Expand Your Universe
Macarthur Astronomical Society organises the Macarthur Astronomy Forum as a platform for notable Australian and international astronomers to share their discoveries about the Universe with the Macarthur community – in a format understandable to non-scientists.
Held at Western Sydney University (Campbelltown Campus) 1996 to 2020, we hope to return to WSU in 2023 but in the meantime the Forums will be held online for members only.
The Forums are held 7.30 pm – 9.30 pm on the 3rd Monday of each month (Jan to Nov) and an earlier Monday in December. Details of our next Forum can be found on our News & Events page.
Guest Speakers 2020-2023
| A Historical Guest Speaker List for 2003-2019 is available > here < |
Guest Speaker List 2023
| DATE | LOC | SPEAKER | TOPIC |
| 16 Jan | Zoom | David Nelson (MAS member) | Meteorites 101 |
| 21 Feb | Zoom | Dr Jonty Marshall | Stirred But Not Shaken: Spilling The Secrets Of Exoplanets From Their Sticky Footsteps |
| 20 Mar | Zoom | Sarah Caddy (Macq Uni) | The Huntsman Telescope at the AAO |
| 17 Apr | Zoom | AGM followed by Prof Charley Lineweaver (ANU) | The Galactic Habitable Zone |
| 15 May | Zoom | Prof Jonti Horner (USQ) | The Search for Alien Worlds |
| 19 Jun | Dr Brad Tucker (ANU) | Space Telescopes, Exploding Stars, and Dark Energy | |
| 17 Jul | Prof Matthew Bailes (Swinburne) | Exploring Einstein’s Universe | |
| 21 Aug | Prof Joss Bland-Hawthorn (USYD) | TBA | |
| 18 Sep | Dr Doris Grosse (ANU) | TBA | |
| 16 Oct | Prof Geraint Lewis (USYD) | TBA | |
| 20 Nov | Dr Luke Barnes (WSU) | TBA | |
| 04 Dec | Dr Lucyna Chudczer | TBA |
Guest Speaker List 2022
| DATE | LOC | SPEAKER | TOPIC |
| 17 Jan | Zoom | Dr Devika Kamath (MaqU) | Unravelling the Chemical Diversity Shaping our Universe. |
| 21 Feb | Zoom | Dr Brad Tucker (ANU) | Shocking Supernova & discovering their progenitors. |
| 21 Mar | Zoom | Prof Roberto Soria (UCAS) | Revisiting the expansion of the universe. |
| 18 Apr | Zoom | Dr Tayyaba Zafar (Macq Uni)+AGM | Distant faint galaxies hunt, like an Easter Egg hunt. |
| 16 May | Zoom | Prof Charley Lineweaver (ANU) | The Origin of the Universe from ‘Nothing’. |
| 20 Jun | Zoom | Prof Roberto Soria (UCAS) | Sagittarius A* Black Hole. |
| 18 Jul | Zoom | Dr Simon Ellis (Macq Uni) | MAVIS, for the Very Large Telescope in Chile. |
| 29 Aug | Zoom | Prof Joss Bland-Hawthorn (USYD) | Giant waves across the Milky Way. |
| 22 Sep | Zoom | Dr Luke Barnes (WSU) | Aristotle, Newton, Einstein. |
| 17 Oct | Zoom | Dr Emil Lenc (ATNF) | ASKAP. |
| 21 Nov | Zoom | Malcolm Ellis (MAS member) | Neutrino Telescopes. |
| 05 Dec | Zoom | Prof Geraint Lewis (USYD) | Dark Matter & Dark Energy. |
Guest Speaker List 2021
| DATE | LOC | SPEAKER | TOPIC |
| 18 Jan | Zoom | Dr Devika Kamath (Maq Uni) | Cosmic Alchemy: Origin of elements in the Universe. |
| 15 Feb | Zoom | Dr Tayyaba Zafar (AAO) | Dust: Wipe It Or Keep It, It’s Ubiquitous |
| 15 Mar | Zoom | Dr Brett Addison (USQ) | Exoplanets, TESS & Minerva-Australis Telescope. |
| 20 Apr | Zoom | Dr Angel Lopez Sanchez | Observing with The AAT – LIVE! |
| 17 May | Zoom | Dr Ashley Ruiter (UNSW Can) | White dwarfs in close binaries: Type 1a supernovae to LISA |
| 21 Jun | Zoom | Prof Geraint Lewis (USYD) | Do I expand with the universe? Understanding cosmology |
| 19 Jul | Zoom | Dr Jonty Marshall (ASIAA) | Rocks fall, everything fries: the fate of comets around stars. |
| 16 Aug | Zoom | Dr Emil Lenc (CSIRO) | An ASKAP update – Episode II – Attack of the Pilots. |
| 20 Sep | Zoom | Dr Kirsten Banks (UNSW) | Diving deep inside stars. |
| 18 Oct | Zoom | Prof Tim Bedding (USYD) | Planets & starquakes: NASA’s Kepler & TESS Missions. |
| 15 Nov | Cancelled | Dr Devika Kamath (Maq U) | Unravelling the Chemical Diversity Shaping our Universe. |
| 6 Dec | Zoom | Prof Geraint Lewis (USYD) | From the quantum to the cosmos. |
Guest Speaker List 2020
| DATE | LOC | SPEAKER | TOPIC |
| 20 Jan | WSU | Ric Forster (MAS) | How radio telescopes create an image. |
| 17 Feb | WSU | Prof Fred Watson | Cosmic chronicles. |
| 16 Mar | Cancelled | Prof Tim Bedding | Planets & Starquakes: NASA’s Keppler/TESS Missions. |
| 20 Apr | Cancelled | Les Dalrymple | AGM held on Zoom. |
| 18 May | Zoom | Dr Luke Barnes (UWS) | Cosmic Revolutionary’s Handbook. |
| 15 Jun | Zoom | Dr Lucyna Chudczer | Infrastructure for Australian Astronomers. |
| 20 Jul | Zoom | Prof Roberto Soria | Galaxies, Galaxy Clusters, Mass & Dark Matter. |
| 17 Aug | Zoom | Dr Emil Lenc (ASKAP) | ASKAP Update – Let the Science Begin! |
| 21 Sep | Zoom | Prof Michael Wheatland (USYD) | Solar Activity. |
| 19 Oct | Zoom | Prof Geraint Lewis (USYD) | The Southern Stellar Stream Spectroscopic Survey (S5). |
| 16 Nov | Zoom | Prof Charley Lineweaver (ANU) | Progress in the Search for Life Beyond Earth. |
| 7 Dec* | Zoom | Dr Brad Tucker (ANU) | Ultraviolet Astronomy from High-Altitude Balloons. |
| A Historical Guest Speaker List for 2003-2019 is available > here < |
Credit
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Macarthur Astronomy Forum and other outreach initiatives are made possible by collaboration with Western Sydney University and Campbelltown Rotary Observatory.