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Connecting and sharing news, people, projects, voices and science from Australia and NZ’s space communities. 📸 CSIRO. www.spaceaustralia.com

Animation showing two stars in binary orbit around each other. One is a white dwarf, the other a red dwarf. They are very close and their magnetic fields are interacting. Where the magnetic field is touching, plasma arcs are forming.
A plot showing the inferred masses of merging binary black holes. The main panel shows primary black-hole mass, m1, on the vertical axis and secondary black-hole mass, m2, on the horizontal axis, both in solar masses. Orange shading marks where binary black holes are more likely to be found, concentrated mostly below about 50 solar masses. A dashed diagonal line marks equal masses, where m1 = m2. Blue marginal distributions along the top and right show the individual mass distributions, with a labeled “pair
Infographic titled “Pair-Instability Supernova,” with the subtitle “how very massive stars can destroy themselves completely.” Three illustrated panels show the process from left to right. In the first panel, “Pair Production,” high-energy photons inside a massive star create electron–positron pairs, shown in a zoomed-in bubble, draining pressure support from the core. In the second panel, “Core Contraction,” the star’s core contracts and heats up as radiation pressure can no longer balance gravity. In the third panel the star has blown itself up with the world "Total Disruption" below it.
Silhouetted image of the Artemis II rocket standing at the launch pad with the Sun behind it
A man stands next to a relatively large optical telescope, and is looking into the side of it. The telescope is located inside the dome of an observatory which is open.
Black and white photo of a road with two arrows pointing in opposite directions. To the left of the road, and a little down the distance is a large radio telescope, pointing away from the viewer.
Animation showing the earths magnetic field being impacted by a geomagnetic storm
Two people: Dr Katie Mack and Rami Mandow, standing in the large main chamber of the SUPL facility. They are wearing high-vis vests and protective boots in the clean room.
SUPL door sign: Completion of Stage 1 of the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory was officially celebrated on Friday 19 August 2022. The facility was built on the lands of the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawarjali, Wergaia, and Jupagulk peoples, and we are proud to acknowledge their continued custodianship of these lands and waters. The facility was funded with the support of the Australian Government and the Victorian Government. The facility was constructed with the support of the Stawell Gold Mines.
Two people: Dr Katie Mack and Rami Mandow, standing outside the entry door to the SUPL facility. Both are wearing a high-vis vest, helmet, glasses.
Simulation animation showing the view of the Apep system, a series of concentric rings and structures that emerge in a spiral formation from the central main stars.
Short video showing an abrupt event occurring on the surface of a neutron star and spreading across the entire surface.
Split image. On left is a radio chart showing a squiggly line annotated with the date and sky reference, of where the pulsar was detected. On the right is a woman standing with a chart in her hand, with a large radio telescope in the background.
Earth centred on a curving green sheet representing spacetime and surrounded by pulsars with radio beams in all directions
Plot showing three rows and eight column grid. The rows represent the stokes parameters, and the columns represent different frequency bands. The data in the plots shows the profile residuals per band per stokes.
Animation of a rotating neutron star with magnetic field lines co-rotating
Queers in Science poster showing a gid of 6 photos of scientists. There is a QR code in the top left. The text reads: Queer Astronomy: QIS Panel feat. Dr Katie Mack We’re putting on a special QueersInSci-Fi edition with special guest Dr Katie Mack and QIS panellists: Krystal De Napoli, Catriona Vi Nguyen-Robertson, Deanne Fisher and Rami Mandow. MC: Chloe Mackallah Date: 17th July 2025 Time: 5pm - 7pm Where: Lvl 1, The Oxford Scholar, Melb. Snacks provided FREE EVENT - BOOKING REQUIRED
Swinburne Uni, website page showing Dr Katie Mack in an event page, with her book 'The End of Everything' also showing. Details for the event time, location, cost and registration link are also shown.
Graphic that shows a background of stars. Overlaid are the five panel members: Alan Duffy, Katie Mack, Rami Mandow, Sara Webb and Kirsten Banks. The graphic is annotated with “Science Communication Panel: Telling the Stories of the Universe”
Sydney Uni event webpage showing Dr Katie Mack with her arms crossed in an image. Overlaid is the words "Sold Out". THe event page has information about the event occurring at Sydney University.
A sharp-edged building that is being imaged from the front facade, whilst the sun has set. The words "Macquarie University - Sydney Australia" are annotated.
