Technical Departments

Flight model of the filter wheel developed at MPIA for the James Webb Space Telescope. The wheel, which is 30 cm in diameter, provides a variety of filters for the MIRI instrument.

© MPIA

Flight model of the filter wheel developed at MPIA for the James Webb Space Telescope. The wheel, which is 30 cm in diameter, provides a variety of filters for the MIRI instrument.

© MPIA

Observational astronomy places high demands on its tools: telescopes and instruments. New astronomical instruments are almost invariably custom developments, the result of cooperations between the researchers themselves and partners in industry. Designing and building such instruments - from highly sensitive detectors to spectrographs - has a long tradition at MPIA, which boasts a dedicated community of scientists, engineers and technicians.

Under the leadership of Heidi Korhonen, MPIA's Technical Departments with their workshops and design offices participate in the development and manufacture of cutting-edge astronomical instruments which then are mostly deployed at the telescopes of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT), Calar Alto Observatory, or aboard ESA or NASA space telescopes.