The Uppsala Schmidt Telescope is a
Schmidt telescope
Schmidt may refer to:
* Schmidt (surname), including list of people with the surname
* Schmidt (singer) (born 1990), German pop and jazz singer
* Schmidt (lunar crater), a small lunar impact crater
* Schmidt (Martian crater), a crater on Mars
* ...
located in Australia. It was moved to
Siding Spring Observatory from
Mount Stromlo Observatory
Mount Stromlo Observatory located just outside Canberra, Australia, is part of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University (ANU).
History
The observatory was established in 1924 as The Commonweal ...
in 1982. The instrument has been used to study the galaxy, asteroids and comets. It was last dedicated to the
Siding Spring Survey
The Siding Spring Survey (SSS) was a near-Earth object search program that used the 0.5-metre Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, New South Wales, Australia. It was the southern hemisphere counterpart of the Catali ...
. The telescope had a
field of view
The field of view (FoV) is the extent of the observable world that is seen at any given moment. In the case of optical instruments or sensors it is a solid angle through which a detector is sensitive to electromagnetic radiation.
Human ...
of just over 6° through the use of a
correcting plate, making its field three times as large as that of the
Anglo-Australian Telescope
The Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) is a 3.9-metre equatorially mounted telescope operated by the Australian Astronomical Observatory and situated at the Siding Spring Observatory, Australia, at an altitude of a little over 1,100 m. In 2 ...
. It used a spherical rather than a parabolic mirror
with 0.6 m correcting plate to achieve this.
Photographic plates and film were used as detectors.
History
The Uppsala Schmidt Telescope was built in 1956 in Sweden.
The telescope was originally located at the
Mount Stromlo Observatory
Mount Stromlo Observatory located just outside Canberra, Australia, is part of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University (ANU).
History
The observatory was established in 1924 as The Commonweal ...
. It was operational there between 1957 and 1982.
It took the first images ever recorded of the
Sputnik satellite in 1957.
The telescope was modernised in 2000 and 2001
to include the experimental use of
Charge-coupled device
A charge-coupled device (CCD) is an integrated circuit containing an array of linked, or coupled, capacitors. Under the control of an external circuit, each capacitor can transfer its electric charge to a neighboring capacitor. CCD sensors are a ...
s (CCDs) which are 40 times more sensitive than standard photography.
The Uppsala Schmidt telescope was the instrument used by the
Siding Spring Survey
The Siding Spring Survey (SSS) was a near-Earth object search program that used the 0.5-metre Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, New South Wales, Australia. It was the southern hemisphere counterpart of the Catali ...
to conduct the only professional search for
dangerous asteroids being made in the
Southern Hemisphere.
The telescope was decommissioned by the ANU late in 2013 and the
Siding Spring Survey
The Siding Spring Survey (SSS) was a near-Earth object search program that used the 0.5-metre Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, New South Wales, Australia. It was the southern hemisphere counterpart of the Catali ...
near-Earth object search program closed down after funding dried up.
Discoveries
The telescope was used by
Robert H. McNaught
Robert H. McNaught (born in Scotland in 1956) is a Scottish-Australian astronomer at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Australian National University (ANU). He has collaborated with David J. Asher of the Armagh Observator ...
to discover 400 potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids which have a diameter greater than .
McNaught used the telescope to discover comet
C/2006 P1
Comet McNaught, also known as the Great Comet of 2007 and given the designation C/2006 P1, is a non-periodic comet discovered on 7 August 2006 by British-Australian astronomer Robert H. McNaught using the Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope. I ...
, also known as the Great Daylight Comet of 2007, on the night of 7 August 2006. That comet was the brightest seen in over 40 years.
Other notable discoveries made by the telescope include finding
7604 Kridsadaporn
7604 Kridsadaporn, provisional designation , is an unusual, carbonaceous asteroid and Mars-crosser on a highly eccentric orbit from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 31 August 1995, by Austra ...
,
C/2007 Q3
C/2007 Q3 (Siding Spring), is an Oort cloud comet that was discovered by Donna Burton in 2007 at Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia.Evans, Kate (February 19, 2010).'Australian' comet captured by NASA. Australian Broadcastin ...
,
C/2009 R1
C/2009 R1 (McNaught), one of more than fifty comets known as Comet McNaught, is a non-periodic comet discovered by British-Australian astronomer Robert H. McNaught on September 9, 2009, using the Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope at Siding Sp ...
,
C/2013 A1
C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) is an Oort cloud comet discovered on 3 January 2013 by Robert H. McNaught at Siding Spring Observatory using the Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope.
At the time of discovery it was 7.2 AU from the Sun and locat ...
("Siding Spring Comet"),
2012 LZ1
is an asteroid classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Amor group, approximately in diameter. It passed within 5.4 million kilometers (14 lunar distances) of Earth on 14 June 2012. It was discovered during t ...
,
(242450) 2004 QY2
('' prov. designation:'' ) is an asteroid on an eccentric orbit, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 20 August 2004 by the Siding Spring Surv ...
and
(308242) 2005 GO21
is a large Aten near-Earth asteroid and potentially hazardous object. It has a well determined orbit with an observation arc of 7 years and an uncertainty parameter of 0. It was discovered on 1 April 2005 by the Siding Spring Survey at an ap ...
.
See also
*
List of telescopes of Australia
The list below is split between telescopes located in Australia, and telescopes sponsored by Australia such as a space telescope or foreign installation.
Australia can access the Southern skies, which was a popular trend in the 20th century (ma ...
*
List of large optical telescopes
References
External links
Uppsala Southern Station- history,images,links
{{Portal bar, Australia, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Education, Science
Optical telescopes
Siding Spring Observatory
1957 establishments in Australia