Research & development > Analytical

In the red corner: the world's first middleweight black hole

14 February, 2017

Astronomers have announced evidence for the existence of a 'middleweight' black hole — otherwise known as the missing link between relatively small, stellar-mass black holes and the supermassive black holes that lie at the centre of some galaxies.


What's killing our galaxies?

08 February, 2017

Across the universe, galaxies are being killed, and scientists want to know whodunnit.


The ancient star that faked its age

02 February, 2017

German scientists have been investigating the true age of 49 Lib, a relatively bright star in the southern sky, which was until recently believed to be 2.3 billion years old.


Quantum object created in space

27 January, 2017

German researchers have successfully created a cloud of ultracold atoms in space — and begun testing a theory of Albert Einstein's in the process.


One giant leap (second) for 2016

11 January, 2017

If you can't shake the feeling that 2016 went on for longer than a typical calendar year, you're not actually far from the truth.


Giant galaxies may grow from cold gas

02 December, 2016

Giant galaxies may grow from cold gas that condenses as stars, contradicting the theory that they are formed by smaller galaxies falling together in a hot, violent merger.


Mapping the Milky Way

21 October, 2016

Australian and German scientists have used the world's largest steerable radio telescopes to create the most detailed map yet of the Milky Way.


World's largest radio telescope completed

26 September, 2016

The Chinese Academy of Sciences has completed construction on the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) — the world's largest radio telescope.


The mystery of the dimming galaxy and the starving black hole

16 September, 2016

An international team of astronomers has discovered the secret behind a change in the behaviour of a supermassive black hole at the centre of a distant galaxy.


Australian satellites join global research project

10 August, 2016

Three Australian research satellites will be deployed to the International Space Station (ISS) later this year, marking the first time an Australian-made satellite has gone into space since 2002.


Cygnus spacecraft returns to Earth

29 July, 2016

The Cygnus CRS OA-6 spacecraft has returned to Earth after supplying 3.5 tonnes of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).


The da Vinci code: notes of the laws of friction uncovered

27 July, 2016

Scribbled notes and sketches on a page in a notebook by Leonardo da Vinci, previously dismissed as irrelevant, have been identified as the place where he first recorded his understanding of the laws of friction.


France partners with CSIRO on space science project

21 July, 2016

The president of the French Government's space agency has signed a cooperation agreement with the CSIRO covering the 2017 launch of a stratospheric scientific balloon research program from the NASA/CSIRO base in Alice Springs.


A violin made from spider silk

24 June, 2016

Luca Alessandrini has developed a prototype violin made from a composite material that includes, among other things, spider silk.


A giant galaxy cluster, more gravitational waves and life outside the solar system

16 June, 2016

It's been a busy couple of days for astronomers, with announcements of three significant discoveries taking place in the past 48 hours.


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