“The Faint Universe with the Legacy Survey of Space and Time”

Professor Sarah Brough FRSN
Head, School of Physics
UNSW Sydney

Date: Thursday, 19 March 2026, 5.30 pm for 6.00 – 7.00 pm AEDT
Venue: NEX, Newcastle Exhibition and Convention Centre, 309 King Street, Newcastle West, NSW
Registration: Registration is required by 2.00 pm AEDT, Wednesday, 18 March 2026
Entry: Members, $15; Non-members, $25; Students: $5
Enquiries: by email to the Hunter Branch Chair
All are welcome

Please click here to register

Summary: Our understanding of the evolution of our own and other galaxies will be transformed by the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), which begins later this year. This 10-year program, carried out by Chile’s Vera C Rubin Observatory, will use a 3,200-megapixel camera to make sensitive observations of the whole southern sky, studying faint stellar features around galaxies (shells, tidal tails, halos and stellar streams) and making the first statistically significant measurements of the diffuse stellar light at the centre of galaxy clusters. Interpreting and learning from this data will be a worldwide endeavour. I will present the LSST survey and describe the anticipated role of Australian astronomers.

Professor Sarah Brough is an observational astronomer, the Head of the School of Physics at UNSW Sydney, Chair of the Australian Academy of Science’s National Committee for Astronomy, and she represents Australia on the intergovernmental European Southern Observatory Council.

Her research focuses on galaxy evolution, particularly how massive galaxies change over time and how their environments shape that process. She has played leading roles in major galaxy surveys and helped secure Australia’s participation in the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time. Brough has published extensively, represented Australia on international astronomy councils, and is a strong advocate for equity and inclusion in science. She previously held an ARC Future Fellowship.

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