#Astronomy and Space

Black and white image of a building with a large antenna on the roof

Radar and the birth of radio astronomy in Australia at Collaroy Plateau

Scientists from CSIRO, supported by the Royal Australian Air Force, observed radio waves emitted from the Sun at the Collaroy Plateau air and sea defence radar station during WWII.

Australia Telescope Compact Array

The Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), located at the Paul Wild Observatory near Narrabri on Gomeroi Country, is a set […]

Pulsar surveys and the discovery of the double pulsar

CSIRO’s Parkes radio telescope has a proud history in the discovery and investigation of pulsars – tiny spinning neutron stars […]

A photograph of the active 190 GHz imaging system

Radio astronomy amplifiers using millimetre wavelength imaging

The installation of CSIRO-designed monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers in the Australia Telescope Compact Array, to observe radio signals […]

The total solar eclipse of 30 June 1973

Radio astronomy – observing explosions on the sun

Since the 1930s optical astronomers had been making regular observations of solar flares – sudden and violent explosions in the […]

Artist's concept of asteroid mining

Space: the mining frontier

CSIRO is developing fully autonomous large scale surface and underground mining equipment that has the potential to eventually be used […]

Bruce Thomas attaching a dual-hybrid-mode corrugated-horn in the focus cabin at the Parkes radio telescope in 1968

Antennas for radio telescopes and satellite communications

After the completion of the Parkes 64m radio telescope, an antenna-related research program was established in CSIRO to improve aspects […]

The Western Australia beam for AUSSAT displayed on a computer screen in 1989

AUSSAT-B and other antenna research that revolutionised the international satellite industry

The work done for AUSSAT by CSIRO in the 1980s helped revolutionise the satellite industry, an industry that is worth […]

Parkes telescope during construction

Parkes radio telescope construction

By the late 1940s and early 1950s it was clear that the days of improvisation in radio astronomy were over, […]