Institute of Astronomy

Established	1972
Director	Cathie Clarke and Mark Wyatt[1]
Faculty	School of Physical Sciences, University of Cambridge
Staff	177[2]
Address	Madingley Road
Location	Cambridge,Cambridgeshire,United Kingdom
Website	www.ast.cam.ac.uk

TheInstitute of Astronomy (IoA) is the largest of the threeastronomy departments in the University of Cambridge, and one of the largest astronomy sites in the United Kingdom. Around 180 academics, postdocs, visitors and assistant staff work at the department.^[3]

Research at the department is made in a number of scientific areas, includingexoplanets,stars, star clusters,cosmology,gravitational-wave astronomy, the high-redshift universe,AGN,galaxies andgalaxy clusters.^[4] This is a mixture of observational astronomy, over the entire electromagnetic spectrum, computational theoretical astronomy, and analytic theoretical research.

TheKavli Institute for Cosmology is also located on the department site.^[5] This institute has an emphasis onThe Universe at High Redshifts. TheCavendish Astrophysics Group are based in the Battcock Centre, a building in the same grounds.

The institute was formed in 1972 from the amalgamation of earlier institutions:

• The University Observatory, founded in 1823. ItsCambridge Observatory building now houses offices and the department library.
• The Solar Physics Observatory, which started in Cambridge in 1912. The building was partly demolished in 2008 to make way for theKavli Institute for Cosmology.
• The Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, which was created byFred Hoyle in 1967. Its building is the main departmental site (the Hoyle Building), with a lecture theatre added in 1999, and a second two-storey wing built in 2002.

From 1990 to 1998, theRoyal Greenwich Observatory was based in Cambridge, where it occupiedGreenwich House on a site adjacent to the Institute of Astronomy.

The department teaches about thirty 3rd and 4th year undergraduates as part of theNatural Sciences Tripos orMathematical Tripos. Courses include General Relativity, Cosmology, Black Holes, Extrasolar Planets, Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics, Structure and Evolution of Stars & Formation of Galaxies, and students also complete a research project.^[6] In addition, there are around 12 to 18 graduatePhD students at the department each year, mainly funded by theSTFC. The graduate programme is particularly unusual in the UK as the students are free to choose their own PhD supervisor or adviser from the staff at the department, and this choice is often made as late as the end of their first term.

An incomplete list of notable current members of the department.

Here are some notable members of the department and its former institutes.^{[citation needed]}

The Institute houses several telescopes on its site. Although some scientific work is done with the telescopes, they are mostly used for public observing and astronomical societies. The poor weather and light-pollution in Cambridge makes most modern astronomy difficult. The telescopes on the site include:

• The Northumberland Telescope^[7] donated by the Duke of Northumberland in 1833. This is a 12-inch (300 mm) diameter refractor on an English mount.
• The smaller Thorrowgood Telescope,^[8] on extended loan from theRoyal Astronomical Society. The telescope is an 8-inch (200 mm) refractor.
• The 36-inch Telescope,^[9] built in 1951.
• The Three-Mirror Telescope,^[10] which is a prototype telescope with a unique design to have wide field of view, sharp images and all-reflection optics.

The institute's former 24" Schmidt Camera was donated to theSpaceguard Centre inKnighton, Powys in Wales in June 2009.

The Cambridge University Astronomical Society^[11] (CUAS) and Cambridge Astronomical Association^[12] (CAA) both regularly observe. The Institute holds public observing evenings on Wednesdays from October to March.^[13]

The department holds a number of events involving the general public in astronomy. These include or have included:

• Open evenings on Wednesdays during the winter, with a talk given by a member of the institute followed by observing in clear weather^[15]
• Hosting the Astroblast conference^[16]
• Annual sculpture exhibition showing work ofAnglia Ruskin University^[17]
• Annual open day during theCambridge Science Festival
• A monthly podcast, the 'Astropod',^[18] aimed at the general public (the Astropod originally ran from 2009 to 2011, and was relaunched in 2020)
• Extra observing nights for special events such asIYA MoonwatchArchived 5 September 2018 at theWayback Machine andBBC stargazing live

The institute library is housed in the oldCambridge Observatory building. It is a specialist library concentrating on the subjects of astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. The collection has approximately 17,000 books and subscribes to about 80 current journals. The library also has a collection of rare astronomical books, many of which belonged toJohn Couch Adams.^[19]

Among the significant contributions to astronomy made by the institute, the now decommissioned Automatic Plate Measuring (APM) machine was used to create a major catalogue of astronomical objects in the northern sky.^[20]

• Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge
• Kavli Institute of Cosmology, Cambridge
• Images from the Institute of Astronomy Library

52°12′51″N0°05′36″E / 52.2141°N 0.0934°E /52.2141; 0.0934

• Astronomy institutes and departments
• Departments in the Faculty of Physics and Chemistry, University of Cambridge
• Research institutes in the United Kingdom
• Astronomy in the United Kingdom
• Research institutes established in 1972

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