The VUB Astronomy and Astrophysics department is involved in research at the forefront of the field.  We study the origins of cosmic rays, which tell us about the most energetic events in the universe (thousands of times more energy than man-made experiments can produce).  We observe and model radio galaxies with supermassive black holes at their centers.  We look for elusive dark matter by studying the movement of the gaseous components of galaxies.  Ground and space based telescopes are used to study matter ejected from dying stars, and we model the movements of young starts that have densities high enough to form black holes.