Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics

🤯Major milestone for #MICADO!
The 5-ton cryostat - core of the 6m camera - arrived at #MPE. It keeps optics & detectors at ~82 K 🥶 to enable precise infrared observations for @eso.org Extremely Large Telescope #ELT.

More about MICADO: lnkd.in/e5qVq6tY
Video: Federico Biondi/MPE.

Impressions from the #b2run 2025. A total of ~ 300 runners from all Munich #MaxPlanck Institutes and
@maxplanck.de
participated, 40 of them from #MPE alone! 💪
One "Extraterrestrial"👽finished in 35th place - out of 30.000 runners!

#b2runmünchen #gemeinsamfit

Photos: Felix Dickfeld/MPE; Jan Greune

Honoured twice Teresa Valdivia-Mena receives the Otto Hahn Medal and Otto Hahn Award for her dissertation on streamers in protoplanetary disks.

🥳 Congratulations to @terevaldivia.bsky.social, who has been awarded both the prestigious #OttoHahnMedal and the #OttoHahnAward by @maxplanck.de for her outstanding dissertation!

In this Interview she talks about her research, the award ceremony and her future work:
www.mpe.mpg.de/8076532/news...

This image of the Trifid Nebula (small gas nebula at top right) and the Lagoon Nebula (dominant) fits roughly into the field of view of the large 3.200 Megapixel camera at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. The image is a composite of 678 individual images, revealing even faint details.

“The Vera Rubin Telescope will be transformational for my research in #cosmology," says Esra Bulbul, astronomer
@mpe-garching.bsky.social. "With its wide field of view and depth, it will observe billions of #galaxies across vast distances.” www.mpg.de/24900555/ver... @vrubinobs.bsky.social

Germany’s new Federal Minister for Research, Technology, and Space, @dorobaer.bsky.social visited #MPE. She talked to MPE directors Reinhard Genzel, Kirpal Nandra and Frank Eisenhauer and visited #MICADO, a pioneering instrument for the upcoming #ELT being currently built in Chile by @eso.org.

#MPE & Kavli Institute for #Astronomy & #Astrophysics (KIAA) at Beijing University are happy to announce the launch of a new @maxplanck.de Max Planck partner group. The collaboration will be led by Dr. Jinyi Shangguan, researcher at KIAA and former postdoc at MPE.

➡️ www.mpe.mpg.de/8059933/news...

The image shows a grid of spiral galaxies, which appear in different sizes and shapes. Each galaxy is surrounded by a dark background and contains various spiral patterns. Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by M. Walmsley, M. Huertas-Company, J.-C. Cuillandre

A catalogue of more than 380,000 #galaxies: the first comprehensive data release of the #Euclid space telescope provides insights into the depths of the #universe - thanks in part to strong German participation! www.mpg.de/24349746/euc... @mpi-astro.bsky.social @mpe-garching.bsky.social @esa.int

Euclid Q1 data release fields

It's #Euclid data release day!

@esa.int and the Euclid Consortium are making 63 deg² of Wide Survey data available to the world. Imaging and spectroscopy data, catalogues and masks for 20+ million galaxies, quasars, stars and substellar objects.

#astronomy #science #space

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Euclid opens a treasure trove of data: MPE plays a crucial role in exploring the dark universe The first Euclid data (Q1) released by ESA provide impressive insights into the depths of the Universe. High-resolution images of 26 million galaxies reveal the finest structures and allow scientists ...

The first data from @esa.int @ec-euclid.bsky.social #Euclid mission is here - with stunning insights! It's a major step forward to understand #DarkMatter and #DarkEnergy — and yet only the beginning of an adventure - where #MPE is right in the middle of it!
Read more: www.mpe.mpg.de/8059041/news...

Science meets Diplomacy: Federal President Steinmeier & #MPE Director Reinhard Genzel call for relocating a planned industrial plant that threatens observations at @eso.org Paranal Observatory. With #Gravity+ & #MICADO, MPE is heavily involved in this research there.
www.mpe.mpg.de/8055297/news...

