Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope
Overview
Radio telescope
A radio telescope is a form of directional radio antenna used in radio astronomy. The same types of antennas are also used in tracking and collecting data from satellites and space probes...
operating at 843 MHz. It is operated by the School of Physics of the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
. The telescope is located near the Molonglo River
Molonglo River
The Molonglo River rises on the western side of the Great Dividing Range of eastern Australia in the state of New South Wales. Its source is on the other side of the mountain range from where the Shoalhaven River rises, in Tallaganda state forest at ~1200 metres altitude...
near Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, and was constructed by modification of the East-West arm of the former Molonglo Cross Telescope, a larger version of the Mills Cross Telescope
Mills Cross Telescope
Bernard Mills built the two-dimensional Mills Cross Telescope in 1954 at the Fleurs field station of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in the area known now as Badgerys Creek, about 40km west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.Each arm of the cross was...
.
The MOST consists of two cylindrical paraboloids
Parabola
In mathematics, the parabola is a conic section, the intersection of a right circular conical surface and a plane parallel to a generating straight line of that surface...
, 778m x 12m, separated by 15m and aligned East-West.
