The Institute of Astronomy (IoA) came into being in 1972 by the amalgamation of three institutions which had developed on the site. These were the Cambridge University Observatory which was established in 1823, the Solar Physics Observatory (1912) and the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy (1967).

The IoA is a department of the University of Cambridge and is engaged in teaching and research in the fields of theoretical and observational Astronomy. A wide class of theoretical problems are studied, ranging from models of quasars and of the evolution of the universe, through theories of the formation and evolution of galaxies and stars, X-ray sources and black holes.

Much observational work centres around the use by staff of large telescopes abroad and in space to study quasars, galaxies and the chemical constitution of stars. A programme on the velocities of stars is conducted using the 36-inch telescope in Cambridge. Instrumentation development is also an important area of activity, involving charge coupled devices and detector arrays for rapid recording of very faint light and the design and construction of novel spectrographs.

### Recent Submissions

• #### Tests of the Planck Cosmology at High and Low Redshifts ﻿

(2019-04-27)
The inflationary ΛCDM cosmology currently provides an accurate description of the Universe. It has been tested using several observational techniques over a wide redshift range, and it provides a good fit to most of them. ...
• #### The Host Galaxies of Luminous Reddened Quasars at z~2 ﻿

(2018-10-20)
The work in this thesis concerns the host galaxies of a class of luminous, yet heavily-obscured, quasars at z$\sim$2 - a peak epoch of both star formation and black hole accretion. Here, we seek to characterise the ...

• #### EXOCOMETS AT LARGE ORBITAL RADII AND THEIR INWARD TRANSPORT IN DEBRIS DISCS ﻿

(2018-10-20)
Planetary systems are not only composed of planets, but also of km-sized rocky and icy bodies that are confined within belts similar to the Asteroid and Kuiper belt in the Solar System. Mutual collisions within these belts ...