Max Planck Institute für Astro itut no st m n ie -I k H c e n id la e l P b - e x r a g M M for Astronomy g a r x e b P l la e n id c e k H In y s m titu no Heidelberg-Königstuhl te for Astro Annual Report 2004 4 4 200 200 Jahresbericht Annual Report Max Planck Institute for Max-Planck-Institut Astronomyfür Astronomie Cover Picture: The active nucleus of the spiral galaxy NGC 1097 and its surroundings, imaged with the high-resolution infrared ca- mera system NACO at the VLT. At a radius of about 2000 light-years more than 300 starforming regions (white dots in the figure) are surrounding the bright central source, which marks the position of the galactic nucleus. (See p. 58 – 63) Max Planck Institute for Astronomy Heidelberg-Königstuhl Annual Report 2004 für Astro itut no st m n ie -I k H c e n id la e l P b - e x r a g M M g a r x e b P l la e n id c e k H In y s m titu no te for Astro Max Planck Institute for Astronomy Scientific Members, Governing Body,Directors: Prof. Thomas Henning (Managing Director) Prof. Hans-Walter Rix Emeritus Scientific Members: Prof. Hans Elsässer (†), Prof. Guido Münch External Scientific Members: Prof. Immo Appenzeller, Heidelberg Prof. George H. Herbig, Honolulu Prof. Steven Beckwith, Baltimore Prof. Rafael Rebolo, Tenerife Prof. Karl-Heinz Böhm, Seattle Advisory Council: Prof. Robert Williams, Baltimore (Chair) Prof. Anneila Sargent, Pasadena Prof. Ralf-Jürgen Dettmar, Bochum Prof. Rens Waters, Amsterdam Prof. Ewine van Dishoeck, Leiden Prof. Simon D. M. White, Garching Prof. Pierre Léna, Meudon Prof. Lodewijk Woltjer, Saint-Michel-lʼObservatoire Prof. Dieter Reimers, Hamburg Prof. Harold Yorke, Pasadena Board of Trustees: Min. Dir. Hermann-Friedrich Wagner, Bonn (Chair) Dr. Ludwig Baumgarten, Bonn Dr. Karl A. Lamers, MdB, Berlin Min. Dir. Wolfgang Fröhlich, Stuttgart Prof. Roland Sauerbrey, Jena Prof. Peter Hommelhoff, Heidelberg Dr. h.c. Klaus Tschira, Heidelberg Dipl. Ing. Reiner Klett, München Ranga Yogeshwar, Köln Staff: The MPIA currently employs a staff of 224 (including externally founded positions). There are 46 scientists and 54 junior and visiting scientists. Address: MPI für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg Telephone: 0049-6221-528-0, Fax: 0049-6221-528-246, E-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.mpia.de Calar-Alto-Observatory Address: Centro Astronómico Hispano Alemán, Calle Jesús Durbán 2/2, E-04004 Almería, Spanien Telephone: 0034 50-230 988, -632 500, Fax: 0034 50-632 504 E-mail: „name“@caha.es Research Group »Laboratory Astrophysics«, Jena Address: Institut für Festkörperphysik der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Helmholtzweg 3, D-07743 Jena Telephone: 0049-3641-9-47354, Fax: 0049-3641-9-47308 E-mail: [email protected] Masthead © 2005 Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Heidelberg Editors: Dr. Jakob Staude, Prof. Thomas Henning Text: Dr. Thomas Bührke u. a., Bilder: MPIA u. a. Translastion: Dipl.-Phys. Margit Röser Graphics, picture editing and layout: Karin Meißner-Dorn, Carmen Müllerthann, Dipl.-Phys. Axel M. Quetz, Martina Weckauf Printing: Laub GmbH & Co. KG, D-74834 Elztal-Dallau ISSN 1437-2932; Internet: ISSN 1617-0504 Contents Preface ................................................................ 5 IV.5 Differential Delay Lines für VLTI-PRIMA .. 90 I. General ............................................................. 6 IV.6 The Wavefront Sensor PYRAMIR ................ 91 I.1 Scientific Goals ............................................. 6 IV.7 A New Control System for the 3.5 m I.2 Observatories, Telescopes, and Instruments . 8 Telescope at Calar Alto ................................. 92 I.3 National and International Ccoperations ....... 14 IV.8 PACS – Far-Infrared Camera and Spectrometer for the HERSCHEL Space 1.4 Teaching and Public Outreach ...................... 16 Telescope ....................................................... 93 IV.9 MIRI and NIRSPEC – Instruments for the II. Highlights ........................................................ 17 James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) ......... 95 II.1 Dust Groth in Protoplanetary Disks ............. 17 II.2 The Evolution of Protoplanetary Disks V. People and Events .......................................... 98 – Observed with the SPITZER V.1 Dedication of the Large Binocular Telescope . 98 Space Telescope ............................................. 21 V.2 25 Years of Calar Alto Observatory ............ 102 II.3 Mysterious Stellar Dust in the Early Universe 25 V.3 The European Interferometry Initiative ...... 106 II.4 The Monoceros Tidal Stream in Our Milky Way System .................................. 28 V.4 The First Emmy Noether Groups at the Institute ................................................ 