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The Department of Astronomy offers undergraduate and graduate instruction in a wide variety of fields, including theoretical and observational astrophysics; infrared, optical, and radio astronomy; galactic structure and dynamics of stellar systems; high-energy astrophysics and cosmology; and spectroscopy. A considerable amount of research and teaching related to astronomy is done in other units at Berkeley, including the Space Science Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and the Physics Department. Various professors in the Chemistry, Earth and Planetary Science, Mathematics, Statistics, and Engineering departments have an active interest in astronomy and are available for consultation.

Many instruments are available to students and staff, including two 10-meter telescopes at the Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, 30-inch, 40-inch and 120-inch telescopes at Lick Observatory, a 16-element millimeter-wave interferometer in Southern California, the PAPER Array in South Africa, and a 30-inch telescope at Leuschner Observatory (near the campus). Laboratories are available for the development of radio, infrared, and optical instruments, and for the precise measurement of images and spectra.

The Campbell Hall demolition party was a success. After presenting the demoltion plans and the construction schedule for New Campbell, our department chair, Imke de Pater took down one of the last remaining pieces of drywall.

Imke, Eliot, and Carl celebrate a successful demolition. Additional photos.



The 2012 Department T-Shirt Design Contest has ended! The Winning 2012 Department of Astronomy T-Shirt Design has been voted in. T-shirts are priced at $16 and orders can be placed via paypal.

For more information, please contact us.



Congratulations to Professor Geoff Marcy for the Alberts Chair appointment in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Watson and Marilyn Alberts established the chair in 1998, as "the first-ever endowed chair that supports the search for extraterrestrial intelligence." The appointment will assist Marcy and his team to develop techniques for detecting habitable planets and related SETI projects.

The Astronomy Department is delighted to announce a newly established award to support high-achieving graduate students in the Department of Astronomy: the Robert J. Trumpler Graduate Student Excellence Award, given in recognition of academic excellence and an outstanding record of involvement in the department or wider astronomical community. Funds from the prize are to be used to fully or partially support travel for field trips, observing, to attend a conference or workshop, or other approved purposes. The first presentation of this prestigious award will be announced in January 2012. That award may be used retroactively for conference or observing travel that was taken in Fall 2011 or for future travel. Thereafter, the award will be announced annually at commencement ceremonies in May. Please see the award page for more information.

Congratulations to Professor Marc Davis for winning the 2011 Gruber Cosmology Prize along with George Efstathiou, Carlos Frenk, and Simon White! The award recognizes “a series of pioneering papers in the 1980s that relied on numerical simulations … to validate the ‘cold dark matter’ theory of cosmic growth.” You can read more about the award here.

Don Backer The Donald C. Backer Memorial Endowed Student Support Fund was recently established in honor of the late Astronomy Professor, RAL Director, and former department Chair, Don Backer. This fund was established to provide support for graduate and undergraduate students in the Department of Astronomy, with preference given to those students with an interest in instrumentation, as this was one of Don's deepest passions. You can learn more about this fund or make a donation here. Through the Chancellor's Challenge program, all donations made by current and retired faculty and staff, as well as donation from current students, are matched dollar for dollar.

You can read the memorial tribute to Don Backer here.



Following on from the Astronomy Department's successful celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, volunteers and speakers from the department are taking part in a series of talks and other activities which celebrate the breadth of scientific research, including astronomy, taking place at UC Berkeley. For more details, visit the Science@Cal Lecture Series website.