
A high position of Toruń astronomy!
The EduRank.org ranking includes an evaluation of research results conducted in various scientific disciplines. 14,131 universities from 183 countries were assessed. In the field of Astrophysics and Astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń took a high third place in Poland, just behind the University of Warsaw and the Jagellonian University in Kraków.

Protostar in spiral arms
An international team of astronomers, which includes three researchers affiliated with the Nicolaus Copernicus University, has succeeded in mapping the protostellar disk with the highest precision known today. The discovery provides evidence predicted by the theory of episodic accretion.

Professor Peebles: discoveries are inevitable
In a special interview accompanying the inauguration of the World Copernican Congress at the Nicolaus Copernicus University, Prof. Phillip James Edwin Peebles talked about the Copernican legacy, the impact of Copernicus' discoveries on the world of scientists, and the biggest challenges facing modern astronomy.

World Copernicus Congress launched
On February 19th, exactly on the 550th anniversary of Nicolaus Copernicus' birth, the World Copernican Congress was inaugurated at the Nicolaus Copernicus University. This is the most important highlight of the Year of Copernicus, which our University is organizing jointly with Jagiellonian University, the University of Warmia and Mazury and the Institute of the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Nobel inauguration
Prof. Phillip James Edwin Peebles, a Canadian-American physicist, cosmologist, astrophysicist and astronomer, one of the pioneers of the theory of the formation of cosmic structures and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, will give an opening lecture at the World Copernican Congress.

NCU as a national leader in the IAU–International Visegrad Fund Mobility Awards
The Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun has became a national leader in the international mobility programme IAU–International Visegrad Fund Mobility Awards. The project is co-organised with the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and is dedicated for Bachelor (BSc) and Master (MSc) astronomy students. It enables three-months summer research programme at a partner institutions from four Visegrad Group countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. Two calls for proposals for the program are planned in 2023 and 2024.

BHTOM-PL astronomical workshop
In the era of large surveys, both ground-based and space missions, fast and reliable processing of massive observational datasets gathered by various telescopes is crucial. This task is not straightforward as it seems to be due to the specification and diversity of instruments available for astronomers. In order to optimise the whole procedure of observational data processing, dedicated tools are developed in many scientific institutions. One of such tools, developed by Warsaw and Toruń researchers is Black Hole TOM (BHTOM). It gathers and processes the data from instruments working within global telescope network OPTICON RadioNet Pilot (ORP). Also Polish telescopes and instruments are part of this network, including those localised in Piwnice Observatory, near Torun and Ostrowik Observatory near Warsaw.

Mysterious source of fast radio bursts
The phenomenon of fast radio bursts is one of the greatest mysteries of modern astrophysics. Until now it has been believed that their source is magnetars. The latest discovery, in which dr Marcin Gawroński from the NCU Institute of Astronomy played a large part, may partially revise this view.

The Birth of Stars
How does ultraviolet radiation influence the process of forming new stars and the entire planetary systems? The topic remained largely unexplored until Dr. Agata Karska from Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and Agnieszka Mirocha, a PhD student working under her supervision, have decided to take a closer look. The results they have achieved can provide more details concerning our origins in space.

OPUS 21 grant for Hannah Calcutt and Dorottya Szécsi
Dr Hannah Calcutt and Dr Dorottya Szécsi from our Institute of Astronomy were among twelve scientists from the Nicolaus Copernicus University who received grants from the National Science Centre (NCN) as part of the OPUS 21 competition.

Eight years of science with the Robopol polarimeter - "Looking at the polarized Universe: past, present, and future"
We are celebrating 8 years of science with the RoboPol optical polarimeter, which has operated since 2013 at the Skinakas Observatory in Crete (Greece).

The HR 8799 planetary system - precise as a Swiss watch
Prof. dr hab. Krzysztof Goździewski and dr hab. Cezary Migaszewski, prof. NCU published their latest results in the article "An Exact, Generalized Laplace Resonance in the HR 8799 Planetary System", Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2020, 902, id. L40. It is the result of many years of research, which allowed to find a stable and consistent with the observations orbital configuration of the system of four massive planets orbiting the star HR 8799.