Research in the Astronomy Department is both theoretical and observational in nature. The observational work covers the entire electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves to gamma-rays. A wide variety of national observatories, satellites, and supercomputers are used on a guest investigator basis. Department research falls naturally into a number of groups, described below. Members of the department are typically involved with more than one group.

• Center for Theory and Computation
• Center for Research and Exploration in Space and Science Technology
• Lab for Millimeter-Wave Astronomy
• Extragalactic Astronomy Group
• Planetary Astronomy Group
• High-energy Astrophysics Group
• Space and Plasma Physics Group

In addition to the above groups, a number of individuals on the professorial faculty pursue their own research programs.

The Department of Astronomy maintains several cooperative research agreements with NASA'S Goddard Space Flight Center which is about 5 miles from the University of Maryland College Park campus. These agreements allow our faculty and graduate students to participate in a wide variety of space physics and astronomy research projects. These are usually satellite based projects in high-energy astrophysics, X-ray astronomy, gamma-ray astronomy, cosmic-ray physics, and solar system astrophysics.

Other Research-related Links:

• UMD Astronomy Information and Knowledge Group - Pursues various projects related to astronomical data storage and retrieval.
• Software Development - Software developed and maintained by the members of the Astronomy Department
• Annual Reports (1994-2002) - Includes a summary of research in UMD Astronomy during those years.