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RESEARCH SCHOOL OF ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS

Following the action of Council on August 14, Mount Stromlo & Siding Spring Observatories have become the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics. The new school is the ninth in the Institute of Advanced Studies; the eighth was RSISE formed in 1994.

Mount Stromlo Observatory was established in 1923, joined the ANU in 1957 as a department of RSPhysS, opened Siding Spring Observatory (SSO) in 1964, became an IAS centre in 1986, and finally a school in 1998.

The School comprises 25 astronomers, 20 PhD students, an engineering/technical staff of 20, and a staff of 20 supporting the observatories' operations. RSAA also operates the Stromlo and SSO Exploratories as ANU science visitor centres and the ANU Lodge for astronomers at SSO; both are university business units.

The scale of the new school's operations is twice that of its nearest rival university, according to a 1995 survey, making it the clear choice for graduate students in astrophysics.

At Siding Spring in northern NSW, the School operates the only general purpose optical astronomy observatory in Australia.

For more information, see RSAA's Astronomical Research.