Public Lecture: The Hubble Space Telescope

Professor Gerhardt Meurer 

ICRAR/UWA

It’s been nearly two decades since the Hubble Space Telescope began giving us it’s awe inspiring view of the cosmos. The images it’s sent back to Earth have revolutionised astrophysics and inspired people all over the globe, both in terms of scientific understanding and pure artistic beauty. In this special talk Professor Meurer will present and describe some of the most spectacular images produced by Hubble, the scientific and cultural impact they possess and the people that made such an amazing project possible. Finally Professor Meurer will discuss Australia’s role in the future of astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope and it’s Pathfinder, ASKAP which is set to reveal portions of galaxies that can not be detected by any of the space telescopes.

Before joining ICRAR, Professor Meurer researched galaxy evolution at The Johns Hopkins University in the United States, where he was involved in developing and testing instrumentation for the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as analysing the scientific data from it.

Professor Meurer joined ICRAR in January 2010 to take part in science surveys with the revolutionary Australia Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope (currently under construction in Western Auatralia). When complete in 2013, ASKAP will make the most complete census of hydrogen gas contained in hundreds of thousands of galaxies located in the nearby universe, and a deeper survey of this gas in more distant galaxies. Stars are form out of cloud of gas and dust, so these surveys will map where the right conditions exist for galaxies to create new stars, and thus evolve. Professor Meurer will use telescopes on the ground and in space to measure the rate of evolution in these galaxies.