Hello all
I forgot to post a few photos from Australia, and frustratingly it all doesn't fit into a profile post so here's a silly little thread about Astronomy for any space lovers!
On a 3 day excursion 4 hours west, to Coonabarabran, we visited Siding Spring observatory twice, one time to have a look around their 20 or so telescopes and another to actually have a look inside their biggest dome, which I will explain more about here:
Anglo-Australian telescope
This MASSIVE telescope has a mirror 3.9m in diameter and is a partnership with Britain and Australia.
(I am saying all this from memory so there may be some slight errors). It was opened by then Prince Charles
(now king) in 1974 and looks simultaneously at hundreds of galaxies or stars. (I believe 390 but that could be wrong)
It has also collaborated on many projects with the Hubble Space Telescope.
The entire telescope can rotate 340 degrees to look at almost any point
in the sky, and the white dome covering it can also be rotated accordingly,
as there is only a small hole that will open.
One of it's main, and coolest uses is searching for exoplanets in the habitable zone.
This is where we would find alien life if it were to exist.
Some more technical facts:
The mirror is actually not very reflective, so every year needs a fresh coating of liquid
aluminium, about 50 micrometres thick. Which is a scary task as the mirror is
irreplaceable due to those types of mirrors no longer being made as the process
involves carcinogenic substances.
Moving on from the observatory, which is frequented yearly by Brian Cox by the way, Coonabarabran and the surrounding area is AMAZING just for stargazing.
I don't have much else to say, hopefully it was reasonably interesting to some people and if anyone happens to randomly be driving through central Australia an observatory like this is well worth a visit, or just a stop at night and a sit down in the grass (beware the brown snakes in summer
) and a look up at the sky.
I forgot to post a few photos from Australia, and frustratingly it all doesn't fit into a profile post so here's a silly little thread about Astronomy for any space lovers!
On a 3 day excursion 4 hours west, to Coonabarabran, we visited Siding Spring observatory twice, one time to have a look around their 20 or so telescopes and another to actually have a look inside their biggest dome, which I will explain more about here:
This MASSIVE telescope has a mirror 3.9m in diameter and is a partnership with Britain and Australia.
(I am saying all this from memory so there may be some slight errors). It was opened by then Prince Charles
(now king) in 1974 and looks simultaneously at hundreds of galaxies or stars. (I believe 390 but that could be wrong)
It has also collaborated on many projects with the Hubble Space Telescope.
The entire telescope can rotate 340 degrees to look at almost any point
in the sky, and the white dome covering it can also be rotated accordingly,
as there is only a small hole that will open.
One of it's main, and coolest uses is searching for exoplanets in the habitable zone.
This is where we would find alien life if it were to exist.
Some more technical facts:
The mirror is actually not very reflective, so every year needs a fresh coating of liquid
aluminium, about 50 micrometres thick. Which is a scary task as the mirror is
irreplaceable due to those types of mirrors no longer being made as the process
involves carcinogenic substances.
Moving on from the observatory, which is frequented yearly by Brian Cox by the way, Coonabarabran and the surrounding area is AMAZING just for stargazing.
This observatory is located here as the nigh skies are so undisrupted by light pollution, being hundreds of kilometres
into mainland Australia. This means the night skies seen by the naked eye are also incredible.
Unfortunately my phone would not be able
to take a photo that looks anything like the actual sky,
but it looked almost exactly like this on the left, (I DIDNT TAKE THE PHOTO FOUND IT ONLINE) just even
prettier.
We also used a high-end telescope to get a look at all sorts
of nebulae, galaxies, stars and other cool things.
Seeing constellations clearer than ever was awesome, the clearest
one was my own, Scorpius. We also could easily see the Celestial Emu,
which is incredibly significant in Aboriginal
culture:
The position of the Emu in the sky could tell Indigenous people whether
they should be hunting Emus or gathering their eggs.
It was also important for navigation.
into mainland Australia. This means the night skies seen by the naked eye are also incredible.
to take a photo that looks anything like the actual sky,
but it looked almost exactly like this on the left, (I DIDNT TAKE THE PHOTO FOUND IT ONLINE) just even
prettier.
We also used a high-end telescope to get a look at all sorts
of nebulae, galaxies, stars and other cool things.
Seeing constellations clearer than ever was awesome, the clearest
one was my own, Scorpius. We also could easily see the Celestial Emu,
which is incredibly significant in Aboriginal
culture:
The position of the Emu in the sky could tell Indigenous people whether
they should be hunting Emus or gathering their eggs.
It was also important for navigation.
I don't have much else to say, hopefully it was reasonably interesting to some people and if anyone happens to randomly be driving through central Australia an observatory like this is well worth a visit, or just a stop at night and a sit down in the grass (beware the brown snakes in summer
) and a look up at the sky.
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