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51-725: Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales , Australia, part of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU), incorporates the Anglo-Australian Telescope along with a collection of other telescopes owned by the Australian National University, the University of New South Wales, and other institutions. The observatory

102-579: A 3-element lens to achieve a wide, corrected field of view. The APT was developed by extensively modifying the optical, mechanical and electronic systems of a Baker-Nunn satellite tracking instrument. The Baker-Nunn telescope had been located at Woomera in South Australia during the 1960s, and afterward was stationed at Orroral Valley near Canberra. The camera was donated by the Smithsonian Institution to UNSW in 1982. PROMPT (also known as Skynet)

153-412: A UK-wide educational programme since 2004, and currently works with science education projects across Europe and further afield (e.g. USA, Russia, Israel), including many EU-based science, maths and ICT programmes. FTP specialises in providing physics and maths education and outreach via astronomy and space science, utilising the unique access it can provide to research-grade facilities. The basic philosophy

204-605: A bit scratchy due to the hill-like terrain. In Coonabarabran are three schools: Coonabarabran Public School (established 1870) is on John Street, on the Oxley Highway and is Government funded. It has approximately 330 students from kindergarten to Year 6. Coonabarabran High School (established 1962) is on the Oxley Highway and is Government funded providing secondary education to the surrounding area. It has approximately 380 students. St Lawrence's Catholic Primary School

255-755: A broad range of educational programmes, with a strong emphasis on teacher training and engaging students with “real science”. A variety of research projects are currently being run on the FTs, with schools often participating in the role of data gatherers, particularly in long-term monitoring or short-term intensive studies or Target of Opportunity requests for transient objects (e.g. GRBs, supernovae, NEOs or X-ray systems in outburst). The project also provides extensive educational materials which can be accessed and downloaded free of charge from their educational resources website. These resources include astronomy video tutorials, online astronomy training, paper-based documents for use in

306-520: A café and souvenir shop. During NSW school holidays, guided tours of the site are offered. Groups of over 15 adults may apply for behind the scenes walking or bus tours. An Open Day is held annually in October, offering talks about astronomy and tours inside many of the telescope domes which are open to the public on this one day of the year. These tours include the AAT 3.9M, UK Schmidt, iTelescope.Net, 2.3M ANU and

357-529: A home at Siding Spring Observatory. The telescope was used by ANU in many roles such as Near Earth Object studies (NEOs) by famous comet hunter Rob McNaught. It was also the southern hemisphere counterpart of the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) located in Arizona, USA. The telescope is a 0.5m spherical mirror, with a 0.5m correcting plate, which allows a 6 degree field of view. The KMT, Korean Microlensing Telescope,

408-556: A network across the Southern hemisphere, is a single 0.5-metre telescope, using a new method referred to as eclipse timing to search for exoplanets. They have also added an astrograph to their telescope, giving it dual purpose. JAXA , the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, operate four 0.25-metre telescopes, searching and tracking space debris and near-Earth objects in the Southern hemisphere. Huntsman Telephoto Array

459-481: A network of wide-field telescopes to monitor hundreds of thousands of bright stars, searching for the characteristic dip in light that occurs when a planet passes in front of its host star. Hat – South is made up of 3 sites in the Southern hemisphere with two "TH4" units, making that 8 x 0.2-metre telescopes each at every sites. These TH4 units consist of four 0.18 m Takahashi astrographs fitted with Apogee 4k x 4k CCDs. Each TH4 unit monitors 64 square degrees of sky at

510-767: A number of heritage-listed sites, including those listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register (SHR), State Government Agency Section 170 Registers (s.170), and the Warrumbungle Local Environmental Plan (LEP). The first heritage listings occurred under the now-defunct national Register of the National Estate in 1978, and the Coonabarabran Local Environmental Plan 1990, but no further local level studies have been undertaken since. According to

561-571: A series of filters enabling the camera to record the spectral type of stars, giving astronomers information about their age, mass and temperature. The 1.35m telescope has been used in the hunt for Planet Nine and more trans-Neptunian objects , supernovae , and also finding the oldest known star in the universe. Solaris 3, operated by the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences as part of

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612-459: A time, so each site is capable of monitoring 128 square degrees of sky. Automated Patrol Telescope (APT) is operated by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a wide-field CCD imaging telescope. The 0.5 m telescope has a 5-degree field of view and can be operated remotely or in a fully automatic mode. The telescope has an optical design that more resembles that of a Schmidt camera, but has

663-522: A water-powered mill to make flour from his crops on the southern bank of the Castlereagh River (now Neilson Park), being appointed postmaster in 1849, and establishing the first inn, the "Castlereagh Inn" in the early 1850s. In 1859, the town was first surveyed by Lewis Gordon, with the first sale of land recorded in 1859. European settlement continued to grow from the 1860s, as the wheat industry moved from coastal areas to further inland, encouraged by

