Huntsman Telescope to help discover the fate of the Milky Way

Macquarie University, with support from Canon Australia, recently unveiled the Huntsman Telescope — a novel telescope concept designed to ‘hunt for’ and study ultra-faint galaxies and astronomical objects in the Southern Sky. Comprising an array of 10 commercially available Canon super-telephoto lenses, it is said to be the only telescope of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

Located at the Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, NSW, the Huntsman Telescope will perform deep Southern Sky surveys to provide researchers with further understanding about how galaxies form, how they grow, how they engage with structures that surround them and what happens when they collide. According to principal investigator Dr Lee Spitler, the telescope’s work will be crucial to understanding what might happen should the Milky Way have a head-on collision with its neighbour, the Andromeda Galaxy — an event theorised to occur in 4.5 billion years.

“The Huntsman Telescope is pioneering the way in which we view our southern skies by capturing images of the faintest galaxy structures that conventional telescopes simply couldn’t,” Spitler said. “The ability to observe the remnants of galaxies colliding with each other, and searching for the faintest and smallest galaxies in the universe, will help us understand the potential fate of the Milky Way in the far distant future.”

Through the Huntsman Telescope: the Andromeda Galaxy. Image credit: Sarah Caddy.

Inspired by the innovative Dragonfly Telephoto Array, based in the United States, the Huntsman Telescope comprises Canon EF 400 mm f/2.8 L IS II super-telephoto lenses which are usually used by professional sports or wildlife photographers. Part of Canon’s L-series professional lens range, the second-generation lens has impressive anti-reflection properties, owing to one of the first applications of Canon’s nanofabricated coatings with sub-wavelength structures on optical glasses. The coated lens array contrasts to a conventional mirror telescope, whose imperfectly polished surface can introduce subtle errors that ruin faint, extended structures surrounding galaxies.

Furthermore, each lens in the array is equipped with a single monolithic wide-field detector covering six square degrees. With multiple redundant lines of sight, the Huntsman is able to achieve effective modelling of the night sky emission and produce ultra-clear renderings of our universe.

“For 80 years, Canon has been committed to developing precision optical technologies that exceed the needs of our customers, and we’re proud that our EF-lenses will play a role in helping Australian scientists tackle some of the most critical questions in astronomy today,” said Kotaro Fukushima, Managing Director, Canon Oceania.

“With our origins in camera development, Canon has diversified its business and technological potential to become essential to a wide range of fields — from space exploration to printing, medical equipment and security — with the purpose of solving diverse social challenges and enriching the lives of all global citizens. In combining our innovative imaging technology with AI, cloud and other IT solutions, Canon is helping to unlock the next stage of the future.”

The Huntsman Telescope observing the southern skies.

Of the nine members of the Huntsman Telescope’s technical and science team, five are Macquarie University PhD students. Sarah Caddy, a PhD candidate from Macquarie’s School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, said the approach of combining individual EF 400 mm f/2.8 L IS II super-telephoto lenses will enable the Huntsman Telescope to scale with the needs of scientists in the future. Recent upgrades to the telescope are already set to further enhance Huntsman’s abilities in studying the universe.

“The Huntsman’s new suite of powerful computers enable each lens or ‘eye’ of the Huntsman to operate independently of each other,” Caddy said. “This will allow the telescope to autonomously detect ultra-fast transient events like stellar flares from distant stars, or even more exotic phenomenon like aiding the search for origin of fast radio bursts that continue to elude astronomers.”

The Huntsman Telescope project is a jointly led project from Macquarie University School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and the Australian Astronomical Optics Macquarie, both within the university’s Faculty of Science and Engineering. The telescope will be open to the public on 1 October 2022, as part of the annual StarFest event.

Top image: The Huntsman Telescope.

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