research school of astronomy & astrophysics 2003 …
TRANSCRIPT
2003 ANNUAL REPORT1 TO ANU COUNCIL
Penny D. Sackett, Director
1 Overview
Most of the activities of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) in 2003 were affected in one way or another by a horrific event that began the year: the devastating Canberra bush fires of 18 January. The firestorm destroyed or damaged beyond repair all observing facilities on the mountain, the technical and workshop building, the heritage Administration Building, and several homes on Mount Stromlo. As will be evidenced in this report, however, the achievements of the RSAA were maintained at a very high standard despite this major setback.
Returning to Mt Stromlo only three weeks after the fire swept over the mountain was a highlight for all staff. Most could return on 11 February 2003, although some technical staff worked off-site on the Acton Campus or at ADFA until temporary work accommodation could be completed later in the year. The RSAA staff is grateful to their colleagues throughout the ANU who worked to enable a swift and successful return.
Unfortunately, the physical state of Mt Stromlo has changed very little since the addition of temporary facilities. The slowness of the physical recovery and the extraordinarily large fire-related workload placed on RSAA staff work against the School performing at its full potential, and require immediate remedy.
A long-awaited highpoint was the launch of the official history of Mount Stromlo Observatory: Stromlo: An Australian Observatory by Tom Frame & Don Faulkner (Allen & Unwin, 2003, pp. xix + 364). Both Drs. Frame and Faulkner are Visiting Fellows; Don Faulkner retired from RSAA after years of service to his discipline and the Observatory.
S t r o m l o details 80 years of history, from the Observatory’s beginnings as the Commonwealth Solar Observatory, through its joining with the ANU and producing the ANU’s first PhD graduate, to an epilogue describing the catastrophic fires. The Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon. John Anderson, officially launched the book at Stromlo in October 2003. A second printing is already planned.
The medium-term (2003-2007) goals of the RSAA have been codified in a Strategic Plan1 that was finalized in November, and subsequently endorsed by the School’s international Advisory Board.
1 RSAA Annual Reports and its Strategic Plan can be found at http://www.mso.anu.edu.au
The plan begins with the mission statement to:
- Advance the observational & theoretical frontiers of astronomy and its enabling technologies - Provide national and international leadership - Train outstanding scientists
and provides guiding principles, objectives, actions and success indicators to drive a cycle of continual improvement. Developed with input from all RSAA staff, the plan will serve as a reference document for charting a path in the next five years that will take RSAA to an even brighter future while progressing ANU to 2005 goals. Achievements against goals in the RSAA Strategic Plan are presented next.
2 Key Achievements in 2003 against Local Strategic Goals
• Maintain high international research standing - RSAA boasts five ISI citation laureates - McGregor of RSAA named to international committee on Adaptive Optics
• Increase national leadership, engagement and visibility - RSAA staff chair both new National Committee of Astronomy (NCA) working groups.
Extremely Large Telescope (ELT): Colless and Low Frequency Array (LOFAR): Schmidt. ELT working group was initiated by RSAA.
- Australian National Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics (ANITA) initiated by RSAA and chaired by RSAA’s Bicknell.
- Sackett becomes elected member of Australian Astronomy’s MNRF Board of Management • Foster excellence and breadth in all staff
- Increased emphasis on career development and training of technical staff - External review of RSAA organizational structure commissioned - RSAA NIFS team wins ANU staff excellence award
• Attract the best PhD students worldwide - Initiated top-up scholarships for all on-course PhD students - Increased number of students doing Honours at RSAA - Initiated RSAA Alumni List on web page
• Increase quality & professionalism of postgraduate training - Tightened performance monitoring of graduate degree students - Initiated written “MoUs” between students and supervisors
• Maintain and grow astronomical engineering capability - Kept two multi-million $ international precision instrument contracts despite fires - Initiated new strategic planning and management processes for external projects - Initiated scheme to return engineering income to support infrastructure
• Support those MSSSO telescopes with high scientific return - Emphasis placed on systemic upgrade of 2.3m telescope at Siding Spring - Exploring staged decommissioning SSO 40-inch when SkyMapper comes on-line - Reviewing role of SSO 24-inch
• Increase access to current frontline facilities worldwide - Maintaining on-time delivery of Gemini AO Imager for return of 20 Gemini nights - Successful applications for international time on European (ESO) large telescopes
• Develop leadership roles in major new facilities for 2007+ - Began actively exploring mechanisms for involvement in next generation ELTs - Hosted national workshops on next generation optical and radio facilities - Built technical and scientific linkages with international groups working on ELTs
• Diversify funding base to increase stability and flexibility - Improved mechanism for estimation and recovery of real costs of technical research - Initiated applications to DEST’s Innovation Access Fund for the first time - Developed linkages with European groups for shared funding of common projects
• Undertake and support strategic national outreach - Several public lectures and viewing nights coordinated with NIPS - MSO and SSO outreach activities combined under one committee with common goals - Increased use of web as medium to reach and catalogue news-worthy events
3 Summary Reports
3.1.1 Red Giant Stars: Football-shaped
In its old age, a star like the Sun will swell up to become a red giant of enormous size: the surface of the star reaches out to a distance comparable to the orbit of Earth. At this time, a typical red giant will pulsate in and out with a period of about 80 days. About one quarter of such red giants also show light and line-of-sight velocity variations with long periods of about 800 days. Associated with these long-period variations is some sort of surface activity, which is probably due to magnetic star spots causing a warm chromosphere to come and go.
RSAA researchers Dr Peter Wood and Mr Enrico Olivier, together with Dr Steve Kawaler of Iowa State University, have tried to understand these long period variations, and have arrived at an explanation. The likely cause, they conclude, is that the red giants undergo large amplitude g (gravity) mode oscillations, essentially consisting of large bulges that travel around the equator of the star in about 800 days. According to Wood and collaborators, this would distort the shape of the star; so that many red giants should look football shaped when viewed such that the g mode bulges are perpendicular to the line of sight. The work has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal.
(The figure was constructed from original images of the Sun taken by the SOHO
spacecraft)
3.1.2 Nearly a Quarter Million Galaxies: Final public release of the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey
The Two Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) achieved its final milestone in July 2003, with the public release of the survey database at the International Astronomical Union‘s General Assembly in Sydney. The 2dFGRS team, led by Drs Matthew Colless of RSAA and John Peacock of Royal Observatory Edinburgh, included Drs Bruce Peterson, Carole Jackson, Simon Driver and Roberto De Propris of RSAA, and measured the positions and redshifts for 221,000 galaxies over five years of observations with the Anglo-Australian Telescope at Siding Spring. The survey has been an outstanding success, with major impact on cosmology, large-scale structure studies and understanding of low-redshift galaxy populations. (Image courtesy of 2dFGRS team)
The final database is available to astronomers worldwide on compact discs. For more information, see http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/2dFGRS/.
3.1.3 Gamma Ray Bursts: Fast and Steady wins this Race
PhD student Paul Price and Dr Peterson and Prof Schmidt contributed to a major breakthrough in the understanding of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) this year. Using telescopes at Siding Spring Observatory, they immediately identified the optical light associated with what is by far the closest (and normal) gamma ray burst yet detected. Their prompt discovery allowed unprecedented scrutiny of this object with other telescopes around the world, which showed, among other things, that this explosion was caused by a supernova, not dissimilar to a certain class of objects seen in the nearby Universe known as Type Ic hypernovae. The work was published in a March 2003 issue of Nature.
3.1.4 Huge String of Galaxies Discovered in the Early Universe
Dr Paul Francis of RSAA led an international team that mapped an enormous volume of the early Universe, capturing information about the Universe when it was only one-fifth the current age.
The RSAA-led team discovered a string of galaxies over 300 million light years in length. Since the observations revealed only the brightest few galaxies, what they revealed is probably far less than 1% of the total mass content in the string, most of which is invisible dark matter. This is the first time astronomers have been able to map an area in the early Universe big enough to reveal such a galaxy structure. (Figure copyright Paul Francis and NASA)
According to current theories, strings of galaxies this large should not have been able to form so early after the Big Bang. One explanation may be that the dark matter is not arranged in the same way as the galaxies we are seeing in the observations.
3.1.5 Close Encounter Garners Public Interest
On 27th August 2003, Mars passed closer to the Earth than at any point in the last 67,000 years. Public events were organised both on the ANU campus and in Coonabarabran under the auspices of RSAA, the ANU’s Planetary Science Institute, the Canberra Astronomical Society, and the National Institute of Physical Sciences. Both events were very well attended: over 4000 people in Canberra and around 500 in Coonabarabran showed up to hear evening talks and look through telescopes. The event generated extensive media coverage, with live broadcasts from Coonabarabran on four TV channels.
3.1.6 Undergraduate Research at RSAA, Including Astronomical Instrument Design
Sixteen undergraduate students from the ANU’s Faculty of Science, most of whom were first year students, including several PhB students, carried out research projects supervised by RSAA staff. Often their work included first-hand observations using ANU telescopes at Siding Spring. The projects included building a radio telescope receiver, searching for the origin of a supernova, taking data to help design the public outreach camera for a possible Phoenix telescope to be placed on Mt Stromlo, and pan-spectral mapping of Mars during its recent close approach.
3.2 Student Statistics and Activities
At the end of 2003, the Graduate Program in Astronomy & Astrophysics comprised 20 on-course students, four more students who are completing their thesis with an extension of time to submit, and one other who was on suspension for medical reasons. Of this 25 total, 12 are male and 13 female. Nine of the students are international (Brazil, South Africa, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany (2), Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand). In 2003, seven students entered the program and three students completed their PhD degrees at RSAA.
Although no PhD projects were severely disrupted by the fires in January, the resulting aftermath, including the total loss of possessions by several students, has caused delays in some cases. One PhD student, Gayandhi de Silva, had planned to make extensive use of the 74inch telescope on Mt Stromlo. Through the generosity of Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, Ms. de Silva was able to carry out her observations on their 3.5m telescope, which she operated remotely from Mt Stromlo.
Using a modest sum supplied by the School to PhD students for their professional development, RSAA students organized an astronomy conference on Mt Stromlo dedicated to student projects. Students submitted abstracts, prepared the program, acted as session chairs, gave talks according to strict guidelines, prepared a conference summary, and issued a conference program. The result was a roaring success for graduate students, honours students and academic staff alike.
A total of seven students from the ANU Faculty of Science did honours projects with a supervisor from RSAA in 2003. We are pleased to note that six of these decided to begin a PhD program at RSAA in 2004. Indeed, with these students and four others, two from other Australian institutions and two from overseas (Mexico, Denmark), RSAA will see its largest intake of PhD students in over a decade.
The School runs a yearly Summer Research Scholar Program. During the summer of 2002-03 the program was convened by Dr Simon Driver with eight scholars taking part; two from Griffith University and one each from Otago (NZ), the University of Tasmania, ANU, Sydney and Melbourne Universities, and the University of Queensland. The Stromlo Summer Program provides a regular source of incoming graduate students to the School.
2002 Attrition and Student Progress Rates
Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics Attrition (b)
Program Career Program Type Citizenship Number
Enrolled (a) Left ANU Higher Degree Research Doctorate by Research Domestic 17 0.0% International 6 0.0%
Doctorate by Research Total 23 0.0%
a) Sole/major student enrolments in award programs at any Census date during the 2002 reporting period (1 September 2001 to 31 August 2002, inclusive).
b) Enrolled in 2002, but did not complete and were not enrolled or on approved leave of absence in 2003.
3.3 New Grants Awarded in 2003
The success rate of RSAA applications to ARC was not as high in 2003 as in the previous two years. To what extent this can be attributed to the effects of the January bushfires, which preceded the (extended) ARC deadline by a couple of months, is difficult to determine, but it surely played a role. Nevertheless, two large awards were won by RSAA staff in 2003:
(*) USyd administers with participants ANU, CSIRO, Monash, Swinburne, UMelb, UNSW, USQ.
3.4 Major Prizes, Honours and Awards
RSAA staff and students continued to excel as evidenced by the honours bestowed upon them in 2003. Perhaps of greatest note is the recognition from several quarters given to the RSAA team responsible for the design and construction of the Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph destined for the giant Gemini telescope in Hawaii before its destruction in the bushfires, and the remarkable achievement of RSAA as one of the best organizations in all Australia for producing well-cited scientists. Shown at right is the NIFS team.
Grant Source CI Name Brief Title Award Total AU Acad Sciences P D Sackett Planetary Timescales Conference $ 10K STINT (Sweden) M Asplund Origin of the Elements $ 80K ARC: Discovery S P Driver Deep Infrared Study of Nearby Galaxies $ 300K ARC: Discovery K C Freeman Galactic Archaeology $ 730K ARC Linkage Intern‘l B P Schmidt European Union Collaborations $ 51K SNAP Science Program B P Schmidt Optimised Detection of Dark Energy $ 80K ARC: Linkage G Robertson (*) Australian Membership of Gemini $1,849K ARC: RN Seed Funding P J McGregor Research Network for Adaptive Optics $ 20K
RSAA Staff Awards Prof Michael Bessell ISI Citation Laureate Prof Michael Dopita Centenary Medalist, ISI Citation Laureate Prof K C Freeman Centenary Medalist, ISI Citation Laureate, Blaauw Professorship Prof Jeremy Mould (now in US) ISI Citation Laureate Prof Penny Sackett Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society Dr. Bruce Peterson ISI Citation Laureate NIFS Instrument Team ACT New Technology and Innovation Award NIFS Instrument Team High Commendation for Engineering Excellence, Engineers
Australia (Canberra Division) NIFS Instrument Team ANU Staff Excellence Award Computing Group ANU Bushfire Staff Excellence Award RSAA Student Awards Bradley Warren ACT Young Australian of the Year
3.5 Budget Performance
In 2003, the School received a block ANU grant of $5,736K, external revenue of $6,616K, and income from commercial activities of $595K. The breakdown of the external revenue is provided in the table below.
RSAA External Income in 2003 Siding Spring Observatory Site Recoveries $ 365 K Trans-Neptunian Object Project 16 K Univ of Arizona Near Earth Object Project 192 K Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI) Contract 2,759 K Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph Contract (NIFS) 6 K DEST Systemic Infrastructure Initiative for Siding Spring Observatory 1,854 K ARC awards 1,420 K ANSTO 4 K Total External Income $ 6,616 K
The two RSAA commercial activities in 2003 were the Siding Spring Observatory Lodge and Visitors' Centre, and Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatory (MSSS0) Housing. The Stromlo and SSO Visitors' Centres were visited by approximately 1,000 and 10,000 people, respectively, in 2003. The dramatic drop in the Stromlo numbers was due to the fires which closed the site on 18 January 2003. The Siding Spring visitor numbers indicate a disappointing decrease of 50% compared to the previous year. This decrease is now being investigated. SSO commercial activities ended the year with an operating deficit of $7,000, which was offset by accumulated funds. The MSSSO Housing activity sustained an operating deficit of $3,435. It should be noted, however, that $53,000 of rental income for the six Stromlo houses destroyed in the bushfires did not eventuate in 2003; a claim has been submitted to the ANU's insurers to recover the lost income.
3.6 Gender Equity Performance
At the end of the calendar year 2003, 13 of the School's 25 postgraduate students were female, compared to 9 of 21 total in 2002. Women represent 16% of RSAA general staff (excluding casuals). Of RSAA's 26.5 academic staff, three are female, namely its Director and two researchers on fixed- term post-doctoral appointments. Despite a policy implemented last year of advertising more widely and for longer periods of time, the number of female applicants to academic posts in RSAA is very small: 0 – 10%, and importantly, smaller than the female ratio of putative applicants worldwide. The School is beginning to examine why this might be the case, and to take steps to address this apparent anomaly.
3.7 Future Directions
In the next four years, the directions of the School will be guided by the RSAA Strategic Plan. One new area of emphasis, planetary science, is being developed together with the Research School of Earth Sciences to combine strengths in an emerging cross-disciplinary field. One appointment has
been made to the joint Planetary Sciences Institute, and three more positions will be filled in 2004. A joint seminar and dinner series is enjoying increasing success, with ~80 attendees at the last event.
The new Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre expected to be a focus of the New Stromlo is being specifically designed with the future in mind, emphasizing strategic areas of growth for RSAA astro-engineering in the next two decades: design, high-precision and adaptive optics, technical study and training, and integrated systems. The School is beginning to forge links with the best teams worldwide investigating the science and technology of the Next Generation Telescopes, including optical-infrared telescopes with diameters of 20-100m. These linkages promise exposure to worldwide expertise and an opportunity to contribute in unique ways to international science to the benefit of ANU and the nation.
4 Involvement in the National Institutes
Penny D. Sackett, Director
1 Overview
Most of the activities of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) in 2003 were affected in one way or another by a horrific event that began the year: the devastating Canberra bush fires of 18 January. The firestorm destroyed or damaged beyond repair all observing facilities on the mountain, the technical and workshop building, the heritage Administration Building, and several homes on Mount Stromlo. As will be evidenced in this report, however, the achievements of the RSAA were maintained at a very high standard despite this major setback.
Returning to Mt Stromlo only three weeks after the fire swept over the mountain was a highlight for all staff. Most could return on 11 February 2003, although some technical staff worked off-site on the Acton Campus or at ADFA until temporary work accommodation could be completed later in the year. The RSAA staff is grateful to their colleagues throughout the ANU who worked to enable a swift and successful return.
Unfortunately, the physical state of Mt Stromlo has changed very little since the addition of temporary facilities. The slowness of the physical recovery and the extraordinarily large fire-related workload placed on RSAA staff work against the School performing at its full potential, and require immediate remedy.
A long-awaited highpoint was the launch of the official history of Mount Stromlo Observatory: Stromlo: An Australian Observatory by Tom Frame & Don Faulkner (Allen & Unwin, 2003, pp. xix + 364). Both Drs. Frame and Faulkner are Visiting Fellows; Don Faulkner retired from RSAA after years of service to his discipline and the Observatory.
S t r o m l o details 80 years of history, from the Observatory’s beginnings as the Commonwealth Solar Observatory, through its joining with the ANU and producing the ANU’s first PhD graduate, to an epilogue describing the catastrophic fires. The Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon. John Anderson, officially launched the book at Stromlo in October 2003. A second printing is already planned.
The medium-term (2003-2007) goals of the RSAA have been codified in a Strategic Plan1 that was finalized in November, and subsequently endorsed by the School’s international Advisory Board.
1 RSAA Annual Reports and its Strategic Plan can be found at http://www.mso.anu.edu.au
The plan begins with the mission statement to:
- Advance the observational & theoretical frontiers of astronomy and its enabling technologies - Provide national and international leadership - Train outstanding scientists
and provides guiding principles, objectives, actions and success indicators to drive a cycle of continual improvement. Developed with input from all RSAA staff, the plan will serve as a reference document for charting a path in the next five years that will take RSAA to an even brighter future while progressing ANU to 2005 goals. Achievements against goals in the RSAA Strategic Plan are presented next.
2 Key Achievements in 2003 against Local Strategic Goals
• Maintain high international research standing - RSAA boasts five ISI citation laureates - McGregor of RSAA named to international committee on Adaptive Optics
• Increase national leadership, engagement and visibility - RSAA staff chair both new National Committee of Astronomy (NCA) working groups.
Extremely Large Telescope (ELT): Colless and Low Frequency Array (LOFAR): Schmidt. ELT working group was initiated by RSAA.
- Australian National Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics (ANITA) initiated by RSAA and chaired by RSAA’s Bicknell.
- Sackett becomes elected member of Australian Astronomy’s MNRF Board of Management • Foster excellence and breadth in all staff
- Increased emphasis on career development and training of technical staff - External review of RSAA organizational structure commissioned - RSAA NIFS team wins ANU staff excellence award
• Attract the best PhD students worldwide - Initiated top-up scholarships for all on-course PhD students - Increased number of students doing Honours at RSAA - Initiated RSAA Alumni List on web page
• Increase quality & professionalism of postgraduate training - Tightened performance monitoring of graduate degree students - Initiated written “MoUs” between students and supervisors
• Maintain and grow astronomical engineering capability - Kept two multi-million $ international precision instrument contracts despite fires - Initiated new strategic planning and management processes for external projects - Initiated scheme to return engineering income to support infrastructure
• Support those MSSSO telescopes with high scientific return - Emphasis placed on systemic upgrade of 2.3m telescope at Siding Spring - Exploring staged decommissioning SSO 40-inch when SkyMapper comes on-line - Reviewing role of SSO 24-inch
• Increase access to current frontline facilities worldwide - Maintaining on-time delivery of Gemini AO Imager for return of 20 Gemini nights - Successful applications for international time on European (ESO) large telescopes
• Develop leadership roles in major new facilities for 2007+ - Began actively exploring mechanisms for involvement in next generation ELTs - Hosted national workshops on next generation optical and radio facilities - Built technical and scientific linkages with international groups working on ELTs
• Diversify funding base to increase stability and flexibility - Improved mechanism for estimation and recovery of real costs of technical research - Initiated applications to DEST’s Innovation Access Fund for the first time - Developed linkages with European groups for shared funding of common projects
• Undertake and support strategic national outreach - Several public lectures and viewing nights coordinated with NIPS - MSO and SSO outreach activities combined under one committee with common goals - Increased use of web as medium to reach and catalogue news-worthy events
3 Summary Reports
3.1.1 Red Giant Stars: Football-shaped
In its old age, a star like the Sun will swell up to become a red giant of enormous size: the surface of the star reaches out to a distance comparable to the orbit of Earth. At this time, a typical red giant will pulsate in and out with a period of about 80 days. About one quarter of such red giants also show light and line-of-sight velocity variations with long periods of about 800 days. Associated with these long-period variations is some sort of surface activity, which is probably due to magnetic star spots causing a warm chromosphere to come and go.
RSAA researchers Dr Peter Wood and Mr Enrico Olivier, together with Dr Steve Kawaler of Iowa State University, have tried to understand these long period variations, and have arrived at an explanation. The likely cause, they conclude, is that the red giants undergo large amplitude g (gravity) mode oscillations, essentially consisting of large bulges that travel around the equator of the star in about 800 days. According to Wood and collaborators, this would distort the shape of the star; so that many red giants should look football shaped when viewed such that the g mode bulges are perpendicular to the line of sight. The work has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal.
(The figure was constructed from original images of the Sun taken by the SOHO
spacecraft)
3.1.2 Nearly a Quarter Million Galaxies: Final public release of the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey
The Two Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) achieved its final milestone in July 2003, with the public release of the survey database at the International Astronomical Union‘s General Assembly in Sydney. The 2dFGRS team, led by Drs Matthew Colless of RSAA and John Peacock of Royal Observatory Edinburgh, included Drs Bruce Peterson, Carole Jackson, Simon Driver and Roberto De Propris of RSAA, and measured the positions and redshifts for 221,000 galaxies over five years of observations with the Anglo-Australian Telescope at Siding Spring. The survey has been an outstanding success, with major impact on cosmology, large-scale structure studies and understanding of low-redshift galaxy populations. (Image courtesy of 2dFGRS team)
The final database is available to astronomers worldwide on compact discs. For more information, see http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/2dFGRS/.
3.1.3 Gamma Ray Bursts: Fast and Steady wins this Race
PhD student Paul Price and Dr Peterson and Prof Schmidt contributed to a major breakthrough in the understanding of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) this year. Using telescopes at Siding Spring Observatory, they immediately identified the optical light associated with what is by far the closest (and normal) gamma ray burst yet detected. Their prompt discovery allowed unprecedented scrutiny of this object with other telescopes around the world, which showed, among other things, that this explosion was caused by a supernova, not dissimilar to a certain class of objects seen in the nearby Universe known as Type Ic hypernovae. The work was published in a March 2003 issue of Nature.
3.1.4 Huge String of Galaxies Discovered in the Early Universe
Dr Paul Francis of RSAA led an international team that mapped an enormous volume of the early Universe, capturing information about the Universe when it was only one-fifth the current age.
The RSAA-led team discovered a string of galaxies over 300 million light years in length. Since the observations revealed only the brightest few galaxies, what they revealed is probably far less than 1% of the total mass content in the string, most of which is invisible dark matter. This is the first time astronomers have been able to map an area in the early Universe big enough to reveal such a galaxy structure. (Figure copyright Paul Francis and NASA)
According to current theories, strings of galaxies this large should not have been able to form so early after the Big Bang. One explanation may be that the dark matter is not arranged in the same way as the galaxies we are seeing in the observations.
3.1.5 Close Encounter Garners Public Interest
On 27th August 2003, Mars passed closer to the Earth than at any point in the last 67,000 years. Public events were organised both on the ANU campus and in Coonabarabran under the auspices of RSAA, the ANU’s Planetary Science Institute, the Canberra Astronomical Society, and the National Institute of Physical Sciences. Both events were very well attended: over 4000 people in Canberra and around 500 in Coonabarabran showed up to hear evening talks and look through telescopes. The event generated extensive media coverage, with live broadcasts from Coonabarabran on four TV channels.
3.1.6 Undergraduate Research at RSAA, Including Astronomical Instrument Design
Sixteen undergraduate students from the ANU’s Faculty of Science, most of whom were first year students, including several PhB students, carried out research projects supervised by RSAA staff. Often their work included first-hand observations using ANU telescopes at Siding Spring. The projects included building a radio telescope receiver, searching for the origin of a supernova, taking data to help design the public outreach camera for a possible Phoenix telescope to be placed on Mt Stromlo, and pan-spectral mapping of Mars during its recent close approach.
3.2 Student Statistics and Activities
At the end of 2003, the Graduate Program in Astronomy & Astrophysics comprised 20 on-course students, four more students who are completing their thesis with an extension of time to submit, and one other who was on suspension for medical reasons. Of this 25 total, 12 are male and 13 female. Nine of the students are international (Brazil, South Africa, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany (2), Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand). In 2003, seven students entered the program and three students completed their PhD degrees at RSAA.
Although no PhD projects were severely disrupted by the fires in January, the resulting aftermath, including the total loss of possessions by several students, has caused delays in some cases. One PhD student, Gayandhi de Silva, had planned to make extensive use of the 74inch telescope on Mt Stromlo. Through the generosity of Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, Ms. de Silva was able to carry out her observations on their 3.5m telescope, which she operated remotely from Mt Stromlo.
Using a modest sum supplied by the School to PhD students for their professional development, RSAA students organized an astronomy conference on Mt Stromlo dedicated to student projects. Students submitted abstracts, prepared the program, acted as session chairs, gave talks according to strict guidelines, prepared a conference summary, and issued a conference program. The result was a roaring success for graduate students, honours students and academic staff alike.
A total of seven students from the ANU Faculty of Science did honours projects with a supervisor from RSAA in 2003. We are pleased to note that six of these decided to begin a PhD program at RSAA in 2004. Indeed, with these students and four others, two from other Australian institutions and two from overseas (Mexico, Denmark), RSAA will see its largest intake of PhD students in over a decade.
The School runs a yearly Summer Research Scholar Program. During the summer of 2002-03 the program was convened by Dr Simon Driver with eight scholars taking part; two from Griffith University and one each from Otago (NZ), the University of Tasmania, ANU, Sydney and Melbourne Universities, and the University of Queensland. The Stromlo Summer Program provides a regular source of incoming graduate students to the School.
2002 Attrition and Student Progress Rates
Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics Attrition (b)
Program Career Program Type Citizenship Number
Enrolled (a) Left ANU Higher Degree Research Doctorate by Research Domestic 17 0.0% International 6 0.0%
Doctorate by Research Total 23 0.0%
a) Sole/major student enrolments in award programs at any Census date during the 2002 reporting period (1 September 2001 to 31 August 2002, inclusive).
b) Enrolled in 2002, but did not complete and were not enrolled or on approved leave of absence in 2003.
3.3 New Grants Awarded in 2003
The success rate of RSAA applications to ARC was not as high in 2003 as in the previous two years. To what extent this can be attributed to the effects of the January bushfires, which preceded the (extended) ARC deadline by a couple of months, is difficult to determine, but it surely played a role. Nevertheless, two large awards were won by RSAA staff in 2003:
(*) USyd administers with participants ANU, CSIRO, Monash, Swinburne, UMelb, UNSW, USQ.
3.4 Major Prizes, Honours and Awards
RSAA staff and students continued to excel as evidenced by the honours bestowed upon them in 2003. Perhaps of greatest note is the recognition from several quarters given to the RSAA team responsible for the design and construction of the Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph destined for the giant Gemini telescope in Hawaii before its destruction in the bushfires, and the remarkable achievement of RSAA as one of the best organizations in all Australia for producing well-cited scientists. Shown at right is the NIFS team.
