New Observatories for UTas Astronomy

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New Observatories for UTas Astronomy

• John Dickey
• Science Meets Parliament
• October 6, 2009

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People who built astronomy at UTas radio and
optical
L. Macauley (1940s) -- G. Reber (1950s)
G.R.A. Ellis P. McCulloch S.
Ellingsen J. Lovell J.
Dickey J. McCallum M.
Waterworth J. Greenhill A. Cole D.
Warren K. Hill S. Dieters
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UTas 26m radio telescope (Hobart 1985)
UTas 30m radio telescope (Ceduna 1998)
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U Tas Radio Telescopes are the Backbone of Very
Long Baseline Interferometry in Australia
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January 14, 2005
ESA-NASA Mission to Saturn Cassini (orbiter)
Huygens (probe)
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1230 UTC
1018 UTC
The Earth as seen from Titan...
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VLBI Reference Source This image shows a specific
AGN (Active Galaxy Nucleus) or VLBI source point.
Studying the structure of AGN is a focus of
research at UTAS and important to improve VLBI
measurement precision and hence to improve our
geodetic reference frame.
This radiation left the source 3x109 years ago.
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VLBI measurements of continental drift
http//lupus.gsfc.nasa.gov/vlbigallery.htm
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To find positions on the Earth, we use Global
Navigational Satellite Systems, like GPS. They
give precision limited by the accuracy with which
we know the earths rotation parameters. These
vary unpredictably, setting a limit of about 30
cm on positional measurement. To do better
than 30 cm precision, we must measure the motion
of the Earth in the Celestial Reference Frame
established by VLBI. This is the job of the
International VLBI Service (IVS). UTas is the
only IVS station in Australia, one of only 4 in
the Southern Hemisphere.
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How does GPS work?
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GPS provides location information by sending time
and ephemeris data on many different paths at
once.
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Stations of the International VLBI Service
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Motion of the earths polar axis (north) measured
on the sky, relative to extragalactic radio
sources. 1 mas 5 10-9 of a radian
(one 4-millionth of a degree) 3 cm on the
earths surface
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get this data from http//hpiers.obspm.fr/eop
-pc/
The length of a day varies by a few hundred
micro-seconds each day. This is partly
predictable, partly unpredictable.
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New VLBI telescope Sites

• Hobart
• Yarragadee
• Katherine
• New Zealand (Auckland University of Technology)

To establish a geodetic system for Australia, we
need three points to define a reference plane or
datum.
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Infrastructure

• 3 12m antennas from Patriot Antenna Systems
• 3 Hydrogen maser time and frequency standards,
  from Vremya-CH
• 3 receiver systems built in-house
• 3 samplers from INAF/IRA (DBBC)
• 3 Mark5B recorders and recording media from
  Conduant

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Hobart Patriot 12.1 m Telescope This is the first
of the three new 12.1 m radio telescopes to be
completed, funded through NCRIS/AuScope, to be
used for VLBI geodesy.
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Photos taken 3 October 2009 see
http//www-ra.phys.utas.edu.au/auscope/ http//www
.facebook.com/pages/AuScope-VLBI-Project/114799929
733?vwall
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digital base-band signal processor and
recorder (Italy)
Array operations centre Physics Building Sandy
Bay Campus
hydrogen maser clocks (Russia)
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Dual channel receiver package (Tasmania Peter
McCulloch)
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French Transportable Laser Ranging Station
(FTLRS) Deployed at satellite altimeter
calibration site at Burnie, Tasmania
GPS Buoy Used offshore from Burnie for definition
of the absolute datum used to calibrate satellite
altimeters TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1 and Jason-2.
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Macquarie Island This map highlights the dominant
seismic events surrounding Macquarie Island. Work
at UTAS is currently focused on improving
estimates of relative and absolute sea level rise
at this location since Sir Douglas Mawsons
1911-1914 AAE Expedition.
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PLANET Telescope System
Collaboration member telescopes
It is important to have a widely spaced array of
telescopes, because each event only lasts a
couple of hours and is unpredictable!
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6th IVS General Meeting Worldwide community
biennial gathering UTAS Feb 7-13, 2010
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Optical Astronomy New Planets around Other
Stars The UTas Mt. Canopus 1m telescope
Mt Canopus 1 m telescope at night
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• optical observatories of the PLANETnetwork
• (search for planets around other stars causing
  gravitational lensing)

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• Example of a star field showing a stellar
• microlensing event in progress EROS 2000-BLG-005

Normal brightness
Peak brightness
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OB05071- the second planet discovered by
microlensing
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Proposed new observatory at Bisdee Tier, near
Spring Hill, Tasmanian midlands
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• Bisdee Tier Observatory
• 1.3 metre primary mirror (60 larger collecting
  area).
• Elevation 650 metres, at a dark and dry site.
• 30 clear dark hours and mean natural image
  quality of 1.3 comparable to Siding Spring.
• Will be remotely operable.
• Equal 4th largest optical telescope in Australia.

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• Modern dome enclosure provides maximum control of
  the thermal environment of the telescope and
  minimum induced turbulence in the airflow over
  the mirror.

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Mt. Canopusfield of view

• wide-field corrector lenses will give a 40
  arcminute field of view.
• Covering the ultraviolet to the near-infrared
  parts of the spectrum.

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• Seesaw tertiary mirror allows rapid switching
  back and forth between imaging and spectroscopy.

Spectra velocitieschemistryenergeticsthe
fine print
Images structureluminositytemperaturethe
big picture
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The UTas 1.37m (50 inch) telescope
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reionization here
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2009 is the International Year of Astronomy
(UNESCO) because it is the 400th anniversary of
Galileos first use of the telescope.

• A little timeline of the Universe if it were
  one day
• today 12 midnight
• Galileo uses telescope 400 years ago 0.0025
  sec ago
• Oldest books 2800 years ago 0.017
  sec ago
• first people 106 years ago 115954
  PM
• first animals, plants 5.4 x 108 years
  ago 1051 PM
• earth and sun form 4.6 x 109 years
  ago 356 PM
• Milky Way forms 1.2 x 1010 years ago 300
  AM
• cosmic microwave bkg 1.37 x 1010 years
  ago 120002 AM

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Psalm 81 O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy
name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory
above the heavens.2 Out of the mouth of babes
and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because
of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the
enemy and the avenger.3 When I consider thy
heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and
the stars, which thou hast ordained4 What is
man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of
man, that thou visitest him?5 For thou hast made
him a little lower than the angels, and hast
crowned him with glory and honour. (King James
Version -- 1611)
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UTas astronomy builds on our unique location
... ... enhanced by our special expertise in
operating telescopes ... ... and our
self-reliant and self-confident students and
staff ... ... to do things that no other
university in the world can do.
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