714-460: A website in 2001. Coonabarabran.org began in 2013 and it hosts Coonabarabran News, an online curation of local news and interest stories. Coonabarabran also has a Facebook page and Twitter account under the Coonabarabran name. The area is currently served by a small community radio station, 2WCR FM. This station broadcasts on 99.5 FM. It has a good broadcasting range but it can be

765-417: Is a 1.6 m operated by KASI. The KMTNet aims primarily to discover extrasolar planets based on the analyses of gravitational microlensing phenomena, especially the detection of earth-mass planets in the habitable zone. The KMTNet system has a very competitive power for wide-field photometric survey sciences that study supernovae, asteroids and external galaxies, for instance. Because the observation period of

816-631: Is a town in Warrumbungle Shire that sits on the divide between the Central West and North West Slopes regions of New South Wales , Australia. At the 2021 census , the town had a population of 2,387, and as of 2021, the population of Coonabarabran and its surrounding area is 3,477. Local and district residents refer to the town as 'Coona'. Coonabarabran is the gateway to the Warrumbungle National Park , Siding Spring Observatory and

867-654: Is on Dalgarno Street, founded in 1888 by the Sisters of Saint Joseph . It caters for kindergarten to Year Six and has approximately 110 students. Education is based around the Catholic faith and is across the road from St Lawrence's Catholic Church. The high school part of the school closed at the end of 2009. The township is on the Newell Highway and the Oxley Highway , approximately halfway between Melbourne and Brisbane and can be reached in about six hours by car from Sydney . It

918-544: Is on the main inland truck route between Queensland and Victoria . The Gwabegar railway line passes through the town. Passenger rail services were replaced by coaches in the 1970s. The section of the Gwabegar line between Binnaway and Gwabegar is booked out of use, from 28 October 2005 for safety reasons. Coonabarabran Airport is 12 km south of the town. [REDACTED] Coonabarabran travel guide from Wikivoyage Faulkes Telescope Project FTP has operated

969-533: Is operated by the Australian Astronomical Observatory & Macquarie University to take images of faint galaxy structures using commercial lenses. Initially it will use a 0.28-metre Celestron Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA) telescope with seven 400 mm Canon f/2.8 camera lenses. bRing-AU, operated by a collaboration of Universities and astronomers will search for circumplanetary material, studying disks of dust in early history and

1020-473: Is operated by the University of New South Wales (UNSW), the 0.45 m, 3rd-generation robotic telescope has successfully detected the transient optical emission from several GRB events. The wide field of view and the fast response permit measurements inaccessible to more conventional instruments. HAT-South is a project to search for transiting extrasolar planets in the Southern Hemisphere. It uses

1071-519: Is run by the University of North Carolina . The Panchromatic Robotic Optical Monitoring and Polarimetry Telescopes is made up of 4 x 0.41 Ritchey Chretien telescopes is entirely robotic and queue based. They are able to have rapid and simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of gamma ray burst afterglows and other transient objects. Uppsala Schmidt Telescope was built in 1957 originally located in Sweden, relocated to Mount Stromlo, then finally in 1982 making

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1122-568: Is situated 1,165 metres (3,822 ft) above sea level in the Warrumbungle National Park on Mount Woorat, also known as Siding Spring Mountain. Siding Spring Observatory is owned by the Australian National University (ANU) and is part of the Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories research school. More than A$ 100 million worth of research equipment is located at the observatory. There are over 60 telescopes on site, though not all are operational. The original Mount Stromlo Observatory

1173-727: Is to engage learners in “real science”, making them active participants in a range of astronomical research projects, ranging from observations of the solar system to distant galaxies. Teacher training (both face-to-face and online) is a core component of the FTP educational philosophy, and project staff have been involved in professional development work both in the UK and overseas, with teacher training days being held in Moscow, Santa Barbara, Munich, Lisbon, Paris and several other venues in Portugal and Spain. FTP operates

1224-490: The Faulkes Telescope Project , who vary from schools and community groups to professional astronomers. A global network of robotic optical telescopes will not only provide continuous sky coverage and the ability to treat the network as a single instrument, but also provide the resources for performing cutting-edge science in collaboration with other organisations. ROTSE , Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment

1275-560: The Pilliga Forest . The origin of the name Coonabarabran is unconfirmed. It may derive from a person's name or from the Kamilaroi language word ' gunbaraaybaa ' meaning 'excrement', translated earlier as meaning, 'peculiar odour', this is possibly a bowdlerisation . Another possible meaning is derived from the Wiradjuri word for an inquisitive person, ‘ gunabaraburan ’. 'Coolabarabran'

