Losing access to the stars<\/p>\n
The report comes as Australia faces a decision about its future access to some of the world\u2019s most advanced astronomical facilities.<\/p>\n
Australia currently\u00a0participates\u00a0in the European Southern Observatory (ESO) through a strategic partnership that began in\u00a0mid-2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The organisation\u00a0operates\u00a0several major\u00a0telescopes\u00a0in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert,\u00a0one of\u00a0the\u00a0best locations\u00a0on Earth for\u00a0optical\u00a0astronomy thanks to its high altitude and dry air.<\/p>\n
The partnership allows Australian researchers to apply for\u00a0observing\u00a0time on facilities including the Very Large Telescope\u00a0(VLT), an array of four eight-metre telescopes capable of\u00a0observing\u00a0extremely faint objects in the distant universe.<\/p>\n
But the agreement is due to expire in\u00a02027\u00a0and no decision has been made to support Australian optical astronomy once it has ended.<\/p>\n
Australia has been invited to apply for full membership of ESO, which would secure long-term access to its telescopes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce our strategic partnership ends, we\u2019ll lose access to those fantastic facilities,\u201d\u00a0Professor Brough says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
ESO membership would also give Australian astronomers access to the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) under construction in Chile, which will be the largest optical and infrared telescope ever built when it is completed next year.<\/p>\n
With a mirror 39 metres in diameter, the ELT will allow astronomers to\u00a0observe\u00a0galaxies forming near the beginning of the universe and study the atmospheres of planets orbiting distant stars.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith a larger telescope you can see further away, closer to the beginning of the universe,\u201d Prof. Brough says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat lets us study how the earliest galaxies formed and\u00a0evolved, and\u00a0understand how planetary systems like our own formed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Without full ESO membership, Australia will not get access to the Extremely Large Telescope.<\/p>\n
Australia is helping build\u00a0the Square Kilometre Array\u00a0(SKA)\u00a0in the remote deserts\u00a0of Western Australia\u00a0and South Africa, a multibillion-dollar\u00a0global\u00a0project that will be the largest radio telescope ever\u00a0built when it starts\u00a0operating\u00a0next year.<\/p>\n
As a radio telescope, the SKA is designed to\u00a0observe\u00a0gas in the universe,\u00a0while\u00a0the ELT is an optical telescope designed to see the stars.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Professor Brough says the two projects were planned to\u00a0complement\u00a0each other, and if Australian scientists lose access to the ELT, their research will become a lot harder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But, she says, together these facilities would allow Australian scientists to conduct the most advanced astronomy for decades to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need both to do our science,\u201d says Professor Brough.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u00a0don\u2019t get access,\u00a0we could end up sitting in the dark while the rest of the world moves ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, we\u2019re world leaders in the science.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut without access to\u00a0cutting-edge\u00a0facilities it really limits our future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Membership fees amount to about $40 million per year either in cash or in-kind support, such as cutting edge\u00a0instruments and engineering\u00a0assistance.<\/p>\n
That ‘in-kind support’ has historically led to a boon for local Australian businesses working in high-tech and precision engineering fields related to the project.<\/p>\n
Professor Brough says the federal government is considering a proposal by ESO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Losing access to the stars The report comes as Australia faces a decision about its future access to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[64,63,44961,8775,1325,337,128,88733],"class_list":["post-545484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business-law","tag-business-school","tag-general","tag-research","tag-science","tag-science-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}