Gateway to the stars
GALACTIC MYSTERIES TO BE UNVEILED BY AUSSIE TELESCOPE
A POWERFUL space telescope named after a spider has been unveiled at Australia’s largest observatory in a development astronomerssay could shed light on how galaxies are formed and what happens when they collide.
Opened just a week after deep space images from NASA’S James Webb telescope captured worldwide attention, Macquarie University researchers say the design of the Huntsman Telescope — using 10 lenses as eyes — also had the poten
tial to fascinate stargazers and unlock mysteries about hidden exoplanets and mysterious “fast radio bursts”.
The Huntsman Telescope is the newest addition to 60 telescopes established at Siding Spring Observatory in Coonabarabran, in regional New South Wales, including some from overseas operators.
But Macquarie PHD candidate Sarah Caddy said this model, developed at the site over eight years, had the potential to unlock mysteries that had long plagued astronomers.
The new telescope featured 10 Canon lenses normally seen on DSLR cameras, she said, and used all 10 at once to identify “ultrafaint” galaxies and astronomical objects.
“The reason we’re looking for faint things is to try to understand how our universe evolved,” Ms Caddy said.
“What happens when two galaxies collide is that you end up getting a whole heap of debris and gas and stars stripped awayfrom the galaxy itself and that structure is really faint.
“What we want to do is
look at the edges these galaxies at these remnants of these really faint structures to try to piece together how galaxies collided.”
Any discoveries could help explain what might happen when the Milky Way collides with the Andromeda galaxy, in an event expected in 4.5 billion years.
The Huntsman Telescope will also be used to identify exoplanets — a planet beyond our solar system that orbits a star — and to look for evidence of what happens during a “fast radio burst” — a mystery that continues to
challenge scientists. “There’s a co-ordinated effort from people all over Australia and all over the world trying to solve this,” Ms Caddy said.
“If we do see one it would be something that would probably generate Nobel prizes, that’s the level of mystery at the moment. We have no idea what these things are.”
Australian Astronomerat-large Professor Fred Watson, who ran the largest telescope at Siding Spring Observatory for 20 years, said the new addition would bring fresh attention to the Australian industry.