Australia’s new partnership with the European Southern Observatory will give our astronomers access to much bigger telescopes.
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Articles on Telescope
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It’s almost impossible for any human to spot something unknown or unusual in the massive amount of data collected by our telescopes. So we’re teaching an intelligent machine to search the data for us.
A new telescope aims to figure out what became of the universe’s original atoms once the first stars began to shine.
What’s particularly exciting about “first light” images from South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope is that they prove Africa is a rising star in the world of astronomy.
Many images of planets have been manipulated. So have we seen their true colours? Not always, it turns out. But Jupiter’s red spot really is red.
Astronomers have detected clumpy gas clouds on the verge of being swallowed by a supermassive black hole, rushing towards it at over 537,000 miles an hour.
It was a rare and brief event, but powerful telescopes helped scientists get a glimpse of a black hole letting out a wind at 3,000km per second.
Stargazing seems such a quiet, calm activity. But whether our eyes can see or not, those stars out there are in constant flux. Time-domain astronomy studies how cosmic objects change with time.
The universe looks very different with X-ray vision, revealing some of the most energetic interactions in our galaxy. Japan’s new Hitomi telescope will help us see these wonders.
Dark energy is a completely unknown source making up 70% of the universe. Will any of the new projects designed to find out what it is succeed?
The laws of physics dictate that to pick out ever fainter objects from space and see them more sharply, we’re going to need a bigger telescope. And that means we need massive mirrors.
Jupiter had a big influence on how our solar system’s planets formed. New research – led by a high school student – tried to nail down how rare Jupiter analogs really are in other planetary systems.
Stargazing in your back yard or on a camping trip can amaze and inspire. If you’re thinking of buying a telescope, here are a few key things you should look out for.
Telescopes are getting larger and larger as astronomers are hoping to get a good view of the most distant objects in space. But, it turns out, bigger isn’t always better.
Citizen science will ensure that the skies have no limit when it comes to research, as ordinary people are encouraged to take part in simple acts of exploration.
The Square Kilometre Array is the world’s largest telescope – what will it do and how does it work?
Astronomers aren’t mere stargazers these days. One researcher explains the ins and outs of how they collect data from far-off galaxies and what they do with it back at the office.
Ground-based telescopes are getting bigger and better while still being cheaper than space telescopes. But the vital scientific contributions made by Hubble demonstrates why we need both.
The Hubble Space Telescope launched 25 years ago in 1990. But O'Dell started on the project in 1972, garnering support for the world’s first telescope free of Earth’s atmosphere’s blurring effects.
As an astronomer, I get a lot of requests for help. “I’d like to buy a telescope,” the conversation usually goes. “Can you give me some tips on what to look for?” Sadly, there’s little advice I can offer…
Top contributors
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Associate Professor in Astronomy, Monash University
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University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona
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Professor of Astrophysics and Royal Society University Research Fellow, University of Hertfordshire
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Associate Professor, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
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Professor in High Energy Astrophyics, University of Adelaide
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Director of the Abrams Planetarium, Michigan State University
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SKA Postdoc in Observational Cosmology, University of the Western Cape
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Honorary Fellow at University of Melbourne and Senior Curator (Astronomy), Museums Victoria Research Institute
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Professor of Astronomy, UMass Lowell
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Dean of Science, University of California, Santa Cruz
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Doctoral Researcher, University of the Witwatersrand
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Project Scientist at the Steward Observatory and Associate Research Professor of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona
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Program Manager / Adjunct Research Fellow, Swinburne University of Technology
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Graduate Research Fellow in Astronomy, Georgia State University
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Research fellow in space physics, Lancaster University
