Gamma-ray burst astronomy in the Swift era and beyond. The study of gamma-ray bursts is one of the most active and exciting fields in astrophysics, and touches on subjects that are of interest to all humans: e.g., to what extent was life on Earth shaped by cataclysmic explosions in our Galaxy? Australia's ROTSE-III telescope is the only facility in the southern hemisphere capable of rapidly (within 10 seconds) finding optical light from gamma-ray bursts. It will provide Australian astronomers ....Gamma-ray burst astronomy in the Swift era and beyond. The study of gamma-ray bursts is one of the most active and exciting fields in astrophysics, and touches on subjects that are of interest to all humans: e.g., to what extent was life on Earth shaped by cataclysmic explosions in our Galaxy? Australia's ROTSE-III telescope is the only facility in the southern hemisphere capable of rapidly (within 10 seconds) finding optical light from gamma-ray bursts. It will provide Australian astronomers with a competitive advantage in this high-profile field. The project will involve and inspire some of our best physics and engineering students.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0775546
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$370,000.00
Summary
Construction of the blue-arm of the ANU 2.3m telescope Wide-Field Spectrograph. The new blue and red arms of the WiFeS spectrograph on the SSO 2.3m telescope utilizes new optical techniques and advances in detector technology to provide unique capabilities for front-line research and student training. The novel integral field units on WiFeS extract spectra across the face of faint, distant galaxies enabling the dynamics of the stellar and gas content to be analysed in unprecedented detail. Anoth ....Construction of the blue-arm of the ANU 2.3m telescope Wide-Field Spectrograph. The new blue and red arms of the WiFeS spectrograph on the SSO 2.3m telescope utilizes new optical techniques and advances in detector technology to provide unique capabilities for front-line research and student training. The novel integral field units on WiFeS extract spectra across the face of faint, distant galaxies enabling the dynamics of the stellar and gas content to be analysed in unprecedented detail. Another important project will be to follow-up interesting objects discovered by the new SkyMapper telescope and establish those that need to be observed on 8 m telescopes such as Gemini, Magellan or VLT. Read moreRead less
Star Formation at Millimetre Wavelengths with the CSIRO Australia Telescope. The newly-upgraded CSIRO Australia Telescope Compact Array, together with the CSIRO Mopra Telescope, provide a unique and powerful combination for studying the millimetre-wave emission from molecules and cold dust in star formation regions. We propose to combine the astrophysical expertise of UNSW with the instrumental expertise of CSIRO to use these instruments to study the processes of star formation. There are two pa ....Star Formation at Millimetre Wavelengths with the CSIRO Australia Telescope. The newly-upgraded CSIRO Australia Telescope Compact Array, together with the CSIRO Mopra Telescope, provide a unique and powerful combination for studying the millimetre-wave emission from molecules and cold dust in star formation regions. We propose to combine the astrophysical expertise of UNSW with the instrumental expertise of CSIRO to use these instruments to study the processes of star formation. There are two parallel themes to this research: to commission and develop optimal techniques for using the new instruments, and to make use of them to explore the poorly-understood processes that cause stars to form.Read moreRead less
The Origin and Evolution of Cosmic Magnetism. This research will significantly advance our understanding of structure and evolution in the Universe, in keeping with Australia's outstanding track record of astronomical discovery. This program will also train students and build research capacity in the frontier area of X-ray astronomy, in which Australia currently has limited expertise. The instrumentation and techniques to be developed will lead to innovative transfers of technology to fields su ....The Origin and Evolution of Cosmic Magnetism. This research will significantly advance our understanding of structure and evolution in the Universe, in keeping with Australia's outstanding track record of astronomical discovery. This program will also train students and build research capacity in the frontier area of X-ray astronomy, in which Australia currently has limited expertise. The instrumentation and techniques to be developed will lead to innovative transfers of technology to fields such as telecommunications and medical imaging. These new facilities will also serve as vital stepping stones to the Square Kilometre Array, a billion-dollar international project which promises enormous economic, engineering and scientific opportunities for Australia.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0347403
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$222,000.00
Summary
An ultra-wideband digital filterbank for the Mopra Radiotelescope. We seek funding to equip the Mopra radiotelescope with an ultra-wide-bandwidth digital filter bank. This will greatly improve the efficiency of the observatory, increasing the speed at which spectroscopic data is acquired by a factor of 8, and the speed of acquiring continuum data by a factor of 32. Once equipped in this way, Mopra, which is already the largest millimetre-wave radiotelescope in the southern hemisphere, will enjo ....An ultra-wideband digital filterbank for the Mopra Radiotelescope. We seek funding to equip the Mopra radiotelescope with an ultra-wide-bandwidth digital filter bank. This will greatly improve the efficiency of the observatory, increasing the speed at which spectroscopic data is acquired by a factor of 8, and the speed of acquiring continuum data by a factor of 32. Once equipped in this way, Mopra, which is already the largest millimetre-wave radiotelescope in the southern hemisphere, will enjoy an unbeatable edge over all other competing observatories around the world through its combination of collecting area and bandpass.Read moreRead less
