The Huntsman Telescope

In this talk I give an update about the Huntsman Telescope, a new astronomy observing system that makes use of an array of Canon lenses to take images of extremely faint astronomical sources. I'll describe the science motivation, show preliminary data and give an update on how the commissioning of the system at Siding Spring Observatory. I will also discuss ambitious plans to launch a small satellite into space and perform similar observations at infrared wavelengths of light.

Dr Lee Spitler

Senior Lecturer in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Macquarie University

My research aims to improve our understanding of how galaxies form and evolve through cosmic times. Galaxies host all the really interesting things about the universe -- stars, dust, life, etc -- so their study can tell us a lot about the universe we live in.

I am also pursuing creative ways to view the universe using new technology. This started with my efforts to set up the Huntsman Telescope, a southern hemisphere version of the Dragonfly Telephoto Array, which uses off-the-shelf Canon telephoto lenses to image extremely diffuse stellar structures. You can follow our Huntsman project on Twitter and Facebook.

This expanded into space, with my efforts to launch a similar single lens system into space with the Australian Space Eye. We've merged this effort into the SkyHopper Space Telescope mission.

Dr Spitler received a BSc with Honours in Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz, USA, and a PhD in Astrophysics from Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia