A press from the Minister of the Department of Industry recognising the AATs forty years of accomplishment. Very proud moment for us all here at AAO! Telescope celebrates 40 years of reaching for the stars Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane today recognised the forty years of continuous service that the Anglo-Australian Telescope, Australia’s largest optical telescope at 4 metres, has provided to Australia. “On 16 October 1974, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales visited Siding Spring Observatory in Central West NSW to formally open the Anglo-Australian Telescope for scientific operations,” Mr Macfarlane said. “Over the years the Telescope has been a stalwart of scientific productivity, allowing important and internationally recognised astronomical work to be done by astronomers both in here in Australia and overseas. “They have used the Telescope and the Australian Astronomical Observatory situated Siding Spring Observatory, to study every aspect of astronomy, from our own solar system to the most distant parts of the Universe.” Highlights of the Telescope’s 40 year lifespan include: - Capturing some of the earliest and most important optical data on Supernova 1987A, the first supernova visible to the naked eye in 400 years. - The discovery of more than 40 planets around nearby stars other than our Sun, through the Anglo-Australian Planet Search. - The production of the first high definition 3D map of galaxies within the local universe by the Two Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS), which obtained spectra for 250,000 galaxies. This work helped to provide unrivalled measurements of the luminous and dark matter content of the universe. “This year, members of the Two Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey team were awarded the prestigious Shaw Prize in Astronomy for their ground-breaking work,” Mr Macfarlane said. “The Australian Astronomical Observatory continues to lead the world in both novel telescope technology and scientific discovery through photonics, robotics, and wide-field multi-object spectroscopy.” 16 October 2014 minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/macfarlane/media-releases/telescope-celebrates-40-years-reaching-stars ^AB
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 23:29:16 +0000