The Uppsala Schmidt Telescope is a
Schmidt telescope
Schmidt may refer to:
* Schmidt (surname), including list of people and fictional characters with the surname
* Schmidt (singer) (born 1990), German pop and jazz singer
* Schmidt (lunar crater), a small lunar impact crater
* Schmidt (Martian c ...
located in Australia. It was moved to
Siding Spring Observatory
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 coll ...
from
Mount Stromlo Observatory in 1982. The instrument has been used to study galaxies, asteroids and comets. It was last dedicated to the
Siding Spring Survey. The telescope had a
field of view
The field of view (FOV) is the angle, angular extent of the observable world that is visual perception, 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 elec ...
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. It used a spherical rather than a parabolic mirror
with 0.6 m correcting plate to achieve this.
Photographic plate
Photographic plates preceded film as the primary medium for capturing images in photography. These plates, made of metal or glass and coated with a light-sensitive emulsion, were integral to early photographic processes such as heliography, d ...
s 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. It was operational there between 1957 and 1982.
It took the first images ever recorded of the
Sputnik
Sputnik 1 (, , ''Satellite 1''), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space progra ...
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 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 near-Earth object search program closed down after funding dried up.
Discoveries
The telescope was used by
Robert H. McNaught to discover 400 potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids which have a diameter greater than .
McNaught used the telescope to discover comet
C/2006 P1, 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,
C/2007 Q3,
C/2009 R1,
C/2013 A1 ("Siding Spring Comet"),
2012 LZ1,
(242450) 2004 QY2 and
(308242) 2005 GO21.
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