Highlights from GAM 2015
As Global Astronomy Month draws to a close for another year I am really struck by how popular this event is across the world! Astronomy has always been one of the most popular areas of science, but it used to be less accessible as people had to physically go to observing sessions and talks to get involved. With the advent of the internet and in particular social media that has all changed. Astronomy has come onto the online world and is reaching more people than ever before. Now we can share photos we have taken, share stories of our observing...
The ACES up ASKAP's sleeve
In a post for the 2103 GAM Blog I described a new telescope, the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder ( ASKAP ), located at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory ( MRO ) in outback Western Australia. Operated by Australia's CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, ASKAP is one of the precursor telescopes for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), an international project to build the world's largest radio telescope. Image 1: Some of the ASKAP antennas. A Mark I PAF is visible in green atop the nearest antenna. Credit: Dragonfly Media Comprising 36 12m dish antennas, ASKAP is the first radio telescope designed...
The When and How of Astronomy Outreach
As I walked across a college campus several years ago, I overheard the following conversation: “What’s that bright star there?” “That’s not a star, I think that might be Venus.” “Naw, I thought Venus was pink!” There are many misconceptions about astronomy , some of them easy to address (I caught up to the students and explained yes, that was indeed Venus, and no, Venus wasn’t pink), and others more ingrained in our worldview. Correcting astronomy misconceptions reveals the universe in a new light, and that’s what makes astronomy education as fun as it is important. Grand Canyon Star Party...
Starting the era of the ground-based Mega Projects
Astronomers all over the world have a positive trait of working together to unravel the mysteries of the Universe. This is very good for the growth of knowledge. The increasing need for better observations of a certain kind causes Astronomy to have certain phases of growth. The past 3 decades saw a lot of advances in space-based technology & observations. While that continues, we are currently looking ahead to the next three decades which will see some of the most colossal fantasies of astronomers brought to life. We are now in the age of the Mega Projects! Megaprojects are the...
An Australian Space Policy
Australia is a user of space. We consume it. We've done so for a very long time and we are very good at it. There are some people (myself included) that really think Australia should take a few steps beyond this relationship we have with space, the international space industry and space based technologies. We have a lot people working on space in Australia and we are renowned worldwide for our contributions and ingenuity. This blog post is what I think an Australian space plan should look like. This plan has been developed to take the best ideas from the...
