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ANU media release

$6M ANU designed instrument bound for Hawaii

One of the world's most advanced astronomy instruments designed at Mt Stromlo is set to be shipped to its new home at the international Gemini Observatory in Hawaii this week.

The $6 million Near-infrared Integral-Field Spectrograph (NIFS), completed by engineers at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, is the first major international telescope instrument completed at Mt Stromlo Observatory since the bushfires of January 2003.

NIFS will be mounted on to one of the world's largest telescopes in Hawaii, the 8.1-metre Gemini North, used to study objects in deep space. NIFS will allow astronomers to observe space at a resolution on par with the Hubble Space Telescope.

The Gemini Observatory is an international partnership, including Australia, to build and operate two 8.1-metre telescopes in Hawaii and Chile. NIFS is the first instrument built in Australia for the Gemini Observatory.

The original NIFS was destroyed in the January 2003 bushfires and NIFS-2 has been rebuilt by the Canberra-based aerospace company, Auspace Ltd, in collaboration with its Mt Stromlo designers and engineers.

NIFS uses a unique optical design to analyse the light from an object allowing astronomers to study phenomena in detail, including the gravitational effects of black holes, the interactions of colliding galaxies, and the formation and death of stars.

The Director of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Professor Penny Sackett, said the completion of NIFS closes a significant chapter in the story of Mt Stromlo's recovery.

“The completion of this instrumentation contract is a significant milestone for Mt Stromlo. It clearly demonstrates the major contribution of ANU to international astronomical research and technology.”

The NIFS Project Scientist, Dr Peter McGregor, said: “A major spinoff of NIFS is the guaranteed observing time for the Australian team using the instrument on Gemini. This means that the first discoveries with NIFS are likely to be made by Australians.”

The ANU engineering team, led by Dr McGregor, is also designing and building the multi-million dollar Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager due to be shipped to Gemini South telescope in Chile next year.

The Managing Director of Auspace Limited, Mr Roger Franzen, said the quality of the design and build of NIFS was equal to any piece of observing equipment anywhere in the world.

“The interaction between ANU and Auspace has been excellent. Auspace brings industrial experience in system integration and testing to the project. ANU engineers have a deep understanding of the instrument design.”

The Canberra alliance between Auspace and ANU continues with the joint construction of a novel optical integral field spectrograph for the University's 2.3 metre telescope at Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran using funding from the DEST Systemic Infrastructure Initiative. This spectrograph extends the design concepts pioneered by ANU in the NIFS instrument.

NIFS will begin its journey to Hawaii from Auspace in Mitchell this week following its inspection and acceptance by the Head of Instrumentation at Gemini North Observatory, Mr Doug Simons.

A NIFS fact sheet, photographs and time lapse film footage of the instrument being built is available from the ANU Media Office

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