From Macquarie University (AU)
5.23.24
Fran Molloy
Macquarie University’s Huntsman Telescope has successfully demonstrated daytime astronomy using an array of Canon camera lenses and offering the potential to continuously monitor celestial objects and satellites.
Astronomers at Macquarie University have pioneered a new technique for observing celestial objects during the day, potentially allowing around-the-clock visual monitoring of satellites and greatly improving safety on Earth and in space.
Pioneering technology: Macquarie’s Huntsman Telescope observing space during the day.
Their technique uses the University’s Huntsman Telescope, a unique array of 10 camera lenses working in parallel, originally designed for ultra-sensitive night sky observations.
In a paper published in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia on 20 May, the researchers demonstrate the Huntsman’s ability to accurately measure stars, satellites and other targets when the Sun is high overhead, despite astronomers traditionally only observing at night.
“People have tried observing stars and satellites in optical wavelengths during the day for centuries, but it has been very difficult to do. Our tests show the Huntsman can achieve remarkable results in daylight hours,” says lead author and astrophysics PhD candidate Sarah Caddy, who helped design and build the Huntsman Telescope.
Miss Sarah Caddy,
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Doctor of Philosophy, Faculty of Science and Engineering
Macquarie University
Ms Caddy worked with a team of PhD students and staff at Macquarie to deploy the Huntsman, which celebrated its official opening at Siding Springs Observatory in Coonabarabran last year.
The telescope combines an astronomy camera and astro-mechanical focusing equipment with an array of 10 highly sensitive 400mm Canon lenses, oriented to cover the same patch of sky.
Because the sun floods out most light from other celestial objects, astronomers rarely observe during the day, but Ms Caddy and her colleagues trialled special ‘broadband’ filters on a test version of the Huntsman telescope to block most daylight while still allowing specific wavelengths from celestial objects to pass through.
This test version, a mini-Huntsman single-lens pathfinder telescope installed at the University’s observatory, allowed the research team to assess various settings in a controlled environment without affecting the Huntsman telescope.
The changing face of space: A daytime view of a nearby star Betelgeuse, located around 650 light years away.
Supernova approaching
The Huntsman’s daytime capability allows continual monitoring of certain bright stars that can be unobservable at night for months at a time because they are too close to the Sun.
One example is the red supergiant Betelgeuse, a nearby star around 650 light-years away in the Orion constellation in our Milky Way galaxy.
Betelgeuse is of great interest to astronomers since the star dimmed substantially from late 2019 through 2020, likely due to a major ejection of gas and dust.
“Without this daytime mode, we’d have no idea if one of the brightest stars in the sky has gone supernova until a few months after its explosive light reached Earth,” says co-author Associate Professor Lee Spitler, Head of Space Projects at Macquarie’s Australian Astronomical Optics (AAO).
“We know Betelgeuse will blow up ‘soon’ [in astronomical terms this means anytime between now and millions of years into the future], but not exactly when it will happen.
“For about four months of the year, it’s only observable during the daytime because the Sun gets between Betelgeuse and the Earth at this time.”
Calibrating with Betelgeuse
The study confirmed the Huntsman’s daytime photometry data for Betelgeuse tallies with observations from observatories around the world, and even with space telescopes.
“This breakthrough paves the way for uninterrupted, long-term studies of stars like Betelgeuse as they undergo powerful eruptions near their end of life, expelling massive amounts of stellar material in the final stages of the cosmic cycle of rebirth,” says Associate Professor Spitler.
“Astronomers love when stars in the Milky Way go supernova because it can tell us so much about how elements are created in the universe.”
Unfortunately, he adds, supernova in the Milky Way are relatively rare – the last time it happened was in 1604.
“But when a supernova went off in a mini-galaxy next to our Milky Way galaxy in 1987, this was so useful for astronomers that they still observe the expanding supernova explosion almost 40 years later.”
Preventing collisions
Mastering daytime observation also delivers a big advantage in the rapidly expanding field of space situational awareness (SSA), which is the close monitoring of an ever-growing population of satellites, space debris and other artificial objects orbiting Earth.
More satellites will be launched in the next 10 years than in the entire history of human space exploration.
“With around 10,000 active satellites already circulating the planet and plans to launch a further 50,000 low Earth orbit satellites in the next decade, there’s a clear need for dedicated day and night telescope networks to continually detect and track satellites,” says Ms Caddy.
