Swinburne to play starring role in live ABC/BBC astronomical event

Swinburne is gearing up to play a starring role in the final night ABC/BBC co-production of Stargazing Live with Brian Cox.

Stargazing Live takes place from 4 – 6 April across the ABC network. Renowned physicist Professor Brian Cox and presenter Julia Zemiro are joined by a cast of Australia’s leading astronomers, including Swinburne’s Associate Professor Alan Duffy, to inspire the nation to ‘look up’ and appreciate the unique wonders of space and our cosmos.

Associate Professor Duffy will be based at the Siding Springs Observatory, home of Australia’s largest optical telescope – the Anglo-Australian Telescope.

Here he’ll participate in the nightly Back to Earth show, to follow Professor Cox’s Stargazing Live episodes, as part of a panel answering questions from viewers around Australia based on what they’ve seen.

“Australia has one of the best night sky views in the world with the Milky Way stretching overhead and huge areas of pristine dark skies unspoilt by light pollution,” Associate Professor Duffy says.

“I’m delighted to be part of a national event to get people to look up and enjoy our beautiful night skies and honoured to join some of the best minds in science to answer the public’s questions on astronomy”

To celebrate the final night of the production, Stargazing Live culminates in a uniquely Melbourne experience on Thursday 6 April at Federation Square, hosted by Dr Karl and Grace Koh.

Swinburne and OzGrav, the Swinburne led and hosted new ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, will exhibit alongside Victoria’s leading astronomy and science organisations including Scienceworks and Museums Victoria at this free community event from 7pm.

Swinburne will be bringing physics and astronomy demonstrations to the event, exploring science in interactive ways with professional astrophysicists and scientists using telescopes and an interactive laser maze.

OzGrav will showcase the world’s experts in gravitational wave astronomy to explain this new frontier to the public, using Virtual Reality to allow you to fly alongside distant astronomical objects that will be discussed in the show.

The ABC and Federation Square encourage visitors to come dressed as an alien, with prizes on offer for the most creative costume. The competition will be judged from 8pm. At 8.30pm a special viewing of the final episode will be shown on the big screen.

Australians have the opportunity to have their night sky pictures and video featured on the show - by adding the hashtag #StargazingABC to Instagram. More information

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