Astronomy and Astrophysics Cardiff University

Overview

The Astronomy and Astrophysics observational degree delivered at Cardiff University regularly uses a variety of international telescopes, in particular the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, GEMINI telescope and the UK Infrared Telescope in Hawaii, the La Palma Observatory, the Anglo-Australian Telescope, and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). 

Much of our work involves multi-wavelength observations of the Hidden Universe, those regions of the Universe which are invisible with optical telescopes because they are cold and shrouded in dust - the regions where new galaxies, stars and planets are forming

Objectives

Another major activity is fundamental research in general relativity and gravitational wave astronomy. This includes both the design of gravitational wave telescopes, in particular the processes used to extract and analyse the extremely subtle signals they record; and prediction of the signals to be expected from likely sources such as black holes, supernovae, pulsars, inspiralling and coalescing neutron stars, and quantum processes occurring in the early Universe.