The Astrophysics Research Center of the Open university (ARCO) is a highly collaborative Research Center at the Open University of Israel (OUI), Ra’anana, Israel. ARCO consolidates the research interests of the physics faculty and staff members at the OUI. We work on a wide range of astrophysical and cosmological topics from planets via extreme stellar phenomena all the way to the global universe and its dominant forces. ARCO researchers work mainly on theoretical and data interpretation aspects of various astronomical problems. They are also members of several international collaborations and projects such as SKA, LOFAR, Swift, Fermi-LAT, CTA, ARIEL, PLATO.