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Overview

Astronomers and students of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) of the Australian National University (ANU) undertake astronomical research with the most advanced astronomical facilities available. RSAA has traditionally operated Mount Stromlo Observatory near Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory and Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran in northern New South Wales. ANU's largest facility is its 2.3 m diameter telescope at Siding Spring Observatory. Australia is a member of the Gemini telescopes consortium, which operates twin 8m diameter optical/infrared telescopes in Hawaii and Chile. ANU astronomers are also involved in planning for future ground-based optical/infrared telescopes with even larger diameters of 30m or more.

The Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre (AITC) is a specialist facility for developing complex astronomical instrumentation for the largest telescopes to which Australian astronomers have access. Much of the equipment used for astronomical observations is very specialised and demands high levels of performance. These scientific instruments are not readily available from commercial sources. The AITC provides specialist optical, mechanical, electronics, and software engineering and fabrication facilities for designing, constructing, integrating, and testing instruments that are used on telescopes in Australia and overseas.

Features frequently encountered in this instrumentation are precision mechanics, cryogenic enclosures, custom reflective and refractive optics, electronic control systems and low light level detection systems for both the optical and near-infrared.

For information on how to initiate a project in the AITC please look here.

The Project Request Form for initiating a new project can be found here.

The Project Assessment Form used by the Technical Strategy Committee can be found here.