Einstein Probe Uncovers Rare X-ray Binary System Einstein Probe captures a rare X-ray outburst from a binary system, revealing new insights into massive star evolution.

A rare celestial duo! Using Widefield X-ray Telescope WXT of #EinsteinProbe, an international team, including #MPE scientists Chandreyee Maitra & Haonan Yang detected an X-ray outburst from a rare Be star–white dwarf system in the Small #MagellanicCloud.
➡️https://www.mpe.mpg.de/8054370/news20250228

Important milestone for #MICADO, first-light instrument of @eso.org #ELT! The De-rotator was mounted onto the support structure. The next big step will then be installing the cryostat.

Learn more about ELT's Super Camera, which is built and designed under #MPE leadership:
www.mpe.mpg.de/ir/micado

New discovery in the sky: Largest superstructure in the nearby universe unveiled A groundbreaking discovery reveals a colossal superstructure, Quipu, in the universe, crucial for cosmological research and understanding dark matter.

😱A Giant in the Cosmos! #MPE & #MPP Scientists have discovered the largest ever measured #superstructure in the nearby #universe, spanning 1.4 billion #lightyears! Made mostly of #DarkMatter, this cosmic giant reshapes our understanding of large-scale structures.
➡️ www.mpe.mpg.de/8053119/news...

As part of an #Erasmus program, students from schools in Ochsenhausen (🇩🇪), Maastricht (🇳🇱), Hlucin (🇨🇿), Moncalieri (🇮🇹) and Montarnaud (🇫🇷) visited #MPE last week. They learned a lot about the search for #exoplanets and built their own #spectrograph with 3D-printed parts.
It was great having you! 🤗🤩

@lmu-osc.bsky.social, University of Triest, Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille, CNRS&Observatoire de Paris, @cnes.bsky.social, University of Portsmouth, @cfp-ciemat.bsky.social, University of Turin, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, Technion, @perimeterinstitute.ca, @caltech.edu.

University of Bologna, IRAP Toulouse, University of Padoa, ICE Barcelona, @flatironinstitute.org, University Rome, @cnrs.bsky.social, @univparissaclay.bsky.social, IRAP-OMP, INAF-OAT, Centre de Physique Théorique @univ-amu.fr, INFN Parma, Bielefeld University, @uofwaterloo.bsky.social, LAPTh CNRS,

@unibonn.bsky.social, @edinburghup.bsky.social, @konkolyobs.bsky.social, University of Geneve, @sussexuni.bsky.social, INAF Brera Observatory, Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe, @media.inaf.it, Università degli Studi di Milano, SISSA, @helsinkiupress.bsky.social, University of Genoa,

Last week, 70 participants from various institutions of #Euclid Consortium @ec-euclid.bsky.social met at #MPE. They discussed the general status of the mission & first galaxy clustering measurements.
The meeting's outcome will be crucial for preparing the first data release, expected for late 2026.

Einstein Probe detects puzzling cosmic explosion

🤯 #EinsteinProbe detected X-ray signals of a puzzling cosmic blast, making us rethink our current ideas of how gamma-ray bursts explode 💥 🔭

The mission is a collaboration led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences with ESA, @mpe-garching.bsky.social and @cnes.bsky.social.

Einstein Probe detects puzzling cosmic explosion

🤯Just 3 months into its mission, #EinsteinProbe, a project by Chinese Academy of Sciences, #MPE, @esa.int & @cnes.bsky.social has detected a puzzling #XRay explosion from 12.5 billion light-years away, dating back to when the Universe was just 10% of its current age.
➡️ www.mpe.mpg.de/8049558/news...

Collage of MPE images

🤗👋Hello #BlueSky! We are the #MPE, belong to the Max Planck Society @maxplanck.de and interested in #astrophysics, #cosmology, #BlackHoles, #astrochemistry, #universe & much more..🪐🌟🛰️🔭📡⚗️
Follow us to get updates about research news, projects, people or career opportunities!
➡️https://www.mpe.mpg.de/