Canada is a planetary leader when it comes to astronomy, according to an international academic rating agency.

Canadian researchers contributed to 4,836 astronomy research papers over the past 10 years, which, in turn, were cited in other studies 76,921 times, the Philadelphia-based Institute for Scientific Information reported this week.

The institute, which rates the quality and impact of scientific research worldwide by measuring the citation rate of research papers, released the results at the Canadian Astronomical Society annual meeting in Montreal.

Canadian scientists lead the world in exploring places like this, the Andromeda galaxy. (Courtesy: NASA)

Canada's overall citation rate of 15.91 was the highest of any country. In contrast, American astronomers averaged 15.18 citations per paper, English (not British) astronomers 14.85, and Russians 4.96 citations per paper.

"The fact that Canada ranks number 1 in citations is of no surprise to me," said Matt Mountain, director of the international Gemini Observatory, which has telescopes in Chile and Hawaii.

"Canadian astronomers are producing some of the best astronomy in the world, some of it right here at Gemini, and the instruments and software developed by Canadian teams are second to none," Mountain said.

Dr. Jaymie Matthews (Courtesy: University of British Columbia)

• FROM NOV. 10, 2000: Tiny telescope a Canadian achievement

Canadian scientists said it was because their university community encouraged interaction between theoretical and observational astronomers. Also, they had to focus their limited resources on the biggest bang for the buck.

"We invest in facilities and projects that build upon our existing strengths and then focus most of our research on the big scientific questions of our time," said Greg Fahlman, director general of the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Ottawa.

Researchers such as Richard Bond and Barth Netterfield at the University of Toronto, and Mark Halpern at the University of British Columbia are highly cited for work in the physics of the very early universe, the origin and evolution of cosmic structure, dark energy and dark matter.

Part of Canada's success in space can be found in MOST, a suitcase-sized orbiting telescope that is often called the Humble telescope because it cost just $10 million, a small amount when it comes to scientific instruments in space.

The telescope points at a star for a lengthy period to determine if its light is changing in intensity. These measurements can be used to determine the star's age and composition.

It recently turned its gaze to a planetary system where a giant close-in planet is forcing its parent star to rotate in lock-step with the planet's orbit.

"The interactions between the star and the giant planet in the tau Bootis system are unlike anything astronomers have seen before," said project chief Jaymie Matthews of the University of British Columbia.

"And they would be undetectable by any instrument on Earth or in space other than MOST."