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Research facility · Heidelberg · Germany

Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

In research, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy stands highest in Astronomy and Astrophysics (#15 of 443 worldwide), Physical Sciences (#1,110 of 12,888 worldwide) and Physics and Astronomy (#326 of 1,646 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Instrumentation, Astronomy and Astrophysics and Physics and Astronomy — Instrumentation is 201.2× its share of world research.

mpia.de/enROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#1,952
of 28,054 · #1,274 all time
Rank in Germany
#96
of 1,178
Research works
4.1k
▲ 12% vs 2013–17
Citations
162k
39.8 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
39.2%
record average 16.5%
Open access
60%
world 28%

What is Max Planck Institute for Astronomy known for in research?

The fields where it stands highest, 2022–2025, ranked among every institution above the floor in each field.

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorksAll time
Astronomy and AstrophysicsSubfield #15 of 443 44.1%218 #31
Physical SciencesDomain #1,110 of 12,888 39.7%344 #862
Physics and AstronomyField #326 of 1,646 42.4%280 #352

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where Max Planck Institute for Astronomy sits in it, in the colour of the band that rank falls in. The track under the rate is the rate itself: it carries no world mark, because the world rate differs by field (from about 6% to 21% in this record).

Which of those standings moved

The same fields on both windows: where it stood over the whole record, and where it stands in 2022–2025. The distance is the story, and it is the one thing the two rank columns above cannot show.

  1. Astronomy and Astrophysics#31 #15
  2. Physical Sciences#862 #1,110
  3. Physics and Astronomy#352 #326
all time2022–2025, better2022–2025, worse

A dot further right is a better standing. Fields it was not ranked in over the whole record are left out.

What does Max Planck Institute for Astronomy specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Instrumentation takes 201.2× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. InstrumentationSubfield · 35.9 works201×
  2. Astronomy and AstrophysicsSubfield · 218.3 works118×
  3. Physics and AstronomyField · 279.8 works35×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient, a volume reading rather than an impact one. It surfaces small, lopsided specialities.

Field profile

Location quotient across every field it publishes in: outside the ring is more than an institution of this size would be expected to publish, inside it is less.

Agricultural and Biological Sciences: 0.06× its world share, 1 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.23× its world share, 4 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Neuroscience: 0.19× its world share, 1 worksNeuroscienceChemical Engineering: 0.45× its world share, 1 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 2.21× its world share, 12 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.18× its world share, 5 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 2.22× its world share, 12 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.21× its world share, 1 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.49× its world share, 26 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.16× its world share, 3 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.08× its world share, 1 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.62× its world share, 3 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 35.20× its world share, 280 worksPhysics and AstronomyMedicine: 0.02× its world share, 1 worksMedicineArts and Humanities: 0.12× its world share, 1 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.03× its world share, 0 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 0.16× its world share, 1 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.09× its world share, 1 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.07× its world share, 3 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Physics and Astronomy, 35.2×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at Max Planck Institute for Astronomy?

Ranked on the composite score, Hans‐Walter Rix, Andrea V. Macciò and Sebastian Jester lead among researchers whose main affiliation is Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.

  1. 1 Hans‐Walter Rix Germany · #29,279 worldwide 2.4k citations · 190 works
  2. 2 Andrea V. Macciò Germany · #41,048 worldwide 705 citations · 66 works
  3. 3 Sebastian Jester Germany · #67,697 worldwide 660 citations · 28 works
  4. 4 J. A. R. Caldwell Germany · #74,104 worldwide 356 citations · 29 works
  5. 5 Aaron A. Dutton Germany · #75,782 worldwide 500 citations · 31 works
  6. 6 Hubert Klahr Germany · #84,543 worldwide 531 citations · 69 works
  7. 7 O. Krause Germany · #87,523 worldwide 385 citations · 54 works
  8. 8 Annalisa Pillepich Germany · #90,132 worldwide 692 citations · 75 works
  9. 9 G. S. Stinson Germany · #98,692 worldwide 704 citations · 23 works
  10. 10 David Martínez‐Delgado Germany · #106,210 worldwide 457 citations · 54 works
All ranked researchers at Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

Which keywords describe research at Max Planck Institute for Astronomy?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Star Formation, Exoplanets, Stellar Astrophysics, Accretion Disks, Magnetic Fields, Turbulence, Molecular Clouds and Protoplanetary Disks.

