Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics

Scientists detect the lowest mass dark object currently measured - an exotic concentration of dark matter?

The first images are larger and deeper than ever before, showing sections of the Milky Way and the deep universe. Researchers from the Max Planck Society report on their planned research

Astronomical images not only look beautiful, they also provide a wealth of information. What's behind it and what distinguishes four prominent telescopes? An overview.

Data from the Esa Euclid telescope enable precise analysis of an Einstein ring around the galaxy core of NGC 6505 and thus the surrounding dark matter

Observation of the cosmic web connecting two galaxies with unprecedented resolution shows good agreement with the predictions of modern computer simulations of the universe

Dark matter and dark energy determine how the universe looks. But that is pretty much all cosmologists know about these phenomena. Their nature is still completely unclear. While they cannot be directly observed, a team led by Volker Springel at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching is simulating how this mysterious matter and enigmatic energy have influenced the development of space, which has brought further insights about their properties as well as other aspects.

Supernovae portend cosmic catastrophes. When a massive star slides into an energy crisis at the end of its life, or a sun that has already died is overfed with matter, the end is an explosion of unimaginable proportions. What exactly happens here? Hans-Thomas Janka from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching wants to get down to the nuts and bolts. He simulates supernovae on the computer and makes them explode in the virtual world – meanwhile even in three dimensions.

Gravitational waves are some of the most spectacular predictions of the 1915 general theory of relativity. However, it wasn’t until half a century later that physicist Joseph Weber attempted to track them down. In the early 1970s, Max Planck scientists also began working in this research field, and developed second-generation detectors. The groundwork laid by these pioneers meant the waves in space-time ceased to be just figments of the imagination: in September 2015 they were finally detected.

They are some of the most exotic objects in space: neutron stars. Incredibly dense and only 20 kilometers across, they rotate about their axes at breakneck speed, emitting cones of radiation out into space in the process. Some of these cosmic beacons have particularly strong magnetic fields. Michael Gabler from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching studies these magnetars – and so learns a thing or two about their nature.

The expansion rate of the Universe, quantified by the Hubble constant (H₀), remains one of the most debated quantities in cosmology. Measurements based on nearby objects yield a higher value than those inferred from observations of the early Universe—a discrepancy known as the "Hubble tension". Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and their collaborators have now presented a new, independent determination of H₀ using Type II supernovae. The resulting H₀ value agrees with other local measurements and adds to the growing body of evidence for the Hubble tension.

Betelgeuse is a famous red supergiant in Orion. It has recently gained much attention—not only due to speculation about an imminent explosion but also because it appears to rotate faster than expected. An international team from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics questions this and proposes that the boiling surface is misinterpreted as rotation. Other astronomers are analyzing new data to test this hypothesis.

Our team presents a novel method that fully exploits all cosmological information in the distribution of galaxies. A first application shows that this new method has the potential to shed new light on gravity and the dark universe.

Dark matter, which makes up more than 80 percent of the mass in the universe, neither absorbs nor emits light and interacts with light and normal (baryonic) matter only through its gravity. The nature of dark matter is one of the most important open questions in astrophysics and cosmology. A theoretical model for dark matter, called "Fuzzy Dark Matter" (FDM), imprints a characteristic signature on the light that is bent around a massive galaxy (a so-called gravitational lens). By analyzing a gravitational lens system observed in the radio range with extremely high angular resolution, we have determined how "fuzzy" dark matter can be.

Recent observations have revealed that the first quasars are often surrounded by bright, giant nebulae. These span up to several 100,000 light years, about ten times larger than the quasar host galaxy. According to new detailed computer simulations of galaxy evolution performed at MPA, the observed extended nebulae can be explained as quasar light that reflects off surrounding cool neutral hydrogen clouds. Crucially, this mechanism only works if the energy provided by the quasar is able to produce gigantic galactic winds that blow out large masses of gas from its immediate vicinity.