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.

Please find below a contents page that links to the individual stories found in this publication.

If you’d prefer to read these stories in print format, a PDF of the print version is also available.

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

• Nurturing super astronomers at home

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

• Defending the Earth against solar attack
• An amateur crashes onto the scene

The search for other Earths

• Doubling up pay dividends in exoplanet hunt
• Bringing undiscovered Earths into focus

Inspiring the next generation

• A star-studded education by remote control
• A student’s out-of-this­-world experience

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