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In 2015,
Heyer and Dame
reviewed molecular clouds in the Milky Way, with a focus on carbon monoxide observations
with single-dish telescopes. CO emission at 115 GHz was
discovered in 1969 with the
NRAO 36-foot telescope on Kitt Peak in Arizona.
The importance of a spectral line to probe molecular clouds
was immediately recognised, and a number of other 3mm dishes soon came on line, with
the Millimeter Wave Observatory (MWO) 5m telescope in Fort Davis, Texas, being next.
These results did not go unnoticed in the southern hemisphere,
and a 4m telescope was built on CSIRO's Marsfield site in Sydney
for 3mm observing. The telescope was formally opened in August 1976,
and operated through the 1980s,
mapping CO along the galactic plane
(in often less the ideal observing conditions!).
The 22m Mopra telescope, located at a much better site near Coonabarabran,
is now much better known than the Epping 4m.
As shown above, Mopra came on-line at the end of 1990, although it
was not until 1995 that observing commenced in the 3mm band.
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