Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA)

Recognized as an international player in this field, the team of Planetary Systems is focused on the characterization of Solar System atmospheres, detection of exoplanets and characterization of exoplanetary systems.

The research within this thematic line focus on the characterization of stars and stellar systems and on the exploration of new stellar physics, covering most phases of evolution for stars with a wide range of properties.

This IA team is participating or leading international efforts that are, literally, "shedding light" into our understanding of galaxy evolution throughout the history of the Universe, from the study of supermassive black holes to the interpretation of galaxies' radiative output.

The research within this thematic line focus on the study of early and late-time evolution of the Universe, including the evolution of galaxies and galaxy clusters and the assessment of cosmological paradigms using available and simulated data.

This team participates in the scientific and technical development for instrumentation and for space and ground systems, in the context of international consortia, ESO and ESA, national space agencies and areas of the Space program of the European Union Horizon 2020.

IA fosters the proximity between society and scientific research. We organize activities in schools and public spaces, exhibitions, planetarium sessions, astronomical observations, and monthly public events. IA is a member of the network of outreach partners organizations of the European Southern Observatory (ESO).