ARENA: Antarctic Research, a European Network for Astronomy. With compelling evidence now growing that the world's best astronomical observing sites for optical/infrared astronomy are located on the high plateau of Australia's Antarctic Territory, a race is underway to establish the first major observing facilities there. The European Union have recently funded a network of 20 leading research institutes to coordinate the development of enabling technologies and astronomical programs in Antarct ....ARENA: Antarctic Research, a European Network for Astronomy. With compelling evidence now growing that the world's best astronomical observing sites for optical/infrared astronomy are located on the high plateau of Australia's Antarctic Territory, a race is underway to establish the first major observing facilities there. The European Union have recently funded a network of 20 leading research institutes to coordinate the development of enabling technologies and astronomical programs in Antarctica, with a view to constructing a so-called 'Great Observatory'. Australia's participation in this network ensures continued technology exchange and builds our knowledge base in robotics, harsh-environment engineering and computational fluid dynamics, while creating important new astronomical opportunities.Read moreRead less
ARENA: Antarctic Research, a European Network for Astronomy. With compelling evidence that the world's best astronomical observing sites for optical/infrared astronomy are located on the high plateau of Australia's Antarctic Territory, efforts are underway to establish the first major observing facilities there. The European Union has recently funded a network of 20 leading research institutes to coordinate the development of enabling technologies and astronomical programs in Antarctica, with a ....ARENA: Antarctic Research, a European Network for Astronomy. With compelling evidence that the world's best astronomical observing sites for optical/infrared astronomy are located on the high plateau of Australia's Antarctic Territory, efforts are underway to establish the first major observing facilities there. The European Union has recently funded a network of 20 leading research institutes to coordinate the development of enabling technologies and astronomical programs in Antarctica, with a view to constructing a so-called 'Great Observatory'. Australia's participation in this network ensures continued technology exchange and builds our knowledge base in robotics, harsh-environment engineering and computational fluid dynamics, while creating important new astronomical opportunities.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0228799
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,602,000.00
Summary
Australian Membership of the International Gemini Partnership. The International Gemini Partnership is an intergovernmental consortium formed to construct and operate two 8-metre optical/infrared telescopes, one in Chile, and the other in Hawaii. Australia joined the IGP in May 1998, taking approximately 5% of the partnership. The Gemini telescopes have been carefully engineered to exploit the superb atmospheric conditions at both sites, allowing users to address key astronomical problems in way ....Australian Membership of the International Gemini Partnership. The International Gemini Partnership is an intergovernmental consortium formed to construct and operate two 8-metre optical/infrared telescopes, one in Chile, and the other in Hawaii. Australia joined the IGP in May 1998, taking approximately 5% of the partnership. The Gemini telescopes have been carefully engineered to exploit the superb atmospheric conditions at both sites, allowing users to address key astronomical problems in ways not previously possible. Through membership of Gemini, Australian astronomers have access to the world-class facilities necessary to maintain their high international profile and great public visibility in Galactic and extragalactic astronomy, and also to enhance the national capacity to construct advanced scientific instrumentation. Australia has already won a contract to build one of the instruments.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0453817
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,849,438.00
Summary
Australian Membership of the International Gemini Partnership. The International Gemini Partnership is an intergovernmental consortium formed to build and operate two 8-metre optical/infrared telescopes, one in Chile and the other in Hawaii. Australia joined the IGP in May 1998, taking approximately 5% of the partnership. The Gemini telescopes have been carefully engineered to exploit the superb atmospheric conditions at both sites, allowing users to address key astronomical problems in ways not ....Australian Membership of the International Gemini Partnership. The International Gemini Partnership is an intergovernmental consortium formed to build and operate two 8-metre optical/infrared telescopes, one in Chile and the other in Hawaii. Australia joined the IGP in May 1998, taking approximately 5% of the partnership. The Gemini telescopes have been carefully engineered to exploit the superb atmospheric conditions at both sites, allowing users to address key astronomical problems in ways not previously possible. Through membership of Gemini, Australian astronomers have access to the world-class facilities necessary to maintain their high international profile and the great public visibility in Galactic and extragalactic astronomy, and also to enhance the national capacity to
construct advanced scientific instrumentation. Australia is currently building one of the instruments.
Note: in A7.1 GAMS incorrectly forces integer days/month. In full operation Australian astronomers will receive approximately 25 nights per year.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0560761
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,458,000.00
Summary
Australian Membership of the International Gemini Partnership. The International Gemini Partnership is an intergovernmental consortium that operates two 8-metre optical/infrared telescopes, in Chile and Hawaii. Australia joined the IGP in 1998, with 4.76% of the partnership. The Gemini telescopes have been carefully engineered to exploit the superb atmospheric conditions at both sites, allowing users to address key astronomical problems in ways not previously possible. Through membership of Gemi ....Australian Membership of the International Gemini Partnership. The International Gemini Partnership is an intergovernmental consortium that operates two 8-metre optical/infrared telescopes, in Chile and Hawaii. Australia joined the IGP in 1998, with 4.76% of the partnership. The Gemini telescopes have been carefully engineered to exploit the superb atmospheric conditions at both sites, allowing users to address key astronomical problems in ways not previously possible. Through membership of Gemini, Australian astronomers have access to the world-class facilities necessary to maintain their high international profile, and also to enhance the national capacity to construct advanced scientific instrumentation. Australian institutions are currently building two new instruments.Read moreRead less