107 II.5 Dust and Gas in the Most Distant Quasar ... 32 V.5 Ringberg Workshop »Structure and II.6 Why Does the Cosmic Star Formation Evolution of the Milky Way and Rate Decline? .................................................. 35 its Surroundings« .......................................... 109 V.6 Ringberg Workshop »From Dust Grain III. Scientific Work .............................................. 39 to Planet« ....................................................... 111 III.1 Brown Dwarfs – Origins, Disks, Binarity, and Atmospheres ............................. 39 V.7 First MPIA Student Workshop on the Rügen Island .................................................. 114 III.2 Dust in the Computer: Numerical Contributions to Planet Formation ................. 49 V.8 Honoring Junior Scientists .......................... 115 III.3 Even Closer to the Centers of Galaxies ..... 58 V.9 The Transit of Venus Above the Schwetzingen Castle Gardens ....................... 117 III.4 Fueling the Central Kiloparsec ................... 65 V.10 Memories of the Institute and of Germany. An Interview with Steven Beckwith ............. 119 IV. Instrumental Development ............................. 75 IV.1 Beyond the Fringe: The LINC-NIRVANA Interferometric Imager for the LBT ............... 75 Staff .................................................................... 122 IV.2 LUCIFER I/II ................................................. 87 Working Groups ................................................. 123 Cooperation with Industrial Firms ..................... 124 IV.3 MIDI, the Mid-Infrared Interferometer Teaching Activities ............................................. 126 at the VLT ....................................................... 87 Conferences, Talks, and Public Lectures ............ 126 Service in Committees ........................................ 131 IV.4 CHEOPS, an Instrument for Imaging Further Activities at the Institute ........................ 132 Extrasolar Planets ........................................... 89 Publications ....................................................... 132 5 Preface This Annual Report 2004 provides an overview of the research activities at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg. It is intended for our colleagues worldwide as well as for the interested public. Particularly interesting scientific results from the last year are featured as Highlights. They demonstrate the high discovery potential involved in the two re- search fields that are pursued at the Institute: Planet and Star Formation as well as Galaxies and Cosmology. This is not least due to new instruments that were built at the Institute or to which major contributions could be made in collaboration. The construction of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) on Mount Graham in Arizona, in which the Institute is partecipating, is making good progress: in the year 2004, after the installation of the first mirror, we could celebrate in Arizona its offi- cial dedication. The same is true for the intrumentation that is developed by us for this telescope. Work on the PACS instrument for the Herschel Space Telescope and on the instruments for the James Webb Space Telscope, the successor to HUBBLE, is equally well proceeding. Together with partners, we have just initiated the construc- tion of the “Differential Delay Lines” for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in order to provide the instru- mental capabilities for an astrometric search programme for extrasolar planets. In addition to brief presentations of current scientific results, we report in more depth on main research fields at the Institute. We will continue these extended re- ports over the next years, so that after several Annual Reports an overall picture of the research profile of our Institute will arise. In our Annual Reports, we also want to showcase important events that took place at the Institute. At the same time, we let visiting scientists and staff members of the Institute get a word in, in order to draw a vivid picture of the working atmos- phere at the Institute. Data presented in the last section will give an insight into the structure of the MPIA as well as into its publication activity. We wish the readers of this Annual Report new insights into the astronomical re- search carried out at our Institute. Thomas Henning, Hans-Walter Rix Heidelberg, May 2005 6 I General I.1. Scientific Goals Since it was established in 1967, the Max Planck Star and Planet Formation Institute for Astronomy (Fig. I.1) is dedicated to the exploration of the universe in the optical and infrared The first stages of star formation take place in the in- spectral region. Apart from conceiving, conducting, teriors of dense molecular clouds, the dust particles there