The
Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy) is a research institute of the
Max Planck SocietyThe Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften Eingetragener Verein is an independent non-profit association of German research institutes funded by the federal and state governments.The nearly 80 research institutes of the Max Planck Society conduct basic research in the interest...
. It is located in
HeidelbergHeidelberg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2008, over 145,000 people live within the city's area. Heidelberg is a unitary authority...
,
Baden-WürttembergBaden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine—but one which has some of its major cities straddling the banks of the Neckar River...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
near the top of the
KoenigstuhlThe Königstuhl , translated "Kings seat", is a 567 metre high hill in the Odenwald Mountains and near Heidelberg, in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The Königstuhl summit allows visitors a spectacular view of the city of Heidelberg and the River Neckar as well as the Rhine Valley...
, adjacent to the historic
Landessternwarte Heidelberg-KönigstuhlThe Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl, or Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory, is a historic astronomical observatory located near the summit of the Königstuhl hill, in the city of Heidelberg in Germany...
astronomical observatory.
The institute was founded in 1967. Its founding directors were H. Elsässer and G. Munch, who were followed by K.-H. Böhm,
G. H. HerbigGeorge Howard Herbig is an astronomer at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy.He received his Ph.D in 1948 at the University of California, Berkeley; his dissertation is entitled A Study of Variable Stars in Nebulosity...
, and S. V. W. Beckwith. The current directors are
Hans-Walter RixHans-Walter Rix is a German astronomer and director of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg. He is the son of the linguist Helmut Rix....
and Thomas Henning.
Current research interests include formation of
planetA planet , is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
s,
starA star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma that is held together by gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth. Other stars are visible in the night sky, when they are not outshone by the Sun...
s in the group of Thomas Henning and
galaxieGalaxie is a Canadian English and French language digital pay television audio service owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.-Programming:...
s and
cosmologyCosmology is the study of the Universe in its totality, and by extension, humanity's place in it...
in the group of Hans-Walter Rix.
The MPIA also builds instruments or parts of them for ground-based telescopes and satellites, including the following:
- Calar Alto Observatory
The Calar Alto Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated jointly by the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie in Heidelberg, Germany, and the Instituto...
, jointly run by the MPIA and the Instituto de Astrofísica de AndalucíaThe Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía is an astrophysics-related research institute funded by the High Council of Scientific Research of the Spanish government Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas , and is located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain...
- Paranal Observatory
Paranal Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on Cerro Paranal at 2,635 mts. altitude and operated by the European Southern Observatory. The Very Large Telescope is the largest telescope on Paranal, actually composed of four separate 8.2 m telescopes...
- Large Binocular Telescope
The Large Binocular Telescope is located on 10,700-foot Mount Graham in the Pinaleno Mountains of southeastern Arizona and is a part of the Mount Graham International Observatory...
- Herschel Space Observatory
The Herschel Space Observatory is a space observatory from the European Space Agency . It was originally proposed in 1982 by a consortium of European scientists...
The International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Astronomy and Cosmic Physics is a graduate program offering a Ph.D.
Discussion
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The
Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy) is a research institute of the
Max Planck SocietyThe Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften Eingetragener Verein is an independent non-profit association of German research institutes funded by the federal and state governments.The nearly 80 research institutes of the Max Planck Society conduct basic research in the interest...
. It is located in
HeidelbergHeidelberg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2008, over 145,000 people live within the city's area. Heidelberg is a unitary authority...
,
Baden-WürttembergBaden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine—but one which has some of its major cities straddling the banks of the Neckar River...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
near the top of the
KoenigstuhlThe Königstuhl , translated "Kings seat", is a 567 metre high hill in the Odenwald Mountains and near Heidelberg, in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The Königstuhl summit allows visitors a spectacular view of the city of Heidelberg and the River Neckar as well as the Rhine Valley...
, adjacent to the historic
Landessternwarte Heidelberg-KönigstuhlThe Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl, or Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory, is a historic astronomical observatory located near the summit of the Königstuhl hill, in the city of Heidelberg in Germany...
astronomical observatory.
The institute was founded in 1967. Its founding directors were H. Elsässer and G. Munch, who were followed by K.-H. Böhm,
G. H. HerbigGeorge Howard Herbig is an astronomer at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy.He received his Ph.D in 1948 at the University of California, Berkeley; his dissertation is entitled A Study of Variable Stars in Nebulosity...
, and S. V. W. Beckwith. The current directors are
Hans-Walter RixHans-Walter Rix is a German astronomer and director of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg. He is the son of the linguist Helmut Rix....
and Thomas Henning.
Research Interests
Current research interests include formation of
planetA planet , is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
s,
starA star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma that is held together by gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth. Other stars are visible in the night sky, when they are not outshone by the Sun...
s in the group of Thomas Henning and
galaxieGalaxie is a Canadian English and French language digital pay television audio service owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.-Programming:...
s and
cosmologyCosmology is the study of the Universe in its totality, and by extension, humanity's place in it...
in the group of Hans-Walter Rix.
The MPIA also builds instruments or parts of them for ground-based telescopes and satellites, including the following:
- Calar Alto Observatory
The Calar Alto Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated jointly by the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie in Heidelberg, Germany, and the Instituto...
, jointly run by the MPIA and the Instituto de Astrofísica de AndalucíaThe Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía is an astrophysics-related research institute funded by the High Council of Scientific Research of the Spanish government Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas , and is located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain...
- Paranal Observatory
Paranal Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on Cerro Paranal at 2,635 mts. altitude and operated by the European Southern Observatory. The Very Large Telescope is the largest telescope on Paranal, actually composed of four separate 8.2 m telescopes...
- Large Binocular Telescope
The Large Binocular Telescope is located on 10,700-foot Mount Graham in the Pinaleno Mountains of southeastern Arizona and is a part of the Mount Graham International Observatory...
- Herschel Space Observatory
The Herschel Space Observatory is a space observatory from the European Space Agency . It was originally proposed in 1982 by a consortium of European scientists...
Graduate Program
The International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Astronomy and Cosmic Physics is a graduate program offering a Ph.D. in
astrophysicsAstrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects such as galaxies, stars, planets, exoplanets, and the interstellar medium, as well as their...
. The school is run in cooperation with the University of Heidelberg.
External links