One of the highlights of Queensland Astrofest is the quality of speakers who present interesting and often challenging talks on their areas of expertise.

Over recent years we have been entertained and informed by such luminaries as:

• Professor Brian Schmidt (now Nobel Laureate)
• Professor Charley Lineweaver
• Professor David Wiltshire
• Professor Tamara Davis
• Professor Jonti Horner
• Dr Fred Watson
• David Malin
• Anthony Wesley

Astrofest 2025 Professor Jonti Horner

There are few things more spectacular than a Great Comet. Whilst many comets continually grace our skies, the majority remain far too faint to see with the naked eye. On average, a truly spectacular comet (a ‘Great Comet’) will come along every decade, or so. But comets are like busses – you can wait thirty years, and then two come along at once!

In the last few months, our skies have been graced by two comets that might well be considered to be the Great Comets of 2024 and 2025. Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) put on a fantastic show in late September and through October last year, whilst C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) was spectacular in January this year, despite appearing to fall apart as humanity watched on.

But what ARE comets? Where do they come from? And how do they work? To learn the answers to these questions (and many more!), join UniSQ’s Jonti Horner to hear the story of “A Comet’s Tale”.

Jonti first became interested in astronomy at the age of five, after seeing the BBC TV programme ‘The Sky at Night’, and soon became an enthusiastic amateur astronomer. He joined his local astronomical society in the UK, WYAS (the West Yorkshire Astronomical Society) at the age of eight, and is currently honoured to serve as the society’s honorary president. To pursue his dream of turning his hobby into a career, Jonti studied a Masters’ degree in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Durham, before moving to the University of Oxford to undertake his doctoral studies. Once his PhD was complete, Jonti worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Bern and the UK’s Open University before moving to Australia in 2010 to work at UNSW. In 2014, he moved to Toowoomba, to join the University of Southern Queensland, where he is now Professor of Astrophysics. His research ranges from the study of our own Solar system to the search for planets orbiting other stars, as well as trying to understand the different factors that could come together to make one planet more or less suitable as a target in the search for life beyond Earth.

Jonti has a regular weekly slot on ABC Radio Queensland’s Evenings show, talking about the latest in Space news, and has appeared in Australian documentaries and on a variety of international podcasts. He writes regular articles for The Conversation (https://theconversation.com/profiles/jonti-horner-3355/articles). In 2023, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) chose to name an asteroid after him: (32520) Jontihorner – a small and unusually reflective object moving near the middle of the Asteroid belt.

Astrofest 2023 Professor Tamara Davis

Topic: Cosmology as a probe of fundamental physics

The last few decades have been a golden age for observational astrophysics and cosmology, with the power of modern telescopes revealing surprising features of our Universe in ever more detail.  From explaining the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy, to measuring the mass of the neutrino, or understanding nuclear physics through gravitational waves, modern astrophysics has established itself as a leading avenue to reveal fundamental physics.  In this talk Tamara Davis will give a lightning tour of the latest techniques by which astrophysicists are pushing the boundaries of known physics and discuss the cracks (“tensions”) that are emerging between different cosmological probes.

About Tamara:

Professor Tamara Davis is an astrophysicist and ARC Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland with over two decades experience studying supernovae, black holes, and dark energy. She led the Dark Theme in the Australian Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics, is currently leading the Australian Dark Energy Survey (OzDES), and was recently announced as the Deputy Director of the upcoming Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery. Her accolades include the Astronomical Society of Australia’s Ellery Lectureship for career achievement, the Australian Academy of Science’s Millis medal for female scientific leadership, and a Member the Order of Australia.”

She is an avid communicator of science and occasional guest host of ABC TV’s “Catalyst”, including the episode “Black Hole Hunters” which won the American Institute of Physics Science Communication Award.  In addition, her scientific writing includes Nature News and Views, and a cover story for Scientific American; she’s made innumerable school visits, performed teacher training, presented shows at two music festivals (Woodford and Splendour), and given many radio interviews; her TV and movie credits include Q&A, the ABC Morning Show, Stargazing Live, the award-winning documentary ‘Carbon’, and playing the voice of an artificial intelligence on ‘Living Universe’.

