Skymapper receives grant for Southern Sky Survey
The Australian National University (ANU) has been awarded a $390,000 research grant for its Southern Sky Survey of stars and galaxies in the southern hemisphere, scheduled to start in the next couple of months.
The three-year grant, awarded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), will give the university $139,000 per year for the survey which will run for about five years.
The build of both the telescope and the digital camera were previously funded by the ANU with the ARC grant going primarily toward the employment of post-doctorate fellows to conduct the research as well as overseas travel to conferences to publicise the work and to replace any aged equipment.
The research team will be led by CAASTRO “Dark Universe” Theme Leader and Nobel Laureate Professor Brian Schmidt, as well as about six others all of which will focus on a different area of astronomy.
Skymapper will be used to build a database of every object in the southern hemisphere sky and will therefore be an important facility for the CAASTRO “Dynamic Universe” Theme.
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