Penrith Observatory
Penrith Observatory is operated by, and is part of Western Sydney University and is located on the university's Werrington North campus.[1]. The 6.5 m dome houses a fork-mounted 0.6 m (24 inch) Ritchey–Chrétien telescope. The observatory also includes a lecture theatre for about 50 students, and offices for administration and research activities. It also hosts a portable planetarium, and some smaller facilities such as the All-Sky Camera, and two outside observation areas for tripod-mounted telescopes. On display outside is an antenna tile from the Murchison Widefield Array, a precursor to the Square Kilometre Array.
The Observatory hosts regular outreach activities for the public [2] and for local schools, and conducts research in niche areas such as polarimetry.
History
Construction of the Observatory started in 1993, initially funded by a government grant and matching funding from the University of Western Sydney. [3]. Its core mission was to conduct astronomical research and to raise the level of engagement of the local community in science and technology [4]. Other ambitious goals included the development of undergraduate, masters, and doctoral programs in astronomy and space science, centred on the observatory [5]
The completed observatory was opened on the 24th of October 1994 by NASA Astronaut Jay Apt and has been extensively modified and upgraded since then, including
- The telescope control system automation and remote operations.
- Lecture theatre upgrade with audiovisual systems and 3D projection system.
- The addition of a workshop.
- The addition of an outside viewing area.
Outreach
Outreach activities are a major focus of the Observatory [6]. These outreach activities include public astronomy nights, hands-on workshops, and a number of school activities. These school activities consist of both day and night programs for K-12 students. The day program includes a short visual presentation with a 3D movie, a tour of the observatory dome and 0.6 m telescope, and depending on the weather, safe viewing of the sun via appropriately filtered specialised telescopes.
The observatory public viewing nights have become a significant feature for local tourist operators [7]
The observatory is also used extensively by the Western Sydney Amateur Astronomy Group (WSAAG), who also use the Linden Observatory in the nearby Blue Mountains. WSAAG also support the Observatory on public nights by providing the public with an opportunity to view the sky through a variety of amateur-owned telescopes.
The Telescope
The telescope is a fork-mounted 0.6 m (24 inch) Ritchey–Chrétien telescope working at a focal ratio of f/10 [1]. The 610mm primary mirror is made of Pyrex, and the 203mm secondary mirror is made of Zerodur, giving an image scale of 24 arcsec/mm and an aberration-free focal plane of 6 cm or 34 arcmin in diameter. It has been recently upgraded to full automated control (mainly using in-house control system software), including
- Pointing and tracking, including high speed tracking suitable for tracking satellites.
- Dome rotation synchronised to telescope motion.
- Focus by moving the secondary mirror.
- 4 position instrument carrousel.
- Automated weather sensing which will automatically close the dome if rain or other adverse conditions are detected.
The telescope and all of the cameras (except the spectrograph) are fully remotely controllable. The upgraded control system is compatible with DC-3 Dreams Advanced Observatory Software.
Available instruments include:
- SBIG STT8300 CCD camera with a filter wheel and BVRI and Sloan filters.
- Several CMOS cameras including ZWO ASI178MC, ZWO ASI174MM with filter wheel, ZWO ASI294MC-P, ZWO ASI1600MM Pro (typically used with the spectrograph) and ZWO ASI1200MM (typically used with the spectrograph)
- Shelyak LHIRES III Spectrograph
The data from the cameras are captured using commercial and free software (Maxim DL, FireCapture and SharpCap).
In addition, for polarisation observations, the HIPPI instruments developed by the astronomy group at UNSW are used[8] [9] [10]
Research
Although the telescope is relatively small and located in an semi-urban environment, it has been used in several research projects, such as
- Observations of the "Deep Impact" comet collision in 2005[11]
- Observations of binary stars[12]
- multiband photometric analysis of the nova progenitor star AA Piscis Austrinus[14]
- High precision polarimetry observations in association with the astronomy group at UNSW[8] [9] [10]
- Stellar occultations by Phoebe[15]
- Testing and Development of a Neuromorphic Event-based Imaging System[16]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 White, G.L. (1996). "The Nepean Astronomy Centre and its Educational Programs". Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series. 89: 289. Bibcode:1996ASPC...89..289W.
