Abstract: The night sky has intrigued mankind for centuries, but it has always appeared strangely colourless to the eye, even with a large telescope. Now, modern imaging techniques reveal the stars, nebulae and galaxies of the night to display many vivid hues. These colours tell us of the origin and destiny of the stars, a vast cosmic cycle which includes the warming Sun and the Earth beneath our feet. In this profusely illustrated talk Prof. Malin will briefly describe in non-technical terms how the true colours of the Universe are revealed and what they mean.

Biographical Sketch: David Malin joined the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO) as its Photographic Scientist shortly after scheduled observations on the 3.9m Anglo-Australian telescope (AAT) began in June 1975. He was recently appointed Adjunct Professor of Scientific Photography at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology). He was born in England and trained as a chemist, working for many years with a large international chemical company in th north of England. There, he used optical and electron microscopes and X-ray diffraction techniques to explore the very small before turning his attention to somewhat larger and more distant things in Australia.