Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory

The large number of available receivers makes the telescope suitable for a variety of research projects within the University of Tasmania and its location makes it a vital element in the Australian Long Baseline Array VLBI network.

Organization

University of Tasmania

Location

Cambridge, Tasmania, Australia

Coordinates

42°48′18″S 147°26′21″E / 42.80500°S 147.43917°ECoordinates: 42°48′18″S 147°26′21″E / 42.80500°S 147.43917°E

Altitude

43 m

Established

26m Opened May 13th, 1986

Website

ra-wiki.phys.utas.edu.au/

Telescopes

Mount Pleasant Antenna	26 metre radio telescope
Vela Antenna	14 metre radio telescope
AuScope Hobart Antenna	12 metre radio telescope

Related media on Wikimedia Commons

The Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory is a radio astronomy based observatory owned and operated by University of Tasmania, located 20 km east of Hobart in Cambridge, Tasmania.^[1] It is home to three radio astronomy antennas and the Grote Reber Museum.

Equipment

The observatory has three radio telescopes: the Mount Pleasant 26 metre antenna, the 14 metre Vela Antenna and a 12-metre AuScope VLBI Antenna. The Observatory is linked to the University of Tasmania's Hobart campus with a 25 km fibre optic cable, installed in 2007.^[2]^[3]

The 26 meter dish at Mount Pleasant as seen at night

The 14 m Vela telescope was constructed in 1981 as a dedicated instrument for observation of the Vela Pulsar. The telescope has tracked the pulsar 18 hours a day, nearly continuously for over 20 years.^[1]^[4]

The 26 metre Radio dish came from the Orroral Valley Tracking Station, ACT, where it was used as a satellite tracker within the Spacecraft Tracking and Data Acquisition Network and then for support to NASA manned missions.^[5] The 26 metre telescope is used in Australia's very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) network.^[1]

Other Telescopes

The University of Tasmania also operates three other radio astronomy antennas: the 30 metre Ceduna Radio Observatory (SA) and two additional AuScope 12 metre antennas at Katherine (NT) and Yaragadee (WA).

The University also owns and operates optical observatories: Canopus Hill Observatory (soon to be closed) and the Bisdee Tier Optical Astronomy Observatory (under construction).

Grote Reber Museum

There is also a museum on site dedicated to the life and works of Grote Reber. It contains some of his ashes and a state of the art 3D theatre. It also discusses the major role Tasmania plays in radiophysics The museum hosts about 5000 visitors annually and runs several Open Days each year. University of Tasmania students also act as tour guides as part of their studies.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory.

1 2 3 Johnston-Hollitt, Melanie (August 2004). "Mt Pleasant Observatory". School of Mathematics & Physics, University of Tasmania. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
↑ Reid, Brett; John M. Dickey (2006). "Hobart, Mt. Pleasant, Station Report for 2006". University of Tasmania, Geoscience Australia. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
↑ "Big technical advance for Tasmania's radio telescope" (2:40 pm AEST). ABC News. Apr 27, 2007. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
↑ Dodson, Richard; Dion Lewis; Peter McCulloch (20 March 2007). "Two decades of pulsar timing of Vela". Astrophysics and Space Science (Netherlands: Springer Netherlands) 308 (1-4): 585–589. arXiv:astro-ph/0612371. Bibcode:2007Ap&SS.308..585D. doi:10.1007/s10509-007-9372-4. ISSN 0004-640X. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
↑ Mackellar, Colin. "A STADAN antenna: Satellite Tracking and Data Acquisition Network". Retrieved 2009-08-12.

External links

University of Tasmania

Faculties and Schools	Australian Maritime College Agriculture Business and Economics Marine and Antarctic Studies Law Music Menzies Research Institute

Residential Colleges	Christ College Jane Franklin Hall Kerslake Hall St. John Fisher College

Student Organisations	Tasmania University Union

People	List of University of Tasmania people

Universities in Australia

Tertiary education in Australia

Australian Capital Territory	Australian Defence Force Academy (UNSW accredited degrees) Australian National University University of Canberra

New South Wales	Charles Sturt University Macquarie University Southern Cross University University of Newcastle University of New England University of New South Wales University of Sydney University of Technology Sydney University of Wollongong Western Sydney University

Northern Territory	Charles Darwin University

Queensland	Bond University Central Queensland University Griffith University James Cook University University of Queensland Queensland University of Technology University of Southern Queensland University of the Sunshine Coast

South Australia	University of Adelaide Carnegie Mellon University, Australia Flinders University University of South Australia Torrens University Australia UCL Australia

Tasmania	Australian Maritime College (UTAS accredited degrees) University of Tasmania

Victoria	Deakin University University of Divinity Federation University Australia La Trobe University University of Melbourne Monash University RMIT University Swinburne University of Technology Victoria University

Western Australia	Curtin University Edith Cowan University Murdoch University University of Notre Dame Australia University of Western Australia

National	Australian Catholic University

Education in Australia

Radio astronomy

Concepts

Astronomical interferometer (History)
Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI)
Radio telescope (Radio window)
Astronomical radio source
Units (Watts or Jansky)

Radio telescopes (List)

Individual telescopes	500m Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST, China) Arecibo Observatory (Puerto Rico, US) Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO, US) Effelsberg Telescope (Germany) Large Millimeter Telescope (Mexico) Yevpatoria RT-70 (Ukraine) Galenki RT-70 (Russia) Suffa RT-70 (Uzbekistan) Green Bank Telescope (West Virginia, US) Lovell Telescope (UK) Ooty Telescope (India) UTR-2 decameter radio telescope (Ukraine) Sardinia Radio Telescope (Italy) Usuda Telescope (Japan) Southern Hemisphere HartRAO (South Africa) Parkes Observatory (Australia) Warkworth Radio Astronomical Observatory (NZ)

Interferometers	Allen Telescope Array (ATA, California, US) Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA, Chile) Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA, Australia) Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP, Australia) Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME, Canada) Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA, California, US) European VLBI Network (Europe) Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT, India) Korean VLBI Network (KVN, South Korea) Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR, Netherlands) MeerKAT (South Africa) Large Latin American Millimeter Array (LLAMA, Argentina/Brazil) Murchison Widefield Array (MWA, Australia) Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN, UK) Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST, Australia) Northern Cross Radio Telescope (Italy) Northern Extended Millimeter Array (France) One-Mile Telescope (UK) Primeval Structure Telescope (PaST, China) Square Kilometre Array (SKA, Australia, South Africa) Submillimeter Array (SMA, US) Very Large Array (VLA, New Mexico, US) Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA, US) Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT, Netherlands)

Observatories

Multi Use

People

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