- ↑ "Penrith Observatory Youtube Channel". Western Sydney University. 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
- ↑ White, Graeme L.; Jones, Paul A.; Hons, Alex; Edgar, Ron; Suchting, Mark; Burdett, Chris (August 1994). "The New Teaching and Public Access Observatory at the University of Western Sydney, Nepean". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 11 (2): 188–190. Bibcode:1994PASA...11..188W. doi:10.1017/S1323358000019871. eISSN 1448-6083. ISSN 1323-3580. Unknown parameter
|s2cid=ignored (help) - ↑ Walton, Glen (1997). Strategic Plan: Nepean Astronomy Centre. Sydney: LinkWest. Search this book on
- ↑ "The Nepean Centre for Astronomy: A Unique Centre within UWS" (PDF). 1998. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
- ↑ "Penrith Observatory". Penrith Observatory. Western Sydney University. 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
- ↑ "Observatory At Western Sydney University". Visit Penrith. Penrith City Council. 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Cotton, Daniel V; Bailey, Jeremy; Kedziora-Chudczer, Lucyna; DeHorta, Ain (13 July 2020). "Phase-locked polarization by photospheric reflection in the semidetached eclipsing binary μ1 Sco". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 497 (2): 2175–2189. doi:10.1093/mnras/staa2053. eISSN 1365-2966. ISSN 0035-8711.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Bailey, Jeremy; Cotton, Daniel V.; Kedziora-Chudczer, Lucyna; De Horta, Ain; Maybour, Darren (2020). "HIPPI-2: A versatile high-precision polarimeter". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 37. arXiv:1911.02123. Bibcode:2020PASA...37....4B. doi:10.1017/pasa.2019.45. eISSN 1448-6083. ISSN 1323-3580. Unknown parameter
|s2cid=ignored (help) - ↑ 10.0 10.1 Bailey, Jeremy; Cotton, Daniel V.; Kedziora-Chudczer, Lucyna; De Horta, Ain; Maybour, Darren (1 April 2019). "Polarized reflected light from the Spica binary system". Nature Astronomy. 3 (7): 636–641. arXiv:1904.01195. Bibcode:2019NatAs...3..636B. doi:10.1038/s41550-019-0738-7. eISSN 2397-3366. Unknown parameter
|s2cid=ignored (help) - ↑ Meech, K. J.; et al. (14 October 2005). "Deep Impact: Observations from a Worldwide Earth-Based Campaign". Science. 310 (5746): 265–269. Bibcode:2005Sci...310..265M. doi:10.1126/science.1118978. eISSN 1095-9203. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 16150977. Unknown parameter
|s2cid=ignored (help) - ↑ Bauer, Christina; White, Graeme L.; Hons, Alex (August 1994). "Observations of Wide Binary Pairs in the Far Southern Sky". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 11 (2): 201–205. Bibcode:1994PASA...11..201B. doi:10.1017/S1323358000019913. eISSN 1448-6083. ISSN 1323-3580. Unknown parameter
|s2cid=ignored (help) - ↑ Bérard, D.; Sicardy, B.; Camargo, J. I. B.; Desmars, J.; Braga-Ribas, F.; Ortiz, J.-L.; Duffard, R.; Morales, N.; Meza, E.; Leiva, R.; Benedetti-Rossi, G.; Vieira-Martins, R.; Júnior, A.-R. Gomes; Assafin, M.; Colas, F.; Dauvergne, J.-L.; Kervella, P.; Lecacheux, J.; Maquet, L.; Vachier, F.; Renner, S.; Monard, B.; Sickafoose, A. A.; Breytenbach, H.; Genade, A.; Beisker, W.; Bath, K.-L.; Bode, H.-J.; Backes, M.; Ivanov, V. D.; Jehin, E.; Gillon, M.; Manfroid, J.; Pollock, J.; Tancredi, G.; Roland, S.; Salvo, R.; Vanzi, L.; Herald, D.; Gault, D.; Kerr, S.; Pavlov, H.; Hill, K. M.; Bradshaw, J.; Barry, M. A.; Cool, A.; Lade, B.; Cole, A.; Broughton, J.; Newman, J.; Horvat, R.; Maybour, D.; Giles, D.; Davis, L.; Paton, R. A.; Loader, B.; Pennell, A.; Jaquiery, P.-D.; Brillant, S.; Selman, F.; Dumas, C.; Herrera, C.; Carraro, G.; Monaco, L.; Maury, A.; Peyrot, A.; Teng-Chuen-Yu, J.-P.; Richichi, A.; Irawati, P.; Witt, C. De; Schoenau, P.; Prager, R.; Colazo, C.; Melia, R.; Spagnotto, J.; Blain, A.; Alonso, S.; Román, A.; Santos-Sanz, P.; Rizos, J.-L.; Maestre, J.-L.; Dunham, D. (8 September 2017). "The Structure of Chariklo's Rings from Stellar Occultations". The Astronomical Journal. 154 (4): 144. arXiv:1706.00207. Bibcode:2017AJ....154..144B. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aa830d. eISSN 1538-3881. Unknown parameter
|s2cid=ignored (help) - ↑ Wadhwa, Surjit S; De Horta, Ain; Filipović, Miroslav D; Tothill, N F H; Arbutina, Bojan; Petrović, Jelena; Djurašević, Gojko (26 November 2020). "ZZ Piscis Austrinus (ZZ PsA): a bright red nova progenitor and the instability mass ratio of contact binary stars". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 501 (1): 229–235. doi:10.1093/mnras/staa3637. eISSN 1365-2966. ISSN 0035-8711.
- ↑ Gomes-Júnior, A R; Assafin, M; Braga-Ribas, F; Benedetti-Rossi, G; Morgado, B E; Camargo, J I B; Vieira-Martins, R; Desmars, J; Sicardy, B; Barry, T; Campbell-White, J; Fernández-Lajús, E; Giles, D; Hanna, W; Hayamizu, T; Hirose, T; De Horta, A; Horvat, R; Hosoi, K; Jehin, E; Kerr, S; Machado, D I; Mammana, L A; Maybour, D; Owada, M; Rahvar, S; Snodgrass, C (19 December 2019). "The first observed stellar occultations by the irregular satellite Phoebe (Saturn IX) and improved rotational period". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 492 (1): 770–781. doi:10.1093/mnras/stz3463. eISSN 1365-2966. ISSN 0035-8711.
- ↑ Ralph, Nicholas ; Maybour, Darren ; Bethi, Yeshwanth ; Cohen, Gregory, 2019, Proceedings of the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference, held in Wailea, Maui, Hawaii, September 17-20, 2019, Ed.: S. Ryan, The Maui Economic Development Board, id.71, | bibcode = 2019amos.confE..71R
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