Announcements

SKA Science Meeting 2025 in Görlitz more

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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Observations with the LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) radio telescope last year showed that first generation Starlink satellites emit unintended radio waves that can hinder astronomical observations. New observations with the LOFAR radio telescope at low frequencies, have shown that the second generation ’V2-mini’ Starlink satellites emit up to 32 times brighter unintended radio waves than satellites from the previous generation, potentially blinding radio telescopes and crippling vital research of the Universe. The researchers, including MPIfR co-authors, have published their findings in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” (ASTRON Press Release, September 18, 2024). more

A team led by Cornelia Pabst (Leiden University & CSIC Madrid) has combined data from the SOFIA research program FEEDBACK with new radio data from the 40m Yebes Observatory and the IRAM 30m telescope. FEEDBACK is based on observations with upGREAT, the German REceiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies built by MPIfR Bonn and the University of Cologne on board SOFIA (DSI News, August 23, 2024). more

MPIfR Director receives highest award of the Astronomical Society more

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