Potential satellite collisions have grave implications for communications, GPS, weather monitoring and other critical infrastructure.
Satellite photometry – an astronomy technique using optical telescopes to study changes in the brightness of celestial objects – can reveal valuable information, including the composition, age and condition of orbiting objects.
“Opening up to daytime observation of satellites allows us to monitor not just where they are, but also their orientation, and adds to the information we get from radar and other monitoring methods, protecting against potential collisions,” Ms Caddy says.
Astro treats
Ms Caddy’s team demonstrated the Huntsman’s potential for other astronomy observations requiring day and night coverage, including monitoring satellites.
The team used the mini-Huntsman to refine techniques over many months, systematically investigating such factors as optimal exposure times, observation timing and precise tracking of targets even through atmospheric turbulence.
“Daytime astronomy is an exciting field, and with advances in camera sensors, filters and other technologies, we saw dramatic improvements in the sensitivity and precision achievable under bright-sky conditions,” says Ms Caddy.
Adds Associate Professor Spitler: “We’ve refined a methodology for daytime observing and demonstrated it can be done on affordable, high-end equipment like the Canon lenses.”
The Huntsman has been constructed so the 10 lenses work in parallel, feeding 10 ultra-fast CMOS camera sensors that together can take thousands of short-exposure images per second.
The attached camera can process images and manage very large data streams in an instant, using robotic control to track and capture fast-moving objects, and delivering continuous 24-hour monitoring of objects.
“Being able to do accurate, round-the-clock observations shatters longstanding restrictions on when astronomers can scan the heavens,” says Associate Professor Spitler.
“Daytime astronomy will be increasingly critical as we enter the next Space Age.”
See the full article here .
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Established in 1964, Macquarie University (AU) began as a bold experiment in higher education. Built to break from traditions: to be distinctive, progressive, and to be transformational. Today our pioneering history continues to be a source of inspiration as we celebrate our place among the best and brightest minds.
Recognized internationally, Macquarie University is consistently ranked in the top two per cent of universities in the world and within Australia.
Our research is leading the way in ground-breaking discoveries. Our academics are at the forefront of innovation and, as accomplished researchers, we are embracing the opportunity to tackle the big issues of our time.
Led by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor S Bruce Dowton, Macquarie is home to five faculties. The fifth and newest – Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences – was formed in 2014. We are also home to some of Australia’s most exceptional facilities – hubs of innovation that unite our students, researchers, academics and partners to achieve extraordinary things.
Discover our story.
The university is the first in Australia to fully align its degree system with the Bologna Accord [2013].
The idea of founding a third university in Sydney was flagged in the early 1960s when the New South Wales Government formed a committee of enquiry into higher education to deal with a perceived emergency in university enrollments in New South Wales. During this enquiry, the Senate of the University of Sydney put in a submission which highlighted ‘the immediate need to establish a third university in the metropolitan area’. After much debate a future campus location was selected in what was then a semi-rural part of North Ryde, and it was decided that the future university be named after Lachlan Macquarie, an important early governor of the colony of New South Wales.
Macquarie University was formally established in 1964 with the passage of the Macquarie University Act 1964 by the New South Wales parliament.
The initial concept of the campus was to create a new high technology corridor, similar to the area surrounding Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, the goal being to provide for interaction between industry and the new university. The academic core was designed in the Brutalist style and developed by the renowned town planner Walter Abraham who also oversaw the next 20 years of planning and development for the university. A committee appointed to advise the state government on the establishment of the new university at North Ryde nominated Abraham as the architect-planner. The fledgling Macquarie University Council decided that planning for the campus would be done within the university, rather than by consultants, and this led to the establishment of the architect-planners office.
The first Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University, Alexander George Mitchell, was selected by the University Council which met for the first time on 17 June 1964. Members of the first university council included: Colonel Sir Edward Ford OBE, David Paver Mellor, Rae Else-Mitchell QC and Sir Walter Scott.
The university first opened to students on 6 March 1967 with more students than anticipated. The Australian Universities Commission had allowed for 510 effective full-time students (“EFTS”) but Macquarie had 956 enrollments and 622 EFTS. Between 1968 and 1969, enrollment at Macquarie increased dramatically with an extra 1200 EFTS, with 100 new academic staff employed. 1969 also saw the establishment of the Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM).
Macquarie grew during the seventies and eighties with rapid expansion in courses offered, student numbers and development of the site. In 1972, the university established the Macquarie Law School, the third law school in Sydney. In their book Liberality of Opportunity, Bruce Mansfield and Mark Hutchinson describe the founding of Macquarie University as ‘an act of faith and a great experiment’. An additional topic considered in this book is the science reform movement of the late 1970s that resulted in the introduction of a named science degree, thus facilitating the subsequent inclusion of other named degrees in addition to the traditional BA.
The university currently comprises 35 departments within four faculties:
Faculty of Arts
Macquarie Business School
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
Faculty of Science and Engineering
Research centres, schools and institutes that are affiliated with the university:
The Australian Research Institute for Environment and Sustainability
The Macquarie University Hospital
The Australian Hearing Hub
Macquarie University’s Australian Hearing Hub is partnered with Cochlear. Cochlear Headquarters are on campus. The Australian Hearing Hub includes the head office of Australian Hearing.
The Australian Research Institute for Environment and Sustainability, a research centre that promotes change for environmental sustainability, is affiliated with the university and is located on its campus.
Access Macquarie Limited was established in 1989 as the commercial arm of the university. It facilitates and supports the commercial needs of industry, business and government organizations seeking to utilize the academic expertise of the broader University community.
Governance
The university is governed by a 17-member Council.
The University Council is the governing authority of the university under the Macquarie University Act 1989. The Council takes primary responsibility for the control and management of the affairs of the university, and is empowered to make by-laws and rules relating to how the university is managed. Members of the Council include the university vice-chancellor, academic and non-academic staff, the vice president of the Academic Senate and a student representative. The Council is chaired by the chancellor of the university.
The Academic Senate is the primary academic body of the university. It has certain powers delegated to it by Council, such as the approving of examination results and the completion of requirements for the award of degrees. At the same time, it makes recommendations to the Council concerning all changes to degree rules, and all proposals for new awards. While the Academic Senate is an independent body, it is required to make recommendations to the university Council in relation to matters outside its delegated authority.
The university positions itself as being research intensive. In 2012, 85% of Macquarie’s broad fields of research has been rated ‘at or above world standard’ in the Excellence in Research for Australia National Report. The university is within the top 3 universities in Australia for the number of peer-reviewed publications produced per academic staff member.
Researchers at Macquarie University, David Skellern and Neil Weste, and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization helped develop “Wi-Fi”. David Skellern has been a major donor to the university through the Skellern Family Trust. Macquarie physicists Frank Duarte and Jim Piper pioneered the laser designs adopted by researchers worldwide in various major national programs and for atomic vapor laser isotope separation.
Macquarie University’s linguistics department developed the Macquarie Dictionary. The dictionary is regarded as the standard reference on Australian English.
Macquarie University has a research partnership with the University of Hamburg in Germany and Fudan University in China. They offer dual and joint degree programs and engage in joint research.
Macquarie University is ranked very highly in the QS rankings, the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings, US News & World Report, and Academic Ranking of World Universities. This contributes to Macquarie being very highly ranked in the world ranking systems. Macquarie University rankings within Australia have been very high on the ERA scale and an AEN rated university. Macquarie also has a very high student survey satisfaction rating for business, health, the arts, and science. Macquarie is ranked very highly in the top universities in the Asia-Pacific region and within Australia according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the Times Higher Education Rankings and the QS World University Rankings.
Macquarie was the highest ranked university in Australia under the age of 50 and was ranked very highly in the world (prior to its golden jubilee in 2014), according to the QS World University Rankings.
The QS Graduate Employability Rankings ranked Macquarie graduates among the most employable in Australia and in the world.
Macquarie University was ranked among the top 50 universities in the world for linguistics, psychology and earth and marine sciences, and has been ranked very highly nationally for philosophy and earth and marine sciences, according to the QS World University Rankings.
Macquarie has ranked very highly in the world for Arts and Humanities according to the Times Higher Education rankings by subject and in the world for arts and humanities, according to the US News & World Reports rankings by subject. Arts and Humanities is Macquarie’s best discipline area in rankings. Macquarie was one of four non-Group of Eight universities ranked very highly in the top 100 universities in the world in particular discipline areas.
The Macquarie Graduate School of Management [MGSM] is one of the oldest business schools in Australia. The Economist has ranked MGSM very highly in the Asia-Pacific, in Australia, in Sydney/New South Wales and in the world. It was the highest ranked business school in Australia and was ranked very highly in the world in the Financial Times MBA ranking.
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