skip to main content
Caltech
Department of Astronomy

Astronomy Homepage

The Astronomy Department at the California Institute of Technology is part of the Division of Physics, Math, and Astronomy. The primary mission of our department is twofold: the performance of cutting-edge research in astronomy and astrophysics, including theory, observation, and experiment, as well as the education of undergraduate and graduate students and training of postdoctoral research associates who will comprise the scientists and leaders of tomorrow. We are located in the Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics on the Caltech campus.

OVRO 40-meter radio telescope
Research Highlights
ZTF: Zwicky Transient Facility at Palomar COMAP: the CO Mapping Array Pathfinder at OVRO SPHEREx Mission
Keck Observatory telescope domes
Observatories
OVRO Palomar Observatory W. M. Keck Observatory LIGO

Upcoming Events

All Events
December 12, 2025 2:00 pm

TAPIR Seminar

Online and In-Person Event
Metastable helium in the upper thermosphere
Shri Kulkarni, Professor, Astronomy and Planetary Science, Caltech,
December 15, 2025 4:00 pm

Astronomy Tea Talks

Cahill 370
Creating Space-Based, All-Sky Surveys to Study the Death and Afterlife of Stars
Hannah Gulick, graduate student, UC Berkeley,
December 17, 2025 12:15 pm

Caltech/IPAC Lunch Seminar

IPAC 102 (Large Conference Room)
The Early Universe in Our Backyard: Dust, Ices, Outflows and Protostellar Accretion in the Low-Metallicity Star-Forming Region NGC 346
Nolan Habel, JPL,
January 7, 2026 4:00 pm

Astronomy Colloquium

Cahill, Hameetman Auditorium
New Frontiers in Exoplanet Imaging and Pathways to Habitable Worlds
Jason Wang, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Northwestern,
January 14, 2026 4:00 pm

Astronomy Colloquium

Cahill, Hameetman Auditorium
TBD
Amelie Saintonge, Director, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy,
January 21, 2026 4:00 pm

Astronomy Colloquium

Cahill, Hameetman Auditorium
Core-Collapse Supernovae in 3D: New Theoretical Insights
Adam Burrows, Professor, Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University,

Recent Publications

For a complete publications list, see feeds.library.caltech.edu