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Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 01.06.2021

Turbulence in interstellar gas clouds reveals multi-fractal structures
The German-French Cooperation Programme GENESIS describes the complex structure of the interstellar medium using a new mathematical method / The dispersion of interstellar turbulence in gas clouds before star formation unfolds in a cosmically small space In interstellar dust clouds, turbulence must first dissipate before a star can form through gravity.

Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 19.04.2021

New Exoplanet discovered orbiting young Sun-like star
Astronomers from the Netherlands, Belgium, Chile, the USA and Germany have imaged the newly discovered exoplanet "YSES 2b" right next to its host star An international research team with the participation of Dr Markus Mugrauer from the Astrophysical Institute of Friedrich Schiller University Jena has succeeded in the direct imaging of a young exoplanet.

Earth Sciences - Astronomy / Space Science - 07.04.2021

Asteroid crater on Earth provides clues about Martian craters
Research team led by the University of Göttingen discovers crater floor sagging from bowl-shaped volcanic ash layer The almost 15-million-year-old Nördlinger Ries is an asteroid impact crater filled with lake sediments. Its structure is comparable to the craters currently being explored on Mars. In addition to various other deposits on the rim of the basin, the crater fill is mainly formed by stratified clay deposits.

Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 24.03.2021

The very first structures in the Universe
Astrophysicists at the Universities of Göttingen and Auckland simulate microscopic clusters from the Big Bang The very first moments of the Universe can be reconstructed mathematically even though they cannot be observed directly. Physicists from the Universities of Göttingen and Auckland (New Zealand) have greatly improved the ability of complex computer simulations to describe this early epoch.

Earth Sciences - Astronomy / Space Science - 23.03.2021

The same sea level for everyone
The Earth's gravity field as the basis for an International Height Reference System Maps generally indicate elevation in meters above sea level. But sea level is not the same everywhere. A group of experts headed by the Technical University of Munich (TUM), has developed an International Height Reference System (IHRS) that will unify geodetic measurements worldwide.

Astronomy / Space Science - 18.03.2021

Cosmic web offers insights into the history of the Universe
Research team including Göttingen University observe for the first time extremely faint filaments The Universe is criss-crossed by a cosmic web consisting of large filamentary gas structures in which galaxies should form. The existence of this network confirms the most important predictions about how the structure of the Universe changes.

Astronomy / Space Science - Environment - 08.03.2021

Ideal for Analysing Planetary Atmospheres
By analysing signals from the star Gliese 486, an international research team has discovered a hot rocky exoplanet with remains of a planetary atmosphere. Due to its characteristics, it is ideally suited for testing future observational methods of studying distant planetary atmospheres. The discovery of Gliese 486b, as the new planet has been named, was made possible by the CARMENES instrument.

Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 05.03.2021

Breaking the warp barrier for faster-than-light travel
Astrophysicist at Göttingen University discovers new theoretical hyper-fast soliton solutions If travel to distant stars within an individual's lifetime is going to be possible, a means of faster-than-light propulsion will have to be found. To date, even recent research about superluminal (faster-than-light) transport based on Einstein's theory of general relativity would require vast amounts of hypothetical particles and states of matter that have -exotic- physical properties such as negative energy density.

Astronomy / Space Science - Environment - 05.03.2021

Glowing hot super-Earth nearby
Research team with Göttingen University participation plans to test atmospheric models of the rocky planet In the past two and a half decades, astronomers have discovered thousands of exoplanets made of gas, ice and rock. Only a few of them are Earth-like. Studying their atmospheres with the instruments currently available is a major challenge.

Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 19.02.2021

Getting to the Bottom of Life on Mars
Researchers at Freie Universität Berlin are involved in developing an interactive map of Mars No 030/2021 from Feb 19, 2021 People who are interested in discovering the mysteries of the galaxy can now see what Mars looks like up close thanks to an interactive map developed by researchers from the Planetary Sciences and Remote Sensing group at Freie Universität Berlin.

