Transition of the AAO’s optical instrumentation capability

Negotiations between the department and Macquarie University on the transition of the AAO’s optical instrumentation capability continued throughout April and achieved in principle agreement. We’re working through the finer details now and are confident that the agreement will be signed and completed on schedule.

Concurrently, Macquarie has been engaged in organisational design and workforce planning activities that have enabled it to determine the shape of its post-transition workforce. Attention is now turning to the other details of the transition. There is a lot of work to be done, but all involved are confidently progressing toward 1 July 2018.

Transfer of Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) operations

There is activity on multiple fronts at the AAT as the transition date approaches. The ANU is finalising a consortium agreement with its university partners and Astronomy Australia Limited. It’s also working with the department on the final details of the use agreement under which it will operate the AAT. At the same time, the ANU has worked throughout April and early May to ensure that its AAT workforce is in place for 1 July 2018.

All hands on deck at the AAT

While the transition of the AAT’s operations requires a lot of work, it’s still business as usual at the telescope. And when AAT staff say that the annual job of aluminising the telescope’s mirror means all hands on deck, they’re not exaggerating.

This month, AAT staff (pictured) spent several days aluminising the telescope mirror. Aluminising is the process of removing and reapplying the reflective aluminium surface of the telescope mirror in order to clean the mirror and repair any damage that may have occurred over the year. Aluminising the mirror also improves the reflective efficiency of the surface, which in turn provides clearer imagery to astronomers using the telescope.

 

Participation in ESO governance

Australia’s partnership with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) provides for Australia’s representation on a number of ESO governing bodies.

This month Mr Brad Medland, Chief Financial Officer of the department, attended the 152nd meeting of the ESO Finance Committee in Garching, Germany, in his role as Australia’s appointed representative. The Finance Committee advises ESO Council, ESO’s governing body, on all matters of administrative and financial management including the approving and awarding of contracts.

The ESO Council will hold its 147th meeting next month, on 5-6 June 2018, which Australia’s two representatives, Deputy Secretary Sue Weston and Professor Matthew Colless, will attend. Meetings of the ESO Council provide an invaluable opportunity to engage with ESO personnel and representatives from ESO’s member states.

Australia is also represented on the Users Committee, which met last month, and the Scientific Technical Committee, which also met last month and will convene again in October 2018.

ESO in the news

ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) played an important role in the Hubble Space Telescope capturing an image of a supernova star’s binary companion. Astronomers used the VLT and the Gemini South Observatory to locate the supernova SN 2001ig and then direct Hubble to take the photograph, the first of its kind.

Multiple instruments at the VLT have been used to analyse the composition of an unusual asteroid in the Kuiper belt, a cold region beyond the orbit of Neptune, to determine that it is a carbon-rich asteroid that may have been propelled from the inner Solar System during the early stages of our Solar System.