SSO Update

Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue41 1–30 June 2023

Veloce Azzurro and Verde

After several years of planning and hard work, the Azzurro (blue) and Verde (green) arms of Veloce were installed in the Coudé east room of the AAT. When combined with the Rosso (red) arm of Veloce, which has been in operation for several years, Australian astronomers will have access to a powerful high-resolution spectrograph covering the entire optical wavelength range. Designed to detect and study exoplanets, we look forward to the many discoveries that Veloce will make over the next few years.

In the photo, we can see, from left to right, Brian Taylor, James Cameron, David Broderick, Dionne Haynes, and Israel Vaughn looking over the optical bench on which the three arms are mounted. Missing from the photo are all the AITC and SSO staff that helped with the development and installation. There would have been too many of you to fit you all. A special thanks to each and every one of you for getting us to this stage.

Two commissioning runs, one in June and one in July, will now occur followed by a science verification run in August.  

Special Guests

On Monday the 22nd of May, over 40 year-12 students from schools distributed throughout rural north NSW descended on Siding Spring Observatory. They were part of the year-12 in-depth study run by Matt Dodds. Matt is one of three National Astronomy Education Coordinators for the International Astronomical Union and a volunteer for ASTRO 3D. Every year he brings year-12 students to Siding Spring to help grow their interest in everything to do with science and especially astronomy.

After being given a talk and demonstration about the basic workings and movement of the telescope by Rob Brookfield, Murray Riding described some of the science currently being undertaken. The students were then split into groups to be taken around the building. Israel Vaughn described the Veloce spectrograph (see the figure above), and Ashley Anderson showed them the AAOmega spectrograph. They were then led to the AAT control room to hear a talk by James Cameron, and then finally to 2dF at Prime Focus Access where Murray showed them how the robot places fibres.

After leaving the AAT, they travelled to the top of the mountain to see the 2.3-metre telescope and gaze at the natural beauty of the Warrumbungle mountains from the trig point, the highest point at Siding Spring. 

The students were excited to see the physical embodiment of many of the principles they were learning at school. We hope that many of them will be inspired to continue their studies in physics and engineering and go on to careers in these fields.

Chris Lidman and Murray Riding on behalf of the SSO team.