However, the telescope is only as good as its instruments. Max Planck scientists have helped to invent some of these, such as the Gravity and Matisse interferometers, the Spifi spectrograph and the Sphere planet hunter. Recently, researchers under the direction of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics succeeded in getting a clearer view into the heart of the Milky Way with their high-tech optics. There they were able to see that a star does not orbit the central black hole along a closed path, but rather describes an open curve in the form of a rosette. Albert Einstein predicted this effect more than a hundred years ago.
Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems / Wolfram Scheible