Heidelberg University Faculty of Physics and Astronomy
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The Faculty of Physics and Astronomy is one of twelve faculties at the University of Heidelberg. It comprises the Kirchhoff Institute of Physics, the Institute of Physics, Theoretical Physics, Environmental Physics and Theoretical Astrophysics.[1]
The Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik (Kirchhoff Institute of Physics, KIP), built in 2002, is a research institute located in Heidelberg, Germany. It shares faculty with the physics and astronomy departments at the University of Heidelberg. The institute is named after Gustav Kirchhoff, who collaborated in Heidelberg in 1854 with Robert Bunsen in spectroscopic work.
Facilities include (apart from several laboratories) a cleanroom, an ASIC laboratory, an experimental hall and, as it is also serves undergraduates, there are 2 auditoriums with a capacity of over 300 people, several seminar rooms and a CIP pool. Current director is Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Schultz-Coulon.[2]
The Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg (Center for Astronomy of Heidelberg University) was founded in 2005 and is an association of three research institutes: the Astronomical Calculation Institute, the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics and the Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl (the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory).
It is the most important international institution for astronomical data calculations. The Astronomisches Rechen-Institut is responsible among other things for the Gliese catalog of nearby stars, the fundamental catalog FK5 and FK6 and the annual published Apparent places, a high precision catalog with pre-calculated positions for over 3 thousand stars for each day.
The ARI[7] was founded in 1700 in Berlin-Dahlem by Gottfried Kirch. It has its origin from the catalog patent application in this time by Frederick I of Prussia, who introduced a monopoly on publishing star catalogs in Prussia. In 1945 the Institute was moved by the occupying force (Americans) nearer to their headquarters in Heidelberg. Since January 1, 2005 it has been integrated into the Center of Astronomy and as of today is not limited to publishing star catalogs but has a wide research scope.
Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics
The Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics was founded in 1976.[8]
A molecular cloud, sometimes called a stellar nursery (if star formation is occurring within), is a type of interstellar cloud, the density and size of which permit absorption nebulae, the formation of molecules (most commonly molecular hydrogen, H2), and the formation of H II regions. This is in contrast to other areas of the interstellar medium that contain predominantly ionized gas.
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, meteoroids, asteroids, and comets. Relevant phenomena include supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars, blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally, astronomy studies everything that originates beyond Earth's atmosphere. Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that studies the universe as a whole.
Kip Stephen Thorne is an American theoretical physicist and writer known for his contributions in gravitational physics and astrophysics. Along with Rainer Weiss and Barry C. Barish, he was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves.
Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the heavenly bodies, rather than their positions or motions in space–what they are, rather than where they are." Among the subjects studied are the Sun, other stars, galaxies, extrasolar planets, the interstellar medium and the cosmic microwave background. Emissions from these objects are examined across all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the properties examined include luminosity, density, temperature, and chemical composition. Because astrophysics is a very broad subject, astrophysicists apply concepts and methods from many disciplines of physics, including classical mechanics, electromagnetism, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, relativity, nuclear and particle physics, and atomic and molecular physics.
Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth was a German astronomer and a prolific discoverer of 395 minor planets.
The Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) is a research institute located in Garching, just north of Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is one of many scientific research institutes belonging to the Max Planck Society.
Wilhelm Gliese was a German astronomer who specialized in the study and cataloging of nearby stars.
The Gliese Catalogue of Nearby Stars is a star catalogue listing stars located within 25 parsecs (82 ly) of the Sun.
The Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie is a research institute of the Max Planck Society (MPG). It is located in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany near the top of the Königstuhl, adjacent to the historic Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl astronomical observatory. The institute primarily conducts basic research in the natural sciences in the field of astronomy.
The Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg in Heidelberg, Germany, founded in 2005, is an association of three, formerly state-run research institutes: the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, the Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik and the Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl.
The Astronomical Calculation Institute is a research institute in Heidelberg, Germany, dating from the 1700s. Beginning in 2005, the ARI became part of the Center for Astronomy at Heidelberg University. Previously, the institute directly belonged to the state of Baden-Württemberg.
Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory is a historic astronomical observatory located near the summit of the Königstuhl hill in the city of Heidelberg in Germany. The predecessor of the current observatory was originally opened in 1774 in the nearby city of Mannheim but degradation of observational conditions there resulted in a relocation to the Königstuhl in 1898.
Gamma Piscium (γ Piscium) is a star approximately 135 light years away from Earth in the zodiac constellation of Pisces. It is a yellow star with a spectral type of G8 III, meaning it has a surface temperature of 4,833 K and is a giant star. It is slightly cooler than the Sun, yet it is 11 solar radii in size and shines with the light of 63 Suns. The star is a member of the red clump, which means it is undergoing core helium fusion. At an apparent magnitude of 3.7, it is the second brightest star in the constellation Pisces, between Eta and Alpha.
The Mannheim Observatory was a tower observatory built between 1772 and 1774 in Mannheim, Germany, which remained in operation until 1880. The observatory was transferred to Karlsruhe and finally in 1898, was established on the Königstuhl near Heidelberg where today's successor institution the State Observatory Heidelberg-Königstuhl is located.
The Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch is an astronomical ephemeris almanac and one of the longest publication series in astronomy. It was a compendium of ephemerides of all large Solar System bodies and of fundamental stars which define the celestial reference system.
Eva K. Grebel is a German astronomer. Since 2007 she has been co-director of the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. Eva Grebel is an expert in the study of stellar populations and galaxy formation.
Eugene Karl Rabe was a German-American astronomer.
Priyamvada (Priya) Natarajan is a theoretical astrophysicist and professor in the departments of astronomy and physics at Yale University. She is noted for her work in mapping dark matter and dark energy, particularly in gravitational lensing and in models describing the assembly and accretion histories of supermassive black holes. She authored the book Mapping the Heavens: The Radical Scientific Ideas That Reveal the Cosmos.
Steven Andrew Balbus is an American-born astrophysicist who is the Savilian Professor of Astronomy at the University of Oxford and a professorial fellow at New College, Oxford. In 2013, he shared the Shaw Prize for Astronomy with John F. Hawley.
Immo Appenzeller is a German astronomer.
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