Siding Spring Observatory Director

Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue75 1–31 August 2026

While August is a quiet month in many places in the Northern hemisphere, activities around the AAT were in full swing. With the future of the AAT soon to be decided by the Commonwealth government, astronomers across Australia have supported the process through several initiatives: a workshop at Macquarie University to discuss options for the future, a report to government outlining three alternative scenarios for the AAT, ranging from continued operations until 2030 through to a transformation that could extend its life into the 2040s, and a media release by Astronomy Australia Limited (AAL).

Putting all this together within a constantly shrinking timeframe while also rethinking the outlook for optical astronomy in Australia was no mean feat for all those involved. Staff at AAT have also supported the work of two consultancies that visited to evaluate completely alternative options from hibernation to orderly shutdown of the AAT. While these concepts did not warm anyone’s hearts, they had to be explored to give government clarity of the cost in the full suite of alternative futures.

An annual WHS audit of SSO was conducted in August with excellent results. As a site, SSO is characterised by a degree of complexity in tools, processes and work environments, meaning that WHS considerations take up a larger than average share of daily work hours. 

August was also the start of the new observing semester, and the first semester in which key survey observations using the refurbished 2dF instrument are scheduled in earnest. We all hope that nothing goes wrong in these final steps towards getting 2dF “well oiled”.

Christian Wolf

Image: The AAT at night in August 2026. Credit: Jim Fettes (AAL)