An international team of scientists from the LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA collaborations, including researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), has shown for the first time that gravitational waves, ripples in space and time produced by some of the most violent events in the Universe, such as the collision of two black holes, can be used to measure and correct the calibration of the detectors that observe them.
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.
At Mount Stromlo Observatory, researchers at the ANU will support the mission through a demonstration of their optical communications technology.
How black hole mergers are helping scientists calibrate the Universe’s most sensitive instruments
An international team of scientists from the LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA collaborations, including researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for…
Dancing dwarf galaxies predict our Milky Way's future
A collaborative survey involving the Australian National University (ANU), the University of Queensland, and others, has provided a more detailed…
iLAuNCH Trailblazer program and Rosella
The Rosella program, developed in partnership with home-grown and international industry groups, will deliver a quasi-commercial detector control…
Mt. Stromlo Public Astronomy Night 2026
Mount Stromlo Observatory in conjunction with the Canberra Astronomical Society invite you to attend our public observing nights of 2026. Come and see the craters of the moon, planets, and beautiful star clusters and nebulae. Object visibility will vary depending on the night.
Applications of optical instrumentation: using lasers beyond astronomy and into space exploration
Prof Francis BennetAstronomers have captured illustrations and images of the sky for centuries, underpinned by optical instruments that magnify the universe for our eyes. The same technologies and techniques now address a wider range of applications from monitoring satellites in orbit, to communicating at high speed with lasers including a recent high profile example with Artemis II. This presentation will explore how lenses, mirrors, and optical components are used today in space and astronomy science applications.