About the Institute

Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic is the foremost astronomy organization and one of the oldest scientific institutions in the country. Its major part is located in the village Ondřejov southeast from Prague, where it operates the largest Czech optical telescope and a number of other instruments. The Institute employs about 70 scientists plus a dozen of PhD students. Ondřejov Observatory represents a research campus with its own facilities such as a cafeteria, apartment houses for stuff and short term accommodation for visitors A separate worksite is located in Prague that resides in a building within an academic campus at Spořilov.

Following its long history nowadays the Astronomical Institute emerges as a modern public research organization which is involved in a rich set of international projects in Europe and worldwide. On the national level the Institute carries out the major part of research in astronomy and astrophysics in the Czech Republic. During the recent two decades the international collaboration of the Institute has been greatly expanded and it currently represents a significant part of its research activities, including a close cooperation with European Southern Observatory (ESO), European Space Agency (ESA), International Astronomical Union (IAU) and other profesional organizations.

Research

The research conducted at the Institute covers a wide range of topics; from the immediate environs of the Earth to distant galaxies and black holes in their cores. The research activities are carried out in four scientific departments:

• Department of Solar Physics
  (physics of flares and prominances, structure and dynamics of solar atmosphere, heliosphere and space weather)
• Department of Stellar Physics
  (physics of hot stars, high-enegry physics)
• Department of Interplanetary Matter
  (asteroids, meteor physics)
• Department of Galaxies and Planetary Systems
  (astrophysics of galaxies, relativistic astrophysics, planetary systems)

Our researches frequently publish in high impact scientific journals. About two thirds of all our impact papers are published in the most renowned astronomical journals like Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Astrophysical Journal and Monthly Notices, and the remaining one third in other more specialized journals. Over the past years, the Institute had over 90 papers published in impact journals per year, few more dozens in conference proceedings, and about the same amount of other publications in bulletins and other astronomical periodicals.