For the first time, magnetic fields have been detected in three massive, hot stars in our neighboring galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. While magnetic massive stars have already been detected in our own galaxy, the discovery of magnetism in the Magellanic Clouds is especially important because these dwarf galaxies have a strong population of young massive stars. This provides a unique opportunity to study actively forming stars and the upper limit to the mass that a star can have and remain stable.

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As a part of the Leibniz Kolleg event on Thursday, May 16, the prestigious Publication Prize 2024 will be awarded to Dr. Ekaterina Ilin from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) for her doctoral thesis in the Audimax of the University of Potsdam.

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Galaxies are fundamental cosmic building blocks. At the largest scales, they serve as markers to study the distribution of matter in the universe - active galaxies and quasars are particularly important because of their intrinsic brightness. Nearby objects can be spatially resolved and consist of populations with very different patterns of motion, star formation histories and chemical abundances.

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Cosmic events are determined by two natural forces: gravity and magnetic fields. The magnetic field research at the AIP is mainly focused on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, the magnetically induced activities on the Sun and the stars, solar coronaphysics as well as space weather in our solar system and on planets around other stars.

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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.

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