Maximilian Häberle
Astronomy PhD student

Research

My Research on Globular Clusters

Hunting for intermediate-mass black holes in globular clusters: an astrometric study of NGC 6441

Whether intermediate-mass black holes exist in globular clusters is still an unsolved mystery. In my master's thesis, we searched for the dynamical signature of a potential IMBH in the massive globular cluster NGC 6441 by combining astrometric Hubble Space Telescope observations with ground-based data from the NACO instrument at the Very Large Telescope. More details and results can be found in the respective publication.

Creating a high-precision proper motion catalogue for Omega Centauri

Omega Centauri is the most massive globular cluster of the Milky Way. Because of its high mass and its complex stellar populations, it is nowadays widely accepted to be the accreted nucleus of a dwarf galaxy. To decipher its formation history is an active field of research and can also help to understand the early merger history of the Milky Way. We want to contribute to this by reanalyzing Hubble Space Telescope data and creating a deep high-precision proper motion catalogue for the core of the cluster. Such a catalogue will enable interesting science studies such as the search for high proper motion stars (which could indicate the presence of an intermediate mass black hole) but also the study of the dynamics of different stellar populations.

Supervisor: Nadine Neumayer

My Research on Astronomical Instrumentation

Prototype tests for ELT MICADO

MICADO will be a first-light instrument at the Extremely Large Telescope, which is currently under construction. I participated in the project by testing various components, including encoders for the derotator, the flat-field unit, gas-emission lamps for spectroscopic calibration and the astrometric calibration pinhole mask.

Development, commissioning, and early science exploitation of the Local Volume Mapper Instrument

The Local Volume Mapper project is one of three surveys that form the Sloan Digital Sky Survey V. Its goal is to spectrally map the interstellar gas in our Galaxy and in other galaxies in the local volume. The plan is to observe some 3000 square degrees of sky during the ~5 years of the survey. To do this, MPIA will produce an array of 4 small telescopes for the Las Campagnas Observatory in Chile. The science telescope hosts a bundle of 1801 fibers, which form an imaging input almost half a degree in diameter. The light from this telescope, along with that from the two sky calibration telescopes and the spectrophotometric telescope, is guided to the input of 3 Spectrographs with a resolution of R~4000 over the wavelength range 320-980 nm. I will participate in all stages of the project, from telescope design, integration and alignment in the MPIA lab, to on-sky tests, and ultimately, commissioning and early science exploitation in Chile.

Supervisor: Tom Herbst