The Anglo-Australian Observatory operates the Anglo-Australian
and UK Schmidt
Telescopes at Siding Spring, Australia, and a laboratory on the
same campus as the ATNF in the Sydney Suburb of Epping.
The Paul Wild Observatory, near Narrabri, is part of the
Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), and operated by
the CSIRO; the Officer-in-Charge is Dr Graham Nelson. The
Narrabri site contains the Australia Telescope Compact Array,
which consists of five antennas located along a 3-km railtrack,
and a 6th antenna 3 km further to the west.
CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) is an
organisation that supports and undertakes research in radio
astronomy. It operates the Australia Telescope, the collective
name for a set of radio telescopes in New South Wales. These
telescopes are used, individually or together, to study objects
in the Universe ranging from the remains of dead stars to entire
galaxies.
The CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility operates a
group of radio telescopes collectively known as the Australia
Telescope. The ATNF Parkes Observatory consists of a 64m
telescope which is used as an independent instrument, and
networked with other Australian and international radio
telescopes for VLBI.
The Automated Patrol Telescope (APT) is a wide-field CCD
imaging telescope, which is operated by the University of New
South Wales at Siding Spring Observatory, Australia.
The Australian National University runs the following
telescopes: 2.3m at Siding Springs ; 74in at Mount Stromlo ;
50in at Mount Stromlo ; 40in at Siding Springs ; 24in at Siding
Springs.
SUMSS is a deep radio survey of the entire sky south of
declination -30 degrees, made using the Molonglo Observatory
Synthesis Telescope, operating at 843MHz and recording
right-circular polarization.
SUMSS matches (approximately) the resolution and depth of the
NRAO-VLA Sky Survey (NVSS). The principal data products are
mosaics which cover a 4x4 degree square on the sky. The centres
of the mosaics mirror the NVSS centres in the north. The
resolution is 45" x 45"/sin(dec), and the rms noise
limit varies from 1.3 to 2mJy/beam (lower toward the south
celestial pole).
The survey began in March 1997 and will take eight years to
complete. SUMSS is suported by funding from the Australian
Research Council.
The primary reference for a description of the survey is: Bock,
D., Large, M. and Sadler, E.
This is the first remote controlled telescope by internet with
live images and free photos with long exposure. Register for
free with a personal password and enjoy the Italian Sky (-1 UT
time).
High Quality CCD Images of Messier Objects
gathered at a variety of observatories by the maintainer
. Some amateur CCD images obtained at the Pine
Mountain Observatory can be found here as well.
Provides information on current (bright) comets including recent
observations and ephemeridies. Images and light curves of
current and past comets are also available.
Deep-sky.Org includes deep-sky images, taken by well known
astrophotographers from around the world. It features a large
and complete graphical Messier object reference.
Publicly released images from post-servicing observations by
Hubble Space Telescope. The images in this directory are in GIF
format which supports up to 256 colors (8-bits). They include 30
Doradus, 47 Tucanae, Comet 1993e, Eta Carinae, Mars, M31, M87,
M100, NGC1068, NGC2440, NGC6624, NGC7252, Nova Cygni, Orion
(incl. animation), QSO1220+204, the Saturn storm, SL-9, SN1987A
(with rings), and SN1994I. The images have originally been made
available by the Office
of Public Outreach of the Space
Telescope Science Institute.
Russian dog Lalka becomes 1st animal thrust into space, dies aboard
Sputnik 2
1958:
US launches its 1st satellite, Explorer 1
NASA created
1959:
Soviet satellite Luna 1, 1st craft to escape earth's gravity
radio-controlled Soviet satellite Luna 2 crashes on to the moon
Soviet probe Luna 3 transmits 1st images of the hidden side of the
moon
1961:
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes 1st man in space, completing a
single 108min orbit aboard Vostok 1
US launches a Mercury spacecraft carrying astronaut Alan Shepard in a
sub-orbital flight
US president John F Kennedy announces the Apollo space program aiming
to land a man on moon by end of decade
1962:
American John Glenn completes 3 orbits of earth
US launches probe to Venus
USSR launches probe to Mars
1963:
1st spaceflight by a woman - cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova
1965:
cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov undertakes 1st spacewalk
1967:
launchpad blaze kills all 3 astronauts aboard Apollo 1
Soviet cosmonaut Komarov killed when Soyuz 1 parachute fails to open
1968:
Apollo 8 becomes 1st manned spaceship to fly around the moon
1969:
Neil Armstrong & Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become 1st men to
set foot on the moon - Apollo 11
1971:
USSR launches 1st orbital space station, Salyut 1
3 cosmonauts die during descent of their module
1972:
last manned flight to the moon (Apollo 17)
1973:
NASA launches Skylab space station
1975:
European Space Agency created
US Apollo spacecraft docks with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft while in
Earth orbit - 1st international cooperative flight
1981:
maiden voyage of the US space shuttle Columbia, 1sr reusable manned
spacecraft
1986:
space shuttle Challenger explodes soon after takeoff killing all 7
astronauts
1998:
International Space Station (ISS) starts to take shape
1999:
China carries out 1st unmanned flight of its own spacecraft
2001:
Soviet-Russian space station Mir is destroyed after 15yrs in service
world's 1st space tourist, US millionaire Dennis Tito flies to ISS
2003:
shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas on re-entry killing 7
astronauts including the 1st Israeli in space
China becomes 3rd nation to complete manned space flight
2004:
NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers land on Mars and find evidence
for dried up water lakes
US president George W Bush jnr unveils plans for a return to the moon
by 2015, saying a lunar base would allow manned flights to Mars and
"across our solar system"
