Special Event: modern astronomy & the dawn of creation

FIRST LIGHT

An overview of modern astronomy and our quest to find the dawn of creation

Presenter:
Professor Peter Quinn, BSc(Hons) UWoll., PhD ANU, FASA
Premier’s Fellow
School of Physics, University of  Western Australia

Sign up for the event by clicking the facebook logo

Astronomy is the oldest scientific endeavour of mankind. The pattern and regular motions
of the Sun, Moon, stars and other planets have guided our agriculture, our religions, our
technological development and our journeys of discovery since before recorded history.
Over the past 400 years, the invention and the development of telescopes has allowed us to
step outside our own solar system to begin a new voyage of discovery, back in time, to the
birth of the cosmos.

On the journey so far, we have found a treasure trove of objects and
phenomena from star destroying black holes, to whole galaxies in the process of collision,
to new planets like our own Earth. We are now nearing a period in our cosmic time travel
that will contain one of the Universe’s most profound events –the first light from the first
star – the “dawn of creation”. This event will be found and studied by a new telescope
which, when completed in 2020, will be the world’s largest astronomical facility. The
telescope is called the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and Western Australia is currently the
front-runner in an international competition to host the SKA. The remote desert of WA,
home to Aboriginal peoples who are arguably the world’s first astronomers, may provide
mankind with its clearest view of the first objects created – the seeds of the Universe we
see around us today.

Perth Education City is proud to present Professor Peter Quinn for a special seminar at the
Australian Education Showcase 2009 on the cosmic journey back in time – the findings, the
mysteries uncovered and the new generation of telescopes that will be built.

Venue: Suntec Exhibition & Coonvention Centre Hall 402 Level 4

Date: 21 March 2009, Saturday 12 noon.

FIRST LIGHT

An overview of modern astronomy and our quest to find the dawn of creation

Presenter:
Professor Peter Quinn, BSc(Hons) UWoll., PhD ANU, FASA
Premier’s Fellow
School of Physics, University of  Western Australia

Sign up for the event by clicking the facebook logo