The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)'s radio astronomy observatories are collectively known as the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), with the facility supporting Australia's research in radio astronomy.
CSIRO currently operates three observatories as part of the ATNF, near the towns of Parkes, Coonabarabran and Narrabri in New South Wales. A fourth telescope, the next generation Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is currently being built at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Western Australia. These telescopes can be used together as a long baseline array for use in Very Long Baseline Interferometry.
Radio telescopes included in the ATNF:
- The Australia Telescope Compact Array
- The Parkes Observatory
- The Mopra Observatory
- The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder
Famous quotes containing the words australia, telescope, national and/or facility:
“It is very considerably smaller than Australia and British Somaliland put together. As things stand at present there is nothing much the Texans can do about this, and ... they are inclined to shy away from the subject in ordinary conversation, muttering defensively about the size of oranges.”
—Alex Atkinson, British humor writer. repr. In Present Laughter, ed. Alan Coren (1982)
“The sight of a planet through a telescope is worth all the course on astronomy; the shock of the electric spark in the elbow, outvalues all the theories; the taste of the nitrous oxide, the firing of an artificial volcano, are better than volumes of chemistry.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Our national experience in Americanizing millions of Europeans whose chief wish was to become Americans has been a heady wine which has made us believe, as perhaps no nation before us has ever believed, that, given the slimmest chance, all peoples will pattern themselves upon our model.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“Probability but no truth, facility but no freedom—it is owing to these two fruits that the tree of knowledge cannot be confused with the tree of life.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)