Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto

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Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto

Astronomy research institute at the University of Toronto. The Dunlap Institute, the David A. Twitter:
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The Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto is an endowed research institute with over 80 faculty, postdocs, students, and staff, dedicated to innovative technology, groundbreaking research, world-class training, and public outreach. The research themes of its faculty and Dunlap Fellows span the Universe and include: optical, infrared and radio instrumentation,

Dark Energy, large-scale structure, the Cosmic Microwave Background, the interstellar medium, galaxy evolution, cosmic magnetism, and time-domain science. Dunlap of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and other researchers across the University of Toronto's three campuses together comprise the leading concentration of astronomers in Canada, at the leading research university in the country. The Dunlap Institute is committed to making its science, training, and public outreach activities productive and enjoyable for everyone of all backgrounds and identities.

09/04/2026

Meet Hanbang (Leo) Wu, our next SURP Student Spotlight. This summer, under the supervision of Professor Josh Speagle, Dunlap Fellow Dr. Biprateep Dey, and graduate student Nolan Koblischke, Hanbang has been working on alphaUniverse, a web platform that helps astronomers explore embeddings from AION, an AI foundation model for astronomy.

Learn more about Hanbang's work and the other SURP Student Spotlights here: https://www.dunlap.utoronto.ca/2026-surp-student-spotlights/

09/02/2026

It's a wrap for the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP)! Two weeks ago, 28 SURP students presented the results of a summer of research at the SURP 2026 Poster Fair. Projects ranged in topic from unravelling the formation history of the Andromeda Galaxy to simulating collisions of giant stars! Congratulations to these hard-working young scientists!

To learn more about what some of the SURP students worked on, check out our SURP Student Spotlight series! https://www.dunlap.utoronto.ca/2026-surp-student-spotlights/

08/31/2026

Dunlap Institute Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Albert Lau took these stunning images at the Algonquin Radio Observatory (ARO) last week, which highlight the 46-meter radio telescope, and the clear skies and natural beauty of Algonquin Provincial Park. Researchers at the Dunlap Institute use the ARO for Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), which connects the signal from several telescopes to act as a single instrument!

08/28/2026

Meet Isabella Rivera, our next SURP Student Spotlight! Isabella has spent the summer studying Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs)by searching for persistent radio sources linked to them with her supervisors Professor Maria Drout and graduate student Mattias Lazda. She hopes to use these observations to better understand FRBs and the high-energy environments that produced them.

Learn more about Isabella and our other SURP Student Spotlights here: https://www.dunlap.utoronto.ca/2026-surp-student-spotlights/

08/27/2026

Did you know that tonight there will be a partial lunar eclipse visible from Toronto and most of North America? It will begin at 10:33pm EDT on August 27, and reach its maximum obscuration of 96% just passed midnight at 12:12am EDT on August 28. The whole thing will be over by 1:51am, which means that the whole eclipse will be visible high in the sky in Toronto! Be sure to check it out, and here's hoping for clear skies!

08/26/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Tanveer Karim, who, a few weeks ago, presented a talk titled "Isolating Dark Energy: How to Measure the Universe When Galaxies Get in the Way", based on his ongoing work at the Dunlap Institute, at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, held annually in Lindau, Bavaria, Germany. The aim of these meetings is to bring together Nobel laureates and young scientists to foster scientific exchange between different generations, cultures and disciplines. This year's meeting was interdisciplinary and the 75th anniversary of the programme, bringing in over 650 young scientists and 70 Nobel Laureates.

Photo credits: Christian Flemming/Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings

Learn more here: https://www.dunlap.utoronto.ca/dunlap-institute-postdoctoral-fellow-invited-to-the-75th-lindau-nobel-laureate-meeting/

08/24/2026

We're excited to join York University and the Allan I. Carswell Observatory at this year's Astro Fair this Saturday! At our booth, we'll be running all kinds of interactive astronomy activities, such as our gravity table, the chance to touch a real space rock, and telescopes, of course! Hope to see you there!

For more information: https://www.yorku.ca/science/observatory/astrofair2026/

08/21/2026

This week's SURP Student Spotlight is Irmak Aytekin! Irmak works with Prof. Laurie Rousseau-Nepton on the data reduction pipeline for a new lab-based imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer, which is an instrument that captures both spatial images and spectra at once, so instead of one spectrum you get a spectrum for every single pixel.

Learn more about Irmak's research, and about the other featured SURP students at: https://www.dunlap.utoronto.ca/2026-surp-student-spotlights/

08/20/2026

It's hard to believe that just a few days ago we were live streaming a total solar eclipse from the middle of a field on the outskirts of Segovia, Spain. Here are some shots from our little Seestar S30, used during the stream. You can see totality, the sun during the partial phase of the eclipse, featuring sunspots, and a timelapse of the whole thing!

You can watch the replay here: https://www.youtube.com/live/W3Gnl-QqQv0?si=4eYbuwz05AvKKdmN

08/14/2026

Our next SURP Student Spotlight is Harlin Toor! This summer Harlin has been working with Professor Adam Hincks on developing an automated pipeline to create light curves of active galactic nuclei observed by cosmic microwave background surveys. These measurements help us study supermassive black holes, their jets, and rare events like binary black hole systems.

Learn more about Harlin's research and about the other SURP Student Spotlights on our website! https://www.dunlap.utoronto.ca/2026-surp-student-spotlights/

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50 St. George Street
Toronto, ON
M5S3H4

Website

http://dunlap.utoronto.ca/

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