He continued his studies at the University of Jena, specializing in astronomy and astrophysics and obtaining his PhD in 1984.

Henning returned to the University of Jena that same year, taking over as managing scientist of the Max Planck Research Unit "Dust in Star-Forming Regions", a post he held until 1996.

From 2001 until 2024, Henning has been a director at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, where he was head of the planetary and star formation department.

One of his areas of specialization is the observation and modelling of protoplanetary disks around young stars – an early stage in the evolution of planetary systems.

In 2019, he received an ERC (European Research Council) grant of 2.5 million euros for his project "From Planet-Forming Disks to Giant Planets".