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AUSTRALIAN ASTRONOMY

AUSTRALIAN ASTRONOMY Watchers of southern skies INDIGENOUS ASTRONOMY 40,000 years of astronomy Star patterns denoting animals & people Star calendar for finding food Sky myths for morality EUROPEAN ASTRONOMY BEGINS IN AUSTRALIA Venus transit gives solar system scale

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AUSTRALIAN ASTRONOMY

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  1. AUSTRALIAN ASTRONOMY Watchers of southern skies

  2. INDIGENOUS ASTRONOMY • 40,000 years of astronomy • Star patterns denoting animals & people • Star calendar for finding food • Sky myths for morality

  3. EUROPEAN ASTRONOMY BEGINS IN AUSTRALIA • Venus transit gives solar system scale • Cook & Charles Green to Tahiti & Australia • First Fleet & William Dawes’ observatory • La Perouse’s ill-fated astronomers

  4. EARLY ASTRONOMY AROUND SYDNEY • 1821: Brisbane, Rumker, Dunlop found “Paramatta” Observatory • Catalogue of 7385 stars, comets etc • 1847: Closure after “fallings out” • 1858: Sydney Observatory founded • Time service, astronomy, geophysics, meteorology

  5. 19TH CENTURY STATE OBSERVATORIES • Hobart: geomagnetism, weather, astronomy • Melbourne: Carte du Ciel etc • Adelaide: mainly met., also transits • Qld (none) - surveying, time-keeping • Perth - Still operating today

  6. GREAT MELBOURNE TELESCOPE • 1869: 48” (1.2m) scope - world’s largest! • An Anglo-Australian venture built on gold • Telescope problems... • Moon, stars, nebulae observed • Sold for scrap - later “reborn”

  7. EARLY AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS • John Tebbutt (Windsor) • Comets, occultations, eclipses, asteroids, double stars etc • Edward Pigot (Riverview Observatory) • Weather-Sun connection, photography, variables etc • Many others, then and now...

  8. MT STROMLO • 1901: Federation & nationalising of science • 1924: Commonwealth Solar Observatory • WWII: optical manufacture • 1950s: From Sun to stars; ANU merger • 1950s: Bok “sells Galaxy” to students • 60s to today: Siding Spring’s 0.4m, 0.6m, 1m, 2.3m aperture telescopes...

  9. EARLY “CSIRO” RADIO ASTRONOMY • WWII radar development • Radiophysics Lab enters solar astronomy • Radio waves from the Galaxy & beyond

  10. PARKES & CULGOORA RADIO TELESCOPES • 1961: Parkes • Giant 64m dish • Quasas, radiomaps, molecules, pulsars, Apollo, Giotto, SETI, etc • 1967: Culgoora solar radio telescope • An array of 96 small (13.7m) dishes • Solar image/sec for monitoring activity • 1984: closure - would you like a “free” dish?

  11. UNIV. SYDNEY ASTRONOMY • 1912-1926 : Prof Cooke • WWII: optics not astronomy • 1952: Messel’s astronomy boom begins • Sydney Uni still very active today...

  12. UNIV. TASMANIA • 1927+: Prof McAulay terrorises Tas Uni admin into funding astronomy • Cosmic-ray astronomy • Optical astronomy • X-ray astronomy • Radio astronomy

  13. UNIV. ADELAIDE • Ultra-high energy cosmic rays • Meteor/asteroid astronomy • X-ray astronomy • Gamma rays (BIGRAT & CANGAROO) • Cosmology & astrophysics (Paul Davies)

  14. UNSW ADFA UWS WOLLONGONG MACQUARIE MELBOURNE MONASH SWINBURNE UWA & CURTIN (PARG) UQ USQ ASTRONOMY AT OTHER AUSTRALIAN UNIS

  15. ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN OBSERVATORY • 3.9m AAT (1974) • 1.2m UKSTU (later AAO) Schmidt (1973) • Major optical bi-national facilities half-funded each by Australian & UK

  16. AUSTRALIA TELESCOPE • ATNF • Parkes • ATCA (1988) • Major national radio astronomy facility • A telescope as wide as a continent (and beyond)

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