Date	Speaker	Topic
26.09.2022	Andreas Müller (Sterne und Weltraum)	Happy Anniversary: 60 years astronomy magazine »Sterne und Weltraum« In 1962, the astronomer Hans Elsaesser who was MPIA's first director in 1968 as well as Rudolf Kuehn and Karl Schaifers founded the magazine »Sterne und Weltraum« (SuW). Each issue is presenting news in astronomy and space research by using fantastic astro pictures. Today, SuW is the biggest popular journal in the German-speaking area with about 50'000 readers. One secret of its success is that scientists directly contribute by themselves and write the articles. In addition, SuW has established strong links to teachers and schools via the programme »Wissenschaft in die Schulen!«. Dr. Andreas Mueller, an astrophysicist educated in Heidelberg, has started as SuW's editor-in-chief in April 2019. He will present the journal, give insights into the work of an editor and talk about recent developments and the future of SuW. Presentation: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
03.10.2022	Holiday	--
10.10.2022	Institute Meeting	--
17.10.2022	Caroline Kulcsár (Institut d'Optique Graduate School Université Paris-Saclay)	Honing adaptive optics: What models for the minimum variance control of adaptive optics systems? Adaptive optics (AO) systems are sampled systems with delays due to data transfer and processing. High performance control of these systems leads to the need to predict the disturbance in order to better compensate for it. In this presentation, I outline the minimum variance control and modelling strategies developed in our team. What are the most suitable models for predicting turbulence, how to identify them, is it problematic to use physical priors, how to ensure the stability of the control loop, how to update the model-based controller smoothly during operation to follow the changing observation conditions? The questions are numerous, and we will provide some answers or insights based on simulation or experimental/on-sky results in astronomy, satellite tracking or ophthalmology. Presentation: English Slides: English Questions: English
24.10.2022	--	--
31.10.2022	Thomas Jackson (Tuparev AstroTech)	Tuparev AstroTech - Software, Space Junk and (Robotic) Telescopes Astronomy as a career has been, for the majority of people involved, a classically academic pursuit so far, however there are increasingly wide-spread applications in other directions. Today, potential markets range from the already bustling amateur astronomy scene to rapidly growing wide scale industrial applications. We at Tuparev AstroTech and Astrosysteme Austria are involved in projects spanning this whole spectrum. On the industrial side, the increasing amount of satellites in orbit and the rising amounts of space debris mean the space around the Earth could rapidly be rendered unusable. As part of this effort, we are attempting to create a large, worldwide network to monitor satellites and space junk, covering regimes not included in the current generation of monitoring programs. We are involved in every step from manufacturing and setting up the telescopes, to developing the pipeline for detecting and determining properties of such objects, through to the expected petabyte database management. For amateur and professional astronomers, we are developing a range of inter-connected, modern astronomy tools and applications as well as being involved in renovating old observatory facilities as well as locating potential sites for new observatories. In this talk, I will give an overview of some of the projects we are involved in as well as some of the wider market out there. Presentation: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
07.11.2022	--	--
14.11.2022	Loredana Gastaldo (KIP, Uni HD)	Physics and applications of metallic magnetic calorimeters Low temperature metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) have demonstrated to fulfill the requirements for many applications ranging from high resolution x-ray spectroscopy to detection of neutral molecules. In particular, MMCs are used or planned to be used in large experiments in the field of astroparticle physics related to the study of fundamental properties of neutrinos, and to the search for solar axions. The most important properties of MMCs are: a very good energy resolution, reaching 1.6 eV FWHM at an energy of 6 keV, a fast response time, well below 1 µs, and a reliable calibration function. After a short introduction on the physics of MMCs, a description on how the design of MMCs can be optimized for targeting the requirements of different experiments will be presented. Some recent results obtained with MMC arrays will be discussed. Presentation: English Slides: English Questions: German, English
21.11.2022	--	--
28.11.2022
05.12.2022	Prof. Philipp Huke (Hochschule Emden/Leer)	Calibration Sources for Astrophysical Spectrographs - A Comparison The best calibration of an (astrophysical) spectrograph is done simultaneously, with the same instrument using a controllable copy of the object to be measured at the same location. Since this is not possible, strategies have been and are being developed to reproduce various properties of the measurement process as accurately as possible. The calibration strategies define the requirements for the calibration unit, which should provide precision, accuracy and stability for measurements. For this purpose, calibration sources are used whose properties are known as accurately as possible and are preferably controllable. In this presentation, calibration sources are compared with each other with respect to their properties and their application behavior in different calibration units. In particular, the most important property from ANDES' point of view, the accuracy and stability of the wavelength calibration and how this can be determined, will be discussed. We are welcome to discuss the definitions of precision, accuracy and stability afterwards. Presentation: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
12.12.2022	Institute Meeting	-
19.12.2022	--	--
26.12.2022	Christmas Break	--