This telescope was fully automated in early 2023. It runs automatically without the need for astronomers to stay up all night and run the telescope.  Since automation, the telescope has observed thousands of targets and demand for the telescope has increased. The telescope is used to study a diverse range of sources. It is particularly well suited to studying sources that vary in time, including supernovae (the explosions of massive stars), gravitational wave sources (the catastrophic mergers of neutron stars and black holes), and gamma-ray bursts (the brightest explosions in the universe). This field is now entering a golden age, due in part to new conventional telescopes coming online in the next few years that will detect orders of magnitude more transient sources via their electromagnetic radiation (e.g. Vera C. Rubin Observatory and DREAMS) and in part to new telescopes that can detect transient sources using alternative ‘messengers’, such as gravitational waves (Advanced LIGO), cosmic rays (Cerenkov Telescope Array), and neutrinos (IceCube). Because explosive events are typically only briefly visible, understanding their physics requires rapid follow-up using telescopes with powerful spectrographs. Such follow-up is best achieved by fully robotic telescopes that can instantly respond to trigger alerts broadcast by the detection facilities. The ANU 2.3-metre telescope is ideal for this role for several reasons: 

1.  its location at SSO means it is well-placed to contribute to round-the-clock global monitoring of transient events detected by all the new facilities; 
2.  its relatively large size means it can do spectroscopy of relatively faint sources; and 
3.  it is already equipped with the highly suitable WiFeS spectrograph;

Additional benefits from the full automation of the 2.3-metre include: greater efficiency for all types of observations (not just transients) and thus higher scientific productivity; better research and training opportunities for students, who will carry out a wider range of projects on a more capable facility; and a more versatile platform for developing new types of astronomical instrumentation. The fully automated 2.3-metre telescope is available for use by all Australian astronomers.