While validating the data from ESA's Gaia mission, scientists uncovered a ‘sleeping’ giant. A large black hole, with a mass of nearly 33 times the mass of the Sun, was hiding in the constellation Aquila, less than 2000 light-years from Earth. This is the first time a black hole of stellar origin this big has been spotted so close to home.

A recent study of Prof Dr Martin M. Roth (AIP) looks at the scientific impact of novel instruments, focusing on the MUSE field spectrograph.

Milestone approaches for the 4MOST project as the Leibniz-Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) gears up to dispatch the first major shipment of the 4MOST instrument to Chile.

Newly qualified apprentice Oskar Sauerbrey speaks about his training as a precision mechanic at AIP in an interview. Two new apprenticeships will be available again from September 2024; applications can still be submitted until June.

The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) is once again going to open its doors for this year's Girls' Day/Future Day Brandenburg on 25 April and offering school girls an insight into working at a research institute.

Today, the German eROSITA consortium released the data for its share of the first all-sky survey by the soft X-ray imaging telescope eROSITA flying aboard the Spectrum-RG (SRG) satellite. With about 900,000 distinct sources, the first eROSITA All-Sky Survey (eRASS1) catalogue has yielded the largest X-ray catalogue ever published.

The Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope operating at low radio frequencies. LOFAR was previously organised as a project and is now, on 22nd January, being transformed, into an independent legal form: a consortium for a European research infrastructure.

New observations and sophisticated methods provide new and unexpected insights into the magnetic secrets of a star: the magnetic braking of a star's rotation is weakened with increasing age. This influences the habitability of exoplanets.

This week there are two moon-related events: on Thursday a video lecture on "Return to the Moon" (episode 2) as part of the virtual Babelsberg Starry Nights and on Friday the opportunity for live observations with the world's fourth largest refracting telescope in Potsdam.

Scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) have discovered a new plasma instability that promises to revolutionize our understanding of the origin of cosmic rays and their dynamic impact on galaxies.

Under certain circumstances galaxies release huge quantities of matter into their environment, triggered by a large number of explosions of massive stars.

Dr Maria Werhahn receives the Carl Ramsauer Award 2023 of the Physikalische Gesellschaft zu Berlin e.V. for her outstanding doctoral thesis at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) and the University of Potsdam.

Commonly thought to be long-lived satellites of our galaxy, a new study now finds indications that most dwarf galaxies might in fact be destroyed soon after their entry into the Galactic halo.

In the spirit of Copernicus’s revolutionary idea and in honour of his 550th anniversary, a one-day Heraeus symposium will take place in Berlin on 10 November, focussing on our place in the universe, galaxy and solar system.

After a long break, the Great Refractor will again open its dome for public observation evenings.

ESA’s Gaia provides many new and improved insights into our galaxy and beyond with the release of five new data products. Among other findings, the mission reveals half a million new and faint stars in a massive cluster.

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia space observatory will release new and expanded data on 10 October 2023, bringing findings that go far beyond what Gaia was initially designed for.

The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) welcomes Dr. Meredith Powell as a new Karl Schwarzschild Fellow.

Today, the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) and the Wüstenrot Foundation celebrated the completion of the renovation of the Einstein Tower in the Albert Einstein Science Park. At the ceremony, Minister of Science Dr. Manja Schüle and Potsdam’s Lord Mayor Mike Schubert spoke words of greeting for the opening as guests of honour.

The planet Mars is visiting the city of Potsdam in the form of a work of art from 16 to 28 September as part of the Science Year "Our Universe". The ceremonial opening will take place on Saturday, 16 September at 5:30 pm in the St. Nicholas Church.