"The southern hemisphere's only dedicated exoplanet detection and characterisation facility."
MINERVA-Australis: Australia’s Southern Outpost for Exoplanet Discovery
Located at the Mount Kent Observatory in Australia, the MINERVA-Australis array stands alone as the southern hemisphere’s only dedicated facility for detecting and characterising exoplanets.
Funded in 2015, the facility saw first light in 2018—a milestone that coincided with the launch of NASA's TESS spacecraft. Since that time, MINERVA-Australis has served a critical role in conducting follow-up observations to confirm exoplanets detected by TESS.
As of the publication date (accepted November 2025), MINERVA-Australis has contributed to the discovery of 40 new exoplanets. The facility also continues the radial velocity data legacy of the Anglo-Australian Planet Search program.
The paper, authored by Jonathan Horner, Robert A. Wittenmyer, Stephen R. Kane, John Kielkopf, and Duncan Wright, was accepted for publication in the proceedings of the 24th Australian Space Research Conference.