1000 projects at the Australia Telescope Compact Array
On 2 September 1988, the Australia Telescope Compact Array was officially opened by the Prime Minister, Hon. R.J.L. Hawke, as part of Australia's bicentennial celebrations. The first radio astronomy observations followed soon afterwards with a single-baseline interferometer operating in December 1988. A major milestone was reached in June 1989 with the first Compact Array image, obtained using three antennas, showing 6-cm emission from the radio galaxy PKS 2152-699.
The inaugural meeting of the ATNF Steering Committee was held in May 1989. At this meeting major policy decisions were made which have provided the ATNF with an efficient operational structure for over a decade. One of these was that "the ATNF will particularly welcome overseas scientists wishing to spend some time at the Facility". The many visits to the ATNF from overseas colleagues and the collaborations between Australian and overseas astronomers have contributed greatly to the success of the ATNF.
The Australia Telescope became a National Facility on 2 April 1990. Since then observing time has been scheduled for 1000 different projects. Together these represent approximately 1000 astronomers from 40 different countries. Project C1000, led by Carlos de Breuck from the Institut d'Astrophysique, Paris, is a collaboration between French, Australian and US astronomers. The observing time, scheduled for December 2001, will be used to investigate the radio continuum emission from high-redshift galaxies in the Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey catalogue.
Jessica Chapman
(Jessica.Chapman@csiro.au)