Welcome to the Astronomical Society of South Australia

This month we explore meteoroids and asteroids. What exactly is a "falling", or "shooting" star? Do meteorites and asteroids pose a danger to the Earth's biosphere?

The $160m Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope is nearing completion in Western Australia. One of the key projects driving it is EMU - the Evolutionary Map of the Universe - which has an ambitious goal of studying the sky at radio wavelengths in unprecedented detail, boldly going where no telescope has gone before. Our scientific goal is to figure out how galaxies evolved in the early days of the Universe and how they evolve to the Universe we see today, with stars, planets, rocks, trees, and astronomers. Presented by Prof Ray Norris.

Collapsars are literally Collapsed Stars which have gravitationally contracted at the end of their long lives into incredibly dense objects. In this session, we explore White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars and Black Holes.

Earth's encounters with comets has led to megafaunal extinctions and collapse of Chinese dynasties. Throughout history, comets have been seen as omens of change and disaster in many cultures. The legends of St Michael, feathered serpents, and celestial dragons are some examples of these encounters. Given that the 12,900 BP cometary impact event (called the Younger Dryas) created massive wildfires etc it also caused the extinction of numerous large animals like the mammoth (megafauna). Presented by Assoc Prof Vic Gostin, University of Adelaide.