28 December 2000

'RED DOTS' MAY RE-WRITE THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE

The earliest stars of the Universe may be much older than previously thought following the discovery of the strongest evidence for an entirely new kind of galaxy by scientists using CSIRO's Australia Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope.

"We think they are galaxies that are absolutely fizzing with star formation - a sort of huge stellar baby-boom," says CSIRO's Professor Ray Norris, leader of the Australia Telescope observing team.

"They seem to be a hundred times more active than even the most frenzied star-forming galaxy in today's Universe - the kind of galaxy we call 'starburst'," he says.

Contacts:

Prof. Ray Norris, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility
Email: Ray.Norris@atnf.csiro.au

Dr Brian Boyle, Director, Anglo-Australian Observatory
Email: director@aaoepp.aao.gov.au

Ms Helen Sim, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility
Email: Helen.Sim@atnf.csiro.au

8 December 2000

"FIRST LIGHT" FOR UPGRADED AUSTRALIA TELESCOPE

New world-leading technology has made CSIRO's Australia Telescope the first radio telescope in the Southern Hemisphere able to make detailed pictures of evolving galaxies and the birthplaces of young stars.

Installed and tested last week, it makes the radio telescope the first millimetre-wave 'interferometer' in the Southern Hemisphere and the first anywhere with this technology.

At the heart of the system is a new chip made of the exotic material indium phosphide, cooled to 20 K (-253 degr Celsius).

The upgrading of the Australia Telescope to work at millimetre wavelengths is funded by the Federal Government under its Major National Research Facilities (MNRF) Program, and by CSIRO.

Astronomers in the Southern Hemisphere have a ringside seat looking straight into the centre of our own Galaxy and at the two nearest galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds.

Contacts:

Prof. Ray Norris, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility
Email: Ray.Norris@atnf.csiro.au

Mr John Brooks, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility
Email: John.Brooks@atnf.csiro.au

Dr Dave McConnell, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility
Email: dmcconne@atnf.csiro.au

Dr Warwick Wilson, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility
Email: wwilson@atnf.csiro.au

Mr Malcolm Sinclair, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility
Email: msinclai@atnf.csiro.au

Dr Alan Young, CSIRO Telecommunications and Industrial Physics
Email: Alan.Young@tip.csiro.au

12 October 2000

APOLLO AND THE DISH DOWN UNDER

The new feature film, "The Dish" produced by the makers of the hit film "The Castle", is a dramatisation of events at the CSIRO Parkes telescope in the five days leading up to the historic "giant leap for mankind". The film highlights the Australian contribution to the Apollo 11 mission and pays tribute to Australian engineers and scientists.

The 64-m Parkes radio telescope in western New South Wales was opened in 1961 as a National Astronomical Observatory for radio observations of the southern sky. The telescope, one of the largest dishes in the world, was able to provide an essential support role to NASA as a tracking station for the Apollo 11 to Apollo 17 manned flights to the moon between 1969 and 1972.

Contacts:

Prof. Ron Ekers, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility
Email: Ron.Ekers@atnf.csiro.au

Mr. Julian Cribb, CSIRO National Awareness
Email: Julian.Cribb@nap.csiro.au

12 October 2000

THE DISH IN THE PADDOCK AT PARKES

In the newly-released feature film, "The Dish" the Prime Minister asks "what's that Dish doing in the middle of a sheep paddock?"

The CSIRO Parkes radio telescope in western New South Wales was opened as a National Astronomical Observatory in 1961. Since then it has maintained its world-class position as a state-of-the-art instrument for radio astronomy observations of the southern sky. Here we provide some background information on why the Parkes telescope was built and on some of its major scientific achievements.

Contacts:

Prof. Ron Ekers, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility
Email: Ron.Ekers@atnf.csiro.au

Mr. Julian Cribb, CSIRO National Awareness
Email: Julian.Cribb@nap.csiro.au

17 August 2000

AUSTRALIAN TO HEAD WORLD's TOP ASTRONOMY BODY

An Australian will be the next holder of the world's top job in astronomy.

Professor Ron Ekers, a radio astronomer who heads CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), has been voted in as the president-elect of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

Professor Ekers had his new role confirmed yesterday at the final meeting of the General Assembly of the IAU in Manchester, England. He will take-up the position of president at the next General Assembly, which will be held in Sydney in 2003.

Lawrence Cram, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Sydney, says that this is the highest distinction that can be given to an astronomer.

"It is a fantastic achievement. Not only for Ron himself, but also for Australia," Professor Cram says.

20 June 2000

ASTRONOMERS WIN PROTECTION FOR KEY PART OF RADIO SPECTRUM

Astronomers using the millimetre-wave region of the radio spectrum have negotiated crucial protection for their science.

Large slices of the millimetre-wavelength band have been allocated to radio astronomy by the 2,500 delegates to the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-00), which recently concluded a month of deliberations in Istanbul, Turkey. The meeting was run by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

24 May 2000

ASTRONOMERS WIPE CLEAN THEIR COSMIC WINDOW

An Australian-led team of 30 astronomers from four countries has used CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope to make the first picture of the sky in which the Milky Way - the stars and dust of our own Galaxy - no longer blocks our view of the Universe beyond.

The picture will be presented today at an international astronomy meeting in Socorro, New Mexico.

The research helps astronomers understand how much normal (baryonic) matter the nearby Universe contains and how it is distributed. Key findings include large numbers of small and faint galaxies, and giant clouds of gas that give off no light.

The picture presented: bright galaxies and gas clouds detected by the HIPASS survey, out to a distance of approximately 150 million light-years. The area covered is the whole southern sky, from the south pole (bottom) to the celestial equator (top). Lying in strings and sheets, the galaxies do not fill space uniformly but leave large empty 'voids'. the colours indicate different velocity ranges, which in most cases indicate how far away the galaxies are. Image: B.S. Koribalski and the HIPASS team/CSIRO ATNF.