8 December 2000
"FIRST LIGHT" FOR UPGRADED AUSTRALIA TELESCOPE
New world-leading technology has made CSIRO's Australia Telescope the first radio telescope in the Southern Hemisphere able to make detailed pictures of evolving galaxies and the birthplaces of young stars.
Installed and tested last week, it makes the radio telescope the first millimetre-wave 'interferometer' in the Southern Hemisphere and the first anywhere with this technology.
At the heart of the system is a new chip made of the exotic material indium phosphide, cooled to 20 K (-253 degr Celsius).
The upgrading of the Australia Telescope to work at millimetre wavelengths is funded by the Federal Government under its Major National Research Facilities (MNRF) Program, and by CSIRO.
Astronomers in the Southern Hemisphere have a ringside seat looking straight into the centre of our own Galaxy and at the two nearest galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds.
Contacts:
Prof. Ray Norris, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility Email: Ray.Norris@atnf.csiro.au
Mr John Brooks, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility Email: John.Brooks@atnf.csiro.au
Dr Dave McConnell, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility Email: dmcconne@atnf.csiro.au
Dr Warwick Wilson, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility Email: wwilson@atnf.csiro.au
Mr Malcolm Sinclair, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility Email: msinclai@atnf.csiro.au
Dr Alan Young, CSIRO Telecommunications and Industrial Physics Email: Alan.Young@tip.csiro.au
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