page_title: Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
section_title: Scientific work
hierarchical_section_title: Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics / Scientific work
caption_attribution_description: English: On 18 September 2015 ESO signed an agreement with a consortium of institutes across Europe, to design and construct the MICADO camera (Multi-AO Imaging Camera for Deep Observations), one of the first-light instruments for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). MICADO will be the first dedicated imaging camera for the giant telescope and will take the power of adaptive optics to the next level. This picture shows the signing ceremony, with the Director of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics left, and the ESO Director General Tim de Zeeuw right. In the background from left are: Florian Kerber (Project Manager, ESO), Richard Davies (MPE, Principal Investigator), Suzanne Ramsay (Project Scientist, ESO) and Eckhard Sturm (Project Manager, MPE).
context_page_description: The Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics is a Max Planck Institute, located in Garching, near Munich, Germany.
  In 1991 the Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics split up into the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, the Max Planck Institute for Physics and the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. The Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics was founded as sub-institute in 1963. The
  scientific activities of the institute are mostly devoted to astrophysics with telescopes orbiting in space. A large amount of the resources
  are spent for studying black holes in the galaxy and in the remote universe.
context_section_description: The institute was founded in 1963 as a sub-institute of the Max-Planck-Institut für Physik und Astrophysik and established as an independent institute in 1991.
  Its main research topics are astronomical observations in spectral regions which are only accessible from space because of the absorbing effects of the Earth's atmosphere, but also instruments on ground-based observatories are used whenever possible.
  Scientific work is done in four major research areas that are supervised by one of the directors, respectively: optical and interpretative astronomy (Bender), infrared and sub-millimeter/millimeter astronomy (Genzel), high-energy astrophysics (Nandra), and in the Centre for Astrochemical Studies (Caselli). Within these areas scientists lead individual experiments and research projects organised in about 25 project teams. The research topics pursued at MPE range from the physics of cosmic plasmas and of stars to the physics and chemistry of interstellar matter, from star formation and nucleosynthesis to extragalactic astrophysics and cosmology.
  Many experiments of the Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) have to be carried out above the dense Earth's atmosphere using aircraft, rockets, satellites and space probes. In the early days experiments were also flown on balloons. To run advanced extraterrestrial physics and state-of-the-art experimental astrophysics, the institute continues to develop high-tech instrumentation in-house. This includes detectors, spectrometers, and cameras as well as telescopes and complete payloads (e.g. ROSAT and eROSITA) and even entire satellites (as in case of AMPTE and EQUATOR-S). For this purpose the technical and engineering departments are of particular importance for the institute's research work.
  Observers and experimenters perform their research work at the institute in close contact with each other. Their interaction while interpreting observations and propounding new hypotheses underlies the successful progress of the institute's research projects.
  At the end of the year 2009 a total of 487 employees were working at the institute, numbering among them 75 scientist, 95 junior scientists (45 IMPRS PhD students included), 97 externally funded positions and 64 visiting scientists and interns.
  The MPE is also active in scientific and vocational training. At the end of 2009 6 students were working on their diploma thesis and 9 apprentices worked in the administration (1) and the institute's workshop (8).
caption: Agreement Signed for MICADO Camera for E-ELT.[3]
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