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Achievements of UNSW astronomers honoured by new stamp
By Bob Beale
September 16, 2008
The new Australian postage stamp. Designer Chris Shurey; copyright Australia Post. The new Australian postage stamp. Designer Chris Shurey; copyright Australia Post. The image of Concordia base, Antarctica, taken by Tony Travouillon in 2003. The image of Concordia base, Antarctica, taken by Tony Travouillon in 2003.

UNSW's pioneering role in showing the unrealised potential of ground-based astronomy in Antarctica has been celebrated on a new Australian postage stamp.

The stamp depicts in the foreground a telescope in Antarctica - together with an infrared image of organic molecules in space that it obtained - with background detail taken from a photograph of a UNSW field station at the Concordia base, high up on the Antarctic plateau.

The photograph was taken in 2003 by Tony Travouillon, a PhD student with the School of Physics, and also shows the UNSW flag flying on the observatory. The flag, however, is barely distinguishable to the naked eye - it is, after all, a postage stamp.

Australia Post has featured research in astronomy as part of its new Australian Antarctic Territory stamp series for the International Polar Year of 2007-08. The series contains four stamps featuring science programs where Australia is playing an international leadership role in Antarctica. These are in astronomy, glaciology, marine biology and oceanography.

"We're very proud to have our achievements recognised in this way," says Professor Michael Burton, a member of the UNSW team and lead author of the scientific paper that presented the astronomical image depicted on the stamp.

"Fifteen years of hard work, careful planning and high-quality science have gone into our successes in demonstrating that with its clear, dry and stable air, the high-altitude Antarctic plateau is the best place on Earth for many kinds of astronomical observations.

"It's also demonstrated the truly international nature of science, with colleagues like our own Professor John Storey from the School of Physics, and Dr Jon Lawrence, Department of Astrophysics and Optics, and governments from around the world working co-operatively together to make this all happen."

The stamp features the SPIREX infrared telescope, which was operated at the South Pole in collaboration with scientists from the USA, and the UNSW AASTINO site testing laboratory at Dome C in collaboration with French and Italian scientists.

For the International Polar Year, Australia is leading the AstroPoles program, aimed at quantifying the site conditions for astronomy over the polar plateaus.

Our activities include the deployment of the PLATO laboratory to Dome A - at 4,100 metres, the highest point of the Antarctic plateau - in collaboration with a Chinese expedition, where a new station is now planned.

We have also developed a concept design for the PILOT 2.5-metre optical/infrared telescope for Concordia station, proposed as a joint Australian-European project for Dome C. These sites are both within the Australian Antarctic Territory.