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Who are we?
We are The Australian National University’s Research School of
Astronomy and Astrophysics. We are one of the Schools in the Institute of Advanced Studies - the part of the ANU devoted to research and research training.
We are Australia’s premier university centre for astronomical
research. Our mission is to:
- advance the observational and theoretical frontiers of astronomy
and its enabling technologies;
- provide national and international leadership;
- train outstanding scientists.
Our headquarters are located on Mount Stromlo, a twenty minute drive
from the centre of Canberra, Australia's capital city.
We run Australia's two largest optical observatories: Mount Stromlo Observatory
itself (damaged by the Canberra bushfires of 18 January 2003) and Siding Spring Observatory,
which is located near the town of Coonabarabran, in the Western Plains
of NSW.
Did you know?
Not only are we the largest group of astronomy researchers in Australia - by
almost any measure, we are also the best.
- The RSAA has Australia’s largest grouping of astronomers,
most comprehensive set of undergraduate and graduate
astronomical courses, and has trained many of the world’s
astronomical leaders residing in the United States, Europe,
Asia, Africa, as well as Australia.
- RSAA hosts the only astronomer named in the 2004 ISI (Institute for Scientific
Information) list of the most cited scientists for Australia.
- In 2008, ANU/RSAA was placed in the world top ten for space science. Thomson Reuters has listed the top 20 institutions in space science, based on citations per publication over the period 1998-2008. ANU is the only Australian university on the list, ranked 10th in the world, ahead of Harvard University, Cambridge University and the University of California.
- RSAA has one of Australian Astronomy’s two Fellows of the Royal
Society, two Federation Fellows,
and has 2 current members of staff who are members of the
Australian Academy of Science.
- RSAA scientists have led the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, the
High-Z SN Search, the HST Key Project for measuring the Hubble
Constant, and Mount Stromlo has been the home of the MACHO
experiment.
- RSAA students have been awarded 6 of Australia’s 10 Hubble
Fellowships, making the RSAA the 3rd most successful non-US
institution (behind Leiden & Cambridge which have 9 & 7 respectively) in these prestigous
postdoctoral fellowship competitions.
- RSAA is building Australia’s first two instruments for the Gemini
8m telescopes (NIFS and GSAOI), has been involved in instrumentation for ESO’s Very
Large Telescopes, and runs the 2.3m and 1m telescopes at Siding
Spring Observatory, with SKYMAPPER
- a new 1.3m telescope - to see first light in 2006.
- Over the past 6 Hubble Space Telescope proposal cycles
(Cycles 6-11), RSAA astronomers have led 12 of Australia’s 20
approved GO proposals.
We study many aspects of our universe, including:
- searches for planets around other stars;
- mapping the expansion of space and time;
- modelling and observing the formation of galaxies;
- designing cutting-edge astronomical instrumentation to go on some of
the world’s largest telescopes;
- studying the violent flows of gas around black holes;
- finding the oldest stars in the galaxy.
Want to know more?
Mount Stromlo Redevelopment
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