Announcements

South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope has successfully conducted very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations with telescopes of the European VLBI Network (EVN)—currently the world’s most sensitive VLBI network. Their synergy sets a new standard for global collaboration and significantly enhances both resolution and sensitivity, opening new avenues for scientific exploration. The Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy is part of the EVN with its 100-m Effelsberg radio telescope and also collaborating in the MeerKAT project and its extension, providing receiver equipment for this radio telescope in South Africa (JIVE Press Release, June 10, 2025). more

First Interferometric Signal Detection Between MPIfR’s two Radio Telescopes more

Consortium led by the Universities of Cologne and Bonn successful with cluster application on astrophysics as part of the Excellence Strategy more

The galaxy M87 is one of the prime targets for high resolution radio imaging to investigate the ring-like “shadow” of its supermassive black hole, the innermost regions of accretion flow, and the formation of the relativistic jet. In 2018, observations with the Global mm-VLBI array (GMVA) including the Effelsberg 100-m telescope and with the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) at 86 GHz enabled the simultaneous reconstruction of a ring structure and the extended jet emission. Jong-Seo Kim and a number of additional scientists, predominantly from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, revisited the GMVA observations in 2018 using novel imaging algorithms. This work confirms the ring and jet detection at 86GHz and provides higher resolution images with more precise measurement of the ring and jet features (2025, A&A, 696, A169). more

25 distinct plasma structures in the direction of the millisecond pulsar PSR J0437−4715 have been found in observations obtained with the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa. The results provide insights into the turbulent interstellar medium and the plasma content of the local bubble, the neighbourhood of our Sun in the Milky Way. Several scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, are co-authors of the paper which has been published in “Nature Astronomy” on April 22, 2025. more

An international team of astronomers, including MPIfR scientists, has mapped the cold gas of the Milky Way using the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa. The “MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey” (MALS) is the most comprehensive catalog of its kind to date. Astronomers are using this MALS survey to understand why the Milky Way is still forming new stars, even though it is billions of years old. The study has been accepted for publication in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” (IUCAA Press Release, April 02, 2025). more

Position of Director (f/m/d) at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy more

The first image from the international SKA Observatory’s telescope in Australia, SKA-Low, has been released in March 2025 – a significant milestone in its quest to reveal an unparalleled view of our Universe. Jonathan Pritchard’s new research group on Radio Cosmology at MPIfR is dealing with these issues. Low frequency telescopes like SKA-LOW will soon map the 21cm line of neutral hydrogen to learn about cosmology and the first stars and galaxies. This research group works to bring together theoretical modelling and statistical tools to enable cosmology through 21cm and line intensity mapping (SKAO News from March 17,2025). more

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 discovered that the surrounding dusty wind is heated by the hot central accretion disk and shocks generated by a collimated gas jet (MPIA Press Release, January 17, 2025). more

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 Pulsar-Zeitdaten von sechs der empfindlichsten Radioteleskope der Welt, darunter dem 100-m-Radioteleskop in Effelsberg (RAS-Pressemitteilung, 10. Januar 2025). more

03 October 1957 — 30 December 2024 more

Photo of a dying giant star (November 21, 2024). This is the first image of a star beyond the Milky Way. The red supergiant WOH G64 is the most extreme of its kind: a cocoon of gas and dust indicates an impending supernova explosion. Scientists from the MPIfR were involved in the research project (MPG, December 19.2024). more

For the first time, scientists succeeded in taking a zoomed-in image of a dying star in a galaxy outside our own Milky Way. Located a staggering 160 000 light-years from us, the star WOH G64 was imaged thanks to the impressive sharpness offered by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (ESO’s VLTI). The new observations reveal a star puffing out gas and dust, in the last stages before it becomes a supernova. Scientists from MPIfR in Bonn, Germany, participated in the research project (ESO Media Release, November 21, 2024). more

Another milestone for German radio astronomy has been reached: Germany has been admitted as the twelfth member of the international astronomy organisation the SKA Observatory more

Kick-off for an EU-funded project built by and for both, the astroparticle and the astronomy communities in Europe
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