The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Göttingen is one of the world’s leading research institutions in the field of solar physics and planetary research, with around 300 employees. The interdisciplinary research focus is the investigation of the development, diversity, and dynamics of planets, moons, small bodies, the Sun, and solar-like stars. The MPS develops and operates scientific instruments for current and future space missions (e.g., ESA, NASA), and carries out cosmochemical laboratory investigations of meteorites as well as numerical modeling onstate-of-the-art supercomputers.
The Department Solar & Stellar Interiors at MPS invites applications for the position of a Postdoctoral Researcher (f/m/d) to characterize young star-planet systems and their flaring activity.
In recent years, exoplanetary science has undergone a major shift — moving from exoplanet detection towards understanding star-planet systems as a whole, including the host star, interplanetary medium, and galactic context. Specifically, tidal and magnetic interactions between planets and their host stars have been recognized to be able to modulate the evolution of both, including the atmospheric evolution of the planet and its habitability. The newly established ERC StG project PLANETARE seeks a postdoctoral researcher with a background in stellar magnetism and/orexoplanetary science to develop novel ways of detecting and characterizing the mutual influence of stars and planets, with a focus on the influence of planets in short orbits on the magnetism of their host stars. At the core of the project is a new way to find exoplanets: detecting them through their magnetic interaction with the host star. This position builds the observational foundation – the sample, the activity catalog, and the geometry of the systems – and confirms any transiting planets among the interacting systems.
The position
- Compile the most accurate and complete flaring activity catalog to date using space-borne photometry
- Search the sample of flaring stars for transiting planet candidates using space-borne photometry
- Constrain the orientation of the rotational and magnetic axes of interacting systems
- Measure stellar activity characteristics and their predictive power for interaction
The transit search, flaring catalog and geometry measurements will constrain some of the drivers of interaction and its observability, working towards a true occurrence rate of magnetic interaction in young star-planet systems. You will work closely with a second postdoc within a small, newly formed team of two postdocs and a PhD student, led by the PI (Ekaterina Ilin). Group members are supported to lead their own papers and proposals, and to present at international meetings in both the stellar and exoplanet communities.
Your qualification
- A PhD in physics or astrophysics (PhD must be awarded by the start date)
- Previous experience in observational astronomy, ideally including space-borne optical photometry
- The ability to work in a team
- A good command of the English language
Additional information
- Start date between January and October 2027
- Duration: 4 years
- Remuneration is according to EG 13 TVöD-Bund
- Application deadline is October 30, 2026 (interviews in late November / early December 2026)
We look forward to receiving your informative application documents (cover letter, CV, references, certificates). Please submit these via the digital application portal. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Ekaterina Ilin (ilin@mps.mpg.de).
The Max Planck Society endeavours to achieve gender equality and diversity. Furthermore, the Max Planck Society seeks to increase the number of women in those areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply. The Max Planck Society is committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages applications from such qualified individuals.