Turbulent outflows can strip away cold gas from galactic disks – yet, some cold clouds survive and travel tens of kiloparsecs, challenging the notion that turbulence inevitably destroys them. Using three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations, MPA researchers reveal that turbulence can actually enhance cloud survival by increasing the surface area for radiative cooling, enabling hot gas to condense onto the cold phase and boost its mass by up to an order of magnitude. This also leads to clumpier, laterally extended structures instead of long comet-like tails. These findings reshape our understanding of cloud evolution in galactic outflows, not only reshaping and sustaining cold gas but also enriching spectral signatures with multiple kinematic components. more

New Simulations Reveal the Secrets of 'Little Red Dots' more

Active supermassive black holes do not all look the same. Some are obscured by hot dust, some are surrounded by fast-moving ionised gas, and some can eject giant radio jets extending over millions of light-years. By mapping about two thousand such objects from their galactic centres outward, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics found that these variations are related to the properties of their host galaxies. Infrared and optical AGNs are found in star-forming galaxies with young centres and ionised winds, whereas radio AGNs are mostly found in older, quieter systems. A small group showing both kinds of activity sits in between. more

Many massive stars were once part of binary systems, but their exciting past is often lost – at least it was so far. A new study at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and the University of Bonn has now found a new method to identify stars that once gained mass from a companion – stars that now appear as single objects but carry the chemical scars of their binary youth. Using a unique “chemical fingerprint” – independent of specific evolutionary models – they were able to reconstruct the binary histories of massive stars. The method has already reclassified the well-studied star γ Columbae as a former mass gainer – challenging long-held assumptions about its origin– and offered new insight into the supernova SN 1987A’s progenitor. more

Juma Kamulali is the first astrophysics PhD graduate from Kyambogo University in Uganda. In collaboration with the partner group of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), he conducted ground-breaking research that introduces a powerful new machine-learning tool, MAISTEP, which enables the precise determination of stellar properties from basic observational data. Applying this method to thousands of exoplanet-host stars, Kamulali discovered a clearer, deeper 'radius valley' between super-Earths and sub-Neptunes, shedding new light on planetary evolution and atmospheric loss. more

In addition to the spectacular black hole systems that produce high-energy transients, there should exist a much larger hidden population of black holes that remain silent and can be detected only through their gravitational influence on companion stars. So far, the ESA Gaia mission has identified three such quiescent black hole binaries, with many more potentially to be released in December this year. However, two of these systems pose a major challenge to our understanding of binary evolution because of their unexpectedly wide orbits and extreme mass ratios. A new study by the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics proposes a solution: if most of the mass transferred from the massive star escapes the system without carrying away a significant fraction of the orbital angular momentum, the binary can survive without its orbit shrinking or the stars merging. These findings suggest that low-angular-momentum mass loss may also play an important role in other types of systems, with significant implications for our understanding of how binary systems evolve. more

On 8 July, the Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik (MPA) honoure two outstanding early-career researchers, Teresa Braun and Aniket Bhagwat, with the Kippenhahn Prize for groundbreaking papers that have significantly advanced our understanding of the Sun and the early universe. The prize, which was established to promote excellence in scientific writing and original thinking, recognizes not only the depth of their discoveries but also the clarity and rigor of their presentation.
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