Current projects

MAVIS is a multi-conjugate adaptive optics visible imager and spectrograph for the ESO VLT. MAVIS will be the first visible MCAO system in the world, using 6-8 laser guide stars to deliver diffraction-limited images (15 milli-arcsec) from the V band to the I band over a 30” field-of-view and allow integral field spectroscopy over a 3” field-of-view.

This  project is a collaboration between AAO-MQ, AAO-Stromlo, INAF-Padova (Italy), INAF-Arcetri (Italy), LAM (France) and ESO (Europe). AAO-MQ are responsible for the imager and spectrograph packages.

MANIFEST is a facility multi-object fibre system for the Giant Magellan Telescope.

MANIFEST will consist of hundreds of Starbug robots that patrol the GMT field of view and feed currently planned optical spectrographs (high resolution GCLEF and medium resolution GMACS) and future spectrographs (possibly including infrared spectrographs). MANIFEST will have multiple fibre configurations, ranging from single fibres to multiple integral-field units to single integral-field-units.

The MANIFEST instrument aims to enhance the functionality of the GMT spectrographs by offering capabilities such as:

• increasing the field of view
• increased multiplex capability
• multiple deployable IFUs
• increased spectral resolution and/or wavelength coverage via image-slicing
• the opportunity for simultaneous observation with multiple instruments
• the possibility of a gravity-invariant spectrograph mounting
• the potential for OH suppression via fibre systems in the near-infrared
• the versatility of adding new instruments in the future.

BlueMUSE is a proposed blue-optimised, medium spectral resolution, integral-field-spectrograph for the Very Large Telescope (VLT). It is based around the MUSE instrument successfully deployed to the VLT in 2014. The Blue MUSE concept is led by the University of Lyon. It involves a consortium of institutes in Europe and Australia.

The AAO's contribution (a partner of Astralis Instrumentation Consortium) will have a focus on the instrument opto-mechanical structure, which will house the field splitter, relay optics, and spectrograph banks.

The DIRAC project tasks the AAO with designing and manufacturing an infra-red diffraction-limited camera for the Eastern Anatolia Observatory in Turkey.

It will be mounted on the Nasmyth platform of the 4 metre DAG telescope.

The DIRAC imager can support a broad range of scientific interests needing high-definition near-infrared imaging: from low-mass star and exoplanet search and characterisation to studies of star-formation in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies as well as analyses of intermediate and high redshift galaxies.

In this project AAO-MQ are responsible for the design and delivery of the instrument and the overall project management. AAO-Stromlo and AAO-Usyd are partners contributing to the detector workpackage and the systems workpackage respectively.

GNAO_AOB project is a Phase A study for an adaptive optics bench for the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii. The Phase A study is being led by AAO-MQ (Astralis-AAO) representing the Astralis Instrumentation Consortium with Astralis partner ANU (Astralis-AITC), and with international partners ONERA – the French Aeropace Lab, Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille – France, and the French company ALPAO.

The adaptive optics bench is a significant component for the Gemini North Adaptive Optics project that will provide the Gemini North telescope with a state-of-the-art adaptive optics facility enabling the capability to obtain very high resolution near-infrared images over almost the entire sky. This facility will make possible a wide range of scientific studies. It will allow targeting of distant galaxies to study their formation and evolution, back to a time in the early universe when galaxies were first forming. It will also allow astronomers to gain insight into the physics of star formation within the Milky Way galaxy.

Data Central (datacentral.org.au) is an advanced research platform and data archive developed at AAO Macquarie. It enables researchers across disciplines to explore, collaborate, and make new discoveries by providing intuitive, web-based tools and secure long-term data storage.

At its core, Data Central is designed to solve three persistent challenges in research data management: isolation of datasets, short-term storage, and lack of interoperability. By addressing these, we maximise the legacy and scientific impact of large-scale projects.

Our ecosystem combines research tools—including powerful query services, image cutout functionality, and Virtual Observatory–compliant archives—with team support services such as secure cloud storage, content management, wikis, and collaboration portals. This makes Data Central uniquely positioned to support large, complex, and international collaborations.

Today, Data Central underpins flagship astronomy surveys and provides scalable, secure, and interoperable solutions for research teams. Whether managing terabytes of data, building bespoke project websites, or enabling seamless team collaboration, Data Central offers the infrastructure to help researchers focus on what matters most—delivering breakthrough science.

AAO’s Research Data & Software team is helping astronomers prepare for one of the biggest data challenges in modern astronomy: the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile.

Over the next ten years, Rubin will scan the southern sky every few nights with a 3,200-megapixel camera, capturing changes across the universe and producing around 20 terabytes of raw data each night.

AAO’s Research Data & Software team, working with Swinburne University of Technology, will help build and support the software and data systems needed to process, manage and share this information with astronomers in Australia and around the world. This work will enable researchers to track asteroids, study exploding stars, investigate distant galaxies, and explore the universe in motion on a scale never seen before.

AAO is designing and building a High-Resolution Spectrograph (HRS) for the 3.6-metre Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT), operated by the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) in Uttarakhand, India.

A spectrograph is a scientific instrument that separates starlight into its individual colours, much like a prism creates a rainbow. By studying this light in great detail, astronomers can determine what stars and planets are made of, measure their motion, and investigate their physical properties.

The new High-Resolution Spectrograph will significantly enhance the scientific capability of the Devasthal Optical Telescope. It will enable researchers to make much more precise observations of stars, planets, and other celestial objects, supporting research in areas such as the search for planets around other stars, the study of stellar evolution, and the structure of our Galaxy. The instrument will help ensure that the Devasthal Optical Telescope remains a world-class facility, providing valuable scientific discoveries and supporting astronomy research for many years to come.