Environment - Astronomy / Space Science - 20.01.2021

Oldest Carbonates in the Solar System
A meteorite that fell in northern Germany in 2019 contains carbonates that are among the oldest in the solar system; it also evidences the earliest presence of liquid water on a minute planet. The high-resolution Heidelberg Ion Probe - a research instrument at the Institute of Earth Sciences at Heidelberg University - provided the measurements.

Astronomy / Space Science - 15.01.2021

The Role of Turbulence in the Birth of Stars
Computer simulations of turbulence in interstellar gas and molecular clouds - simulations so complex they were inconceivable until now - have provided important new insights into the role turbulence plays in the formation of stars. For the first time, the results of the calculations suggest how these turbulent movements transition from the supersonic to the subsonic range.

Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 09.12.2020

Breakthrough in nuclear physics
High-precision measurements of the strong interaction between stable and unstable particles The positively charged protons in atomic nuclei should actually repel each other, and yet even heavy nuclei with many protons and neutrons stick together. The so-called strong interaction is responsible for this.

Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 26.11.2020

Unknown Population of Stars Discovered
Near the centre of the Milky Way there exists a heretofore unknown population of stars that exhibits characteristic properties. It was discovered by an international research team under the direction of Dr Manuel Arca Sedda of Collaborative Research Centre "The Milky Way System" (CRC 881) of Heidelberg University.

Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 26.11.2020

Sun model completely confirmed for the first time
Borexino detector succeeds in measuring the sun's CNO fusion cycle The Borexino Experiment research team has succeeded in detecting neutrinos from the sun's second fusion process, the Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen cycle (CNO cycle) for the first time. This means that all of the theoretical predictions on how energy is generated within the sun have now also been experimentally verified.

Astronomy / Space Science - 23.11.2020

Stammbaum der Milchstraße
Galaxies like the Milky Way formed by the merging of smaller progenitor galaxies. An international team of astrophysicists led by Dr Diederik Kruijssen from the Centre for Astronomy at Heidelberg University has succeeded in reconstructing the merger history of our home galaxy, creating a complete family tree.

Astronomy / Space Science - 13.11.2020

Duration of solar system formation identified
This is an artist's impression of a young star surrounded by a protoplanetary disc in which planets are forming. Using ALMA's 15-kilometre baseline astronomers were able to make the first detailed image of a protoplanetary disc, which revealed the complex structure of the disc. Concentric rings of gas, with gaps indicating planet formation, are visible in this artist's impression and were predicted by computer simulations.

Astronomy / Space Science - Chemistry - 26.10.2020

Molecular water discovered on the moon by the SOFIA flying observatory
For the first time, the SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) flying observatory has provided direct and unambiguous evidence of water molecules on the moon beyond the permanent shadow at the poles. The infrared observatory, which is owned jointly by the US space agency NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) was able to detect the molecules in the moon's southern hemisphere using the FORCAST (Faint Object InfraRed CAmera for the SOFIA-Telescope) instrument.

Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 30.09.2020

Stellar explosion in Earth’s proximity
Discovery of iron-60 and manganese-53 substantiates supernova 2.5 million years ago When the brightness of the star Betelgeuse dropped dramatically a few months ago, some observers suspected an impending supernova - a stellar explosion that could also cause damage on Earth. While Betelgeuse has returned to normal, physicists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have found evidence of a supernova that exploded near the Earth around 2.5 million years ago.

Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 09.09.2020

Revealing the secrets of high-energy cosmic particles
P-ONE: Initiative for a new, large-scale Neutrino Observatory in the Pacific Ocean The "IceCube" neutrino observatory deep in the ice of the South Pole has already brought spectacular new insights into cosmic incidents of extremely high energies. In order to investigate the cosmic origins of elementary particles with even higher energies, Prof. Elisa Resconi from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now started an international initiative to build a neutrino telescope several cubic kilometers in size in the northeastern Pacific.