Queers in Science poster showing a gid of 6 photos of scientists. There is a QR code in the top left. The text reads: Queer Astronomy: QIS Panel feat. Dr Katie Mack We’re putting on a special QueersInSci-Fi edition with special guest Dr Katie Mack and QIS panellists: Krystal De Napoli, Catriona Vi Nguyen-Robertson, Deanne Fisher and Rami Mandow. MC: Chloe Mackallah Date: 17th July 2025 Time: 5pm - 7pm Where: Lvl 1, The Oxford Scholar, Melb. Snacks provided FREE EVENT - BOOKING REQUIRED
Graphic that shows a background of stars. Overlaid are the five panel members: Alan Duffy, Katie Mack, Rami Mandow, Sara Webb and Kirsten Banks. The graphic is annotated with “Science Communication Panel: Telling the Stories of the Universe”
Katie Mack portrait shot. She is looking off to the side, and smiling.
Christmas-tree shaped metallic antennas sitting atop a metallic mesh. This forms one station and there are several stations in this image. The whole set up is located on the flat, red-Earth region of outback Australia. This is a graphical representation only.
Plot with frequency on the X-axis (ranging from 73 - 234 MHz) and the percentage of images in which a Starlink satellite was identified. The plot also shows the median noise in the data set for each frequency band. The results show that in certain bands, between 150 - 200 MHz there is significant contamination from Starlink satellites.
Video showing all sky view in radio regime in which the instrument is detecting signals from Starlink Satellites in the radio astronomy bands. The satellites zoom across the image, where as a fixed astrophysical source (Fornax A) does not move. The satellites are annotated with their NORAD ID. The video is split into two screens showing different polarizations.
Plot showing two tiles vertically stacked. Top tile shows the signal from this object as observed in radio. It presents as two narrow peaks. The bottom tile represents the signal in x-rays, and presents as more broader peaks that have extended features. The peaks for both radio and x-rays occur at the same phase
Animation showing a rotating compact object, with its magnetic field lines and emission beams radiating from its magnetic poles
Animation showing the total electron count variability in the ionosphere as a function of time, with waves of bright yellow and orange data moving across a global map, relative to sections that are white and purple. The colour scale indicates the range of total electrons. This video shows how the ionosphere is turbulent with time and location.
Looking out across the red desert region of Western Australia. In the distance is a hill, and the ground has a red Earth colour. In the foreground is a large square metal mesh placed on the ground. Atop it are 16 spider-looking dipole antennas, arranged in a 4 x 4 grid. This is one of the MWA stations.
Aintoff projection map showing the entire sky as a function of galactic longitude and latitude. Overlaid on the oval-shaped map are contour lines that have a colour range of deep blue to white-blue. Also overlaid are several stars of different sizes, which represent the pulsars. There is a bright contour region near the southern pole. The text on the image reads: “This spot is brighter than the rest of the map!” and points to the bright spot. There is also a side note, that says “Note, the statistical significance of the hot spot is too low to claim a definite detection. The message this plot is conveying is that there is potentially an interesting signal in the southern hemisphere that seems brighter than the rest of the sky.
Graphic that shows a single dish from the MeerKAT telescope, and it is silhouetted across a background of illustrated supermassive black holes and space-time, represented by a warped grid.
Illustration of a side view of the double pulsar system, with both pulsars sending out beams from their poles and surrounded by magnetic fields. Below them, a space-time grid is distorted in reaction to each pulsar's mass.
A small moon is half in shadow as it is rising above the larger planet. The surface of the moon is very smooth and on the planet itself some faint clouds can be seen.
Looking out across a meadow, where a river curves in and out of the image. The other regions are covered in grass and a few stones and off in the distance are some hills. The sky is illuminated mostly in bright, neon shades of pink and purple from the aurora, but also features several bright green spikes (also aurora). On the right, a long, narrow flux of aurora is present on its own. The background sky, behind the aurora is filled with stars and you can make out the central core component of the Milky Way as well as fuzzy patches of light which are the Magellanic Clouds. The aurora is reflecting off the river to the viewer as well.
Night time image, looking out across a lake. In the foreground and shallow water are some rocks and in the distance are several rolling hills. Above the hills the night sky, filled with many stars and part of the Milky Way band is dominated by curtains of pink and reddish aurora. This is reflecting off the water in the lake as well.