When not doing science, she loves playing sport — she’s competed at a representative level in seven sports, from surf life saving to gymnastics, and has captained Australia in the (albeit obscure) sport of Ultimate Frisbee.

Astrofest 2022 Dr Vanessa Moss Radio Astronomer at CSIRO

Biography:

Dr Vanessa Moss is a radio astronomer based at CSIRO, working at the boundaries between astronomy, telescope operations and data science. She oversees science operations for the groundbreaking ASKAP radio telescope, coordinating astronomical observations from survey planning to the arrival of the data at the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre. Prior to her current position, she worked overseas at ASTRON Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy in research and telescope operations and at the University of Sydney as a CAASTRO postdoctoral fellow. In her astronomy research, she studies phenomena across the Universe, from the hidden structure of the Milky Way to the  shadows of gas against distant black holes.

Vanessa has extensive experience in big data analysis, automation of complex systems and science communication across numerous contexts. Vanessa is passionate about ensuring stable and effective career structures for early and mid-career researchers (EMCRs), building stronger relationships between academia and industry, and providing equitable and flexible opportunities across academia. She is a co-deputy chair of the EMCR Forum under the Australian Academy of Science, which represents and supports early career researchers across Australia. She chaired a CSIRO-hosted symposium on “The Future of Meetings” in 2020 – an entirely virtual cross-disciplinary conference to explore best practice for professional and social interaction – and has led the ongoing community of practice. She is a strong advocate for optimising all interactions by maximising accessibility, inclusivity and sustainability.

Talk Title: Uncovering the hidden Universe with radio astronomy

Abstract

The sky we observe with our eyes offers just one window on our complex Universe, one that mainly traces the light emitted by stars and galaxies. If we instead survey the sky with radio eyes, we glean unique views of astrophysical phenomena including the fuel that stars are born from, high-energy particles spiralling in magnetic fields, the dark mysterious edges of black holes, and flashes of radio light from rapidly-spinning cosmic lighthouses. From the birth of radio astronomy in the 1930s, Australia has played a key role in developing this field, with CSIRO leading the designing, building and operating of world-class radio telescopes such as Parkes Murriyang, ATCA and most recently, ASKAP. In this talk I’ll give an overview of radio astronomy in the global astronomical context and an introduction to the array of instruments operated by CSIRO as part of the Australia Telescope National Facility. Come on a journey into the world of radio waves, and discover what lies hidden beyond our normal view of the Universe!

Astrofest 2019 Andrew Campbell GM. Photog, FNZipp, M.WPPI

Astrofest 2017

This year our main speaker Terry Lovejoy will be talking about comet-hunting through the new time of the AstroFeast, being trialled as a lunch this year, on Saturday 26th August.

Terry has discovered 6 comets, the latest being C/2017 E4.

We will also have a speaker on the first weekend 19/20 August, featuring the return of Dr. Jonathan Horner from the University of Southern Queensland. Details to follow.

Astrofest 2015

This year our Guest Speaker is Dr Jonathan (Jonti) Horner, Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow, from the University of Southern Queensland. We are delighted to welcome Jonti. He will be speaking at 2pm on Saturday, 15 August in Hamilton Hall.

Unusually for us, Jonti is an experienced amateur astronomer having joined a club back in his hometown in the UK when he was only eight years old. It is a real treat to have someone who knows what is going on down the eyepiece.

Astrofest 2014

Our Guest Speaker was Dr Stephen Marsden from the University of Southern Queensland. He spoke on 20th July, in Hamilton Hall. The topic of his talk was: “Bcool: Observing Magnetic Fields on Sun-like Stars“.

Other speakers during the week included: Dr Liam Carroll, Dr Glen Cozens, Alexander Massey and Michael Tubby. Michael Tubby spoke on the Terrestrial Planets. Dr Glen Cozens talked about Discovering Bright Southern Deep-Sky Objects. Alexander Massey ran two workshops. The first was Astronomical Sketching and the second one was on Observing Tips. On the morning of Saturday, 26th July, Alexander talked about his Gondwana Telescope. Finally, on the afternoon of Saturday, 26th July, we heard Dr Liam Carroll speak about The Sounds of the Stars.