Supporting early science from the Murchison Widefield Array - a Square Kilometre Array (SKA) pathfinder telescope. The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is likely to be the first operational pathfinder for the $2.5 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA) on one of the two candidate SKA sites - the Murchison Radioastronomy Observatory (MRO) in Western Australia. The MWA will therefore generate large volumes of scientific data before 2012, the expected date of the international decision that will dete ....Supporting early science from the Murchison Widefield Array - a Square Kilometre Array (SKA) pathfinder telescope. The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is likely to be the first operational pathfinder for the $2.5 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA) on one of the two candidate SKA sites - the Murchison Radioastronomy Observatory (MRO) in Western Australia. The MWA will therefore generate large volumes of scientific data before 2012, the expected date of the international decision that will determine whether Australia or South Africa is to host the SKA. The early science results from the MWA will showcase the excellence of the Australian site for radio astronomy and play a significant strategic role in Australia's bid to attract the SKA, as an international mega-science project to Australia, with its benefits to Australian science, industry and society.Read moreRead less
Supporting early science from the Murchison Widefield Array - a Square Kilometre Array (SKA) pathfinder telescope. The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is likely to be the first operational pathfinder for the $2.5 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA) on one of the two candidate SKA sites - the Murchison Radioastronomy Observatory (MRO) in Western Australia. The MWA will therefore generate large volumes of scientific data before 2012, the expected date of the international decision that will dete ....Supporting early science from the Murchison Widefield Array - a Square Kilometre Array (SKA) pathfinder telescope. The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is likely to be the first operational pathfinder for the $2.5 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA) on one of the two candidate SKA sites - the Murchison Radioastronomy Observatory (MRO) in Western Australia. The MWA will therefore generate large volumes of scientific data before 2012, the expected date of the international decision that will determine whether Australia or South Africa is to host the SKA. The early science results from the MWA will showcase the excellence of the Australian site for radio astronomy and play a significant strategic role in Australia's bid to attract the SKA, as an international mega-science project to Australia, with its benefits to Australian science, industry and society.Read moreRead less
Space science and astronomy: New eyes on old stars: Decoding late-stage stellar evolution. Planetary nebulae, the extended shrouds of dying stars, are a fascinating, brief period in the life of most stars. Our Sun will eventually go through this phase engulfing the earth. Planetary nebulae are unique celestial laboratories thanks to their rich emission line spectra. They are amongst the most beautiful and mysterious of objects, whose startling images act as a photogenic magnet for public interes ....Space science and astronomy: New eyes on old stars: Decoding late-stage stellar evolution. Planetary nebulae, the extended shrouds of dying stars, are a fascinating, brief period in the life of most stars. Our Sun will eventually go through this phase engulfing the earth. Planetary nebulae are unique celestial laboratories thanks to their rich emission line spectra. They are amongst the most beautiful and mysterious of objects, whose startling images act as a photogenic magnet for public interest. Behind their beauty hides the mystery of how stars return carbon, one of life's essential building blocks - to interstellar space. This project will constitute the next major breakthrough in understanding these processes and addresses several significant astrophysical problems in the field via unique Australian data and instrumentation.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE170100004
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$502,453.00
Summary
Semiconductor laser for adaptive optics in astronomy and space awareness. This project aims to create a laser system for use as a laser guide star. Semiconductor laser technology is a cost effective, highly reliable and compact alternative to expensive, inefficient, bulky laser systems. This laser has wide scientific appeal for research with telescopes in astronomy, and for satellite tracking and mitigation of the threat of space debris. Producing a sodium laser guide star in Australia is expect ....Semiconductor laser for adaptive optics in astronomy and space awareness. This project aims to create a laser system for use as a laser guide star. Semiconductor laser technology is a cost effective, highly reliable and compact alternative to expensive, inefficient, bulky laser systems. This laser has wide scientific appeal for research with telescopes in astronomy, and for satellite tracking and mitigation of the threat of space debris. Producing a sodium laser guide star in Australia is expected to secure the country's position as the premier provider of commercial-grade laser guide star adaptive optics systems for civil and defence telescopes around the world.Read moreRead less
Calibrating astronomical spectrographs to discover Earth-like planets. This project aims to develop a robust, ultra-precise calibration system that improves the precision of Doppler spectrographs by a factor of ten –sufficient to discover rocky planets. The holy grail of exoplanet research is the discovery of an Earth-like planet in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. The planet’s tug on its host star causes a periodic Doppler shift of the star’s spectrum which precision astronomical spectrog ....Calibrating astronomical spectrographs to discover Earth-like planets. This project aims to develop a robust, ultra-precise calibration system that improves the precision of Doppler spectrographs by a factor of ten –sufficient to discover rocky planets. The holy grail of exoplanet research is the discovery of an Earth-like planet in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. The planet’s tug on its host star causes a periodic Doppler shift of the star’s spectrum which precision astronomical spectrographs record. Detecting minute shifts from rocky planets needs better precision than the best spectrographs provide. This project expects to help to discover Earth twins, habitable worlds outside the Solar system.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160101585
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$388,463.00
Summary
Harnessing Astrophotonics and Adaptive Optics to Discover Habitable Planets. This project aims to improve spectrographic design in order to increase precision in astronomical research. The discovery of Earth's twin, a habitable world in another stellar system, is one of the most remarkable scientific endeavours of our time. The gravitational tug of the planet on its host star causes a periodic Doppler shift of the star’s spectrum which is recorded using spectrographs. The instrumental precision ....Harnessing Astrophotonics and Adaptive Optics to Discover Habitable Planets. This project aims to improve spectrographic design in order to increase precision in astronomical research. The discovery of Earth's twin, a habitable world in another stellar system, is one of the most remarkable scientific endeavours of our time. The gravitational tug of the planet on its host star causes a periodic Doppler shift of the star’s spectrum which is recorded using spectrographs. The instrumental precision required to detect an Earth-like planet is a few centimetres per second, significantly better than the best current spectrographs can provide. This project plans to combine novel technologies from adaptive optics and astrophotonics into an innovative spectrograph design that will improve Doppler precision by a factor of ten, sufficient to find planets.Read moreRead less