When two stars orbit close together, one star can transfer material to its companion, dramatically changing both stars' evolution. However, how much of this transferred material actually stays with the receiving star has remained one of the biggest mysteries in binary star physics. Using a new sample of 16 carefully studied binary systems, MPA scientists have now discovered that binary stars are much more efficient at keeping transferred material than previously thought, with many systems retaining more than half of the mass that was donated. This finding challenges decades of theoretical assumptions and has profound implications for our understanding of stellar evolution, affecting everything from the types of supernovae we observe to the formation of gravitational wave sources, X-ray binaries, and exotic stellar objects like blue stragglers. more

An international team of astronomers has found a low mass dark object in the distant Universe, not by directly observing any emitted light, but by detecting its tiny gravitational distortion of the light from another distant galaxy. This mysterious object has a mass of about one million times that of our Sun, and its discovery seems consistent with the current best theory about how galaxies like our own Milky Way formed. more

Black holes with masses between the stellar and supermassive regime are among the most elusive objects in the Universe. These intermediate-mass black holes are believed to reside in many dwarf galaxies. Using new, high-resolution supercomputer simulations, MPA scientists discovered that nuclear star clusters — compact, massive clusters of stars at the centres of galaxies — may be key to enabling these black holes to grow, thus shedding light on the origins of supermassive black holes. more

A new study led by Dr. Alankar Dutta at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics uncovers why cold gas clouds fail to thrive in powerful winds flowing out of galaxies driven by supernovae. These findings, soon to be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, challenge long standing assumptions about how galaxies exchange matter with their surroundings.
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By Prof. Conny Aerts, KU Leuven, Belgium more

Quasars are active supermassive black holes located at the centres of massive galaxies that emit energy levels that far exceed the binding energy of their host galaxies. This substantial amount of energy has the potential to impact the gas within and around the galaxies, thereby influencing their evolution. While the importance of this process is acknowledged, its details are still the subject of significant debate. An international team of researchers led by MPA scientists has now obtained observations of the most extensive sample of hydrogen structures surrounding quasars in the early universe to better understand this feedback process. The data reveal how the gas responds to the energy released by the supermassive black holes over distances of several hundred thousand light years, providing a new way to study the impact of quasars on galaxy evolution. 
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Imagine a star not crashing into a supermassive black hole in a fiery explosion, but instead slowly spiraling in, circling closer and closer to its horizon. This is the story of a sub-giant star that is stripped of its hydrogen layer by a black hole companion with a few million solar masses. The left-over helium core is gently drawn in due to strong gravitational wave emission and can be placed so close to the supermassive black hole that it becomes a promising gravitational wave source for the future detector LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna). This scenario has been recently investigated by a team at MPA. more