SpaceAustralia.com

17/10/2024

NASA’s latest audacious planetary mission, Europa Clipper, has launched and started its five-and-a-half-year journey to the Jovian system. The target of this mission is the small, icy moon Europa, a world that offers a tantalising possibility that it may be habitable.

Dr Helen Maynard-Casely examines the path that led to the agency’s largest interplanetary spacecraft to date, and how insights from four historical missions built the case for studying this moon in particular.

https://www.spaceaustralia.com/news/europa-clipper-sailing-new-discoveries-habitability



📸 New Horizons/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

21/09/2024

Last week, Larryn Rae’s spectacular shot of the red aurora took out the best in category at the Astronomy Photography of the Year awards (hosted by the Royal Observatory Greenwich) - a first for Aurora Australis which is seen from the southern hemisphere.

Dr Helen Maynard-Casely writes for , delving into how our planet's magnetic field and atmosphere, interact with the solar wind to produce these beautiful curtains of light.

https://www.spaceaustralia.com/news/aurora-australis-has-its-moment

08/09/2024

The rapidly growing market of smart telescopes are leading the way in making more accessible and interesting to wider audiences.

Rami Mandow compared the Seestar S50 to the more traditional setup, finding that it's great value for money as an entry-level telescope.

https://www.spaceaustralia.com/news/democratising-astrophotograpy-seestar-s50



📸 R. Mandow

29/08/2024

Something fun that everyone can have a go at - see your name in satellite images, captured by Landsat. These can make a handy banner on your social media accounts.

Make yours here: https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/apps/YourNameInLandsat-main/

Or are you looking for something beyond our atmosphere? Well, you can also write your name using galaxies using this tool: https://writing.galaxyzoo.org/

Have fun!

14/08/2024

30/07/2024

Have you got clear, dark skies? You're in for a double astro treat!

The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted a minor geomagnetic storm, which means southern locations in Australia (like southern WA, Vic and Tas) and NZ might have some opportunity to see the Aurora Australis tonight.

On top of this, we're in the midst of two annual re-occuring meteor showers. Check out this article that Prof. Jonti Horne from the University of Southern Queensland - Australia and Dr Tanya Hill put together a little while back for - it covers all the meteor showers we get per year.

Bonus points to astrophotographers who score a photo featuring both aurora and meteors - tag us, and we'll signal boost them!

https://www.spaceaustralia.com/index.php/news/ultimate-sky-guide-catching-meteors-your-backyard-2022

Photo credits:
Jeff Sullivan/Flickr
Caroline Jones/Flickr

29/07/2024

Did you see today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD)?

Our beautiful Uluru, nestled under the Milky Way, which sits high in our souther skies during our winter months. The patches and bubbles of bright red light is hydrogen that is ionised by UV light from localised massive stars.

Uluru is about the height of the Eiffel Tower and sacred to the Pitjantjatjara, the Aboriginal people of the area, known as the Aṉangu. It is one of Australia's most iconic, and remarkable landmarks.

📷 Max Inwood

16/07/2024

Astronomers: Omega Centauri - a massive globular cluster orbiting our Galaxy - likely has a 20,000 solar mass black hole in its core.

The globular cluster, which contains approx. 10 million stars is thought to be the remnant core of a former dwarf galaxy, now cannibalised by the Milky Way.

These new findings might provide the 'missing link' between stellar-mass black holes and supermassive black holes.

Rami Mandow spoke with The University of Queensland Dr Holger Baumgardt who played a direct role in providing the theoretical modelling and investigations into the stellar velocities around the monster black hole.

https://www.spaceaustralia.com/news/omega-centurais-monster-black-hole

📷 ESO / ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Häberle (MPIA)

14/07/2024

Australian astronomers working in the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array team, have used Murriyang (CSIRO Parkes radio telescope) data to make the most precise measurements of the nearest millisecond pulsar to Earth.

This new study, led by Dr Daniel Reardon from Swinburne University of Technology , provided these findings and data to researchers using the NICER X-ray telescope aboard the International Space Station to help further constrain the mass, radius and equations of state of matter of the brightest millisecond pulsar in the sky.

Rami Mandow outlines the results: https://www.spaceaustralia.com/feature/closing-earths-closest-millisecond-pulsar

📷 Carl Knox / OzGrav - ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery

06/06/2024

Are astronomers on the brink of discovering a new celestial object?

Recently, astronomers have been discovering an emerging population of astrophysical objects that resemble neutron stars, but with longer rotation periods. This unique population is challenging our understanding of how these objects form and how they emit radiation.

