In 1768 the British Admiralty sent Captain James Cook to the Pacific to monitor the transit of the planet Venus across the Sun. On his way home to England, Cook mapped Australia’s east coast, and claimed New South Wales.
For about 40,000 years before that, the indigenous peoples of Australia had been developing remarkably sophisticated explanations of the workings of the Southern Sky.
And in the 20th Century, an independent Australia was at the forefront of radio astronomy, receiving the first signals from the Moon.
Today Australian astronomers continue to unravel the mysteries of the southern sky.
Stories of Australian Astronomy 2012 is a collection of stories of Australian astronomy from Science in Public.
Please feel free to follow up with any organisation whose work captures your interest.
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Please find below a contents page that links to the individual stories found in this publication.
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Contents
Our Universe is getting bigger, faster
- Our expanding Universe
- Galaxies point the way to dark energy
- Spinning galaxies reveal missing matter
- Ten times more galaxies
- Measuring the Universe from start to finish
Dreaming of the sky: Indigenous astronomy
Casting light: Optical astronomy
- From mapping a continent to surveying the Universe
- Mount Stromlo Observatory rising from the ashes
- Australian company brings the Universe within range
- SkyMapper’s 268-megapixel camera
- Keck telescope dons a mask
- Seeing a beach ball on the moon
- Bringing dark corners of the universe to light
- Starquakes reveal family secrets
- Sifting sky data
- Is the Red Rectangle a cosmic Rosetta Stone?
- The destruction of a star
The art of astronomy
Australian astronomers take on the Universe
Understanding our home: the Milky Way
- Our gas-guzzling galaxy
- Galactic archaeology— digging into the Milky Way’s past
- Profiling and fingerprinting the stars
- Stellar immigration
Planets
The search for other Earths
Inspiring the next generation
From Antarctica to the Outback
- Antarctica provides a clear view of the heavens
- Japanese spacecraft calls Australia home
- Alice Springs —gateway to the stars
Radio astronomy
- Radio astronomy’s rapid growth down under
- Recording the impact of a super-massive black hole
- Mega star nursery gives birth to new knowledge
- Supercomputers bring theory to life
- PlayStation graphics chips drive astronomy supercomputer
- Putting Einstein to the ultimate test
Looking forward to the Square Kilometre Array
- Big science tackling the big questions
- Australia’s SKA demonstrator already booked out
- Tracing cosmic rays from radio pulses
- Managing a data mountain
- Telescope of tiles
Credits
Stories of Australian Astronomy 2012 is part of the collection of stories of Australian science from Science in Public.
This collection could not have happened without the Australian Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Helen Sim from CSIRO/AAO and David Malin.
Our thanks go to:
- The Australian Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (DIISR) for their financial support.
- Helen Sim from CSIRO and the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO) for her guidance.
- David Malin for generously providing his remarkable images of the night sky.