Researchers found for the first time evidence that even microquasars containing a low-mass star are efficient particle accelerators, which leads to a…

On 7 January 2025, the European Commission established the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) as a European Research Infrastructure…

H.E.S.S. collaboration detects the most energetic cosmic-ray electrons and positrons ever observed

From 10-13th September, more than 70 scientists from 12 countries gathered at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK) in Heidelberg to discuss…

From direct observations, we know that our Galaxy, the Milky Way, contains sources of cosmic rays with energies of up to several hundred…

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has honoured Prof. Marianne Lemoine-Goumard from the Universite de Bordeaux with the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel…

An international team of scientists has developed a novel way to experimentally produce pair plasma ‘fireballs’ on Earth, opening a new frontier in…

Dr. Laura Olivera-Nieto from the Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik has been awarded the Otto Hahn Medal and the Otto Hahn Award by the Max Planck…

For her PhD thesis on "Resolving particle acceleration and transport in the jets of the microquasar SS 433 with H.E.S.S. and HAWC" Dr. Laura…

How Gamma Rays Track the Velocity of the Galactic Microquasar SS 433’s Jets and Uncover Highly Efficient Particle Acceleration.

Our planet is bombarded with very energetic radiation from space and analyzing this radiation can help astronomers unveil some of the secrets space…

The "Astronomy Picture of the Day" from 6 September 2023 features a short film showing gamma astronomy with the H.E.S.S. telescopes in Namibia. Over…

The Astrophysical Plasma Theory group at MPIK demonstrated that supernova remnant shocks interacting with collective wind outflows of massive star…

On Dec 8th, a ‘FestKolloquium’ was held in honour of Werner Hofmann and Felix Aharonian, two giants in the field of very-high-energy astrophysics.…

With a ceremony on 18 October and an open day the following Sunday, the H.E.S.S. collaboration celebrated the 20th anniversary of the commissioning of…

Since more than 100 years, we know that cosmic rays – charged particles – are accelerated to extremely high energies in the Milky Way, our galaxy. And…

Formal request to establish the CTAO ERIC submitted

Last August marked the first opportunity to observe a nova outburst in very-high-energy gamma rays and to follow both its growth and subsequent fading…

Halos around pulsars in very-high-energy gamma rays provide decisive clues.

Researchers from the H.E.S.S. Collaboration succeeded to derive the intrinsic spectrum of the very-high-energy gamma-ray afterglow emission of a…

The analysis of observational data in gamma-ray astronomy requires specialised analysis methods and software to reach the highest possible sensitivity…

An international collaboration, co-led by the University of Oxford and University of Rochester together with the Astrophysical Plasma Theory group at…

HAWC has detected cosmic gamma rays with energies up to at least 200 Teraelectron volt (TeV, 10¹² eV) from the direction of the “Cygnus Cocoon”. This…

At the turn of the year, Prof. Dr. Jim Hinton on a rotational basis took over the Institute management of MPIK. Deputy for the next 18 months is…

The GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) of INFN, Italy, has reported its final results on…

Large-scale numerical simulations

Development work for future gamma-ray observatory

The final result of GERDA, presented at a virtual conference, improves the lower limit for the half-life of the neutrinoless double beta decay in…

An international collaboration bringing together over 200 scientists from 13 countries has shown that the very high-energy gamma-ray emission from…

By which means does the extremely massive and luminous binary star Eta Carinae produce x-rays and gamma rays? In an MPIK-led study, astrophysicists…