About KRIZ Observatory
Advancing astrophysics through democratized data access and processing infrastructure.
Our Mission
KRIZ Observatory was founded in 2019 with a singular purpose: democratize access to cutting-edge astrophysics data processing. We process and curate massive datasets from the world's leading telescopes and gravitational wave detectors, making this invaluable scientific data accessible to researchers worldwide.
By building open infrastructure and providing free access to processed data, we accelerate discoveries in gravitational physics, stellar dynamics, and the structure of the universe itself.
By The Numbers
Observatory Milestones
Observatory Founded
KRIZ Observatory established as joint initiative by University of Helsinki and EU Horizon Europe funding. First data center operational in Kumpula Campus.
First Gravitational Wave Data Release
Public release of processed LIGO/Virgo data. 50,000 classified gravitational wave events available for research.
GPU Infrastructure Scaling
Expanded to 2,400 GPU nodes across 3 data centers. Daily processing capacity reaches 2.3 PB/day.
Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration
Begin processing Event Horizon Telescope data for black hole imaging. Release first processed M87 observations.
Open Data Portal Launch
Public API and data portal go live. Researchers gain direct programmatic access to 847K public datasets.
Nordic Telescope Network Integration
Real-time data processing from 12 telescope networks. Daily throughput reaches 4.7 PB. 1.2M+ gravitational events catalogued.
Infrastructure Overview
Compute
2,400 NVIDIA A100 GPU nodes providing 2.4 exaflops peak processing power
Storage
50 PB distributed across 3 geographic regions with redundancy and disaster recovery
Network
100 Gbps backbone connectivity between data centers and international research networks
Data Centers
Helsinki (primary), Stockholm (backup), Copenhagen (disaster recovery)
Funding & Support
KRIZ Observatory is supported by:
- EU Horizon Europe Programme - Multi-year research infrastructure grants
- Academy of Finland - National research council funding
- European Space Agency (ESA) - Space observatory data partnership
- University of Helsinki - Host institution and operational support
- Nordic Research Council - Regional astrophysics infrastructure
Our Team
KRIZ Observatory is home to 60+ researchers, engineers, and support staff dedicated to advancing astrophysics: