Reach for the stars in the southern sky

30 July 2009

The entire southern night sky has become more accessible with the launch of the $13 million state-of-the-art, fully-automated Australian National University (ANU) SkyMapper Telescope at the Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales.

At the launch of the new telescope, Australia’s Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr, said that SkyMapper – a new generation surveying telescope – is able to scan the night sky more quickly and deeply than ever before.

“It will provide a map of the southern sky allowing astronomers to study everything from nearby objects like asteroids to the most distant quasars.”

Senator Carr said that SkyMapper is a notable achievement for Australia’s growing space industry sector.

“The Government recognises the importance of space science for Australia. That’s why we’ve provided $160.5 million for Space Science and Astronomy infrastructure under the $1.1 billion Super Science initiative in the Federal Budget.”