Telescopes

Members of the Astrophysics Group operate five different telescopes located at four observatorys (three in Tasmania near Hobart and one in
South Australia). A short description of each is given here along with a link to the webpage for each instrument.

Mt Pleasant Radio Observatory
The Mt Pleasant Radio Observatory is located near Cambridge, Tasmania about 30 mins north of Hobart. There are two radio telescopes on the site, the 26 metre "Mt Pleasant Antenna" and the 14 metre "Vela Antenna". More detailed information about the observatory and the two antennas is available here. For information relating to the AuScope VLBI Project information is available here.
Ceduna Radio Observatory
The Ceduna Radio Observatory is the only one of the University's observatories not located in Tasmania. The obseravtory and associated land is located near the town of Ceduna in South Australia. The main instrument at the observatory is the 30 metre Ceduna radio telescope. Originally the telescope was part of an Australia wide telecommunications network but it was aquired in 1985 by the University of Tasmania and is now used as a radio telescope. The Ceduna antenna is the most western antenna in the Australian VLBI network (now that Perth is no longer used) making it an extremely important component. More detailed information about the observatory is available here.
Mt Canopus Observatory
Mt Canopus is located near Hobart and the groups optical observatory. Currently the 1 metre Mt Canopus telescope is used in conjuction with a CCD camera to perform photometric observations of X-ray binary systems and other objects of interest. Mt Canopus is also part of the PLANET (P robing L ensing A nomalies NET work) project which uses microlensing events to search for a variety of astrophysical phenomena including extra-solar planets! More detailed information about the observatory is available here.

Physics Internal Home

Telescopes

Mt Pleasant Radio Observatory

Ceduna Radio Observatory

Mt Canopus Observatory