Institute of Astronomy is a part of the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics of the Nicolaus Copernicus University. It is located at Piwnice, 15 km north of Toruń, Poland. The Institute was established in October 1st, 2019 in place of previous Centre for Astronomy (CfA). The Centre was created by merging Toruń Radio Astronomy Observatory (TRAO) with the Institute of Astronomy (IA) on January 1st 1997. Formerly Centre for Astronomy consisted of two departments: the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics and the Department of Radioastronomy.
The main instrument of the Institute of Astronomy of Nicolaus Copernicus University is a 32-metre radio telescope, a unique structure of this kind in Central-Eastern Europe. The telescope is a vital element of the European VLBI Network. Research groups at the Institute are involved in several international scientific and development projects. The major research activities are studies of quasars, radio galaxies, interstellar masers, solar and extra-solar planetary systems.