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Just 215 seconds after receiving an alert from a NASA satellite and with no direct human involvement, the Zadko telescope near Gingin was the first in the world to turn its gaze to the light coming from a powerful explosion billions of light years away.

The Zadko telescope is an important facility for astronomy research at The University of Western Australia. This world-class optical telescope was made possible by a philanthropic donation to the University by businessman James Zadko, and is a resource for research, training and science education. It is co-located with a science and astronomy outreach facility and the Australian International Gravitational Observatory (AIGO) at Gingin.

At 7.05pm on Sunday 24 October, the automated Zadko telescope received a signal from NASA’s Swift satellite indicating that something exciting was happening in the WA night sky. In a matter of minutes, the telescope responded to the call to action by repositioning itself so that its giant one metre mirror could capture the light coming from something called a gamma ray burst.

Gamma ray bursts are the most powerful explosions in the universe since the Big Bang. They are brief, intense flashes of gamma radiation coming from other galaxies in the very distant universe. So far, scientists don’t know exactly what causes them, but some researchers suggest they could signal the birth of a black hole in a massive stellar explosion, colliding neutron stars or some other exotic phenomenon.

Co-Director and Zadko Systems Manager Dr Myrtille Laas-Bourez designed the software that allows the Zadko to operate autonomously and respond to events such as this. Dr Laas-Bourez’s position is jointly funded by the Australian International Gravitational Research Centre (AIGRC) and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR).

“This was a really bright gamma ray burst event and Zadko was the first ground-based telescope to catch it,” Dr Laas-Bourez said. “This is very exciting because it shows the robotic system is working well and is capable of doing some really interesting science.”