▲ more of its work than of the world’s◆ about the world’s share▼ less than the world’s

Size is fractional works in 2022–2025 in the topics tagged with each word; colour is the word's share of this institution's work against its share of the world's. The 40 words are chosen for being large and distinctive. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Star Formation78▲ 415×2 topics
  2. Exoplanets62▲ 438×1 topic
  3. Stellar Astrophysics62▲ 438×1 topic
  4. Accretion Disks62▲ 374×2 topics
  5. Magnetic Fields62▲ 271×2 topics
  6. Turbulence51▲ 165×3 topics
  7. Molecular Clouds51▲ 569×1 topic
  8. Protoplanetary Disks51▲ 569×1 topic
  9. Black Holes39▲ 116×3 topics
  10. Astronomical Instrumentation36▲ 391×1 topic
  11. Spectrograph36▲ 391×1 topic
  12. Solar System Abundances30▲ 172×1 topic
  13. Terrestrial Planets30▲ 172×1 topic
  14. Cosmology29▲ 121×3 topics
  15. Dark Matter29▲ 70×4 topics
  16. Galaxies27▲ 276×1 topic
  17. Stellar Populations27▲ 276×1 topic
  18. Supernovae18▲ 63×2 topics
  19. Gravitational Waves18▲ 92×2 topics
  20. Nucleosynthesis15▲ 88×3 topics
  21. Gamma-Ray Bursts15▲ 156×1 topic
  22. Neutron Stars15▲ 156×1 topic
  23. Galactic Center13▲ 78×2 topics
  24. X-Ray Spectroscopy12▲ 76×2 topics
  25. Event Horizon Telescope12▲ 149×1 topic
  26. X-Ray Astronomy12▲ 149×1 topic
  27. Adaptive Optics8▲ 189×1 topic
  28. Wavefront Sensing8▲ 189×1 topic
  29. Hydrogen Bonds8▲ 255×2 topics
  30. Molecular Structure7▲ 21×1 topic
  31. Rotational Spectroscopy7▲ 309×1 topic
  32. Cosmic Rays7▲ 40×2 topics
  33. Neutrinos7▲ 40×2 topics
  34. High-Energy Astrophysics6▲ 62×1 topic
  35. Particle Acceleration6▲ 62×1 topic
  36. Radio Astronomy5▲ 67×2 topics
  37. Optical 3D Laser Measurement5▲ 129×1 topic
  38. Position-Sensitive Detector5▲ 129×1 topic
  39. Structural Health Monitoring5▲ 19×2 topics
  40. Ozone Depletion5▲ 45×1 topic

Which research topics does Max Planck Institute for Astronomy publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies, Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies, Astronomy and Astrophysical Research and Astro and Planetary Science.

Stellar, planetary, and …62Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies: 62 fractional worksAstrophysics and Star Formation Studies: 51 fractional worksAstronomy and Astrophysical Research: 36 fractional worksAstro and Planetary Scie…30Astro and Planetary Science: 30 fractional worksGalaxies: Formation, Evo…27Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena: 27 fractional worksGamma-ray bursts and supernovae: 15 fractional worksAstrophysical Phenomena and Observations: 12 fractional worksAdaptive optics and wavefront sensing: 8 fractional worksMolecular Spectroscopy and Structure: 7 fractional worksAstrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena: 6 fractional works
Astronomy and AstrophysicsInstrumentationAtomic and Molecular Physics, and OpticsSpectroscopy1 others

Area is fractional works; colour is the subfield each topic belongs to.

  1. 1 Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies Astronomy and Astrophysics 62 works
  2. 2 Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies Astronomy and Astrophysics 51 works
  3. 3 Astronomy and Astrophysical Research Instrumentation 36 works
  4. 4 Astro and Planetary Science Astronomy and Astrophysics 30 works
  5. 5 Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena Astronomy and Astrophysics 27 works
  6. 6 Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae Astronomy and Astrophysics 15 works
  7. 7 Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations Astronomy and Astrophysics 12 works
  8. 8 Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics 8 works
  9. 9 Molecular Spectroscopy and Structure Spectroscopy 7 works
  10. 10 Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena Nuclear and High Energy Physics 6 works

How open and international is its research?

Against the world’s own shares — the tick on each track. Both are shares of its output, so they sit on one scale and can be read against each other as well as against the world.

openly available60.2%not open39.8%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors55.2%domestic only44.8%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has Max Planck Institute for Astronomy's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 12% higher than in 2013–2017.

1990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Other research institutions in Heidelberg

All research institutions in Heidelberg

Research measures only: rankings here say nothing about teaching, admissions or student experience. Comparable institutions and collaboration partners are in the interactive view on the map.