Siding Spring Observatory Update

Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue60 1–31 March 2025

AAT Funded!

2025 has started with good news. The Department of Industry, Science and Resources has agreed to contribute $1.5M a year for two years to fund the AAT. The AAT will continue operating until at least 30 June 2027. Work on updating the legal agreements that underpin operations has started.

2dF

Work on refurbishing 2dF has started in earnest.  Most of the old electronics have been removed – see the attached photo – and work on assembling the new electronics has started.  The top end is now 120 kg lighter, which will present a challenge for balancing the telescope when Hector is used in April.

2dF will be recommissioned in August and will be available in share-risk mode from September onwards.

Welcome Madusha Gunawardhana 

Madusha Gunawardhana has joined the operations team as a night assistant at SSO. She started earlier this year. Madusha is already well known to the staff at SSO, having observed at the AAT over many nights over many years.

We welcome Madusha Gunawardhana to SSO and we look forward to working with her in the years to come.

A Rare Alignment

Twice a year, the sun is just at the right position for the shadow of the AAT to be cast on the Mopra Rock, a volcanic plug that is about 1 km east of the AAT.  Andre Phillips took a photo of the event. He writes:

“Yesterday, there was an event which I've been trying to photograph for years, namely when the shadow of the AAT falls exactly in the middle of a nearby volcanic dome known as Mopra Rock.  This only occurs on two days of the year when the sun is at a declination of 50' South, and the 18th of March was one of those days.”

Chris Lidman, on behalf of the staff at SSO

Images:

Left: An image of the now almost empty electronics rack on the 2dF top end.

Right: The shadow of the AAT on the nearby Mopra Rock by Andre Phillips