ASTRI

astrisella-la-naveWithin the framework of the CTA international project, INAF is leading the ASTRI (Astrofisica con Specchi a Tecnologia Replicante Italiana) Project. The main goals of the project are the realization of an end-to-end prototype of the CTA small-size class of telescopes in a dual-mirror (SST-2M) Schwarzschild-Couder configuration and, in a second phase, the deployment of a mini-array composed of nine SST-2M telescopes, proposed to be placed at the selected CTA southern site in Chile.

CTA

cta

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) Project is a worldwide project aimed to build the next generation Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescope (IACT) devoted to reveal very high energy gamma-rays from astrophysical sources. CTA will be able to explore the Universe between 10 GeV up to hundreds of TeV.

 

 

ATHENA

athena_logoAthena (Advanced Telescope for High ENergy Astrophysics) is the future large-class X-ray Observatory selected by ESA to study the Hot and Energetic Universe. It is due for launch in 2028.

 

 

 

NuSTAR

nustar_iconThe NUclear Spectroscopic Telescope ARray (NuSTAR) mission is a NASA Explorer launched in 2012. It is the first hard X-ray focusing satellite. For this reason is hundreds of times more sensitive than previous hard X-ray missions. By operating in the energy range 3-79 keV  it also extends the spectral coverage of low energy missions by ten times. It therefore complements in many ways all the major X-ray observatories such as XMM, Chandra, INTEGRAL and Swift in the exploration of the energetic Universe.

 

VISSH

WISSHnewlogoThe WISE/SDSS-selected hyper-luminous quasar (WISSH) survey is an extensive multi-band observing program (from millimeter wavelengths to hard X-rays) to investigate the role of nuclear activity in SMBH-galaxy self-regulated growth via extended outflows.

 

JEDI

oar-defaultThe JEDI collaboration collects researchers of the Italian  Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) working in the field of proto-planetary disks and jets in young stars. The group involves seven INAF structures (OAROAAOANaOACt, OAPa, OATo and OAPd) as well as italian researchers from the University of Milan and European Institutions (ESO-ESA). Its aim is to bring together complementary observational and theoretical competences available within the italian community, in order to tackle the topic of the evolution of circumstellar disks, from the proto-stellar phase to the formation of proto-planetary systems.

 

GRAWITA

oar-defaultGRAWITA projects the INAF –OAR in the Multi-messenger Era. The present research group is committed to taking part in the search and the study of photon-messengers (i.e. electromagnetic) counterparts of the gravitational messengers (i.e. gravitational wave) events by using different observational facilities.

 

FIRST

oar-defaultFIRST is a five-year project funded by the European Research Council with a Starting Grant for frontier research. The project has the goal of investigating the nature and properties of the first stars and galaxies. It exploits synergies between observational cosmology, galaxy formation and stellar evolution. The two main scientific objectives are to: Understand the evolution of the first metals and dust and their role in setting the characteristic masses of stars and seed black holes; Assess the properties of the first galaxies and quasars.

VUDS

oar-defaultThe VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey (VUDS) is a spectroscopic redshift survey of ~10.000 very faint galaxies to study the major phase of galaxy assembly 2 < z ≲ 6. The survey covers 1 deg2 in 3 separate fields: COSMOS, ECDFS, and VVDS-02h. Spectra covering 3650 < λ < 9350 Å are obtained with VIMOS on the ESO-VLT with integration times of 14h. The redshift distribution of the main sample peaks at z=3-4 and extends over a large redshift range mainly in 2 < z < 6. This survey is the largest at these redshifts and offers the opportunity for unprecedented studies of the star-forming galaxy population and its distribution in large scale structures during the major phase of galaxy assembly.

VANDELS

oar-defaultVANDELS is a deep VLT spectroscopic survey of high-redshift galaxies with the VIMOS spectrograph. It is designed to exploit the multi-wavelength imaging and near-IR grism spectroscopy available in the CANDELS UDS and CDFS fields. The goal is to obtain spectra with high enough Signal-to-noise to derive metallicities and velocity offsets from absorption and emission lines, allowing a detailed investigation of the physics of galaxies in the early Universe.

GAIA

oar-defaultThe ESA-GAIA satellite has been launched in December of 2013. His ambitious task is to obtain a catalogue of about one billion of stars of our Galaxy (and also of some other peculiar objects such as supernovae, quasar, asteroids, and so no…), featuring also radial velocities. It can be regarded as a very ambitious project of galactic cartography, and it will have deep implications on our knowledge of the specific modalities of formation and evolution of a big and complex galaxy like the Milky Way.