Image divided into four tiles. Top row is the Trifid Nebula. A dense star field surrounds a bright, multi-coloured nebula. One region of the nebula is reddish. This is the hydrogen gas that has been excited by the hot massive stars at the centre of the nebula, causing it to be ionised. This structure is also crossed by dark dust lanes, in an X-shape. These are the dark nebula which are silhouetted against the red portion of the nebula. To the lower left are faint hues of blue-green gas. This is the dust that is reflecting light in our direction. Bottom row is the Helix Nebula. It features a central, large ring-like nebula. The inner part of the ring is a blue-green colour and is diffuse, whilst the outer ring region is reddish in hue, much more defined and clumpy. A central small white star, the white dwarf, emits powerful UV radiation which excites the different elements producing different colours. Surrounding the nebula are many stars. Images on the left are of higher resolution.
panoramic shot of a deep and dens star-filled sky, sitting above a horizon showing a low gradient slope mountain. The mountain is silhouetted. In the sky, many meteors are captured in this long exposure image.
a bright, ball of stars, collected together centrally. The cluster of stars features mostly white stars but there are numerous blue and red stars also. The density of stars is highest at the centre, and drops radially, giving the perspective of a hive-like structure swarming with points of light.
Graphic showing a grid of space-time. On the right is a depression on the grid. Over it is a large, spherical yellow-white object and besides that is a smaller blue spherical object. This is the white dwarf and the pulsar. The pulsar is emitting beams of radiation from its magnetic poles. The system is causing the depression or warping of space-time below it.
Artist's illustration of a radio telescope pointing upwards towards the sky. The background is divided into two halves. On the left is the pulsar, with chaotic magnetic field lines emanating from it. On the right is a white dwarf star. In both backgrounds, there is plenty of stars.
Three tile image. On the left is a telescope that features many lenses. The two images on the right are from the telescope. The top image is that of a star taken during the day and the one on the bottom is the space station taken during the day. It is black and white, and a little grainy.
Radio image of a section of The Snake filament, that shows a bright, yellow diagonal feature in the image. Next to it is a bright point-source that is annotated PSR J1744-2946.
Illustration of a bright, large blue star in the centre of a star field. On the lower right limb of the star is a smaller, spherical black object with circular ring of warped light around it (this is the black hole).
Fictional image of ‘Only The Astronauts’ book, floating in space with nebulae and stars in the background.
Composite image showing the SKA-Low antennas all placed on a mesh, and the milky way galaxy above it. The SKA low antennas look like metallic framed Christmas trees.
Radio telescope photographed at night time. The telescope is pointing slightly upwards and offset. At its base a few lights are on, and the horizon is a row of trees. In the night sky, the Milky Way shines brightly behind the telescope, causing it to become silhouetted. A sharp, short-ranged falling star also streaks across the sky.
A patchy, abstract image of purple blobs on a black background. Some of the purple blobs are red and bright orange. This image resembles a heat map. The purple blobs are caused by radio signals and the brighter, red and orange sources are more brighter radio signals. There is a large red circle annotated showing the core region of the cluster and a small, central red blob is also annotated with a square to highlight the central radio source within the cluster.
Five tile image showing the plane Jupiter, as photographed by JWST but in a range of colours, and brightness scales. The varying brightness shows more or less details within the planet’s atmosphere and surrounding ring regions.
Plot of 7 pie charts showing the number of male and female scientists that are mentioned in STEM school curricula. There are almost no mentions of female scientists. Only QLD and SA/NT have 1.4 percent and 1.5 percent of female mentions respectively.
Image of several rooftops and the horizon, after the Sun has set. In the sky is an overlaid light Milky Way Galactic arch. In the foreground, on this rooftop, are two telescope domes. One of them is open, exposing a telescope, with a green laser pointing out of it.
Wide angle shot showing several radio telescopes, clustered together and pointing upwards. They are located in a barron, red-Earth desert with small shrubs and above them arches the Milky Way band.
Aerial view of the coastline on the New South Wales South Coast during the Australian bushfires 2019-2020. On the left hand side you can see the waves from the ocean crashing onto the sand. Bordering the stretch of sand on the right is bushland. Plumes of bushfire smoke are rising from the bush on the right hand, with the sky and air taking on an orange colour.
Plot of dynamic frequency spectrum and brightness light curve.
Nine tile image that shows radio telescope dish antennas in different angles.
Graphic showing the Earth at the centre of a warped space-time grid. On the grid, surrounding the Earth are several pulsars whose beams are being distorted with space-time. In the distance, and on the edges of the image, are swirling binary black holes.
Graphic that features two supermassive black holes on the left, interacting and generating gravitational waves. On the right is the Earth, with a radio telescope icon placed on top of North America with four lines coming out of it and going into a different direction, meeting a pulsar icon at the end of each line.
Artist's graphic of the Earth, surrounded by several pulsars and lots of gravitational waves (represented as large sheets of pink material). There are also several dark spheres that appear in pairs, which are the supermassive black hole binaries.
Graphic of a rotating pulsar with beams emanating from its magnetic poles. There are also magnetic field lines. Surrounding is an accretion disc.