International Facilities |
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- Square Kilometre Array - (SKA)
The SKA is an international project to build and operate an interferometric
array of individual antenna stations, that will synthesize an aperture with
a diameter of up to several 1000 km and a collecting area of one million
square metres, making it a hundred times as sensitive as any current
radio telescope.
In early 2001, the Australian astronomy community received funding
from the Australian government through the Major National Research Facilities (MNRF) program to develop enabling technologies for the Square Kilometre Array, in a way that enhances Australia's existing radio telescope facilities and reinforces Australia's bid as the prime location to host the SKA.
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- LOw Frequency ARray - (LOFAR)
Western Australia's radio quiet status makes it an ideal site for a project such as LOFAR which is a direct developmental step towards the SKA.
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- Gemini
The Gemini Project is a multi-national effort to build and operate twin 8.1 meter astronomical telescopes which will utilize new technology to produce some of the sharpest ever views of the Universe. One telescope is located atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea and the other is on Chile's Cerro Pachon - together they will provide complete unobstructed coverage of both the Northern and Southern skies.
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National Facilities |
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- Australia Telescope National Facility - (ATNF)
The ATNF supports Australia's research in radio astronomy. It is administered by the CSIRO, Australia's national scientific research organisation and is funded by the Australian Government. The ATNF operates the Australia Telescope which consists of the Compact Array at Narrabri and the Parkes and Mopra radio telescopes. These telescopes can be used together as a long baseline array for use in Very Long Baseline Interferometry.
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- Anglo Australian Observatory - (AAO)
The AAO operates the Anglo-Australian and UK Schmidt telescopes on behalf of the astronomical communities of Australia and the UK. To this end the Observatory is funded equally by the Australian and British Governments. Its function is to provide world-class observing facilities for British and Australian optical astronomers.
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Institutes |
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- Center for Ultrahigh bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems - (CUDOS)
CUDOS aims for research excellence and international research leadership in nonlinear photonics and microphotonics. This will be achieved through fundamental research in the most exciting and vibrant areas of photonics science - nonlinear optical materials, photonic crystals, micro-structured optical fibres and micro-photonics.
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- Centre for Ultra-Broadband Information Networks - (CUBIN)
CUBIN is a Special Research Centre established in January 2000 under the Australian Research Council's Special Research Centres program. It focuses on fundamental theory and practical approaches to the design, implementation and management of ultra-broadband networks.
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- University of Sydney - Institute of Astronomy
The Institute of Astronomy at the University of Sydney pursues Astrophysical research across a range of theoretical, observational and instrumental programs. The School operates its own radio telescope, the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST).
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- Swinburne University of Technology
The Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing is hosted by the School of Biophysical Sciences and Electrical Engineering at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.
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- Australian National University - Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics
The Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the ANU has research interests ranging from planetary science to cosmology, instrumentation to theory. The RSAA is involved in mapping the universe with the 2dF and 6dF galaxy redshift surveys. RSAA astronomers were responsible for showing that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate and are currently leading the world in the modelling of the interstellar medium.
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- University of New South Wales
The Department of Astrophysics and Optics at UNSW conducts both research and teaching in Astrophysics. It is one of the most active research groups in Australia. Research specialties include cosmology, large-scale structure in the Universe, star formation and the interstellar medium.
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- University of Melbourne
The Melbourne Astrophysics group is involved in observational and theoretical research in a range of areas. The observational program spans radio to X-ray wavelengths, using the Australia Telescope Compact Array, the Gemini Telescopes, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory among other instruments. The theoretical programs currently extend from pen-and-paper calculations to the development of numerical codes, including relativistic particle-in-cell plasma codes and spectral Navier-Stokes and vortex-in-cell codes for numerical hydrodynamics.
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- University of Tasmania
The Physics Department runs two radio observatories: Mount Pleasant Observatory, near Hobart, Tasmania; and Ceduna Observatory, South Australia.
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