Grant Source CI Name Brief Title Award Total AU Acad Sciences P D Sackett Planetary Timescales Conference $ 10K STINT (Sweden) M Asplund Origin of the Elements $ 80K ARC: Discovery S P Driver Deep Infrared Study of Nearby Galaxies $ 300K ARC: Discovery K C Freeman Galactic Archaeology $ 730K ARC Linkage Intern‘l B P Schmidt European Union Collaborations $ 51K SNAP Science Program B P Schmidt Optimised Detection of Dark Energy $ 80K ARC: Linkage G Robertson (*) Australian Membership of Gemini $1,849K ARC: RN Seed Funding P J McGregor Research Network for Adaptive Optics $ 20K
RSAA Staff Awards Prof Michael Bessell ISI Citation Laureate Prof Michael Dopita Centenary Medalist, ISI Citation Laureate Prof K C Freeman Centenary Medalist, ISI Citation Laureate, Blaauw Professorship Prof Jeremy Mould (now in US) ISI Citation Laureate Prof Penny Sackett Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society Dr. Bruce Peterson ISI Citation Laureate NIFS Instrument Team ACT New Technology and Innovation Award NIFS Instrument Team High Commendation for Engineering Excellence, Engineers
Australia (Canberra Division) NIFS Instrument Team ANU Staff Excellence Award Computing Group ANU Bushfire Staff Excellence Award RSAA Student Awards Bradley Warren ACT Young Australian of the Year
3.5 Budget Performance
In 2003, the School received a block ANU grant of $5,736K, external revenue of $6,616K, and income from commercial activities of $595K. The breakdown of the external revenue is provided in the table below.
RSAA External Income in 2003 Siding Spring Observatory Site Recoveries $ 365 K Trans-Neptunian Object Project 16 K Univ of Arizona Near Earth Object Project 192 K Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI) Contract 2,759 K Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph Contract (NIFS) 6 K DEST Systemic Infrastructure Initiative for Siding Spring Observatory 1,854 K ARC awards 1,420 K ANSTO 4 K Total External Income $ 6,616 K
The two RSAA commercial activities in 2003 were the Siding Spring Observatory Lodge and Visitors' Centre, and Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatory (MSSS0) Housing. The Stromlo and SSO Visitors' Centres were visited by approximately 1,000 and 10,000 people, respectively, in 2003. The dramatic drop in the Stromlo numbers was due to the fires which closed the site on 18 January 2003. The Siding Spring visitor numbers indicate a disappointing decrease of 50% compared to the previous year. This decrease is now being investigated. SSO commercial activities ended the year with an operating deficit of $7,000, which was offset by accumulated funds. The MSSSO Housing activity sustained an operating deficit of $3,435. It should be noted, however, that $53,000 of rental income for the six Stromlo houses destroyed in the bushfires did not eventuate in 2003; a claim has been submitted to the ANU's insurers to recover the lost income.
3.6 Gender Equity Performance
At the end of the calendar year 2003, 13 of the School's 25 postgraduate students were female, compared to 9 of 21 total in 2002. Women represent 16% of RSAA general staff (excluding casuals). Of RSAA's 26.5 academic staff, three are female, namely its Director and two researchers on fixed- term post-doctoral appointments. Despite a policy implemented last year of advertising more widely and for longer periods of time, the number of female applicants to academic posts in RSAA is very small: 0 – 10%, and importantly, smaller than the female ratio of putative applicants worldwide. The School is beginning to examine why this might be the case, and to take steps to address this apparent anomaly.
3.7 Future Directions
In the next four years, the directions of the School will be guided by the RSAA Strategic Plan. One new area of emphasis, planetary science, is being developed together with the Research School of Earth Sciences to combine strengths in an emerging cross-disciplinary field. One appointment has
been made to the joint Planetary Sciences Institute, and three more positions will be filled in 2004. A joint seminar and dinner series is enjoying increasing success, with ~80 attendees at the last event.
The new Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre expected to be a focus of the New Stromlo is being specifically designed with the future in mind, emphasizing strategic areas of growth for RSAA astro-engineering in the next two decades: design, high-precision and adaptive optics, technical study and training, and integrated systems. The School is beginning to forge links with the best teams worldwide investigating the science and technology of the Next Generation Telescopes, including optical-infrared telescopes with diameters of 20-100m. These linkages promise exposure to worldwide expertise and an opportunity to contribute in unique ways to international science to the benefit of ANU and the nation.
4 Involvement in the National Institutes