We are both an observational and theoretical group, which is involved with many exciting research projects. Our research interests cover three broad themes: extragalactic research, solar system research, and astrophysics. We are particularly interested in galactic rings and thick galactic disks, the rings of Saturn and circumplanetary dust in the solar system, and in accretion disks and interacting binary stars.

We make use of a wide range of ground-based telescopes, such as heavily oversubscribed Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile and the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) in the Canary Islands, as well as other ground-based and space telescopes such as the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope, Swift and XMM-Newton X-ray observatories. Members of the group are also involved with new instrumentation projects, such as the NOT Transient Explorer (NTE), an instrument that will take the scientific capabilities of the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) to the next level.

The Astronomy research unit is also a member of Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov Telescopes (MAGIC) collaboration as part of Finnish MAGIC Consortium. MAGIC is a scientific collaboration of research centres in Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, Spain and Switzerland that operates two 17-m diameter Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs). This project is one of the leading world-wide in gamma-ray astronomy.

We are involved in a wide range of teaching activities. We teach both basic, intermediate and advanced courses.