Hi, I'm Toby Brown.
I’m an astronomer at the Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre in Victoria, BC. My group's research investigates how internal and external processes combine to regulate the life cycle of nearby galaxies.
We specialize in analyzing very large multi-wavelength datasets from some of the world's most advanced telescopes. On the technical side, I guide the development of cutting-edge digital infrastructure for astronomy, with the goal of making making fundamental research more efficient and accessible for all.
If you are a prospective student or postdoc excited about these topics, I encourage you to get in touch—I’d love to hear from you!
Current Research
I lead the VERTICO Survey (Brown et al. 2021), a completed ALMA Cycle 7 Large Program that has mapped the molecular gas, as the raw fuel for star formation, in 51 Virgo Cluster galaxies with the aim of revealing the effects of environment on galaxies' gas content in unprecedented detail.
I am in the management group of MAUVE, a large program using the MUSE instrument on the Very Large Telescope. This project uses incredible data to understand the influence of the environment on the gas-star formation cycle of cluster galaxies during their infall.
Research at Herzberg
At the Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre, we conduct world-class research across a broad range of astrophysics. We have access to current and future premier facilities like SKA, CHORD, ALMA, Rubin Observatory, Gemini Observatory, Canada France Hawaii Telescope, and state-of-the-art labs. I am also part of the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre at Herzberg which provides world-leading data services and cloud computing.
We offer four regular postdoctoral fellowship programs, including the Plaskett Fellowship, Covington Fellowship, and Instrument Science Fellowship. Additionally, the NRC runs an annual open postdoctoral program. Interested in applying? Feel free to contact me.
I am the Project Scientist for the Square Kilometre Array Regional Centre Network (SRCNet), a massive international effort to design, develop and operate a distributed interoperable network of regional centres to support the science exploitation of the SKA data.
I also guide the development of the Canadian SKA Regional Centre, working to provide Canadian and international users with access to the SKA data. The establishment of this centre requires computing, network and storage infrastructure services two orders of magnitude more powerful than those currently existing in Canada.