1326-519: The Robertson Land Acts . A Police watch house was completed in 1857, and the first Court House was completed in 1861. The Village of Coonabarabran was gazetted on 2 May 1860. In 1870, the Public School was opened. After construction of a new stone courthouse in 1878 the original courthouse was demolished and a post and telegraph office constructed on its site in 1879. The Coonabarabran Shire

1377-622: The 2021 Census, there were 2,387 people in Coonabarabran. Coonabarabran is the closest town to the Siding Spring Observatory , which is home to the 3.9-metre Anglo-Australian Telescope , the largest optical telescope in Australia. It is operated by the Australian Astronomical Observatory (formerly the Anglo-Australian Observatory). A dozen other telescopes are on Siding Spring Mountain, a number of which are operated by

1428-497: The Galactic bulge focuses on the primary science on extrasolar planets, the other science programs are performed in the season when the Galactic bulge is not observable. The SkyMapper telescope, operated by the Australian National University , is currently mapping the entire southern sky, completing each map over a period of 3 months. The survey will record more than a billion stars and galaxies. This fully automated telescope also uses

1479-748: The LCGTN 2M telescope facilities. The Anglo-Australian Near-Earth Asteroid Survey used the UK Schmidt Telescope between 1990 and 1996. The same telescope was later dedicated for use by the RAVE survey of the Milky Way . The Near-Earth object search program called the Siding Spring Survey (closed 2013) used the Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope. The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey , one of

1530-535: The New South Wales Government Astronomer at the time. Arthur Hogg did much of the preliminary site testing. The Siding Spring site was selected by the ANU in 1962 from many other possible locations because of the dark and cloud-free skies. By the mid-1960s the ANU had set up three telescopes, together with supporting facilities, such as sealed roads, staff accommodation, electricity and water. In 1984,

1581-548: The Prime Minister, Bob Hawke , opened the ANU's largest telescope, the low-cost and innovative 2.3-metre (7 ft 7 in) aperture telescope, housed in a simple, co-rotating cuboid dome. Since the 1950s, and quite independently of developments at Siding Spring, the Australian and British governments had been negotiating about the construction of a very large telescope. When these negotiations finally came to fruition in 1969,

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1632-673: The Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Australian National University . Siding Spring is also home to the Uppsala Telescope where Robert H. McNaught discovered his now famous daylight comet C/2006 P1 in August 2006. The Mopra Observatory , which is home to a 22-metre radio telescope owned and operated by the CSIRO is also near the Siding Spring Observatory, but is operated remotely from Narrabri. A recent addition to

1683-511: The Schmidt optical design complements the narrower field of the AAT, in that larger areas of sky may be surveyed more quickly. Interesting objects so discovered are then studied in greater detail on the larger instrument. In 1987, the Schmidt Telescope was amalgamated with the AAT. Siding Spring Observatory also houses many telescopes from institutions across the world including, Korea, America,

1734-438: The UK Schmidt Telescope. Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network operate a 2-metre Ritchey Chretien telescope used for research, citizen science, and education purposes by users across the globe. Also, they operate inside the clam style dome 2 x 0.40 cm telescopes, and a further 2 × 1 metre telescopes housed in individual domes outside the building. Currently there are over one thousand registered users of

1785-523: The UK, Poland, Hungary, Germany and Russia. In 1990, the earth- satellite tracking facility of the Royal Greenwich Observatory was closed down after 10 years of operation. In 2012 the first publicly accessible Internet based observatory, working in partnership with the RSAA, was commissioned by iTelescope.Net with over 25 telescopes housed in a large roll-off roof (ROR) observatory near the base of

1836-604: The area around the Warrumbungles mountain range, which he named the "Arbuthnot Range". The former convict, James Weston (1800–1883), who was assigned to the Cassilis area in the Upper Hunter Region before being granted his freedom in 1843, acquired the agricultural area known as "Coolabarbyan" in the district in 1843. Weston was among the first permanent settlers in the district, cultivating 20 acres of wheat and constructing

1887-489: The classroom, and pre-packaged data from the telescopes to use with the exercises detailed online. The robotic telescopes used by the Faulkes Telescope Project are owned and operated by Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGTN). Users must register for an account via FTP and, providing they meet the criteria for an account (as explained on the FTP website), the account details will be emailed out to

1938-535: The formation of icy satellites. They use 2 small modified cameras, with Kodak CCD chips. On 13 January 2013 the facility was threatened by a huge bushfire and firestorm. Eighteen staff were evacuated to Coonabarabran. Three buildings were destroyed: 'The Lodge' accommodation used by visiting researchers, the Director's Cottage and the Fire Station. Bushfire prevention measures had been implemented and were credited with

1989-563: The infrastructure of Siding Spring Observatory was already in place, and it was the obvious site at which to locate the 3.9-metre (13 ft) aperture Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). During the construction of the AAT in the early 1970s, the British Science Research Council also built the UK Schmidt Telescope , 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the northeast of the AAT dome. The considerably wider field of view of

