Astronomy & Astrophysics
About
The ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics operates Australia’s largest optical observatory and has access to the world’s largest optical telescopes.
Our staff and students have made major contributions to astronomy, mapping the structure and formation of the Milky Way, discovering planets orbiting other stars, measuring dark matter both within our Galaxy and in the wider Universe, and discovering the accelerating expansion of the Universe.
Our astronomers include winners of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science and the Nobel Prize.
At our administrative home at the Mount Stromlo Observatory we host the Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre which is a national facility established to support the development of the next generation of instruments for astronomy and space science.
Our research telescopes are situated in the ANU Siding Spring Observatory, located in the Warrumbungle region of New South Wales. The observatory began as a field station for the Mount Stromlo Observatory and has since become Australia’s premier optical and infrared observatory, housing the state-of-art SkyMapper telescope.
The University also has a ten per cent share in the Giant Megellan Telescope under construction in Chile. When completed, it will be the world’s most powerful telescope.
Facilities
The Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre (AITC) at the University’s Mount Stromlo Observatory is a world-class facility for the design, manufacturing, assembly, integration and testing of ground-based and space-based instruments, and small satellites.
The Centre for Advanced Microscopy (CAM) provides state-of-the art microscopy and microanalysis equipment to researchers, students and industry partners.
The Giant Magellan Telescope will be the world’s most powerful telescope, with a resolution ten times better than the Hubble Space Telescope.
The 348-hectare ANU Kioloa Coastal Campus is one of Australia’s premier field stations, offering a diverse ecology which encourages research across all scientific disciplines.
The ANU MakerSpace is an initiative by the Research School of Physics and Engineering, where we know people learn by doing.
The Mount Stromlo Observatory (MSO) is the headquarters of RSAA, located in Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory.
The National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) is home to the Southern Hemisphere’s most highly-integrated supercomputer and filesystems, Australia’s highest performance research cloud, and one of the nation’s largest data catalogues—all supported by an expert team.
The CPAS Podcast Studio is open to staff and students throughout ANU (not just scientists!) to record and grow podcast series. Your success is our success: we want to help you make the biggest and best podcast series in the world.
Our new $240-million science precinct on the ANU campus has state-of-the-art biological and chemical research laboratories, as well as a teaching hub.
Siding Spring Observatory, on the edge of the Warrumbungle National Park near Coonabarabran, NSW, is Australia's premier optical and infrared astronomical observatory.
SkyMapper is a state-of-the-art automated wide-field survey telescope that represents a new vehicle for scientific discovery.
News
ANU is partnering with NASA as it prepares to send astronauts back to the moon as part of the Artemis II mission – the space agency’s first crewed mission beyond Earth’s orbit in more than 50 years.
An opera singer, a vet and a winemaker walked onto a stage. It sounds like the start of a joke. Instead, what unfolded was a thoughtful discussion about curiosity, collaboration and the unpredictable path to scientific discovery.
A world-first discovery of binary stars could be the first step in building a more complete picture of how our galaxy formed.
One of the most powerful black holes in the universe is belching out gas at speeds of up to 10,000 kilometres per second, making its estimated mass more than 10 times lower than first thought.
The Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) honoured six astronomers at its Annual Scientific Meeting in Adelaide this week, including two ANU scientists.
In this collaborative project, researchers are working to develop future satellites for fire management by using traditional Indigenous knowledge and collaborating on remote sensing technology to help manage wildfires.