Date	Speaker	Topic
11.09.2020	--	Summer holidays
18.09.2020
25.09.2020
02.10.2020 (11hrs, Zoom)	Christian Fendt	Astronomy for Non-Astronomers (Part 5) This lecture series is intended as further eduction for colleagues at MPIA who are NOT working as astronomers. We want to raise interest for this interesting field of research, maybe even raise enthusiasm. External guests are cordially invited as well. Parts 1 - 4 took place in the last semester (​all recordings can be found here). In Part 5 and 6 of the lecture series the stars will be discussed - which features they have, how long they "live" (i.e. shine) and which processes run inside them. Presentation: German ​Slides/Recording: German Questions: German, English
09.10.2020
16.10.2020
23.10.2020
30.10.2020	--	Autumn break
06.11.2020 (11hrs, Zoom)	Christian Fendt	Astronomy for Non-Astronomers (Part 6) This lecture series is intended as further eduction for colleagues at MPIA who are NOT working as astronomers. We want to raise interest for this interesting field of research, maybe even raise enthusiasm. External guests are cordially invited as well. Parts 1 - 4 took place in the last semester (​all recordings can be found here). In Part 5 and 6 of the lecture series the stars will be discussed - which features they have, how long they "live" (i.e. shine) and which processes run inside them. Presentation: German ​Slides/Recording: German Questions: German, English
13.11.2020
20.11.2020 (11hrs, Zoom)	Markus Feldt	Astronomy for Non-Astronomers (Part 7) This lecture series is intended as further eduction for colleagues at MPIA who are NOT working as astronomers. We want to raise interest for this interesting field of research, maybe even raise enthusiasm. External guests are cordially invited as well. Parts 1 - 4 took place in the last semester (​all recordings can be found here). In Part 5 and 6 of the lecture series the stars have been discussed. In this week's episode Markus Feldt will introduce planets and will take us on a journey featuring the search for exoplanets. Presentation: German ​Slides/Recording: German Questions: German, English
27.11.2020
04.12.2020 (11hrs, Zoom Seminarroom)	Oliver Krause	Ultra-precise optical alignment mechanisms for the Roman Space Telescope (formerly WFIRST) The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will be NASA's next astrophysics flagship mission after JWST and is due for launch in the mid 2020s. A novelty aboard is a powerful coronagraph system capable of direct imaging of exoplanet systems in reflected starlight at very high contrast ratios. The successful demonstration of such an instrument in space will pave the way to a future space missions aimed at imaging and characterizing faint Earth-like planets. MPIA is contributing six precision alignment mechanisms to the mission which are essential to control the optical beam in the adaptive-optics coronagraph instrument. All of this space hardware was designed at MPIA and significant parts are currently being produced at MPIA's mechanical workshop. The talk will describe the developments and tricky details of the mechanisms, the project setup at MPIA, and the story behind a successful collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Presentation: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
11.12.2020	Wolfgang Gaessler	Astronomy for Non-Astronomers (Part 8) "The Dark Side of the Universe" This lecture series is intended as further eduction for colleagues at MPIA who are NOT working as astronomers. We want to raise interest for this interesting field of research, maybe even raise enthusiasm. External guests are cordially invited as well. Parts 1 - 4 took place in the last semester. In Part 5 and 6 of the lecture series the stars have been discussed, and in Part 7 planets were introduced (​all recordings can be found here). We will not hear about dark force during this talk, but we will learn about the dark matter and dark energy that seem to dominate our universe. While people have been speculating about dark matter for almost a hundred years, dark energy is a relatively young hypothesis. But what motivates the idea of this dark side of the universe? What does it mean for the evolution of the universe? Is there any explanation for it or is it possible to prove it? Or does "dark" here only mean that we just don't know anything? These questions will be addressed as part of the lecture series "Astronomy for non-Astronomers", presented by an astrophysicist, i.e. a non-astronomer. Presentation: German ​Slides/Recording: German Questions: German, English
18.12.2020
25.12.2020	--	Christmas break