Rami Mandow spoke with this new paper’s lead author, Dr Manisha Caleb from the University of Sydney, about this exciting discovery, which was first found using CSIRO's ASKAP telescope.

https://www.spaceaustralia.com/feature/population-strange-slow-rotating-astrophysical-objects-grows



📸 Carl Knox/OzGrav - ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery

04/06/2024

Fantastic new research from Macquarie University Faculty of Science and Engineering PhD student Sarah Caddy has shown that bright stars can be observed during daylight hours, as well as tracking Earth's satellites - including the bright variable red supergiant Betelgeuse, as well as the orbiting International Space Station.

Rami Mandow spoke with Sarah about this exciting work and the possibilities it has for both astronomy and space situational awareness.

https://www.spaceaustralia.com/news/seeing-stars-day



📸 Caddy et al. 2024

31/05/2024

Aussie astronomers have used Murriyang (Parkes radio telescope) to confirm the closest millisecond pulsar to the Galactic Centre!

Rami Mandow spoke with CSIRO astronomer, and lead author, Marcus Lower about this this exciting new science.

https://www.spaceaustralia.com/news/millisecond-pulsar-lurking-galactic-centre



📸 Heywood et al. / R. Mandow

26/05/2024

The black hole that ate its own star.

A new paper reports that VFTS 243, a massive binary system featuring an O-class star and a 10 solar-mass black hole companion, might have formed through the 'complete collapse scenario'.

https://www.spaceaustralia.com/news/black-holes-eat-their-own-stars by Rami Mandow

📸 ESO / l. Calçada

21/05/2024

We often consider space exploration in the context of science and industry. However, equally as important is the perspective of the humanities.

A new book - Only The Astronauts - written by Australian Museum Eureka Award winner for science writing and Research Fellow at Macquarie University, Ceridwen Dovey, gives a unique and fascinating perspective into humanities space exploration by lending voice to our iconic—and sometimes contentious — inanimate objects, which have been sent to the stars.

Rami Mandow had a chat with Dovey about her innovative blend of fiction, humanities, and the history of space exploration in this endearing work.

https://www.spaceaustralia.com/news/only-astronauts-interview-ceridwen-dovey

16/01/2024

Australian astronomers, led by a team from ICRAR have used radio waves collected with 's ATCA to look deep into the heart of the Globular Cluster 47 Tucanae & found an undiscovered radio source.

The newly found radio source could potentially be the first evidence of an intermediate-mass black hole in the core of a Globular Cluster, or a pulsar that is real close to the centre.
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Rami Mandow writes how both these cases could lead to exciting new science!

https://www.spaceaustralia.com/news/radio-source-heart-47-tuc

📸 Paduano et al & NASA/ESA Hubble�

20/09/2023

Did you know that images from the JWST are available to the public within days of being acquired by the space-based observatory out in space? And that you can easily download and process these images with no technical experience required?

Rami Mandow wrote a step-by-step guide on how to do this, including what you'll need, what to expect and how to get started. Here are a few that he processed!

This would make an excellent activity not just for folks at home, but also for teachers and educators - get the class to learn about processing JWST data, the different instruments used on the telescope and the electromagnetic spectrum in a hands-on experience.

Happy processing!

https://www.spaceaustralia.com/news/process-your-own-jwst-images-home

📸 JWST/ESA/NASA/STScI teams/R. Mandow

06/09/2023

Researchers recently published a shocking statistic about the Australian education science curricula for grades 11/12 - a clear bias in the gender representation of scientists with only one female scientist listed.

Dr Shanika Galaudage, a co-author of the study, comments on the key findings and talks about these results and the importance of the IncludeHer movement.

https://www.spaceaustralia.com/opinions/its-2023-and-its-about-time-we-include-her

13/07/2023

A star that's cooler than a camp fire?!

Astronomers have detected the coldest brown dwarf ever found to produce radio waves using CSIRO’s ASKAP. The study was led by our very own Kovi Rose, a PhD student at the University of Sydney

The team used the radio emission to measure the rotation period and the strength of the magnetic field of this brown dwarf.

And this is just the beginning!

Astronomers expect to find emission like this from even cooler type stars in future surveys with ASKAP and SKA observatory.

Find out more in our article:

https://www.spaceaustralia.com/news/astronomers-detect-coldest-brown-dwarf-ever-found-emit-radio-waves by Kovi Rose



📷 C. Carter / G. Hallinan / P. Donn