Siding Spring Observatory Update

Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue71 1–30 April 2026

The AAT caught the Artemis fever, capturing images of Orion/Integrity the night after the historical mission came out from the dark side of the Moon. The images were taken using the Apogee camera mounted at the Cassegrain focus. The scheduled instrument in use that night was the Veloce spectrograph, however the setup allows for a quick change to the Apogee camera with a single flip mirror. The target was 9 degrees away from the Moon when the images were taken.

Gayandhi De Silva, Steve Chapman, Sarah Caddy and Lee Spitler

Whilst at SSO, Gayandhi De Silva also presented a seminar to AAT staff covering strategies to identify and manage Burnout, as part of the IDEA initiative, which was very well received by staff.

Chris Onken

Image: Left - L to R: Steve Chapman, Lee Spitler (Macquarie U), and Gayandhi De Silva in the AAT control room for imaging Artemis-II's Integrity spacecraft. (Photo credit: Murray Riding.) Top Right: AAT images of Integrity. Bottom Right: SkyMapper didn't want to miss out, and also imaged Integrity on its homeward journey.  See the animated GIF of the spacecraft on its homeward journey.