Science Night 2024 and its tent area (“Zeltstadt des Wissens”) as an exhibitor. On May 16 and 17, 2024, you will find us in Tent 14, where we will offer experiments and information on the topic "Light protection and radio waves: Astronomy, Environment and Society". The younger (or young at heart) among the visitors can take part in a quiz and win a goody bag. On May 17, Dr. Benjamin Winkel and Dr. Gyula Józsa will present a lecture, entitled “Aufruf zum Schutz des Radiohimmels und der Nacht” (Call for the protection of the radio sky and the night) at 22:15 as part of the Bonn Science Night (lecture in German language). Venue: Haus der Bildung (Mülheimer Platz in Bonn). more

The European VLBI Network (EVN) Symposium is the main forum for discussion of the latest Very Long Baseline Interferometry scientific results and technical and technological developments within the EVN member countries. The 16th EVN Symposium and Users meeting, hosted by the Max-Planck-Institut für Radiostronomie, will take place at the CJD in Bonn Castell from September 2-6, 2024. more

The interaction between the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A*, and its accretion disk occasionally produces high-energy flares seen in X-ray, infrared, and radio. One proposed mechanism that produces flares is the formation of compact, bright regions that appear within the accretion disk and close to the event horizon. Understanding these flares provides a window into accretion processes. An international research team including Maciek Wielgus from MPIfR shows the first 3D reconstruction of an emission flare, showing compact, bright regions at a distance of roughly six times the event horizon and suggesting a clockwise rotation in a low-inclination orbital plane, consistent with prior studies by GRAVITY and EHT (CalTech News; Nature Astronomy, April 23, 2024). more

Classical telescopes and neutrino telescopes will allow scientists to understand extreme cosmic super-colliders more

An international research team including Christian Henkel from the MPIfR in Bonn, Germany, has observed the center of the starburst galaxy NGC 253 with the ALMA radio telescope in Chile. They detected more than one hundred molecular species, far more than previous studies outside the Milky Way have detected. The high sensitivity of ALMA successfully detected molecules representing various stages of star evolution in the central region of NGC 253, and the high angular resolution of ALMA resolved the locations where these stages are taking place. The data allow the astronomers to understand better the physics and chemistry of this kind of galaxy (NAOJ Press Release, March 28, 2024). more

During the Spring Meetings of the German Physical Society (DPG), the dissertation prizes of the DPG sections were awarded to young researchers. Dr. Huanchen Hu from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn received the prize of the Matter and Cosmos Section (SMuK) for her work on "Gravity tests with pulsars using new-generation radio telescopes" (DPG press release of 27 March 2024, in German language). more

The IAU Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (CPS), has released a paper entitled that states its recommendations for the mitigation of satellite constellations’ impact on astronomy. The document is the culmination of 18 months’ work by a multidisciplinary group of experts, including astronomers, industry representatives and policy advisors, led by Gyula I. G. Józsa of MPIfR, co-coordinator of the Opticon RadioNet Pilot Sky Protection Group. It represents the view of the IAU Centre on what steps should now be taken to address the issue (CPS Release, March 14, 2024). more

An area of nearly 14 square degrees in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) was observed in the 12CO (3 − 2) molecular line with the APEX telescope in Chile. A research team led by Konstantin Grishunin & Axel Weiß (MPIfR Bonn) presents the results of their search for large-scale feedback fingerprints in the molecular clouds of the LMC's 30 Doradus region. The ongoing APEX LMC CO line Legacy Survey will extend the work to an unbiased view of the full molecular gas distribution in that galaxy (Original Paper by K. Grishunin et al., Astronomy & Astrophysics, published online on February 13, 2024). more

Arno A. Penzias received a Nobel prize in Physics 1978 together with Robert W. Wilson for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation. Between 1978 and 1984 he was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board (Fachbeirat) of the MPIfR (Link to Bell Labs News Release, January 23, 2024). more

On December 20, 2023, the Federal Cabinet approved Germany's accession to the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO). The world's largest super telescope is currently under construction in South Africa and Australia. The MPIfR and the MPG are already involved in the project, with radio telescopes which will be added to the core of the telescope, MeerKAT, in South Africa. (BMBF Release, December 20, 2023, in German language). more