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Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research

The research focus of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research is our cosmic neighborhood: the solar system with its planets and moons, comets and asteroids as well as the sun. The aim of the scientists is to describe the processes in the solar system in models and to simulate them on the computer. In addition, instruments are being developed and built to study these bodies from space. The Institute is involved in numerous space missions.

Diving into Mercury's Magnetosphere

During its flyby of Mercury in June 2023, the space probe BepiColombo succeeded in taking new measurements in the planet’s magnetosphere. BepiColombo passed through Mercury's magnetic shield for around 30 minutes, allowing the scientific instruments on board to determine the distribution and properties of charged and uncharged particles there. A group of researchers including MPS scientists report on the results in the journal Communications Physics.

A New Birthplace for Asteroid Ryugu

Asteroid Ryugu possibly did not travel as far from its place of origin to its current near-Earth orbit as previously assumed. New research suggests that Ryugu was formed near Jupiter. Earlier studies had pointed to an origin beyond the orbit of Saturn. Four years ago, the Japanese space probe Hayabusa 2 brought samples of Ryugu back to Earth. Researchers led by the MPS have now compared which types of nickel are found in these samples as well as in typical carbon-rich meteorites.

JUICE: A Look at our Blue Planet

Around four weeks after the successful Moon and Earth flyby of ESA’s space probe JUICE, the scientific and technical teams at the MPS have analyzed the first observational data from their two instruments on board. The data not only reveal that both SWI and PEP-JEI are functioning as expected. The results also invite a kind of cosmic control experiment: What could an extraterrestrial space probe, equipped like JUICE and with no prior knowledge of Earth and its inhabitants, find out about our planet?

Dwarf planet Ceres: Origin in the asteroid belt?

Dwarf planet Ceres may have originated in the asteroid belt - and did not necessarily “migrate” there from the outer edge of the Solar System. This is indicated by bright, ammonium-rich deposits in Consus Crater, as a MPS-led research team MPS argues in the Journal of Geophysical Research Planets. The researchers analyzed data from NASA's Dawn mission. Like other bright deposits on Ceres, the ammonium-rich material may have been transported to the surface from within by cryovolcanism.

Research Departments

Sun and Heliosphere

The focus of this department is the solar interior, the solar atmosphere, the solar magnetic field, the heliosphere, and the interplanetary medium, as well as solar radiation and solar energetic particles. The balloon-mission Sunrise, a balloon-borne solar observatory, is managed by this department. The mission investigates our central star from a height of about 35 km. In addition to several other participations in space missions, the department significantly contributes to the ESA's Solar Orbiter.

Planetary Science Department

This department investigates the interior, the surfaces, atmospheres, ionospheres, and magnetospheres of planets and their moons, as well as comets and asteroids. The department currently contributes or has contributed to important space missions such as the ESA's missions JUICE to the Jovian system, BepiColombo to Mercury and Rosetta to comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko as well as NASA's missions InSight to Mars and Dawn to the asteroid belt.

Solar and Stellar Interiors

Helioseismology and asteroseismology are tools that use the oscillations of the Sun and stars to probe their interior structure and dynamics. This allows us to test and refine the theory of stellar structure and evolution, thereby bringing us closer to understanding solar and stellar magnetism. The department hosts the German Data Center for NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, and is preparing to host the data center of ESA's exoplanet hunting mission, PLATO.

International Office

On the pages of the International Office, new employees and guests will find information for their stay in Göttingen and at the institute.

IMPRS

PhD programme: International Max Planck Research School for Solar System Science at the University of Göttingen.

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