Research in Observational Astronomy

2010 marked the 35th anniversary of the renaissance of observational astronomy and cosmology in the Department of Physics at Durham University. Our group has grown substantially over this period and we are now one of the largest astronomy groups in the UK, hosting world-class activities in observational and theoretical extragalactic astronomy and cosmology. Together these provide a rich research environment where productivity is significantly enhanced by the ease of cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Our theoretical work is undertaken under the auspices of the Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC). There are close and lively interactions between the observational and theoretical researchers within our group, as well as between us and the advanced instrumentation group. Together our researchers address some of the most fundamental questions in science: What were the first objects in the Universe? How do galaxies form? How does the Universe evolve and what is its fate? What is the nature of the dark matter and dark energy?

The strength of our group is recognized world wide. We have the highest citation impact rates of any astronomy group in Europe. We are leaders or major collaborators in a range of international collaborations, networks and consortia, both observational and theoretical.

Use the topics links on the left to see more detail about the observational research we do, while our theoretical research is described on the ICC web site.