Cardiff Hub for Astrophysics Research and Technology
We study all aspects of the universe and the objects within it from the period of inflation, a split second after the Big Bang, to the objects in our own planetary system.
We observe the universe using instruments all over the world and in space. We build our own, including crucial parts of the Simons Observatory, which will investigate the first split second of the universe (see above). We carry out state-of-the-art computer simulations of the births of both stars and galaxies. We work closely with the Gravity Exploration Institute and the Data Innovation Institute.
Our research topics
Astrophysics
- Planetary atmospheres and life in the Universe
- Interstellar dust
- Observations of the birth of stars
- Computer simulations of the birth of stars
- Super massive black holes
- Galaxies and Galaxy Evolution
- Numerical Simulations of Galaxies
- Viewing galaxies through a magnifying glass
- The biggest explosions in the universe
- Cosmology with the Microwave Background
Technology
- The Simons Observatory
- Superconducting detectors
- Mexico-UK Sub-millimetre Camera for AsTronomy (MUSCAT)
- Ariel
- The EXoplanetClimate Infrared Telescope (EXCITE)
- The Microwave Sounder (MWS)
- Far infrared quasi-optical components and metamaterials
- TeraHertz instrumentation for security applications
- Superconducting filterbanks for atmospheric sounding
- Ultra-lightweight lenses for Earth observation
- Twinkle