2040-727: The largest survey of galaxies ever undertaken used the Anglo-Australian Telescope between 1995 and 2002. 1977, the Vela Pulsar was discovered at Siding Spring. Comets discovered from the observatory include Comet 103P/Hartley , discovered in 1986 by Malcolm Hartley , Comet C/2006 P1 , discovered by Robert H. McNaught using the Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope on 8 August 2006, and Comet C/2013 A1 , also discovered by McNaught, which passed extremely close to Mars on 19 October 2014. Coonabarabran, New South Wales Coonabarabran ( / k uː n ə b ær ə b r ə n / )

2091-566: The monthly mean minimum was as low as −3.5 °C or 25.7 °F. Rainfall is greatest from December to February with summer thunderstorms . Temperature extremes have historically ranged from 44.0 °C or 111.2 °F to −9.0 °C or 15.8 °F. Independently owned and operated, the Coonabarabran Times newspaper circulates throughout the Warrumbungle Shire area. Approximately 2700 copies are distributed each Thursday across

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2142-599: The primary industries of the region. In 1926–1928, a local committee organised the development of the town memorial to the First World War in the form of the Coonabarabran Memorial Clock Tower at the central town intersection of John Street and Dalgarno Street. Built from local sandstone by Edmund Pye of Gunnedah at a cost of £1,300, the clock tower was officially dedicated on 23 August 1928 by Major General Charles Frederick Cox . Coonabarabran has

2193-409: The protection of the telescopes. Though smoke, ash and other air-borne debris entered some domes, all telescopes survived the inferno. The first telescopes back in action were those of the iTelescope Remote Observatory on 20 January. The Anglo-Australian Telescope resumed normal operations in mid-February 2013. There is a visitors' gallery and exhibition area open to the public which also incorporates

2244-413: The registered user. Students and teachers can then go online and book time on the telescope and run their own 29-minute-long real-time observational session on one of the telescopes, remotely controlling it over the internet. These telescopes are the largest robotic telescopes in the world available for UK schools to control in real time. The project was the winner of the 2008 Sir Arthur Clarke Award in

2295-468: The sky at Mount Stromlo to such an extent that many faint astronomical objects had been overwhelmed by light pollution . The search for a new site was initiated by Bart Bok . After a site survey was undertaken the number of possible locations was narrowed down to two – Siding Spring and Mount Bingar near Griffith , also in New South Wales. Siding Spring was first suggested for astronomy by Harley Wood,

2346-487: The town was the construction of the world's largest virtual solar system drive on the roads leading to the observatory. Coonabarabran markets itself as the "astronomy capital of Australia", many of the businesses and government buildings in the town feature astronomically themed information plaques. Coonabarabran Unicorns rugby league team play in the Castlereagh Cup . The Anglican Christ Church at 94 Dalgarno Street

2397-416: The townships of Coonabarabran, Binnaway, Baradine, Coolah, Dunedoo, Mendooran and Mullaley. The Coonabarabran Times was founded in 1927 as an amalgamation of The Bligh Watchman (1877–1927) and The Clarion (1910–1927). It continues to be a solid publication, consisting of local news and issues facing the community, sport, events and advertisements. Coonabarabran registered Coonabarabran.com in 1999 and creating

2448-507: Was opened in 1939 by Bishop Arnold Wylde to a design by Lindsay Gordon Scott . Other Churches include St. Lawrence's Catholic Church, Presbyterian Church, Uniting Church and Seventh Day Adventist Church. Coonabarabran has a subtropical climate ( Köppen Cfa ), with hot summers and cool winters. On average, 56.6 mornings (including 16.3 in July) fall below 0 °C or 32 °F; and in July 2002

2499-521: Was proclaimed on 7 March 1906, with the enactment of the Local Government (Shires) Act 1905 . With incorporation, the town continued to grow with the construction of the railway line through Binnaway to Coonabarabran in 1917 (extended to Baradine and Gwabegar in 1923) and the establishment of the Forestry Commission in 1916, both of which facilitated the growth of agriculture and forestry as

2550-560: Was set up by the Commonwealth Government in 1924. After duty supplying optical components to the military in World War II , the emphasis on astronomical research changed in the late 1940s from solar to stellar research. Between 1953 and 1974, the 74-inch (1.9 m) reflecting telescope at Mount Stromlo was the largest optical telescope in Australia. Already in the 1950s, the artificial lights of Canberra , ACT , had brightened

2601-505: Was the name of a station owned by James Weston in 1848. The area around Coonabarabran and the Warrumbungles has been occupied by the Kamilaroi people for approximately 7,500 years. In 1818, the area was opened up for European settlement, when the surveyor-general for the Colony of New South Wales , John Oxley , made an expedition through the north-west areas of the colony. Oxley surveyed

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