1. Variables and Transients The exciting parts of the universe Sydney Institute for Astronomy (SIfA)/ CAASTRO – The University of Sydney Dr. Paul Hancock (and occasionally the Sydney Observatory)

2. Transients are Extreme ›Transients include the -Brightest -Fastest -Hottest -Most massive -Most magnetized ›events in the universe. ›(also the weirdest) 2

3. Bright objects are useful 3 outreach.atnf.csiro.au/education/senior/cosmicengine/stars_luminosity.html

4. The cosmic distance ladder 4 telescopes.stardate.org/research/cosmic_rulers/cds.php

5. Cephieds 5 J. Hartman (Harvard CfA) & K. Stanek (Ohio State U.)

6. Brighter than a Cephied 6 commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SN1994D.jpg

7. Type Ia Supernovae 7 www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/sabl/2005/October/04-supernovae.html ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/March08/Frieman/Frieman3.html Accelerating

8. Pulsars 8 lempel.pagesperso-orange.fr/un_os_dans_le_crabe_uk.htm

9. Testing relativity 9 hermes.aei.mpg.de/lrr/2003/5 astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/B/Binary+Pulsars Periastron Cumulative shift of periastron time (seconds)

10. (Invisible) Gas in the Milky Way 10 Susan Stolovy (SSC/Caltech) et al., JPL-Caltech, NASA Moniez, 2003, A&A, 412, 105

11. Probing Interstellar Gas 11 Feidler et al. 1994ApJ...430..581FMaitia et al. 2003ApJ...582..972M

12. Stellar evolution (simple) 12 chandra.harvard.edu/edu/formal/stellar_ev/

13. Stellar interactions 13 David Hardy/PPARC

14. Flaring stars 14 http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/pickoftheweek/old/17dec2010/

15. Black hole feeding 15

16. Quasars 16 painting by Don Dixon for Scientific American

17. Summary ›Transients and Variables offer us a unique probe of the universe ›Supernovae and variables stars allow us to measure distances ›Pulsars allow us to test general relativity ›Scintillation allows us to see invisible gas in the Milky Way ›Novae, and active stars allow us to understand the life cycle of stars ›Tidal disruption events allow us to study accretion disks and jets 17

18. What are we doing now to find transients? ›Optical -PTF / SkyMapper ›Radio -MWA/LOFAR/MeerKAT/ASKAP ›X-ray/γ-ray -Swift/Fermi 18

19. Current Optical Surveys 19 www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/scopes.html

20. Future optical surveys 20 www.lsst.org

21. High energy surveys 21 heasarc.nasa.gov/docs/swift/ www.esa.int/

22. Current Radio Surveys 22 Top-foto, Assen www.mwatelescope.org

23. Upcoming Radio Surveys 23 www.ska.ac.za - Maik Wolleben KAT-7 / MeerKAT www.atnf.csiro.au/projects/askap/ - Terrace Photographers ASKAP/Vast

24. The future of radio telescopes 24

25. Summary ›We have many surveys and telescopes that can find transients ›The new surveys will give us a better understanding of the universe ›The new surveys produce MUCH more data than we have had before ›We need new ways to collect, organize and analyze the data ›We are now entering the era of "Time domain astronomy" and there will be many new and exciting discoveries over the next decade. 25

26. Question Time!