Astronomy and Astrophysics - Recognized Area of Research Excellence
Astronomy and astrophysics has been identified as an area of research excellence at UToledo. The strength of the astronomy and astrophysics program was recognized nationally in 2016 when UToledo was selected to join the prestigious Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, which includes many of the country’s top programs.
- Our faculty are known nationally for groundbreaking discoveries in the origins of stars and star clusters.
- Faculty and students have access to highly competitive time on the world’s best telescopes, including NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory.
- We are a partner with Lowell Observatory, which provides guaranteed access to the Discovery Channel Telescope in Arizona. We regularly engage undergraduate and graduate students in research projects with the telescope.
Astronomy and astrophysics research at The University of Toledo is broadly focused on origins: the origins of the elements and organic molecules, of planets, stars and star clusters, and of galaxies themselves. We investigate the gas and dust that fuel galaxies, as well as the stars and stellar systems that form from that raw material. We study the most massive stars — their formation, short lives and spectacular deaths. We work to uncover how galaxies formed and changed over time, and how the supermassive black holes in their centers grew along with them.
We are major users of:
- Cutting-edge space and ground-based telescopes, including Hubble, Chandra, Spitzer, Herschel, SOFIA, ALMA, Gemini, IRTF, DCT and many more
- State-of-the-art computational facilities, such as the NASA Pleiades Supercomputer, the Ohio Supercomputer Center and our own parallel computing resources
Explore our facilities and the breadth of astronomy and astrophysics research at The University of Toledo.