Plasma, particles, and astrophysics– in the beginning look, these terms might sound abstract. Nevertheless, the new planetarium program “Our Unique Universe” shows that the outcomes of these research disciplines can be aesthetically spectacular. Researchers from the RAPP Center established and implemented the show together with the team at the Bochum Planetarium to celebrate the center’s tenth anniversary. In the brand-new show, visitors embark on a fascinating journey of discovery to extreme places of deep space. They discover themselves in the middle of the residues of a star surge, see galaxies radiant in radio light, and experience how a star is torn apart at the edge of an enormous great void.
“We are extremely happy to be able to present our operate in by doing this and make it available to a broad audience,” states Professor Julia Tjus, director of the RAPP Center and Teacher of Physics at Ruhr University Bochum. “A number of the images revealed were taken by the scientists themselves, for instance with telescopes in Antarctica, on La Palma, or at CERN.” The production at the Bochum Planetarium was made possible through financing from the German Research Study Foundation (DFG): The research study presented in the program belongs to the Collaborative Proving Ground 1491 “Cosmic Engaging Matter– From Source to Signify”. Starting in 2026, it will also be showcased in other cities and abroad.
Cooperation at the RAPP-Center
At the joint research center of the University Alliance Ruhr (UA Ruhr), the three partner universities have actually been combining their know-how in particle, astro, and plasma physics and have been cooperating with partners from the University of Wuppertal since 2015. From TU Dortmund University, the research groups of Professor Johannes Albrecht, Teacher Kevin Kröninger, and Teacher Wolfgang Rhode from the Department of Physics, as well as Professor Jens Teubner’s group from the Department of Computer Science Department become part of the RAPP Center.
At the research center, scientists are examining subjects such as the origin of cosmic rays, how magnetic fields are created in the Universe, and the nature of dark matter and neutrino particles. In the future, the center prepares to establish new research study concerns in the field of expert system. Furthermore, it will widen its research to collision-dominated plasmas in which collisions between gas particles take place. These play a substantial function in astrophysics in specific locations, near the Sun or in molecular clouds, and can be studied in the laboratory. The universities in Bochum, Dortmund, and Duisburg-Essen, which have actually been complying in the UA Ruhr since 2007, goal to work together even more carefully in this location.
About the Program